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You might have heard that we are made of ‘star stuff’, but what exactly does that mean? In this collaboration between The Atlantic and the podcast TRBQ (The Really Big Questions), the NASA astronomer Michelle Thaller explains how every atom in the human body – and, indeed, every object in the Universe that is composed of anything more complex than hydrogen and helium atoms – can be traced back to the life cycle of a star.
Producer: Flora Lichtman, Katherine Wells
Websites: Soundvision Productions, TRBQ
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Chemistry
Why do the building blocks of life possess a mysterious symmetry?
12 minutes
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Cosmology
Tiny, entangled universes that form or fizzle out – a theory of the quantum multiverse
11 minutes
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Astronomy
The history of astronomy is a history of conjuring intelligent life where it isn’t
34 minutes
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Metaphysics
Simple entities in universal harmony – Leibniz’s evocative perspective on reality
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Biography and memoir
Passed over as the first Black astronaut, Ed Dwight carved out an impressive second act
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Engineering
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Cognition and intelligence
What’s this buzz about bees having culture? Inside a groundbreaking experiment
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Earth science and climate
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22 minutes
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Cosmology
The Indian astronomer whose innovative work on black holes was mocked at Cambridge
13 minutes