Probing Where the Sun Does Shine: A Holiday Special

Summary

Radiolab: Probing Where the Sun Does Shine – A Holiday Special Hosted by Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser, WNYC Studios | Release Date: December 24, 2024

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Introduction: A Festive Exploration

In this special holiday edition of Radiolab, hosts Latif Nasser and Lulu Miller take listeners on a captivating journey through two groundbreaking space missions. As the year 2024 draws to a close, the team reflects on their recent explorations into scientific mysteries, blending deep investigative journalism with innovative sound design to unravel stories that span from the scorching heart of our sun to the icy depths of Jupiter's moon, Europa.

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1. The Solar Odyssey: Reaching for the Sun

Guest: Noor Rawafi, Scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab

Latif Nasser kicks off the episode by introducing Noor Rawafi, a seasoned scientist involved in a NASA mission that defies conventional space exploration. This mission, which began in 2008, aims to send a tiny spacecraft closer to the sun than ever before, promising unprecedented insights into solar phenomena.

Key Highlights:

• Mission Genesis: Noor shares his childhood fascination with the sun, sparked by the pristine night skies of rural Tunisia. “Being in the countryside, there is no light pollution at all. So the sky is just in particular in summertime is just mesmerizing” ([04:01]).

• Spacecraft Design: The spacecraft, described as a "cone-shaped" marvel, employs cutting-edge technology to survive extreme temperatures. Noor explains, “It's simply a piece of carbon foam… with ceramic coating that is white to reflect as much light as possible” ([08:52]).

• Heat Shield Innovation: The 4.5-inch thick carbon foam heat shield is crucial for protecting the spacecraft from the sun's intense heat. At its closest approach, the shield’s sun-facing side will reach temperatures exceeding 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit, yet the backside will remain at a manageable 700 degrees ([09:07]).

• Unprecedented Speed: The probe will travel at over 430,000 miles per hour, the fastest human-made object, enabling it to "basically touch the sun" for the first time ([06:39]).

Notable Quote: Noor Rawafi emphasizes the mission's significance: “Nobody has ever done this. Nobody has ever gone so close to a star” ([07:08]).

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2. Europa’s Whisper: Poetry Meets Space

Guest: Ada Limon, U.S. Poet Laureate

Transitioning from the blistering sun to the icy realms of Jupiter's moon Europa, Lulu Miller introduces Ada Limon, who crafted a heartfelt poem to be engraved on a spacecraft destined for this enigmatic moon. Europa is a prime candidate in the search for extraterrestrial life, harboring a subsurface ocean beneath its frozen exterior.

Key Highlights:

• Creative Process: Ada recounts her time in Hawaii, grappling with writer’s block and finding inspiration in nature. “I was staring at this palm frond… and there was a little gecko that was stuck on the underside. It was completely upside down… I thought of the line, we, too, are made of wonders” ([21:59]).

• Embracing 'We': Ada discusses the challenge of shifting from a personal to a communal voice in her poem, aiming to represent all life on Earth as a message to Europa. “I had to really release that idea of the eye and make room for my most communal voice” ([23:44]).

• The Poem: Ada proudly reads her poem, a lyrical tribute bridging Earth and Europa, emphasizing shared wonders and the universal need to connect.

Notable Quote: Ada shares her personal connection to the poem: “I do feel like a part of me is going to space… it is my little human breath is going” ([26:48]).

The Poem: In praise of mystery, a poem for Europa.
Arching under the night sky, inky with black expansiveness.
We point to the planets we know.
We pin quick wishes on stars from Earth.
We read the sky as if it is an unerring book of the universe,
Expert and evident still there are mysteries below our sky.
The whale song, the songbird singing its call in the bough of a wind shaken tree.
We are creatures of constant awe,
Curious at beauty, at leaf and blossom, at grief and pleasure, sun and shadow.
And it is not darkness that unites us, not the cold distance of space, but the offering of water,
each drop of rain, each rivulet, each pulse, each vein,
O second moon.
We too are made of water, of vast and beckoning seas.
We too are made of wonders, of great and ordinary loves,
of small invisible worlds, of a need to call out through the dark.

