84: Filling the early universe with knots could explain why it’s three-dimensional

*Filling the early universe with knots could explain why it’s three-dimensional Have you ever wondered why your ear bud wires, ropes, garden hoses, even knitting yarn tend to get all knotted and jumbled up. Well, a team of scientists think it’s a basic cosmic characteristic – which may just explain why we live in a universe with three spatial dimensions. and it may even explain how the universe formed. *Titan’s noxious ice clouds Scientists have discovered a toxic band of high altitude ice clouds above the south pole of Saturn’s largest moon Titan. The noxious stratospheric cloud cover was detected floating about 160 to 210 kilometres above the surface -- far higher than the methane rain clouds in Titan’s troposphere. *Whatever happened to the Beagle 2 A new scientific paper looking at the discovery of Britain’s Beagle 2 Mars lander has been published in the open science journal of the Royal Society. The findings detail efforts to locate the 32 kilogram probe which disappeared after being deployed from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter on December 19 2003. *New study looking at the Top Quark Physicists at CERN are joining forces to study the most massive elementary particle known. The top quark is almost as massive as an atom of gold, but is far less understood than other quarks. *Virgin Galactic’s hopes to reach space this year Virgin Galactic says it’s VSS Unity spaceplane should reach space before the end of the year. The announcement follows a series of six successful release drop and glide tests involving the 8 seater air launched spacecraft. *Another space station planned for the Moon Bigelow Aerospace and the United Launch Alliance have announced plans to place a B330 inflatable habitat module into lunar orbit by 2022 using United’s new Vulcan rocket. The B330 will serve as a low Lunar orbit staging post for planned missions to the Moon. *Australian Sky and Telescope Jonathan Nally from Australian Sky and Telescope magazine tells us about the mysteries of neutron stars, the sad fate of the world’s largest refractor telescope, and how to spot fake photos. *The Science Report New studies confirm intermittent fasting works to reduce weight and improve metabolic performance. Warnings that the North Atlantic Right Whale could be just 20 years away from extinction. Links between oral sex and head and neck cancers. A sharp rise in self-harm among teenagers especially girls. Australia one of just seven countries responsible for sixty percent of the world's biodiversity loss. Claims dogs really may be using facial expressions to communicate with humans. For enhanced Show Notes including pictures to accompany this episode: http://www.bitesz.com/spacetimeshownotes Subscribe, rate and review SpaceTime at all good podcasting apps…including iTunes, Google Podcasts, Stitcher, Pocketcasts, Podbean, Radio Public, Tunein Radio, google play, CastBox.fm etc Help support SpaceTime : The SpaceTime with Stuart Gary merchandise shop. Get your T-Shirts, Coffee Cups, badges, tote bag + more and help support the show. Check out the range: http://www.cafepress.com/spacetime Thank you. Plus: As a part of the SpaceTime family, you can get a free audio book of your choice, plus 30 days free access from audible.com. Just visit www.audibletrial.com/spacetime or click on the banner link at www.spacetimewithstuartgary.com Email: [email protected] Join our mailing list at http://www.bitesz.com/join-our-mailing-list  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices  See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.