Twitter: @LKrauss1 • @OriginsProject
Site: www.originsproject.org/podcast
86 episodes
2019 to present
Average episode: 108 minutes
Open in Apple Podcasts • RSS
Categories: Interview-Style • Multidisciplinary • Physics
Podcaster's summary: Science, Culture, Reason, Public Policy, & Fascinating Ideas
| Episodes |
| 2024-Mar-31 • 143 minutes (Audio) Katherine Brodsky: Speaking Out in an Age of Outrage I first stumbled upon the journalist Katherine Brodsky, who has been a commentator and writer for various media outlets, when I heard about her new book, No Apologies: How to Find and Free Your Voice in the Age of Outrage. The title intrigued me but I admit I was a bit skeptical. Having written and spoken about co-called cancel culture in the academic world, I expected I might find nothing new in her book, but I was wrong. Katherine was motivated to write her book after her own experience of being mobbed ... |
| 2024-Mar-16 • 117 minutes A Conversation with Irwin Shapiro: Scientist Extraordinaire from the Earth to the Stars, and at 94, still going strong. Irwin Shapiro is a remarkable human being by almost any standard. Following his education in physics at Cornell and Harvard, he had a job at MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory working on various problems in planetary dynamics, and radar ranging, when he went to a lecture and realized that a completely new phenomenon could occur in General Relativity that no one had proposed in the half-century since Einstein first proposed it. For objects traveling near a massive object like the Sun, the travel time to go from one ... |
| 2024-Feb-16 • 169 minutes A Dialogue with Label-Defying Journalist Jonathan Kay I first became aware of Jonathan Kay through his writing for the online magazine, Quillette. And for full disclosure, I got to know him better because he is one of their editors, and he has edited several of my own pieces for that magazine. Before that, however, I had been a fan of his writing, and was happy to be able to have an extended conversation with him about writing, journalism, false news, and politics, to name a few of the topics we discussed. Our dialogue occurred shortly after the appearance o... |
| 2024-Feb-02 • 82 minutes A dialogue with Brian Keating, at the San Diego Air and Space Museum In mid October the Origins Project Foundation ran two public events in California. The second event was held at the Air and Space Museum in San Diego. I had asked my colleague Brian Keating, who teaches at UCSD and is a Trustee of that museum, whether he might be interested in doing a public dialogue together that we could later both broadcast on our respective podcasts. He and I have each appeared before on each other’s podcasts, and I knew that we could have the kind of comfortable, informative, and fu... |
| 2023-Dec-27 • 118 minutes Greg Lukianoff: : The Canceling of the American Mind. Free Speech and Academia Greg Lukianoff is a First Amendment lawyer by training. During his education he began to see how, even among organizations ostensibly created to help protect free speech, how actual free speech was improperly being conflated with harassment or bullying. When he went to work as a legal director of the nascent Foundation for Individual Rights in Education in around 2000, he quickly discovered that in academia, the one place where free speech and open inquiry should be valued above all else, actual free spe... |
| 2023-Dec-15 • 182 minutes Scott Aaronson: From Quantum Computing to AI Safety Scott Aaronson is one of the deepest mathematical intellects I have known since, say Ed Witten—the only physicist to have won the prestigious Fields Medal in Mathematics. While Ed is a string theorist, Scott decided to devote his mathematical efforts to the field of computer science, and as a theoretical computer scientist has played a major role in the development of algorithms that have pushed forward the field of quantum computing, and helped address several thorny issues that hamper our ability to crea... |
| 2023-Nov-30 • 80 minutes Dialogues with Richard Dawkins Richard Dawkins and I have appeared together onstage many times, been the subject of the documentary The Unbelievers, and have collaborated on various writing projects as well. Thus it may come as a surprise to you to learn that each time we get together, we find new things to discuss and learn from each other. It surprises us as well. This fall we agreed to appear onstage together at two separate events co-sponsored by The Origins Project. The events, entitled Changing Minds in Changing Times were coor... |
| 2023-Nov-03 • 144 minutes Carlo Rovelli: From Dante to White Holes Carlo Rovelli is well known as a popularizer of science. His short book, Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, was an international bestseller. I have known Carlo as a physicist ever since he used to visit my Physics Department colleague, Lee Smolin, at Yale, when I was a Professor there. Carlo and Lee were part of a small group of physicists pioneering an idea called ‘Loop Quantum Gravity’ as a way to try and unify General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. Less well known among the public than its chief compe... |
