Howtown

New ep: how to map lost worlds

Added 2025-03-31 20:53:43 +0000 UTC

Hey howtownies! At the end of 2024 I came across a paper that showed where various pieces of the earth's surface were 1.8 billion years (and a couple supercontinents) ago. It was fun to imagine being able to walk from Canada to Australia - but it got me wondering ... how do scientists figure all this out? We answer that question in our new episode!

I went a little overboard on the animation, using a combination of real paper stop motion, After Effects, 3D modeling ... and even a niche geology software called GPLates. I'll be putting a BTS video on Patreon next week (previous BTS here).

In shorts:

Everyone wants to send up more satellites
The 2025 World Happiness Report just came out - and the "winner" won't surprise you
We featured some clips from March's Science Paper Book Club

Speaking of SPBC - our next event is one week away, at noon ET on April 7! We'll be talking about a preprint that takes a skeptical look at Blue Zones - regions in the world famous for the remarkable longevity of their inhabitants. This paper won the 2024 Ig-Nobel prize in demography!

You can read and/or download the paper here.

If you're free on Monday, we'd love to chat with you - here's the meeting info:

SCIENCE PAPER BOOK CLUB | Howtown

Monday, April 7 · 12:00pm – 1:00pm ET

We'll send out an invite link to Howtown Heroes soon.

I can't wait for you all to see our next episode from Joss, which features lasers and hidden cities. Until then, have a good April and thank you so much for your support! Cheers,

Adam (& Joss)