Matthew O’Dowd
Self - Host
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Series SeasonSeason 2017 episodes2017
PBS Space Time
Season 2017
No season overview available.
Episodes
Each episode has its own detail page.
Episode 112 min2017-01-04
How to See Black Holes + Kugelblitz Challenge Answer
Find out how scientists are mapping the black holes throughout the Milky Way and beyond as well as the answer to the Escape the Kugelblitz Challenge Question. Were you able to save humanity?
Episode 215 min2017-01-17
The EM Drive: Fact or Fantasy?
Because you demanded it … we break down the EM Drive!
Episode 319 min2017-01-19
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. So does using the General Theory of Relativity eliminate the singularity? No. Not only does it concur with Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation but it also reveals a second singularity, not at the center of the black hole but at the event horizon.
Episode 412 min2017-01-25
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. But by the 1980’s we were converging on the most awesome explanation. It goes a little like this: Take a black hole of millions to billions times the mass of the sun. Where from? It turns out every decent-sized galaxy has one at its core. Now drive gas into the galactic core. One way this can happen is when galaxies merge and grow. That gas descends into the waiting black hole’s gravitational well and gains incredible speed on the way. It is swept up in a raging whirlpool around the black hole that we call an accretion disk, where its energy of motion is turned into heat. The heat-glow of the accretion disk is so bright that we can see quasars to the ends of the universe.
Episode 517 min2017-02-02
The Geometry of Causality
In this episode we dive deeper into the relationship between space and time and explore how we can geometrically map the causality of the universe and increase our understanding of how time and distance relate to one another.
Episode 614 min2017-02-15
Telescopes of Tomorrow
No episode overview available.
Episode 711 min2017-02-22
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.
Episode 813 min2017-03-01
The Treasures of Trappist-1
Can humanity survive on one of the seven earth-like Trappist-1 planets? 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.
Episode 96 min2017-03-08
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.
Episode 1013 min2017-03-15
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.
Episode 1112 min2017-03-22
Superluminal Time Travel + Time Warp Challenge Answer
Find out how traveling faster than light and traveling back in time are the same thing.
Episode 1216 min2017-03-29
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.
Episode 1314 min2017-04-05
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.
Episode 1413 min2017-04-19
The Oh My God Particle
In 1991 a single atomic nucleus slammed into our atmosphere with the intensity of a macroscopic object. It’s been named The Oh My God Particle.
Episode 1512 min2017-04-26
Are You a Boltzmann Brain?
Was an incredible drop in entropy responsible for the Big Bang? If that’s the case, this would lead us to conclude that a great many other things are possible, including the likelihood that you are a Boltzmann Brain.
Episode 1617 min2017-05-03
Are We Living in an Ancestor Simulation?
Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with Matt to discuss Ancestor Simulations. And check out Matt and Neil discussing how sure we are about our map of the universe
Episode 1712 min2017-05-10
The Great American Eclipse
The first total solar eclipse in over 40 years is about to hit the United States.
Episode 1815 min2017-05-17
Martian Evolution
What will become of humanity after spend a few hundred years on Mars? What will happen after a few thousand? Evolution has, and still is, shaping humanity in rather drastic ways. How long will humans stop being human and become Martian?
Episode 1914 min2017-05-31
The Fate of the First Stars
Soon after the Big Bang, the first generation of monstrously large stars ignited, lit up the universe, and then died. The resulting swarms of supernova explosions enriched the universe with the first heavy elements and LOTs of black holes. They shaped everything that came after. These were the stars of Population III, and they are one of the most enduring mysteries in astrophysics.
Episode 2014 min2017-06-07
Supervoids vs Colliding Universes!
If you study a map of the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB, you may notice a large, deep blue splotch on the lower right. This area, creatively named the Cold Spot. Is this feature a statistical fluke, the signature of vast supervoids, or even the imprint of another universe?
Episode 2117 min2017-06-21
Anti-Matter and Quantum Relativity
Paul Dirac’s insights into the nature of Quantum Mechanics laid the foundation for Quantum Field Theory and predicted the existence of anti-matter.
Episode 2216 min2017-06-28
The First Quantum Field Theory
Quantum mechanics is perhaps the most unintuitive theory ever devised. And yet it’s also the most successful, in terms of sheer predictive power. Simply by following the math of quantum mechanics, incredible discoveries have been made. Its wild success tells us that the mathematical description provided by quantum mechanics reflects deep truths about reality. And by far the most successful, most predictive formulation of quantum mechanics is quantum field theory. It is our best description we have of the fundamental workings of reality. And the first part of quantum field theory that was derived – quantum electrodynamics – is the most precise, most accurate of all.
