Conversations With Joe

It's a term you've probably heard a lot. Late Stage Capitalism. People use it to describe the absurdities and wild inequalities of the world today. But what is it exactly, and are we really living in it? And if so, what comes next?

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Our traditional view of robots as metal machines with computer brains is pretty hard-wired (pun intended) into the human psyche. But there are reasons to believe that living robots - robots made of soft or living tissue - might be the better option. Here's why.

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Magnetars are a type of neutron star with a magnetic field a quadrillion times stronger than the strongest magnets here on Earth. These stellar monsters are mind-blowing in every way and possibly the source of massive gamma ray bursts and fast radio bursts.

So what would happen if you fell into one? Let's find out. :)

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We're all pretty much over COVID-19 at this point. But how close are we to getting a handle on this disease? How much longer will this go on? And where are we with the race for a vaccine? The answer... It's still early folks.

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This video starts with a sketch that may be hard to follow in audio form. But this is an update on solid state batteries and what we can expect from them in the future.

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Space shades are often touted as our last hope if our climate change situation gets too out of control. If we can't keep carbon emissions down, we could just block the sun. I hear this option get thrown out very casually, but I've never seen a realistic look at what that would look like. How big would it need to be? How much would it cost? Wound it even work? So I decided to take a serious deep dive.

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This is my full interview with Dr. Becky Smethurst, YouTube star and Oxford Astrophysicist. We talk about the life of an astrophysicist and what it's like to be a part of academia, plus she gets me up to speed on the cosmological crisis, and we make fun of each others' accents. And much more.

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Astrophysicists are currently struggling to explain an inconsistency that has become a cosmological crisis, and it has to do with the Hubble Constant, which determines the expansion of the universe.

Special thanks to Dr. Becky Smethurst for chatting with me! You can follow her channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCYNbYGl89UUowy8oXkipC-Q

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I haven't posted a podcast episode in a while! But this interview with David Quammen was was perfect for an audio-only version. So here you go!

David Quammen is the author of Spillover: Animal Infections And The Next Human Pandemic. He spent years working with National Geographic tracking viral outbreaks in Africa, Australia, and around the world, and he has a unique perspective on the COVID-19 pandemic as well as what we can expect in regard to pandemics in the future.

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Andy Weir, bestselling author of The Martian and Artemis, sits down with me to talk about all kinds of things, including the creative process, the importance of mental health, and of course, Mars.

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