The Thought Experiment

First New Show

2011-08-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

The first episode of the new joint podcast, "Questioning the Cosmos" is online. Check it out and stuff!

Greetings, friends!

2011-08-06T18:17:00.001-07:00

By now I'm sure your skeletons have blown away in the wind in anticipation of an update. The Thought Experiment will live on in the Internet's bowels for weeks to come, but a new contender has arisen. The "Question the Cosmos" podcast is its spiritual successor and we've launched a new blog to support it. Indeed, a new youtube page and twitter account for those so inclined.

So go and check it out before I take another 2 years to add an update here!

Upcoming interviews

2009-09-03T07:58:00.001-07:00

Ok I've been too lazy for too long. This weekend before I head off to CERN I'll post the first of a few interviews I did at the American Physical Society. Up first? How about Phil Plait?

edit: I will have to upload them when I return to the US on the 15th, since I don't have the software on my laptop to do so. In other news,

Hawking says hi!

Shedding Light on Dark Matter (supplement)

2008-08-30T18:02:00.001-07:00

Shedding Light on Dark Matter Powerpoint

I've added as supplementary material here, my actual printed powerpoint presentation slides for the 4-part 50-minute lecture. Although the incredible animation effects that went into the Barry Bonds segment aren't alive on the .pdf document, the images provide backup to all those times that I say, "search this or that." It may also be helpful to scroll through it while listening.

Also, I may as well attach my paper, Dark Matter Versus Modified Newtonian Dynamics, for those who are interested in my segment in the series that covered it. I went over the topic briskly and may have skipped some things, so the paper is also in this post for everyone to gawk over.

Shedding Light on Dark Matter (part 4)

2008-08-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

Shedding Light on Dark Matter (part 4)

In the fall I'm giving a lecture series on topics ranging from the history of the universe to time travel. Dark Matter is one of those topics.

In this final part of the series, we go over a very brief history of Dark Matter and some of its competitor theories, such as Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) and Massive Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs).

Shedding Light on Dark Matter (part 3)

2008-08-21T21:16:00.000-07:00

Shedding Light on Dark Matter (part 3)

In the fall I'm giving a lecture series on topics ranging from the history of the universe to time travel. Dark Matter is one of those topics.

In this third of 4 part series, we go over candidates for dark matter particles and detection techniques.

Next installment goes over the history of Dark Matter and its competitors.

Shedding Light on Dark Matter (part 2)

2008-08-14T15:32:00.001-07:00

Shedding Light on Dark Matter (part 2)

In the fall I'm giving a lecture series on topics ranging from the history of the universe to time travel. Dark Matter is one of those topics.

In this second of 4 part series, I do a thought experiment involving Barry Bonds and detail the origin and nature of matter.

Next installment deals with detecting candidates of Dark Matter.

Shedding Light on Dark Matter (part 1)

2008-08-08T18:11:00.000-07:00

Shedding Light on Dark Matter (part 1)

In the fall I'm giving a lecture series on topics ranging from the history of the universe to time travel. Dark Matter is one of those topics.

In this first of 4 part series, I give a brief introduction and go over distinguishing Dark Matter from what isn't Dark Matter.

Next installment deals with properties of matter and Dark Matter and how they apply to baseball.

The Strong Nuclear Force (video)

2008-07-02T22:44:00.001-07:00

The Strong Nuclear Force

The Thought Experiment podcast has been kind of stagnant lately. Largely because I've been so busy here on campus with Dark Matter research and so on and hopefully this video, a talk I gave recently on the strong nuclear force that holds atomic nuclei together, can shed some light on just how jam packed my schedule has been these last few days.

The recording quality is rather lacking, yes, but my placement of the microphone in the lecture hall I guess was less than strategic. Plus it has more buttons to confuse an astronaut!

Enjoy!

Quantum Tunneling

2008-04-17T18:57:00.001-07:00

Quantum Tunneling

Tunneling is a very, very mathematical process by which a particle can 'leak' out into its surroundings. This has to do with all sorts of things called wave functions, probability densities, and so on, but the real aspect behind them is: how can we use this for our macroscopic advantage?

Intro to Quantum Mechanics

2008-02-13T20:41:00.000-08:00

Intro to Quantum Mechanics

Ironically, the delay for this week's quantum mechanics podcast was brought on by quantum mechanics homework. In any case, this week I delve into the beginnings of what quantum mechanics is, opening up the playing field into the zany world of the small.

Link to Old Shows

2008-02-04T20:59:00.001-08:00

I realize I haven't put up any new thought experiments quite yet (don't worry, the supply is virtually bottomless), due to exams and other college-related business. Not to worry, more shows are coming and I don't mean the old "tell-them-now-so-they'll-still-be-waiting-6-months-from-now" gag. New shows this weekend or before for sure.

