PODCAST · science
Relatively Certain
by The Joint Quantum Institute
Hear the latest news about everything from quantum computers to astrophysics, all straight from scientists at the University of Maryland.
Episodes
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Putting On a Particle Play
Back in the 1950s, theoretical physicists postulated that the kinds of particles we actually see in nature are just the tip of the iceberg. Many other types of particles with weird properties, which they termed paraparticles, were popping out of the math as theoretical possibilities. But as...
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Quantum-Safe Algorithms Face Off in NIST’s Cryptography Showdown
While browsing the web, you might not realize that the security of your online transactions is guaranteed by a hard-to-crack math problem called factoring. But this security could evaporate in an instant—if a big enough quantum computer is built. Computers that store information in quantum...
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Science in Quarantine: A Rush to Go Remote
In this episode, we look back at the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, when impending lab closures were threatening scientific progress and graduate student careers. We sit down with Laird Egan, then a graduate student in physics at JQI, and hear about how he and his lab mates managed to turn...
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Diamonds Are a Quantum Sensing Scientist’s Best Friend
We all know that diamonds can hold great sentimental (and monetary) value. As luck may have it, diamonds—particularly defective ones, with little errors in their crystal structure—also hold great scientific value. The defects have properties that can only be described by quantum mechanics, and...
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The Secrets Atoms Hold, Part 2: Gravity
In this episode of Relatively Certain, JQI Adjunct Fellow Marianna Safronova and JQI Fellow Charles Clark return to discuss the limits of our understanding of gravity, and how new experiments with atom interferometers may be the key to not only a higher-precision understanding of gravity but also...
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The Secrets Atoms Hold, Part 1: Search for Dark Matter
In this episode of Relatively Certain, Dina Genkina sits down with JQI Adjunct Fellow Marianna Safronova, a physics professor at the University of Delaware, and JQI Fellow Charles Clark, an adjunct professor of physics at UMD and a fellow of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to...
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Donuts, Donut Holes and Topological Superconductors
In this episode of Relatively Certain, Dina Genkina sits down with JQI Fellow Jay Sau, an associate professor of physics at UMD, and Johnpierre Paglione, a professor of physics at UMD and the director of the Quantum Materials Center.
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Labs IRL: A Craving for Code
Software just might be the unsung hero of physics labs. In this episode of Relatively Certain, Dina sits down with JQI postdoctoral researcher and programming aficionado Chris Billington to talk about his passion project—a piece of experimental control software that’s gaining popularity in labs...
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Black holes: The ultimate cosmic whisks
Chaos. Time travel. Quantum entanglement. Each may play a role in figuring out whether black holes are the universe’s ultimate information scramblers. In this episode of Relatively Certain, Chris sits down with Brian Swingle, a QuICS Fellow and assistant professor of physics at UMD, to learn…
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Life at the edge of the world
What's it like living and working in Antarctica? Upon returning from a five-week trip to the Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station, UMD graduate student Liz Friedman sat down with Chris and Emily to chat about her experience. In this episode, Friedman shares some of her memories of station life and...
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Physics at the edge of the world
Deep within the ice covering the South Pole, thousands of sensitive cameras strain their digital eyes in search of a faint blue glow—light that betrays the presence of high-energy neutrinos. For this episode, Chris sat down with UMD graduate student Liz Friedman and physics professor Kara Hoffman...
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Ancient timekeeping with a modern twist
Trey Porto, a NIST physicist and Fellow of the Joint Quantum Institute, spends his days using atoms and lasers to study quantum physics. But even outside of the lab, he views the world as one great physics problem to tackle. So one morning when he spotted some sunlight dancing across his wall, he...
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The Nobel Prize: A LIGO Q&A
A little more than a hundred years ago, Albert Einstein worked out a consequence of his new theory of gravity: Much like waves traveling through water, ripples can undulate through space and time, distorting the fabric of the universe itself. Today, Rainer Weiss, Barry C. Barish and Kip S. Thorne...
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Long live MATHUSLA
More than 300 feet underground, looping underneath both France and Switzerland on the outskirts of Geneva, a 16-mile-long ring called the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) smashes protons together at nearly the speed of light. Sifting through the wreckage, scientists have made some profound discoveries...
