The Titanium Physicists Podcast

Episode 86: Live at AAAS- Quantum Computers Oct 13, 2020

Dr. Sarah and Dr. Danica Marsden are here with me in Seattle, Washington for our live show at the AAAS! We talk about how quantum computers do their quantum computer thing. Our guests are Old friends of the show: Matt Sheehy (from Lost Lander), and Brent Knopf (From Ramona Falls and El VY)

Episode 85: Decoherence Not Incoherence Feb 01, 2020

Our Guest Today is Ted Leo, of "Ted Leo and the Pharmacists" Fame. Our experts today are Dr. Danica Marsden and Dr. Stephanie Simmons. Our topic is QUANTUM COHERENCE and DECOHERENCE: how a quantum superposition will not stay that way forever. The Environment will start asking it questions until our system loses coherence.

Episode 84: Super Stars Look Like Zebras Jan 01, 2020

The topic of this Episode is O-type stars, the biggest, brightest stars in the universe! Astrophysicists Dr. Benjamin Brown and Hannalore Gerling-Dunsmore break it all down for our guest Ryan North (of Dinosaur Comics, and Squirrel Girl).

Episode 83: Feeling Feeble WIMPS and Axions Nov 30, 2019

Today's guest is a marvel! It's the host of the Drabblecast: Norm Sherman! Norm joins Dr. Ken Clark and Dr. Katelin Schutz, experts in dark matters. today we talk about dark matter candidates: our best guesses for what is causing the crush we feel but cannot see.

Episode 82: Snowing Diamonds Nov 01, 2019

Andray Domise joins Dr. Sabine Stanley from Johns Hopkins University and Erin Wenckstern from the Weather Network to learn about NEPTUNE! Home to the fastest winds in the solar system, where it rains diamonds, and mysterious "superionic water," the ice giant slowly trudges around its orbit, the farthest planet from the sun!

Episode 81: LISA the Giant Tumbling Space Triangle Sep 30, 2019

Humorist and Podcaster Benjamin Ahr Harrison (Greatest Generation, Friendly Fire) Join me and Dr. Joey Shapiro Key and Dr. Jocelyn Read to talk about THE NEXT GENERATION of gravitational wave detectors: LISA (the Giant Tumbling Space Triangle) and NANOGRAV our pulsar timing array system!

Episode 80: Picturing the Bach Hole Aug 21, 2019

Adal Rifai from "Hello From the Magic Tavern" joins us to talk about the first PHOTOGRAPH of a black hole by the Event Horizon Telescope. Our guide through this amazing story are Dr. Leo Stein and Dr. Katie Bouman. We learn the basics of Black holes, and the interferometry performed by the Event Horizon Telescope, and then about the complicated image processing which needed to be done to interpret all of that amazing, messy data!

Episode 79: MiniBooNE or Giant Curse Mar 11, 2019

Particle physicists Dr Erica Caden and Dr. Ken Clark are my physicists today. Our guest today is Author, musician, composer and novelist Cecil Castellucci. Today we're talking about the MinniBooNE experiment and the possibility of Sterile Neutrinos.

Episode 78 The Heat Death of The Universe Sep 10, 2018

Dr. Katie Mack and Dr. Robert McNees team up to explain the heat death of the universe to Award Winning Author Ken Liu.

Episode 77: Disruptive Feedback Feb 19, 2018

A supermassive blackhole at the centre of a galaxy can cause the gas that falls into it to glow SO BRIGHT that it stops the creation of new stars. What? How? Courtney Brooke Davis is here to ask the questions! Dr. Victoria Scowcroft and Dr. Carolin Villforth are here to give the answers! and I'm here to talk about pudding.

Episode 76: All that Glitters Dec 18, 2017

Announcing the return of the A Team! Jocelyn Read! David Tsang! joining us today the comedian Charlie Demers! Episode 76! This episode is gold. specifically, it's about neutrons stars MASHING TOGETHER in the depths of space!

