Bill Nye on Gravitational Waves: There's Nothing "Basic" About Basic Research
Bill Nye is always dressed for a party, but this time his celestial bow-tie pays respect to one of our era's greatest discoveries: gravitational waves.
Bill Nye, scientist, engineer, comedian, author, and inventor, is a man with a mission: to help foster a scientifically literate society, to help people everywhere understand and appreciate the science that makes our world work. Making science entertaining and accessible is something Bill has been doing most of his life. In Seattle Nye began to combine his love of science with his flair for comedy, when he won the Steve Martin look-alike contest and developed dual careers as an engineer by day and a stand-up comic by night. Nye then quit his day engineering day job and made the transition to a night job as a comedy writer and performer on Seattle's home-grown ensemble comedy show “Almost Live." This is where “Bill Nye the Science Guy®" was born. The show appeared before Saturday Night Live and later on Comedy Central, originating at KING-TV, Seattle's NBC affiliate. While working on the Science Guy show, Nye won seven national Emmy Awards for writing, performing, and producing. The show won 18 Emmys in five years. In between creating the shows, he wrote five children's books about science, including his latest title, “Bill Nye's Great Big Book of Tiny Germs." Nye is the host of three currently-running television series. “The 100 Greatest Discoveries" airs on the Science Channel. “The Eyes of Nye" airs on PBS stations across the country. Bill's latest project is hosting a show on Planet Green called “Stuff Happens." It's about environmentally responsible choices that consumers can make as they go about their day and their shopping. Also, you'll see Nye in his good-natured rivalry with his neighbor Ed Begley. They compete to see who can save the most energy and produce the smallest carbon footprint. Nye has 4,000 watts of solar power and a solar-boosted hot water system. There's also the low water use garden and underground watering system. It's fun for him; he's an engineer with an energy conservation hobby. Nye is currently the Executive Director of The Planetary Society, the world's largest space interest organization.
Bill Nye: The announcement was made that we detected a gravity wave from a distant object that had a very big or catastrophic gravity event millions of years ago when the gravity wave showed up here. Gravity wave, obviously how hard could it be? So when I do experiments on light to detect particles we detect particles of light. When we do experiments on light to detect waves we detect waves of light. When we look at forces, that's the transmission or the force over a distance is the transmission of energy, so we can find energy traveling in waves, we can find energy traveling in packet or particles. So people have speculated since – well, this is the hundredth anniversary of Einstein publishing his landmark papers, people have speculated on the nature of gravity. Now understand we understand gravity with extraordinary precision. We land spacecraft on Mars precisely.
Everybody watching this has probably used a global positioning system on his or her phone or in a car or in an airplane that's navigating with global positioning. Those satellites that enable the system to work rely on both special relativity, which is the influence of the speed of the spacecraft relative to the airplane or ground, and general relativity, which is the speed of time as effected by the Earth's gravity. So people have suspected or speculated that there will be waves of gravity. And ways of gravity would date back to the big bang, to the origin of the universe 13.7 billion years ago, but they're very weak, extraordinarily weak. Compare how easy it is to use chemical energy to hold a ball up against the pull of gravity or just hold yourself upright against the pull of gravity. Gravity, of the forces of nature, is the weakest one and so if its energy or force or influence moves at the speed of light, like everything else does, does it move in waves?
Well to detect them you'd need an extraordinarily sensitive instrument, crazy sensitive because this influence is so weak. And we did it. We set up an instrument in Louisiana and in Washington state using these mirrors and as the gravity wave passed through the earth the mirrors moved, and with extraordinarily sensitive measurement of the waves of reflected laser light we were able to detect this small movement, these small movements. And so what does that mean for us? Well, I don't know. But the discovery of relativity lead to global positioning systems and the Internet and our ability to plant crops with precision and feed 7.3 billion people where we used to only feed 1.5 billion people. So who knows where this discovery will lead. But I wouldn't be surprised if it leads to a new understanding of another aspect of physics and a new source of energy or we prove to ourselves that there is no other source of energy and we got to rely on wind or solar or what have you. Who knows what it will need to. But the basic research is worth celebrating. This is a society that uses its intellect and treasure to make discoveries about nature and ultimately where we all fit in in the cosmos, our place in space. So if you're a human able to hear this broadcast or watch this broadcast, celebrate it. Humans have made another discovery about the universe. It's not bad.
At 4am on September 14, 2015, a team of over 1,000 scientists who form the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory (LIGO) confirmed an aspect of Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity.
They monitored an energy vibration just four one-thousandths of a diameter of a proton, and it set the world ablaze with celebration. Well, more than a year later, Bill Nye is still celebrating. He never stopped. These kinds of events are rare and epochal – scientists have been looking for proof of this since 1916, when Einstein published his landmark papers.
What the observation of the gravitational wave confirmed is that space and time are really one unit — space-time — that exist as part of a gravitational grid. When that grid is disturbed by massive events in space, the space-time continuum itself is altered. In this case, the event was truly epic: two black holes (one 36 times as massive as the Sun, the other 29 times) collided almost at the speed of light and formed a single black hole, during which they released 50 times the amount of energy released by all the stars in the known universe at that same moment. We’re still feeling the effects of it at a quantum level, and in many ways the ripple is only set to amplify in terms of the discoveries and technology this insight will lead to, eventually changing our daily existence in a very tangible way.
Considering that Einstein’s discovery of relativity led to things like GPS, the internet, and precision agriculture, we can only imagine what existence-altering innovations the proof of gravitational waves will bring down the line. Nye expects that it will lead "to a new understanding of another aspect of physics" and insight into energy sources that will steer us down one course of energy production.
Bill Nye's most recent book is Unstoppable: Harnessing Science to Change the World.
