Space Rocks, Star Stuff, and Tom Selleck's Mustache with Greg Brennecka

Inquiring Minds

Science, Society & Culture, Neuroscience, Female Host, Interview, Social Sciences, Critical Thinking

4.4 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 10 February 2022

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

More than a hundred million people watched the Netflix movie Don’t Look Up, which focused on our fear that something could crash into our planet from space and destroy it. But what if things that come from space don’t just have the potential to destroy life but also to create it? That’s Greg Brennecka’s argument, and he joins Indre on today’s episode to talk all about it. Greg is a staff scientist and cosmochemist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, whose research has appeared in Science, Nature, and The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS). He won the prestigious Sofja Kovalevskaja fellowship from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation to study the early solar system and is a leader in understanding how things from space affect us down here on Earth. His new book is Impact: How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey Kong, and he discusses it and so much more (including Tom Selleck and his famous mustache) with Indre here today. Show Links: Inquiring Minds Podcast Homepage Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds See https://omnystudio.com/policies/listener for privacy information. Impact: How Rocks from Space Led to Life, Culture, and Donkey KongSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	You and Betty and the Nancy's and Bill's and Joes and Jane's will find in the study of science
0:06.4	a richer, more rewarding life.
0:10.7	Welcome to Inquiring Minds. I'm Indravis Gontas.
0:14.2	This is a podcast that explores the space where science and society collide.
0:18.3	We want to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it
0:22.1	matters. Well, if you're one of the hundred plus million people who watch the Netflix movie
0:36.5	don't look up, maybe you have some fear of meteorites
0:41.1	or other things from space crashing into Earth and causing the complete destruction of our planet.
0:48.0	It's not a new trope. And from the viewership, it seems like we are interested. But what if the
0:53.6	things that come from space don't
0:55.2	destroy life, but give birth to it? That's what Greg Brennika is arguing. He's a staff scientist and
1:02.7	cosmochemist at Lawrence Livermore National Labs. And his research has appeared in science, nature,
1:09.5	and PNAS, the proceedings of the National Academy of Science.
1:14.0	He's won fellowships to study the early solar system and is essentially a leader in understanding how things from space affect us down here on Earth.
1:24.6	He has a new book out, and it's called Impact, how rocks from space led to life,
1:29.9	culture, and Donkey Kong. So let's find out why Greg thinks that meteorites not only set us
1:37.0	on the path to becoming human, but also shaped human culture.
1:47.6	Greg Brenica, welcome to inquiring minds.
1:49.2	Thanks a lot. It's great to be here.
1:54.5	So there was this movie that came out on Netflix called Don't Look Up. I don't know if you've seen it, but some like 150 million people have. Are you one of those?
1:59.6	I am one of those. Yes, I did see it and I liked it.
2:03.3	So for those, for those of our listeners who aren't part of that large group of people, it's
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Inquiring Minds, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Inquiring Minds and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.