Podcasts about Physics Today

Our books, our movies—our imaginations—are obsessed with extra dimensions, alternate timelines, and the sense that all we see might not be all there is. In short, we can't stop thinking about the multiverse. As it turns out, physicists are similarly captivated. In The Allure of the Multiverse, physicist Paul Halpern tells the epic story of how science became besotted with the multiverse, and the controversies that ensued. The questions that brought scientists to this point are big and deep: Is reality such that anything can happen, must happen? How does quantum mechanics “choose” the outcomes of its apparently random processes? And why is the universe habitable? Each question quickly leads to the multiverse. Drawing on centuries of disputation and deep vision, from luminaries like Nietzsche, Einstein, and the creators of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Halpern reveals the multiplicity of multiverses that scientists have imagined to make sense of our reality. Whether we live in one of many different possible universes, or simply the only one there is, might never be certain. But Halpern shows one thing for sure: how stimulating it can be to try to find out. Shermer and Halpern discuss: definitions of universe and types of multiverses • Is the multiverse science, metaphysics, or faith? • theists claim the “multiverse” is just handwaving around the God answer • many worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics? • inflationary and Darwinian cosmology • infinity and eternity • multiple dimensions • string theory • cyclical universes • Big Bounce • Anthropic Principle (weak, strong, participatory) • time travel • sliding doors, contingency, and the multiverse. Dr. Paul Halpern is the author of 18 popular science books, exploring the subjects of space, time, higher dimensions, dark energy, dark matter, exoplanets, particle physics, and cosmology. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, and an Athenaeum Literary Award, he has contributed to Nature, Physics Today, Aeon, NOVA's “The Nature of Reality” physics blog, and Forbes “Starts with a Bang!” He has appeared on numerous radio and television shows including “Future Quest,” “Science Friday,” “Radio Times,” “Coast to Coast AM,” “The Simpsons 20thAnniversary Special,” and C-SPAN's “BookTV.” He appeared previously on the show for his book Synchronicity: The Epic Quest to Understand the Quantum Nature of Cause and Effect. His new book, The Allure of the Multiverse, describes the controversial history of higher dimensional and parallel universe schemes in science and culture.

How could a brilliant scientist and mathematician, an innovator in quantum theory, who worked closely with Jewish colleagues, become an ardent Nazi? How did this man, who has a field of mathematics named after him, escape the scrutiny of his colleagues? And what happened to him upon the collapse of Nazi Germany? The scientist who straddled this strange world of physics and Nazism was Pascual Jordan. With us to explain the history of Pascual Jordan is Ryan Dahn. Ryan is a writer, editor, science historian, and translator. He is the books editor at Physics Today, the flagship physics magazine of the American Institute of Physics.

The fascinating story of science in pursuit of the ghostly, ubiquitous subatomic particle—the neutrino.Isaac Asimov once observed of the neutrino: “The only reason scientists suggested its existence was their need to make calculations come out even. And yet the nothing-particle was not a nothing at all.” In fact, as one of the most enigmatic and most populous particles in the universe—about 100 trillion are flying through you every second—the neutrino may hold the clues to some of our deepest cosmic mysteries. In Ghost Particle, Alan Chodos and James Riordon recount the dramatic history of the neutrino—from the initial suggestion that the particle was merely a desperate solution to a puzzle that threatened to undermine the burgeoning field of particle physics to its modern role in illuminating the universe via neutrino telescopes. Alan Chodos and James Riordon are deft and engaging guides as they conduct readers through the experiences of intrepid scientists and the challenges they faced, and continue to face, in their search for the ghostly neutrino. Along the way, the authors provide expert insight into the significance of neutrino research from the particle's first, momentous discovery to recent, revolutionary advances in neutrino detection and astronomy. Chodos and Riordon describe how neutrinos may soon provide clues to some of the biggest questions we encounter today, including how to understand the dark matter that makes up most of the universe—and why anything exists in the universe at all.Alan Chodos is a Research Professor of Physics at the University of Texas at Arlington, a former Director of the Yale Center for Theoretical Physics, and the former Associate Executive Officer of the American Physical Society, where he is a Fellow.James Riordon is a science journalist who has written for Science News, Scientific American, New Scientist, Popular Science, Washington Post, Science, Ad Astra, Physics Today, and Analytical Chemistry. He is a past President of the DC Science Writers Association, and Cofounder of the Southwest Science Writers Association.Buy the book from Wellington Square Bookshop - ​https://wellingtonsquarebooks.indiecommerce.com/book/9780262047876

Chi era Robert Oppenheimer? Qual'è la vera storia del fisico passato alla storia come padre dellabomba atomica, fra entusiasmo scientifico, accuse ingiuste e dubbi etici? In questo podcast, ilgiornalista Giampiero Gramaglia, traccia un ritratto del fisico.La copertina del primo numero di Physics Today, tra i periodici più importanti al mondo per lafisica dal 1948 a oggi, presentava una foto del cappello di J. Robert Oppenheimer appoggiato su unciclotrone (una macchina usata per accelerare fasci di particelle). Il fisico americano era cosìfamoso che non aveva bisogno di mostrare la sua faccia per essere “riconosciuto”. Eppure la suaenorme fama non gli evitò di essere ostracizzato e (temporaneamente) disonorato, a dispetto dellasolidarietà della comunità scientifica.Oppenheimer è anche il titolo di un film del 2023 scritto, diretto e co-prodotto da ChristopherNolan. La pellicola racconta la vita del fisico statunitense Robert Oppenheimer, interpretato daCillian Murphy, e dell'invenzione della prima bomba atomica nell'ambito del Progetto Manhattan.Giampiero Gramaglia insegna Giornalismo all'Università di Roma La sapienza. È stato direttoredell'ANSA, oltre che corrispondente per l'agenzia da Washington.- Il giovane scienziato e l'intellettuale impegnato. Il Progetto Manhattan, l'organizzatore e il manager (Prima parte)- Le polemiche nell'America maccarthista e la riabilitazione kennedyana (Seconda parte)A cura di Francesco De Leo. Montaggio di Silvio Farina.https://storiainpodcast.focus.it - Canale Eventi e luoghi------------Storia in Podcast di Focus si può ascoltare anche su Spotify http://bit.ly/VoceDellaStoria ed Apple Podcasts https://podcasts.apple.com/it/podcast/la-voce-della-storia/id1511551427.Siamo in tutte le edicole... ma anche qui:- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FocusStoria/- Gruppo Facebook Focus Storia Wars: https://www.facebook.com/groups/FocuStoriaWars/ (per appassionati di storia militare)- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/focusitvideo- Twitter: https://twitter.com/focusstoria- Sito: https://www.focus.it/cultura

I am pleased to welcome, Steve Case, a science professor at Olivet Nazarene University, back to Kankakee Podcast! If you remember, Steve was on the podcast about a year ago to talk about the Strickler Planetarium at ONU. If you don't recall, you can listen to that episode here: https://kankakeepodcast.com/episodes/53-strickler-planetarium-jeri-lamont-steve-case/ However, on this particular episode, we talk about Steve's career as a writer of science fiction and nonfiction. He's had much success with it too, I might add. This summer alone, Steve has landed three of his short stories in the following publications:  “Daughters of the Lattice”, in the July/August issue of Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine. https://www.asimovs.com/ “John Herschel's Reform of Science”, feature article in the June issue of Physics Today. https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/76/6/40/2893167/John-Herschel-s-reform-of-scienceThe-son-of-the “Every Seed is a Prayer (And Your World is a Seed)”, forthcoming in Clarkesworld Magazine. https://clarkesworldmagazine.com/ All three of these magazines are dream publications for Steve. So a big congratulations is in order!  To learn more about Steve Case and view all of his writings, visit https://stephenrcase.com/.  Thanks for coming back to the podcast, Steve!  Much Love,Jake LaMore  King Music's Sidewalk Sale, Saturday, August 5th, 10 am to 4pm on Broadway in Bradley. Special pricing on all step up instruments with zero percent financing available. Visit kingmusic.com and follow King Music on Facebook and Instagram.

