Quantum mechanics is the most important idea in physics, and physicists themselves readily admit that they don’t understand it. Genetics is another commonly misconceived area of science with the rise of new biomedical technologies and the popularity of at-home DNA testing kits. Fortunately for ALOUD audiences, we welcome two of the most celebrated science writers to help make sense of how we live in the world—through space and time, and what we pass along from generation to generation. Carl Zimmer is a celebrated New York Times columnist and science writer whose most recent book, She Has Her Mother’s Laugh: The Powers, Perversions, and Potential of Heredity weaves historical and current scientific research to present a new definition of what heredity is and how it is much bigger than simply genes we inherit from our ancestors. Joining Zimmer is Sean Carroll, a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology, host of the Mindscape podcast, and bestselling author of The Big Picture. Carroll shares from his new book, Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime, where he demystifies the paradoxes of quantum mechanics. This illuminating, wide-reaching conversation will take us from the single cells that comprise our own bodies to the wonders of the cosmos.

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“What did the council decide on item 42?” — answered with the speaker and the moment.

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