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3. Supporting the Journey: Membership and Community Engagement

Throughout the episode, the hosts underscore the importance of listener support through Radiolab’s membership program, "The Lab." They highlight various incentives for joining, such as exclusive content, ad-free episodes, and unique merchandise like posters inspired by their space explorations.

Key Highlights:

• Membership Benefits: Latif Nasser details the perks of becoming a Lab member, including early access to episodes and special content. “Joining the lab is the best way to make sure that we can keep reliably bringing you deeply researched, carefully produced, rigorously fact checked, edge cutting radio journalism” ([11:19]).

• Contests and Community Involvement: The episode announces a global contest to name one of Earth’s quasi-moons, inviting listeners to participate and leave their mark on space history. “Vote for the name you like [e-mail]/moon before the end of the year” ([28:02]).

• Acknowledgments: The hosts extend heartfelt thanks to existing members and encourage new listeners to join, emphasizing the communal effort behind Radiolab’s storytelling.

Notable Quote: Latif passionately appeals to listeners: “You are vital. If you are not a member, well just know that joining the lab is the best way to make sure that we can keep reliably bringing you deeply researched, carefully produced, rigorously fact checked, edge cutting radio journalism” ([11:19]).

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4. Looking Ahead: A Glimpse into 2025

As the episode concludes, Latif and Lulu tease exciting topics for the upcoming year, promising to delve into the planet’s darkest places, explore the intricacies of high-functioning and seemingly impossible phenomena, and unravel the complexities of quantum mechanics.

Preview Highlights:

• Upcoming Stories: “We will be diving into the darkest place on the planet. We will be getting high, huffing apples and we will be untangling quantum entanglement inside a bird's eyeball” ([29:00]).

• Season Finale: The hosts wrap up the year with gratitude and anticipation, wishing listeners happy holidays and a promise of more enthralling content in 2025.

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Conclusion: A Stellar Journey

"Probing Where the Sun Does Shine – A Holiday Special" encapsulates Radiolab’s signature blend of scientific inquiry and human storytelling. By juxtaposing the relentless pursuit of understanding our closest star with the poetic outreach towards Europa, the episode embodies the spirit of curiosity and connection that Radiolab champions. As listeners reflect on the year’s scientific advancements and prepare for new explorations, the episode serves as a reminder of humanity’s unyielding quest to comprehend the universe and our place within it.

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Notable Quotes Recap:

• Noor Rawafi: “Nobody has ever done this. Nobody has ever gone so close to a star” ([07:08]).
• Ada Limon: “I do feel like a part of me is going to space” ([26:48]).
• Latif Nasser: “You are vital. If you are not a member, well just know that joining the lab is the best way to make sure that we can keep reliably bringing you deeply researched, carefully produced, rigorously fact checked, edge cutting radio journalism” ([11:19]).

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For more detailed explorations and to support Radiolab, visit radiolab.org/join.

Transcript

[Latif Nasser]

Radiolab is supported by Capital One Banking with Capital One helps you keep more money in your wallet with no fees or minimums on checking accounts and no overdraft fees. Just ask the Capital One Bank Guy. It's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. He'd also tell you that Radiolab is his favorite podcast too. Oh really? Thanks Capital One Bank Guy. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See CapitalOne.com Bank Capital One NA member FDIC Radiolab is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Do you ever think about switching insurance companies to see if you could save some cash? Progressive makes it easy to see if you could save when you bundle your home and auto policies. Try [e-mail] Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states. Radiolab is supported by Rocket Money. Managing finances can feel complicated and time consuming, right? But. But it doesn't have to be. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and aims to help lower your bills so you can grow your savings. Whether your goal is to pay off credit card debt, put away money for a house, or just build your savings, Rocket Money makes it easy. Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com rl that's rocketmoney.com rl Radiolab is supported by Mint Mobile. We all love saving a few bucks, but it has to be easy. No hoops, no bs. Mint Mobile makes it easy to get unlimited talk, text and Data plans for $15 a month when you purchase a three month plan. To get this new customer offer, go to mintmobile.com Radiolab that's mintmobile.com Radiolab $45 upfront payment required. Equivalent to $15 a month for first 3 month plan only. Speed slower above 40 gigabytes on unlimited plan. Additional taxes, fees and restrictions apply. See Mint Mobile for details. Listener supported WNYC Studios Wait, you're listening.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Okay.