Dr. Aaron Bateman is an Assistant Professor of History and International Affairs at George Washington University and an affiliate of the Space Policy Institute. He received his Master's in International Relations from St. Mary's University in San Antonio and his PhD in the History of Science and Technology at Johns Hopkins University. His research takes place at the intersection of science, technology, and national security during the Cold War. His research interests include technological cooperation and competition, military spaceflight, secrecy and knowledge regulation, arms control, technology and warfare, and the role of intelligence in statecraft. His work draws from archival collections in the United States, Western Europe, and the former Soviet Union. His first book project places Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative in the context of a more militarized American approach to space that had emerged in the 1970s, and shows how divergent views of space militarization influenced U.S. foreign relations and public diplomacy through the end of the Cold War. In other projects he explores the development of overseas American surveillance infrastructure and its impact on U.S. relations with host nations. His work has appeared, or is forthcoming, in Diplomacy & Statecraft, Intelligence and National Security, the Oxford Handbook of Space Security, the Journal of Strategic Studies, the International Journal of Intelligence and Counterintelligence, Science & Diplomacy, Diplomacy and Statecraft, and the Journal of Slavic Military Studies. Since he believes that historians have a unique role to play in informing current policy debates, he also writes about contemporary defense and space topics in policy-focused publications including the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Physics Today, and War on the Rocks. While completing his doctoral studies, Dr. Bateman held a Guggenheim predoctoral fellowship at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Prior to graduate school, he served as a U.S. Air Force intelligence officer with assignments at the National Security Agency and the Pentagon. As a staff member at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, he supported intelligence and national security space efforts. He has also participated in international dialogues aimed at promoting stability in space.

In this week's episode, we welcome Dr. Christina Chang, Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, a venture capital dedicated to funding companies that are slashing C02 emissions, sucking carbon out of the sky, and buying us time to unf**k the planet. As a Partner at Lowercarbon Capital, Dr. Chang incubates and invests in new technology startups with tremendous climate impact. From 2020 to 2022, Dr. Chang was a fellow at the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E), within the U.S. Department of Energy, where she led several millions of dollars of funding for startups across manufacturing, from sustainable cement to rare earth extraction from mine tailings and has had her work featured in Physics Today and Forbes. Dr. Chang has engaged global audiences on climate and sustainable energy technology innovation, speaking at the ARPA-E Innovation Summit, TEDx, and various chemistry conferences. She graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 2012 with a Bachelor's in chemistry and Certificates in computer science, engineering biology, and materials science and engineering and has experience in techno-economics, R&D, and invention and patenting of clean energy technologies. Outside of her passion for climate technology, Dr. Chang enjoys the outdoors and serves as a rock climbing and hiking leader in the MIT Outing Club, where she teaches environmental stewardship to students. Follow us on Instagram @someonelikeyoupodcast.

Harold McGee writes about the science of food and cooking. He started out studying physics and astronomy at the California Institute of Technology, and then English literature at Yale University. In 1984 he published On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. Twenty years later, the revised and enlarged edition of On Food and Cooking was named best food reference of 2004 by the James Beard Foundation and the International Association of Culinary Professionals. In 2005, Bon Appétit magazine named McGee food writer of the year, and in 2008, Time magazine included him on its annual list of the world's most influential people. Along the way McGee published The Curious Cook: More Kitchen Science and Lore (1990), and has written articles and reviews for many publications, including The World Book Encyclopedia, Nature, Physics Today, Food & Wine, and Fine Cooking. He writes a monthly column, “The Curious Cook,” for The New York Times. (San Francisco, CA) November 2010 This video was produced by The Culinary Institute of America as an industry service to the International Olive Oil Commission.  Learn more about olive oil at https://www.plantforwardkitchen.org/olive-oil-and-the-plant-forward-kitchen 

Dr. Teboh joins Out of the Gray (Gy) to share his story of finding medical physics from an international perspective and offers advice for all from students, to seasoned members of the field on learning and helping others learn. The video format of this interview is now available on our YouTube channel!

Episode 24: Rejections are normal and common in academia. What do we do whenever we are confronted with rejections and criticisms? In this episode, I share some of my thoughts and practices when dealing with rejections. Physics Today article on Einstein The Professor Is In Episode 2:29 on Coping with Disappointment, part I Support this project by subscribing to our newsletter and joining our Facebook Group. Also available on iTunes, Spotify, and YouTube. Music by Lava Koirala --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/scholars-unbound/message

Did you know that we have magnetite crystals inside our brains? Magnetite is a mineral made up of iron oxide but it has equal amounts of iron (ii), which is ferrous oxide, and iron (iii) which is ferric oxide. Ferric oxide has three electrons--represented by the number 3 and one of those came from ferrous oxide--represented by the number 2. Both produce numerous types of materials such as plastics, heat-absorbing glass, ceramics and even rubber. Special high purity iron oxides are used in the production of ferrites, a type of ceramic magnet used in electronics such as speakers, TVs and computer memory cores. Magnetite is found in all types of rocks--igneous, metamorphic and sedimentary and yes it is magnetic. And this stuff is in our bodies and more primarily, our brains. Physics Today published an article back in 2018 titled 'Mapping magnetite in the human brain.' In 1992, researchers discovered the magnetic crystal in human brain tissue and it's thought to have formed biogenically with some possibly originating in ferritin which is an intracellular protein that is found in many organisms. The article goes on to say that various studies have shown that brain cells respond to external magnetic fields. There's also a link between elevated levels of magnetite and neurodegenerative diseases. Researchers noted that there were elevated levels of magnetite in brain tissue from Alzheimer's disease patients. Two scientists from the Ludwig-Maximilians University of Munich, geophysicist Stuart Gilder and neuroscientist Christoph Schmitz, carried out the first systematic mapping of magnetite nanoparticles in the human brain. They found magnetite concentrated in the same places in the seven brains they analyzed. They noted that the magnetite was mostly in the cerebellum and brain stem and that there was a striking asymmetry in the distribution of the magnetite particles between both hemispheres of the brain. In animals such as homing pigeons and honeybees, magnetites enable them to sense magnetic field lines. As for humans, we don't seem to sense those magnetic fields. Perhaps we are simply not in tune with our bodies anymore? Think of when a natural disaster is about to happen and animals start to flee. This is because they are able to sense a disturbance, but we are unable to. For more information, explore the links in the podcast description. LINKS https://info.noahtech.com/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-ferrous-and-ferric-oxide https://physicstoday.scitation.org/do/10.1063/PT.6.1.20180830a/full/ https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.2897947 Photo in podcast cover from Arkenstone https://www.irocks.com/minerals/specimen/46980 About Getting Stoned. Getting Stoned is a podcast about gems, minerals, and fun conversations that may go off-topic--but that's perfectly fine. The mission of this podcast is to encourage folks to explore the wonderful world of crystals, gems, minerals, and the various ways they are used in life, technology, and more. For more information on sponsoring, merch, and YouTube, visit gettingstoned.online.

