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Wisconsin Public Radio

LOVE ME LIKE A ROCK

Program 07-02-04-A

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Everybody gets excited about whatever's new, but what about what's really, really old? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge we commemorate geologic time. We'll meet the crew who found the oldest object on Earth - a three point four billion year old zircon! And the Jazz Passengers, who helped them tell their story. Also, a trip far underground with a geologist who will teach us how to read the rocks.

SEGMENT 1:

Simon Wilde is one of the scientists who found a tiny, four billion year old zircon in Australia. Joe Skullan at the University of Wisconsin and musician Roy Nathanson were inspired by the discovery, so Roy's group, Jazz Passengers, performed the "Rock Concert" in Madison, Wisconsin. Wilde, Skullan and Nathanson tell their story to Steve Paulson, and we hear excerpts from the concert recording. Also, Dallas Abbott is a research scientist and a member of the Holocene Impact Working Group. She tells Anne Strainchamps about the massive chevrons she believes are caused by mega-tsunamis which are in turn caused by asteroid impacts on the Earth. She thinks such catastrophic events happen far more often than mainstream science believes, and we could be due for another one!

SEGMENT 2:

TTBOOK Technical Director Caryl Owen explains why she's always been fascinated by rocks and the language of geology. William Broad is the author of several books, including "The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi." He tells Steve Paulson how a multi-disciplinary scientific team recently proved that the secret of the ancient sisterhood of mystics in Greece was that the Temple of Apollo was sitting on top of soil saturated by petrochemical fumes that caused the Oracles to go into trance. And they're finding geological bases to other sacred sites all over the world.

SEGMENT 3:

Jim Fleming explores Wisconsin's Cave of the Mounds with Marcia Bjornerud, author of "Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth." Bjornerud explains the processes that formed the various types of rocks they see and how the consideration of deep time influenced the history of science.
Marcia Bjornerud & Jim Fleming at Cave of the Mounds

CD copies are available at 1-800-747-7444. Ask for program number 07-02-04-A.

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Books:

Marcia Bjornerud Reading the Rocks: The Autobiography of the Earth (Basic Books A member of the Perseus Books Group)
William J. Broad The Oracle: The Lost Secrets and Hidden Message of Ancient Delphi (The Penguin Press)

Websites:

• www.caveofthemounds.com National Natural Landmark

Music:

• The Rock Concert Jazz Passengers Email producer joe skulan at: jlskulan@geoloy.wisc.edu

• Armageddon: The Album Columbia CTDP 095649

• Superman: The Movie Warner Video

• Brian Eno “A Clearing” from ‘Ambiant 4: On Land’ Editions EG EEGCD 20

• Joanne Metcalf “The Waters of Speech are Silent” Email composer at: joanne.metcalf@lawrence.edu

• Paul Simon, “Love Me Like A Rock”
  

Distribution dates: week of 02/04/2007 - hour 1

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Questions and comments can be addressed to: flemingj@wpr.org

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