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That link is in our episode notes. Again donate.npr.org slash short. And with that,

here's an episode we first shared last year that we are particularly proud of. Enjoy.

You're listening to shortwave from npr.

Maddie, so if I hear with mpr science correspondent Jeff Brumfield, what's up Jeff?

Hey there. I've got to say today's episode is a lot. So let's not waste time. Take us to the

summer day in suburban Maryland where the story starts. Yeah, so right outside DC, there's this

physicist named Timothy Coat. He works at the University of Maryland. And one day he's out for a

jog when he gets this phone call from a friend of his who's kind of a private person wants to stay

anonymous. Anyway, this friend says I need to meet you as soon as possible.

Person said, okay, I knew where you are. Meet me in this parking lot and about 20 minutes later,

we got together. And so they meet up. Tim's friend gets out of the car and has something to show him.

Kind of the car, the trunk of the car and this little brown

satchel for a lunch satchel wrapped in paper towels was this cube.

A cube. A cube. That's right. I saw this corner of an edge with a little notch in it and this

characteristic gray. And I immediately knew what it was.

And I looked at my friend and I said, do you know what that is? And they responded to me and said,

...