The Modern Creation Myth: At the start of the 20th century, mathematical physics, inspired by a series of instrumental discoveries in astrophysics, attempted to formulate an answer to the question of how the universe came to be. The resulting creation story, the big bang, was hailed as a triumph of reason and cosmic understanding. But was it really something new, or was it just a new version of the oldest myth known to humanity? Full YT interview: hhttps://youtu.be/wMBIt7bHt9sPodcast: https://anchor.fm/demystifying-scienceMailing list http://eepurl.com/gRUCZL PODCAST INFO: Blog: http://demystifyingscience.com/blog Apple Podcasts: https://apple.co/3uhn7J1 Spotify: https://spoti.fi/39IDJBDRSS: https://anchor.fm/s/2be66934/podcast/rss Full episodes YT playlist: https://bit.ly/3sP1WgR Clips YT playlist: https://bit.ly/2OieYEG Donate: https://bit.ly/3wkPqaD Swag: https://bit.ly/2PXdC2y SOCIAL: - Twitter: https://twitter.com/demystifysci - Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/demystifyingscience - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/demystifysci/ We wrote and performed the music in this episode! Shilo Delay: https://soundcloud.com/laterisgone And everywhere else (Spotify, etc..) https://g.co/kgs/fc8WbA Citations: Banse, T. (2017, May 7). The oral history wasn't a myth. Tsunamis hit this tribal village five times, new study shows. NW News Network. https://www.nwnewsnetwork.org/post/oral-history-wasnt-myth-tsunamis-hit-tribal-village-five-times-new-study-shows. Dine Bahane: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Din%C3%A9_Bahane%CA%BC Egyptian myths: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Egyptian_creation_myths#Common_elements Einstein's Conversion from the Static Universe: https://phys.org/news/2014-02-einstein-conversion-static-universe.html Harrison, E. (1986). Newton and the Infinite Universe. Physics Today, 39(2), 24–32. doi:10.1063/1.881049 Hooper, D. (2020, May 14). Is the Big Bang in crisis? Astronomy.com. https://astronomy.com/magazine/news/2020/05/is-the-big-bang-in-crisis. Hubble, Edwin: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Hubble#Universe_goes_beyond_the_Milky_Way_galaxy Kirshner R. P. (2004). Hubble's diagram and cosmic expansion. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 101(1), 8–13. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2536799100 Lemaitre and Einstein: https://inters.org/einstein-lemaitre LEMAÎTRE, G. The Beginning of the World from the Point of View of Quantum Theory. Nature 127, 706 (1931). https://doi.org/10.1038/127706b0 Livio, M. Mystery of the missing text solved. Nature 479, 171–173 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/479171a Nobel prizes in physics; https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/lists/all-nobel-prizes-in-physics/ Povinelli, D. J., & Bering, J. M. (2002). The Mentality of Apes Revisited. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 11(4), 115–119. doi:10.1111/1467-8721.00181 Slipher, Vesto: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vesto_Slipher Te Ahukaramū Charles Royal, 'Māori creation traditions', Te Ara - the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, http://www.TeAra.govt.nz/en/maori-creation-traditions/print (accessed 14 June 2021) Viracocha: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viracocha#:~:text=According%20to%20a%20myth%20recorded,brainless%20giants%20that%20displeased%20him. World egg: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_egg --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/demystifying-science/support

My guest today is Charles Day. Charles is the Editor-in-chief of Physics Today, arguably the most important magazine in the world dedicated to the physical sciences. I am producing this episode *primarily* to make amends to the larger field of physics. You see, in an ironic twist, UC Santa Barbara is both home to the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, and my alma mater - A place where I avoided taking anything to do with physics, even if it meant becoming that one guy who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Computer Science. I kid. Charles has degrees in both physics and astronomy, and he even worked for NASA for a spell. Perhaps more important than any of this, Charles is a fellow writer and gastronome who adores traveling to eat, and he's a friend. One with whom I've shared some fantastic dinners and the search for perfection in the kitchen. I hear he's got a thing for Japan, too. Here's our chat.

"Symmetry is the idea that you have patterns that allow transformation that might have changed them but don't, so a circle has a lot of symmetry because you can rotate it around the center and it's still the same object. This can also be applied to concepts in physics." Physicist Frank Wilczek is here to discuss his new book Fundamentals: Ten Keys to Reality, where he outlines who we are, what we are, and where we are in relation to the world and the rest of the universe. He and Daniel have a discussion that goes in many directions, centered around Wilczek's love of history and culture and the connections he brings from those fields into physics. Beginning with how a baby interacts with the physical world around him, Wilczek charts the human discovery of the fundamentals that govern and shape us and everything around us. What does it mean for an equation to be beautiful? Does the night sky still dazzle someone like Wilczek, who has been studying all this his entire life? How many stars really are there? Support Talking Beats with Daniel Lelchuk on Patreon. You will contribute to continued presentation of substantive interviews with the world's most compelling people. We believe that providing a platform for individual expression, free thought, and a diverse array of views is more important now than ever. Professor Frank Wilczek is considered one of the world's most eminent theoretical physicists. He is known, among other things, for the discovery of asymptotic freedom, the development of quantum chromodynamics, the invention of axions, and the discovery and exploitation of new forms of quantum statistics (anyons). When only 21 years old and a graduate student at Princeton University, in work with David Gross he defined the properties of color gluons, which hold atomic nuclei together. Professor Wilczek received his B.S. degree from the University of Chicago and his Ph.D. from Princeton University. He taught at Princeton from 1974–81. During the period 1981–88, he was the Chancellor Robert Huttenback Professor of Physics at the University of California at Santa Barbara, and the first permanent member of the National Science Foundation's Institute for Theoretical Physics. In the fall of 2000, he moved from the Institute for Advanced Study, where he was the J.R. Oppenheimer Professor, to the MIT Department of Physics, where he is the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics. Since 2002, he has been an Adjunct Professor in the Centro de Estudios Científicos of Valdivia, Chile. Professor Wilczek has been a Sloan Foundation Fellow (1975-77) and a MacArthur Foundation Fellow (1982-87). He has received UNESCO's Dirac Medal, the American Physical Society's Sakurai Prize, the Michelson Prize from Case Western University, and the Lorentz Medal of the Netherlands Academy for his contributions to the development of theoretical physics. In 2004 he received the Nobel Prize in Physics, and in 2005 the King Faisal Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, the Netherlands Academy of Sciences, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is a Trustee of the University of Chicago. He contributes regularly to Physics Today and to Nature, explaining topics at the frontiers of physics to wider scientific audiences. He received the Lilienfeld Prize of the American Physical Society for these activities. Two of his pieces have been anthologized in Best American Science Writing (2003, 2005). Together with his wife Betsy Devine, he wrote a beautiful book, Longing for the Harmonies (W.W. Norton).

In this episode, we are excited to have prof. Brian Keating, the host INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE PODCAST. He is the Chancellor's Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego where he and his team study the origin and evolution of space, time, & matter. He is the author of Losing the Nobel prize, selected as one of the Best Science Books by Science Friday, Amazon, Science News, Physics Today, and also selected as one of the best cosmology books of all time by Book Authority. I felt touched by this episode since we discussed how childhood could affect you as a scientist, the motivation behind authoring the losing Nobel prize, we spoke about the hunger game in academia and the criticism of including scientists outside academia for scientific debates and discourses. It shouldn't go without saying that prof. Brian has attracted many brightest mind in our scientist society for example not no limited to : Sir Roger Penrose who won the Nobel prize this year, Jim simons, Stephan Wolfram, Sylvester James Gates, and Eric Weinstein Prof.Brian asked me a few questions in his signature question for each guest in his podcast and one thing I urge to think “What that thing that maybe was impossible for you and become possible or still aspire to have in your life” I would like to thank Michael from podcast factory .transforma bxl for opening his podcast studio doors for recording this episode. You can also find the video format of this episode in prof. Brian youtube channel, I hope you enjoy listening You can follow Prof.Brian Keating on Twitter: @DrBrianKeating Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 Apple podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/into-the-impossible-with-brian-keating/id1169885840?mt=2