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Labs IRL: Boxing up atomic ions
What makes a university physics lab tick? Sean Kelley grabs a mic and heads to a lab that's trying to build an early quantum computer out of atomic ions. Marko Cetina and Kai Hudek, two research scientists at the University of Maryland who run the lab, explain what it takes to keep things from...
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The limits of computation
Modern computers, which dwarf their forebears in speed and efficiency, still can't conquer some of the hardest computational problems. Making them even faster probably won't change that. Computer scientists working in the field of computational complexity theory explore the ultimate limits of...
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JQI Podcast Episode 12 : HAWC and the high-energy gamma rays
In our own galaxy and beyond, violent collisions fling a never-ending stream of stuff at the earth, and astrophysicists are eager to learn more about the processes that produce this cosmic barrage.
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Taming chaos with physics and AI
In many situations, chaos makes it nearly impossible to predict what will happen next. Nowhere is this more apparent than in weather forecasts, which are notorious for their unreliability. But the clever application of artificial intelligence can help reign in some chaotic systems, making them…
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JQI Podcast Episode 11 - Discovery of heavy water makes waves
This past March, NIST Fellows Joseph Reader and Charles Clark co-authored an article in Physics Today: "1932, a watershed year in nuclear physics." In a small detour from our typical quantum conversation, Charles sat down with Phil to recount some remarkable nuclear physics discoveries made that...
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JQI Podcast Episode 10 - Energy Levels: This isn't your great-grandmother's plum pudding
Phil Schewe discusses quantized energy levels with Steve Rolston (JQI) and Wes Campbell (former JQI postdoc and current UCLA professor). The concept of electronic energy levels in an atom has applications everywhere, from sodium lamps to brake lights to quantum information and atomic clocks.
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JQI Podcast Episode 9 - That's really tiny: Story of a photon
Can you see a single photon? Does it weigh anything? Emily Edwards talks to Alan Migdall, an expert on single photon technology. Part 2 of three installments on photons.
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JQI Podcast Episode 7 - A dual personality: What is a photon?
Emily Edwards and guests Steve Rolston and Alan Migdall talk about the history of the photon. Photons sometimes behave both like particles and waves. The nature of light has intrigued scientists for centuries. Quantum physics provides clarity in the early twentieth century.
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JQI Podcast Episode 8 - Waves Matter for Studying Matter
Phil Schewe discusses how matter, such as atoms and electrons, can display wave-like properties. Steve Rolston describes early scattering experiments. Gretchen Campbell talks about matter waves in the context of modern Bose-Einstein condensate experiments.
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JQI Podcast Episode 5
Fifty years ago, Theodore Maiman invented the laser. Steve Rolston and two guest experts describe how the device has utterly transformed quantum information science.
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JQI Podcast Episode 4
Modern timekeeping, and the ongoing effort to slice time into ever-thinner pieces, now depend critically on techniques of quantum information science.
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JQI Podcast Episode 3
TQW looks at recent research in the weird world of "ultracold" chemistry, where scientists have just discovered that chemical reactions can occur at only a few billionths of a degree above absolute zero.
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JQI Podcast Episode 2
A discussion of one of the most eerie aspects of quantum mechanics -- the utter randomness of measurements -- with guest Dr. Chris Monroe of JQI. Topics include the weird state called "entanglement," and the uses of quantum-mechanical systems for generating random numbers for data encryption and...
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JQI Podcast Episode 1
A primer on the fundamental terms and concepts of quantum information science, with guest Dr. Carl Williams, Chief of the Atomic Physics Division at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. Topics include the bizarre condition called superposition, the nature of quantum bits ("qubits")...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Relatively Certain have?
Relatively Certain currently has 28 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Relatively Certain about?
Hear the latest news about everything from quantum computers to astrophysics, all straight from scientists at the University of Maryland.
How often does Relatively Certain release new episodes?
Relatively Certain has 28 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Relatively Certain?
You can listen to Relatively Certain on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Relatively Certain?
Relatively Certain is created and hosted by The Joint Quantum Institute.
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