How to Build a Blue Planet
from David's Gemini Notebook Podcast Collection Hosted by David Weissman
What if the ingredients for Earth’s oceans were hidden in the rocks that built the planet? This episode explores evidence that supposedly dry meteorites carried enough hydrogen to challenge the familiar story of water arriving entirely through later impacts. Beginning in a freezing molecular cloud, we trace the turbulent birth of our solar system and the surprising chemistry that may have helped Earth become a blue world. Along the way, discover how magnetic winds help young stars grow, how swarms of pebbles overcome the barriers to building planets, and how Jupiter’s proposed migrations could have reshaped our cosmic neighborhood. Samples from Bennu and Ryugu, competing ideas about comet deliveries, and Webb’s observations of water around a young star bring fresh clues to an unfinished investigation. If rocky planets can inherit the ingredients for oceans from the beginning, how many other blue worlds might be waiting out there?
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