When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer BY WALT WHITMAN When I heard the learn’d astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander’d off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look’d up in perfect silence at the stars. Watch Emily’s TEDx https://youtu.be/DGfBzkCay5M To be an astronomer is to journey to some of the most inaccessible parts of the globe, braving mountain passes, sub-zero temperatures, and hostile flora and fauna. Not to mention the stress of handling equipment worth millions. It is a life of unique delights and absurdities … and one that may be drawing to a close. Since Galileo first pointed his telescope at the heavens, astronomy has stood as a fount of human creativity and discovery, but soon it will be the robots gazing at the sky while we are left to sift through the data. In The Last Stargazers, Emily Levesque reveals the hidden world of the professional astronomer. She celebrates an era of ingenuity and curiosity, and asks us to think twice before we cast aside our sense of wonder at the universe. Emily Levesque is an astronomy professor at the University of Washington. She has won the American Astronomical Society’s Annie Jump Cannon Prize and been named an Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellow in Physics. She is the author of two academic works on astrophysics and has written for Physics Today. She lives in Seattle. Follow her on Twitter https://twitter.com/emsque REVIEWS of the Last Stargazers ‘The Last Stargazers is perfect for anyone who has ever wondered what it’s like to actually be an astronomer, or who has dreamt of staring up at the stars. Amidst the stories of mishaps and mistakes is a surprisingly romantic view of the glory of exploration, taken one dark night at a time.’ – Dr Chris Lintott, BBC Sky At Night ‘Through captivating stories, Levesque gives us both a vivid and accessible inside look at the enigmatic mountain-top astronomers. A unique and engaging read.’ – Dr. Sara Seager, professor of astronomy at MIT ‘Emily’s book is a compulsive read. It demonstrates what being an observational astronomer is really like—the highs, the lows, and the unscheduled things that can happen at telescopes around the world! Give this book to every young person (especially the girls!) that you know who likes math and science.’ – Jocelyn Bell Burnell, astrophysicist at Oxford University ‘Astronomy is dangerous. Wild (sometimes venomous) animals, thin air, heavy equipment, hazardous chemicals . . . Dr. Levesque captures all this with amusement and personal experience, making this a delightful read for everyone.’ – Phil Plait, astronomer and author of Bad Astronomy ‘This will particularly appeal to young women interested in science, but any stargazer would enjoy this joyous adventure through modern astronomy.’ – Publishers Weekly ‘It’s like catching a glimpse of the magic behind the curtain galaxies away, and leaves you hanging on every spectacular word. A must read for anyone who has looked up at the sky and felt a sense of wonder, as well as those considering the world of astrophysics and astronomy.’ – Tamara Robertson, host of Mythbusters: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Award-winning data visualization designer and astronomer Nadieh Bremer. On this episode, she discusses how she makes complex data come alive with clarity and beauty. She and Daniel also discuss her major recent project using data from the Hubble Space Telescope for Physics Today.

Are you ready for a super fun and nerdy podcast? Dr. Stanely has been an important thinker for my current research project. His book on renowned Quaker physicist Arthur Eddington was one I kept on telling friends about. When his new book Einstein's War came out I knew it would make for a good reason to have him on the podcast. My high expectations for the conversation were not just met but exceeded. As a historian of science who works in the conversation between religion and science, there were a bunch of different topics that came up we both love talking about. Hopefully this will not be his last visit on the podcast. In the conversation we discuss: how bad the conflict model of religion and science is the life of Arthur Eddington is Buddhism a religion? the emergence of scientific naturalism and why it isn't necessary the relationship of Einstein and Eddington how Einstein changed the scientific picture of the world how scientists got arrested for being spies the connection between physics, pacifism, and internationalism why Einstein's War should be a movie the limits and nature of science shout out to how the hippies saved physics the nature of truth within cultural/religious traditions PS: Einstein's War: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I, just came out in paperback. As you will hear in the interview, it is too good to miss. Matthew Stanley is professor of the history of science at New York University's Gallatin School of Individualized Study. He has published two academic books and has written for Physics Today, Physics World and the Los Angeles Review of Books. He has a podcast, What the If?!?, and has appeared on documentaries on the History Channel, BBC and NPR. Check Out his books! Einstein's War: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I,  Practical Mystic: Religion, Science, and A. S. Eddington, and Huxley's Church and Maxwell's Demon: From Theistic Science to Naturalistic Science. Follow the podcast, drop a review, send feedback/questions or become a member of the HBC Community. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Check out Brilliant (and get 20% off) here: https://brilliant.org/MinuteEarth/ Sounds that animals make can be really different, and it turns out that there's a reason why some species communicate with certain sounds. Thanks also to our Patreon patrons https://www.patreon.com/MinuteEarth and our YouTube members. ___________________________________________ To learn more, start your googling with these keywords: frequency - how often a wave occurs in a certain unit of time Hertz - a unit of frequency (Hz), the number of waves that occus in a second pitch - a perceptual property of sounds that allows their ordering on a frequency-related scale echolocation - the location of objects by reflected sound refraction - the change in direction of a wave diffraction - the bending of waves around obstacles and the spreading out of waves beyond openings ___________________________________________ Subscribe to MinuteEarth on YouTube: http://goo.gl/EpIDGd Support us on Patreon: https://goo.gl/ZVgLQZ And visit our website: https://www.minuteearth.com/ Say hello on Facebook: http://goo.gl/FpAvo6 And Twitter: http://goo.gl/Y1aWVC And download our videos on itunes: https://goo.gl/sfwS6n ___________________________________________ Credits (and Twitter handles): Video Writer, Director, and Narrator: Kate Yoshida (@KateYoshida) Video Illustrator: Arcadi Garcia Rius (@garirius) With Contributions From: Henry Reich, Alex Reich, Ever Salazar, Peter Reich, David Goldenberg, Julián Gómez, Sarah Berman Music by: Nathaniel Schroeder: http://www.soundcloud.com/drschroeder ___________________________________________ References: Arch, V. A. and P. M. Narins. 2008. “Silent” signals: selective forces acting on ultrasonic communication systems in terrestrial vertebrates. Animal Behaviour 76: 1423–1428. https://www.mn.uio.no/cees/english/research/news/events/research/journal-clubs/eef/2008/silent-signals.html Bedard Jr. and T. M. Georges. 2000. Atmospheric Infrasound, Physics Today, 53(3): 32-37. https://psl.noaa.gov/programs/infrasound/atmospheric_infrasound.pdf Ladich F. and H. Winkler. 2017. Acoustic communication in terrestrial and aquatic vertebrates,” Journal of Experimental Biology 220: 2306–2317. https://jeb.biologists.org/content/jexbio/220/13/2306.full.pdf Michelsen, A. and O.N. Larsen. 1983. Strategies for acoustic communication in complex environments. In: Neuroethology and Behavioural Physiology (ed Huber, F. and Markl, H.) pp. 321-331 Berlin: Springer-Verlag. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-69271-0_23 Narins, P.M., A.S. Stoeger, and C. O'Connell-Rodwell. 2016. Infrasonic and seismic communication in the vertebrates with special emphasis on the Afrotheria: An update and future directions. In Vertebrate Sound Production and Acoustic Communication (ed. R. A. Suthers, W. T. Fitch, R. R. Fay and A. N. Popper), pp. 191-227. Cham: Springer. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-27721-9_7

