World of Flowers
5/22/202652 min
Tom and Helen explore why the evolution of flowers created the world we know today, uncover some of the fascinating ways flowers use shape, colour and scent to bewitch pollinators, and dig into how pollen can reveal the secrets of ancient crime scenes and help us restore lost landscapes. Guests will include writer David George Haskell, pollen expert Michelle Farrell and botanist Sandra Knapp, Director of Research at the Natural History Museum.
Presenters – Tom Heap and Helen Czerski Producer – Beth Sagar-Fenton
Produced in association with the Open University
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Transcript preview
First 90 secondsHelen Czerski· Host0:00
[intro music] Hello, and welcome to a new series of Rare Earth, your weekly guide to the wonders of our planet. I'm Helen Czerski.
Tom Heap· Host0:10
And I'm Tom Heap. So Helen, what's been going on in your world since we were last on air six weeks ago or so?
Helen Czerski· Host0:15
Well, obviously the big story is, for anyone who thinks about the planet, is that the Artemis mission sent humans far enough away from Earth to actually see planet Earth for the first time in 50 years. So I'm generally a lot less excited about the Moon and much more excited about humans kind of actually seeing planet Earth hanging in space. The interesting thing is that, of course, the basic view of planet Earth hanging in space hasn't actually changed in 50 years.
Tom Heap· Host0:38
Mm.
Helen Czerski· Host0:38
But hopefully our attitudes to it have. And I was thinking that if I was in charge of NASA, you know, clearly I'm not, I would be sending not just the engineers, I would be sending the artists and the poets and the writers- [laughs] ... and the people who could- That's true ... convey what it means to be on a, on a pale blue dot hanging in space. So it was really exciting to get those images back and to get just beautiful images back. But I think that really we have to see that image and kind of think about the world differently.
Tom Heap· Host1:01
And it was interesting 'cause it, it was at a time where there was particular conflict still going on on the Earth itself, and you could feel that contrast, you know, with- in some of the words that they were saying. Although they were very unpolitical, you could sort of feel it in their emotions, couldn't you, that, that contrast. But one of the things that always comes out from that is that we talk about this being a blue planet. Well, today we're gonna hear that maybe it's a floral planet. [laughs] Because our focus today is very much all about flowers, these amazing,