Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

The GREATEST Debate: How two astronomers changed the way humanity debatesBy April 1920, the Spanish flu had claimed 50,000,000 lives. The first World War ended only 17 months earlier. A polarizing presidential election was underway. On April 26, 1920, in Washington DC, two contestants took the stage in a debate that would alter the cosmos forever. Was this contest the 1920 presidential debate? No, this battle was literally for universal domination, not a mere skirmish between presidential contenders Warren Harding and James Cox. Only the wonkiest history buffs recall who won 1920’s presidential debates. But every astronomer knows the two scientists sparring on that April evening at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, taking sides in astronomy’s “Great Debate”: Heber Curtis, director of the Allegheny Observatory, versus Mt. Wilson Observatory astronomer Harlow Shapley. The Debate’s outcome could not have been more consequential; the span of the entire universe was at stake. This epic contest concerned the nature of the so-called “spiral nebulae” that had vexed astronomers since Lord Rosse first pointed his 54-foot long telescope, appropriately nicknamed ’the Leviathan’, toward the heavens in 1845. Seventy-five years later, Shapley claimed these diaphanous swirls of light were our neighbors within the Milky Way, a mere hundred or so light years away.Curtis contended that some of these smudges were galaxies in their own right, assemblies of hundreds of billions of stars. If Curtis was right, these ’nebulae’ resided at truly astronomical distances from Earth. Curtis and Shapley decorously dealt philosophical punches. No mute buttons were needed. But lacking physical evidence, the Great Debate ended in a draw. The runoff would put the aftermath of the 2000 presidential election, and its ‘hanging chads’, to shame. It took over three years until Edwin Hubble discovered a curious cosmic beacon on the outskirts of the “Great Spiral Nebula” in Andromeda. This luminary, a class of star known as a Cepheid variable, periodically waxed and waned in brightness about twice per week. Years earlier, the brilliant astronomer Henrietta Leavitt showed that the rate at which Cepheid stars pulsated could be used as a sort of “cosmic ruler”, surveying distances far beyond Earth. Applying Leavitt’s Law (as we now call it), Hubble determined the Andromeda “nebula” was incomprehensibly distant—2,540,000 light-years to be exact.The Milky Way was large, but its diameter was known to be less than 10 percent of that vast span. Andromeda was not in our galaxy, it was a galaxy, hosting 100 billion or more suns of its own. The Great Debate was settled. Shapley lost, but was humble in defeat, encouraging Hubble to widely publicize his findings. It wasn’t only the distance to the Andromeda galaxy that had grown, humanity’s perspective was forever broadened, tempered with newfound humility amidst the vastness of intergalactic space. Today, instruments like the Hubble Space Telescope, celebrating its 30th anniversary, have magnified the Great Debate’s significance, revealing that the Milky Way and Andromeda are two of as many as two trillion galaxies. What future debates will be waged in astronomy’s next century, using instruments (costing a mere fraction of modern presidential campaigns), such as the Simons Observatory, the Vera Rubin Observatory, the Xenon Dark Matter Project, and more? Will we learn that dark matter is a mysterious new particle or the effect of an unknown new force? Will we spot life on exoplanets, or discover that we truly are alone in the cosmos? Perhaps we will even find evidence that ours is not the only universe—just some of modern astronomy’s “Great Debates.”One of the most refreshing aspects of astronomy is that it is inherently apolitical. There are no Democratic comets, no Republican asteroids. Pe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 1990, Sean Carroll’s, George Field and Roman Jackiw wrote an epochal paper that had a tremendous impact on physics, and in particular, on me and my career as a young graduate student in the 1990’s.Recently, evidence for the parity violating effect from Cosmic Microwave Background observations by Planck was announced in Physical Review Letters: https://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/b0070Yf9I0214c6835b00d89342658c8255c84496Sean will discuss the background physics behind this effect and the implications for physics if the PRL is confirmed by upcoming polarimeters or otherwise convincing evidence is found. I will discuss some of the experimental challenges to making such a measurement and prospects for