[Noor Rawafi]

All right.

[Latif Nasser]

Okay.

[Noor Rawafi]

All right.

[Lulu Miller]

You're listening to Radiolabs Radio Lab from wnyc.

[Latif Nasser]

Hey, I'm Latif Nasser and this is Radiolab. And yes, great, amazing. Today I've been looking forward to talking to you for so long.

[Noor Rawafi]

No, thank you. Thank you. It's really a pleasure talking to you.

[Latif Nasser]

We're doing something a little bit different because this episode is coming out at the tail end of December 2024 and so far this month we have traced the kind of bogus origin story of Stockholm syndrome and our Staff went in on a bit of a romp, fact checking a bunch of the old chestnuts, you know, the adages you hear all the time. So those were our two new episodes for this month. That's what we do. We make two new episodes a month. But we wanted to do a little something extra, a little sneaky holiday gift, a Christmas ish offering, you could call it. It's actually two little Christmas ish offerings. One from me, one from Lulu. They're similar, but also very different. And I'm going to start off with this story. This is the especially Christmassy one that I heard from this guy Noor.

[Noor Rawafi]

I am Noor Rawafi, a scientist at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab.

[Latif Nasser]

And Noor is part of a project, actually a mission that I don't know, a few weeks ago, I didn't even think was physically possible.

[Noor Rawafi]

There are things now, I've been on this mission for 16 years, and there are certain aspects for me, the way they work is still like magic.

[Latif Nasser]

Okay, but if we back up all the way, like, how did you even get interested in all of this?

[Noor Rawafi]

So my interest in space was as a very young child.

[Latif Nasser]

Noor is originally from Tunisia, born in the countryside.

[Noor Rawafi]

And being in the countryside, there is no light pollution at all. So the sky is just in particular in summertime is just mesmerizing. It's just captivating. And that's actually probably the first thing that got me interested into space. After that, my interest shifted a little bit on the sun, being really fascinated by it. How much heat in particular we get in the summer. And they did all sorts of experiments.

[Latif Nasser]

He says when he was a kid, he actually made his own light prism out of plexiglass to create the rainbow.

[Noor Rawafi]

Spectrum from violet to red.

[Latif Nasser]

He started playing with lenses, focusing the sunlight.

[Noor Rawafi]

Some of them actually they caused fire, but it is not really a big fire at all. But still the power of the sun was so fascinating to me.

[Latif Nasser]

And Noor says that as he got older, he got interested in other fields.

[Noor Rawafi]

Fields like particle physics, like nuclear physics, like optics, quantum mechanics.

[Latif Nasser]

He ends up going to study in France, starts working in the States at different observatories. But around 2008, he. He hears about this mission that NASA's.

[Noor Rawafi]

Working on, put forth in 1958, many, many years before I was born. That is so monumental. That is going to make history. That is going to make a first just in a few weeks from now.

[Latif Nasser]

So to explain 2008, Noor starts working with NASA on this mission and then. Status check.

[Noor Rawafi]

Go.

[Latif Nasser]

Delta Go. PSP 20, 18.

[Noor Rawafi]

10, 9.

[Latif Nasser]

Noor and a team of NASA scientists launched this rocket out into space.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Liftoff.

[Latif Nasser]

And being carried by that rocket Was.

