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Why is Hollywood obsessed with time travel? Theoretical physicist Dr. Clifford V. Johnson breaks down black holes, string theory, science consulting on Marvel flicks and how time travel to the future might not be total fiction. Then, a story about dark matter, and why actress Kirby Howell-Baptiste (Cruella, Killing Eve) thinks we're all living on a massive made up set. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Happy Holidays from WTiF! In honor of the SOLSTICE this week, we present an encore of one of our most popular episodes. Enjoy! --- The incredible Science Fiction author PAUL McAULEY joins us to celebrate episode 100! With a preview of the science behind his upcoming novel, WAR OF THE MAPS, Paul asks: What The IF we could save the Earth from the inevitable death of the Sun! It's gonna be a lotta work! First we've gotta MOVE the Earth outward when the Sun expands into a RED GIANT, then we need to HUDDLE UP close (!) when the Sun shrinks into a WHITE DWARF. Yep, Paul treats us to some EPIC ENGINEERING and ultra vivid SOLAR SCIENCE! PAUL McAULEY is the author of more than twenty books, including novels, short story collections and a film monograph. His latest novel is AUSTRAL https://www.amazon.co.uk/Austral-Paul-McAuley/dp/1473217318 And his latest short story is featured in Wade Roush's exciting anthology TWELVE TOMORROWS from MIT Press, which also features new stories from Elizabeth Bear, SL Huang, Clifford V. Johnson, J. M. Ledgard, Liu Cixin, Ken Liu, Paul McAuley, Nnedi Okorafor, Malka Older, Sarah Pinsker, Alastair Reynolds https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/twelve-tomorrows Also in stores now is EINSTEIN'S WAR by our very own Matt Stanley! https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/608113/einsteins-war-by-matthew-stanley/9781524745417 REVIEW the show: itunes.apple.com/podcast/id1250517051?mt=2&ls=1 SUBSCRIBE for free: https://pod.link/1250517051 BUY, GIFT, READ Matt Stanley's engrossing new book! EINSTEIN'S WAR: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I. In bookstores now. Thanks & Keep On IFFin'! -- Philip & Matt
For episode 23 of ‘You Should See The Other Guy,' we brought back a special guest: the soft-spoken, bitingly funny, and keenly observant Abby Monteil. She helps us break down the Hulu time travel rom-com ‘Palm Springs' (2020). There are various “other guys” to consider for both nihilistic goofball Nyles (Andy Samberg) and the rock-bottom-hitting Sarah (Cristin Millioti), and yet somehow we end up all over the place, gabbing about murder, eyebrows, and goats — as friends do when they get together to talk about movies. Also discussed: Andy Samberg's marriage to the harp-playing genius Joanna Newsom and also theoretical physicist Clifford V. Johnson.
Clifford and Dennis have a conversation the early years in Clifford's life.... Clifford Johnson April 16 2020. Professor Clifford V. Johnson's work in science ranges from teaching and research into black holes, particle physics, string theory, and cosmology, to public outreach where he strives to put science back into the general culture. He helps artists, writers, and filmmakers incorporate science into their work, and appears on several TV and online shows. He has been a science adviser for many TV shows and movies, including Nat Geo's Genius (featuring Einstein), Marvel's Agent Carter, Thor: Ragnarok, Avengers: Infinity War & Endgame, and more. Johnson also recently wrote and illustrated a graphic novel featuring science called "The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe" (MIT Press), selected as one of Science Friday's Best books of the year - two years in succession! Here is a link to Clifford's blog: https://asymptotia.com Here is a link to his graphic novel: https://thedialoguesbook.com/ This episode of "A Conversation with..." was produced by Renée Yaworsky and Dennis Tardan. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/dennis-tardan/support
Science fiction is, at its core, about tomorrow—exploring through stories what the universe may look like one or 10 or a million years in the future. Twelve Tomorrows (MIT Press, 2018) uses short stories to fit nearly a dozen possible “tomorrows” into a single book. Edited by journalist Wade Roush, the collection features stories by Elizabeth Bear, SL Huang, Clifford V. Johnson, J. M. Ledgard, Liu Cixin, Ken Liu, Paul McAuley, Nnedi Okorafor, Malka Older, Sarah Pinsker, and Alastair Reynolds. The book is the latest in a series of identically titled books launched in 2011 by MIT Technology Review. The series explores the future implications of emerging technologies through the lens of fiction. It’s the first time Roush, who hosts the podcast Soonish and specializes in writing about science and technology, has edited fiction. “The mission of Twelve Tomorrows is to highlight stories that are totally plausible from an engineering point of view,” Roush says. In “The Heart of the Matter,” Nnedi Okorafur explores how suspicion of new technology can have real life consequences. In this case, plotters against the reformist president of Nigeria try to muster support for a coup by manipulating fears about the president’s new artificial heart, claiming that the organ—which was grown in a Chinese laboratory from plant cells—is powered by witchcraft. In “The Woman Who Destroyed Us,” SL Huang describes the plight of a mother who wants to exact revenge on a