The Titanium Physicists Podcast (general)

Our Guest Today is Ted Leo, of "Ted Leo and the Pharmacists" Fame.
Our experts today are Dr. Danica Marsden and Dr. Stephanie Simmons. 

Our topic is QUANTUM COHERENCE and DECOHERENCE: how a quantum superposition will not stay that way forever. The Environment will start asking it questions until our system loses coherence. 

Direct download: Ep_85_Decoherence_Not_Incoherence.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:27pm PDT

Announcing the return of the A Team!
Jocelyn Read! David Tsang!
joining us today the comedian Charlie Demers!

Episode 76!
This episode is gold.
specifically, it's about neutrons stars MASHING TOGETHER in the depths of space!

Direct download: Ep_76_All_That_Glitters.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:59pm PDT

Like how the same basic stuff can make many different types of star, and planet and cookie, this episode brings a lot of familiar things together in new ways!

Hanalore Gurling-Dunsmore! 
Dr. James Sylvester!

and our guest Zach Weinersmith!
(Zach and his wife Kelly just wrote an amazing book!)

we're going to talk about Supernovas (type 2). How a perfectly ordinary gigantic star can just one day decide to EXPLOOODDE.

today's episode is amazing. It brings together a lot of things we have talked about in other episodes!

Direct download: Ep_75_The_Undeniable_Outward_Push.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:59pm PDT

Biophysicists Dr. Nicole Prent and Dr. Jacqueline Townsend are back. this time we're talking about Electron Spin Resonance, a technique that's like Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, but different.

our guest this time is Diana Goodman, Host of the Thirty Twenty Ten podcast.

Direct download: Ep_74_Jingle_Bell_Sweaters.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:56pm PDT

Today our guest is a person I've wanted to meet for years: The founder of the Skepchick website, Rebecca Watson.

Our physicists are Dr. Katie Mack and Hannalore Gerling-Dunsmore.

TODAY'S TOPIC: Supermassive Black Holes!!

Direct download: Ep_69_Super_Hyper_Fire_Hose_Bucket_Challenge.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:10am PDT

A phonon.. that's not a spelling mistake... is a quantum of vibration.

it's a particle... that lives as a vibration in a crystal. 

and it's bananas!!!

Doctors Fiona Burnell and Darren Peets have joined me to try to explain this all to Megan and Anthony Leon.

Direct download: Ep_67_A_Phonon_Call.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:32am PDT

There are astrophysicists who study life on mars. 
specifically, the prospects of detecting life on mars. 


Zach Weinersmith Joins Catherine Neish and Briony Horgan 
and we talk about LIFE ON MARSSSSS!!!

Direct download: Ep_66_Life_On_Mars.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:40pm PDT

Patrick Mchale makes his triumphant return to the show!

Astrophysicists Catherine Neish and Brian Jackson explain how planets form around stars, and why the planets we see around other stars are so weird.

Direct download: Ep_63_Worldbuilding.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:30am PDT

Hi!
LIGO just announced detecting.
1. gravitational waves
2. colliding black holes 1.3 billion years away.

this is just me talking about my feelings about it. 

Direct download: Ben_Talks_About_Ligo.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:31am PDT

Oh boy it's been a while since we got an episode scheduled, recorded, edited and out the door. but the wait has been worth it because THIS EPISDE IS AMAZING!

Dan Harmon (From Channel 101, The Sarah Silverman Show, Monster House,  COMMUNITY!, Harmontown (the podcast), Harmontown (the documentary about the podcast), and Rick and Morty) joins us!

Physicist Katherine Brown RETURNS! and Ken Clark is flying shotgun!

TODAYS EPISODE TOPIC: QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT.

this is a lovely episode and i am prouder than punch to present it to you.

Direct download: Ep_56_What_In_Tangles_Meant.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:43pm PDT

Dr. Katie Mack and I talk about big bang stuff. 

 

the question is from bob:

"Hello again Ben. I've found and listened to the QB episodes. Thanks for the help with locating them.

Since you seem to have ready access to a cosmologist, I'd like to offer for QB a trio of related cosmological questions that have bugged me for some time.

1. How do we know that all the matter in the universe came from the big bang?

2. How do we know that the big bang did not expand into an existing precursor universe? (It seems plausible to me that this may be the case but we have no way to know because the hyperinflation immediately after the big bang and accelerating expansion due to dark energy will permanently keep us outside of the light cone of any event in this hypothetical precursor universe. I'm not fond of unfalsifiable theories...)"

