Gadgetory

the Trump administration's new climate report suggests that the president is wrong about climate change so what the heck can we do about it welcome to what the future on today's show ideas to stop the coming climate catastrophe a plane with no moving parts makes its first flight at MIT thanks to an ion thruster engine and last but certainly not least NASA's first Mars landing in over six years was a success and we've got pictures but first we've got to have a great climate by now you've probably heard of the massive climate report released by the Trump administration on Black Friday it paints a frightening picture earth could see 12 degrees of warming by the end of the century the US could lose 1/10 of its GDP and displaced people could create a refugee crisis of historic proportions so what can we do to mitigate the damage let's talk about the most WTF idea first dimming the Sun no this isn't a plan suggested by mr. burns it actually comes to us from researchers at Harvard and Yale they call the idea stratospheric aerosol injection and it involves spraying massive amounts of sulfate particles into the air about 12 miles above the earth researchers say it could cut the rate of global warming in half but it could also lead to other unintended consequences such as worsening droughts damaging crops or extreme weather events plus the technology required doesn't even exist yet and it would only be a temporary solution to the real problem driving climate change greenhouse gas emissions thankfully canadian-based company carbon engineering is working on a solution established in 2009 the company set out to take co2 out of the atmosphere and turn it into carbon neutral fuel for transportation and it has already proven successful their pilot plant in British Columbia has been using hydro power to remove co2 from the air and turn it into fuel for almost a year now if fossil fuels need to stay in the ground to avoid climate catastrophe maybe these carbon neutral fuels could someday take their place while these new technologies are exciting technology alone will not stop climate catastrophe it's just one piece of the puzzle the other major piece of the puzzle is policy and that's where the green New Deal comes in the term green New Deal has been used to describe a potential stimulus package addressing environmental and financial crises for over ten years it's back in the news again thanks to efforts from activist groups the sunrise movement and justice Democrats named after FDR's New Deal the green New Deal would aim to get the United States operating on 100 percent renewable energy in ten years it would focus on decarbonizing America's most polluting industries investing in the capture of greenhouse gases making green technology a major export of the United States and creating tons of green jobs since the Democrats won control of the house in the midterms the sunrise movement has been pushing Democratic leadership to create a select committee that would draft the legislation for a green new deal so that it could be ready for 2020 in the event of more democratic victories they want the committee to be made up of politicians that reject fossil fuel donations to avoid conflicts of interest if you support something like this consider reaching out to your representative in Congress and letting them know you want them to support a select committee for a green new deal twelve representatives have already signed on in support and now for something straight out of a sci-fi movie on an electric plane with no moving parts it is propelled by something called electro aerodynamic propulsion or EAD for short it's an EAD thruster creates a high voltage across two electrodes ions flow from the smaller electrode to the larger one creating an ionic wind which generates thrust for the aircraft MIT successful test flight proves this technology has potential ionic propulsion is relatively silent meaning it could be a welcome substitute for those loud obnoxious drones which might be delivering your amazon packages in the not-too-distant future researchers at MIT say the next step is to develop these ion thrusters to be used alongside traditional propulsion to increase fuel efficiency insight has landed the Martian probe touched down on the red planet Monday afternoon and it's already sending back that red desert eagle nests here's the first image in sight beamed back for us from the Martian surface NASA's latest Mars mission aims to gather new information about Mars as composition structure and how it was formed insight carries a seismometer which will be placed on the planet's surface to measure the seismic waves and map out the interior structure of Mars a wind and thermal shield will sit on top of the seismometer to protect it from the elements the heat flow and physical properties probe will drill about 16 feet into the planet's surface to measure the temperature of Mars and a radio experiment aboard insight will measure the wobble of the Martian poles as the planet rotates which will help scientists learn more about the composition of Mars's core insight will use its robotic claw to set up these complex experiments it's basically the most expensive claw game ever made one that plays itself I'm very much looking forward to learning more about Mars as insight continues its data gathering missions since you all had jokes this week instead of an audience question we're gonna run down the top three roasts of the first images back from Mars Douglas Warren cracked its nat season on Mars I might be giving too much credit and assuming this one is a joke but Maurice artist said on Facebook Mars looks flat I'm now a flat Mars err if flat Mars aren't a real thing yet I'm sure they will be in the near future and finally Brian Lloyd Coco Estrada pega said they spend millions for those pick I could have just sent them a photo of my but jump down to the comments and let us know what's got you saying WTF this week thanks for watching what the future I'm Jessie Orel we'll see you next time