Episode list

Sabine Hossenfelder

The Trouble with Many Worlds
A difficulty with Coppenhagen interpretation is that it gives probabilities for experimental outcomes. But in reality we always measure only a single outcome with 100% certainty - the wave function collapse. The many worlds interpretation deals with this by contending that both outcomes occur by creating new universes. But Sabine argues that this is no different that the wave function collapse concept.
0 /10
The Raven Paradox

Tue, Apr 28, 2020
Hempel's Paradox, also known as the raven paradox, uses a hypothetical black raven to explore the scientific method. It is intended to help scientists determine which observations are evidence in favor of a theory, since not every instance can be tested, and how significant that evidence is.
0 /10
Dark Matter: The Situation has Changed
Initially dark matter appeared to be a nice neat theory to explain certain phenomenon of light and stars and galaxies where there was not enough mater to to explain their behavior. But as cosmologists looked further they found other behaviors that dark matter couldn't explain but an alternative theory, modified gravity, handles well. Unfortunately modified gravity has trouble with some behavior that dark matter explains. So which theory is best. Dr. Hossenfelder believes we need to embrace both and work toward combining them into a unified theory.
0 /10
Can We Make a New Universe?
It is theoretically possible to create a tiny universe by creating a false vacuum, e.g. a volume filled with energy but lacking any matter. To do it would require the energy equivalent of ten kilograms of matter (per Einstein's equation). It's the sort of event done in the Large Hadron Collider but with far, far...far less energy. According to theory such a universe wouldn't grow to destroy our universe but separate from it never to be see again.
0 /10
What's the Fifth Force?
As physicists struggle to detect dark matter many wonder if it really exists. Maybe the behavior attributed to dark matter and gravity is entirely different - a fifth fundamental force. If so scientists are probably looking in the right places; the edge of the universe if it's a long distance force, or exotic fundamental particle with the Large Hadron Collider if it's a short range force.
0 /10
Why is quantum mechanics weird? The bomb experiment
If you think quantum mechanics is weird Dr. Hossenfelder agrees with you. But it's not quantum entanglement or the superposition of states (e.g. Shroedinger's cat) that bother's her. It's Elitzur's and Vaidman's bomb experiment that tells you an event didn't happen when checking to see if it happened would make it happen.
0 /10
The 3 Best Explanations for the Havana Syndrome
In 2016 several US diplomats fell ill with mysterious symptoms. Since then other US diplomats around the world experienced similar symptoms. The cause is still uncertain but research have pretty much ruled out mass hysteria in favor of microwaves or ultrasound. Here's why.
0 /10
Does anti-gravity explain dark matter?
Sabine once took an in depth look at whether dark matter and dark energy could be caused by anti-gravity. The answer is no but the process of demonstrating that clarifies some interesting aspect of antimatter, anti-gravity and, of course, dark matter and dark energy.
0 /10
Did the universe inflate?
Sabine examines the debate about cosmic inflation in the earlier universe which some scientists contend is an exercise in data fitting. Sabine challenges the logic of both the arguments in favor and opposed to inflation.
0 /10
Whatever Happened to the Bee Apocalypse?
The bee-apocalypse is still with us but bee keepers have it under control in their domesticated honey colonies. But the wild bees, which are essential for many plant species, are still at risk and their condition isn't understood at all well.
0 /10
The Quantum Hype Bubble is about to Burst
Quantum technology has attracted considerable investment by Sabine believes it is based on hype and will take much longer and yield less benefit that claimed. In that she's not alone.
0 /10
Scientists warn of AI collapse
The original neural networks were trained with human generated data. But what will happen as AI generated data becomes prevalent and a growing part of future training data. Studies suggest the result will be less diversity and an increase in nonsense in the output. In other words; AI generated data is garbage in.
0 /10
Why Bill Gates' New Natrium Reactor is a Big Deal
Billl Gates new company Terropower is building a nuclear sodium cooled fast reactor, dubbed Natrium, that incorporates energy storage using a molten salt reservoir to better serve peak periods of electricity need.
0 /10
A New Pattern in Nature
Mathematicians are enthralled with polygons that tile surfaces. But a group lead by Gábor Domokos noticed that nature frequently uses shapes where vertexes are rounded into curves in some parts of the 'polygon' resulting adjacent vertexes being pinched to a point.
0 /10
Life Began Much Faster Than We Thought
Scientists compared the genomes of the organisms that have so far been sequenced to find the genes they all have in common which would have existed in the Last Universal Common Ancestor "LUCA" thought to have existed 4.2 billion years ago. They found a surprising large number of genes considering the earth was a ball of lava 300 million years earlier raising provocative implications about the origin of life on Earth.
0 /10
Universe Had Two Big Bangs, Physicists Say
Sabine bemoans science communicators who report that the Big Bang is when the matter in the universe formed. It wasn't. Both matter and dark matter formed a bit later and perhaps at different times.
0 /10
Dark Energy Is Not Real, New Data Analysis Finds
The accepted model of the universe that indicates the expansion of the universe is accelerating and the proposal of dark energy to explain it assumes that matter is evenly distributed throughout the universe. That assumption is known to be false because matter resides in galactic superclusters with giant voids in between. An alternative model dubbed Timescape takes the clumpy distribution into account and challenges the accelerating expansion result.
0 /10

Edit Focus

All Filters