doctor who used deep brain stimulation to treat her son’s behavioral and mental health issues. The changes in her son are so dramatic that the mother feels she’s lost her child, and yet the son is happy with the result, feeling that the treatment has revealed his true self. If there’s one message Roush hopes readers take from the collection, it’s that people are in the driver’s seat when it comes to building and using new technologies. He hopes the book reminds people “that we do have the power to adopt or shun technology, that we can decide how to bring it into our lives, to what extent we want to use it or not use it. We can even influence the way innovation happens. We can tell scientists and engineers, ‘You know what? This isn’t good enough’ or ‘We’re worried about this. We want you to build in more safeguards.’… We have that power.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Science fiction is, at its core, about tomorrow—exploring through stories what the universe may look like one or 10 or a million years in the future. Twelve Tomorrows (MIT Press, 2018) uses short stories to fit nearly a dozen possible “tomorrows” into a single book. Edited by journalist Wade Roush, the collection features stories by Elizabeth Bear, SL Huang, Clifford V. Johnson, J. M. Ledgard, Liu Cixin, Ken Liu, Paul McAuley, Nnedi Okorafor, Malka Older, Sarah Pinsker, and Alastair Reynolds. The book is the latest in a series of identically titled books launched in 2011 by MIT Technology Review. The series explores the future implications of emerging technologies through the lens of fiction. It’s the first time Roush, who hosts the podcast Soonish and specializes in writing about science and technology, has edited fiction. “The mission of Twelve Tomorrows is to highlight stories that are totally plausible from an engineering point of view,” Roush says. In “The Heart of the Matter,” Nnedi Okorafur explores how suspicion of new technology can have real life consequences. In this case, plotters against the reformist president of Nigeria try to muster support for a coup by manipulating fears about the president’s new artificial heart, claiming that the organ—which was grown in a Chinese laboratory from plant cells—is powered by witchcraft. In “The Woman Who Destroyed Us,” SL Huang describes the plight of a mother who wants to exact revenge on a doctor who used deep brain stimulation to treat her son’s behavioral and mental health issues. The changes in her son are so dramatic that the mother feels she’s lost her child, and yet the son is happy with the result, feeling that the treatment has revealed his true self. If there’s one message Roush hopes readers take from the collection, it’s that people are in the driver’s seat when it comes to building and using new technologies. He hopes the book reminds people “that we do have the power to adopt or shun technology, that we can decide how to bring it into our lives, to what extent we want to use it or not use it. We can even influence the way innovation happens. We can tell scientists and engineers, ‘You know what? This isn’t good enough’ or ‘We’re worried about this. We want you to build in more safeguards.’… We have that power.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Science fiction is, at its core, about tomorrow—exploring through stories what the universe may look like one or 10 or a million years in the future. Twelve Tomorrows (MIT Press, 2018) uses short stories to fit nearly a dozen possible “tomorrows” into a single book. Edited by journalist Wade Roush, the collection features stories by Elizabeth Bear, SL Huang, Clifford V. Johnson, J. M. Ledgard, Liu Cixin, Ken Liu, Paul McAuley, Nnedi Okorafor, Malka Older, Sarah Pinsker, and Alastair Reynolds. The book is the latest in a series of identically titled books launched in 2011 by MIT Technology Review. The series explores the future implications of emerging technologies through the lens of fiction. It’s the first time Roush, who hosts the podcast Soonish and specializes in writing about science and technology, has edited fiction. “The mission of Twelve Tomorrows is to highlight stories that are totally plausible from an engineering point of view,” Roush says. In “The Heart of the Matter,” Nnedi Okorafur explores how suspicion of new technology can have real life consequences. In this case, plotters against the reformist president of Nigeria try to muster support for a coup by manipulating fears about the president’s new artificial heart, claiming that the organ—which was grown in a Chinese laboratory from plant cells—is powered by witchcraft. In “The Woman Who Destroyed Us,” SL Huang describes the plight of a mother who wants to exact revenge on a doctor who used deep brain stimulation to treat her son’s behavioral and mental health issues. The changes in her son are so dramatic that the mother feels she’s lost her child, and yet the son is happy with the result, feeling that the treatment has revealed his true self. If there’s one message Roush hopes readers take from the collection, it’s that people are in the driver’s seat when it comes to building and using new technologies. He hopes the book reminds people “that we do have the power to adopt or shun technology, that we can decide how to bring it into our lives, to what extent we want to use it or not use it. We can even influence the way innovation happens. We can tell scientists and engineers, ‘You know what? This isn’t good enough’ or ‘We’re worried about this. We want you to build in more safeguards.’