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I'm the head of brand my name is

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Laura at TED. I'm the head of brand

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partnerships at Georgetown I'm also a

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graduate of Georgetown University's McDonough

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School of Business, where I joined

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a diverse and globally connected

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network of business leaders a to

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building a meaningful legacy. My

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transformative time inside and outside the

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classroom provided me with the knowledge

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and skills to address complex issues

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I engaged with the Georgetown

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community in ways that sharpened

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here at here at You can

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Duty. Hello, my

3:55

name is Laura Bayer. I'm the head of brand partnerships

3:57

at TED. I'm also a graduate Georgetown

3:59

University's McDonough School of Business

4:01

where I joined a diverse

4:03

and globally connected network of

4:05

business leaders dedicated to building

4:07

a meaningful legacy. My transformative

4:09

time inside and outside the

4:11

classroom provided me with the

4:13

knowledge and skills to address

4:15

complex issues and identify new

4:17

opportunities in the workplace. I

4:19

engaged with the Georgetown community

4:21

in ways that sharpened my

4:23

strategic analytical and communication skills

4:25

all grounded in a values -based

4:27

approach to business. I'm

4:30

now connected with accomplished alumni

4:32

who support one another's personal and

4:34

professional journeys. When I finished

4:36

my master's program, I was ready

4:38

to excel in business and

4:40

make an impact on society that

4:42

I've been able to accomplish

4:44

here at TED. You can earn

4:46

a master's degree that fits

4:48

your future. Build your legacy with

4:50

Georgetown McDonough. Visit msb .georgetown .edu -ted.

4:54

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tech. And

5:31

now. Noree Rawafi takes

5:34

the Ted stage. Allow

5:36

me to introduce you to the celestial

5:38

body that holds the most significance for us

5:40

all. the sun. You

5:43

might say. I already know the

5:46

sun. I've seen it every day

5:48

for my entire life. Yes.

5:51

Earth Star is our lifelong companion. It

5:55

is our mood booster, our plant

5:57

the crowbar. our sometimes too

5:59

much of a good... We all know love

6:01

and all know, sun. I'm

6:03

an I'm an

6:05

astrophysicist. I live for live for

6:08

studying the the sun, its complexity in

6:10

the weird and powerful weather system

6:12

it creates. and powerful weather

6:14

when I get so into it, which is most

6:16

of the time anyway... when I get so

6:19

My wife would

6:21

ask, are you

6:23

also time anyway, my wife will

6:25

ask, are you also married

6:27

say, sun? Technically,

6:29

no. But if it But if it doesn't

6:31

upset you too much, yes. No, having

6:33

said that, I'm Now, having said that,

6:36

I'm not sure what I'm going

6:38

to sleep tonight. tonight. So I can confirm that

6:40

we know the I can confirm that we

6:42

know the sign better than any cellular

6:44

system in the whole universe. But I'm going

6:46

to I'm going to let you in a little secret.

6:49

Sometimes I feel like we don't

6:51

know know at all. at all. As a

6:53

child, I a child, I

6:55

was captivated by the sky glittering

6:57

with stars. stars. which are nothing but

7:00

but distant suns. Now you need your back

7:02

night. night, look up at the heavens,

7:04

and there and there you have it. whichever

7:06

direction you look, is a there is a

7:08

star shining at you. sun. That sign. the

7:10

start of was the start of

7:12

the journey of wonder and curiosity. in

7:15

all Stars come in all sizes

7:17

and flavors, to from monsters to draw the

7:19

If we were to draw in

7:21

largest known star in the universe

7:23

into our solar system, it would

7:25

extend well beyond the orbit of

7:27

Jupiter. The small s is about the

7:29

same size as the size as the planet's

7:31

matter the size and matter the size and

7:33

type, great significance for us. for

7:37

are all made of star dust.

7:39

dust, star babies. Yet no star

7:41

holds holds great significance for

7:43

our past. past, our our present and

7:45

future than our very own. very own.

7:47

The sun is responsible for life

7:49

on for life on Earth, powering photosynthesis,

7:52

warming the planet. planet, providing

7:54

clean and free energy. energy. But

7:57

it is is also explosive,

7:59

and then... Here's what I mean. what they

8:01

mean. Lights are The northern

8:03

lights are beautiful and mesmerizing, right? right?