| 2023-Oct-18 • 179 minutes Robert Sapolsky: The Illusion of Free Will I have been a fan of Robert Sapolsky’s for a long time. He is a creative force, with wide ranging knowledge, from primatology to neuroscience, and he is also a wonderful expositor of science. His previous book, Behave, was a wide ranging exploration of human behavior, at its best and worst. I have been wanting to do a podcast with him for some time, and the launch of his new book, Determined, gave us the opportunity. I got an advanced copy and we recorded this a few weeks ago, so that this podcast could ... |
| 2023-Oct-07 • 139 minutes Peter Singer: From Animal Liberation to Effective Altruism I have felt privileged to know the remarkable scholar Peter Singer as a friend and colleague for over a decade. We first met, I believe, in the context of atheism, but our discussions have ranged far more broadly, and his impact on my own thinking has been substantial. He and I engaged in a public dialogue in Arizona eight or nine years ago, and preparing for that discussion changed my views about world in many ways. Peter actually had an impact on my life even earlier than that, as when my daughter was... |
| 2023-Sep-20 • 157 minutes Hakeem Oluseyi: An unexpected life in Science, and unpopular truths I confess that Hakeem Oluseyi had not really risen on my radar screen until the last year or two. I was aware of the National Society of Black Physicists, having sometimes gotten notices about is meetings, but, being generally unsupportive of current efforts to compartmentalize scientists by their identity, I hadn’t really paid much notice to it. Then, in one of those ironies that periodically makes one feel better about the vicissitudes of fortune, I learned more about him only after people had attempt... |
| 2023-Sep-01 • 191 minutes The Best of the Origins Podcast, Part 1: As promised at the beginning of this month, here is the first of two “Best of” selections from the Origins Podcast. I apologize that this hasn’t come out sooner, but the lazy days of August caught up with all of our production team. In any case, here, on the last day of August (in all US timezones), enjoy this collection of great clips from many of our exciting guests over the first two years of the podcast. These were all recorded before the pandemic and so we were able to travel to talk with my guests a... |
| 2023-Jul-07 • 130 minutes Bart Ehrman: Revelations about Revelation...and more I have admired Bart Ehrman’s writing for more than a decade. I remember how profoundly reading Christopher Hitchens’ God is Not Great reminded me of how little I had really understood about the scriptures. For me, Bart Ehrman took over from there. I recalled reading his 2014 masterpiece How Jesus Became God, which made it clear that the modern Western Interpretation of the Holy Trinity differs significantly from the earliest impressions of Jesus, and moreover that the notion of humans intermingling with ... |
| 2023-Jun-09 • 106 minutes Martin Rees: If Science is to Save Us, Part 2 This is part two of the second podcast dialogue we are airing with renowned astrophysicist, Astronomer Royal, and former President of the Royal Society, Lord Martin Rees. The first time I sat down with Martin for the Podcast we discussed his life in science, and topics ranging from the state of modern cosmology to the potential conflicts between science and religion (which he views as minimal, and I don’t). Martin’s thinking, and his expertise, go far beyond these topics however. Based on his experienc... |
| 2023-May-27 • 187 minutes Douglas Murray: From Poetry to Free Speech I have to say that Douglas Murray reminds me in several ways of my late friend Christopher Hitchens. It is not merely that they are both English, eloquent and well-read. Douglas doesn’t suffer fools gladly, and pulls no punches when necessary. But he is otherwise charming, thoughtful, and willing to enter into respectful intelligent conversations on many topics. Both Douglas and Christopher have been journalists covering dangerous parts of the world, which has helped shape some of their views. Douglas i... |
| 2023-May-14 • 181 minutes Andrei Linde: Inflation, Multiverses, and all that, from Mr. Eternal Inflation Andrei Linde is one of the world’s leading cosmological theorists, and is the father of much of Inflationary Cosmology. After Alan Guth developed the original idea of Inflation, Linde, who had been active in this area while working in Moscow, realized a way to make a workable theory out of it, resolving a major problem, called the ‘Graceful Exit’ problem. After that, he made the striking realization that Inflation is inevitable, even in relatively simple theoretical models, and moreover that Inflation wi... |