[Noor Rawafi]

This about 3 meters tall, couple meters wide spacecraft. It's not really big spacecraft.

[Latif Nasser]

When you look at it, it almost looks like cone shaped. So once it got into space, this little cone shaped spacecraft detached from the rocket. And Noor and his team fired it up and sent it to Venus and.

[Noor Rawafi]

Kind of slowed the spacecraft a little.

[Latif Nasser]

Bit down so that the spacecraft would get caught in Venus's orbit. And then as it swung around Venus, they hit the jets and it just went out toward the sun, then around the sun, then back to Venus, where again it goes, slingshots around Venus, out around the sun and back again and again and again. And as it's yo yoing back and forth between Venus and the sun, it's getting faster and faster and faster.

[Noor Rawafi]

More than 430,000 miles per hour.

[Latif Nasser]

Like, that's just so fast, you can't even comprehend it.

[Noor Rawafi]

Yes, it's the fastest human object flying in space.

[Latif Nasser]

And as it gets faster, that orbit around the sun and Venus, it gets tighter and tighter and tighter to the point that this little spacecraft will get so close to the sun that we will basically, for the first time ever touch it.

[Noor Rawafi]

Nobody has ever done this. Nobody has ever gone so close to a star.

[Latif Nasser]

This is the mission, the mission that Noor became obsessed with, the mission that NASA spent decades developing, generations who invested into this mission to try and understand our sun.

[Noor Rawafi]

Because there are certain phenomena that happening on the sun or in the environment of the sun that are so puzzling that for decades now, we don't really have a full understanding of them.

[Latif Nasser]

For instance, Noor says, take the surface.

[Noor Rawafi]

Of the sun that we see with the naked eye. The temperature is about 10,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

[Latif Nasser]

But he says if you move just a couple thousand miles away out from.

[Noor Rawafi]

The sun, the temperature will jump to 2 million or 3 million degrees Fahrenheit.

[Latif Nasser]

It's more.

[Noor Rawafi]

It's way, way. It's over 300 times hotter.

[Latif Nasser]

So nobody knows why that is?

[Noor Rawafi]

No, no.

[Latif Nasser]

He said there's all these other mysteries as well, like solar wind or something called the dust free zone, these mysteries.

[Noor Rawafi]

About the sun, how the sun works.

[Latif Nasser]

The hope is to solve some of.

[Noor Rawafi]

These mysteries, basically rewriting textbooks for us about the Sun.

[Latif Nasser]

But I mean, how could you possibly send something. And now what you're telling me is that not even touching the sun, but even further away from the sun, it's even hotter than the surface of the sun. So how can you get something even remotely close to that without it just melting into a puddle?

[Noor Rawafi]

The spacecraft, when you look at it in terms of technology, it's really a marvel of technology.

[Latif Nasser]

So, for instance, Noor says NASA had spent decades trying to make a heat shield for a solar spacecraft, but the.

[Noor Rawafi]

Heat shield was so heavy, so basically it's not really doable. You cannot do it.

[Latif Nasser]

So what is the solution?

[Noor Rawafi]

The solution is you would be surprised if it's basically a piece of carbon foam.

[Latif Nasser]

What?

[Noor Rawafi]

It's a piece of carbon foam.

[Latif Nasser]

How, how does it work?

[Noor Rawafi]

This is not any carbon foam. This is a very sophisticated carbon foam.

[Latif Nasser]

Okay, tell me about the sophisticated carbon foam.

[Noor Rawafi]

So the heat Shield, it is 4.5 inch thick.

[Latif Nasser]

That's it.

[Noor Rawafi]

And basically all of it is a carbon foam. On top of it, we have also ceramic coating that is white to reflect as much light as possible. But that's the heat shield.

[Latif Nasser]

Okay.

[Noor Rawafi]

And when we are closest to the sun, the heat shield side facing the sun will be glowing at more than 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

[Ada Limon]

Oh, my God.

