Hints of alien life in our galaxy | New Scientist Weekly podcast 250

There are signs that aliens might be harnessing the power of stars in our galaxy to fuel their civilisations. Dyson spheres are structures that surround entire stars to absorb their energy. Although these are just hypothetical, researchers have detected hints of their existence. But aliens aren’t the only possible explanation.
Being able to freeze human brain tissue could be a game-changer for medical research. While freezing brains is easy, thawing them out without damaging the tissue is much harder. But now a method involving a cocktail of chemical ingredients seems to have solved the problem..
The largest ever ‘ecoacoustic’ survey is being conducted throughout the forests of Costa Rica. Sound recordings of various habitats, from degraded pastures to regenerating forests, are being gathered to assess the biodiversity and health of the country’s ecosystems. Hear some of the amazing soundscapes that have been captured for the survey.
Orchids may share food with their offspring. Lab experiments have shown for the first time that parent orchids may be using fungal pathways - the mycorrhizal network - to send vital sugars to seedlings that cluster around them.
Ancient Egyptians were reliant on the Nile river to transport materials used to build the world famous pyramids. But many of those pyramids are built on inhospitable, arid land, far from the Nile. So how did they get the materials there? Geoscientists may have uncovered an ancient clue.
Hosts Christie Taylor and Rowan Hooper discuss with guests Jacob Aron, Alexandra Thomspon, James Dinneen and Chen Ly. To read more about these stories, visit newscientist.com.
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[@CatholicSatan]

Oh dear oh dear... The "Dyson Sphere" was _not_ first dreamt up by Freeman Dyson, the idea had already appeared in an Olaf Stapledon scifi story in 1937. And _no_ Dyson did _not_ think of surrounding a star with a "structure" _per se_ because he knew that would be unstable. Maxwell (he of Maxwell's equations) had already deduced that the rings of Saturn could not be solid in the 19th century! Dyson came up with the notion of a _swarm,_ objects moving in their own independent orbits.

[@brianhirt5027]

It's a dirt common misassociation, unfortunately. Doggedly persistant munger too. I think it boils down to "dyson sphere" rolls off the tongue more easily than 'stapledon spheres'.

[@brianhirt5027]

Not a Dyson swarm. Considering how close some of these candidates are we'd expect to some sort of radio signal to be emitted as well. It's more likely that this specific subtype of star is just projecting hard into infrared for unknown but naturalist causes.

[@andymccracken4046]

Don't include me in your "we" who expect a radio signal.

[@brianhirt5027]

@@andymccracken4046 Oh, you think they'll coordinate a drone swarm through telepathy? Or is it more reasonable to expect they'll C3 a swarm via radiowaves on the 'watering hole' hydrogen band frequency? C'mon. Gimme a break. It's not rocket science.

[@andymccracken4046]

@@brianhirt5027 I totally doubt they will use radio. If they do use radio it would surprise me if they do it so inefficiently that we could see it from many lightyears away.

[@brianhirt5027]

@@andymccracken4046 Signals degrade over distance, especially if they were locally intended. But they're not at such a distance that we wouldn't catch ANYTHING, even if it was fragmentary at this distance. But considering the amount of attention these 'tabby's stars' have been recieving I believe SETI has listened to the area significantly in recent years. Nothing coherent, even fragmentary has been spotted. That doesn't mean 100% i'm aware. But it would still indicate at this time we're just witnessing some weird natural phenomenon attached to some of this specific spectral type.

[@brianhirt5027]

@@andymccracken4046 Think of it this way. To coordinate a swarm you'd have to deploy a series of higher powered beacons so everything could track it's relative position to avoid collisions & coordinate energy dumps via microwave relay. We'd have found some of the signal from those beacons, even at this distance.

[@NCSWIC..]

More garbage Pseudoscience crap ffs 🤦