After We Die, Our Dust Will Live Forever

Dust is everywhere, but we rarely see it. We shed it from our skin, hair, and nails, leaving little bits of DNA wherever we roam.  More than 100 tons of cosmic dust fall to Earth each day, leaving an archive of every "geochemical" substance that has fallen - at least some of it into our homes.

All of history is recorded in the dust we create: the pollution we make, the fires we start, the chemicals we use, the volcanos that erupt. Scientists can learn about the Roman Empire through the dust that has been compressed each year for thousands of years into layers of ice sheets in Greenland. 

Today, we talk about the science, politics and ephemeral nature of dust.

GUESTS: 

• Jay Owens - Geographer and research director at Pulsar Platform. She writes a newsletter about dust she calls, “Disturbances.” (@hautepop)
• Jolie Kerr - Cleaning expert and advice columnist for The Inventory and the host of the podcast “Ask a Clean Person.” She’s also the author of My Boyfriend Barfed in My Handbag...and Other Things You Can't Ask Martha. She’s the resident cleaning expert for the New York Times. (@joliekerr)
• Suzanne Proulx - Artist, sculpture and Assistant Professor, Edinboro University of Pennsylvania. 

Join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. 

Colin McEnroe and Chion Wolf contributed to this show.

This show first aired on January 15, 2019

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