The Curious Stardust At The Ocean Floor

Short Wave

NPR

Daily News, Nature, Life Sciences, Astronomy, Science, News

4.7 • 6K Ratings

🗓️ 26 May 2021

⏱️ 13 minutes

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Summary

Researchers report in the journal Science that they appear to have some clues about the origin of Earth's plutonium - which has been long debated. Correspondent Nell Greenfieldboyce explains that traces of rare forms of iron and plutonium have been found in extraterrestrial debris that had sunk to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, hauled up by an oil company, then donated for research. By comparing the iron and the plutonium, scientists found the plutonium was likely forged in a cosmic cataclysm, perhaps a rare kind of supernova, and then rained down on Earth.

Ever find yourself existentially musing? Wondering about the state of the cosmos? Drop us a line at [email protected] and we might jump into a wormhole with you.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.4	Hey nerds, Emily Kwong here.
0:08.6	Today we are meeting up with NPR Science correspondent Nell Greenfield-Boys.
0:13.2	Hey there, Nell.
0:14.5	Hey Emily.
0:15.5	So, I was thinking about Carl Sagan.
0:17.5	Do you remember Carl Sagan?
0:18.9	Oh yeah.
0:19.7	You know, beloved astronomer, science popularizer.
0:23.1	He had that famous TV show called Cosmos.
0:25.8	And there's something he said in that show that was like kind of a famous quote.
0:29.0	Do you remember what he used to say about like what we're made of?
0:32.3	I think I remember.
0:34.0	It's like a science classic one-liner.
0:36.3	The Cosmos is also within us.
0:38.2	We're made of star stuff.
0:40.2	We are away.
0:41.6	And the Cosmos, they know itself.
0:44.0	Right, so when Carl Sagan there said we're made of star stuff, you know, he wasn't just
0:48.6	being like metaphorical and poetic.
0:50.8	I mean, he meant it literally.
0:52.9	He literally meant that, you know, the atoms of nitrogen in our DNA and the calcium and
	...

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