What is causal determinism? What are some of the ways that physics can permit free will? What does emergence have to do with all of this? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spacema...
What do extra dimensions have to do with the strength of gravity? What is a tower of gravitons? How can we detect extra dimensions even if we can't perceive them? I discuss these questions and more...
What happens to a white dwarf when it cools off? How long does it take? Do they just stay black forever, or will something more interesting happen to them someday? I discuss these questions and mor...
How did we discover the weak nuclear force? Why is it so strange compared to the other forces? What do mirrors have to do with all of this? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Space...
Is the universe infinite? What about the cosmological horizons, the limits to what we can see? Will we ever know for sure what's beyond them? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spa...
Why did we develop the International Space Station in the first place? What have we learned in its 25+ years of operation? When is it coming down, and why? And what's coming up next? I discuss thes...
How do particle colliders work? What kinds of energies are we talking about? Are there any uses for colliders except for physics experiments? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spa...
What are some sources of gravitational waves that aren't black holes? How did inflation create gravitational waves? How can we possibly detect them? I discuss these questions and more in today's As...
How do we measure the sizes of stars? What are the biggest ones today, and how big could stars have gotten in the past? Is there any way for a star to cheat and get even bigger? I discuss these que...
What powers Cepheid variable stars? What about Mira variables and pulsating stars? And are there variable stars that don't actually vary at all? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a ...
What would the Sun sound like if we could hear it? Does any noise at all happen in the universe? What's the biggest sound of all? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Suppo...
Why does the vacuum of spacetime have energy? How much energy does it have? What prevents us from using it to do anything useful? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Suppo...
How do we actually define voids? Are there regions within them that are truly empty? What would it be like to be inside one? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support th...
Part 2 of 2! What are the modern constants of nature? Is the universe fine-tuned for life? Does the multiverse or string theory explain the origins of the constants? I discuss these questions and m...
Part 1 of 2! How do fundamental constants appear in physics? Why are they so important? Why do we care where they come from? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support th...
What's inside a neutron star? What strange states of matter do we encounter? And what mysteries will we find deep in the core? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support ...
How do we explain the giant black holes appearing in the young universe? Is it possible to directly collapse a black hole, skipping the formation of stars? What does ultraviolet radiation have to d...
How do you measure the impact of a scientist? Does Stephen Hawking compare to Newton or Einstein? What were his contributions to black holes, the big bang, and quantum gravity? I discuss these ques...
Why is the moon so special? Why do we think a giant impact created it? Why didn't the same thing happen to other planets? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the s...
What is 21-cm radiation? What (and who) produces it? What causes it, and what does it tell us about the universe? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman! Support the show:&nbs...
