Colin McEnroe Show: The Science Of Dust

There was a time when nobody studied dust. In fact, two kinds of nobody studied two kinds of dust. Astronomers were annoyed by interstellar dust because it got in the way of what they were looking at. It look a long time for them to realize the dust itself was worth looking at.

Same goes for earthbound particulate dust. Dust might creep into a sample on a slide if somebody got sloppy. And that was a problem. Only recently did scientists start looking at the dust itself and even cataloging it in, off all things, a dust library.

On today's show, we're going to go to both places: outer space and the stuff collecting on your bureau. And, again, you may find some surprising intersections, Some of the dust on your bureau came here from outer space.

Lastly—actually firstly—we'll be talking about dust mites, the living, breathing, pooping engines of the dust ecology.

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