FQxI Podcast

The Year in Physics Review 2025

Poltergeist and Primordial Black Holes: Cosmologist Bernard Carr on Physics and the Paranormal

FQxI's Essay Competition Asks How Quantum is Life? Plus Plant Intelligence, Physicists Surveyed on Controversial Opinions & Should Journals Pay Peer Reviewers?

Dark Energy Bombshell? Cosmic Results from DESI and ACT & Rethinking Gatekeeping in Science Publishing

The Origin of Life, Assembly Theory & the Problems with Peer Review

The Year in Physics Review 2024

The Universal Constructor: A Conversation with David Deutsch

The Year in Physics Review 2023 Part 3

The Year in Physics Review 2023 Part 2

The Year in Physics Review 2023: Part 1

Is there a Theory of Everything? Great Mysteries of Physics Part 6

What is Life? What is Consciousness? Great Mysteries of Physics Part 5

Does Objective Reality Exist? Great Mysteries of Physics Part 4

Is There a Multiverse? Great Mysteries of Physics Part 3

Is Our Universe Fine-Tuned For Life? Great Mysteries of Physics Part 2

Is Science Becoming Less Disruptive?

Is Time an Illusion? Great Mysteries in Physics Part 1

The Year in Physics Review Part 3: Concluding our countdown of the biggest stories in physics, as chosen by quantum physicist Ian Durham.

The Year in Physics Review Part 2: Continuing our countdown of the biggest stories in physics, as chosen by quantum physicist Ian Durham.

The Year in Physics Review Part 1: Beginning our countdown of the biggest stories in physics, as chosen by quantum physicist Ian Durham. We start with a discussion about whether a wormhole really was created in a quantum computer, in the lab?

Testing Time: Quantum physicists Fabrizio Piacentini and Laura Knoll discuss their recent experiment testing the predictions of Constructor Theory, a new meta-framework of physics that may encompass all other theories. The new framework could solve the mystery of why time marches in only one direction, even though the microscopic laws of physics are reversible. With Logan Chipkin

Happy Higgs-versary! Particle physicist Kevin Black tells Zeeya Merali about the LHC's new quest. Also, time-travel at the LHC, an update on the W Boson tests with Frank Wilczek; Catalina Curceanu on testing the origin of consciousness; & Queensland physicists are building quantum clocks.

The End of Everything: Astrophysicist Katie Mack on her book describing ways to destroy the universe, & on hints of new physics at the LHC; a quantum engine that heats & cools simultaneously; how the thermodynamic gradient may have driven the evolution of intelligence through culture; & the UK's physics of life network.

'Quantum dots' can teach us about thermodynamics in the nanorealm.

Time's Arrow: A conversation with Paul Davies about time's irreversible flow, black holes, memories of Stephen Hawking and the information paradox, Maxwell's demon and living systems -- and how to improve universities. With Logan Chipkin.

Quantum Steampunk: Physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern talks about her new book on quantum thermodynamics, temperatures below absolute zero, and the physics of yesterday's tomorrow.

Constructor Theory and Irreversibility: A conversation with Chiara Marletto and Vlatko Vedral on a novel unification between information theory and thermodynamics and their recent experiment that tested, and corroborated, the constructor theoretic notion of irreversibility. With Logan Chipkin.

Eerie quantum Aharanov-Bohm effect demonstrated for gravity; mysteries about the nature of time; how choices can curve spacetime; and the Science of Can and Can't.

Information as Fuel. Quantum physicist Natalia Ares describes her quest to test thermodynamics in the quantum realm with carbon nanotubes. Philosopher Owen Maroney and theoretical physicist Janet Anders explain what such experiments can teach us about the foundations of physics and biology.

2021: The Year in Physics Review Part 3. FQXi's annual countdown of the physics highlights concludes, with quantum physicist Ian Durham.

2021: Year in Physics Review Part 2. Our rundown of the physics highlights of the year continues, with quantum physicist Ian Durham.

2021: Year in Physics Review Part 1. Beginning our countdown of the biggest and best stories in physics, with quantum physicist Ian Durham.

