① spectrum /ˈspektrəm/ n. a band of coloured lights in order of their wavelengths, as seen in a rainbow and into which light may be separated 谱；光谱

At least your special eyes would be able to see this if the sky wasn’t flooded with interference from routers③, satellites, and, of course, people flying who haven't put their phones on airplane mode. You see, this setting isn't to protect your flight, it's to protect everyone else in your flight path.

⑤ relay /ˈriːleɪ/ v. to receive and send on information, news, etc. to sb 接转，转送，转发（信息、消息等）

⑥ advent /ˈædvent/ n. the ~ of sth/sb the coming of an important event, person, invention, etc. （重要事件、人物、发明等的）出现，到来

With all these signals in the air and a limited number of colors to assign, avoiding interference is increasingly difficult. Especially when cell towers receive too many signals at once, such as during regional emergencies, when everyone's trying to use their phones. But other sources of interference are more preventable, like phones searching for signals from thousands of meters in the sky.

Phones on planes are very far from cell towers, so they work overtime to send the loudest signals they can in search of service. But since planes travel so quickly, the phones might find themselves much closer to a cell tower than expected—blasting it with a massive signal that drowns out those on the ground.

⑦ jammer /ˈdʒæmə(r)/ n. a transmitter used to broadcast electronic jamming 〈电讯〉干扰发射机；U型钢丝芯撑

Even on the ground, almost all our electronics emit rogue radio waves, slowing down our internet and making our calls choppy. This leads consumers to pay for more bandwidth⑧, pushing service providers to take over more of the radio spectrum, and eventually, send more satellites into the sky—creating a vicious cycle that could eventually blot⑨ out the stars.

⑨ blot /blɒt/ v. to cover or hide sth completely 遮住；掩盖；隐藏

Though, even without these satellites, this system is threatening our relationship with the cosmos. Radio telescopes used for astronomy rely on a specific band of wavelengths to see deep into space. However, while this range is supposedly protected, the cutoffs aren’t enforced.

For example, the Very Large Array can see signals throughout our solar system from 1 to 50 GHz. But if it tries looking for signals below 5 GHz, its search could be drowned out by a sea of phones on 5G networks.

Today, nowhere on Earth is truly radio quiet. Satellites relaying signals around the globe have blanketed the planet in radio waves. But there are a few places with less crowded skies, where radio telescopes can look deep into space.

Here, we can see the black hole at the center of the Milky Way, and uncover the secrets of galaxies up to 96 billion light years away. Well, so long as we’re not blinded by phones sending signals from first class.

来源：TED官网

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