Learn about the invisible harms of thirdhand smoke; massive viruses that blur the line between the living and non-living; and why whales get lost during solar storms. Moviegoers contaminate nonsmoking movie theater with 'thirdhand' cigarette smoke by Kelsey Donk Moviegoers contaminate nonsmoking movie theater with “thirdhand” cigarette smoke. (2020). EurekAlert! https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-03/aaft-mcn030220.php  Thirdhand smoke wafting off moviegoers hurts air quality in theaters. (2020, March 5). Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org/article/thirdhand-smoke-fumes-air-quality-movie-theaters  Sheu, R., Stönner, C., Ditto, J. C., Klüpfel, T., Williams, J., & Gentner, D. R. (2020). Human transport of thirdhand tobacco smoke: A prominent source of hazardous air pollutants into indoor nonsmoking environments. Science Advances, 6(10), eaay4109. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.aay4109  Massive viruses that blur the line between living and non-living by Cameron Duke Al-Shayeb, B., Sachdeva, R., Chen, L.-X., Ward, F., Munk, P., Devoto, A., Castelle, C. J., Olm, M. R., Bouma-Gregson, K., Amano, Y., He, C., Méheust, R., Brooks, B., Thomas, A., Lavy, A., Matheus-Carnevali, P., Sun, C., Goltsman, D. S. A., Borton, M. A., … Banfield, J. F. (2020). Clades of huge phages from across Earth’s ecosystems. Nature, 578(7795), 425–431. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2007-4  Huge bacteria-eating viruses close gap between life and non-life: Large bacteriophages carry bacterial genes, including CRISPR and ribosomal proteins. (2020, February 12). ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200212131458.htm  Solar storms blind whales because they mess with magnetoreception by Cameron Duke Solar storms may leave gray whales “blind” and stranded. (2020). ScienceDaily. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/02/200224111356.htm  Granger, J., Walkowicz, L., Fitak, R., & Johnsen, S. (2020). Gray whales strand more often on days with increased levels of atmospheric radio-frequency noise. Current Biology, 30(4), R155–R156. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2020.01.028  Johnsen, S., & Lohmann, K. J. (2008). Magnetoreception in animals. Physics Today, 61(3), 29–35. https://doi.org/10.1063/1.2897947  Subscribe to Curiosity Daily to learn something new every day with Cody Gough and Ashley Hamer. You can also listen to our podcast as part of your Alexa Flash Briefing; Amazon smart speakers users, click/tap “enable” here: https://curiosity.im/podcast-flash-briefing

Encore episode. NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel shares the story of Nazi Germany's attempt to build a nuclear reactor — and how evidence of that effort was almost lost to history. It's a tale he heard from Timothy Koeth and Miriam Hiebert at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Maryland in College Park. Read more on their original story in Physics Today. Find and support your local public radio station here. Follow host Maddie Sofia on Twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

NPR science correspondent Geoff Brumfiel shares the story of Nazi Germany's attempt to build a nuclear reactor — and how evidence of that effort was almost lost to history. It's a tale he heard from Timothy Koeth and Miriam Hiebert at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Maryland in College Park. Read more on their original story in Physics Today. Follow host Maddie Sofia on Twitter @maddie_sofia. Email the show at shortwave@npr.org.

Shannon is back from GSA, John is back from London and we talk about teaching revelations, new things happening in magnetics, and learning programming on this catch-up themed episode! Fun Paper Friday Dandelion seeds breaking new group in fluid dynamics! Middleton, Christine. "Dandelion seeds are optimized for wind-based travel." Physics Today 72.1 (2019): 17-19. Contact us: Show Support us on Patreon! www.dontpanicgeocast.com SWUNG Slack @dontpanicgeo show@dontpanicgeocast.com John Leeman www.johnrleeman.com @geo_leeman Shannon Dulin @ShannonDulin  

Lauren Aguilar, PhD is a leading expert on diversity and inclusion. Lauren specializes in translating the science of diversity into actionable strategies that organizations and teams can use to foster more diverse and inclusive workplaces. She partners with innovative companies like Airbnb, Clif Bar, and eBay. Lauren's superpower is using a data-driven—yet human centered—approach to diversity and inclusion. Her research on diversity, team dynamics, belonging, and communication has been published in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, Physics Today, Gender News, Symmetry Magazine, the Encyclopedia of Human Relationships, and the Journal of Personality. As a thought leader, she has been featured in Fast Company, Yahoo, HRCI, Top Employer, ZDnet, Popsugar, the Women in Science Forum. She was named a “40 Under 40” by San Francisco Business Times, “Top Diversity Influencer” by Culture Amp and a “Distinguished Emerging Global Leader” by Womensphere. Lauren has presented her research at many conferences around the world, and has taught courses on diversity at Stanford University and Columbia University. Prior to Forshay, she was a partner at a boutique diversity consulting firm, a research scientist and co-director of a diversity fellowship/mentorship program at Stanford University. Lauren earned her PhD in social psychology at Columbia University and completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research and the Department of Psychology at Stanford University. PREORDER THE BELONGING FACTOR BOOK NOW! ATTEND THE PITTSBURGH BUSINESS DIVERSITY CONFERENCE | SEPTEMBER 12, 2019 | Get Tickets Here To comment or connect, visit www.belongingfactor.com or email ibelong@belongingfactor.com About the host: (www.devinhalliday.com, www.rudimentsolutions.com) Devin Halliday is a Northern California native, living in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He's explored the people, places and cultures across this beautiful planet. He's been amazed. He's been humbled. He's been outraged. But mostly, he's been inspired. After nearly twenty years leading people and delivering award-winning results in a Fortune 15 technology company, he started a new and fulfilling chapter. As Founder and Chief Belonging Architect of Rudiment Solutions - A People Empowerment Company, he is able to bring a lifetime's worth of inspiration and influence to those looking to achieve more. As the author of the book "BE/LONG/ING FACTOR" and host of the Belonging Factor Podcast, Devin gets to share his personal mission with the world. Check out Serendipity Labs at www.serendipitylabs.com if you want to experience the most amazing office and co-working space I've ever seen! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/belongingfactor/message

This week John discusses his recent experience teaching a large group at SciPy and why software testing is important. John's Tutorial Tutorial Page Fun Paper Friday Beer bubbles - turns out there is more than you'd think to explain their physics! Shafer, Neil E., and Richard N. Zare. "Through a beer glass darkly." Physics Today 44.10 (1991): 48-52. Contact us: Show Support us on Patreon! www.dontpanicgeocast.com SWUNG Slack @dontpanicgeo show@dontpanicgeocast.com John Leeman www.johnrleeman.com @geo_leeman Shannon Dulin @ShannonDulin  

