EarthDate

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EarthDate is a short-format weekly audio program delivering concise, science-based stories about the Earth: its geology, environments, and the processes that shape our planet over deep time and today. Beginning in 2026, EarthDate is managed by Switch Energy Alliance and hosted by SEA's founder Dr. Scott W. Tinker. Together, we explore earth systems, natural resources, and their relevance to everyday life, with a focus on clear, accessible science education for broad audiences. EarthDate is written and directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Harry Lynch, and researched by Lynn Kistler. We search for captivating stories to remind listeners that science can enlighten, educate and entertain.

  1. hace 11 h

    Chernobyl: Rebirth

    After the Chernobyl nuclear accident, the Russian government declared a thousand square miles around it an exclusion zone.  The hundred thousand people evacuated could never return to their homes. The wildlife, however, could.  European bison, which had vanished from the area, returned and populations grew. So did native deer.  These large herbivores brought large predators, like lynx, bear and especially wolves, which had been hunted to near extinction.  Large birds of prey came back too – golden eagles, white tail eagles, black storks and owls. Along with wild boar, beavers and fish in ponds, and rodents of all sizes.  Scientists thought it would take decades. But the diversity and density of animal populations quickly grew to levels of a nature preserve.  Scientists did find some negative effects of the radiation, like cataracts in rodents, and mutated insects.   And some adaptations. A tree frog that naturally has either green or brown skin, had developed nearly black skin – more melanin, which can absorb radiation.  Yet, feral dogs showed no radiation-induced genetic damage.  In fact, most animal populations showed increased radiation, but no mutation beyond normal genetic variance.  The rebound of animal populations at Chernobyl is a study in the resilience of nature, and the surprisingly low impact of radiation upon it.

    2 min

  2. hace 11 h

    The Crystal Eye of Ninevek

    During World War 2, an American pilot flying over the Canadian arctic saw something extraordinary. A midnight blue lake, 2 miles across, shaped in a perfect circle.   The Allies kept it a secret, using the lake as a navigation landmark during the war.   But in 1950, photos hit the media, and the lake became a sensation…because it shouldn’t exist.   There were no rivers leading into it, and none leading out. There was not enough liquid groundwater in this frozen landscape to fill it. It was as if the lake had been dropped from the sky.   And in fact, it had. Scientists soon determined it was formed by a huge meteorite.  Its trajectory would have been straight down, striking Earth at 30,000 miles an hour, with the force of 8,000 Hiroshima bombs.   It bored a hole more than 800 feet deep, and pushed up 500-foot high ridges around it, isolating it.  Of course, the natives had known of the crater for centuries, calling it the Crystal Eye of Nunavik -- because it contains some of the clearest surface water on Earth.  Research confirmed that the water came from melting Ice Age glaciers and is only recharged by melting snow and ice.   With no rivers to bring in sediment, the soils on the lake bottom contain mostly dust, pollen and diatoms -- from millennia ago, preserved in the frigid water.  In this way, the Crystal Eye literally lets scientists “see” into the distant past.

    2 min

  3. hace 11 h

    The Moth with Two Maps

    The giant bogong moth has a brain one-tenth the size of a grain of rice. And eyes the diameter of a human hair.   Yet it can navigate by sensing the magnetic field of Earth. Or by gazing at the stars, reading a mental map that it was somehow born with.  Each spring in Australia, they leave the lowlands by the millions, and fly at night over terrain they’ve never seen before, following their internal compass, and that inherited star map.   They’re the only insects we know of that can navigate this way. And they’re all headed to the same place: the cool highlands of the Snowy Mountains, where they sleep away the summer heat in caves.  Historically, they’ve been a keystone species here, with a disproportionately large effect on the ecosystem.  Other animal populations have relied on their annual arrival for food. Aboriginal tribes used to gather in the mountains to harvest and roast moths.  But the bogong has declined precipitously over the last decade. Rising temperatures and drought have reduced their food sources. Pesticides have reduced their numbers. Light pollution from towns and farms has reduced their ability to navigate. Conservation groups are trying to save the moth, but with so many stressors on their population, that’s hard to do.   Let’s hope they’re successful, because the bogong moth is another overlooked example of the wonders of nature, its interconnectedness, and its vulnerability.

    2 min

  4. hace 11 h

    We Changed Horses

    Horses changed human history. But first we had to change horses.   The horse evolved in North America 50 million years ago, and migrated across the Bering land bridge into Eurasia. Then, during the last Ice Age, it went extinct in the Americas.  Around 5,000 years ago, humans began taming horses in the Eurasian Steppe, in what is today Kazakhstan, Russia and Ukraine.  There, archaeologists have found residue of mare’s milk in drinking vessels. Some horse skeletons show wear on their teeth suggesting they held bits in their mouth.   But other skeletons have arrow points embedded in bones, suggesting that horses were hunted as much as domesticated.  A thousand years later, a different steppe culture tamed a different horse and, evidence shows, developed a horse culture – so successfully that it replaced the earlier horses.  Genetic testing revealed that this first domesticated breed, called DOM2, became the progenitor of all later horse breeds.  With them, humans could travel farther and faster than ever before. Mounted nomads could cover landscapes. Mounted cavalry could vanquish enemies. Horses could pull carts, and later, plows.  We hardly think about it today, but from 4,000 to just 100 years ago, horses were the driving force in human transportation, settlement and warfare.   The only thing that moved more people was our own two feet.

