Astonishing Cosmos

Explore the beauty and mystery of the cosmos. Investigate the nature of reality and information. Delve into multiple universes, extra dimensions, and time travel. Contemplate what may be beyond physics and what discoveries are yet to be made.

Cover image for Why is the Universe Breathtaking?

I look up and I look down and I chill with awe. I look up to the universe and envision hundreds of billions of galaxies. I look down to the atom and imagine minuscule,...

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Why is the Universe Breathtaking?

Episode 02

Season 07

26:45

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Cover image for How does Beauty Color the Cosmos?

What do scientists mean when they call the laws and regularities of nature “beautiful”? On the largest supra-cosmic scales, and on the smallest sub-atomic scales,...

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How does Beauty Color the Cosmos?

Episode 03

Season 03

26:46

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Cover image for Could Our Universe Be a Fake?

Perhaps our entire universe is like a gigantic computer game, the creation of super-smart hackers existing somewhere else? Before you smirk and laugh, watch and think!

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Could Our Universe Be a Fake?

Episode 10

Season 01

26:46

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Cover image for Are there Extra Dimensions?

Extra dimensions-beyond length, width, height-seem the stuff of science fiction. What would extra dimensions be like? Is time the fourth dimension? Could deep reality be so...

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Are there Extra Dimensions?

Episode 06

Season 04

26:45

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Cover image for Why a Fine-Tuned Universe?

How can so many numbers of nature, the constants and relationships of physics, be so spot-on perfect for humans to exist? Beware: there is more than one answer lurking here.

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Why a Fine-Tuned Universe?

Episode 07

Season 01

26:46

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Cover image for Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Life and Mind?

If the universe had been ever so slightly different, human beings wouldn’t, couldn’t, exist. All explanations of this exquisite fine-tuning, obvious and...

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Is the Universe Fine-Tuned for Life and Mind?

Episode 02

Season 03

26:46

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Cover image for Must Multiple Universes Exist?

Of all human knowledge, the most stunning may be multiple universes—very many universes, perhaps an infinite number of universes. Are multiple universes—the...

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Must Multiple Universes Exist?

Episode 08

Season 14

26:47

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Cover image for Is Time Travel Possible?

Some scientists take time travel seriously. Should you? What does time travel reveal about the nature of space and time and the laws of physics under extreme conditions?

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Is Time Travel Possible?

Episode 06

Season 02

26:46

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Information is all the rage in science, changing how we think about fundamental questions. Information has many descriptions, some of them surprising. Why is Information so...

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What is Information?

Episode 03

Season 14

26:46

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Cover image for Does Information Create the Cosmos?

Of what is reality made? What are the most basic building blocks from which the cosmos is constructed? Particles? Mass-Energy? Forces? Fields? A new candidate is...

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Does Information Create the Cosmos?

Episode 06

Season 14

26:46

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Cover image for Complexity from Simplicity?

Our universe began with a swirling, seething plasma-everything, everywhere, all the same. Today we have galaxies, stars, planets, people. How did such structure come about?

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Complexity from Simplicity?

Episode 09

Season 09

26:45

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Are there revolutionary discoveries yet to be made? Radical revelations and shocking secrets? Does physical reality go beyond what we know today? Far beyond?

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What’s Beyond Physics?

Episode 02

Season 08

26:45

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