Schrödinger's Tardigrade: Has a multicellular organism really been entangled with a superconducting qubit? Physicist Vlatko Vedral defends his team's controversial claims; Mitch Waldrop discusses the long-running Hubble tension saga and the launch of the JWST; and "The Hiding Place and the Universe," a dramatic interpretation of the life of an experimental quantum physicist.

Breakthrough Prize winner Jun Ye talks optical lattice clocks; the thermodynamic cost of timekeeping with Marcus Huber; & microbead minimotors help John Bechhoefer investigate information processing in nanomachines and biological systems.

The Disordered Cosmos: Physicist Chanda Prescod-Weinstein discusses the hunt for axions, her new book on dark matter, racism and misogyny in science, and the controversy surrounding the Thirty Meter Telescope.

2020: Year in Physics Review Part 2: Concluding our countdown of the biggest stories of the year in physics, as chosen by quantum physicist Ian Durham.

2020: Year in Physics Review Part 1: Beginning our countdown of the biggest stories in foundational physics and beyond, as chosen by quantum physicist Ian Durham.

#ShutDownSTEM and the #Strike4BlackLives; Retrocausality Reviewed; Measuring Consciousness in Fruit Flies; Superior -- The Return of Race Science; & the Mystery of the Monster Galaxy.

2019: Year in Physics Review Part 2: Concluding our countdown of the biggest stories of the year in physics, as chosen by quantum physicist Ian Durham.

2019: Year in Physics Review Part 1 Beginning our countdown of the biggest stories of the year in physics, as chosen by quantum physicist Ian Durham.

An amped up version of the Schrodinger Cat Paradox spells trouble for all quantum interpretations -- according to its architect Renato Renner. He tells Zeeya and Brendan how the controversial thought experiment works, and why he thinks it is bad news for fans of Many Worlds and quantum parallel universes, QBism, Collapse models and (less so) for Bohmian interpretations of quantum mechanics. But not everyone agrees.

Quantum Supremacy Milestone? Rumours abound that Google's quantum processor Sycamore has performed a task that would flummox the best classical computer — a first in quantum computing. Physicist Ian Durham assesses the claims, gives us a quantum computing primer, and discusses concerns about the term 'quantum supremacy'.

Quantum Mind Reading. Could we create a quantum experiment to predict what a person will do, without having to simulate their consciousness? Physicist Adam Brown argues a classic quantum "bomb tester" proposed in the 1990s could be modified to do just that.

Downward Causation. Cosmologist George Ellis investigates agency and argues that causation is a two-way process between the mind and lower level biological and physical functions. From the 6th FQXi meeting in Tuscany, in July.

Designing the Mind. Cognitive scientist Susan Schneider talks transhumanism and asks at what point does human enhancement go too far? Are we in danger of accidentally destroying ourselves through technological augmentation and creating new beings in our stead? From the 6th FQXi Meeting, in Tuscany.

Measuring Free Will. To what degree are our choices really free, rather than determined? And how much control do we have over them? Quantum physicist Ian Durham presents a new mathematical model for free will. From the 6th FQXi Meeting, in Tuscany.

How do we make decisions? Physicist Carlo Rovelli discusses the science behind choice -- arguing that agency is intimately tied to time's arrow. From the 6th FQXi meeting in Tuscany.

Building an AI Physicist. Cosmologist Max Tegmark describes the challenges with creating trustworthy artificial intelligence, and his own project writing a code that used neural networks to re-discover 100 equations from the Feynman lectures.

The Limits of Computation. Astrophysicist Fred Adams argues the world will run out of resources for computation in 32 years without a paradigm shift. And he discusses how alien civilizations could mine stars to create solar-system-sized "black cloud computers," which could be detected on Earth. From the 6th FQXi meeting in Tuscany.

Causality, Memory and the Arrow of Time. Cosmologist Sean Carroll is searching for a mathematical description of why causes precede effects and asking what makes our memories of the past special. Audio of a talk from the FQXi meeting in Tuscany.