[Noor Rawafi]

You know, at that temperature, you can melt almost all metals we know of. So the nice thing about this, that the backside of the heat Shield, which is just four inch and a half thickness, it will be at 700 degrees Fahrenheit.

[Latif Nasser]

Huh. So way less.

[Noor Rawafi]

So in a way, in four inch and a half, we already lost 1800 degrees.

[Latif Nasser]

Holy cow.

[Noor Rawafi]

About a yard or a meter behind that.

[Latif Nasser]

Yeah.

[Noor Rawafi]

It is almost room temperature.

[Latif Nasser]

No.

[Noor Rawafi]

Yes.

[Latif Nasser]

How does it do that?

[Noor Rawafi]

Well, that's actually the magic of engineering.

[Latif Nasser]

And that's just the heat shield. Like the spacecraft also has solar panels to power it. But of course, if you get that close to the sun, those could like vaporize. So they develop these like radiator pipes that go on the back of the solar panels.

[Noor Rawafi]

Can you guess what is the liquid we use to cool the solar panels?

[Latif Nasser]

Like liquid nitrogen or something?

[Noor Rawafi]

It's simply water.

[Latif Nasser]

Water.

[Noor Rawafi]

And it's just a gallon of water.

[Latif Nasser]

They also angled all the solar panels so they could be like in the shadows of the spacecraft so they also don't overheat. I mean, it's really, it's just wild.

[Noor Rawafi]

Every piece of it is, is basically edge cutting technology.

[Latif Nasser]

And so on November 6th, this little spacecraft full of edge cutting technology and sophisticated carbon foam and a gallon of water rounded Venus and began its nearly 67 million mile journey to the sun.

[Noor Rawafi]

And on December 24, 2024, which is the Christmas Eve, will be this historical.

[Latif Nasser]

Moment where for the first time ever, we will basically reach out and touch a star.

[Noor Rawafi]

We will be basically embracing a star. To me, that's like magic.

[Latif Nasser]

So that's the quick conversation I had with Nour and why I was so excited to play it for you now, is that I really have this image in my mind of, of you, the listener. Just sometime over the holiday, you'll be doing something holiday related, like maybe lighting a candle or gathering with friends around a fire, or even just like, like microwaving your mom's leftovers. It'll be a heat related thing and then boom, it'll just hit you that at that very moment up in the firmament, this little probe is moving faster than any human made object has ever moved, putting itself and by proxy all of us closer to the sun than we have ever been before. That's what I hope happens. I plan on checking back with Noor at some point in the new year to hear how everything went down, what he and his team learned. And that is the exactly the kind of bonus update that we like to put in our lab member feed. So if you're already a member of the lab, keep your eyes peeled for that. If you are not a member, that is the best way to help us do the things we love to do. Like dig up buried archival tape. Like when we did that for the NYPD psychologist who literally coined the term Stockholm syndrome. Or you know, when we like to go out and add a live dimension to a historical story. Like when we cooked up a thousand year old fish sauce recipe with Samin Nosrat. Or even just, I mean the standard stuff we do, like just hours and hours of labor on immersive soundscapes that make you feel like you're really at the center of the action. We need your support to keep doing this work. If you're already a member of the lab. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. You are vital. If you are not a member, well just know that joining the lab is the best way to make sure that we can keep reliably bringing you deeply researched, carefully produced, rigorously fact checked, edge cutting radio journalism. So consider going to Radiolab.org join and becoming a lab member today. If you already are a member, we just did introduce a new premium level that you could join. It also makes a great holiday gift. Radiolab.org join as a member, you get extra content ad free listing, all kinds of extra little benefits. And we are actually this month as a reward for joining, we're giving out this very cool poster which comes from an episode of our sibling show Terrestrials, hosted by Lulu Miller. And after we come back from a short break, we're gonna play a little bit from the episode that inspired the poster, where Lulu, kind of like myself, also became very, very obsessed about a tiny little spacecraft that in her case was heading out in the opposite direction, saddled with a little less edge cutting technology, but carrying a much more emotional payload. And that's after the break. This year at both Radiolab and our family friendly spinoff Terrestrials, we've spent a lot of time up in the heavens. We've named quasi moons, we've pondered the poetry being sent into space. In General, we spent 2024 marveling at the expanse that surrounds our planet. But as the year ends, we're coming back down to Earth. We have a whole host of stories cooking for you all, but we need your help to keep it all going. We're a public radio show and because of that we rely on the generosity of our listeners. That's you to keep this show afloat. If you join our membership program, the Lab, you will get members only content, swag and an incredibly beautiful poster of one of the most beautiful pieces of episode art we've made this year. If the holiday spirit really has a hold of you, if you're feeling extra generous, we have a new ultra premium tier of the Lab called Whale Sharks. Anyone joining at this tier will get a special thank you in an upcoming episode. To learn more, check out the poster or other details, go to Radiolab.org join that's Radiolab.org join and thanks.

