The Weekend Wonk: Deep Time with Richard Alley July 8, 2011

If you’ve ever had questions about what motivates scientists to work as hard as they do, often in obscurity, to understand subjects that most of the world gives very little thought to, listen to this short piece by Richard Alley.

I’ve only been to the Grand Canyon once, and then only for a few hours. It took me a few hours afterward to recover enough to form speech. Listening to Alley, you hear that sense of awe, wonder and gratitude for being able to see, and understand, a tiny part of such a magnificent story.

There are three more segments below the fold.