It’s Tuesday here on Trekzone – which means it’s time for an episode of the new weekly podcast Talkin Science with Dr. Brad Tucker!
Today is a bit of a stinker… Brad’s here to tell us about the waste left behind by the Apollo astronauts during the six missions that landed on our moon – but there were a few good reasons why they left behind the trash, and some unexpected benefits fifty years on. Scientists want to discover if the bacteria inside the feces has survived, and if they have we may just have a better chance of finding life on the red planet. Read the full article over on Vox.
Speaking of the red planet, it’s been independently proven that something is giving off plumes of methane every now and then. Back in 2013, Mars Express and the Curiosity rover detected the gas above Gale Crater but with such a relatively quick burst of the stuff it took until now to prove what it was. Research was published at the start of the month in Nature Geoscience – more from Astronomy.com…
And coming up on Wednesday night (at 23.07) Australian eastern time, we’re going to see the results of the Event Horizon telescope pointing itself at Sagittarius A – the heart of our Milky Way galaxy. Scientists are hoping to take a photograph of the black hole there to see if it’s possible, what it is and whether Einstein was right about the size and shape of the black hole’s shadow. Read more at Space.com.
Brad and I will be back on Thursday taking over the main show with a special Talkin’ Science about the black hole. Don’t forget, you can get early access to Talkin’ Science and all of Trekzone’s podcasts by becoming a member right now!
