Roger Penrose—mathematician, physicist, philosopher—was awarded the 2020 Nobel Prize in Physics. We speak with Roger about our favorite, fundamental questions. What...
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Episode 10
Season 22
26:52
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If life is a vast space of possibilities, then mathematics can engage with biology. Statistics analyze biological data, and mathematical models improve biological theories...
Episode 9
Episode 8
26:50
“Power laws” are mathematical relationships expressed by exponents or logarithms—why are they so powerful in describing the world? Why are power laws found in diverse...
Episode 7
Consider three powers of probability: refining data, assessing theories, probing ultimate reality. Watch how these work in cosmology: confidence in precise measurements;...
Episode 6
Call mathematics the purest form of knowledge, universal messaging anyone, anywhere, can understand. For math to advance, there must be breakthroughs, which may seem like...
Episode 5
The astonishing effectiveness of mathematics in the natural sciences, especially in physics, borders on the mysterious—and there seems no rational explanation. Our...
Episode 4
Why do abstract mathematical equations produce exquisitely accurate descriptions of the world? The physicist Eugene Wigner called math’s usefulness “uncanny”—and he...
Episode 3
Mathematics describes our world. But what about mathematics itself? Can we say what math is, not just what math does? Is math intrinsic to existence, the building blocks of...
Episode 2
Does mathematics have two transcendent attributes: truth and beauty? What makes math true? What makes math beautiful? Are there different kinds of mathematical existence? How...
Episode 1
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10.04.23
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