In Search of Stardust | Jon Larsen | TEDxFredrikstad

Stardust is falling around us all the time. On rooftops, windowsills and city streets. Jon Larsen tells how an obsessive curiosity about tiny particles led from jazz clubs to microscopes, scientific verification and a new way of finding micrometeorites in urban environments. His story is not only about cosmic dust. It is about attention: how a willingness to look closely at the ordinary can open an unexpected path to discovery, and how science can begin with a simple question that nobody thought worth asking. Jon Larsen is a Norwegian jazz musician, composer, visual artist and citizen scientist. After decades in music, including as a founding figure in Hot Club de Norvège, his curiosity shifted toward tiny particles hidden in everyday dust. Through the Stardust Project he developed methods for distinguishing micrometeorites from human-made particles, contributing to research that helped change how scientists think about collecting modern cosmic dust in populated areas. His journey is a reminder that expertise can begin with sustained curiosity and that discovery sometimes starts by looking closely at what everyone else ignores. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx