Hi, Ira here, and you're listening to Science Friday. Now for a deep dive to the center of the earth

to ponder what exactly makes up the earth's core and how did they get there? A recent study tried to

simulate conditions deep in the earth using samples under extreme pressure and temperature,

and in those simulations, they find that the Earth's core may have significant amounts of

hydrogen locked away with iron and silicon. That finding has implications for how the planet

formed and where the water on Earth may have come from. Joining me now to talk about studying the deep parts of the planet formed and where the water on Earth may have come from.

Joining me now to talk about studying the deep parts of the planet is planetary scientist, Dr. Anachahar.

She's also vice president for research at the Carnegie Institute for Science in Washington.

Welcome to Science Friday.

Thank you so much for having me.

You're quite welcome.

This is really one of my

favorite topics because I've been studying this for years since I was a little kid with my golden

book of the earth. Your group was not involved in this study but has done similar work

simulating conditions, right? Walk me through how this all works. Yes, absolutely. So the way that it

works is that we take two diamonds and we put a

very small sample in between the two diamonds and then we squeeze the diamonds together, heat the

sample with the laser that is shot through the diamonds, and we can simulate the pressure

and temperature conditions within the Earth's interior.

So why do you need to do it this way?

There is no way to get a sample of the Earth's core. It is very, very deep below our feet.

So in order to understand what's happening down there, we have to be able to simulate the conditions of these high pressures and temperatures in the laboratory.

...