Extended Classic: Cosmic Queries: Human Impact on Earth with Dr. FunkySpoon

About This Episode

NEW: Now featuring 13 minutes of Dr. FunkySpoon and Chuck Nice discussing “the twisted gift of global warming” and why we must evolve from Homo Sapiens into Terra Sapiens.

Planetary scientist Dr. David Grinspoon is back as guest host for this week’s StarTalk Radio podcast to answer your questions about the human impact on Earth during the “Anthropocene Era.” Join David and comic co-host Chuck Nice as they examine the impact of the Industrial Revolution and the morality of nuclear power. Find out if dilution is the solution to pollution and what might happen if we had a sudden decrease in atmospheric CO2. Discover the connection between fracking and increased earthquake activity – and why it might not be as bad as people fear. Learn about the possibility of using magma in subduction zones to eliminate the plastic in the Pacific Garbage Patch. And see how our current carbon dioxide emissions compare to the origin of photosynthesis billions of years ago, when oxygen-exhaling cyanobacteria wiped out most life on Earth. As Dr. Funkyspoon says, “We’re slime, but we’re smart.”

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: Extended Classic: Cosmic Queries: Human Impact on Earth with Dr. FunkySpoon.