Welcome to Star Talk.

Your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide.

Star Talk begins right now.

Welcome back to Star Talk Radio.

I'm your host, the Grass Tyson, and an astrophysicist and director of New York City's Hayden

Planetarium.

This week we have a special edition of Star Talk where we focus on the violent earth.

Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis.

We want to give you the science that enables us to understand and interpret the reports we've

been getting from the Pacific Rim.

On March 11th, Japan was hit by a triple punch, a 8.9 magnitude earthquake, a tsunami that

followed shortly after, and one of the scariest among natural disasters that you might imagine,

the concern about a nuclear power plant right there on the coast, damaged by the tsunami,

and the earthquake is at risk of meltdown.

We'll address the science behind each of these issues, and over the course of the show,

we will bring in experts to find out and get to the bottom of what's going on in the science of the earth.

I'm joined this week by my colleagues at the American Museum of Natural History.

One is a friend, for decades, Steve Soder.

He's an astrophysicist.

Steve, welcome to Star Talk Radio.

Thank you.

Yeah, and he's a, happens to be an expert on earth phenomenon as well as tsunamis throughout history.

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