Episode 2316 min2017-07-07
Feynman's Infinite Quantum Paths
How to predict the path of a quantum particle. Part 3 in our Quantum Field Theory Series.
Episode 2416 min2017-07-12
Solving the Impossible in Quantum Field Theory
How do you calculate infinite quantum outcomes? Feynman Diagrams.
Episode 2519 min2017-07-19
The Real Star Wars
Anti-Satellite weaponry, giant X-ray lasers and kinetic impact missiles nicknamed the “Rods from God.” Find out about the history of the real star wars that have been waged over the past 50 years.
Episode 2615 min2017-07-26
The Secrets of Feynman Diagrams
Unlock the secrets of Feynman Diagrams. Part 5 in our Quantum Field Theory series. And if you're submitting an answer to our challenge question email your answer by August 2nd to pbsspsacetime@gmail.com with the subject line "Feynman Diagram Challenge."
Episode 2713 min2017-08-02
Dark Flow
Why does the universe seem to be moving in one particular direction?
Episode 2813 min2017-08-10
The One-Electron Universe
Could it be that all the electrons in the universe are simply one, single electron moving back and forth through time?
Episode 2915 min2017-08-16
Extraterrestrial Superstorms
Earth has its share of monster storms, but even our most powerful hurricanes are a breeze compared to the great, planet-sized tempests of the gas giants.
Episode 3012 min2017-08-24
First Detection of Life
What does life look like from space?
Episode 3114 min2017-08-30
White Holes
Black holes are very well known but... What is a White Hole?
Episode 3216 min2017-09-13
Neutron Stars Collide in New LIGO Signal?
LIGO may have just detected gravitational waves from the collision of two Neutron Stars.
Episode 3314 min2017-09-20
The Future of Space Telescope
The mysteries of our universe seem limitless. However to unlock them, we’re going to need some incredible technologies to peer deeper and more sharply into space time.
Episode 3415 min2017-09-28
Are the Fundamental Constants Changing?
The laws of physics are the same everywhere in the universe. At least we astrophysicists hope so. After all, it’s hard to unravel the complexities of distant parts of the universe if we don’t know the basic rules. But what if this is wrong? There is a hint of evidence that the fundamental constants that govern our universe may evolve over time, and even from one location to another.
Episode 3514 min2017-10-04
When Quasars Collide STJC
So what happens when two Super Massive Black Holes collide? We may be about to find out, because astronomers have spotted a pair of them in a close binary orbit for the very first time.
Episode 3611 min2017-10-11
Absolute Cold
Can we ever achieve absolute cold?
Episode 3717 min2017-10-19
The Nature of Nothing
It turns out that "nothing" is one of the most interesting somethings in all of physics.
Episode 3814 min2017-10-25
The Missing Mass Mystery
For years, astronomers have been unable to find up to half of the matter in the universe. We may just have solved this problem. Fingers crossed.
Episode 3912 min2017-11-03
The Vacuum Catastrophe
If vacuum energy really does have the enormous value predicted by quantum field theory then our gently expanding, geometrically flat universe shouldn’t exist. This is the vacuum catastrophe.
Episode 4011 min2017-11-08
Zero-Point Energy Demystified
Let’s talk about the mysterious zero-point energy and what it really can, and really can’t do.
Episode 4117 min2017-11-22
Suicide Space Robots
Let’s take a moment to remember the selfless sacrifices made by some amazing robotic explorers. And be sure to learn more about your personal DNA story by going to 23andMe.com/spacetime and taking advantage of their special holiday offer.
Episode 4211 min2017-11-29
Citizen Science + Zero-Point Challenge Answer
The future of science is you.
Episode 4315 min2017-12-06
Understanding the Uncertainty Principle with Quantum Fourier Series
Sometimes intuitive, large-scale phenomena can give us incredible insights into the extremely unintuitive world of quantum mechanics.
Episode 4412 min2017-12-13
The Origin of Our First Interstellar Visitor
We were recently visited by a traveler from outside our solar system. This is the first time we’ve ever seen an object that came to us from interstellar space. It's name is 'Oumuamua.
Episode 4514 min2017-12-20
Extinction by Gamma-Ray Burst
Find out about the last time and the next time the Earth will be hit by a Gamma-ray Burst.
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