The Quest for Stardust: Crash Course Lecture

From the creator

Is it possible to find cosmic dust on Earth? That’s the question jazz-musician-turned-citizen-scientist Jon Larsen set out to answer. Over the course of a decade and in defiance of the experts, Jon collected dust from around the world using a magnet in search of micrometeorites. Would his efforts be successful, or would his search be in vain? And how do these tiny wonders clue us into the mystery of how life exists on Earth? What’s a Crash Course Lecture? While traditional Crash Courses on our channel break open an entire school subject, a Crash Course lecture tackles a single topic in-depth. Each lecture shares the perspective of a scholar, journalist, or thinker. This longer-form video pairs great with our full series on Geology Introduction: Cosmic Messengers 00:00 Chapter 1: The Adventure Begins 1:18 Chapter 2: Stones Falling from the Sky 3:41 Chapter 3: A Scientific Impossibility 7:24 Chapter 4: Life's Mysterious Origins 11:41 Chapter 5: The Crown Prince of Dust 15:44 Chapter 6: A Dynamic Universe 21:58 Chapter 7: Stardust in the City 25:06 Chapter 8: The Curious Amateur 28:46 Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YKVvUegfK_MXlz3cPGWdsSX5FFIVdn8lbxH3s8NUK9s/edit?usp=sharing A review of micrometeorite collections: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/pdf/10.1098/rsta.2023.0195 *** Support us for $5/month on Patreon to keep Crash Course free for everyone forever! https://www.patreon.com/crashcourse Or support us directly: https://complexly.com/support Join o

Published 2026-11-05 · Watch on YouTube ↗
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