Why Symmetry Wins, Solar-Covered Canals, Plants on the Moon

Curiosity Weekly

Warner Bros. Discovery

Self-improvement, Science, Astronomy, Education

4.6 • 935 Ratings

🗓️ 20 July 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Today, you’ll learn about why symmetry dominates the natural world, how it may be possible to conserve water using solar panels, and why growing vegetables might soon involve a trip to the Moon.

Two halves make a whole.

“Life’s Preference for Symmetry Is Like “A New Law of Nature” by Kate Golembiewski
- https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/24/science/symmetry-biology-evolution.html
“What is RNA?” by Michael Dhar
- https://www.livescience.com/what-is-RNA.html
“The Origins of Asymmetry: A Protein That Makes You Do the Twist” by Centre National De La Recherche Scientifique
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/11/181123135026.htm

Sun = more water.

“California Is About to Test Its First Solar Canals” by Roger Bales
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/california-is-about-to-test-its-first-solar-canals-180979637/
“Project Nexus: Water & Energy Integration for the Future” by TID Water and Power
- https://www.tid.org/about-tid/current-projects/project-nexus/
“Energy and Water Co-Benefits from Covering Canals with Solar Panels” by Brandi McKuin, et al.
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-021-00693-8
“NOAA Drought Task Force Report on the 2020–2021 Southwestern U.S. Drought” by NOAA Drought Task Force IV
- https://www.drought.gov/documents/noaa-drought-task-force-report-2020-2021-southwestern-us-drought
“New NOAA Report: Exceptional Southwest Drought Exacerbated” by Human-Caused Warming by NOAA/NIDIS
- https://www.drought.gov/news/new-noaa-report-exceptional-southwest-drought-exacerbated-human-caused-warming
“California Approves New Water Restrictions Amid Worsening Drought” by Soumya Karlamangla
- https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/us/california-drought-water-restrictions.html
“California State Water Project” by Wikipedia
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California_State_Water_Project
“California Agricultural Production Statistics” by California Department of Food and Agriculture
- https://www.cdfa.ca.gov/statistics/

Grocery shopping on the moon.

“A first: Scientists grow plants in soil from the Moon” By Phys.org
- https://phys.org/news/2022-05-scientists-soil-moon.html
“Scientists Grow Plants in Moon Soil for the First Time” by Shea Swenson
- https://modernfarmer.com/2022/05/plants-grow-in-moon-soil-nasa/

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi, you're about to get smarter in just a few minutes with Curiosity Daily from Discovery.
0:08.7	Time flies when you're learning super cool stuff. I'm Nate.
0:11.6	And I'm Callie. If you're dropping in for the first time
0:13.8	welcome to curiosity where we aim to blow your mind by helping you to grow your
0:17.1	mind. If you're a loyal listener, welcome back. Today you'll learn about why
0:20.6	symmetry dominates the natural world, how it may be possible to
0:24.1	conserve water using solar panels and why growing vegetables might soon involve a
0:29.0	trip to the moon. Without further ado, let's satisfy some curiosity.
0:33.2	Callie, have you ever noticed how often symmetry can be found in the world around us?
0:37.8	Like how a person's right and left legs are basically the same, just mirroring each other?
0:41.8	Yeah, totally.
0:43.0	Biological symmetry is everywhere.
0:44.0	From the radial symmetry of a flower
0:46.0	to the bilateral symmetry of a butterfly's wing designs.
0:49.0	Right, of course.
0:50.0	I'm more or less symmetrical myself despite my side part.
0:53.2	Yeah, exactly.
0:54.4	Well, symmetry is even found in the structures of our biological building blocks like proteins
0:59.1	and RNA, which is basically a cousin of DNA.
1:01.9	So symmetry is all around us in the natural order of things, but why?
1:05.7	I can't think of any obvious inherent benefit.
1:08.3	So it doesn't seem like it would be beneficial enough for it to be part of natural selection.
	...

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