8:06

On September 1st, 1859,

8:08

1859, people could in

8:11

daytime, around the entire even

8:13

in daytime, around entire

8:15

globe. of the most Tony's out.

8:19

That was the result of the

8:21

most intense history. in recorded history. This

8:23

was the was likely a giant

8:26

It was likely a

8:28

giant mass ejection or CME. that disrupted

8:30

telegraph lines lines fires

8:32

at their stations. their stations. you

8:34

imagine? imagine the There are precautions of

8:36

such a storm today. today? It could shut

8:38

down the entire power grid, power not

8:40

for hours, hours, but weeks and months or

8:42

even years. years. The The potential for

8:44

human distress in the affected areas

8:46

is well beyond our scale of

8:48

comprehension. of comprehension. The The

8:51

economic impact alone could be in the

8:53

trillions of dollars. of dollars. So

8:55

So learning about the one star

8:57

in the universe that humans

8:59

cannot do without humans vital. without is that's

9:02

what physicists like me are trying to do. like

9:05

me, are trying to do. So what

9:07

do we know already? The sun

9:09

holds holds over 99 .8 %

9:11

of the solar system total

9:13

mass. Its sheer size is size

9:15

is mind -boggling, requiring more

9:17

than 1 .3 million Earth to

9:19

to fill volume. All of of that

9:21

mass is in the form of plasma.

9:23

a a glowing soup of electrically charged

9:25

particles. At the At the solar

9:28

core, gravity exceedingly high.

9:30

producing temperatures in excess

9:32

of 15 million degrees Celsius.

9:34

The extreme pressure. forces the

9:36

protons to come together and

9:39

diffuse into helium while releasing a of

9:41

energy. This is is

9:43

fusion. And if we can if

9:45

we can replicate this process sustainably on

9:47

Earth. Earth, it would It would provide

9:49

almost limitless clean energy to to the

9:51

entire entire globe. Many Many of

9:53

us have witnessed total solar in

9:56

2024. the one in 2024. This fascinating

9:58

celestial spectacle. ...

10:00

has captivated humans for millennia. As

10:02

the moon gracefully positioned itself between

10:05

us and the sun, the solar

10:07

corona bursts forth in all its

10:09

majestic splendor. But the corona also

10:12

harbored some of the most perplexing

10:14

phenomena. The solar surface is plenty

10:17

hot, 6,000 degrees. Hot enough to

10:19

melt anything we know, but in

10:21

the corona, we're talking millions of

10:24

degrees Celsius. How can it be

10:26

over 300 times hotter despite being

10:29

the sun's outermost layer? Physicians

10:31

have suggested since the 50s that

10:33

all of that heat must generate

10:36

a constant of flow of particles.

10:38

This is a solar wind. It

10:40

speeds away at up to 3

10:43

million kilometers per hour. At that

10:45

speed, you can get from the

10:48

Earth to the moon in

10:50

under 20 minutes. This cosmic stream

10:52

is like celestial rapids, and that's

10:54

where we live. Behind all this

10:57

is the sun's magnetism. A solar

10:59

magnetic fields twist. band and tangle,

11:02

they store enormous amounts of energy.

11:04

And when they snap, huge explosions,

11:06

like flares and coral mass ejections,

11:09

release this energy and turn it

11:11

into heat and accelerate it with

11:14

plasma. It takes only a handful

11:16

of these strong events to fulfill

11:18

our current energy needs for some

11:21

200,000 years. That is the whole

11:23

span of modern humans' existence. The

11:26

sun does that in minutes to

11:28

few hours. The same explosions

11:30

propel particles to nearly the speed

11:32

of life and turn them into

11:35

formidable hazard to spacecrafts and to

11:37

humans in space. Does the loss

11:40

of 40 space-ex-satellites ring a bell

11:42

or moderate solar storm knock them

11:44

out? Our power gridconval victim, like

11:47

in March 1989 in the

11:49

northeast of the US Canada, when

11:51

a succession of solar storms caused

11:54

an intense geomagnetic storm. Even deep

11:56

seas can be affected. In 1972,

11:58

Dozens of sea mines is spontaneous.