| 2023-Apr-28 • 95 minutes Boldly going where no podcast has gone before: William Shatner; Wonder, Awe, and Questions, Questions... I first met William Shatner a little over 19 years ago when we were filming a TV inspired in part on my book, The Physics of Star Trek. The show was ultimately titled, How William Shatner Changed the World. I am not sure what I expected when I met Bill, but what I got was something completely different. After a brief period during which I felt a bit like I was being auditioned, and which I passed after we filmed a scene in which I was required to use a teleprompter to spout a long series of Star Trek tec... |
| 2023-Apr-12 • 114 minutes Martin Rees: If Science is to Save Us, Part 1 This is the second podcast dialogue we are airing with renowned astrophysicist, Astronomer Royal, and former President of the Royal Society, Lord Martin Rees. The first time I sat down with Martin for the Podcast we discussed his life in science, and topics ranging from the state of modern cosmology to the potential conflicts between science and religion (which he views as minimal, and I don’t). Martin’s thinking, and his expertise, go far beyond these topics however. Based on his experience at the Roy... |
| 2023-Mar-09 • 92 minutes Richard Dawkins and Lawrence Krauss Onstage at the Orpheum Theater, Nov 15, 2022 On Nov 15th and 16th, 2022, The Origins Project Foundation hosted their first public events in North America at the beautiful Orpheum Theater in Phoenix, AZ (we had hosted an event in Iceland in September during our Greenland-Iceland Travel Adventure). There was no better way to begin this new series than with a dialogue onstage with Richard Dawkins, and that was the substance of our first night’s event. As all those who have followed us will know, Richard and I have done many dialogues together, onstage ... |
| 2023-Feb-17 • 134 minutes John Preskill: From the Early Universe to the Future of Quantum Computing John Preskill is the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Physics at Caltech, a title many physicists would cherish. He is widely known in the field for his work as a theoretical physicist spearheading the field of Quantum Computing, where he is Director of Caltech’s Institute for Quantum Information and Matter, but his expertise and contributions span a far broader spectrum of topics. His background is in theoretical particle physics, gravitation, and cosmology. As a graduate student, his seminal work on the c... |
| 2023-Feb-04 • 131 minutes Tim Palmer: The Primacy of Doubt Tim Palmer graduated from Oxford with a PhD in mathematical physics, working on general relativity, and got a postdoc to work with Stephen Hawking. He turned it down and moved into the field of meteorology, and then moved on to Climate Change studies, where he pioneered the development of what is called ‘ensemble forecasting’ to predict both long term climate change, as well as short term weather predictions. This technique has now become a standard in the field, and is necessary to properly account for p... |
| 2023-Jan-14 • 139 minutes Elizabeth Kolbert: Can human technology solve unintended consequences of human technology Note: Due to internet difficulties due to storms in California delaying uploading of the video, the video post of this podcast will be delayed by a few hours. We are thus releasing the audio version now. (Usually these are released at the same time.) Seven years ago I invited Elizabeth Kolbert to participate in a dialogue about Extinctions at the Orpheum Theater in Phoenix, following the publication of her Pulitzer Prizewinning masterpiece, The Sixth Extinction. Once we began The Origins Podcast, I kne... |
| 2022-Dec-29 • 31 minutes Holiday Edition Part 2, Science Matters: How the Universe Made your Holiday Gifts In December it was announced that the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory National Ignition facility has achieved its first goal of “Ignition”, in which 192 powerful lasers focused on a small pellet of fuel led to a sustained fusion reaction for a fraction of a second that released more energy than it received from the incident laser light. Following on requests from many readers, I describe the science behind this experiment, and the wishful thinking associated with it, regarding the possible use of fu... |
| 2022-Dec-25 • 126 minutes Origins Podcast Wishful-Thinking Holiday Edition Part 1: A Dialogue with Augusten Burroughs: A Witch or Not A Witch I want to be upfront. I love Augusten Burroughs. I fell in love with him when I first read Running with Scissors, and every time I have picked up anything he has written, I have that warm feeling knowing I will delight in the scrumptious experience that is associated with reading his work. Shortly after creating the Origins Podcast in 2019, I discovered that Augusten was going to have a new book coming out, and I contacted him to ask if he might come by the studio and do a podcast if his book tour passed ... |
