Searching for Cosmic Dust

Seriously...

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary

4.1 • 885 Ratings

🗓️ 16 June 2023

⏱️ 30 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Norwegian jazz musician Jon Larsen was having breakfast one clear spring morning when he noticed a tiny black speck land on his clean, white table. With no wind, birds or planes in sight, he wondered if it fell from space.

Dust from space isn’t as fanciful as it sounds. Billions of microscopic meteorites, dating back to the birth of our solar system, fall onto Earth every year. But they are so tiny, hidden among the copious dust of everyday life, that scientists believe they are impossible to find outside ultra clean environments like Antarctica. But this doesn’t deter Jon, who, against the advice of all experts, decides he is going to be the first person to find an urban micrometeorite.

He takes presenter Caroline Steel and planetary scientist Dr Matthew Genge up onto some roofs, in search of the elusive particles. Can we find stardust on the top of the BBC?

Featuring Jon Larsen, Dr Matthew Genge (Imperial College London) and Svein Aarbostad. Presenter: Caroline Steel Producer: Cathy Edwards and Caroline Steel

Transcript

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0:00.0	This was an impregnable fortress. The only way you get out was in a wooden box.
0:05.0	The controversial maximum security prison impossible to escape from.
0:09.0	And one of the duties of a political prisoner is the escape.
0:12.0	The IRA inmates who found a way. of a political prisoner is the escape.
0:12.5	The IRA inmates who found a way.
0:14.5	I'm Carlo Gableer and I'll be navigating a path
0:19.5	through the disturbing inside story of the biggest jailbreak in British and Irish history.
0:25.0	The narrative that they want is that this is a big achievement by them.
0:28.5	Escape from the maze, listen first on BBC Sounds.
0:35.0	BBC Sounds.
0:36.0	BBC Sounds, music radio podcasts.
0:39.0	All right there, fellow podcast lovers.
0:42.0	This is seriously from BBC Radio 4 and I'm your
0:46.4	host Vanessa Casile this podcast brings you an incredible selection of
0:51.3	documentaries about everything you could imagine and some things you couldn't.
0:55.6	Get ready for something intriguing, uplifting and seriously smart.
1:01.6	So the key works.
1:03.0	Oh, that sounds good.
1:05.0	Okay.
1:07.0	We're on the BBC roof.
1:10.0	So what I would start with
1:12.0	is just to have a quick look around.
	...

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