12:01

So we needly explode. The likely

12:03

cause? You guessed it. A powerful

12:06

color mass ejection. So we need

12:08

to learn how the sun does

12:10

all this and more. Since the

12:13

dawn of the space age, NASA

12:15

has wanted to fly a spacecraft

12:18

as close as possible to the

12:20

sun to solve these mysteries. But

12:22

getting very close to our star

12:25

is extremely risky and really hard.

12:27

How would we protect a

12:29

probe from just melting? How could

12:32

it adjust for any problem in

12:34

its own? when you cannot communicate

12:36

with it. Until recently, we simply

12:39

didn't possess a technology. In 2018,

12:41

that all changed with the launch

12:44

of Parkosolar probe. Parkosolar probe is

12:46

the first spacecraft to ever

12:48

fly through the solar corona. It

12:50

has revolutionized our understanding of the

12:53

sun. In five plus years, we've

12:55

already learned so much. We now

12:58

know how the solar wind is

13:00

generated at its source. We are

13:02

the closest ever to understanding what

13:05

heats and accelerates to the plasma

13:07

in the corona in the solar

13:10

wind. And we have the most

13:12

detailed observation of coral mass projections.

13:14

Can you hear that? It erupted

13:17

on September 5th, 2022, and it

13:19

was traveling at more than 2,500

13:22

kilometers per second, when it hit

13:24

our brave probe very close to

13:26

the sun. For days, we

13:28

didn't know whether Parkastolo probe made

13:31

it or not, because it was

13:33

on the backside of the sun.

13:36

But once it emerged on the

13:38

other side, it called back saying,

13:40

everything is fine, and we have

13:43

a ton of data for you

13:45

that will give you an

13:47

unprecedented look at how this events.

13:50

accelerate particles to almost the speed

13:52

of light and sweep almost everything

13:54

in their way, leaving a new-perfect

13:57

vacuum behind. And that is just

13:59

a sum. We cannot catch a

14:02

breath with this mission. Every three

14:04

months, we have a close

14:06

approach to the sun and a

14:08

new load of data to investigate.

14:11

It's overwhelming at times, but these

14:13

data will serve many generations to

14:16

come. Parkerson of Prob is a

14:18

two-mission for the ages. So are

14:20

you curious? How did we do

14:23

it? Parkerson Rob is not a

14:25

large spacecraft. It could fit

14:27

under a basketball hoop and carries

14:30

about half the weight of a

14:32

compact car, but it is a

14:34

marvel of technology. The only thing

14:37

standing between the probe and incineration

14:39

is an ingenious 11.5 centimeter- thick,

14:42

2.3 meter-wide carbon-form shield. On Christmas

14:44

Eve, 2024, the shield sun-facing

14:46

side will endure about 1,000 degrees

14:48

Celsius. About one meter behind, it's

14:51

almost a strong temperature. How does

14:53

Parker shed all that heat? The

14:57

special ceramic coating on top

14:59

of the heat shield reflects

15:02

as much light as possible.

15:04

The heat shield itself absorbs

15:06

a huge amount of heat

15:09

in Rhodeses elsewhere. Meanwhile, a

15:11

network of time pipes runs

15:14

through the solar panels, extracting

15:16

heat and expanding it through

15:19

the radiators. It uses a

15:21

liquid-based cooling system. The liquid

15:24

is a simple gallon of

15:26

water. All this is very

15:29

cool. Amazing science. and really

15:31

fun to geek out about.

15:33

It also happens to be

15:36

vitally important. for your lives

15:38

into mind. Delving into the

15:41

Sun's history, we discovered periods

15:43

when it entered long, tranquil

15:46

phases that lasted for decades.