| 2022-Dec-09 • 65 minutes An Origins Podcast EXCLUSIVE: A Dialogue with Cormac McCarthy About Science, on the occasion of his newest book releases Cormac McCarthy is a literary icon. Winner of the National Book Award and the National Book Critics Circle Award for his novel All the Pretty Horses, and the Pulitzer Prize for his apocalyptic novel The Road, Norma’s earlier novel, Blood Meridian has been labelled The Great American Novel. Many people did not know that this cultural giant is also fascinated by, and amazingly knowledgeable about science. Reading his newest books, The Passenger and Stella Maris (released this week!), however, and that bec... |
| 2022-Nov-29 • 116 minutes Brian Keating: Probing the Early Universe and Communicating about Science Find Brian’s INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/39UaHlB and on Spotify here spoti.fi/3vpfXok Brian Keating is an observational cosmology whose work has focused on measuring a possible imprint on the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation (CMBR) that could have come from the earliest moments of the Big Bang, and could even give possible indirect evidence for a multiverse. Indeed, an experiment he worked, called BICEP 2, in 2014 announced a possible result which electrified the scie... |
| 2022-Nov-06 • 94 minutes Neil deGrasse Tyson: Starry Messages, Science, Culture, and Life Neil deGrasse Tyson is one of the most recognizable faces of science in the world, and for good reason. He has thought a lot about how to engage people in the wonder and joy of science, something that is also near and dear to my own heart, and to the spirit of many of my own activities, including The Origins Podcast. I was so happy that Neil agreed to return to have another dialogue on the podcast following the release of his new book, Starry Messenger, because it provided us with the opportunity to have... |
| 2022-Oct-14 • 133 minutes Peter Boghossian: From Street Epistemology to Academic Freedom Pete Boghossian is a philosopher with little tolerance for nonsense, whose efforts to broadly encourage critical thinking using Socratic methods began early on. While doing his PhD, he worked with inmates to see if he could impact on their moral reasoning through a process of Socratic questioning.Viewing faith-based beliefs as delusional, he worked on ways to encourage believers to question their beliefs. Because of the inherent difficulties in having such conversations Peter later worked with James Linsd... |
| 2022-Sep-27 • 151 minutes Frans de Waal: Learning from Primates about ourselves: From Gender to Social Hierarchies Frans de Waal is not only my favorite primatologist, he is one of my favorite scientist-communicators. His books on primates, particularly on Bonobos and Chimpanzees—from politics to child-rearing and even culture—reveal a tremendous amount about our closest genetic relatives, and hence about ourselves. His newest book, Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist, tackles a particularly hot topic at the current time, but as is typical of his books, this one is both entertaining, and touching, an... |
| 2022-Sep-09 • 119 minutes Janice Fiamengo: Feminism, Anti-Feminism, and Common Sense As I describe in the introduction to our discussion, I first learned about Janice Fiamengo by watching an incredible series of videos she produced called The Fiamengo Files. Not surprisingly, because they presented a well-reasoned approach to various hot-button social justice issues, these videos were taken down YouTube. No worries, like the proverbial Phoenix, The Fiamengo Files II emerged and can be found. Janice, a retired Professor of English at the University of Ottawa, calls herself an anti-feminis... |
| 2022-Aug-26 • 124 minutes Richard Dawkins: From Selfish Gene to Flights of Fancy Richard Dawkins needs no introduction. He is one of the world’s most well known scientists and science writers. He is also a good friend and colleague. As many of you may know, Richard and I have toured much of the world together on stage, often in dialogues about our disciplines, our views of the world, and of course the conflict between science and religion. When we decided to create The Origins Podcast, it was natural to consider early on having a dialogue between Richard and me. One fateful day, ou... |
| 2022-Aug-14 • 73 minutes Alex Garland: Fundamental questions inspire art and science Alex Garland is probably best known to the world for writing and directing the blockbuster film Ex Machina about the consequences of the coming of age of an AI humanoid robot. Before that, he wrote the film 28 days later, about the fictional aftermath of a mysterious incurable virus that spreads through the UK. Most recently he directed a television series for FX called Devs, about many things, but hinging on quantum mechanics and issues of a multiverse. The human implications of new technology seem to ... |