Episode 75: The Undeniable Outward Push Nov 13, 2017

Like how the same basic stuff can make many different types of star, and planet and cookie, this episode brings a lot of familiar things together in new ways! Hanalore Gurling-Dunsmore! Dr. James Sylvester! and our guest Zach Weinersmith! (Zach and his wife Kelly just wrote an amazing book!) we're going to talk about Supernovas (type 2). How a perfectly ordinary gigantic star can just one day decide to EXPLOOODDE. today's episode is amazing. It brings together a lot of things we have talked about in other episodes!

Episode 74: Jingle Bell Sweaters Aug 24, 2017

Biophysicists Dr. Nicole Prent and Dr. Jacqueline Townsend are back. this time we're talking about Electron Spin Resonance, a technique that's like Nuclear Magnetic Resonance, but different. our guest this time is Diana Goodman, Host of the Thirty Twenty Ten podcast.

Episode 73: An Episode with Glass Jul 10, 2017

A touch of Glass!

Dr. Jane Cook and Dr. Jessica Rimsza are here to talk with Bobak Ferdowsi about glass. We talk about what glass is, and how it forms, and what makes it glassy, and where to find it, and so many more things! FASCINATING!

Episode 72: Moonquake May 01, 2017

Dr. Briony Horgan and Dr. Meg Rosenburg are here to explain that the moon is actually shrinking. It's getting smaller. And we know that it is because we have been studying it.

Today's guest is Eric Molinsky, host of the "Imaginary Worlds" podcast.

Episode 71: Neutriyes or NeutriNO Mar 20, 2017

I'm gonna give it to you straight: we make beams of neutrinos. Neutrinos are particles that barely touch anything as they pass through everything.

Ken Clark and Tia Michelli are back and this episode is awesome. neutrino beams: why would we make them? how do we make them?

our guest is the host of the FOO SHOW: Will Smith!

Episode 70: Muon, science cat, muon Jan 16, 2017

Muons are very small fundamental particles that are much heavier than they should be. they fall apart pretty quickly, but they rain down on us. It's magical. Today's physicists are Ryan Martin, the particle physicist; and Diana Cowern, host of the "Physics Girl" youtube channel.

Our Guest this time is Sarah Gailey, the author!

Episode 69: Super Hyper Fire Hose Bucket Challenge Dec 12, 2016

Today our guest is a person I've wanted to meet for years: The founder of the Skepchick website, Rebecca Watson. Our physicists are Dr. Katie Mack and Hannalore Gerling-Dunsmore. TODAY'S TOPIC: Supermassive Black Holes!!

Episode 68: The Shadows of Creation Nov 07, 2016

This episode is about the The Sunyaev–Zel'dovich Effect, where photons from the big bang are used to backlight giant galaxy clusters! My Physicists this episode are Dr. Michael Zemcov, and Dr. Danica Marsden. Our guest this time is TED LEO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO! THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND!

Episode 67: A Phonon Call Oct 01, 2016

A phonon.. that's not a spelling mistake... is a quantum of vibration.

it's a particle... that lives as a vibration in a crystal.

and it's bananas!!! Doctors Fiona Burnell and Darren Peets have joined me to try to explain this all to Megan and Anthony Leon.

Episode 66: Life On Mars Jul 20, 2016

There are astrophysicists who study life on mars. specifically, the prospects of detecting life on mars. Zach Weinersmith Joins Catherine Neish and Briony Horgan and we talk about LIFE ON MARSSSSS!!!

Episode 65: New Ways of Looking May 23, 2016

How does a camera work? no, a digital camera, I mean. yeah... yeah.. optics. I know all about lenses. how does the plate at the back.. the one the photons hit.. how does it turn photons into electronic signals that turn into digital information? we're talking: CCDs,CMOS cameras, MKIDs, and superconducting bolometers! Dr. Danica Marsden and Dr. Suresh Sivanandam are here, and our guest today is award winning author Elizabeth Bear!

Episode 64: E and N (The edges of Einstein) Apr 25, 2016

Maya Inamura Joins Me, Katie Mack and Leo Stein and we talk aboutTEST OF GENERAL RELATIVITY

Episode 63: Worldbuilding Mar 25, 2016

Patrick Mchale makes his triumphant return to the show!