    2 min

  5. hace 1 d

    Birth of The Scientist

    Famous early scientists, like Leonardo da Vinci, would not have called themselves scientists, or practiced science as we do today.   They were then more commonly called ‘natural philosophers,’ and based their work on observing the natural world, then inferring principles.   Until Sir Isaac Newton, and his colleague Sir Francis Bacon, moved to standardize the scientific method.   They wanted proof; knowledge based on evidence, not speculation.   So they argued that scientists should put forth a hypothesis, often an if-then statement: “If this happens, then that will be the result.”   Then, they should create an experiment to prove or disprove the hypothesis.   Data from the experiment should be collected, as objectively as possible. Then published, so that peers could review and challenge the work.   Only after standing up to this process, they argued, could science be credible.  Their peers recognized the value of this scientific method, and, through the 1700s, it was refined and widely adopted.   But it wasn’t until 1834 when William Whewell proposed calling those working in science ‘scientists,’ borrowing from the word ‘artist,’ to emphasize the creativity required.   It took a few decades, but the term ‘scientist’ stuck. And the scientific method certainly did too – and has transformed and advanced evidence-based science ever since.   I’m Dr. Scott Tinker, and I’m a scientist.

    2 min

  6. hace 1 d

    Chernobly: Destined for Disaster

    The Chernobyl nuclear powerplant, in Ukraine, was designed and operated so badly, it was practically destined for disaster.   First, the Soviet plant design was fatally flawed. It didn’t include a containment vessel, the massive concrete structure that encloses other nuclear reactors. Adding one, of course, would have been very expensive. But, it would have contained the accident.   It occurred when unqualified engineers ran the reactor at very low power during a test – which made the reaction unstable. To keep the test running, they pulled nearly all the safety control rods from the core.   This caused the reaction to spiral out of control. The engineers panicked and dropped all the rods back in, which displaced coolant water and caused the reactor to overheat. The coolant water then boiled to steam with such force that it blew the thousand-ton lid off the reactor.   In the explosion, a hundred tons of nuclear fuel were scattered across the site, or vaporized into the air as the reactor caught fire.  Firemen rushed in to put out the blaze. Two workers were killed on site. More than a hundred others died or became seriously ill from radiation poisoning.  Nearby towns were evacuated and have been left abandoned since, as more than a hundred thousand people were displaced.   But, what was a disaster for the region’s human population would turn out to be a boon for its wildlife. Something we’ll discuss on another EarthDate.

    2 min

  7. hace 1 d

    Ginkgo, Stinko

    Two hundred million years ago, the ginkgo tree evolved to be very stinky, because there was a creature that loved it.  The ginkgo is unlike any other tree; not a conifer, not a flowering deciduous.   When pollen from the male ginkgo fertilizes an ovule of the female, it produces a round yellow fruit full of butyric acid, which smells -- especially when it falls and rots on the ground – like, well, vomit.  But there must have been a dinosaur or other creature that found this smell appetizing. So it would eat the fruit and disperse the seed for another stinky tree to grow.  This strategy was so successful that the ancient ginkgo propagated all over the temperate world.   But then an asteroid wiped out the dinosaurs, including the ginkgo-eating creature. Later, global cooling wiped out the ginkgo, everywhere except China.   There it was eventually embraced by Buddhist monks who planted and cared for ginkgoes at monasteries, admiring their hardiness, extreme long life, and bright yellow autumn foliage.  The monks propagated the ginkgo and carried it throughout Asia. From there it made its way west and again thrives in every part of the temperate world, in a form nearly identical to 200 million years ago.  Now the ginkgo is popular in urban environments, where it can withstand air pollution, drought and heat. But it’s the non-fruiting males that are planted. Because today, no one loves a stinky tree. I’m Scott Tinker.  Editor’s Note: The script refers to ginkgo “fruit.” Botanically, ginkgo is a gymnosperm, meaning it produces seeds, but not fruit. These seeds have a fleshy outer coating that can resemble fruit.

    2 min

  8. hace 2 d

    Almost Atlantis

    In 2024, Spanish oceanographers studying the deep seafloor west of the Canary Islands discovered an enormous seamount --  A mile-high, 70-mile long mountain on the bottom of the ocean, formed of three inter-linked ancient volcanoes. At its summit, just 200 feet beneath the water’s surface, they found sand dunes and cliff faces that could only have been formed if it had once been above water. During the last Ice Age, when Earth’s water was locked up in continental ice sheets, sea level was over 300 feet lower.  Meaning that at least 100 feet of the seamount would have risen above the water, to form an island many miles long It was almost directly west of the Straits of Gibraltar – exactly where Plato had described the city of Atlantis, before it sank beneath the waves. Could it be? These scientists began to wonder, had they accidentally discovered the lost city? They sent down the ship’s ROVs – Remote Operated Vehicles, to explore the surface of the seamount.  They found sediments and other evidence of erosion, only possible if the island were indeed above water. But unfortunately, no ruins of an ancient city, or any evidence of human habitation. Their continued research did provide valuable data about the volcanic past of the eastern Atlantic, the geologic formation of seamounts, and how they impact ocean currents – their original mission. But Atlantis remains elusive, perhaps waiting for future scientists.

    2 min
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Información

EarthDate is a short-format weekly audio program delivering concise, science-based stories about the Earth: its geology, environments, and the processes that shape our planet over deep time and today. Beginning in 2026, EarthDate is managed by Switch Energy Alliance and hosted by SEA's founder Dr. Scott W. Tinker. Together, we explore earth systems, natural resources, and their relevance to everyday life, with a focus on clear, accessible science education for broad audiences. EarthDate is written and directed by Emmy-winning filmmaker Harry Lynch, and researched by Lynn Kistler. We search for captivating stories to remind listeners that science can enlighten, educate and entertain.

Ficha técnica

  • Creado por
    Switch Energy Alliance
  • Años en activo
    2 mil
  • Episodios
    300
  • Clasificación
    Apto
  • Derechos de autor
    © Copyright 2026 EarthDate
  • Sitio web del podcast
    EarthDate
  • Proveedor

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