Daniel and Jorge Explain the Universe
Episodes
What's the matter with matter in the Universe?
02 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge dig into the history of matter, dark matter and dark energy, explaining how they used to have very different ratios.See omnystudio.co...
Listener Questions 44: Deep questions from listeners like you!
31 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge wrestle with the Earth's tilt, steampunk atoms and fundamental pixels of rad.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See ...
Which force(s) power the human senses?
26 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Katie talk about how we experience the Universe and what physics underlies our senses.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.S...
Could we see moons around exoplanets?
24 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge are over the moon about the possibility of spotting alien moons.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.co...
Could we seed exoplanets with life?
19 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Kelly wrangle with the tricky science and ethics of sending microbes to distant worlds.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Do Black Holes Have Hair?
17 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge wrestle with the hairy question of what's happening inside and on the surface of black holes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...
Was the interstellar visitor oumuamua natural or artificial?
12 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the claims that 'Oumuamua might have been alien space junk.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystu...
Could dark matter be making flashes of light?
10 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge break down a new study that looks for dark matter using both gravity and light.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Se...
Where is all the missing matter?
05 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the effort to track down all the quarks in the Universe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio...
How does gravity escape a black hole?
03 Oct 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Katie warp their minds around the question of what gravitational information really is and what we know about a black hole.See omnystudio.c...
Listener Questions 43: Light, heat and vision
28 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge answer questions from listeners like you! Send in your questions to [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for priva...
Great, Big Questions about the Universe
26 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge answer questions from young people about the Universe, to mark Jorge's new book!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.S...
How important is cosmic dust?
21 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge dust off their knowledge of the tiny-but-mighty grains of space dust which help form our world and block our view of the cosmos.See o...
Explain the Universe: Behind the Scenes
19 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
To mark the 500th episode, Daniel gives a tour of the podcast's history and production process, including candid interviews with the co-hosts, Sean Ca...
How big is the smallest habitable planet?
14 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Kelly talk about what it would take to live away from Earth, and whether a small planet could host humanity.See omnystudio.com/listener for...
Why do moving objects look shorter?
12 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge wrestle with the weird consequences and hard questions of special relativity!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See ...
How do we measure the Higgs boson mass?
07 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about why the Higgs mass is such an important number and how physicists weigh such a fleeting particle.See omnystudio.com/listen...
Listener Questions 42: Life, the Universe and Ghosts!
05 Sep 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge answer questions from listeners like you! Send your questions to [email protected] omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...
Why do scientists do simulations?
31 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge explain how simulation lets scientists answer new kinds of questions about the Universe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...
Have we seen more or fewer gravitational waves than expected?
29 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Katie talk about what physicists expected when they turned on a new kind of ear for listening to the Universe.See omnystudio.com/listener f...
Why is space so flat?
24 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about what it means for space to be curved, how we measure it and why the answer is a puzzle.See omnystudio.com/listener for pri...
The Science Fiction Universe of "Meru" by SB Divya
22 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Kelly talk to the author of "Meru" about a future which blurs the line between humans and machines.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...
What is the maximum vacuum?
17 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about what is revealed if you empty space of all possible particles.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omny...
The Science Fiction Universe of "Orbital Cloud"
15 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Kelly talk to Tayio Fujii, author of "Orbital Cloud" See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for p...
What does the center of the galaxy look like?
10 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge turn their eyes to the center of the galactic action and give us a sense for where we are.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...
How fast can a black hole spin?
08 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Katie get their heads spinning as they spiral into the center of spinning black holesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Se...
How can we look for magnetic monopoles?
03 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about a particle with a pure magnetic charge and how to look for it using a cubic kilometer of ice.See omnystudio.com/listener f...
How massive is a neutrino?
01 Aug 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the mysterious mass of the neutrino and how we can measure it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omny...
How can we keep solar panels clean on Mars?
27 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Kelly talk about how to keep solar panels bright and powerful when they far away on a dusty planet.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...
What is a non-Newtonian fluid?
25 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the gooey physics of honey, gravity, asphalt and ketchup!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudi...
Listener Questions 41: Questions about the mass of the Universe, moons made of gas, and backyard blackholes.
20 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge answer questions from listeners like you!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy ...
What everyone misunderstands about the Universe
18 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel talks to Zach Weinersmith about the most common misconceptions about our Universe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnys...
How stable is the Earth's orbit?
13 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about whether we can expect the Earth to continue in its path forever, or if our days are numbered.See omnystudio.com/listener f...
Do things get more massive the faster they move?