Direct download: qb6.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:03am PDT

Geoffrey Lovelace and I talk about Interstellar. 

mostly we geek out over the relativity.

we ran out of time before we could make this podcast 3 hours long. 

it was definitely a possibility.

Direct download: QB5.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:00pm PDT

email your questions to tiphyter@titaniumphysics.com

the question today: "Howdy,

 The Higgs boson turned out to be a massive particle from what I

understand.  It is also supposed to be a field through which

everything moves.  So, there must be a lot of them, I reason.  So,

could this be the missing mass of the universe?  Maybe there is some

obvious reason that it is not, but I have not heard the idea mentioned

and it seems obvious to me."

Direct download: QB4.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:39pm PDT

This is the Third episode of "Question Barn"

send your questions to TIPHYTER@TITANIUMPHYSICS.COM

This one has Mike Zemcov

Direct download: QuestionBarn3.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:00am PDT

Domains of Influence with Matt Sheehy and Brent Knopf

Some famous singing clowns once sang a song about magnets. The world looks down on a singing clown's ignorance, but how many of us can actually explain how magnets work? 

the question is rhetorical, though, because the answer is obviously "yes I can do it because i am a physicist and i have clever physicist friends who also know a lot about it." i recruited my old pals Brian Sullivan and Fiona Burnell! 

Our guests today are Matt Sheehy from the band 'Lost Lander' and Brent Knopf from the band 'Ramona Falls'. 

the show is super extra long and we talk about everythinggg! from how magnetic fields are generated, to how magnets work, to how to levitate a frog, to how the sun and earth's magnetic fields work, to how guitar pickups work. it's a good episode.

you should note that a lot of the topics we mention (solar flares, superconductors) have their OWN EPSIODES all about them. 

Direct download: Ep_48_Domains_of_Influence.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:54pm PDT

There was a time when light would not shine in the universe.  There was a time when nothing was shining, and the universe was full of light-absorbing gas. But the first stars came, and pushed back the darkness and made the heavens clear. This is the story of the dark age of the universe.

Physicists Vicky Scowcroft and Mike Zemcov explain everything to THE TOLKEIN PROFESSOR Corey Olsen. 

Direct download: Ep_41_The_Light_Which_Pushes_Back_The_Darkness.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:00pm PDT

Teachers take things from an unrefined state to a point where they are wonderous. Poets are apt at describing both of these. This episode of TiPhy aims to teach genius poet Taylor Mali about where the planets in our solar system came from. Taylor's time with us was a little short, and our conversation broached many topics. listen after the end music to hear some crazy conversations. My physicists are Catherine and Dave!

Direct download: Ep_40_Snowlines_and_No_Rhymes.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:41am PDT

Episode 28: Smoke Like Swirls on the Moon

"Conceiving my heart as gutter broke,

 my sweet love grants me a boon,

and  joy rose up, grey billowing smoke,

smoke like swirls on the moon" 

-no quality poem ever.

So back when i started the show I sent Catherine an email. She's always been one of my most gifted astronomy friends. I said "hey, give me a topic for the show." I expected her to say like "variable stars that wobble because of acoustic waves" or something. she said "lunar swirls". i said "I'll get back to you". 

Anyway.

she persisted. 

i gave in.

and we put together a show about SWIRLS ON THE MOON. 

apparently there are swirls on the moon. and they're AWESOME.

So my experts today are Catherine Neish and Sebastien Besse. and we explain everything to Jordan Harbinger, who hosts the Pickup Podcast.

Life is fun.  

Direct download: Ep_28_Smoke_Like_Swirls_On_The_Moon.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:40pm PDT

This week's guest is Anne Casselman! and Dave and Jocelyn are back. and we're talking about what happens if you fall into a black hole. mostly, we make bear spaghetti. Things are very sad. Listen past the end song to hear a fun discussion of the no hair theorem, and Hawking radiation. WHAT FUN!

Direct download: Ep_25_The_No_Bear_Theorem.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:30pm PDT

Zounds! What Fun!

