Geology
17 episodes
#4859: Why We Miss 60 Earthquakes for Every One We Feel
The Earth moved under Daniel's falafel and he felt nothing. That tiny quake reveals a staggering fact about our planet.
#4116: What an Earthquake Actually Feels Like
The ground doesn't open up. Here's what survivors actually describe in those first seconds.
#4103: Tall vs Short: Which Floor Survives an Earthquake?
Why your intuition about building height during a quake is probably wrong — and what Israeli seismic codes actually require.
#3970: What Does "Bedrock" Actually Mean Under Jerusalem?
Why "hitting bedrock" means different things depending on your building's height and where in Jerusalem you're standing.
#3263: Mansfield's Wandering Boulders: Geology Meets Folklore
Why one Connecticut town has 4x the boulders of neighboring areas—and built a culture around them.
#3115: How Many Scientists Actually Live at the Poles?
The surprising answer: ~850 in Antarctic summer, ~400 in winter, and effectively zero at the North Pole.
#2771: The Hidden Sophistication of Oil Refining
How ancient marine microorganisms become gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel — the complete journey from source rock to pump.
#2437: The False Precision of GPS Coordinates
Why 8 decimal places of GPS data is mostly noise, and how tectonic plates move faster than your coordinate system updates.
#2379: The Geological Lottery: Why Oil Is So Unevenly Distributed
Discover how oil forms, why it’s concentrated in a few regions, and whether we’ve found it all.
#1671: Toothpaste from Ancient Plankton: The Truth About Oil
Oil isn't dinosaur juice. It's ancient algae, transformed by millions of years of heat. We trace its journey from seabed to toothpaste.
#1593: The Desert That Holds Time and Refugees
Explore the geology of the Negev’s massive "crater" and master the technical gear needed for world-class desert astrophotography.
#1468: Life Support at Four Kilometers Deep
Explore the extreme engineering and lethal conditions of Mponeng, the world’s deepest gold mine, where ice and AI keep workers alive.
#1175: Why the World's Oil Is Trapped in a Geological Cul-de-Sac
With 20% of the world's oil stalled, the Strait of Hormuz has become a systemic seizure for the global economy.
#1092: The Landscape Reader: Geolocation Beyond Metadata
Master the art of geolocation by reading physical clues like vegetation, shadows, and road markings—no metadata required.
#685: The Pulse of the Deep: Life in the Middle of the Ocean
Is the open sea a glassy mirror or a chaotic storm? Herman and Corn dive into the science of swells, fetch, and the ocean’s constant pulse.
#627: When a Nightmare Reveals the Real Tsunami Risk
Forget Hollywood's curling waves. Discover why tsunamis are actually massive walls of water moving at the speed of a jet engine.
#243: When Borders Drift: The High Stakes of Geodetic Math
Can a math error start a war? Explore how tectonic plate movement shifts international borders and the high-stakes precision of the Blue Line.