We live in a moment with almost daily reminders of how fragile life on Earth is whether it be from climate change, nuclear weapons or AI. In this episode, we bring you a story from the not-so-distant past when we learned what drove dinosaurs to extinction. And how it might have helped us avoid the same end. This episode was originally published in March 2025.
Guests:David Sepkoski, Thomas M. Siebel Chair in History of Science at the University of Illinois and author of
Catastrophic Thinking: Extinction and the Value of Diversity.Owen Brian Toon, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Alec Nevala-Lee, novelist, critic, and biographer and author of the forthcoming book
Collisions: A Physicist's Journey from Hiroshima to the Death of the Dinosaurs.Ann Druyan, co-writer and co-creator of the television series
Cosmos: A Personal Voyage.Andrew Revkin, science and environmental journalist.
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