So when I started the show, everyone was like "HEY BEN! DO A SHOW ON THE HIGGS"

and i was like "No, it's boring and hard to explain and they aren't even going to find it anyway."

then they found it and everyone was like "Hey Ben! Do a show on the higgs!"

and i was like "ugh, I need to do at least four episodes. One on particle decay, one on particel detectors, one on the higgs field, and then maybe a detailed on on how they found it. but that's hard..."

anyway. So. here's a show on the Higgs field. It's how everything gets mass. kind of. we're in tip of the iceberg territory here.

OKAY! SO!

Today's physicists are Tia Miceli, and Matt Buckley.

and our guest today is Greg Proops, The smartest man in the world

Enjoy. 

Direct download: Ep_24_Higgs_In_A_Blanket.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:11pm PDT

well. here is a very stupid riddle: How does a very small mole?

if you answer it, send me an email and i'll send you a prize.

lets talk shop.

1) todays show is about quantum tunneling. it features henry Reich blowing us all out of the water with his high caliber explanations. It also features Justin Pierce of Wonderella fame. you should watch one minute physics videos and read wonderella. skip work today.

2.0) sorry about the sound quality, i'm still fighting a new internet connection. I'm doing my best, and i have honestly spent about 12 hours edting this. 

2.1) at the end of the show is a lot of content that I threw into the appendices. enjoy. 

2) Apple has a new podcast app. go see if you can find us on it? if you can't write us a review or something. I'm still trying to wrangle it currently. I hate it when things change.

3) maybe nominations for this year's podcasting awards are going to open up? maybe we should be nominated for the science category? maybe we don't stand a chance against those skeptics podcasts. maybe lots of things happen. getting on that list sure would make a lot of people notice the show though.

4) KEEP SCIENCE IN YOUR HEARTS!

5) If we get nominated for a podcasting award, i'll try to find a better (cheaper) place that sells t-shirts. then, tshirts for everyone!

Direct download: Ep_23_Quantum_Tunneling.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:24pm PDT

Oh gosh,

we got carried away on the discussions in this one.

the raw recording was about 100 minutes long,

and even after some heavy editing, i couldn't get the "regular show" part under 40 minutes *shame*.

perhaps... your clock is just running faster than mine?

well... it's summer.

anyway! This episode's guest is Michael Mookie Terracciano, author of the webcomic "Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire"

and we're taking the special event of our 20th episode to talk about SPECIAL RELATIVITY. 

Direct download: Ep_20_Time_Dilates_When_Youre_Having_Fun.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:00pm PDT

Hello everybody. 

What causes the northern lights? 

as far as I understand it... northern lights are what happens when polar bears drink cocacola. 

but... maybe I'm just being silly.

Today's guest is Nathan Lowell! Go listen to some of his books on your next car trip. when you arrive, you'll feel pretty good about everything. maybe you'll even want to go back to school. learning is cool. 

man, these things sure sound a lot different in the final cut than they do in their initial raw audiofile.

for one thing, we don't all talk like genius auctioneers. 

maybe you should try listening to this with the *1/2 speed* turned on on your ipod. @_@

Direct download: Ep_19_The_Northern_Lights.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:01pm PDT

Oh My gosh! It's Kelly Link! The awardwinning Author of my favourite short story "Magic for Beginners"!!! You can download some of her stories for free, and even listen to them on the internet

Anyway, we're talking about superfluids today. What's a superfluid? Well. It's what you get when you cool helium down really cold. It has strange properties. Watch some videos on it, if you have time... It might help.

Fiona and Jocelyn are back to help me explain. well. try to explain. 

Direct download: Ep_16_Ti_Phy_Drinking_Superfluid_From_The_Firehose_Of_Knowledge.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:43pm PDT

Today we've got Andrew Johnstone from the Podcast Squared Podcast. I wanted to do him ONE BETTER, and In a cool way, so today we're going to talk about Ice Cube (not the rapper).

ICE CUBE is humankind's largest constructed structure. It's a one-kilometer squared cube neutrino detector buried one mile deep under a glacier in antarctica. 

to help me along with this show, I've brought on my old friends Ken Clark and Laura Gladstone. note: This isn't an episode of the flintstones. if it were, Ken's name would be Slate Clarkrock.

BIG NOTE: this show has a long series of very silly conversations following the bunny song at the end. they are very silly. please don't try riding a bicycle slowly through a crowd of toddlers when listening to the appendix bits. you will probably laugh, lose your ballance and crush a child. 