Astrophysicists Catherine Neish and Brian Jackson explain how planets form around stars, and why the planets we see around other stars are so weird.

NONEPISODE: ben's feeling Feb 11, 2016

Hi!LIGO just announced detecting.1. gravitational waves2. colliding black holes 1.3 billion years away.this is just me talking about my feelings about it.

Episode 62: Black Bells Feb 01, 2016

Did you know that if something falls into a black hole it will "ring" like a bell, radiating gravitational waves at a very specific frequency. pretty fun! Brent Knopf and Matt Sheehy are back! Two new physicists: Leo Stein and Chiara Mingarelli!

fun times!

Episode 61: Levitating Trains Jan 18, 2016

*sorry about the audio quality**one guy was in china, and my mic broke and all sorts of bad stuff happened. :(*OH MAN!!!Erika Ensign, from all the dr. who podcasts, has come on our showso that Darren Peets and Abby Shockley and I can do our best to explain how

VORTICES enable MAGNETIC PINNING in TYPE 2 SUPERCONDUCTORS.

rad.

Episode 60: Meters Of Interference Dec 16, 2015

Radio telescopes have really crummy resolution.but if we line them up and hook them together,

using a technique called "radio interferometry"

we can see the head of a screw 300 km away.

This episode, our guest is Ben Acker, one of the authors of "the thrilling adventure hour". amazing!

Our Physicists are Rupinder Brar and Sabrina Stierwalt!

exciting!

Episode 59: Strange Truth and Charming Beauty Dec 01, 2015

There is no force stronger.

Gravity? get out.

Electrostatics? no.

Love? incorrect.

THE STRONG FORCE!

Tia Miceli! Ken Clark! AND OUR SPECIAL GUEST RYAN NORTH!!!!

this is a really fun episode where we talk about how protons are made of quarks stuck together with gluons. so much fun.

Episode 58: Extraordinary Evidence Oct 25, 2015

The Big bang.

How do we know it happened? How do we know what happened?Dr. Michael Zemcov and Dr. Katie Mack and I talk to the clever hosts of Encyclopedia Brunch. It's Tim Dobbs and Kathryn Cogert! WHAT FUN!

Episode 57: Two Photons Walk Into An H Bar Sep 18, 2015

BIOPHYSICS! Nicole Prent! Jacqueline Townsend! Broadway actor Brian Cross joins us to talk about how biophysicists use frequency doubling of photons To LOOK INSIDE CELLS! well, it's really cool I can't wait for you to hear it!

Episode 56: What "In Tangles" Meant Jun 07, 2015

Oh boy it's been a while since we got an episode scheduled, recorded, edited and out the door. but the wait has been worth it because THIS EPISDE IS AMAZING!

Dan Harmon (From Channel 101, The Sarah Silverman Show, Monster House, COMMUNITY!, Harmontown (the podcast), Harmontown (the documentary about the podcast), and Rick and Morty) joins us!

Physicist Katherine Brown RETURNS! and Ken Clark is flying shotgun!TODAYS EPISODE TOPIC: QUANTUM ENTANGLEMENT.

this is a lovely episode and i am prouder than punch to present it to you.

Question Barn 8 May 18, 2015

Ken Clark Joins me!

we answer Ramiro's question, who asked

"I have heard that bosons are the force carriers. So what force is the higgs boson "carrying" ?"

Episode 55: Laser Laser Laser Laser Laser Laser Apr 01, 2015

Appologies.

the audio turned out way crunchier than i thought it would be while we recorded. I tried to fix it.
My "Doctor Evil" impression is way crappier than it sounded in my head. after all these years of thinking i had a good doctor evil impression.. turns out i suck.

THIS EPISODE IS ABOUT LASERS!

Dr. Abby Shockley and Dr. Tia Miceli join me in trying to explain lasers to a very Patient Aaron Fischer. this episode is super fun.

Question Barn 7 Mar 23, 2015

Me and Amanda Bauer Answer a question from dave!

