From rocks to riches

自石出金藏

The Documentary Podcast

2025-12-03

26 分钟
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Meteorites are pieces of space rocks, which having survived a fiery journey through the atmosphere, land on the earth’s surface. No-one knows the exact number which make it to the ground each year, but this extra-terrestrial material holds the secrets to the beginnings of our solar system. If you are lucky enough to come across one, you might disregard it as just a dusty old rock. But others know exactly what they are looking for and their worth. With rare specimens often out of the price range of scientists and institutions, they end up in the hands of private collectors - but what is the impact of that on those trying to study them?
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  • This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK.

  • The bomb, Kennedy and Khrushchev.

  • Search for the bomb wherever you get your BBC podcasts.

  • It's an August day in Santa Filomena, Brazil.

  • A group of women have just emerged on a dusty red field,

  • excitedly clutching something they've just found.

  • Just days before a bright fireball appeared in the skies above and hundreds of meteorite fragments rained down over the city.

  • The palm-sized black rock they're holding might look pretty unremarkable,

  • but its value both scientifically and commercially is highly sought after.

  • So when meteorites crash to Earth, a race to find them begins.

  • As soon as something falls, it's a get-up-and-go time.

  • It's a high.

  • It's unlike anything that it was back in the day.

  • People are beginning to fight for the better ones.

  • We are scientists and we have no enough money to compete with them.

  • In this program, we'll hear from meteorite hunters,

  • dealers and scientists from all over the world about how interest and demand for these space rocks has boomed over the years.

  • It's led to a lucrative trade.

  • Is that at a cost to science?

  • and those looking to study them.