upcoming experiments such as CLASS, BICEP Array, SPT3G, Simons Array, ACT, LiteBIRD, Simons Observatory, and CMB Stage 4 to make a definitive, high confidence level claim. While you’re waiting for the livestream to start here is some homework 1) Subscribe to Sean’s Channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRhV1rWIpm_pU19bBm_2RXw?sub_confirmation=1 2) Enjoy this video from the SETI institute on cosmic birefringence, including a 1997 claim that Sean refuted, that I presented 4 years ago https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QywRTlcocBE 3) Read the original paper by Carroll, Field, and Jackiw: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/13277928_Limits_on_a_Lorentz-_and_parity-violating_modification_of_electrodynamics 4) And, read the abstract of the current paper, accepted for publication in PRL: https://journals.aps.org/prl/accepted/b0070Yf9I0214c6835b00d89342658c8255c84496 5) Watch my review of Sean’s book, The Big Picture https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gg4t_snAPwY?sub_confirmation=1 6) Watch my interview with Sean about his latest book, Something Deeply Hidden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKEXbSe0hV0?sub_confirmation=1 Sean Michael Carroll (born October 5, 1966) is a theoretical physicist specializing in quantum mechanics, gravity, and cosmology. He is a research professor in the Walter Burke Institute for Theoretical Physics in the California Institute of Technology Department of Physics.[1] He has been a contributor to the physics blog Cosmic Variance, and has published in scientific journals such as Nature as well as other publications, including The New York Times, Sky & Telescope, and New Scientist.Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ‍♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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/emsqueREVIEWS 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

Why are politics and society becoming more polarized? How does misinformation, disinformation, bigotry, and hatred spread? How are decisions really made? Dr. Gad Saad has answers and we get to many of them in this fast-moving discussion. We also discuss his personal philosophy, religion, and his roles as both an accomplished academic and a renowned public communicator.Dr. Gad Saad is Professor of Marketing at Concordia University (Montreal, Canada), and former holder of the Concordia University Research Chair in Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences and Darwinian Consumption (2008-2018). He has held Visiting Associate Professorships at Cornell University, Dartmouth College, and the University of California–Irvine. Dr. Saad received the Faculty of Commerce’s Distinguished Teaching Award in June 2000, and was listed as one of the ‘hot’ professors of Concordia University in both the 2001 and 2002 Maclean’s reports on Canadian universities. Saad was appointed Newsmaker of the Week of Concordia University in five consecutive years (2011-2015), and is the co-recipient of the 2015 President’s Media Outreach Award-Research Communicator of the Year (International), which goes to the professor at Concordia University whose research receives the greatest amount of global media coverage.Subscribe to his YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/c/GadSaad/ and follow him on Twitter: https://twitter.com/GadSaad.Professor Saad has pioneered the use of evolutionary psychology in marketing and consumer behavior. His works include The Consuming Instinct: What Juicy Burgers, Ferraris, Pornography, and Gift Giving Reveal About Human Nature (translated into Korean and Turkish); The Evolutionary Bases of Consumption; Evolutionary Psychology in the Business Sciences, along with 75+ scientific papers, many at the intersection of evolutionary psychology and a broad range of disciplines including consumer behavior, marketing, advertising, psychology, medicine, and economics (Google Scholar). His Psychology Today blog (Homo Consumericus) and YouTube channel (THE SAAD TRUTH) have garnered 6.4+ million and 19.7+ million total views respectively. He recently started a podcast titled The Saad Truth with Dr. Saad, which is available on all leading podcast platforms. In addition to his scientific work, Dr. Saad is a leading public intellectual who often writes and speaks about idea pathogens that are destroying logic, science, reason, and common sense. His fourth book The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas Are Killing Common Sense was released on October 6, 2020.Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ‍♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 I delighted in this remarkable opportunity to chat with Carl Hagen , a man who, as much as anyone alive was responsible for discovering the so-called Higgs Mechanism”. I found Carl fascinating and very similar to his lifelong friend and colleague, my former quantum mechanics Professor at Brown University, Gerry Guralnik. The so called “GHK Paper” co-authored by Gerry, Carl and Tom Kibble is regarded as perhaps the most important and accurate description of the mechanism by which massive particles like the electron ‘acquire’ their masses. Carl and I agree — the Nobel Prize is not the real reward — doing the science is. But nevertheless, the process by which the history of science is recorded often is by reference to those who win Nobel Prizes. This, in my opinion at least, is the most pernicious and sometimes cruel aspect of the Nobel Prizes…Let me know what you think is the best and worst aspect of the Nobel Prizes in the comments.Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ‍♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here:  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Paul Halpern’s latest book is “Synchronicity: The Epic Quest to Understand the Quantum Nature of Cause and Effect.” Paul joins me to discuss the book as well as big topics like quantum entanglement and the meaning of life. Hear about how he balances his physics research, writing projects, and love for the outdoors. He also wrote a book about the science of “The Simpsons” as well as fifteen other popular science books. Find Paul Halpern on the web: http://phalpern.com. Subscribe to my mailing list to receive show notes for this episode: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 00:00 Introduction 05:56 Carl Jung and Wolfgang Pauli’s transformative relationship. 13:13 Balancing science and history to appeal to the masses. 18:40 How do physicists think about time? 25:29 Finding the meaning of life through physics. 32:10 Is it time to stop quantum entanglement experiments? 40:32 Quantum physics risks being seen as a pseudoscience. 47:35 What ethical will does Paul Halpern plan to leave behind? 51:15 What object or knowledge would Paul put on his monolith? 53:42 What did Paul think was impossible until he did it? Paul Halpern is a professor of physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia. He is also a prolific science writer. Paul has received both a Guggenheim Fellowship and a Fulbright Scholarship. Buy Paul’s books here: https://amzn.to/333HLle Find Paul Halpern on Twitter: https://twitter.com/phalpernBrian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ‍♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 A discussion with Rabbi Wolpe, Max Webb Senior Rabbi, Sinai Temple, Los Angeles. Subscribe to Sinai Temple’s YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmwpoCGsU7wIgcF0E6licEg Subscribe to my Youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 Find Rabbi Wolpe on Facebook: www.facebook.com/rabbiwolpe And on the web: https://sinaitemple.org Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Eric Weinstein: https://youtu.be/YjsPb3kBGnk?sub_confirmation=1 Jim Simons: https://youtu.be/6fr8XOtbPqM?sub_confirmation=1 Noam Chomsky: https://youtu.be/Iaz6JIxDh6Y?sub_confirmation=1 Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/V6dMM2-X6nk?sub_confirmation=1 Sarah Scoles: https://youtu.be/apVKobWigMw Stephen Wolfram: https://youtu.be/nSAemRxzmXM Host Brian Keating: ‍♂️ Twitter at https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating Instagram at https://instagram.com/DrBrianKeating Buy my book LOSING THE NOBEL PRIZE: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA Subscribe for more great content https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 ✍️Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog.php Join my mailing list: http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Juan Maldacena joined me to discuss his fascinating new paper on human traversable wormholes and other topics in fundamental physics. Join in the chat to participate! We discussed the Multiverse, Black Holes, Wormholes, SETI, Life on Einstein Lane, Interstellar the Movie, and even God! We chatted about his recent paper “HUMANLY TRAVERSABLE WORMHOLES” https://arxiv.org/abs/2008.06618 which is based, in part, on this earlier paper: “Traversable wormholes in four dimensions” https://arxiv.org/abs/1807.04726When you sign up for my newsletter, I’ll send you links to download two explanatory talks on these papers.Please join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php We also discussed an interesting economic analog to the Higgs Mechanism first elaborated by Dr. Pia Malaney and Dr. Eric Weinstein, explaining gauge theory and electromagnetism. See Juan’s paper “The symmetry and simplicity of the laws of physics and the Higgs boson” here: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1410.6753.pdf . You will also enjoy his video lecture based on that paper here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQF7kkWjVWM 0:00 INTRODUCTION 04:00 Black Holes and Hawking Radiation 08:00 EPR states and Black Holes 13:00 Is faster than light travel possible using Wormholes? 