What’s under the ice?

Trapped in the ice below the vast glacial ice fields, a frozen time capsule records the history of our planet’s atmosphere. From volcanic eruptions to the rise and fall of empires, the secrets to Earth’s past, and future, are recorded in pristine ice cores collected from some of the most remote locations on our planet. 

On this episode of Giant Leap, Taylor and Joey talk to one of the world’s leading ice core experts, Joe McConnell and the researchers of the Desert Research Institute’s Ice Core Laboratory. They visit the cold freezers where ice cores from around the world are carefully sampled and the ultra clean trace chemistry lab that collects data from these precious frozen time capsules. What are the big open questions in ice core science? How are we refining our understanding of earth’s climate past and future? What can ice cores tell us about the rise and fall of civilizations? And what mysteries lie locked in the ice? This episode explores the race against time to unlock the stories of our planet preserved under the ice.

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@GiantLeapPodcast

Podcast: https://www.giantleappodcast.org/subscribe

Website: https://www.giantleappodcast.org/

Patreon: https://patreon.com/giantleappodcast

Giant Leap is a new podcast hosted by nuclear physicist Taylor Wilson and journalist Joey Lovato. Shot in Taylor's lab, the show digs into hard science, big ideas and possible futures by speaking with the people making those futures reality. In between guest episodes, Taylor and Joey will talk about advances in science and technology.

Also, a huge thank you to Tim Lenard for production support.

This podcast is made with listener support. Thank you this week to Adrian Davis and John Lawson. If you’d like to join the Giant Leap community, and get access to bonus content, Q+As and more, head to https://patreon.com/giantleappodcast to set up a monthly donation.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.