SoT 315 - It's Just Gas, Dear
Channel: Science on Top
Date: 2018-11-23

SoT 315 - It's Just Gas, Dear
https://scienceontop.com/315

When a newborn baby smiles, there's always some spoilsport ready to tell you it's not a genuine smile, it's just a reflex. But new research finds that infant smiles are a lot more complex than that.
For the first time, astronomers have observed the clumps of gas orbiting the supermassive black hole in the center of our galaxy using four large telescopes linked together. The observations are in extremely high detail and reveal super hot flares or "magnetic thunderstorms" orbiting the black hole at nearly a third of the speed of light.
Scientific debate has erupted over a set of cone-like formations in Greenland. One popular school of thought is that they're the oldest fossils ever found, and the other is that they're just rocks.

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This episode contains traces of CBC News Now host Heather Hiscox talking with Dominic Valitis about a big science auction.

https://scienceontop.com/315

Chapters:
00:01:10 Is newborn smiling really just a reflex? Research is challenging the textbooks https://theconversation.com/is-newborn-smiling-really-just-a-reflex-research-is-challenging-the-textbooks-105220
00:07:34 The Milky Way's Monster, Unveiled https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-milky-ways-monster-unveiled/
00:16:31 Oops, the Oldest Fossils Ever Found Might Be Just Rocks https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/10/oops-oldest-fossils-ever-found-might-just-be-rocks/573244/