Ben Alford

After the initial media hubbub in August over the 33 miners trapped in a collapsed copper and gold mine outside of Copiapo, Chile, news updates from the rescue effort have been slow and infrequent... but initial estimates said the rescue effort would likely require four months of drilling. Given the original announcement that the miners would likely not be rescued until Christmas, you can certainly be forgiven if you were one of the many people surprised as news of the miners’ impending rescue made the rounds on Saturday.  So if you are now finding the details of the whole ordeal somewhat hard to recall, don’t sweat it.  We’ve put together a succinct timeline to help you review. 

We've come a long way, baby...

The Macondo well may be sealed and "dead," but the impact of the Deepwater Horizon disaster is going to be felt for some time to come. We're spending the whole hour wrestling with some of the unanswered questions and lingering issues that the BP oil spill has left in its wake. To help us navigate these dirty waters, Robert Hernan, author of "This Borrowed Earth: Lessons from the Fifteen Worst Environmental Disasters Around the World" joins us for the hour.

Also, check out our timeline of the entire disaster, spanning from the Deepwater Horizon's construction in 1998 through when it was declared "dead" on Sunday.