"First of all I really enjoy the podcast! And for a while I’ve been wanting to send in this question and think it would be perfect for the new segment. My question is: What direction would one look to see the big bang? Now, I understand that we are in an ever expanding universe and technically the big bang is in all directions but I guess I’m having a hard time mentally grasping the concept. I’ve heard the balloon analogy but I just can’t understand that if I was expanding on an inflating balloon I would still be able to look to the center of said balloon, right?!. Conversely, would it be possible to look away from the big bang and into the space our universe is expanding into?

I hope this hasn’t already been covered but if it has would it be possible to go more in depth with an explanation of the expansion itself. Thanks for such an awesome podcast!

Dave”

Episode 54: The Way the Dog Ran Away Feb 12, 2015

Erin McGathy (from the "This Feels Terrible" and "Harmontown" podcasts and the USB theater in LA) joins us! Dr. Rupinder Brar and Dr. Amanda Bauer have both returned after WAY TOO LONG!

We talk about the milky way! dust and pancakes. dusty pancakes. that'd be a great name! Oh man what a great show! this episode is GREAT!

Listen past the end music for some addition great conversing.

wooooooooooooooooo

Question Barn 6 Feb 01, 2015

Dr. Katie Mack and I talk about big bang stuff.

the question is from bob:

"Hello again Ben. I've found and listened to the QB episodes. Thanks for the help with locating them.

Since you seem to have ready access to a cosmologist, I'd like to offer for QB a trio of related cosmological questions that have bugged me for some time.

1. How do we know that all the matter in the universe came from the big bang?

2. How do we know that the big bang did not expand into an existing precursor universe? (It seems plausible to me that this may be the case but we have no way to know because the hyperinflation immediately after the big bang and accelerating expansion due to dark energy will permanently keep us outside of the light cone of any event in this hypothetical precursor universe. I'm not fond of unfalsifiable theories...)"

Episode 53: Consistent Variables Jan 11, 2015

Vicky Scowcroft and David Tsang were talkin' to me, and i was like "Yoooo what kind of show topic should we do" and Vicky was like "Cepheid Variables" so i was like... hmm. A star who tells us about distance and travelling...

Who else should I ask on the show to talk about these crazy stars, but Lucy Knisley, star of the comic book world and the travel memoir?

mmm. happy winter, everyone.

Question Barn 5 Dec 26, 2014

Geoffrey Lovelace and I talk about Interstellar.

mostly we geek out over the relativity.

we ran out of time before we could make this podcast 3 hours long.

it was definitely a possibility.

Episode 52: Through The Mirror Dec 20, 2014

I was super excited about this Episode! Our Guest is Patrick McHale! We Talk about CPT symmetry (Charge-Parity-Time inversion symmetry), which leads to discussions about antimatter, and the nature of time. it's a SUPER EPISODE! It goes ON AND ON! CRAZY AWESOME PHYSICS!

Physicists Tia Miceli and Ryan Martin!

Question Barn 4 Dec 09, 2014

email your questions to tiphyter@titaniumphysics.com

the question today: "Howdy,

The Higgs boson turned out to be a massive particle from what I

understand. It is also supposed to be a field through which

everything moves. So, there must be a lot of them, I reason. So,

could this be the missing mass of the universe? Maybe there is some

obvious reason that it is not, but I have not heard the idea mentioned

and it seems obvious to me."

Question Barn 3 Nov 17, 2014

This is the Third episode of "Question Barn"

send your questions to TIPHYTER@TITANIUMPHYSICS.COM

This one has Mike Zemcov

Question Barn 2 Nov 14, 2014

This is the Second episode of "Question Barn"

send your questions to TIPHYTER@TITANIUMPHYSICS.COM

This one has Ken Clark.

Question Barn 1 Nov 12, 2014

This is the First episode of "Question Barn"

send your questions to TIPHYTER@TITANIUMPHYSICS.COM

This one has Jocelyn Read on it.

Episode 51: Tabled Tops Oct 22, 2014

Mr. Noah Zimmerman joins us to talk about nuclear magnetic resonance. you know MRIs? "Magnetic resonance Imaging" is what it stands for, "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imaging" is what it actually stands for. Essentially, magnets are used to make the nuclei in your atoms stand up and dance.