Brian Keating is a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego. He has lectured on six of the seven continents, including Antarctica. He is an expert in the study of the universe's oldest light, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which he uses to investigate the origin and evolution of the universe. Keating is a pioneer in the search for the earliest physical evidence of the inflationary epoch, the theorized period of expansion of space in the early universe directly after the Big Bang. Physicists predict that this evidence will reveal itself as a particular pattern in the way CMB light is polarized; this pattern is referred to as a B-mode pattern, and Keating designed the first experiment dedicated to detecting it (BICEP). In 2014, amidst the purported detection of this long-sought signal, Keating was busy co-teaching a course at UC San Diego entitled "Poetry for Physicists", with Pulitzer Prizewinner Rae Armantrout.A Forbes, Physics Today, Science News, and Science Friday Best Science Book Of 2018The inside story of a quest to unlock one of cosmology's biggest mysteries, derailed by the lure of the Nobel Prize.What would it have been like to be an eyewitness to the Big Bang? In 2014, astronomers wielding BICEP2, the most powerful cosmology telescope ever made, revealed that they'd glimpsed the spark that ignited the Big Bang. Millions around the world tuned in to the announcement broadcast live from Harvard University, immediately igniting rumors of an imminent Nobel Prize. But had these cosmologists truly read the cosmic prologue or, swept up in Nobel dreams, had they been deceived by a galactic mirage?In Losing the Nobel Prize, cosmologist and inventor of the BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) experiment Brian Keating tells the inside story of BICEP2's mesmerizing discovery and the scientific drama that ensued. In an adventure story that spans the globe from Rhode Island to the South Pole, from California to Chile, Keating takes us on a personal journey of revelation and discovery, bringing to vivid life the highly competitive, take-no-prisoners, publish-or-perish world of modern science. Along the way, he provocatively argues that the Nobel Prize, instead of advancing scientific progress, may actually hamper it, encouraging speed and greed while punishing collaboration and bold innovation. In a thoughtful reappraisal of the wishes of Alfred Nobel, Keating offers practical solutions for reforming the prize, providing a vision of a scientific future in which cosmologists may, finally, be able to see all the way back to the very beginning.- Use METRY while filling in your email https://briankeating.com/- https://amzn.to/2J2FvR8Please do NOT hesitate to reach out to me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or via email mark@vudream.comLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-metry/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/markmetry/Twitter - https://twitter.com/markymetryMedium - https://medium.com/@markymetryFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/Humans.2.0.PodcastMark Metry - https://www.markmetry.com/Humans 2.0 Twitter - https://twitter.com/Humans2Podcast

Brian Keating is a professor of physics at the University of California, San Diego. He has lectured on six of the seven continents, including Antarctica. He is an expert in the study of the universe's oldest light, the cosmic microwave background (CMB), which he uses to investigate the origin and evolution of the universe. Keating is a pioneer in the search for the earliest physical evidence of the inflationary epoch, the theorized period of expansion of space in the early universe directly after the Big Bang. Physicists predict that this evidence will reveal itself as a particular pattern in the way CMB light is polarized; this pattern is referred to as a B-mode pattern, and Keating designed the first experiment dedicated to detecting it (BICEP). In 2014, amidst the purported detection of this long-sought signal, Keating was busy co-teaching a course at UC San Diego entitled "Poetry for Physicists", with Pulitzer Prizewinner Rae Armantrout.A Forbes, Physics Today, Science News, and Science Friday Best Science Book Of 2018The inside story of a quest to unlock one of cosmology’s biggest mysteries, derailed by the lure of the Nobel Prize.What would it have been like to be an eyewitness to the Big Bang? In 2014, astronomers wielding BICEP2, the most powerful cosmology telescope ever made, revealed that they’d glimpsed the spark that ignited the Big Bang. Millions around the world tuned in to the announcement broadcast live from Harvard University, immediately igniting rumors of an imminent Nobel Prize. But had these cosmologists truly read the cosmic prologue or, swept up in Nobel dreams, had they been deceived by a galactic mirage?In Losing the Nobel Prize, cosmologist and inventor of the BICEP (Background Imaging of Cosmic Extragalactic Polarization) experiment Brian Keating tells the inside story of BICEP2’s mesmerizing discovery and the scientific drama that ensued. In an adventure story that spans the globe from Rhode Island to the South Pole, from California to Chile, Keating takes us on a personal journey of revelation and discovery, bringing to vivid life the highly competitive, take-no-prisoners, publish-or-perish world of modern science. Along the way, he provocatively argues that the Nobel Prize, instead of advancing scientific progress, may actually hamper it, encouraging speed and greed while punishing collaboration and bold innovation. In a thoughtful reappraisal of the wishes of Alfred Nobel, Keating offers practical solutions for reforming the prize, providing a vision of a scientific future in which cosmologists may, finally, be able to see all the way back to the very beginning.- Use METRY while filling in your email https://briankeating.com/- https://amzn.to/2J2FvR8Please do NOT hesitate to reach out to me on LinkedIn, Instagram, or via email mark@vudream.comLinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-metry/Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/markmetry/Twitter - https://twitter.com/markymetryMedium - https://medium.com/@markymetryFacebook - https://www.facebook.com/Humans.2.0.PodcastMark Metry - https://www.markmetry.com/Humans 2.0 Twitter - https://twitter.com/Humans2Podcast

Guest: Melinda Baldwin of Physics Today. First broadcast March 29 2019. Playlist at https://www.wrek.org/2019/03/playlist-for-lost-in-the-stacks-from-friday-march-29th-peer-review-and-the-cold-war-episode-418/ "There were other consequences, don't you think?"

Swiss physicist Auguste Piccard opened two new worlds in the 20th century. He was the first person to fly 10 miles above the earth and the first to travel 2 miles beneath the sea, using inventions that opened the doors to these new frontiers. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll follow Piccard on his historic journeys into the sky and the sea. We'll also admire some beekeeping serendipity and puzzle over a sudden need for locksmiths. Intro: Herbert Hoover's doctor invented a game to keep him in shape. William Howard Taft boasted that he lost 70 pounds on this diet. Sources for our feature on Auguste Piccard: Auguste Piccard, Between Earth and Sky, 1950. Auguste Piccard, Earth, Sky and Sea, 1956. Alan Honour, Ten Miles High, Two Miles Deep: The Adventures of the Piccards, 1957. Fergus Fleming and Annabel Merulla, eds., The Explorer's Eye, 2005. Tom Cheshire, The Explorer Gene: How Three Generations of One Family Went Higher, Deeper, and Further Than Any Before, 2013. Markus Pagitz, "The Future of Scientific Ballooning," Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A 365:1861, 3003-3017. G. Pfotzer, "History of the Use of Balloons in Scientific Experiments," Space Science Reviews 13:2 (June 1972), 199-242. Don Walsh, "Dr. Piccard and His Wonderful Electric Submarines," United States Naval Institute Proceedings 137:9 (September 2011), 102. "Bathyscaphe Explores Ocean Bottom," Science News-Letter 733 (Jan. 18, 1958), 35. Jean Piccard, "Exploration by Balloon," Scientific Monthly 47:3 (September 1938), 270-277. J.R. Dean, "Deep Submersibles Used in Oceanography," Geographical Journal 131:1 (March 1965), 70-72. "Scientists Fortunate to Return from Region of Black Skies," Science News-Letter 19:530 (June 6, 1931), 364. "Auguste Piccard," Physics Today 15:8 (August 1962), 80. "Ten Miles High in an Air-Tight Ball," Popular Science, August 1931, 23. Mark Betancourt, "See The World From 100,000 Feet," Air & Space Smithsonian, July 2015. Malcolm W. Browne, "A Balloonist's Adventurous Lineage," New York Times, March 21, 1999, 8. "Balloon's Historic Flight an Aviation Milestone," South Bend [Ind.] Tribune, March 27, 1999, A9. "Jacques Piccard," Times, Nov. 5, 2008, 58. Naomi Koppel, "Balloonist Piccard Comes From Long Line of Record-Setting Pioneers," Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, March 21, 1999, 21. Glenn C. Altschuler, "What Propels the Piccards to Their Extremes," Boston Globe, Dec. 3, 2013, G.6. Helen Fields, "A Swiss Family's Triple Crown," U.S. News & World Report 136:7 (Feb. 23, 2004), 78-80. "Brother Had Faith in Piccard's Success," New York Times, May 29, 1931. "Jacques Piccard, Scientist Who Explored the Deep Seas, Dies at 86," Associated Press, Nov. 1, 2008. "Piccard on Radio Describes Flight," New York Times, June 2, 1931. "Piccard and Cosyns to Aid Argentine Flight," New York Times, Jan. 21, 1940. "Auguste Piccard, Explorer, Is Dead. Auguste Piccard Is Dead at 78. Stratosphere and Sea Explorer," New York Times, March 26, 1962. Whit Burnett, "Piccard and Aide Had Close Call," [Washington D.C.] Evening Star, May 29, 1931, A-4. Auguste Piccard, "Conquest of the Stratosphere at Hand," [Washington D.C.] Evening Star, Feb. 14, 1932, 5. "Plan Stratosphere Flight," [Washington D.C.] Evening Star, May 23, 1933, A-2. Max Cosyns, "Conquest of the Stratosphere at Hand," [Washington D.C.] Evening Star, June 26, 1934, 11. Listener mail: Scott McArt, "The Latest Bee Science Distilled," American Bee Journal, April 1, 2018. Bettina Ziegelmann et al., "Lithium Chloride Effectively Kills the Honey Bee Parasite Varroa destructor by a Systemic Mode of Action," Scientific Reports 8:1 (2018), 683. Mary Bammer, "Lithium Chloride for Varroa Control?" Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences and University of Florida, April 18, 2018. Sarah De Filippe, "Director of Geese: A Dog With a Job," Vassar College Miscellany News 134:8 (Nov. 12, 2004), 16. Maxim Alter, "Dog Days May End Fowl Play," New Paltz Oracle, Oct. 28, 2010. "New Paltz Welcomes the Arrival of Geese Herding Border Collie," New Paltz News, Feb. 16, 2011. This week's lateral thinking puzzle is based on an item in Dan Lewis' Now I Know enewsletter (warning -- this link spoils the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Apple Podcasts or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

