PBS Space Time

Science and Nature Series / 10 Seasons

PBS Space Time explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and anything else you can think of beyond Planet Earth. Host Matt O'Dowd breaks down both the basic and incredibly complex sides of space and time.

5m 57s

Solving the Three Body Problem

S6 E1 / 13m 35s

The three body problem is famous for being impossible to solve. But actually it's been solved many times, and in ingenious ways. Some of those solutions are incredibly useful, and some are incredibly bizarre.

Are Axions Dark Matter?

S6 E4 / 12m 9s

What does the strong nuclear force, the fundamental symmetries of nature, and a laundry detergent have in common? They’re all important parts of the tale of the axion - a tale whose end may take us beyond the standard model and solve one of the most vexing mysteries in astrophysics.

Does Consciousness Influence Quantum Mechanics?

S6 E5 / 13m 17s

It’s not surprising that the profound weirdness of the quantum world has inspired some outlandish explanations. One particularly pervasive notion is the idea that consciousness can directly influence quantum systems - and so influence reality. Today we’re going to see where this idea comes from, and whether quantum theory really supports it.

How Decoherence Splits The Quantum Multiverse

S6 E6 / 15m 9s

Why is it that we can see these multiple histories play out on the quantum scale, and why do lose sight of them on our macroscopic scale? Many physicists believe that the answer lies in a process known as quantum decoherence.

Does Quantum Immortality Save Schrödinger's Cat?

S6 E7 / 11m 31s

To quote eminent scientist Tyler Durden: "On a long enough timeline, the survival rate for everyone drops to zero." Actually… not necessarily true. If the quantum multiverse is real there may be a version of you that lives forever.

How Do Quantum States Manifest In The Classical World?

S6 E8 / 14m 42s

This episode of space time is brought to you by the information flowing through an impossibly complex network of quantum entanglement, that just happens to mutually agree that you and I exist inside it. Oh, and Schrodinger’s cat is in here too.

How Black Holes Spin Space Time

S6 E9 / 12m 49s

If there’s one thing cooler than a black hole it’s a rotating black hole. Why? Because we can use them as futuristic power generators, galactic-scale bombs, and portals to other universes.

What’s On The Other Side Of A Black Hole?

S6 E10 / 11m 54s

Normal maps are useless inside black holes. At the event horizon - the ultimate point of no return as you approach a black hole - time and space themselves change their character. We need new coordinate systems to trace paths into the black hole interior. But the maps we draw using those coordinates reveal something unexpected - they don’t simply end inside the black hole, but continue beyond.

How We Know The Earth Is Ancient

S6 E11 / 13m 38s

In astronomy we talk about billions of years like it’s no big deal. But how can we be sure about timescales so far beyond the capacity for human intuition? Our discovery of what we now call deep time is very recent - as recent as our discovery of the true spatial vastness of our universe. And it came as scientists tried to measure the age of the Earth. What they found was shocking and humbling.

Was the Milky Way a Quasar?

S6 E12 / 13m 31s

The Milky Way galaxy is relatively calm by the destructive standards of the rest of the Universe, and compared to its own very violent past. But just recently we discovered that its violent past was much more recent than we thought - and could even happen again.

Will Wormholes Allow Fast Interstellar Travel?

S6 E13 / 14m 31s

From Stargate to Interstellar, wormholes are our favorite method for traveling across fictional universes. But they are also a very serious field of study for some of our greatest minds over the last century. So what’s the holdup? When do we get to wormhole ourselves out of here?

How We Know The Universe is Ancient

S6 E14 / 14m 1s

The universe is precisely 13.8 billion year old - or so our best scientific methods tell us. But how do you learn the age of the universe when there’s no trace left of its beginnings?

How Luminiferous Aether Led to Relativity

S6 E15 / 13m 52s

As the 19th century came to a close, physicists were feeling pretty satisfied with the state of their science. The great edifice of physical theory seemed complete. A few minor experiments remained to verify everything. Little did those physicists know that one of those experiments would bring the entire structure crashing down paving the way for the physics revolution of the 20th century.

Mapping the Multiverse

S6 E16 / 14m 21s

This is a map of the multiverse. Or in physics-ese, it’s the maximally extended Penrose diagram of a Kerr spacetime. And in english: when you solve Einstein’s equations of general relativity for a rotating black hole, the universe does not come to an abrupt halt at the bottom of the gravitational pit. Instead, a path can be traced out again but you don't end up in the universe that you started in.

Does Gravity Require Extra Dimensions?

S6 E17 / 12m 41s

It’s been 120 years since Henry Cavendish measured the gravitational constant with a pair of lead balls suspended by a wire. The fundamental nature of gravity still eludes our best minds - but those secrets may be revealed by turning back to the Cavendish experiment. That steampunk contraption may even reveal the existence of extra dimensions of space.

Can Viruses Travel Between Planets?

S6 E18 / 13m 58s

In the midst of a pandemic, we sure are thinking about viruses a lot. That’s right, even astrophysicists are pondering these bizarre little critters. In fact, astrovirology, although very new, is actually an emerging subfield of astrobiology. And that’s because it turns out viruses don’t just influence organisms - they’re incredibly important on a planetary scale. Perhaps an interplanetary scale.

Building Black Holes in a Lab

S6 E20 / 13m 12s

Black holes are about the worst subjects for direct study in the universe and studying the physics of real black holes is much, much harder. But it turns out we don’t need to make them instead we can study analog black holes called analogies. Physical systems that aren’t black holes but that behave in similar ways may reveal the real behaviors of real black holes.

Supported by