The Story of an Axe

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• published: 07 Aug 2015
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The culmination of a Master's program at Stanford under the direction of Dave Beach. Nick Wenner is a scientist craftsman in the service of awe and wonder. He holds degrees in earth science and mechanical engineering and loves practicing the traditional crafts, including blacksmithing and woodworking. This is a recording of his Master’s thesis from June 2015. It is the first step in a journey to uncover the stories carried by the material world around and within us. He dreams of one day forging an axe entirely from stone-age means, tracing an arc through human technology from its very beginnings: a world of earth, stone, wood, and fire. Nick is searching for opportunities to continue this work, and he expects his savings to last another year or so. If you want to share comments or suggestions, please contact him directly at nwenner@stanford.edu. Nick is currently studying at a school for stone-age living skills in Washington. Once he’s made buckskin clothes, gathered enough food, fired clay pots, and more, he plans to join a month-long project, where he and others will live in the wild with nothing but what they have made and gathered themselves. Assistance on story and audio/video by Will Rogers Photo sources: Dickson Chow Nick Wenner http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/10th/photos/graphics/slide38high.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Universe http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/active-regions-on-the-sun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NGC_6744 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellar_nucleosynthesis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eskimo_Nebula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crab_Nebula https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_Molecular_Cloud_Complex https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso1436a/ http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/active-regions-on-the-sun http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v473/n7348/fig_tab/473460a_F1.html http://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/2008/58/ http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=57723 https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=168 http://www2.epa.gov/sfbay-delta/about-watershed http://sierranevadageography.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-sierra-nevada-mountain-range-is-one.html http://geomaps.wr.usgs.gov/parks/province/pacifmt.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sierra_Nevada_%28U.S.%29 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yosemite_National_Park http://www2.epa.gov/sfbay-delta/about-watershed https://www.google.com/maps Hideo Mabuchi http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/active-regions-on-the-sun http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=57723 http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/ks3/gsl/education/resources/rockcycle.html http://water.usgs.gov/edu/watercycle.html http://expeditieaarde.blogspot.com/2013_01_01_archive.html http://need-media.smugmug.com/Graphics/Graphics/i-pTXRmmn http://www.gzn.uni-erlangen.de/en/palaeontology/research/container/taxonomy-of-marine-fossils/ http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/active-regions-on-the-sun https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_giant http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planetary_nebula http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/active-regions-on-the-sun http://visibleearth.nasa.gov/view.php?id=57723