The Bedtime Scientist

A question

What makes Earth special?

A calm, true answer. Then, if the wondering keeps going, the whole episode.

The short answer

So far as we know, liquid water resting openly on the surface. Plenty of worlds have water as ice or as vapour. Earth is the only one we have found where oceans simply sit in the open.

And it is crowded with life in places you would never think to look. A single handful of healthy soil holds more living things than there are people on Earth.

Go deeper tonight

Earth Day: The Slow World

The full episode, in one calm voice, with nothing that startles.

The episode

Earth Day: The Slow World

0:00 4:52
Sleep timer

Read the guide for this one in the morning.

This connects to

Deep time

One idea turns up in many different nights. Follow one and the library starts to join up.