Site • RSS • Apple PodcastsDescription (podcaster-provided):
Host Miriam Frankel delves into some of the great mysteries still puzzling the world's top physicists in this new series from The Conversation. This podcast will take you on a mind-blowing journey from the smallest to the largest conundrums, exploring curled-up dimensions, consciousness and parallel universes on the way.Themes and summary (AI-generated based on podcaster-provided show and episode descriptions):
➤ open problems in fundamental physics • theory of everything, quantum reality • life and consciousness emergence • multiverse and fine-tuning • nature of time and causality • testability of speculative theoriesThis podcast explores open questions at the frontiers of modern physics, using conversations with researchers in physics and related fields to examine where today’s most successful theories explain the universe—and where they appear incomplete or in tension with one another. It focuses on fundamental issues that link the smallest scales of particles and quantum phenomena to the largest scales of cosmology, and asks what kinds of new concepts or evidence might be needed to make progress.
Across the series, the discussions return to the ambition of unifying physics into a single framework that can account for all forces and matter, while also probing whether such a “theory of everything” is necessary or even achievable. Several episodes interrogate the foundations of quantum mechanics, including what measurement means, whether reality is observer-independent, and how quantum theory relates to everyday intuitions about an objective world.
The podcast also connects physics to broader philosophical and scientific puzzles, such as how life and consciousness could emerge from non-living matter and whether a more fundamental account of time or information is required to explain them. On the cosmology side, it examines proposals like the multiverse and the idea of fine-tuning in the constants of nature, considering how such hypotheses might be evaluated scientifically and what they would imply about why the universe has the properties it does. Another recurring theme is the nature of time itself, including whether time as we experience it is fundamental, emergent, or possibly even reversible at deep physical levels.
| Episodes: |
Theory of everything: do we really need one?2023-Apr-12 57 minutes |
Will we ever have a fundamental theory of life and consciousness?2023-Apr-05 47 minutes |
Quantum mechanics: does objective reality exist?2023-Mar-29 52 minutes |
Is there a multiverse?2023-Mar-22 41 minutes |
Fundamental constants: is the universe fine tuned for life to exist?2023-Mar-15 41 minutes |
Is time an illusion?2023-Mar-08 43 minutes |
Great Mysteries of Physics - trailer2023-Feb-13 2 minutes |