… We have that power.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Science fiction is, at its core, about tomorrow—exploring through stories what the universe may look like one or 10 or a million years in the future. Twelve Tomorrows (MIT Press, 2018) uses short stories to fit nearly a dozen possible “tomorrows” into a single book. Edited by journalist Wade Roush, the collection features stories by Elizabeth Bear, SL Huang, Clifford V. Johnson, J. M. Ledgard, Liu Cixin, Ken Liu, Paul McAuley, Nnedi Okorafor, Malka Older, Sarah Pinsker, and Alastair Reynolds. The book is the latest in a series of identically titled books launched in 2011 by MIT Technology Review. The series explores the future implications of emerging technologies through the lens of fiction. It’s the first time Roush, who hosts the podcast Soonish and specializes in writing about science and technology, has edited fiction. “The mission of Twelve Tomorrows is to highlight stories that are totally plausible from an engineering point of view,” Roush says. In “The Heart of the Matter,” Nnedi Okorafur explores how suspicion of new technology can have real life consequences. In this case, plotters against the reformist president of Nigeria try to muster support for a coup by manipulating fears about the president’s new artificial heart, claiming that the organ—which was grown in a Chinese laboratory from plant cells—is powered by witchcraft. In “The Woman Who Destroyed Us,” SL Huang describes the plight of a mother who wants to exact revenge on a doctor who used deep brain stimulation to treat her son’s behavioral and mental health issues. The changes in her son are so dramatic that the mother feels she’s lost her child, and yet the son is happy with the result, feeling that the treatment has revealed his true self. If there’s one message Roush hopes readers take from the collection, it’s that people are in the driver’s seat when it comes to building and using new technologies. He hopes the book reminds people “that we do have the power to adopt or shun technology, that we can decide how to bring it into our lives, to what extent we want to use it or not use it. We can even influence the way innovation happens. We can tell scientists and engineers, ‘You know what? This isn’t good enough’ or ‘We’re worried about this. We want you to build in more safeguards.’… We have that power.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Science fiction is, at its core, about tomorrow—exploring through stories what the universe may look like one or 10 or a million years in the future. Twelve Tomorrows (MIT Press, 2018) uses short stories to fit nearly a dozen possible “tomorrows” into a single book. Edited by journalist Wade Roush, the collection features stories by Elizabeth Bear, SL Huang, Clifford V. Johnson, J. M. Ledgard, Liu Cixin, Ken Liu, Paul McAuley, Nnedi Okorafor, Malka Older, Sarah Pinsker, and Alastair Reynolds. The book is the latest in a series of identically titled books launched in 2011 by MIT Technology Review. The series explores the future implications of emerging technologies through the lens of fiction. It’s the first time Roush, who hosts the podcast Soonish and specializes in writing about science and technology, has edited fiction. “The mission of Twelve Tomorrows is to highlight stories that are totally plausible from an engineering point of view,” Roush says. In “The Heart of the Matter,” Nnedi Okorafur explores how suspicion of new technology can have real life consequences. In this case, plotters against the reformist president of Nigeria try to muster support for a coup by manipulating fears about the president’s new artificial heart, claiming that the organ—which was grown in a Chinese laboratory from plant cells—is powered by witchcraft. In “The Woman Who Destroyed Us,” SL Huang describes the plight of a mother who wants to exact revenge on a doctor who used deep brain stimulation to treat her son’s behavioral and mental health issues. The changes in her son are so dramatic that the mother feels she’s lost her child, and yet the son is happy with the result, feeling that the treatment has revealed his true self. If there’s one message Roush hopes readers take from the collection, it’s that people are in the driver’s seat when it comes to building and using new technologies. He hopes the book reminds people “that we do have the power to adopt or shun technology, that we can decide how to bring it into our lives, to what extent we want to use it or not use it. We can even influence the way innovation happens. We can tell scientists and engineers, ‘You know what? This isn’t good enough’ or ‘We’re worried about this. We want you to build in more safeguards.’… We have that power.” Rob Wolf is the host of New Books in Science Fiction and the author of The Alternate Universe. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Clifford V. Johnson, Ph.D., is a theoretical physicist and professor at the University of Southern California's Department of Physics and Astronomy. Johnson is regularly featured on the History Channel series "The Universe." He also wrote and illustrated "The Dialogues: Conversations About the Nature of the Universe." The book (https://thedialoguesbook.com) is available now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Powell's, and other bookstores. To learn more, visit his website and Asymptotia.com.
