PODCAST · science
The Slow Machine
by Michael Goddard
How we found out the continents move, and why almost every clue came from an instrument built for something else entirely. A nine-part series for curious people who don't know any geology and don't need to.
Episodes
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Listening to the Inside
In 1909 an earthquake shook a valley south of Zagreb, and at stations far enough away the waves arrived twice. The man who worked out why was a meteorologist, and what he had found was the floor of the world. Episode 5 of The Slow Machine is about how we mapped the inside of a planet nobody has...
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The Weatherman
In April 1906, two brothers went up in a hydrogen balloon over northern Germany and stayed aloft for fifty-two and a half hours, longer than anyone ever had. The younger one was Alfred Wegener. Six years later he told the German geological establishment that the continents move. Episode 4 of The...
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Two Facts That Cored the Apple
In the 1850s, the British survey of India recorded an error it could not explain. The Himalayas — the biggest mountains on Earth — were not pulling their weight. Episode 3 of The Slow Machine is about the two discoveries that wrecked nineteenth-century geology, and neither was made by a…
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The Shrivelling Apple
Put an apple on a windowsill and leave it for a month. The inside shrinks, the skin does not, and it wrinkles. For about seventy years, that was the best available scientific explanation for the Himalayas. Episode 2 of The Slow Machine is about a good theory — simple, mathematical, and wrong. A...
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Before the Question
In 1650, an archbishop worked out that the world began on a Saturday evening in October, 4004 years before Christ. Not the year. The evening. And he was not being foolish. He was being rigorous. Episode 1 of The Slow Machine goes back to before anyone thought to measure the Earth, when every...
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The View from a Small Island
I grew up on a coral island, and I was taught that it had been lifted out of the sea by "earth movements". Nobody ever told me what an earth movement was. The textbook did not say — and it could not, because it was printed in 1963, and the answer arrived in 1968. This is the introduction to The...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does The Slow Machine have?
The Slow Machine currently has 6 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is The Slow Machine about?
How we found out the continents move, and why almost every clue came from an instrument built for something else entirely. A nine-part series for curious people who don't know any geology and don't need to.
How often does The Slow Machine release new episodes?
The Slow Machine has 6 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to The Slow Machine?
You can listen to The Slow Machine on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts The Slow Machine?
The Slow Machine is created and hosted by Michael Goddard.
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