Physics bytes !

Elisa & Karim present the topic of supreconductivity, with great finesse and detail, going over the history of its discovery to some of the current and potential future applications that could revolutionise our society !

-- : : Chapters : : --

1:30 - What is superconductivity

2:37 - The discovery of superconductivity

5:55 - What is the holy grail of superconductivity

8:00 - how can we explain superconductivity?

11:40 - The Meissner effect and the link to superconductors

15:00 - ceramics and higher temperature superconductors

18:40 - Some applications

20:25 - some of the challenges with cooling super conductors and difficulty of room-temperature SC

22:40 - What is “quenching” and why is it a problem for SC cables

27:00 - Applications

-- Credits --

Intro Music :

"Feelin Good" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Music :

"Mirage" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Following up on last week's episode's introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Emma and Colombe dive into one of it's most ambitious and interesting applications : Quantum Computing !

Enjoy the listen and feel free to leave a comment.

-- : : Chapters : : --

1:50 - What is Quantum Computing (QC)

2:55 - A brief history of QC

5:22 - Difference between classical compters and quantum ones

10:58 - is a QC just a really powerful classical computer or something totally new?

15:30 - What is Quantum Noise and why is it such a big deal and a difficult problem?

17:33 - Quantum Algorithms 

22:42 - the future for quantum computing

25:29 - What are quantum dots?

26:30 - What is quantum supremacy and when will it arrive ? 

27:27 - are we actually currently using quantum computers for anything? What are some applications?

32:15 - Colombe’s thoughts on the topic of Quantum Computers

33:00 - Emma’s thoughts on the topic

-- Credits --

Intro Music :

"Feelin Good" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Music :

"Mirage" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We launch the Senior Class's episode with some very advanced stuff from two of our science stars, Gabriel & Damien.

They aim very high hoping to explain to us what some of the interpretations of Quantum Mechanics are and what they imply, heavy stuff.

Enjoy !

--- :: Chapters :: ---

1:50 - Why do we talk about the “interpretations” of quantum mechanics rather than just “quantum mechanics”?

3:05 - Is there a difference between a “theory” and an “interpretation”?

6:05 - Good or bad Theory vs Good or bad interpretation?

7:10 - Damien’s take on the whole “theory vs interpretation” question 

8:30 - Does every theory need an interpretation?

11:31 - What are the more essential notions at the basis of Quantum Mechanics that we should know? 

14:15 - Quantum complementarity and uncertainty

16:04 - What is a “measurement”?18:03 - What is so special about “Schroedinger’s Cat” anyway?

22:00 - The Copenhagen interpretation : What is it? 

25:32 - The “Many Worlds Interpretation”

30:00 - How does the “world splitting” work in the Many-worlds interpretation? 

35:00 - Hidden Variable Theories

-- Credits --

Intro Music :

"Feelin Good" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Music :

"Mirage" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

So we have gone over all the science of the various aspects of the the SETI Project as well as a fair bit of speculation about what such E.T.I. civilisation might seem like or what traces they may have left behind that we could discover.

But now it's time to turn to ourselves and wonder : What will human society be like if we were to discover an extra-terrestrial civilisation?

That is exactly what Maxine, Brune, Anais and Sofia will talk about in this, our final episode of the SETI series for this year!

Enjoy.

:: Chapters ::

3:05 - What society might think of SETI research

7:00 - when an advanced civilisation meets a less advanced one … 

8:30 - are all countries equal when it comes to  SETI…?

11:34 - the team gives their opinion on whether we should try to contact an ETI if we find one? 

12:34 - Anais believes that the discovery of an ETI would start wars on earth !

15:00 - if we found out tomorrow that we’ve discovered an ETI close to earth …how will we react?

16:45 - Maxine is very dubitative … 

19:40 - the impact on an ETI discovery on Religion

22:25 - would it be comparable to the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions? 

24:35 - would such a discovery lead to people becoming more .. or less..religious?

24:50 - the Influence of ETI on … cinema !

29:50 - the group’s final thoughts and opinion on the topic of SETI & Society

-- Credits --

Intro Music :

"Feelin Good" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Music :

"Mirage" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Luca & Stan talk about Astrobiology, the field of biology concerned with the idea of what life would look like on another planet, in anther solar system!

:: Chapters ::

1:30 - What exactly is astrobiology

4:17 - How do we study Astrobiology

5:12 - Would life be the same on Earth as on Mars or some exoplanet?

6:17 - looking at life on earth to guess about life elsewhere 

7:07 - have we actually looked for life elsewhere according to these precepts?

9:25 - the famous “Miller Experiment”

17:15 - have we seen signs of life out in the universe?

22:20 - Luca’s thought on their topic

-- Credits --

Intro Music :

"Feelin Good" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Music :

"Mirage" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Up until now we've been talking about passively staring into the cosmos, with out eyes and ears, and hoping to catch something and being able to interpret it.

But what if we were to take the initiative ! be more active about things ! Well that is what METI is all about.

METI (or Active SETI) is all about Messaging Extra-Terrestrial Intelligences. But with that very idea come a whole host of questions, the biggest one of which is : Should we? Because there are dangers associated to it, and ethical questions.

Victoria, Scarlett, Juliette, Hermine and Aurelien are here to help guide us through all of this.

Enjoy the Listen !

:: Chapters ::

1:35 - What is METI/Active SETI

3:36 - How would we even go about sending a message to another civilisation !?

5:20 - Have there been any attempts in the past to contact extra-terrestrials?

7:47 - Any recent attempts to send a message?

9:38 - Can we trust scientist to decide what to say to extra-terrestrials…?

10:47 - What is the technology necessary to send messages to ET civilisations?

