Iridium's Pivotal Role In Our Past And ... Maybe Our Future?

Short Wave

NPR

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4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 23 December 2019

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

The story of how a father and son team - one a physicist, one a geologist - helped solve a big scientific mystery. What brought the reign of dinosaurs to an end? NPR Science Correspondent Richard Harris tells us how they turned to an element, iridium, for answers. Plus, how iridium could help prevent another potential future global catastrophe. It's our celebration of 150 years of the periodic table of elements. Follow Maddie on Twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the team at [email protected].

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:05.7	Maddie Sufai here, it's the 150th anniversary of the periodic table of elements and we have
0:11.4	been celebrating by highlighting some of our favorite elements.
0:14.9	We did helium, we did aluminum, and now Richard Harris, longtime NPR science correspondent,
0:20.2	is going to tell us about his favorite.
0:21.8	Yep, iridium.
0:23.2	Iridium, I know, IRR on the period table, atomic number 77, it's a metal, and that's everything
0:29.1	you need to know.
0:30.1	Well, I guess that's it.
0:31.1	Oh, wait, wait, wait, wait, I have a few other ideas.
0:32.7	I just should tell you, first of all, that iridium is not only one of the rarest elements
0:36.7	on the Earth's crust, it gives us an important clue about solving a longstanding mystery,
0:41.2	one of my favorites, about dinosaurs.
0:43.6	Love dinosaurs.
0:44.6	What's that?
0:45.6	I love.
0:46.6	Jurassic Park, good movie, one of my favorites.
0:48.0	Mine too, and I'm still waiting for the sequel, Cretaceous Park.
0:51.3	Because that's one that big old dinosaurs went extinct at the end of the Cretaceous, right?
0:56.2	And iridium has provided a surprising clue about how that went down.
1:00.1	Little extinction clue.
1:01.4	Yes, and iridium doesn't just tell us about mass extinction, it might just possibly
	...

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