11 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about what happens when you start to move fast, and whether it makes sense to think about your mass growing.See omnystudio.com/l...
How do planets get their moons?
06 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about how a planets gets its natural satellites and the stories that each one reveals.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...
Do all galaxies have central black holes?
04 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about whether galaxies have to have black holes at their hearts.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystud...
How to use the whole galaxy to hear huge gravitational waves
29 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge break down the recent discovery of huge gravitational waves by NANOGrav, and what it means about supermassive black holes.See omnystu...
What drives the movement of Earth’s continents?
27 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge explore the deep, violent history of the Earth's surface.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/liste...
What happens if you explode a nuclear bomb in space?
22 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Katie touch on the explosive question of nuclear weapons and explain the impact of space-based explosions.See omnystudio.com/listener for p...
Listener Questions 40: Ways our Universe could end us
20 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge answer questions from listeners about the dangers of our Universe and whether engineers could save us. See omnystudio.com/listener f...
Could there be more than one theory of everything?
15 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel talks to philosopher Thomas Barrett about whether there could be multiple effective descriptions of our Universe See omnystudio.com/listener f...
Why are some things transparent?
13 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge try to see through the mysteries of transparency.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for ...
What is a superluminous supernova?
08 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the super names for some of the most incredible events in astronomy.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Se...
What color is the Sun?
06 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Katie talk about the amazing physics, chemistry and biology that determines how we see the Sun.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...
Why does the Universe have antiparticles?
01 Jun 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about whether the Universe would make sense without antimatter.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudi...
Could we reveal quantum gravity in a tabletop experiment?
30 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about how clever experiments might provide a breakthrough in the effort to understand the quantum nature of space-time.See omnys...
What is tidal locking?
25 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Kelly talk about how the gravitational dance of the Earth and Moon, and other objects in and out of our Solar System.See omnystudio.com/lis...
What's the best way to measure the expansion of the Universe?
23 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about how to use different cosmic rulers to measure the expansion of the Universe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...
Listener Questions 39: gravitons, antimatter and unified forces!
18 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge answer questions from listeners like you! Submit your question to [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...
Will our supercluster be torn apart?
16 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the deep future fate of our cosmic neighborhood.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/lis...
Do black holes have a maximum electric charge?
11 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge explore whether its possible to crack open a black hole by overcharging it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See om...
What did the night sky look like to the dinosaurs?
09 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Kelly talk about what the night sky would look like if you travelled back to the time of the dinosaurs.See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...
Could spacetime be a fluid?
04 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge explore the question of the nature of space itself, and whether it might flow and bubble. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy in...
Could black holes help form stars?
02 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the delicate process of star formation and how black holes may be able to contribute.See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...
What weird thing in space is pulsing every 20 minutes?
27 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Katie talk about things in the sky that pulse, and a recent discovery of a puzzling set of pulses.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...
What is a glueball?
25 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge explore the sticky subject of the strong force and one of its still unverified predictionsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inf...
How do we measure the gravitational constant?
20 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the number that controls the strength of gravity and why it's so hard to measure.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...
Listener Questions about rogue planets and black holes!
18 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge answer questions from listeners like you! Send your questions to [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...
Why can't two electrons be in the same place?
13 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge explore the Pauli exclusion principle: why some particles avoid each other and how it affects the nature of our Universe.See omnystud...
What can we learn from dwarf galaxies?
11 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about how the smaller galaxies might hold the secrets to understanding the structure of the Universe and the truth about dark ma...
Why didn't we evolve around a red dwarf star?
06 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge discuss the 'Red Dwarf Paradox' and what it would be like to live under a cooler, redder star.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy...
How does carbon dating work?
04 Apr 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Kelly talk about how cosmic rays and carbon decay let us put dates on ancient deaths!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.Se...
Is there a better way to accelerate particles?
30 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about why its so expensive to build a super collider and how plasma technology might make it all better, faster, cheaper. See o...
What does the Antikythera Mechanism do?
28 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Katie explore the puzzle of the "world's first computer", and what it might have calculated.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...
Listener Questions 37: quantum cats, heat death and dark multiverses!
23 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge answer questions about quantum mechanics, the end of the Universe, and the multiverse. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy infor...
Would the Universe be different with a zero Higgs field?
21 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge explore how the Higgs field shapes our Universe and what it would be like to live without it. See omnystudio.com/listener for priva...
Could we spot an alien nuclear blast?
16 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about whether we have the technology to spot a nuclear war on other planets. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informati...