| 2022-Jul-29 • 113 minutes Geoff Marcy: The Search for Exoplanets and Life Elsewhere in the Universe Geoff Marcy has been pioneer in the search for extra-solar system planets since the first discovery of an exoplanet surround a main sequence star was made in 1995 by Michel Mayor and Didier Queloz. Within months, Marcy and his team had not only confirmed this result but detected numerous other exoplanets. Seventy of the first one hundred exoplanets were discovered by Marcy’s team, including the firs exoplanet located as far away from its star as Jupiter is to the Sun, and the first exoplanet discovered by... |
| 2022-Jul-14 • 174 minutes Andy Knoll: The First Four Billion Years of Life on Earth Andy Knoll is a Renaissance Scientist. He is a geologist, paleobiologist, and geochemist and has applied key ideas from chemistry, biology, physiology and more to understanding the key developments associated with life on Earth—both how geology and chemistry have impacted on life, and vice versa. He has made ground breaking contributions to the understanding of almost every phase of life, from early Pre-Cambrian single cell life, to the emergence of more complex lifeforms, to mass extinctions. His group ... |
| 2022-Jul-01 • 139 minutes Charles Murray: On Human Diversity After writing the book, The Bell Curve, Charles Murray became a controversial figure in the US Social Science scene, and was much maligned in the public arena. His work has been misinterpreted as being racist and sexist, and at Middlebury College students forcibly stopped his guest lecture and rioted. As often the case with stereotypes, Murray is instead a thoughtful scholar who has tried to base his social science research on data from empirical science, something that should be standard, but isn’t. I ... |
| 2022-Jun-16 • 117 minutes (Audio) John Mather: From the Big Bang to Searching for Life John Mather is an astrophysicist at NASA who has been involved in important space missions to probe our fundamental understanding of the Universe for over four decades. He helped lead the design and deployment of the Cosmic Background Explorer Satellite (COBE), which launched in 1989 to probe the cosmic microwave background radiation from the Big Bang with a precision that could not be obtained from terrestrial experiments because of absorption of radiation by the atmosphere. The experiments on COBE, and ... |
| 2022-Jun-02 • 207 minutes Origins Podcast with Michael Shellenberger: From Apocalypse Never to Running for Governor I was very happy to have the chance to speak to Michael Shellenberger some time ago, after his book Apocalypse Never appeared. Having written my book, The Physics of Climate Change, I was intrigued by his take on the fact that climate change is not an existential threat. Once I read his book, I realized we agreed on many things, with perhaps the differences being on emphasize rather than substance. Nevertheless, we did have some disagreements, and we had a very spirited, and I hope respectful, discussion... |
| 2022-May-19 • 103 minutes Jonathan Rauch: Free Thought, Democracy, and the Nature of Science Jonathan Rauch was 30 years ahead of the curve. In his book Kindly Inquisitors, written in 1993, he described the very mechanisms by which ideology can undermine both the search for truth, and the democratic ideal of free thought—mechanisms which have now become endemic in our society. But more than that, in that book, and in The Constitution of Knowledge, written in 2021 he lays out more clearly than anyone I have ever read, the philosophical and sociological basis of science. The search for truth, and... |
| 2022-May-06 • 150 minutes Alan Guth: Inflation of The Universe & More In 1979 Alan Guth, then a postdoc at Cornell, made what is perhaps the most important contribution to our theoretical understanding of the evolution of the Universe in the past half century. His realization that the early universe could have undergone a brief period of what he dubbed as “Inflation” provided the first and to date the only explanation of the large scale properties of the Universe compatible with observations, and based on well-defined, calculable, microphysical physics principles. Since tha... |
| 2022-Apr-21 • 95 minutes Dorian Abbot: From Climate and Exoplanets to DEI and Free Speech. Dorian Abbot is an associate professor of geophysics at the University of Chicago, who uses mathematical and computational models to understand and explain fundamental problems in Earth and Planetary Sciences. His work on climate, and paleoclimate in particular is particularly important as we try and determine the likelihood that some exoplanets may be habitable. This is an area where may claims are made, most often on the basis of far too little solid evidence, so Dorian’s computer models have been partic... |
| 2022-Apr-07 • 146 minutes Matt Ridley: The Origins of COVID-19 (The Origins Podcast will appear every other Thursday.) Matt Ridley is a veteran journalist and science writer, with a training in genetics. He is also a Conservative member of the House of Lords in the UK. Matt and I were able to discuss his training, and his move from scientist to journalist, as well as the spectrum of his experiences in his various roles. We then moved on to the centerpiece of our dialogue: His newest book, Viral, written with geneticist Alina Chan. Together they produced what I view... |
| 2022-Mar-24 • 170 minutes The Origins Podcast: Roger Penrose Summary: Roger Penrose and I discussed his life and work in science, mathematics, art and beyond, including the work for which he won the Nobel Prize, and his recent highly controversial proposal regarding the beginning and end of the Universe.To get this episode into your RSS feed, please click the button below from your phone:Roger Penrose, who shared the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics, for his 1965 theoretical demonstration that black holes are an inevitable consequence of Einstein’s General Relativity, so... |
| 2022-Mar-02 • 141 minutes Ayaan Hirsi Ali This episode features a very special guest, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has an incredible life story and track record of speaking out against oppression, fighting for freedom of expression, and fostering a deeper discussion around some of today's most... |
| 2022-Feb-21 • 143 minutes Stephen Wolfram on Math, Philosophy, & More In this episode of the Origins Podcast, Stephen Wolfram joins Lawrence Krauss for a fascinating conversation around Stephen's upbringing, his education path, Mathematica, and what he's working on now. They also cover various concepts around symbolic... |
| 2022-Feb-02 • 63 minutes Steven Pinker on Rationality, Psychology, Language, & More On this episode of The Origins Podcast, experimental psychologist, Steven Pinker shares an excellent conversation with Lawrence Krauss. Steven and Lawrence cover a variety of topics, including rationality, evolutionary psychology, and language. |
| 2022-Jan-18 • 122 minutes Tim Minchin Discussing Science, Culture, & Comedy Tune in for an excellent conversation between Tim Minchin and Lawrence Krauss. They dive into a variety of interesting subjects, such as Tim Minchin's upbringing, his scientific interests, comedy, culture, the state of the world, and even a few of Tim... |
| 2022-Jan-18 • 28 minutes Science Matters: Understanding The James Webb Space Telescope This episode is best watched on Youtube, as there are slides and images that accompany Lawrence's talk. This week marks a very special moment in which the Origins Podcast passed 100,000 subscribers! In celebration of this, we've brought back Science... |
| 2021-Dec-18 • 143 minutes Jordan B Peterson on Confronting Value, Meaning, & More This exciting episode of the Origins Podcast features Jordan B Peterson along with host, Lawrence Krauss. They explore Jordan's upbringing and background, the nuances of meaning and value, as well as the difficulties and opportunities of doing... |
| 2021-Nov-13 • 120 minutes Sabine Hossenfelder: Physics, Science Ideology, & More Sabine Hossenfelder joins Lawrence Krauss for an interesting discussion about theoretical physics, academia, and the future of science ideology. You can show your support and access exclusive bonus content at https://www.patreon.com/originspodcast |
| 2021-Oct-28 • 103 minutes Jim Simons: Math, Codes, Hunting Talent, Stocks, & Science Jim Simons joins Lawrence for fascinating new and different take on the life of a man best known to the public for becoming a billionaire by using techniques from mathematics and statistics to revolutionize investing, but who has had numerous other... |
| 2021-Oct-06 • 71 minutes Heather Mac Donald | Part 2 of 2 | Updates & Clarifications This is the second part unique conversation with journalist and author, Heather Mac Donald. The author of The Diversity Delusion, Heather doesn't mince words. Lawrence and she don't agree on everything as you'll see during the podcast. Nonetheless,... |
| 2021-Sep-24 • 48 minutes Stephen Fry on Current Events | Self-Censoring of Scientific Publications Lawrence Krauss and Stephen Fry have a conversation about recent disconcerting news that several scientific publications and associations are self-censoring scientific publications and data for fear of offending people, even if no offense is... |
| 2021-Sep-19 • 126 minutes Heather Mac Donald | Part 1 of 2 This is the first part unique conversation with journalist and author, Heather Mac Donald. Heather doesn't mince words, but Lawrence and she don't agree on everything as you'll see during the podcast. Nonetheless, these conversations are critical in... |
