Since the dawn of humankind, humans have
scanned the night sky pondering the mysteries of the universe, our place in
it, and the nature and existence of the higher force or power that put all of
those magical points of light in their place. Wow. So it's no surprise that
occasionally when some of these celestial bodies came crashing down to
earth in the form of meteorites, these cosmic objects would become highly
prized artifacts and in some cases used to forge fabled blades known for
centuries in legend and verse. In 2016, researchers confirmed that an
iron dagger found in King Tut's tomb, more specifically right next to the
thigh of his mummy, was actually made of iron from a meteorite. We're talking 3,300 years ago - three millennia and two hundred years before Egypt hit its iron
age. That is freaking magical. It's heavy. This has some meat to it. Throughout
human history, people of note from czars, to Kings, to Pharaohs have counted blades
made of meteorite iron among their most prized possessions. Oh yep.
There's iron in there. This magnet sticks to it. I can't get the magnet back off.
Okay. And well, I want one too. So my quest is to make one badass sword out of this
chunk of iron from the sky. The first step in my journey is to find
out exactly what raw material I'm working with. Well known for its social
activism, UC Berkeley is one of the top research universities in the world.
Further, it is the home of Cosmo Chemist Dr. Christie Jilly-Rehak. Hi, nice to meet you.
Nice to meet you. Would you like to see the sample? Yes, I would
definitely. All right. Now, in case you're wondering what exactly a cosmochemist researches, just listen to her answer to this. Do you look at something like this
and think about its journey? Yeah, absolutely.
You just think this was in the center of an asteroid and then he got blasted out
by some crazy impact that must have been huge and then it flies through space for
millions of years and somehow eventually lands on earth. It's, it's wild. Yep, you
guessed it. She's a planetary scientist unlocking the mysteries of our solar
system through micro analysis of extraterrestrial samples.
And that's what I brought.
