Polymetalic Nodules Are Weird
5/13/202632 min
What if one of the most valuable objects on Earth has been sitting untouched at the bottom of the ocean for 100 million years? In this Field Notes episode, Professor Hannah Fry brings Michael Stevens (VSauce) a strange metallic rock formed in the deepest parts of the Atlantic over millions of years. What begins with a bizarre Cold War CIA cover story involving Howard Hughes and a sunken Soviet submarine quickly turns into a journey through deep sea geology, natural “electric” rocks, and the environmental dilemma of mining the ocean floor for the rare metals used in electric car batteries. Plus: can you train yourself to become ambidextrous? are giraffes more vulnerable to lightning strikes than other animals? Does damp cold really feel colder than dry cold? And do humans actually sense wetness at all?
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsHannah Fry· Host0:01
Welcome to The Rest is Science. I'm Hannah Fry.
Michael Stevens· Host0:03
And I'm Michael Stevens.
Hannah Fry· Host0:03
And we're doing field notes today- Mm-hmm ... which is, uh, where one of us brings a little object. My object starts with a story. Have you heard about that, that Howard Hughes, the eccentric billionaire?
Michael Stevens· Host0:13
I've heard of him, yeah.
Hannah Fry· Host0:14
You've heard of him. He, he's c- he comes up. You know, um, in the middle of the Cold War, he, uh, built this massive ship. Do you know this story?
Michael Stevens· Host0:22
Like a, like a ship that floated.
Hannah Fry· Host0:24
A ship that floated.
Michael Stevens· Host0:25
No, I knew more about his airplanes.
Hannah Fry· Host0:26
Okay, it's called the Glomar Explorer.
Michael Stevens· Host0:29
Oh.
Hannah Fry· Host0:29
And he did this big announcement to the whole world, and he said that he was gonna go out on the ocean, and he was gonna mine these worthless-looking black rocks at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.
Michael Stevens· Host0:40
For what? For iron- I mean- ... nickel, gold ...
Hannah Fry· Host0:44
for whatever.
Michael Stevens· Host0:44
For whatever.
Hannah Fry· Host0:45
For whatever.
Michael Stevens· Host0:46
Okay.
Hannah Fry· Host0:46
Just about plausible enough to, to seem true.
Michael Stevens· Host0:48
Yeah.
Hannah Fry· Host0:49
It was actually this, this massive stunt that the CIA were doing. What he was actually doing- Oh ... do you know about this?
Michael Stevens· Host0:56
Wait, I remember this story vaguely. Let me guess.
Hannah Fry· Host0:59
Mm-hmm.
Michael Stevens· Host0:59
What he was actually doing was... No, I don't. Tell me.
Hannah Fry· Host1:04
He, he had nothing to do with it at all, really. He was just a cover.
Michael Stevens· Host1:07
Oh.
Hannah Fry· Host1:07
It wasn't his ship.
Michael Stevens· Host1:08
The CIA was doing something.
Hannah Fry· Host1:10
Yes. The CIA wanted to steal a sunken Soviet- Ah ... submarine.
Michael Stevens· Host1:16
For its technology?
Hannah Fry· Host1:17
Yeah.
Michael Stevens· Host1:18
Right.
Hannah Fry· Host1:18
Work out what they were doing on there. So they needed to send over this massive ship that was gonna go down to the bottom of the ocean, but they needed this cover story, and they were like, "Howard Hughes," and, you know, this whole like,