PhysicsCentral: Podcasts

The physics of ponytails, the fluid dynamics of coffee cups and zombie fish are just some of the highlights from this year's annual Ig Nobel Prizes, celebrating science that makes you laugh, then makes you think.

Most explanations of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle say something about how we can never measure a quantum system without disrupting it. But new research suggests we can measure a system without disrupting it to the degree that Heisenberg predicted. Is this the end of the famous principle? Or do we just need to change the way we teach it?

A breakthrough 60 years in the making: room temperature masers! Masers can be used as sensors and measuring devices, or as part of an inter-planetary communication system. Today Calla talks with Dr. Mark Oxborrow of Great Britain's National Physical Laboratory about building a room temperature maser, and why physicists are good at sewing.

In 1946 the United States tested its first atomic weapon after the end of World War II. Physicists wanted to better understand this new weapon they created, but it turned into a clash between science, spectacle and politics.

Our physical intuition heavily influences how we experience and how we study the world around us. But when and how does this intuition develop? It turns out that is one of the first things our brains start learning when we are born. That's today on the physics buzz podcast.

Fish do it; birds do it; humans do it; even bacteria do it. They all
detect the Earth's magnetic field. We actually know very little about
the ways that many organisms detect the Earth's magnetic field. Humans use
compasses, and in some cases, other organisms may take a similar
approach.

David C Cassidy talks to Physics Buzz about his book "A Short History of Physics in the American Century," and the role physics played in making the US a world superpower in the 20th century.

Mike sees how Physics influenced comic creators Jorge Chaim (PhD Comics) and Bill Amend (Foxtrot)

Even though Hollywood films aren't known for being completely scientifically accurate all of the time, the writers of some of the biggest films and TV shows have been relying on their science advisors to make the science in science fiction all the more believable.

Physicist Enrico Fermi has his name attached to a number of monumental physics items, like Fermilab, fermions and fermium. Who was Fermi, what did he do to earn so much notoriety and the title of "universal physicist"? We'll try to find out in today's podcast.