Our experts are the Mighty Dr. Fiona Burnell, and the Mighty Dr. Abby Shockley.

THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!

Episode 50: The Death Of Spirals Sep 01, 2014

Galaxies are cool. some are eliplical (blobby) some are swirly. there's a reason why. Our guest today is Katrina Griffiths from the verity podcast. and my experts are Sean Moran and Laura Hainline (they're married. that's why they keep interrupting each other. it's kinda sweet, i think)

wooo! 50 episodes!

Ep 49: Parallel Philosophies with Christopher Reynaga Aug 01, 2014

Christopher Reynaga is an awesome author, and he has written the best story ever which is called “I Only Am Escaped Alone to Tell Thee” . look it up, a link to a podcast reading of the story will be on teh website.

Anyway, I wanted to talk to him so I told him that I'd explain many worlds Quantum mechanics to him. well, that and copenhagen interpretation, why not.

So this week's episode is where the math side of physics meets the philosophy side of physics!

Experts are Ken Clark and Tia Miceli .

Domains of Influence with Matt Sheehy and Brent Knopf Jul 01, 2014

Some famous singing clowns once sang a song about magnets. The world looks down on a singing clown's ignorance, but how many of us can actually explain how magnets work?

the question is rhetorical, though, because the answer is obviously "yes I can do it because i am a physicist and i have clever physicist friends who also know a lot about it." i recruited my old pals Brian Sullivan and Fiona Burnell!

Our guests today are Matt Sheehy from the band 'Lost Lander' and Brent Knopf from the band 'Ramona Falls'.

the show is super extra long and we talk about everythinggg! from how magnetic fields are generated, to how magnets work, to how to levitate a frog, to how the sun and earth's magnetic fields work, to how guitar pickups work. it's a good episode.

you should note that a lot of the topics we mention (solar flares, superconductors) have their OWN EPSIODES all about them.

Episode 47: The Song Of Falling Stars with Robot Hugs Jun 18, 2014

Long story short: there's no such thing as a stable orbit... any two objects in orbit will emit gravitational waves.. and slowly get closer and closer together. If the two objects in question are neutron stars, we can even detect the gravitational waves! We hope to "hear" them soon with the LIGO gravitational Wave Observatory!

Today's guest it Robot Hugs, the author of the Robot Hugs comic. The Physicists are Jocelyn Read and David Tsang! WHAT FUN!

Episode 46: Burning Twice as Bright with Alasdair Stuart May 11, 2014

Today is a super episode! it's got so much stuff in it it's CRAYCRAY.

Alasdair Stuart, from the Pseudopod podcast joins James Silvester and Vicky Scowcroft and me.

and we talk about STARS. what's inside them and how they work and how they change.

Episode 45: The ThumBprint of Creation with Ryan North Mar 28, 2014

The most amazing thing has come to pass: a telescope at the south pole called BICEP2 has detected decisive evidence demonstrating that the model of how the universe grew over the first second of existence is correct. It detected evidence of gravitational waves which were generated during inflation! I've put the best team together. Katie Mack! Mike Zemcov... and returning to the show, RYAN NORTH. it's a the best episode we have made.

Episode 44: Radiation oncology Mar 12, 2014

Chad Jones from the collapsed wavefunction podcast joins us today. My experts are Dr. Kiri Nichol and Dr. Ken Clark and we talk about how radiation can be used to cure cancer. Good work, everyone. We talk about Neutron Therapy, Radio Therapy, Brachytherapy.

Episode 43: Approaching Singularity Feb 17, 2014

Jocelyn Read! Katie Mack! Jesse Moynihan! A mighty ensemble to talk about the strangest thing in physics: Gravitational Singularities! Black Holes! Big Bangs! Event Horizons! ADVENTURE.

Episode 42: Quantum Twins Talk In Code Feb 01, 2014

This episode we are talking about Quantum Cryptography! With the host of CANADALAND, Jesse Brown! Also announcing the completion of my ultimate quantum team: Miles Steininger and Dr. Katherine Brown!