[Lulu Miller]

Radiolab is sponsored by BetterHelp. The holidays are a really stressful time. I am not a fan of them. Christmas, especially not a fan. But whether you are or you aren't, BetterHelp is here to help. I have long believed that taking care of your mental health is just as important as your physical health. And therapy is a great way to do that. It can teach you helpful skills, help you set boundaries, or just, you know, give you the support you need. Plus, BetterHelp makes it super easy. It's all online on your schedule. You go fill out a quick questionnaire, get matched with a licensed therapist, and you can switch therapists at no extra charge. Find comfort whether you love or hate the holidays with Better help, visit betterhelp.com Radiolab today to get 10% off your first month. That's BetterHelp H E L P.com Radiolab.

[Latif Nasser]

Radiolab is supported by Rocket Money. Managing finances can feel complicated and time consuming, right? But it doesn't have to be Rocket Money is a personal finance app that helps find and cancel your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and aims to help lower your bills so you can grow your savings. See all of your subscriptions in one place, and for those you don't want anymore, Rocket Money can help you cancel them. Rocket Money's dashboard also gives you a clear view of your expenses across all of your accounts and can help you easily create a personalized budget with custom categories to help keep your spending on track. Whether your goal is to pay off credit card debt, put away money for a house, or just build your savings, Rocket Money makes it easy. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions and reach your financial goals faster with Rocket Money. Just go to rocketmoney.com rl today that's.

[Capital One Bank Guy]

Rocketmoney.Com rl WNYC Studios is supported by GiveWell. When you make a big purchase, say a car or a new mattress, how do you make sure that you're making the right choice? GiveWell provides an independent resource for a different kind of purchase. A donation over 100,000 donors have used GiveWell to donate. First time using GiveWell when you go to givewell.org and pick podcast and enter WNYC at checkout, you can have your donation matched up to $100 before the end of the year or as long as matching funds last.

[Latif Nasser]

Latif Radiolab so we're now leaving behind the spacecraft that was going to the sun and turning to a spacecraft going out the opposite direction to Jupiter, in particular to Europa. One of Jupiter's moons that has an ocean of water is a possible other place in our solar system that can sustain life. Now again, this was a story that was part of our kids and family podcast Terrestrials, hosted by Lulu Miller, my co host. This spacecraft that this episode is about, it launched just recently in October 2024. And the reason why Lulu became obsessed with it is because on the side of the spacecraft there was going to be a poem etched into it. And tasked with writing that poem, this message to represent all of us here on Earth, was US Poet Laureate Ada Limon.

[Unnamed Poet]

But she was stuck. Like real stuck.

[Ada Limon]

Terrified.

[Unnamed Poet]

So we resume with the tale of what she did to move through that.

