A Possible Sequel to the Dinosaur Armageddon

BBC Inside Science

BBC

Technology, Science

4.5 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2022

⏱️ 31 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Did the Chicxulub meteor that did for the dinosaurs have a smaller companion? Dr Uisdean Nicholson and Professor Sean Gulick talk to Vic Gill about the newly discovered Nadir Crater. Located on the other side of the Atlantic, it’s raising questions about whether Earth was bombarded with not one, but two, meteors on the day the dinosaurs were wiped out. Back in January, the Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai volcano in Tonga erupted explosively, triggering a massive tsunami across the Pacific. Now, engineers are remotely scanning the volcano from 16,000km away in Essex. Ashley Skett from SEA-KIT International and Dr Mike Williams from NIWA describe how a robotic vessel is mapping the Tongan seabed. And we get to the bottom of the mystery surrounding a 500-million-year-old fossil…quite literally. The microscopic, fossilised beast, which has no anus, was previously thought to be our earliest known ancestor. Emily Carlisle from the University of Bristol explains how the theory was debunked. Presented by Victoria Gill Reporting by Emily Bird Produced by Alex Mansfield

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I'd like to introduce myself.
0:03.7	My name's Stevie Middleton and I'm a BBC Commissioner for a Load of Sport Podcasts.
0:08.4	I'm lucky to do that at the BBC because I get to work with a leading journalist, experienced
0:12.2	pundits and the biggest sport stars.
0:14.3	Together we bring you untold stories and fascinating insights straight from the players'
0:18.5	mouths.
0:19.5	But the best thing about doing this at the BBC is our unique access to the sport world.
0:25.0	What that means is that we can bring you podcasts that create a real connection to
0:28.8	dedicated sports fans across the UK.
0:31.2	So if you like this podcast, head over to BBC Sounds where you'll find plenty more.
0:40.1	Hello, you lovely curious minded people.
0:42.4	This is the podcast edition of BBC Inside Science, originally broadcast on the 18th of August 2022.
0:48.9	I'm Victoria Gill.
0:50.4	This week, deep time, we're getting to the bottom in more ways than one of the 500 million-year-old
0:56.6	evolutionary mystery surrounding a fossilised beast that was thought to be our earliest ancestor.
1:02.2	And we'll be finding out why if you want to explore the undersea Tongan volcano that produced
1:07.1	Earth's biggest atmospheric explosion in more than a century, you should visit a humble
1:11.5	control room in Essex.
1:13.7	But first, when, one terrible day, 66 million years ago, an asteroid slammed into what's
1:19.7	now the Gulf of Mexico wiping out the dinosaurs, it might not have been the only space rock
1:24.8	to collide with the planet.
1:26.4	Researchers have, sort of, by accident, discovered what appears to be a second-impact crater on the
	...

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