89. Actinium: The Windup… And The Pitchblende

Many episodes have incorporated geology, but this one is more about geography. (And amateur nuclear science.) 

Element 94 causes a bit of a crisis for our collections. 

On February 15, 2013, a fireball streaked over the Russian city of Chelyabinsk and exploded. The residents below worried it was a missile—but really, it was a meteor that struck the earth with the force of multiple nuclear bombs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastcho ...  Show more

NASA has a record of Earth observations going back more than 50 years. What might be in store for the next 50 years? In this finale of our Earth series, we hear from two scientists helping to chart the course of NASA Earth science. There are still many unanswered questions about ...  Show more

In A Ritual Geology: Gold and Subterranean Knowledge in Savanna West Africa (Duke University Press, 2022), Robyn d’Avignon, Assistant Professor of History at NYU, retraces the history of gold mining and orpaillage along the geological formation known as the West African Birimian ...  Show more

The magma chambers at the heart of volcanoes are very deep and very hot. So naturally, some researchers want to build an observatory in one. Guests: Mike Poland, scientist-in-charge of the Yellowstone Volcano Observatory; Yan Lavallée, chair of magmatic petrology and volcanology ...  Show more