PLANETARY DEFENSE GAINING VERA RUBIN OBSERVATORY IN CHILE AND NEO SURVEYOR IN ORBIT: 1/4: Impact: How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong Hardcover – by Greg Brennecka (Author)
The John Batchelor Show
John Batchelor
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 1 March 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
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Summary
https://www.amazon.com/Impact-Rocks-Space-Culture-Donkey/dp/0063078929/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
Impact argues that Earth would be a lifeless, inhospitable piece of rock without being fortuitously assaulted with meteorites throughout the history of the planet. These bombardments transformed Earth’s early atmosphere and delivered the complex organic molecules that allowed life to develop on our planet. While meteorites have provided the raw materials for life to thrive, they have radically devastated life as well, most famously killing off the dinosaurs and paving the way for humans to evolve to where we are today.
As noted meteoriticist Greg Brennecka explains, meteorites did not just set us on the path to becoming human, they helped direct the development of human culture. Meteorites have influenced humanity since the start of civilization. Over the centuries, meteorite falls and other cosmic cinema have started (and stopped) wars, terrified millions, and inspired religions throughout the world.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is CBS Eye on the World. |
| 0:07.0 | Here's John Batchelor. |
| 0:10.0 | Asteroids, meteors, comets, the material we swim through on the planet Earth and our solar system. |
| 0:19.0 | I welcome Greg Brenneke. |
| 0:22.0 | Greg is the author of the new book, Impact, |
| 0:24.9 | how rocks from space led to life culture in Donkey Kong. |
| 0:28.5 | He is a cosmochemist and a staff scientist |
| 0:31.7 | at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California. |
| 0:37.5 | Right now, however, he's going to travel with me to Normandy, France. |
| 0:42.0 | The year is 1803, the same year Thomas Jefferson acquired the Louisiana purchase, |
| 0:48.0 | and we're going to witness the documentation by a young friend scientist named Jean-Baptiste B.O. of rocks that fell from |
| 0:59.0 | heaven, because until this moment, there was doubt where asteroids and meteors and comets came from. |
| 1:08.2 | Greg, a very good evening to you. Congratulations. What was B.O.'s mission when he |
| 1:13.1 | traveled to Normandy, and how did he fulfill the mission so that we can date your work in |
| 1:18.4 | meteors from that moment? Good evening to you. Yes, good evening. Thanks a lot for having me. |
| 1:24.1 | Beaux's mission was actually quite simple. It was figure out what happened. And there was, |
| 1:29.4 | you know, a ton of witnesses for this event. It was a big meteor shower with a lot of stones |
| 1:35.2 | that were recovered. And that was very confusing. And kind of the powers of B wanted to find out |
| 1:40.7 | exactly what happened. So he was sent to investigate, and that was his charge. |
| 1:44.7 | And he did a fantastic job of it, and it turned the course of history, at least for meteoretics, |
| 1:49.9 | and our understanding of where rocks falling from the sky come from. |
| 1:53.0 | The detail I enjoyed is that he charted where the pieces fell. |
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