logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2023
22m 24s

We booped an asteroid

Vox
About this episode
Last fall, a NASA spacecraft slammed into an asteroid to test a way to avert a disaster on Earth. So are we safe now? For more, go to http://vox.com/unexplainable It’s a great place to view show transcripts and read more about the topics on our show. Also, email us! unexplainable@vox.com We read every email. Support Unexplainable by making a financial contr ... Show More
Up next
Yesterday
An Alzheimer's breakthrough?
The past few months have been full of Alzheimer's optimism: new ideas that could prevent the disease from taking hold, medications that seem to slow it down, and an experimental surgery that might even be able to reverse its progression. It's a lot of hype. Should we believe it? ... Show More
28m 3s
Oct 14
Talking with the dead
“If only I could talk with them again.” It’s a common refrain for anyone who is grieving someone they love. Now, we can access technology like deadbots, or AI replicas of a lost loved one, to simulate those conversations, but at what cost? Maybe we’ve always had the capacity — wi ... Show More
36m 29s
Oct 12
What’s cooler than being cool?
The future of quantum computing depends on getting way colder than ice cold — down to some of the coldest temperatures in the universe. The quest to build these super refrigerators takes us to nuclear bomb stockpiles, the moon, and … Party City? Guest: Zack Savitsky, science jour ... Show More
28m 34s
Recommended Episodes
Dec 2022
DART: The Impacts Of Slamming A Spacecraft Into An Asteroid
If an asteroid were hurling through space, making a beeline straight to Earth, how would humans prevent it from doing what it did to the dinosaurs? Would we bomb it? Would we shoot lasers at it like a scene from Hollywood's latest sci-fi flick? Well, the folks at NASA have design ... Show More
14m 7s
Aug 2023
DART Showed How to Smash an Asteroid. So Where Did the Space Shrapnel Go?
Last year’s NASA mission proved it was possible to knock an incoming near-Earth object off course. But that creates debris—which might also be a threat. Read this story here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices 
10m 17s
Oct 2019
Season Two, Episode 3: Bracing for a Crash
If a big asteroid is heading our way, how does NASA prepare for the oncoming disaster? 
34m 7s
Oct 2019
Season Two, Episode 4: Deflecting Disaster
Unlike the dinosaurs, we have a space program. There are many ways we could steer an asteroid off its path towards Earth. 
31m 46s
Aug 2022
Was There a Second Dinosaur Killing Asteroid Impact?
The Astronomy, Technology, and Space Science News Podcast.<br />SpaceTime Series 25 Episode 91<br />*Was there a second dinosaur killing asteroid impact<br />Scientists have discovered a massive asteroid impact crater in the North Atlantic Ocean which may have hit Earth at the sa ... Show More
1h 6m
Oct 2019
Season Two, Episode 2: Impact!
What happens when a giant asteroid hits Earth? 
28m 19s
Oct 2022
Will the world end in 2178?
Following Nasa’s Dart mission, which successfully fired a spacecraft into the asteroid Dimorphos last month, Chris Lintott talks to Tom about what asteroids can tell us about the history of our planet, how scared we should be of them, and why you should be grateful if one hits yo ... Show More
47m 56s
Sep 2022
Nasa smashes asteroid
A new era for humankind - Nasa experiment smashes asteroid. 
7m 12s
Feb 2020
MY ASTEROID IS BLOWING UP! (encore)
Imagine a giant asteroid is out in space and headed on a collision course with planet Earth. Your mission, is to annihilate this giant mass of space rock before it can even get close. What do you do? How do you do it? Join Mindy and Guy Raz as they travel through time and space t ... Show More
30m 43s