As a grad student, Suchitra Sebastian wasn’t sure she wanted to be a physicist. But when one of her experiments gave an unexpected result, she was hooked. Suchitra’s former PhD student Beng Sing Tan describes the late-night experiments that led to an “impossible” finding—a potentially new state of matter. Theoretical physicist Piers Coleman tells us about working on the edges of a scientific field, and what happens when a new theory ruffles old feathers.

“The Leap” is a 10-episode audio series that profiles scientists willing to take big risks to push the boundaries of discovery. It premieres on Science Friday’s podcast feed every Monday until July 21. 

“The Leap” is a production of the Hypothesis Fund, brought to you in partnership with Science Friday.

Transcript is available on sciencefriday.com.

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