In 1940, Germany was sending vital telegrams through neutral Sweden using a sophisticated cipher, and it fell to mathematician Arne Beurling to make sense of the secret messages. In this week's episode of the Futility Closet podcast we'll describe the outcome, which has been called "one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of cryptography." We'll also learn about mudlarking and puzzle over a chicken-killing Dane. Intro: In 1836, three boys discovered 17 tiny coffins entombed near Edinburgh. On his 1965 album A Love Supreme, John Coltrane "plays" a poem on the saxophone. Sources for our feature on Arne Beurling: Bengt Beckman, Codebreakers: Arne Beurling and the Swedish Crypto Program During World War II, 1996. David Kahn, The Codebreakers: The Story of Secret Writing, 1967. David Joyner, ed., Coding Theory and Cryptography, 2000. Bengt Beckman and Jonathan Beard, "Codebreakers: Arne Beurling and the Swedish Crypto Program During World War II," Intelligence and National Security 18:4 (January 2004), 206-207. Lars Ulfving, "The Geheimschreiber Secret: Arne Beurling and the Success of Swedish Signals Intelligence," in Bo Hugemark and Probus Förlag, eds., I Orkanens Öga, 1941 -- Osäker neutralitet, 1992. Louis Kruh, "Arne Beurling and Swedish Crypto," Cryptologia 27:3 (July 2003), 231. John Wermer, "Recollections of Arne Beurling," Mathematical Intelligencer 15:3 (January 1993), 32–33. Jurgen Rohwer, "Signal Intelligence and World War II: The Unfolding Story," Journal of Military History 63:4 (October 1999), 939-951. Bo Kjellberg, "Memories of Arne Beurling, February 3, 1905–November 20, 1986," Mathematical Intelligencer 15:3 (January 1993), 28–31. Håkan Hedenmalm, "Codebreakers: Arne Beurling and the Swedish Crypto Program During World War II," Mathematical Intelligencer 28:1 (December 2006), 57–59. Craig Graham McKay, "Swedish Cryptanalysis and the Saga of Arne Beurling: A Book Review," Cryptologia 23:3 (July 1999), 257. Louis Kruh, "Swedish Signal Intelligence History," Cryptologia 27:2 (April 2003), 186-187. "How Sweden Cracked the Nazi Code," Swedish History, Jan. 22, 2017. Lars Ahlfors and Lennart Carleson, "Arne Beurling In Memoriam," Acta Mathematica 161 (1988), 1-9. John Borland, "Looking Back at Sweden's Super-Code-Cracker," Wired, Aug. 11, 2007. "Arne Carl-August Beurling," MacTutor History of Mathematics Archive (accessed Oct. 8, 2017). "Arne Beurling," Mathematics Genealogy Project (accessed Oct. 8, 2017). "Joins Advanced Study School," New York Times, Oct. 10, 1954. "Arne Beurling," Physics Today, February 2015. Listener mail: "Two Types: The Faces of Britain," BBC Four, Aug. 1, 2017. "Who Are the Mudlarks?", Thames Museum (accessed 10/21/2017). Lara Maiklem, "London's History in Mud: The Woman Collecting What the Thames Washes Up," Guardian, Sept. 14, 2016. Military High Command Department for War Maps and Communications, German Invasion Plans for the British Isles, 1940. This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Carsten Hamann, who sent these corroborating links (warning -- these spoil the puzzle). You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on iTunes or Google Play Music or via the RSS feed at http://feedpress.me/futilitycloset. Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- on our Patreon page you can pledge any amount per episode, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website. Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode. If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at podcast@futilitycloset.com. Thanks for listening!

Physics Today -lehti julkaisi lokakuun numerossaan artikkelin, jossa yhdysvaltalaisen Cornellin yliopiston antropologi Vincent Ialenti perehtyy Olkiluodon ydinjätesäiliö Onkalon rakentamiseen ja projektissa syntyneen henkilökultin vaikutuksiin. Ialenti teki etnografista tutkimusta Suomessa vuosina 2012-2014 tutkien sitä, miten esikuvaksi nostetun projektinjohtajan äkillinen kuolema vaikutti koko yhteisön henkeen ja rakennusprojektin etenemiseen. The post Henkilökultti suomalaisessa ydinvoimaprojektissa appeared first on AntroBlogi.