Direct download: Ep_13_Ti_Phy_That_Which_Lies_Beneath_The_Ice.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 5:45pm PDT

HaHa! 

You all remember how Pluto got kicked to the curb. 

It turns out that Pluto is just one of a large family of worlds: The Dwarf planets of the Kuiper Belt!

I have brought on two fantastic astronomers to aide me: Sean Moran and Laura Hainline.

We explain everything you've ever wanted to know about the Dwarf Planets of the Kuiper Belt:

what's a planet. what's a dwarf. How big are Kuiper's pants? 

We explain everything to Keith Hayward and Max Wellenstein of the Henshin Justice Unlimited Podcast and Website

Listen after the closing bunny song to hear an interesting discussion on whether there's a big giant planet the size of jupiter (planet X) out beyond pluto. 

Direct download: Ep_12_Ti_Phy_Exiled_Worlds_On_The_Outskirts.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:11pm PDT

Episode 10: Neutron Stars

OH HOH HOH! we're on episode 10. double digits! A NEW ORDER OF MAGNITUDE. 

To celebrate, I've invited my old standards Jocelyn Read and David Tsang up from the basement I keep them in to help me explain Neutron Stars to my dear wife Bethany Murray. 

What's a neutron star, you ask? well it's like a star made of neutrons. listen to the show. 

Direct download: Ep_10_Ti_Phy_Neutron_Stars.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:12pm PDT

In episode 9, Its back to the A team (which stands for Apple, which points to "g", cuz their words have weight!) with Jocelyn Read and Dave Tsang! Today We're talking about the Alcubierre Warp Drive. You've probably heard of this before, but not in this detail. Oh, we definitely brought our Bee game to this episode!

  To help keep us in line and on time, we’ve invited Zach Weinersmith from  Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and our sister podcast: The Weekly Weinersmith. It's lively and fun, so Sit Down in your seat, turn up the podcast, pay attention, and bee hive yourself.

Note: There’s some Extra bits after the end music. Two extra bits actually. There was a third very long conversation about bees, but It didn't make the cut. 

Direct download: Ep_9_Ti_Phy_Warp_Bubble_Bobble.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 9:55pm PDT

Episode 8: The Sea of Dirac

Jocelyn is back, and this time it's with our good pal Fiona Burnell! Today we get to talk to Ryan Haupt of Science Sort Of  fame. The Topic of today's show is The Dirac Sea! You know how when you cookie-cutter out a cookie from some rolled out dough, there's a hole left behind the size and shape of the cookie? particles are like that too. and the cookie dough is called the Dirac sea: named after Dirac, the great lover of cookies. Listen past the end credits for a bit where I try to explain the dirac sea using bees, and jocelyn sings a song about the everlovin' Hulk! HULK! HULK!

Direct download: Ep_8_Ti_Phy_The_Sea_of_Dirac.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 8:56pm PDT

It's my old Friends Rupinder Brar and Joanna Woo! Today we get to talk to Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics fame. We try to explain how planets around other stars get detected.  Also Star Trek gets mentioned. There's some edited-out conversation after the end music, for those of you who like to hear people talk even more about star trek. May The Force Live Long And Prosper With YOU!!!

Direct download: Ep_7_Ti_Phy_Extra_Solar_Planets.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:28pm PDT

Episode 6: Gravitational Waves

Dave and Jocelyn are back, and we talk to Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer (from the HP Lovecraft literary Podcast) about Gravitational waves. Long story short, Physicists are on the verge of being able to listen to the music of the spheres... those horrible monstrous spheres which have been devouring planets and stars for untold aeons. Who knows what we will hear? 

Direct download: Ep_6_Ti_Phy_Gravitational_Waves.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:15pm PDT

Episode 5: The Dunes of Titan

In This Episode, charlie Barnhart, Catherine Neish and I talk to Ryan North about the similarities between Titan, Earth and Mars. This show has a bit of bonus conversation after the closing music

Direct download: Ep_5_Ti_Phy_Dunes_of_Titan.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:10pm PDT

Dave, Jocelyn and I sit down with dr mcninja creator Christopher Hastings. We teach him about time travel. 

Direct download: Ep_3_Ti_Phy_Time_Travel.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 7:38pm PDT

We explain black hole detection to Kelly Weinersmith.

Direct download: Ep_2_Ti_Phy_Black_Holes.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 6:48pm PDT

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