{"id":235366,"date":"2026-04-16T18:13:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:13:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/earths-core-should-be-impossible-a-new-state-of-matter-explains-it"},"modified":"2026-04-16T18:13:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T23:13:26","slug":"earths-core-should-be-impossible-a-new-state-of-matter-explains-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/earths-core-should-be-impossible-a-new-state-of-matter-explains-it","title":{"rendered":"Earth\u2019s Core Should Be Impossible. A New State of Matter Explains It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/qQmfXVE6W-I?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Check Out Eons: <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/2srsyb69\">https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/2srsyb69<\/a> And the full PBS Earth Month Playlist: <a href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/ebkf6kx3\">https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/ebkf6kx3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Is Earth\u2019s core a solid or a liquid? Yes. The mysteries of our own planet\u2019s interior have, in many ways, been harder to crack than those of the rest of the cosmos. We can send probes to the edge of the solar system, and the 42 billion light years to the cosmic horizon are largely transparent\u2014a big enough telescope can see the most distant galaxy. But the 6400km to Earth\u2019s center are both opaque to light and far beyond the reach of any conceivable drill. The best we can do for most of our planetary depths is to listen to the faint rumblings of distant earthquakes and then try to piece together how those seismic waves bounce around the interior.<\/p>\n<p>Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord!<br \/> \/ pbsspacetime.<\/p>\n<p>Check out the Space Time Merch Store.<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbsspacetime.com\/shop\">https:\/\/www.pbsspacetime.com\/shop<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special announcements!<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/1a6eb8f2717d\/space\">https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/1a6eb8f2717d\/space<\/a>\u2026 the Entire Space Time Library Here: <a href=\"https:\/\/search.pbsspacetime.com\/\">https:\/\/search.pbsspacetime.com\/<\/a> Hosted by Matt O\u2019Dowd Written by: Richard Dyer &amp; Matt O\u2019Dowd Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer Directed by Andrew Kornhaber Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour Executive Producer: Andrew Kornhaber Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: Mike Martin Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios. This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content. \u00a9 2026 PBS. All rights reserved. End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: <img alt=\"\" class=\"\"> \/ multidroideka Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By: Big Bang Adam Van Winkle Alexander Tamas David Paryente Juan Benet Kenneth See Mark Rosenthal Morgan Hough Peter Barrett Vinnie Falco Supernova Ethan Cohen Glenn Sugden Grace Biaelcki Justin Lloyd Mark Heising Stephen Wilcox Tristan Lucian Claudius Aurelius Tyacke Hypernova Alex Kern Ben Delo Cal Stephens chuck zegar Dean Galvin Donal Botkin drollere Gregory Forfa jeff white John R. Slavik Massimiliano Pala Mike Purvis PAUL C PEDERSEN Santiago Scott Gorlick Scott Gray Spencer Jones Stephen Saslow Zachary Haberman \u0410\u043d\u0442\u043e\u043d \u041a\u043e\u0447\u043a\u043e\u0432 Daniel Muzquiz Gamma Ray Burst Alex Gan aaron pinto Almog Cohen Anthony Leon Arko Provo Mukherjee Ayden Miller Bradley Jenkins Bradley Ulis Brandon Lattin Brian Cook Chris Liao Christopher Wade Chuck Lukaszewski Collin Dutrow Craig Falls Craig Stonaha Dan Warren Daniel Donahue Daniel Jennings Darrell Stewart David Giltinan David Johnston Doyle Vann Eric Kiebler Eric Raschke Eric Schrenker Faraz Khan Frederic Simon gmmiddleton Harsh Khandhadia Isaac Suttell James Trimmier Jason Bowen Jeb Campbell Jeff Harris Jeremy Soller Jerry Thomas jim bartosh John Anderson John De Witt John Funai John H. Austin, Jr. Joseph Salomone Junaid Ali Kacper Cie\u015bla Kane Holbrook Kent Durham Koen Wilde Kyle Atkinson Lori Ferris Marcelo Garcia Marion Lang Mark Daniel Cohen Mark Delagasse Matt Kaprocki Matt Quinn Matthew Johnson Michael Barton Michael Clark Michael Lev Michael Purcell Mikk Mihkel Nurges Nick Hoffenstoffer III Nicolas Katsantonis Onemind Param Saxena Paul Wood Rad Antonov Reuben Brewer Richard Steenbergen Robert DeChellis Ross Kennedy Ross Story Russell Moore SamSword Sandhya Devi Sean Owen Shane Calimlim SilentGnome Terje Vold Thomas Dougherty Todd J Lerner Tybie Fitzhugh Zac Sweers.<\/p>\n<p>Search the Entire Space Time Library Here: <a href=\"https:\/\/search.pbsspacetime.com\/\">https:\/\/search.pbsspacetime.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/earths-core-should-be-impossible-a-new-state-of-matter-explains-it\">Continue reading \u201cEarth\u2019s Core Should Be Impossible. A New State of Matter Explains It\u201d | &gt;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Check Out Eons: https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/2srsyb69 And the full PBS Earth Month Playlist: https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/ebkf6kx3 Is Earth\u2019s core a solid or a liquid? Yes. The mysteries of our own planet\u2019s interior have, in many ways, been harder to crack than those of the rest of the cosmos. We can send probes to the edge of the solar system, [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33,42,219],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-235366","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cosmology","category-media-arts","category-physics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235366","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235366"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235366\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}