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Virus made inequality much worse across the world, says report
Inequality in wealth, gender, and race grew to unprecedented levels across the world, according to OxFam report.
- A new report by global poverty nonprofit OxFam finds inequality has increased in every country in the world.
- The alarming trend is made worse by the coronavirus pandemic, which strained most systems and governments.
- The gap in wealth, race and gender treatment will increase until governments step in with changes.
People wait in line to receive food at a food bank on April 28, 2020 in Brooklyn.
Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images
Credit: Oxfam International
Scientists find 'smoking gun' proof of a recent supernova near Earth
A supernova exploded near Earth about 2.5 million years ago, possibly causing an extinction event.
- Researchers from the University of Munich find evidence of a supernova near Earth.
- A star exploded close to our planet about 2.5 million years ago.
- The scientists deduced this by finding unusual concentrations of isotopes, created by a supernova.
This Manganese crust started to form about 20 million years ago. Growing layer by layer, it resulted in minerals precipitated out of seawater. The presence of elevated concentrations of 60 Fe and 56 Mn in layers from 2.5 million years ago hints at a nearby supernova explosion around that time.
Credit: Dominik Koll/ TUM
Massive 'Darth Vader' isopod found lurking in the Indian Ocean
The father of all giant sea bugs was recently discovered off the coast of Java.
- A new species of isopod with a resemblance to a certain Sith lord was just discovered.
- It is the first known giant isopod from the Indian Ocean.
- The finding extends the list of giant isopods even further.
The ocean depths are home to many creatures that some consider to be unnatural.
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yMzU2NzY4My9vcmlnaW4ucG5nIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxNTUwMzg0NX0.BTK3zVeXxoduyvXfsvp4QH40_9POsrgca_W5CQpjVtw/img.png?width=980" id="b6fb0" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2739ec50d9f9a3bd0058f937b6d447ac" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" data-width="1512" data-height="2224" />Bathynomus raksasa specimen (left) next to a closely related supergiant isopod, B. giganteus (right)
<p>According to<a href="https://www.livescience.com/supergiant-isopod-newfound-species.html" target="_blank" rel="dofollow"> LiveScience</a>, the Bathynomus genus is sometimes referred to as "Darth Vader of the Seas" because the crustaceans are shaped like the character's menacing helmet. Deemed Bathynomus raksasa ("raksasa" meaning "giant" in Indonesian), this cockroach-like creature can grow to over 30 cm (12 inches). It is one of several known species of giant ocean-going isopod. Like the other members of its order, it has compound eyes, seven body segments, two pairs of antennae, and four sets of <a href="https://www.livescience.com/supergiant-isopod-newfound-species.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">jaws</a>.</p><p>The incredible size of this species is likely a result of deep-sea gigantism. This is the tendency for creatures that inhabit deeper parts of the ocean to be much larger than closely related species that live in shallower waters. B. raksasa appears to make its home between 950 and 1,260 meters (3,117 and 4,134 ft) below sea <a href="https://news.nus.edu.sg/research/new-species-supergiant-isopod-uncovered" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">level</a>. </p><p>Perhaps fittingly for a creature so creepy looking, that is the lower sections of what is commonly called <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopelagic_zone" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">The Twilight Zone</a><em>, </em>named for the lack of light available at such depths. </p><p>It isn't the only giant isopod, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giant_isopod" target="_blank">far from it</a>. Other species of ocean-going isopod can get up to 50 cm long (20 inches) and also look like they came out of a nightmare. These are the unusual ones, though. Most of the time, isopods stay at much more reasonable <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-raksasa-cockroach-from-the-deep-the-stuff-nightmares-are-made-of-6513281/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">sizes</a>. </p><p>The discovery of this new species was published in <a href="https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/53906/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">ZooKeys</a>. The remainder of the specimens from the trip are still being analyzed. The full report will be published <a href="https://www.futurity.org/deep-sea-giant-isopod-bathynomus-raksasa-2422042/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow">shortly</a>.<em> </em></p>What benefit does this find have for science? And is it as evil as it looks?
<div class="rm-shortcode" data-media_id="7XqcvwWp" data-player_id="FvQKszTI" data-rm-shortcode-id="8506fcd195866131efb93525ae42dec4"> <div id="botr_7XqcvwWp_FvQKszTI_div" class="jwplayer-media" data-jwplayer-video-src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/7XqcvwWp-FvQKszTI.js"> <img src="https://cdn.jwplayer.com/thumbs/7XqcvwWp-1920.jpg" class="jwplayer-media-preview" /> </div> <script src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/7XqcvwWp-FvQKszTI.js"></script> </div> <p>The discovery of a new species is always a cause for celebration in zoology. That this is the discovery of an animal that inhabits the deeps of the sea, one of the least explored areas humans can get to, is the icing on the cake.</p><p>Helen Wong of the National University of Singapore, who co-authored the species' description, explained the importance of the discovery:</p><p>"The identification of this new species is an indication of just how little we know about the oceans. There is certainly more for us to explore in terms of biodiversity in the deep sea of our region." </p><p>The animal's visual similarity to Darth Vader is a result of its compound eyes and the curious shape of its <a href="https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/research/sjades2018/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow" style="">head</a>. However, given the location of its discovery, the bottom of the remote seas, it may be associated with all manner of horrifically evil Elder Things and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cthulhu" target="_blank" rel="dofollow">Great Old Ones</a>. <em></em></p>I spoke to 99 big thinkers about what our ‘world after coronavirus’ might look like – this is what I learned
There is no going "back to normal."
Back in March, my colleagues at the Frederick S. Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer-Range Future at Boston University thought that it might be useful to begin thinking about “the day after coronavirus."