15:48

During these times, called the

15:51

solar-grant minima, solar activity diminished

15:53

to the point of mere

15:55

non-existence, along with extreme climate

15:58

conditions on Earth. One such

16:00

episode lasted for an astounding

16:03

seven decades. from 1645 to

16:05

1715, and it coincided with

16:08

a little ice age. This

16:10

episode seems to occur every

16:13

200 to 300 years or

16:15

so. Now, here's the thrilling

16:17

intrigue. We are overdue. Is

16:20

the sign about to entering

16:22

new and extended law of

16:25

minimal activity? When will it

16:27

happen? How long would it

16:30

last? How deep will it

16:32

be? We don't know. The

16:35

most important thing, however, is

16:37

what impact this phenomenon could

16:39

have on our lives, our

16:42

movements, our energy, our food

16:44

sources. How would it affect

16:47

our climate and our atmosphere?

16:49

The sun is not a

16:52

driver in Earth's current changing

16:54

climate. But if it enters

16:57

an extended period of tranquility,

16:59

how much could it slow

17:02

the pace? Again, we don't

17:04

really know. To answer all

17:06

these critical questions that shape

17:09

the fate of our society,

17:11

we must unlock the sun's

17:14

secret from its fiery core

17:16

to its outer riches. For

17:19

our future, for the world

17:21

we live behind, for our

17:24

children and theirs, we must

17:26

transform the way we observe

17:28

the sun and deepen our

17:31

understanding of how it influences

17:33

its surroundings, in particular our

17:36

cherished planet Earth. Without doubt,

17:38

this undertaking poses formidable challenges.

17:41

But it's another it's another

17:43

adventure line unlike any we've

17:46

been on before Here lies

17:48

yet again another opportunity to

17:50

transcend our that forge

17:53

ahead with

17:55

our epic journey

17:58

of progress

18:00

and prosperity. TED

18:03

For better or

18:05

worse, better dictates

18:08

our past, our

18:10

present, and our destiny. Thank

18:14

you. past,

18:16

our present and

18:18

was destiny.

18:20

Thank you. And

18:28

that's it for today.

18:30

today. Ted Tech is part Tech

18:32

is part of the

18:34

TED collective. This This episode

18:36

was produced by Nina Bird

18:38

edited by Alejandro Salazar, and by

18:40

Julia Dickerson. Julia thanks

18:43

to Maria thanks to Maria Laddeus, Ferra

18:45

DeGrunge, and Belareso, and Roxanne

18:47

I'm Cheryl Dorsey. Thanks

18:49

for listening listening. Support

19:02

for this episode comes from the University of Illinois

19:04

Geese College of Business Online NBA, known as the

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IMBA, which provides unmatched flexibility that allows you to

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put your degree within reach. Jeff student, a

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has already seen the

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impact. has already seen the impact. My name

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is Jeff Wayman. I'm an IMBA

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an IMBA student at

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the University of Illinois Geese

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College of Business. Currently, I'm head of

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I'm head of content

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strategy for the Office of

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CTO for a tech company. I

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have a have a career path that I

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pretty much understand. I'm I'm looking to expand

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my capabilities and and into more senior leadership

19:37

roles. roles. And so an an MBA was always something

19:39

that was on my mind. You know, I You

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know, I would consider myself a lifelong

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learner. know, I enjoy know, I enjoy it. When

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narrowing it down to a few programs at

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Geese University of Illinois, a lot a lot

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of flexibility into what you would focus on

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on the MBA. And so the so the ability sort

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of target areas I want to focus

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on in my business education was really important.

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That is part of the of the you know,

20:00

use curriculum. Fears and Fears and hesitations I

20:02

had, back to of going back to school, I

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think the biggest thing is, you know,

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time management. is My work is flexible, but

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at the is same time, it's unpredictable. I have

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I have a family as well. The The

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program in every way has certainly given me

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that opportunity for flexibility. I think that I think

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if there's a class that day. that day. I

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know, And so, you know, based on

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that investment, I what could I expect from

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that? be more If I can be more

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competitive when I go to my next

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my or have my next interview, absolutely I've

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think I've got a return on that

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investment. You know, know, best case scenario, it changes

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changes my career path or trajectory. at

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Looking at other students to other

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things people have done, have done, certainly a

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possibility. I do do not think

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you will find a program that has put

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more time and energy in and effort into how they deliver

21:00

the they deliver the with the how they

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interact with the students, how they build

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the curriculum, as how they ensure as much

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