152: I/O and Astrophysics

Newly-minted New York Times and former Lifehacker editor Alan Henry joins us to figure out what everything in the universe is, from a scientific perspective. It's time for some crazy theoretical physics!

Warning: this may be a somewhat challenging episode compared to what we usually do, and we might throw around some terms and ideas that we won't have time to dive into deeply. We're going to attempt to make this conversation as accessible to everyone as possible, so you can follow along just fine even if theoretical (astro)physics isn't your thing, but be sure to look at the links in the show notes for a bunch of educational resources that can help you learn more about the topics discussed—if you're interested, of course. We focused on providing resources that won't take too long to get read or watch. :)

Newly-minted New York Times and former Lifehacker editor Alan Henry joins us to figure out what everything in the universe is, from a scientific perspective. It's time for some crazy theoretical physics!

Warning: this may be a somewhat challenging episode compared to what we usually do, and we might throw around some terms and ideas that we won't have time to dive into deeply. We're going to attempt to make this conversation as accessible to everyone as possible, so you can follow along just fine even if theoretical (astro)physics isn't your thing, but be sure to look at the links in the show notes for a bunch of educational resources that can help you learn more about the topics discussed—if you're interested, of course. We focused on providing resources that won't take too long to get read or watch. :)

Links for this episode:

Ever
"Ever is a company dedicated to helping you capture and rediscover your life's memories." (It's free cloud photo storage.)
Life Is Strange
Life Is Strange is an episodic graphic adventure video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix. It is available for Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One, and consists of five episodes released periodically throughout 2015.
Plant Nanny
"Plant Nanny combines health with fun to remind you to drink water regularly.
The cute plant keeps you company every day by living in your phone." (Alan's recommendation.)
Double-slit experiment
The modern double-slit experiment is a demonstration that light and matter can display characteristics of both classically defined waves and particles; moreover, it displays the fundamentally probabilistic nature of quantum mechanical phenomena. A simpler form of the double-slit experiment was performed originally by Thomas Young in 1801 (well before quantum mechanics). He believed it demonstrated that the wave theory of light was correct, and his experiment is sometimes referred to as Young's experiment[1] or Young's slits. The experiment belongs to a general class of "double path" experiments, in which a wave is split into two separate waves that later combine into a single wave. Changes in the path lengths of both waves result in a phase shift, creating an interference pattern. Another version is the Mach–Zehnder interferometer, which splits the beam with a mirror.
Einstein's Theory Of Relativity Made Easy
The theory of relativity, or simply relativity, encompasses two theories of Albert Einstein: special relativity and general relativity. However, the word "relativity" is sometimes used in reference to Galilean invariance.
The Real Meaning of E=mc²
You’ve probably known OF E=mc² since you were born, and were also probably told that it meant that it proved Mass equaled Energy, or something along those lines. BUT WAIT. Was E=mc² explained to you properly? Mass equalling energy is mostly true, but E=mc² actually describes a much more interesting, and frankly mind-blowing aspect of reality that likely wasn’t covered in your high school physics class. Join Gabe on this week’s episode of PBS Space Time he discusses THE TRUE MEANING OF E=mc²
Special Relativity/Faster than light signals, causality and Special Relativity
It is popularly imagined that Special Relativity forbids travel faster than the speed of light or the propagation of signals faster than the speed of light. However, the actual theory does not contain this assumption. The original theory, framed by Einstein in 1905, states that the speed of light in free space is constant in all inertial frames of reference so how did people in general come to believe that this implies a speed limit? The idea of a speed limit comes from two predictions of the theory, that inertia increases towards infinite as velocity approaches light speed and that causality, the succession of cause and effect, is violated if we could signal at speeds above the speed of light.
Causality (physics)
Causality is the relationship between causes and effects.[1][2] It is considered to be fundamental to all natural science, especially physics. Causality is also a topic studied from the perspectives of philosophy and statistics. Causality means that an effect cannot occur from a cause which is not in the back (past) light cone of that event. Similarly, a cause cannot have an effect outside its front (future) light cone.
Elementary Einstein
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Albert Einstein revolutionized the way scientists think about space and time. "Elementary Einstein" takes you on a tour of his surprising ideas and their coolest applications.
Are Space and Time An Illusion?
SPACE, TIME, AND THE NATURE OF REALITY. This episode of Space Time is actually about Spacetime, so pull up a chair, grab your favorite snack, and buckle up, because this episode is going to be a TRIP. Gabe explores what reality is, what "time" is, and why what you think those things are is probably WRONG. Seriously, get ready to have your MIND BLOWN!
The Higgs Mechanism Explained
What is the Higgs field and why is it a fundamental part of our universe?
The Speed of Light is NOT About Light
The speed of light is often cited as the fastest anything can travel in our universe. While this might be true, the speed of light is the EFFECT and not the CAUSE of this phenomenon. So what's the cause? On this week's episode of Space Time, Matt helps explain what the speed of light REALLY is and why it’s the cosmic speed limit of our universe!
The Best and Worst of Google I/O 2017 (So Far...)
"Another Google I/O keynote has happened and, again, we have mixed feelings about what we saw. Apparently, the search giant is shifting from being mobile-first to being AI-first. What does that mean? Who the hell knows."