| 2021-Aug-23 • 26 minutes Current Events: Follow Up on Afghanistan with Noam Chomsky Listen to our newest mini-series "Current Events with Noam Chomsky"! In this episode, Lawrence and Noam have a follow-up discussion about the latest developments in Afghanistan. Show your support and access exclusive bonus content at... |
| 2021-Aug-10 • 179 minutes Barry Barish | Exploring The History of Experimental Physics In this podcast episode, Lawrence Krauss reconnects with an old friend and Nobel Prize recipient, Barry Barish. They discuss a wide range of topics and explore Barry's own history as well as the history, present, and future of experimental physics.... |
| 2021-Jul-02 • 136 minutes David Gross Lawrence Krauss recently had the pleasure of sitting down with David Gross, one of the preeminent theoretical physicists who has been involved not just in the development of the theory of the strong interaction, called quantum chromodynamics, but he... |
| 2021-Jun-16 • 12 minutes Current Events: Noam Chomsky on Censorship & More Listen to our newest mini-series "Current Events with Noam Chomsky"! In this episode, Lawrence and Noam discuss a variety of issues around Censorship. Show your support and access exclusive bonus content at Noam Chomsky is sometimes referred... |
| 2021-Jun-02 • 19 minutes Current Events: Noam Chomsky on Refugees & Border Policies Listen to our newest mini-series "Current Events with Noam Chomsky"! This episode covers a variety of topics around Refugees and Border Policies in the United States and other countries. Show your support and access exclusive bonus content at... |
| 2021-May-26 • 10 minutes Current Events: Noam Chomsky on Afghanistan Listen to our newest mini-series "Current Events with Noam Chomsky"! In this episode, Lawrence and Noam discuss a variety of issues around Afghanistan, including the withdrawal of troops, military leaders, and considering the opinions of Afghans when... |
| 2021-May-23 • 16 minutes Current Events: Noam Chomsky on Iran Listen to our newest mini-series "Current Events with Noam Chomsky"! In this episode, Lawrence and Noam discuss a variety of issues around Iran, including nuclear weapons, sanctions, and diplomatic relations. **Recorded before violence erupted in... |
| 2021-May-01 • 121 minutes Werner Herzog Lawrence joins acclaimed film director Werner Herzog at his home in Los Angeles to discuss societal norms, consumerism, cancel culture, the colonization of Mars, the philosophy behind his art and films, and much more. See the commercial-free, full HD... |
| 2021-Apr-08 • 70 minutes Ian Tattersall Ian Tattersall (paleoanthropologist and curator emeritus of the American Museum of Natural History) joins Lawrence for a nuanced discussion of a wide range of topics including the rise of altruism in humans, the evolutionary reasons for religion,... |
| 2021-Mar-01 • 100 minutes Ian McEwan Lawrence joins novelist Ian McEwan (Atonement, Machines Like Me) at his home in London to discuss a wide variety of topics ranging from storytelling and censorship to artificial intelligence and Brexit. His latest book (The Cockroach) is a... |
| 2021-Feb-01 • 105 minutes Andrea Ghez 2020 Nobel Prize-winning physicist and astronomer Andrea Ghez joins Lawrence to discuss her life in science and the path that led her to the discovery of a supermassive compact object (black hole) at the center of our galaxy. See the commercial-free,... |
| 2021-Jan-01 • 108 minutes Woody Allen Lawrence joins Academy Award-winning filmmaker Woody Allen at his screening room in New York City where Allen shares insights on his career, philosophy, education, politics and the struggle to find meaning in the universe. Allen’s latest... |
| 2020-Dec-05 • 105 minutes Joseph LeDoux Lawrence joins neuroscientist and author Joseph LeDoux in his office at New York University to discuss human consciousness (including its evolutionary development), the difficulties of distinguishing behavior from emotions, his latest book The Deep... |
| 2020-Oct-30 • 76 minutes Maryam Namazie Lawrence joins human rights activist Maryam Namazie at her office in London to discuss her work with The Council of Ex-Muslims, the rise of fascism in the west, blasphemy, “safe spaces”, and more. See the commercial-free, full HD videos of all... |
| 2020-Sep-22 • 126 minutes Stephen Fry The incomparable Stephen Fry joins Lawrence to discuss topics ranging from Greek myths and language, to AI, technology, religion, politics, and mental health. See the commercial-free, full HD videos of all episodes at www.patreon.com/originspodcast... |
| 2020-Jul-13 • 150 minutes David Frum Author and political commentator David Frum joins Lawrence to discuss Trump, US foreign policy, the challenges of a Carbon Tax, “wokeness”, behavior policing, and much more. See the commercial-free, full HD videos of all episodes at... |