Episode 41: The Light Which Pushes Back The Darkness Jan 01, 2014

There was a time when light would not shine in the universe. There was a time when nothing was shining, and the universe was full of light-absorbing gas. But the first stars came, and pushed back the darkness and made the heavens clear. This is the story of the dark age of the universe.

Physicists Vicky Scowcroft and Mike Zemcov explain everything to THE TOLKEIN PROFESSOR Corey Olsen.

Episode 40: Snowlines and No Rhymes Dec 22, 2013

Teachers take things from an unrefined state to a point where they are wonderous. Poets are apt at describing both of these. This episode of TiPhy aims to teach genius poet Taylor Mali about where the planets in our solar system came from. Taylor's time with us was a little short, and our conversation broached many topics. listen after the end music to hear some crazy conversations. My physicists are Catherine and Dave!

Episode 39: Pasta Stars Dec 07, 2013

So. If someone comes up to you and tells you that there are planets out there made of ice and water, you'd go "yeah". and if they said "there are planets made of diamond", you'd probably shrug. what if I told you there were stars made of pasta? well there aren't. theyr'e made of protons and neutrons and electrons that are shaped like pasta!

PASTA PHASES OF MATTER IN NEUTRON STARS!!!!

My guest is my old pal sean martin. My experts are Jocelyn Read and Andrew Steiner. FUN!

Episode 38: Tron Oct 30, 2013

So Tia and Ken and I talk with Dave Shumka from Stop Podcasting Yourself! we talk about accelerators. how they work. what they get used for. whether aspiring supervillains sould invest in a particle accelerator or a giant laser. How Congress is in the pocket of big chud. (we have too much fun). um. listen past the end song to hear more conversation.

Episode 37: Quantum Shave and a Haircut Oct 17, 2013

Q-Bits!

we're talking about quantum computers today!

ha. Okay! our guest today is comicbookgirl19, and my experts are Omair Taibah and Katherine Brown.

This episode is fun, but the audio quality is BAAD.

After weeks of obsessive work, I had to make poor john give up on trying to fix this thing. sorry.

Episode 36: Useless Spheres and Wasteful Rockets Sep 01, 2013

So.

One day we will be a space-faring species.

currently, we're more of an "earth orbit" faring species.

anyway. we'll need large structures to help us get into space, and maybe to help us live in space.

MEGASTRUCTURES IN SPACE.

Mur Lafferty joins Jocelyn Read and Jacob Stump and myself. WHAT FUN.

Episode 35: Crater?! I Hardly Know Her! Jul 22, 2013

Hooooooohh! It's Natasha Allegri! The Creator of Bee and PuppyCat! and also Fionna and Cake! We're going to talk about Craters! CRATERS! how they form! I've recruited Charlie Barnhart (from science sort of) and Lissa Ong to explain everything to us!

Episode 34: Ladder To The Stars Jun 24, 2013

Mookie Terracciano! James Silvester! Amanda Bauer!

Lets talk about the methods we use to figure out how far stars are away from us.

the answer is: LOTS OF CLEVERNESS.

Episode 33: His Dark Materials Jun 09, 2013

“Into this wild Abyss/ The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave--/ Of neither sea, nor shore, nor air, nor fire,/ But all these in their pregnant causes mixed/ Confusedly, and which thus must ever fight,/ Unless the Almighty Maker them ordain/ His dark materials to create more worlds,--/ Into this wild Abyss the wary Fiend/ Stood on the brink of Hell and looked a while,/ Pondering his voyage; for no narrow frith/ He had to cross. ”

I went to meet Ben Caplan, notable indie rock musician, and I asked him what he wanted to learn about. He told me "Dark Energy", so I laid my plans. This EPISODE: the return of Rupinder Brar! The return of Vicky Scowcroft! Ben Caplan! Dark Energy! ALLEZ!

Episode 32: Sailors take warning May 08, 2013

Reuben: "Hey dad, why is the sky blue?"

Steve: "Sky Marlins. probably."

Reuben: "You're not sure?"