Clifford V. Johnson is a theoretical physicist and a professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Southern California. His research focuses on the origins of the universe and the very fabric of nature. Professor Johnson studies and writes about things like string theory, space-time, quantum mechanics, black holes and the Big Bang among other things. He is the recipient of the Maxwell Medal and Prize from the Institute of Physics and the National Science Foundation's CAREER Award. Full show notes available at http://ktla.com/FrankBuckleyInterviews.
Dr. Clifford V. Johnson’s work in science ranges from teaching and research as a professor at USC to public outreach where he strives to put science back into the general culture. He helps artists, writers, and filmmakers incorporate science into their work, appears on several TV and online shows, gives public lectures and participates in panel discussions and other events. He has been science advisor for many TV shows and movies, including Nat Geo’s Genius (featuring Einstein), Marvel’s Agent Carter, Star Trek: Discovery, Thor: Ragnarok, and more. Dr. Johnson also writes about science, and is an enthusiastic sketch artist. He has written and drawn a graphic novel featuring science called The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe, published by MIT Press in November 2017. Johnson’s research concerns the origin and evolution of the Universe and its fundamental constituents. He works mainly on superstring theory, quantum gravity, and M-theory, studying objects such as black holes and D-branes, using various techniques from Mathematics and Physics to address issues of relevance to particle physics, cosmology and astrophysics. Johnson’s work has also led to new descriptions of physics relevant to the quark-gluon plasma, and various quantum critical phenomena in condensed matter physics.
Time Codes: 00:00:25 - Introduction 00:02:34 - Setup of interview 00:03:59 - Interview with Clifford V. Johnson 01:28:40 - Wrap up 01:29:23 - Contact us On this interview episode Derek has as his guest Clifford V. Johnson. He is a professor of physics at the University of Southern California, and his new book The Dialogues: Conversations about the Nature of the Universe was released last fall by the MIT Press. Clifford talks with Derek about the genesis of this project, his choice of the dialogue form in structuring his text, and the challenges -- as well as the appropriateness -- of representing complex scientific concepts through comics. The Dialogues is a fascinating work of ideas, one that could even be categorized as a graphic cycle, and a book that can be appreciated by scientists and laypeople alike. Science! Be sure to check out Prof. Johnson's blog, Asymptotia, for his ongoing thoughts on science in our contemporary culture.
Q & A with Physicist Clifford V. Johnson, About the Creation of Genius, and Albert Einstein Our guest today, Dr. Clifford V. Johnson is a professor in the Physics and Astronomy Department at the University of Southern California. Hearing the word ‘physics,' should definitely not scare you away. Actually, quite the contrary. You'll want to hear this because Dr. Johnson is well known for explaining physics to the general public, through public lectures, writing, drawing, blogging, filmmaking, appearances at museums, bookstores, festivals, and especially through television and online. He works with artists, writers, filmmakers, and others to help improve science content and the perception and understanding of science in the arts, media, and the broader culture. Dr Johnson was the science script adviser for the National Geographic anthology series GENIUS. Genius is currently airing episodes on the National Geographic Channel, as well as trusted online sites. GENIUS, from Executive Producers Brian Grazer and Ron Howard is the story of Albert Einstein. GENIUS follows the brilliant scientist through the ups and downs of his life, from failing to get his doctorate to developing the general theory of relativity. Dr. Clifford Johnson guided, advised and even cajoled a bit to “get the science right” on the program. As all Not Old Better audience love our science programs, you'll love this interview. Please join me in welcoming to The Not Old Better Show via Skype, Dr Clifford Johnson. Enjoy.
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