Quantum Vortices and Superconductivity + Challenge Answers
Scientists studying quantum vortices and their impact on superconductivity just won the Nobel Prize.
What Happens at the Event Horizon?
What really happens when you approach the event horizon of a black hole?
Did Dark Energy Just Disappear?
Why are we talking about dark energy again? Because another team has just announced a new analysis of updated supernova data. They claim that the data are consistent with there being NO dark energy – no accelerating expansion. They suggest that the universe may just be expanding at a constant rate – never speeding up, but also not slowing down.
Strange Stars
Neutron stars are made of a substance known as Neutronium. It was thought that this was the densest form of matter possible but some theoretical physicists believe that at the core of some neutron stars the Neutronium breaks down even further, into quark matter. It may even evolve one step further into “strange matter", the densest and most stable substance in the universe.
Pilot Wave Theory and Quantum Realism
There are some pretty out-there explanations for the processes at work behind the incredibly successful mathematics of quantum mechanics - things are both waves and particles at the same time, the act of observation defines reality, cats are alive and dead, or even: the universe is constantly splitting into infinite alternate realities.
Escape The Kugelblitz Challenge
In the last episode Matt discussed how the Penrose Diagram enabled you to map how black holes affect Space Time. In this episode you can use that knowledge to stop an all-too-real threat to our planet. Aliens are trying to destroy the Earth by creating a Kugelblitz under our feet. Will you use a Dyson Sphere to stop them or a satellite based deflector array? Choose wisely and save humanity.
How to See Black Holes + Kugelblitz Challenge Answer
Quasars, X-ray Binaries and Supermassive voids at the center of our galaxies … black holes take many forms. In this episode Matt tells us what these different types of black holes are and how scientists are using VLBI, Very Long Baseline Interferometry, to map the different black holes throughout the known universe.
The Phantom Singularity
Isaac Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation tells us that there is a singularity to be found within a black hole, but scientists and mathematicians have found a number of issues with Newton’s equations. They don’t always accurately represent reality. Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity is a more complete theory of gravity.
Why Quasars are so Awesome
When Quasars were first discovered the amount of light pouring out of such a tiny dot in space seemed impossible. A hysterical flurry of hypothesizing followed: swarms of neutron stars, alien civilizations harnessing their entire galaxy’s power, bright, fast-moving objects being ejected by our own galaxy’s core.
The Geometry of Causality
Using geometry we can not only understand, but visualize how causality dictates the order of events in our universe.
Telescopes of Tomorrow
The telescopes of tomorrow will see in infrared and ultraviolet. They will peer through space and scan across time. They will allow us to find new supernovae, spot potentially hazardous asteroids, better understand dark energy and peer into the earliest moments of space time.
The Eye of Sauron Reveals a Forming Solar System!
Fomalhaut is a massive young star surrounded by a ring of dust debris that can tell us a great deal about the formation of our own solar system.
The Treasures of Trappist-1
Last week, seven earth-like planets were discovered orbiting a Red Dwarf star 39 light years away. Each one could be capable of supporting life.
The Race to a Habitable Exoplanet - Time Warp Challenge
You’ve discovered a habitable exoplanet, but so has an an evil interplanetary mining corporation. Can you get to the planet before they strip it bare and leave it unsuitable for life? You’re going to need a ship, the Lorentz Transformation and the Wait Equation. Hang on, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.
Time Crystals!
In this episode of the Space Time Journal Club Matt discusses how two independent research teams created their own Time Crystals, a form of matter that breaks time translational symmetry and could be used in quantum computers.
Superluminal Time Travel + Time Warp Challenge Answer
By choosing the right path and the right reference frames, any superluminal motion can lead to information or objects returning to their origin before they depart.
How Time Becomes Space Inside a Black Hole
Find out how time and space switch roles when we move beyond the event horizon of the black hole.
Telescopes on the Moon
Find out about China’s current telescope on the moon and what the future plans are for mounting larger telescopes on the lunar surface.
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