Learn about a secret apartment in the Eiffel Tower; the official protocol for announcing alien life to the world; and how Saros cycles have changed the way we’ve designed calendars throughout history, with some help from Dr. David Warmflash. In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes: The Eiffel Tower Has A Secret Apartment — https://curiosity.im/2DniG6n If We Find Aliens, This Is the Protocol for Announcing It to the World — https://curiosity.im/2DibnwP Additional resources from Dr. David Warmflash: Pick up “Moon: An Illustrated History: From Ancient Myths to the Colonies of Tomorrow” on Amazon — https://amazon.com Follow @CosmicEvolution on Twitter — https://twitter.com/CosmicEvolution If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Learn about a secret apartment in the Eiffel Tower; the official protocol for announcing alien life to the world; and how Saros cycles have changed the way we’ve designed calendars throughout history, with some help from Dr. David Warmflash.
In this podcast, Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer discuss the following stories from Curiosity.com to help you get smarter and learn something new in just a few minutes:
Additional resources from Dr. David Warmflash:
If you love our show and you're interested in hearing full-length interviews, then please consider supporting us on Patreon. You'll get exclusive episodes and access to our archives as soon as you become a Patron! https://www.patreon.com/curiositydotcom
Download the FREE 5-star Curiosity app for Android and iOS at https://curiosity.im/podcast-app. And Amazon smart speaker users: you can listen to our podcast as part of your Amazon Alexa Flash Briefing — just click “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing.
Find episode transcript here: https://curiosity-daily-4e53644e.simplecast.com/episodes/saros-cycles-w-dr-david-warmflash-the-eiffel-towers-secret-and-announcing-alien-life
CODY: Hi! We’ve got a jam-packed podcast from curiosity-dot-com to help you get smarter in just a few minutes. I’m Cody Gough.
ASHLEY: And I’m Ashley Hamer. Today, you’ll learn about a secret apartment in the Eiffel Tower; and, the official protocol for announcing to the world that we’ve made contact with extraterrestrials.
CODY: Plus, you’ll learn about Saros cycles and what solar eclipses have to do with the way calendars are designed — as part 1 of our first ever MOON MONDAY mini-series. Let’s satisfy some curiosity.
The Eiffel Tower Has A Secret Apartment — https://curiosity.im/2DniG6n (Ashley)
There’s a secret apartment in the Eiffel Tower, and it’s a lot more important than just being a spot where you can catch a cat nap. I mean, if you asked someone where to find the best view in Europe, the top of the Eiffel Tower would be a pretty good option. Imagine waking up in a cozy apartment with colorful wallpaper, wooden cabinets, and a grand piano. You'd sip espresso and nibble a croissant while gazing over the Palais de Chaillot from nearly a thousand feet in the air. Sounds like Gustave Eiffel was onto something, right? A luxurious getaway, maybe? Well after Eiffel and his team finished building the tower and its secret apartment in 1889, it was used for a lot more than just lounging around. The Eiffel Tower isn’t actually supposed to exist right now. Originally, it was supposed to be a temporary exhibit meant to broadcast France’s industrial power to the rest of Europe. It was slated for demolition in 1909. Eiffel didn’t really want that to happen, so he contacted the world's most prominent scientists. The hope was that they could give the tower a legitimate scientific purpose so the tower wouldn’t be destroyed. Once the tower'd been built, the secret apartment served as a laboratory for atmospheric measurements, astronomical observations, and physics experiments. And in 1903, the French Army used the tower for wireless telegraph experiments. The tower was able to broadcast wireless signals as far as North America, and that made it indispensable to the city. Eiffel himself kept the apartment furnished in a simple style, and although plenty of elites wanted to rent it out, he kept it private. He only entertained guests on occasion, including Thomas Edison. You can catch mannequins of Eiffel and Edison having a chat when you tour the apartment, which today is open to tourists.
Moon Monday #1 — Saros Cycles (Cody)
CODY: One reason why our calendars look the way they do is because the Babylonians knew a thing or two about solar eclipses. Yeah, you heard that right. And I’m talking about stuff they knew as early as the 8th century BCE. We recently spoke with science writer Dr. David Warmflash about the history of the moon, and here’s what he told us about ancient calendars, the Greek philosopher Thales, and more.
[CLIP 2:13]
CODY: Next week you’ll hear a seriously awesome story of what the Greek philosopher Thales did with this knowledge a couple hundred years later. See, David touched on a LOT of really interesting subjects in our conversation, so we’re going to try something new. For the next few weeks, we’ll be running a series called “Moon Mondays,” where we’ll teach you something new about the world that was impacted in some way by how humans have looked at the Moon throughout history. In the meantime, you can follow David on Twitter at cosmic-evolution, and you can pre-order his book, “Moon: An Illustrated History,” on Amazon. You can also find links in today’s show notes.
If We Find Aliens, This Is the Protocol for Announcing It to the World — https://curiosity.im/2DibnwP (Ashley)
ASHLEY: Speaking of the moon… did you know that if we find aliens, there’s actually an official protocol for announcing it to the world?
CODY: Does it sound like “hey everyone. My podcast co-host is definitely an alien?” / ad lib]
ASHLEY: Seriously, though. The International Academy of Astronautics, or IAA, Institute, has a detailed plan for how to announce the news that we’ve discovered aliens. One of the functions of the IAA SETI Permanent Committee is to establish protocols to be followed by SETI scientists in the detection, analysis, verification, announcement, and response to signals from extraterrestrial intelligence. In 1989, the IAA adopted what’s called the Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence. Kind of a tongue twister, but it was revised in 2010, and these days it’s mainly referred to as The First Protocol. You can read The First Protocol on the SETI Institute site, but here’s a general overview of the nine-item list, in case you run into any aliens any time soon. First, if you think you’ve received a signal from aliens, double check. QUADRUPLE check. The most plausible explanation for whatever you’ve discovered HAS to be extraterrestrial intelligence. If it’s not, then go back to the drawing board. If you still think it’s aliens, then ONLY tell your fellow researchers and observers so they can independently confirm what you’ve found. If everyone agrees it’s aliens, then you can tell more researchers and scientists. Specifically, you’ll do this through the Central Bureau for Astronomical Telegrams of the International Astronomical Union. Then, and ONLY then, do you do the next thing: tell everyone! Do it fast. And then make sure all your data is avaialble to the international scientific community. We’re talking publications, meetings, conferences, FaceTime-ing scientists on the other side of the world… the whole nine. Then, permanently record and store your evidence as securely as possible. Back up that data. You’ll need help from the International Telecommunication Union to protect the data if it’s in the form of electromagnetic signals. The SETI Committee of the IAA will keep an eye on your discovery for the rest of time. Just don’t try to send a message BACK to the aliens. That is a whole different can of worms.
ASHLEY: Read about today’s stories and more on curiosity-dot-com!
CODY: Join us again tomorrow for the award-winning Curiosity Daily and learn something new in just a few minutes. I’m [NAME] and I’m [NAME]. Stay curious!