Alex Kaplan shot to fame on Twitter last week for his thread on the LK-99 superconductor, and why it has the potential to be the most important physics discovery of our lifetime. Today he joins Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg to dig deeper into the LK-99 saga and its broader implications: why the material is so hard to replicate, the citizen journalist aspect and the democratization of science, condensed matter physics, a call for scientific ambition, and more. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen
TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00) Episode Preview
(01:13) Introduction to Alex Kaplan, and how his superconductor tweet took over the internet
(03:32) Why is the LK-99 compound so difficult to replicate?
(06:52) The breakdown of superconductor properties (diamagnetism vs. superconductivity)
(10:44) How does one even go and invent a new material?
(13:53) Tracing the drama of how Lee, Kim, and Kwon published their papers
(15:06) Sponsor: NetSuite
(16:15) Cont. story of Lee, Kim, and Kwon
(19:25) Andrew and Iris live-tweeting their replication efforts
(22:08) The citizen journalist aspect
(24:21) The democratization of science
(25:41) Condensed matter physics
(29:38) What’s most exciting about the LK-99 discovery
(32:08) Observing the tangible impacts of virality on Twitter
(34:23) The (im)precise process of creating the LK-99 compound
(35:57) What are the implications, if LK-99 is a real superconductor?
(42:06) What if superconductors made more efficient quantum computers?
(44:03) A potential Kardashev scale civilization
(45:23) The most interesting thing about the LK-99 saga for Alex
(46:49) Comparable physics discoveries to the LK-99
(49:18) Alex's request for scientific ambition: where should we be looking?
LINKS:
Alex’s viral X / Twitter Thread: https://twitter.com/alexkaplan0/status/1684044616528453633
LK-99 Paper (submitted by Kwon): https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12008
LK-99 Paper (submitted by Lee and Kim): https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12037
X / TWITTER:
@alexkaplan0 (Alex)
@dwr (Dan)
@eriktorenberg (Erik)
@moz_podcast
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