With that in mind, I've been getting a lot of requests to link to the old podcast. The Thought-Provoking Discussion podcast was the one we did before this and I still believe the links are active if those who requested it are up for some old timey downloading.

Borel's Infinite Monkeys

2008-01-15T22:59:00.000-08:00

Borel's Infinite Monkeys

Returning triumphant for a second season of thought experimenting, we continue on our history of thought experiments into the later 1920s with Borel's mathematical analysis of what happens when you get a ton of monkeys in a room with a ton of typewriters. A Borel of monkeys for sure!

Baxiden is by Liquid Tension Experiment

Q&A With Brian Greene

2007-10-21T10:28:00.000-07:00

Q&A With Brian Greene

Last week string theorist and physicist at Columbia University, Brian Greene came to my university as a part of a lecture series featuring distinguished lecturers. He did a question and answer session for a small group of us (about 20 or so people), as well as a planned lecture event. This week is the Q&A session.

Theme music by Liquid Tension Experiment

Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle

2007-09-12T23:22:00.000-07:00

Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle

What can a retired basketball player and a cannon full of paintballs teach us about quantum uncertainty? A lot, actually. Have a listen in on why we can't tell where a proton is at the same time when we know its momentum: the quintessential uncertainty principle. For a link to the blog post I mouth off about, see the exposé on Ramtha and What the Bleep Were They Thinking?

New and permenant theme music: Baxiden by Liquid Tension Experiment

The Banach-Tarski Paradox

2007-09-03T15:06:00.000-07:00

The Banach-Tarski Paradox

A mouthful no doubt! This week we go over just how a mathematical universe differs from a physical one on the basis of the Axiom of Choice. More interestingly, if we exploit this paradox, we can clone anything we want with the exact same properties as the original. As per Andrew's note, you can see an example of a fractal here. Really amazing stuff to say the least.

Barbarian Horde is by Hans Zimmer

Rachel Cooper's Overview on Thought Experiments (guest)

2007-08-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

Rachel Cooper's Overview

Rachel Cooper, a lecturer at the University of Lancaster, provides for us an overview as to what thought experiments are and what they are used for. As a side note, she refers to Lucretius' Spear, an earlier podcast.

Debussy Reverie is by David DeLucia

Einstein's Relativity

2007-08-06T23:10:00.000-07:00

Einstein's Relativity

So many topics to cover in so little of time! Time dilation, spacetime continuums, all the sorts of fun stuff you learn in upper-level cosmology courses. Alas, we can't do justice to Einstein's theories or results here, but we can take a sure enough stab at it. The book I keep referring to is Einstein, His Life and Universe by Walter Isaacson. It's really a great read and I don't want to sound like I'm just telling you to buy a book just for the sake of buying it. If you want to learn about relativity, but are too intimidated by Einstein's own book that he wrote on the subject, Isaacson covers it in depth as well as more than you ever bargained for.

A New Hope is by John Williams

Poincare's Conjecture

2007-07-31T22:51:00.000-07:00

Poincare's Conjecture

Amidst more recording troubles, I had to do solo again this week. Alas, the show must go on and this week I talk about how extra dimensions can be rooted out of lower dimensional fields. A great book to check out on this topic is Edwin A. Abbott's Flatland. Specifically on the Poincare Conjecture, there are tons of math books abounding on the subject, since it was only just recently solved. It's worth a look and is on the cutting edge of the fascinating world of topology!

We Want a Rock is by They Might Be Giants

Kent Hovind's Last Debate

2007-07-23T22:01:00.000-07:00

Kent Hovind's Last Debate

Well, this week we had originally planned to go over Maxwell's Demon, but a screwup in the recording prompted us to ditch the file. Perhaps it was for the better, given that it is the 1 year anniversary of our debate with famed creationist Kent Hovind. Perhaps one of our few PDFcasts, the debate is about 20 some odd pages in length, but filled with comedic gold. As a toast to the convicted tax evasionist and 'scientist', we are putting up for free download a transcript from our debate with an intro included.

The feed has now been updated. Hopefully it should work at this point. If any other podcasts are not up and running, please alert me and I'll fix 'em.

Mach's Machine

2007-07-13T23:28:00.000-07:00

Mach's Machine

Courtesy of Stanford

Ersnt Mach proposed that perpetual motion machines went against common sense. In this solitary episode, I talk about various claims of pseudo-scientific energy companies and talk about why their murky science is, at best, flawed. From tachyon theory of gravity to consciousness-energy, a short list of problems is noted.

White Army, Black Baron is by the Soviet National Choir

Can Life be Patented? (Skypecast)

2007-07-09T20:37:00.001-07:00

Can Life Be Patented?

