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 new sustainability rules that could help us cut space debris,

why you shouldn't blow your nose when you have a cold, and why you unconsciously

copy other people's mannerisms.

Let's unconsciously copy some curiosity.

We've covered the problems with space junk on this show before and today we've got some good news.

New rules about sustainability in space could help us cut space debris.

As reported by universe today, there are 20,000 objects orbiting Earth that are larger than 4 inches, or 10 centimeters.

Out of all of those objects, only about 10% of them are operational satellites.

That means there are 18,000 pieces of junk out

there and it's not just regular junk. It's very dangerous junk. Even if you've

got something the size of a cell phone flying around, it can do a ton of damage

if it's traveling at thousands of miles an hour.

It's bad news if something crashes into one of those 2,000 satellites up in orbit,

since they help us with things like navigation,

weather forecasting, hurricane tracking,

communications, and climate science.

Fortunately, the space junk problem

is being addressed by a new initiative led by the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Space Technologies.

The Council is spearheading a project to come up with what they call the Space Sustainability rating system or SSR.

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