20:30 What happens if you fall into a Solar Mass black hole? 25:30 Is studying wormholes a waste of money and time? 30:00 Why are there so many theories of everything like Weinstein, Wolfram, Lisi? 37:00 Cosmic Microwave Background non-Gaussianties and inflation and the Multiverse 44:00 Why are lower limits in physics so important? 52:00 What experiment or theory would Juan pursue if money was no object? 59:00 What is a gauge theory and how can currency trading in economics explain electromagnetism 1:09:10 What’s a day in the life of a Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study? 1:13:40 Juan’s Ethical Will 1:15:00 Juan on God, the Multiverse, aliens and more! 1:18:00 What would Juan put on his monolith? Juan Martín Maldacena (September 10, 1968 in Buenos Aires, Argentina) is a theoretical physicist and the Carl P. Feinberg Professor in the School of Natural Sciences at the Institute for Advanced Study. He has made significant contributions to the foundations of string theory and quantum gravity. His most famous discovery is the AdS/CFT correspondence, a realization of the holographic principle in string theory. Brian Keating’s most popular Youtube Videos: Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 A conversation with MIT Professor Sara Seager and The Verge Journalist Loren Grush, with Prof. Brian Keating. Loren Grush writes: “Deep within the acidic clouds of Venus, astronomers have detected a tantalizing gas never found on the planet before — a gas that, remarkably, could be a sign of life on the hellish world. The gas’s presence isn’t enough to say for sure that Venus hosts life forms, but the fact that it exists in the planet’s clouds indicates that something is going on there that we don’t fully understand.” Read the press release: https://news.mit.edu/2020/life-venus-phosphine-0914 Watch the press release from MIT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCXF8FUux74 Read Loren’s coverage of the announcement: https://www.theverge.com/21428796/venus-gas-life-sign-discovery-phosphine-biosignature Project Website: https://venuscloudlife.com “The gas in question is a nasty one called phosphine, a toxic and explosive molecule with a lingering odor of garlic and dead fish. Astronomers discovered the putrid gas lurking within a layer of clouds on Venus, where temperatures are pretty close to those on our planet. They didn’t find much — just small traces in the swirling mix of sulfuric acid clouds that surround the planet. “It’s equivalent to a few tablespoons in an Olympic sized swimming pool,” David Clements, an astrophysicist at the Imperial College of London and part of the team that made the discovery, tells The Verge. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Alexander Heyne is the creator of Modern Health Monk, a popular YouTube channel devoted to helping people learn healthy habits and manifest a happy life. Alex is also the author of “Master the Day: Eat, Move and Live Better With The Power of Daily Habits.” He joins me to talk about the book, growing his audience, and how journaling can help us all get and stay healthy.Subscribe to my mailing list to receive show notes for this episode: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list.php 00:00 Introduction 06:50 Preparing for the wedding instead of the marriage. 11:15 How to form habits for long-term happiness. 16:05 Improving yourself by 1% each day goes a long way. 22:59 Alex’s experience with Chinese healing. 27:07 How does technology fit into Chinese medicine? 32:16 What did Alex think was impossible until he did it? 33:40 What object or knowledge would Alex put on his monolith? Alexander Heyne has a doctorate in Classical Chinese Medicine. He is dedicated to helping people identify and manifest their goals for a better life. His YouTube channel Modern Health Monk has over 315,000 subscribers. Buy “Master the Day” here: https://amzn.to/3h9ioC8 Sign up for Alex’s mailing lists for access to free weight loss tips https://modernhealthmonk.com And how to live to be 100 http://alexheyne.com/free/ Find Alex on the web: http://alexheyne.com and YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/ModernHealthMonk/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices