Killer asteroids, exploding volcanos, and rampaging tornados -- they're all dangersous, and they are hard to study - but someone has to do it. In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, science thrills. Also, a man who writes sci-fi thrillers says science isn't scary at all.
Steve Paulson talks by cellular telephone with tornado chaser Joshua Wurman as he hunts for funnel clouds in Oklahoma. Wurman is a meterologist who teaches at the University of Oklahoma. He explains why scientists chase storms and what they hope to learn.SEGMENT 2
Geologist Stanley Williams unintentionally experienced a volcanic eruption from inside the crater. Nine of his fellow researchers perished. Remarkably, he recovered and continues to go into craters. He tells Jim Fleming about his accident and what he's learning from his on-going work on volcanoes.SEGMENT 3:
Eleanor Helin directs NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Tracking project. She tells Judith Strasser how and why her team scans the sky looking for killer asteroids, and what might happen if they find one. Also, science fiction writer Norman Spinrad tells Judith Strasser about his book "Journals of the Plague Years," set after a generation of AIDS. He says what's really scary is the way people use science and technology.
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