“Timefulness," writes guest Marcia Bjornerud, "includes a feeling for distances and proximities in the geography of deep time. Focusing simply on the age of the Earth is like describing a symphony in terms of its total measure count. Without time, a symphony is a heap of sounds; the durations of notes and recurrence of themes give it shape. Similarly, the grandeur of Earth’s story lies in the gradually unfolding, interwoven rhythyms of its many movements, with short motifs sampering over tones that resonate across the entire span of the planet’s history.”

Is geology just history without people? What can zircon crystals tell us about the deep past? How did shattering a tourmaline make Marcia mindful of timefulness? And what does an annual sturgeon fishing festival tell us about how people interact with time? All this and more in this week's conversation.