A deep philosophical question indeed, arisen from the recent episode of Science Friday's discussion on ethics of cloning. Andrew and I are joined by members of the Skype community in the form of a skypecast in which we discuss the ideas and let the fans of the podcast get a word in as well, live. Despite off-topicness and quality issues (Skypecasts have been under repair as of late), we venture forth into a discussion about whether or not life as we know it or not can indeed by patented.

'The White Tree' by Howard Shore

Olbers' Paradox

2007-07-04T23:49:00.001-07:00

Olbers' Paradox

Detailing how the universe, if infinite, should be as bright as the surface of the sun, Andrew and I also talk about whether or not if theory is ahead of testability and the feasibility thereof. Sorry about the overlap between Andrew and I's speaking, it was a latency error with the recording program used. It gets annoying, but just listen to what Andrew has to say.

I only realized at the last possible second that I needed some sort of July 4th theme music, and due to the fact I was lacking some 1812 Overture, I tossed in the most patriotic song that wasn't a Hans Zimmer work. Fight For Freedom is by Manowar.

Paley's Watch (Guest)

2007-06-25T22:51:00.000-07:00

Paley's Watch

Special guest of the Big Bang and Creationism Podcast and colleague of mine, Robert Lippens joins returning co-host Andrew and I on a discussion about Intelligent Design. William Paley engineered his thought experiment about the watch and the watchmaker close to the turn of the 19th century. Since then, Intelligent Design has gotten lots more public media attention. The three of us roundtable it out on various claims by Intelligent Design proponents.

No skypecast for this week, sorry. We had millions of troubles and skypecasting was one of them. I realize there was a crowd trying to get in and get it to work, but they're being fixed right now, servers are down, etc. Perhaps next time!

Sunday Skypecast!

2007-06-23T01:03:00.000-07:00

This Sunday we'll be graced with the presence of a colleague of mine, Robert Lippens, of the Big Bang and Creationism podcast. We'll be discussing William Paley's thought experiment on Intelligent Design. All are encouraged to join, all you need is skype and patience.

It begins Sunday, June 24th at 11:00 am, PST. Follow the link below to listen in.

Click right here!

Newton's Bucket

2007-06-18T20:26:00.000-07:00

Newton's Bucket

What can a rotating glob of water tell us about the universe's expanse? In this experiment you can perform at home, you can follow the history of the 400 year-old theory on Newton's explanation on why he thought the universe was infinite.

(couldn't resist!)

Music by Gustav Holst

Finals Week

2007-06-04T18:09:00.000-07:00

This week and weekend are prep for finals here at Western Washington, so there will be no new program for this weekend. Show the video around, though!

Pale Blue Dot (video)

2007-05-31T15:36:00.001-07:00

Pale Blue Dot

No introduction or commentary on this one. This is a segment from my planetarium show (the Earth segment) rendered for smaller screens, so the quality may be reduced a bit. The quote is from Carl Sagan's book, Pale Blue Dot, an amazing read which I would suggest all audiences to give a look at. There is no intro music to this, but music throughout and is done by Yo-Yo Ma, called the Ecstasy of Gold, from his album where he plays a bunch of music from Ennio Morricone's compositions.

Many of the images have been used without acknowledgment of the authors from Caedes.net. If your image was used, please let me know and I'll credit you.

A youtube version of this can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ba3X1toPT-E

Galileo's Thread

2007-05-27T20:27:00.000-07:00

Galileo's Thread

It is a common misconception to think that things that weigh more than others fall faster. After all, we see all the time that paper floats to the ground when our cellphones drop quickly onto the pavement. Galileo, in the 1600s, disproved this with a simple string.

Info on next week's video podcast in here too!
(Music by Carl Orff)

Lucretius' Spear

2007-05-20T16:54:00.000-07:00

Lucretius' Spear

Are the boundaries to the universe finite? If so, what exists beyond them? Lucretius wondered this in his work, On the Nature of Things. If the universe is infinite, how do we fit in? This podcast aims at explaining that.

Music by Hans Zimmer

Euthyphro's Dilema

2007-05-14T15:46:00.000-07:00

Euthyphro's Dilema
(music by Harry-Gregson Williams)

Hopefully this will synchronize to the old podcast feed. Some updates to note of are a planetarium show preview I will be hosting in video format in a few weeks and a skypecast in a couple months from now. Andrew is gone but slated to return in a few weeks from a brief "vacation".

This podcast details where morality is derived from: objective or subjective sources?

First new podcast

2007-05-06T23:31:00.000-07:00

What Is a Thought Experiment?

The new podcast is kicked off. The future of the show will detail the history of thought experiments, ones from the fields of physics, math and philosophy, too. Expect controversial topics like religion and things like that to come!

For those arriving from Thought Provoking Discussion, welcome and yes, we are continuing the plan from the other blog message.