[Ada Limon]

Well, I had about three months to write the poem and I was going to Hawaii, to a town, I'm not kidding, named Haiku. And I was staying in the house of a former US poet laureate, W.S. merwin. And so my husband and I went there. It's inside an incredible palm forest, all of these beautiful, different Varieties of palm trees. And so I got to watch all of the different species of birds and all the geckos inside and outside the house. And I had this real space to think and sit with the idea of what I wanted to offer. And so I began writing the poem. I was trying to imagine the audience being sort of out in space, right? Whether there were other beings out there, whether the audience was the stars themselves. I kept imagining a loneliness. And I would read a draft to my husband, and he would say, you know, I think you need to stop writing a NASA poem.

[Unnamed Poet]

What do you think your husband heard when he said that?

[Ada Limon]

I think he was hearing maybe more of a scientific approach, more stiff and formal type of writing. Maybe more of following the assignment, thinking of it as presenting facts about Europa. Poets have one really beautiful way of procrastinating. And let me tell you about it, okay? What we love to do is research. And it means that instead of writing the poem, I think, you know what? I'm gonna go Google everything about this moon of Jupiter. And it's a wonderful distraction, and it's a great way of learning, but it often doesn't actually help you make the poem, but it is our way of just not writing. So I think that that's part of what I was doing was thinking, oh, I'm going to teach people about Europa. And that's what he was hearing. And so what I needed to shift was, oh, no, I need to speak to Europa and have this be a reaching out.

[Unnamed Poet]

Was there anything that. Like a bird or a tree or a moment that led you down the right path or the rabbit hole that would then turn into the more us poem was. I don't know. There might not be, but was there. Do you have anything in your head?

[Ada Limon]

Yeah. I was in Hawaii, and I was staring at this palm frond, and the palms really move. They sort of glow and move. They have a bounciness to them in the wind. And there was a little gecko that was stuck on the underside. It was completely upside down, and he was hanging on this palm frond. And I thought, how amazing that little dude is just, you know, bouncing in the wind back and forth. And I thought of the line, we, too, are made of wonders.

[Unnamed Poet]

We too, reading, like, both Europa and Earth are made of wonders.

[Ada Limon]

Yeah, that's where the poem shifted. Then I realized that really, the audience was us here on this beautiful planet. And it includes everyone on Earth, and it also includes plants and animals. So it needed to be from all of us to all of us. Us and The I me adahad to be taken out of it. And that's where the poem really reached a momentum where I could follow it through. But I think that what I struggled with the most was how to use a we. To be honest, I am someone that's always been a little suspicious of a we. You know, as a Latina, as a woman, there are times where I even think of we, the people. And I think, am I included in that we? I want to know if I'm included in that we.

[Unnamed Poet]

And that, of course, is from our constitution.

[Ada Limon]

Exactly. And so I think that as a poet, I often don't use we. And so I think the most difficult thing I had to do was actually surrender to the we and remember that the we had to represent and to try to include trees and animals and plants. And so I had to really release that idea of the eye and make room for my most communal voice. And that was where the poem took.

[Unnamed Poet]

Hold, really took hold. That poem is now engraved into the spacecraft, and Ada's words are literally touching the cold of space, collecting stardust as they blast toward Jupiter's moon. She did it. She found a way to write a message from all of us here in this water world to Jupiter's water world in under 200 words. All right, well, would you be up for. For reading it?

[Ada Limon]

I would be honored. In praise of mystery, a poem for Europa. Arching under the night sky, inky with black expansiveness. We point to the planets we know. We pin quick wishes on stars from Earth. We read the sky as if it is an unerring book of the universe, Expert and evident still there are mysteries below our sky. The whale song, the songbird singing its call in the bough of a wind shaken tree. We are creatures of constant awe, Curious at beauty, at leaf and blossom, at grief and pleasure, sun and shadow. And it is not darkness that unites us, not the cold distance of space, but the offering of water, each drop of rain, each rivulet, each pulse, each vein, O second moon. We too are made of water, of vast and beckoning seas. We too are made of wonders, of great and ordinary loves, of small invisible worlds, of a need to call out through the dark.

[Unnamed Poet]

Do you feel like a part of you is going to space?