12:45 - Messaging ET civilizations, a project for the future humans …

13:45 - are aliens among us already?

15:53 - the Kardashev scale of galactic civilisations

17:25 - What is the “Great Filter”?

19:27 - What role does Science Fiction play in SETI research ?

22:05 - The “Dark Forest” hypothesis for the cosmic silence from “The Three Body Problem”

26:18 - A defense of human non-violence by Scarlett !

28:26 - Scarlett’s positive thoughts on the redeemability of humanity when faced with the new and the unknown

29:25 : Victoria’s not quite in agreement

30:37 - Aurelien is much more pessimistic about humanity’s reaction to contact with Extra-Terrestrials

31:51 - Juliette convinces herself to change her mind on the topic !

32:55 - Hermine reflects on the topic and weighs in with her thoughts on the role of human Ego in all this

34:49 : The big question : “should we engage in trying to contact extra-terrestrials”? Victoria’s answer

37:05 - Hermine’s answer

37:49 - Scarlett weighs in with a plan

41:04 - Juliette in support of her mates … and Stephen Hawking!

41:48 - Aurelien…the only optimist?

42:53 - Scarlett wonders about the risk humans pose to the universe

43:54 - Final thoughts on the project

-- Credits --

Intro Music :

"Feelin Good" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Music :

"Mirage" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Technosignatures? XENOARCHAELOGY?

We are definitely into the heart of the our SETI project, if we're talkgin about these things. But what exactly are ... technosignatures?

That's what Augustin, Alice, Anahi and Mathias are here to tell you.

They will go over all the variety of signs an extra-terrestrial civilisation may leave behind, anythign from atmopheric markers to giant structures in space !

:: Chapters ::

1:47 - what are technosignatures

2:39 - What are some examples of Technosignatures

8:37 - How do we observe and study the atmosphere of exoplanets?

11:18 - What are energetic technosignatures

16:14 - technomorphological signatures

21:09 - Mega-structures : Dyson Sphres & Dyson swarms

27:37 - What is Xenoarchaelogy?

29:27 - the Oumuamua Object !

32:14 - the limitations of the search for Technosignatures

36:05 - Mathias’s thoughts on the topic

39:44 - Augustin’s thoughts on the topic of SETI

41:30 - Anahi’s frustrations with her research topic

43:40 - Alice is surprised that we havent found anything despite all we know

---

-- Credits --

Intro Music :

"Feelin Good" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Music :

"Mirage" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Having learned a bit about teh history of SETI, this week we set out to learn a bit of the science behind it and how scientists go about studying and searching for extra-terrestrial life.

Sophia, Alice, Linh and Matilde take turns tellign us about everything from Radioastronomy to how AI can help.

And in the end they share their thoughts, their excitement or reservatiosn about the potential of contact with an alien civilisation !

Chapters :

1:10 - Overview of the topic

2:25 - What is spectroscopy

3:47 - how we use spectroscopy in SETI research

6:21 - the role of Radioastronomy

9:03 - Why radiowaves though?

9:27 - “narrowband signals” as a signature

10:38 - the “hydrogen line” and the WOW signal

12:50 - What is a Radiotelescope?

13:40 - what is a telescope ‘array’?

14:19 - How do we analyse signals from space?

15:56 - what are the signs of a potential alien radio-signal ?

20:04 - signs of intelligence in radio signals

22:23 - how do scientists choose where to look for signals?

24:07 - Radio-interferometry

26:55 - Galaxies that hum

28:38 - Matilde’s thoughts on SETI

29:42 - Linn’s thoughts on SETI

30:52 - Alice’s thoughts on SETI

31:38 - Sophia’s thoughts

33:08 - How can we make SETI more mainstream

33:52 - Sophia’s thoughts on actual contact with an Alien Civilisation

34:30 - Alice’s thoughts on mainstreaming SETI and the potential contact

36:25 - Lin’s reflexions on why we should talk about SETI more and potential contact

37:42 - Matilda’s skepticism for humanity’s capacity to face an alien civilisation

---

-- Credits --

Intro Music :

"Feelin Good" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Music :

"Mirage" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

We kick of the 5th season of Physics Bytes ! with a veritable bang : Josephine, Aude, Maya and Lena start off our SETI project with a lesson in history!

What is SETI you say? it's the "Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence" which is basically the scientific ( and correct ) way of talking about looking for Aliens!

It's the first of a series going over all the aspects of this excitign field of research that bridges Science and Science Fiction!

Chapters :

1:20 - What is life 

1:55 - different types of life 

4:35 - history of human thought on extra-terrestrial life

6:20 - the copernican revolution

8:42 - the enlightenment period

10:42 - SETI in the 20th century

12:40 - Who is Philip Morrison?

14:04 - 1420 MHz, a special frequency!

15:32 - Frank Drake, an important figure in the 20th century

16:52 - the Drak equation : how many ET civilisations

17:54 - The “golden age* of SETI 

20:46 - Project Phoenix

27:14 - current state of affairs in the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence

33:10 - AI and Future projects  in the service of SETI

38:20 - Any dangers to the future of SETI research?

42:25 - what is the role to be played by non-scientific disciplines?

44:00 - Lena’s thoughts on the Project

45:40 : Aude’s thoughts … 

46:49 - Josephine wants to contact the aliens! 

48:22 - Maya : “God No ! “

-- Credits --

Intro Music :

"Feelin Good" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Episode Music :

"Mirage" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

The 5th - and most magnificent to date - season of #PhysicsBytes! is upon us and starting soon.

Here is the trailer for the all new things to come for this seasons !

Activate your alerts in order to note miss a single episode.

See you soon.

-- Credits --

Intro Music :

"Quirky Dog" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)

Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/