Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org From January & February 2026. Today's 2 topics: - On Earth, human life is enabled by plants which provide us with calories, vitamins, fuel, medicines, and oxygen to breathe. In addition, recent scientific studies indicate that plant cultivation reduces anxiety and depression and has a positive influence on diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and longevity. Perhaps this is the reason that 80% of the cultivated plant species on planet Earth are not used for any food related purpose. On long duration space missions astronauts live in close quarters isolated from the natural world where the basic activities like eating, sleeping, and attending to bodily functions are difficult and stress producing. - On it's gravitational leash, Earth's pet space rock, 2016 HO3, accompanies us at a distance of between 38 and 100 times the Moon's distance from Earth as we both travel about the Sun. As this tiny asteroid orbits the Sun it spends about half of its time inside the Earth's orbit where it moves faster and passes ahead of us and the other half of its yearly path outside of our orbit which causes it to lag behind our home planet. Since its discovery little has been known about Earth's pet space rock leaving some to speculate that perhaps it is an old rocket booster or other piece of space junk. We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs. Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too! Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations. Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at [email protected].

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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