How To Avoid The End of the World

2026-10-01 · 52 min · 9 entities

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→ discusses History website

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mentioned Society & Culture concept

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Feed category: Society & Culture
mentioned Documentary concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Documentary
discusses Society & Culture concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Society & Culture
discusses Documentary concept

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evidence rules-v5
Feed category: Documentary

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hosted by NPR company

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mentioned History website

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discusses History website

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mentioned Catastrophic Thinking: Extinction and the Value of Diversity book

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author of Catastrophic Thinking: Extinction and the Value of Diversity

Episode description as stored

We live in a moment with almost daily reminders of how fragile life on Earth is whether it be from climate change, nuclear weapons or AI. In this episode, we bring you a story from the not-so-distant past when we learned what drove dinosaurs to extinction. And how it might have helped us avoid the same end. This episode was originally published in March 2025. Guests: David Sepkoski, Thomas M. Siebel Chair in History of Science at the University of Illinois and author of Catastrophic Thinking: Extinction and the Value of Diversity. Owen Brian Toon, professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder. Alec Nevala-Lee, novelist, critic, and biographer and author of the forthcoming book Collisions: A Physicist's Journey from Hiroshima to the Death of the Dinosaurs. Ann Druyan, co-writer and co-creator of the television series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. Andrew Revkin , science and environmental journalist. Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show’s perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org . See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences. NPR Privacy Policy