| 2020-May-21 • 71 minutes George Church Known as “the Father of Synthetic Biology”, George Church is a geneticist, chemist and molecular engineer. In this episode, Lawrence joins him in his office at Harvard Medical School to discuss his work with CRISPR, the differences between... |
| 2020-Feb-29 • 91 minutes Sheldon Glashow Nobel Prize winning physicist Sheldon Glashow sits down with Lawrence to reflect on his life in science, the state of modern physics, and more. See the commercial-free, full HD videos of all episodes at www.patreon.com/originspodcast immediately upon... |
| 2020-Feb-07 • 97 minutes Sir Trevor Nunn Lawrence discusses Shakespeare, education and science with the Tony award-winning director and former head of the Royal Shakespeare company Sir Trevor Nunn. See the commercial-free, full HD videos of all episodes at www.patreon.com/originspodcast... |
| 2020-Jan-13 • 89 minutes Elizabeth Loftus In this episode, Lawrence is joined by award-winning cognitive psychologist and author Elizabeth Loftus to discuss her ground-breaking work on false memories, recovered memories, “the misinformation effect” and the unreliability of eye-witness... |
| 2019-Dec-16 • 95 minutes Stephen Greenblatt Lawrence joins Shakespearean, historian, and Pulitzer Prize winning author Stephen Greenblatt to discuss renaissance thinking, the crossroads of science and literature, Adam and Eve, Trump and much more. See the commercial-free, full HD videos of all... |
| 2019-Oct-24 • 83 minutes Martin Rees In London, Lord Martin Rees joins Lawrence to discuss cosmology, science writing, politics, and the role of religion (and religious figures) in modern society. See the exclusive, full HD videos of all episodes at www.patreon.com/originspodcast... |
| 2019-Oct-04 • 103 minutes Neil deGrasse Tyson Lawrence joins astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson in his office at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City to discuss Neil’s background, science communication methods, creating the perfect science sound bite, and much more.... |
| 2019-Sep-06 • 103 minutes A.C. Grayling Lawrence joins philosopher Anthony Grayling in his office at the New College of the Humanities in London. Together, they discuss the Brexit crisis, Humanism as an alternative to religion, the current state of democracy around the world, and much... |
| 2019-Aug-21 • 101 minutes Penn Jillette Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) joins Lawrence at the Origins Podcast studios for a wide-ranging and colorful discussion of topics including ethics, magic, climate change, Richard Feynman, The Amazing Randi, “artistic genius”, and much more.... |
| 2019-Aug-06 • 63 minutes Gail Collins Lawrence joins author and New York Times columnist Gail Collins to discuss her book When Everything Changed, which chronicles the progress of women’s rights in America from 1960 through today. Gail Collins was the first woman to hold the... |
| 2019-Jul-23 • 96 minutes Daniel P. Schrag In this episode, Lawrence joins environmental scientist Dan Schrag at Harvard University to discuss Earth history, energy policies, and what we can expect from a future affected by climate change. See the exclusive, full HD videos of all... |
| 2019-Jul-08 • 31 minutes Brian May In this episode, Lawrence joins musician and astrophysicist Brian May at his studio in Surrey. May, the lead guitarist of the legendary rock band Queen, recently served as a science team collaborator on the New Horizons mission to Pluto and... |
| 2019-Jul-07 • 67 minutes Alan Stern In this episode, Lawrence sits down with planetary scientist Alan Stern to discuss his new book Chasing New Horizons, which chronicles his work as head of NASA’s New Horizons mission to Pluto and beyond. Stern describes the trials and... |
| 2019-Jun-18 • 62 minutes Jennifer Finney Boylan In this episode, Lawrence sits down in the offices of the New York Times with author and columnist Jennifer Finney Boylan. They discuss her life, novels, writing style, and the challenges facing transgender people in the world today. See the... |
| 2019-Jun-18 • 125 minutes Noam Chomsky In this episode, Lawrence talks with public intellectual, linguist, and political activist Noam Chomsky. Together, they discuss topics ranging from American exceptionalism and foreign policy, to North Korea and Brazil, as well as free speech and... |
| 2019-Jun-18 • 92 minutes Ricky Gervais In this episode, Lawrence talks with actor, writer and comedian, Ricky Gervais about the science of comedy, the comedy of religion, and the religion of free speech. He also gets a mind-bending, personal science lesson from Lawrence. See the exclusive,... |
| 2019-Jun-08 • 2 minutes Introduction Welcome to The Origins Podcast! This brief introduction with host Lawrence M. Krauss provides a glimpse of what to expect from the upcoming show. The Origins Podcast features in-depth conversations with some of the most interesting people in the world... |