Plate Tectonics and Life

Discovery

BBC

Science, Technology

4.3 • 1.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 July 2013

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Earthquakes are feared for their destructive, deadly force. But they are part of a geological process - plate tectonics - that some scientists say is vital for the existence of life itself. Without the ever-changing land surfaces that plate tectonics produces, or the high continental masses raised above sea level by earthquake activity, planet Earth would atrophy into a lifeless mass, like our neighbour Mars. But why is Earth the only planet with plate tectonics? And, when did they start? The clues are so faint, the traces so ephemeral, that researchers are only now beginning to find tentative answers. Extraordinarily, some say that life itself has changed the forces in plate tectonics, and helped to shape the world.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Choosing what to watch night after night the flicking through the endless
0:06.8	searching is a nightmare we want to help you on our brand new podcast off the
0:11.8	telly we share what we've been watching
0:14.0	Cladie Aide.
0:16.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
0:19.0	Lovely. Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
0:21.0	And me, Natalie Cassidy, so your evenings can be a little less
0:24.9	searching and a lot more auction listen on BBC sounds just before this
0:30.3	BBC podcast gets underway here's something you may not know.
0:34.4	My name's Linda Davies and I commission podcast for BBC Sounds.
0:38.3	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely
0:46.0	engaging voices. What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:54.2	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories.
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0:59.4	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC Sounds.
1:07.0	Choosing what to watch. Night after night. The flicking through. The endless searching is a nightmare.
1:14.0	We want to help you.
1:16.0	On our brand new podcast off the telly we share what we've been watching.
1:20.0	Cladie Aidea!
1:22.0	Load to games, loads of fun, loads of screaming.
1:24.5	Lovely.
1:25.5	Off the telly with me Joanna Paige.
	...

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