Will the Earth ever lose its Moon?

CrowdScience

BBC

Science, Technology

4.8 • 985 Ratings

🗓️ 20 December 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Moon has always sparked human curiosity. It governs the tides and biological rhythms. It’s inspired myths and stories. It’s inspired us to reach out and explore it. And it's certainly inspired CrowdScience listeners, who have sent us a host of questions about it. And in a special lunar-themed episode we’ve brought together a panel of astronomers and planetary scientists to help answer them.

What would life be like if there was no Moon? Would there even be life? Or what if we had two moons? Are the Moon and Earth equally battered by meteors? What would happen if an asteroid collided with the Moon? And could the Moon ever escape Earth’s gravity?

Anand Jagatia is joined by Prof Sara Russell, Head of the Planetary Materials Group at the Natural History Museum in London; Prof Neil Comins from the University of Maine, author of the book What if the Moon didn’t Exist?; and Prof Katarina Miljkovic from Curtin University in Perth, Australia.

Presenter: Anand Jagatia Producer: Jeremy Grange Editor: Cathy Edwards Production Co-ordinator: Ishmael Soriano Studio Manager: Andrew Garratt

(Photo: Landscape with the rising of the full moon during the golden hour Credit: Jose A. Bernat Bacete via Getty Images)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Hi, it's Nicola Cocklin.
0:02.8	Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them.
0:06.6	My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right.
0:10.6	In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people
0:16.0	who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world.
0:19.8	Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey,
0:24.8	history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin.
0:27.9	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:32.4	Hello and welcome to CrowdScience from the BBC World Service.
0:36.4	I'm Ann Jagatia, and in this episode we're once again looking up to the skies from the BBC World Service. I'm Ann Ann Jagatia,
0:37.7	and in this episode, we're once again looking up to the skies to do some moon gazing.
0:43.9	The moon has always sparked human curiosity.
0:47.4	It governs the tides, it governs our biological rhythms,
0:50.9	it's inspired countless myths and stories,
0:53.2	and it's compelled us to reach out
0:55.2	and explore it and space beyond. And it's also inspired many of you crowd science listeners.
1:05.3	A few weeks back, we explored how the moon might have affected the dinosaurs, and after that
1:10.7	episode, lots of you emailed us with your own questions about the moon,
1:14.1	from what life would be like if we had no moon at all,
1:17.1	to why the surface of the moon is riddled with craters,
1:20.2	when Earth appears to be relatively unscathed.
1:23.5	So that's what we're going to look at in this episode,
	...

Transcript will be available on the free plan in -54 days. Upgrade to see the full transcript now.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.