Hi, we're here from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes.

I'm Cody Gough.

And I'm Ashley Hamer.

Today you learn about how an anomaly in space is messing with our satellites and other equipment

and the health benefits of white wine that you may not

know about.

It's also the third edition of Fruit Fly Friday.

This week, you'll hear about the incredible things we've learned from studying fruit flies,

from Stephanie Moore, the author of the book First and Fly.

Let's satisfy some curiosity.

Hanging out in Earth's orbit is no easy task.

You already know satellites and structures like the International Space Station have to deal with things like space debris and cosmic rays and dust and all sorts of stuff.

But have you heard of the South Atlantic anomaly?

It's an area of our planet that has a big impact on the delicate electronics we send into space.

I'll get to that in a minute, but first, let's back up and talk about the radiation belts that actually protect our entire planet.

The Earth is surrounded by two donut-shaped masses of high-energy particles called the Van Allen

belts. Those particles are leftovers of

cosmic rays shooting in from outside our solar system that became trapped in

the Earth's magnetic field. They exist in that belt configuration because the magnetic field follows a telltale pattern,

one you know if you've ever seen iron filings sprinkled around a magnet.

The high energy particles would be dangerous on their own, but when they're trapped in the Van Allen

belts, they actually shield the Earth from any other dangerous particles that might elbow their

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