PhysicsCentral: Podcasts

Researchers have found a way to hide secrete messages inside
self-organizing patterns. Self-organizing patterns include zebra
stripes, flocks of birds, and termite colonies, to name a few. These
examples might seem biological, but it is physicists who study the
science of self organizing patterns -- and sometimes hide top secret
messages in them.

Over billions of years, living creatures have evolved elegant solutions to complex engineering problems that humans are just starting to figure out. Fish and whales have developed ways to swim efficiently in the ocean, which researchers are now hoping to adapt for power generating wind turbines.

For over 40 years after superconductivity was discovered, scientists wondered if they would ever find the theory behind it. Then suddenly, this seemingly unsolvable mystery was cracked wide open. Leon N
Cooper, one of the physicists who won the Nobel Prize for the theory of superconductivity gave a talk emphasizing that we not give up on
seemingly unsolvable questions too quickly, and cited many other
examples of "unsolvable" mysteries that physics has managed to illuminate.

It's been 100 years since Ernest Rutherford and his lab associates
fired helium atoms -- stripped of their electrons -- at a thin sheet
of gold, and were shocked to see the atoms bounce back. Rutherford
said the results were akin to a bullet bouncing off tissue paper. He
realized he'd been given a clue about the structure of the atom -- an
object too small to see with light -- and a glimpse into the quantum
world.

A new laser-based technology may one day make it possible for diabetic patients to monitor their blood-sugar levels non-invasively, without drawing a drop of blood. Hear how scientists are using rather simple laser technology, and a few clever tricks, to solve this medical puzzle.

Dark matter and dark energy are both dark: literally, because they don't interact with light, and figuratively, because they remain mysterious. But we do know that dark matter and dark energy are two totally different things, despite the fact that they are often grouped together. Hear a little more about what makes these two things different, and the things they have in common.

There's a storm of comets bombarding the inner part of the Eta
Corvi solar system. What's more? The exact same thing happened to Earth
not too long before life started here.

What are your chances of surviving a zombie apocalypse? Calla Cofield explains how physics can help you stay alive.

In 2011 the Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded to three men, for their work in discovering that the universe is accelerating as it expands.  Join Calla Cofield as she sheds some light on this otherwise dark discovery.

Think, then laugh.  How does Wasabi function as an alarm? What does a 40 year old experiment have to do with GPS? What does a tank have to do with parking in the bike lane?  Listen as Mike Lucibella and this year's winners of the Ig Nobels discuss their work, you might find yourself laughing in the name of science.