What are 'Standard International units'? Where are you from? Send us a postcard! Strange Attractor, c/ PO Box 9, Fitzroy, VIC 3065, Australia The seven Système International d'Unités (SI) base units: second, mole, metre, kilogram, kelvin, candela, ampere (National Physical Laboratory) The seven Système International d'Unités (SI) base units: second, mole, metre, kilogram, kelvin, candela, ampere (Wikipedia) The base units (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures) The SI system kicked off after 1799 (The National Institute of Standards & Technology) Moon Unit Zappa, child of Frank Zappa (Wikipedia) The 'cubit' was the length from the tip of one's middle finger to the bottom of the elbow (Wikipedia) History of length measurement: From cubits to lasers (National Physical Laboratory) A history of all the weird units of measurement from ye olde ancient times (Encyclopaedia Britannica) A history of the kilogram (National Physical Laboratory) Standard time was introduced from the mid-1800s around the world with the coming of the railways (Wikipedia) The Allegheny Observatory used to provide accurate time updates via telegraph in North America (Wikipedia) A history of timekeeping devices (Wikipedia) The second used to be defined as 1/86,400 of a day, but now it's "the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium-133 atom" (Wikipedia) A brief history of the second (The National Institute of Standards & Technology) "A new optical clock ticks so consistently that if it had started at the dawn of the universe, it would have lost less than two minutes" (The Independent) The strontium optical clock (OSA Publishing) Where are atomic clocks? They're everywhere now (HyperPhysics, Georgia State University) Clock synchronisation around the world is really important for computers & stuff (Wikipedia) International Atomic Time tells us at which speed our clocks should tick (Time and Date) What is needed to synchronise time across atomic clocks in the world? (Quora) How to improve time accuracy on iPhone & Apple Watch (iPhone Tricks) Security implications of the humble computer clock (Network World) Who invented the second? Claudius Ptolemy around 150 C.E. (Reference) Why is a minute divided into 60 seconds, an hour into 60 minutes, yet there are only 24 hours in a day? (Scientific American) The book Johnny was talking about by Dava Sobel: 'Longitude: The true story of a lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his time' (Wikipedia) See John Harrison's original clocks in the museum at Greenwich, London (Royal Museums Greenwich) We had the second for ages, then the kelvin was first defined in 1743, the kilogram & metre followed in 1793, the amp in 1881, the mole in 1900, & the candela in 1946, but they've been refined now (Wikipedia) The metre was originally defined as one ten-millionth of the distance from the equator to the North Pole (Wikipedia) The metre is now defined as the distance travelled by light in 1/299,792,458th of a second (Wikipedia) A brief history of the metre (The National Institute of Standards & Technology) The speed of light: 299,792,458 metres per second (Encyclopaedia Britannica) People debating pool tolerance & why timing isn't more accurate in swimming (Reddit) Meet the kilogram - a.k.a 'La Grande K' or 'Big K' (Wikipedia) There did used to be someone who went around checking stuff - the 'city meter' - "checking both the weights of goods as sold & the accuracy of the metal weights used" (Hall Genealogy Website) The International Prototype Kilogram (IPK) & its copies - Australia has one (Wikipedia) If someone knocks a chunk off the IPK, the definition of a kilogram changes (Wikipedia) A list of the prefixes for metric units of measurement: e.g. 'kilo' just means a thousand (The National Institute of Standards and Technology) "The magnitude of many of the units comprising the SI system...are highly dependent upon the stability of a 137-year-old, golf-ball-sized cylinder of metal stored in a vault in France" (Wikipedia) The new kilogram is due out in 2018 - stay tuned (The National Institute of Standards and Technology) Redefining the kilogram: Mass, Planck & Einstein (The National Institute of Standards and Technology) Redefining the kilogram: The 'Watt balance' (The National Institute of Standards and Technology) After a fraught few years, experiments to redefine the kilogram have reached agreement (Nature) What is a mole? Not the burrowing kind with small eyes (The National Institute of Standards & Technology) Avogadro's number & the mole (Wikipedia) What is a mole & why are moles used? (About Education, Chemistry) Hello kelvin - this unit is 1/273.16 of the thermodynamic temperature of the triple point of water (The National Institute of Standards & Technology) What is the triple point of water? (Wikipedia) What is Celsius? (Wikipedia) Deep breath: "The ampere is that constant current which, if maintained in two straight parallel conductors of infinite length, of negligible circular cross section, & placed 1 metre apart in a vacuum, would produce between these conductors a force equal to 2 x 10-7 newton per metre of length" (The National Institute of Standards & Technology) What is the difference between voltage & current (amperes)? (The Charging Point) Everything you wanted to know about charging your iPhone or iPad (Apple, Communities) iPhone & iPad chargers appear to be around 1-2 amps according to this (Apple, Communities) I believe you now Johnny: Turns out the coloured rings for electric toothbrushes really are to tell family members' brush heads apart (Electric Teeth) Meet the candela, "the luminous intensity, in a given direction, of a source that emits monochromatic radiation of frequency 540 x 1,012 hertz & that has a radiant intensity in that direction of 1/683 watts per steradian" (The National Institute of Standards & Technology) What is black body radiation? (Cosmos, Swinburne University) We can use luminous intensity to measure how far away stars are (Science, How Stuff Works) 'Intrinsic luminosity' is how bright something is & 'apparent brightness' is how bright it looks - knowing these details helps us measure how far away stars are (Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, Penn State) Stellar brightness (Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University) Brightness, luminosity & the magnitude scale (Department of Astronomy, Cornell University) What is a standard candle? (Cosmos, Swinburne University) (non SI) Units for quantities that describe biological effects (Bureau International des Poids et Mesures) The future - proposed redefinition of SI base units (Wikipedia) A more fundamental International System of units (Physics Today) Corrections Sorry Johnny, you got latitude & longitude mixed up - latitude is north-south, longitude is east-west (Encyclopaedia Britannica) Cheeky review? (If we may be so bold) It'd be amazing if you gave us a short review...it'll make us easier to find in iTunes: Click here for instructions. You're the best! We owe you a free hug and/or a glass of wine from our cellar

This past March, NIST Fellows Joseph Reader and Charles Clark co-authored an article in Physics Today: "1932, a watershed year in nuclear physics." In a small detour from our typical quantum conversation, Charles sat down with Phil to recount some remarkable nuclear physics discoveries made that year. This podcast details the search for an isotope of hydrogen, culminating in the discovery of deuterium (heavy water).

This past March, NIST Fellows Joseph Reader and Charles Clark co-authored an article in Physics Today: "1932, a watershed year in nuclear physics."In a small detour from our typical quantum conversation, Charles sat down with Phil to recount some remarkable nuclear physics discoveries made that year. This podcast details the search for an isotope of hydrogen, culminating in the discovery of deuterium (heavy water).

The increase of entropy was regarded as perhaps the most perfect and unassailable law in physics and it was even supposed to have philosophical import. Einstein, like most physicists of his time, regarded the second law of thermodynamics as one of the major achievements of the field, and it entered his work in several ways. The essence of the second law is the statement that all processes can be quantified by an entropy function whose increase is a necessary and sufficient condition for a process to occur. As a fundamental physical law no deviation, however tiny, is permitted and its consequences are far-reaching. Current wisdom regards the second law as a consequence of statistical mechanics but the entropy principle, which was discovered before statistical mechanics was invented, ought to be derivable from a few logical principles without recourse to Carnot cycles, ideal gases and other assumptions about such things as 'heat', 'hot' and 'cold', 'temperature', 'reversible processes', etc. Like conservation of energy (the ``first'' law), the existence of a law so precise and so model-independent must have a logical foundation that is independent of the details of the constitution of matter. In this lecture the foundations of the subject and the construction (with J. Yngvason) of entropy from a few simple principles will be presented. (No previous familiarity with the subject is required.) A summary can be found in: "A Guide to Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics", Notices of the Amer. Math. Soc. vol 45 571-581 (1998). http://www.ams.org/notices/199805/lieb.pdf. arXiv math-ph/9805005 This paper received the American Mathematical Society 2002 Levi Conant prize for ``the best expository paper published in either the Notices of the AMS or the Bulletin of the AMS in the preceding five years''. A Fresh Look at Entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics, Physics Today {bf 53}, 32-37 (April 2000). arXiv math-ph/0003028

Abstract: Low energy nuclear structure physics is entering an exciting new era. Experimentally a new generation of rare isotope accelerators, such as the Rare Isotope Beam Facility (RIBF) in Japan, the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR) in Germany, the Systeme de Production d'Ions Radioactifs en Ligne, RIB Facility (SPIRAL) in France, and the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB), to be constructed at Michigan State University, will allow for the study of so-called exotic nuclei, i.e., those nuclei far from the line of stability and near the proton and neutron drip lines. Theoretically great progress has been made in the last ten years in understanding the structure and properties of the atomic nucleus starting from the basic interactions among the neutrons and the protons (collectively called nucleons) and employing only quantum mechanical many-body theory. This progress is due to new developments in nuclear many-body theory and advances in computer technology (see, e.g., Physics Today, 60, No. 11, 48 (2007)). Research at the University of Arizona has been at the forefront of these investigations with the development of the No Core Shell Model (NCSM), which can successfully describe the properties of light nuclei starting from the fundamental interactions among the nucleons. The NCSM will be described, examples of applications will be given and challenges for the future will be discussed. Dr. Barrett's research interest centers on nuclear-structure theory, mainly on microscopic theories of nuclear structure utilizing the large-basis, no-core shell-model approach and the quantum many-body theory of effective interactions and operators.Presented Sept. 18, 2009.