[Ada Limon]

I do. I do feel like a part of me is going to space. And because I made the poem and the line breaks and the stanza breaks, that you have my own breath in it, the way that I read it, the way that I, you know, made the poem. And so in some ways, it is my little Human breath is going.

[Latif Nasser]

So like I said earlier, we made a poster inspired by this episode of Terrestrials. It is beautiful. You can check it out on our website or on Instagram and it can be yours if you go to radiolab.org join and become a lab member. Like I said, lab members are a critical part of how we fund the show, how we get to do the work that we do. So please, considering if you haven't already joining, you get all sorts of stuff, bonus content, ad free episodes, this amazing poster. If you are already a member, a small additional one time gift will also get you the poster. Now, whether you are a lab member or are about to become one or you know, whatever, you can't afford to do it this time of year. I want to tell you about one more way that you can sort of join our little party here at no cost to you. Because as some of you might know, we are in the last week of our global contest to name one of Earth's Quasimoons. A little rocky buddy that'll be with us for the next 600 laps around the sun. We partnered with the official namers of things in space, the International Astronomical Union and we solicited thousands of names from nearly a hundred countries. We winnowed them down to seven finalists and now for the next week only, you get to choose the one you like best. The name with the most votes will be the official name for this thing in space that will outlive us all. Vote for the name you like [e-mail] moon before the end of the year. That's. That's Radiolab.org moon it'll take two minutes and you can say you made your mark in the heavens. Our little solar probe journey, by the way, was produced and sound designed by Matt Kilty. And of course the bit of terrestrials you just heard was produced by the Terrestrials team, Ana Gonzalez, Mira Burton Tonic and Lulu Miller, with help from Tanya Chawla, Alan Gaffinski, Sarah Sandbach, Valentina Powers and Joe Plord. Fact checking by Natalie Middleton. You can hear that whole episode of Terrestrials which is packed full of just gorgeous spacey stuff about Europa and not to mention questions being asked by adorable children. You can hear that whole episode. It is called An Ocean in Space. Over on our kids feed@terrestrials podcast.org that's it for today. That's it for this year. So I will see you in 2025 when we will be diving into the darkest place on the planet. We will be getting high, huffing apples and we will be untangling quantum entanglement inside a bird's eyeball. Something to look forward to. Yeah. Happy holidays. Thanks for listening. Catch you next time.

[Lemon]

Hey, I'm Lemon and I'm from Richmond, Indiana. And here are the staff credits. Radiolab was created by Jad Abumrad and is edited by Soren Wheeler. Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser are our co hosts. Dylan Keith is our director of sound design. Our staff includes Simon Adler, Jeremy Bloom, Becca Bressler, W. Harry Fortuna, David Gable, Maria Paz Gutierrez, Sindhu Nyan Sambandan, Matt Kielty, Rebecca Lacks, Annie McEwen, Alex Neeson, Sara Khari, Sarah Sandbach, Anissa Vitza, Arianne Wack, Pat Walters and Molly Webster. Our fact checkers are Diane Kelly, Emily Krieger and Natalie Middleton.

[Tresa]

Hi, my name is Tresa. I'm calling from Colchester in Essex, uk. Leadership support for Radiolab Science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation Science Sandbox, Siemens Foundation Initiative and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

[Ada Limon]

This is the sound of your ride home with dad after he caught you vaping. Awkward, isn't it? Most vapes contain seriously addictive levels of nicotine and disappointment. Know the real cost of vapes brought to you by the fda.

[Ira Flatow]

This is Ira Flato, host of Science Friday. For over 30 years, the science Friday team has been reporting high quality science and technology news, making science fun for curious people by covering everything from the outer reaches of space to the rapidly changing world of AI to the tiniest microbes in our bodies. Audiences trust our show because they know we're driven by a mission to inform and serve listeners first and foremost with important news they won't get anywhere else. And our sponsors benefit from that halo effect. For more information on becoming a sponsor, visit sponsorship.wnyc.org.