Could some particles have tiny electric charges?
14 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge wonder about why particles have charge, and whether particles could exist with tiny electrical charge.See omnystudio.com/listener for...
How can we measure the curvature of space?
09 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge bend their minds (and yours) around the curvy topic of bent space.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio....
How do space telescopes point themselves?
07 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about how our great space eyeballs know where they are looking and how they turn.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy informa...
Listener Questions 36
02 Mar 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about 3-armed galaxies, the color of the Universe and its phases. https://tinyurl.com/3cf7hvu3See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...
Could black holes be making the Universe expand faster?
28 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge discuss a brand new result that suggests that black holes might be driving the unexplained expansion of the UniverseSee omnystudio.co...
Do gravitational waves leave a mark on the Universe?
23 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about whether gravitational waves cause permanent distortions of space.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See o...
Can the Parker solar probe shed light on the Sun?
21 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the daring and dangerous mission of the Parker Solar Probe and what it might reveal about the Sun.See omnystudio.com/liste...
What's the problem with the Standard Model?
16 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the holes in the current theory of the Universe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/lis...
The Science Fiction Universe of "A Half Built Garden" by Ruthanna Emrys
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Kelly talk about a novel where aliens give humans advice about climate change. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omn...
355 Days in Space: Finding Meaning with Astronaut Mark Vande Hei
14 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
After a historic 355 days in orbit, NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei returned to Earth on March 30, 2022, breaking the record for the longest single spac...
What's the real speed limit of the Universe?
09 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about how close photons and protons can get to the speed of light, and what's stopping them!See omnystudio.com/listener for priv...
Listener Questions 35: Exomoons, black holes and math!
07 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge answer questions from listeners like you! Write to us at [email protected] See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy inform...
Does gravity make rainbows?
02 Feb 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about a speculative theory called "rainbow gravity" which might help us understand the origins of the Universe.See omnystudio.co...
Why can't stars fuse Iron?
31 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about how stars fuse lighter elements and what changes when they reach Iron.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Does particle spin affect life on Earth?
26 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about how the Universe's preference for left-handed particles may have shaped our chemistry. See omnystudio.com/listener for p...
What's going on with Przybylski's Star?
24 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about how to explain one of the weirdest stars in the Universe.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudi...
The Science of "For All Mankind"
19 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the science of the alt-history science fiction show "For All Mankind".See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Does anti-matter feel anti-gravity?
17 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about whether anti-matter falls down, or up!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/listener for ...
Did NASA accidentally invent a warp drive?
12 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge dissect research articles claiming sudden progress in warp technologySee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystud...
Could a grand unified theory of physics be impossible?
10 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel talks with Dr. Katie Robertson about whether there even is a single unified theory of physics for us to discover.See omnystudio.com/listener fo...
Listener Questions about light and black holes
05 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge absorb listener questions, reflect on the answers and emit some silly jokesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See om...
How powerful could a civilization get?
03 Jan 2023
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge discuss the Kardashev Scale, Kardashians, Cryptocurrencies and crpytozoology.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See ...
What is quantized inertia?
29 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge explore the mystery of inertia and whether a controversial theory can explain it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information....
Was the Higgs boson discovery a triumph or disappointment?
27 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge debate whether the Higgs boson discovery marks the end of collider physics.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See om...
The science of time travel television
22 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about the science of "Umbrella Academy", "Time Traveler's Wife" and "Dark".See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.S...
What is the Big Rip?
20 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about what would happen if dark energy increased and tore the Universe apart.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information...
Could dark matter be a superfluid?
15 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about whether a new idea for dark matter might overcome some discrepancies in galaxy behavior.See omnystudio.com/listener for pr...
Could black holes actually be fuzzballs?
13 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about whether the dark massive objects we've observed could be something stringier and stranger than black holes. See omnystud...
Is there a pattern to asteroid impacts on Earth?
08 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Katie talk about whether a future impact is predictable or random. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio.com/...
What is a black hole eclipse?
06 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge talk about whether black holes can be blocked or can block other objects.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omny...
What is the densest planet?
01 Dec 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge wonder about which planets would float if you dunked them in a cosmic tub.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omn...
Does the Moon have an atmosphere?
29 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Kelly talk about what you might breathe if you opened your space-helmet on the surface of the Moon. See omnystudio.com/listener for privac...
How do we know quantum mechanics is really random?
24 Nov 2022
Contributed by Lukas
Daniel and Jorge wrestle with Bell's experiment and the philosophical consequences.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.See omnystudio....