Welcome to The Authority, Slate’s deep dive into the world(s) of HBO’s His Dark Materials. Each week, Slate’s scholars of experimental theology Dan Kois and Laura Miller discuss the HBO series and Philip Pullman’s original trilogy. This week, they cover Episode 2 of Season 2, “The Cave,” in which Lyra meets Mary Malone, a theoretical physicist in our world. She, and we, make some major discoveries about Dust.

Email: asktheauthority@slate.com

Podcast production by Phil Surkis.

Dan Kois on Twitter: @dankois

Laura Miller on Twitter: @magiciansbook

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