Steve: "umm. lets ask the Titanium Physicists."

So When Steve asked if we could teach his 10 year old kid physics we were like "YESS!" because it's like we are training our own encyclopedia brown. So. If you have a mystery that needs solving, go ask Reuben.

So this episode we have Amanda Bauer and Ken Clark.

*note: I'm sorry Ken fans. Ken gets dropped from the call, and we couldn't get him back. T_T sorry everyone.*

okayy! Lets talk about why the sky is blue!

Episode 31: Pushing Mirrors Apr 08, 2013

Lets Talk about the Casimir Effect! The difference between the vacuum between two mirror and the vacuum beyond them sucks the mirrors together! Vacuum Energy! Negative Mass! Warp Drives! Quantum mechanics! Tia Miceli, Mike Zemcov! I SUMMON YOU! explain quantum field theory to Megan Harns!

Episode 30: Subtle Pursuits Mar 10, 2013

Particle Detectors! Tia Miceli! Ken Clark! I summon you! Explain geiger counters, scintilators, cloud chambers, bubble chambers, photomultipliers, CCD's, and CERN's mighty ATLAS detector to our guest Gareth L. Powell, author of Ack-Ack Macaque! this episode is a little long, but it's a lot great.

Episode 29: Dark Equivalence Feb 12, 2013

Alasdair Stuart joins Jocelyn and Dave on this episode. We talk about black holes and time: specifically how black holes affect time.Everything we say will make sense, because we will introduce the Equivalence Principle. the movie "Twins" is referred to about 1,000,000 times this episode. BE WARNED.

this episode is rated explicit because sometimes I don't want to cut the mildly dirty jokes, okay?!

Episode 28: Smoke Like Swirls on the Moon Jan 21, 2013

"Conceiving my heart as gutter broke,

my sweet love grants me a boon,

and joy rose up, grey billowing smoke,

smoke like swirls on the moon"

-no quality poem ever.

So back when i started the show I sent Catherine an email. She's always been one of my most gifted astronomy friends. I said "hey, give me a topic for the show." I expected her to say like "variable stars that wobble because of acoustic waves" or something. she said "lunar swirls". i said "I'll get back to you".

Anyway.

she persisted.

i gave in.

and we put together a show about SWIRLS ON THE MOON.

apparently there are swirls on the moon. and they're AWESOME.

So my experts today are Catherine Neish and Sebastien Besse. and we explain everything to Jordan Harbinger, who hosts the Pickup Podcast.

Life is fun.

Episode 27: Death and Heat Death Dec 31, 2012

Yaaaay! Today we're talking about Entropy. It's an oft cited but also oft misunderstood law of nature.

Our Guest is Cory Doctorow, Author, Blogger, King of the Blogosphere!

(If you go to the website www.titaniumphysics.com you can read an additional explanation which... I forgot to mention while we were recording the show, even though it IS REALLY actually very neat)

It's Jocely and Miles. My old friends.

Have FUN!

Episode 26: Black Gold Dec 10, 2012

Pssst. Want some free energy?

who doesn't want an unlimited supply of energy? no one, that's who!

today we're talking about how to use a black hole to turn everyday objects (like garbage and ducks) into sweet, sweet energy.

our guest is Kai Nagata, and the physicists are Laura Hainline and Mike Zemcov.

three things to note:

1) listen past the end credits to hear a long-ass conversation about whether having free energy is a good thing.

2) Kai's internet connection was lousy and kept dropping out. so today's episode is less conversational than we are used to. we had to fix it in editing.

3) speaking of editing, the bulk of this episode's edits were done by a gentleman named John Heath. John made our horrible skype recording sound so good. If you meet John on the street, please give him all the money in your pockets. you know, from me.

Episode 25: The No Bear Theorem Nov 12, 2012

This week's guest is Anne Casselman! and Dave and Jocelyn are back. and we're talking about what happens if you fall into a black hole. mostly, we make bear spaghetti. Things are very sad. Listen past the end song to hear a fun discussion of the no hair theorem, and Hawking radiation. WHAT FUN!

Episode 24: Higgs In A Blanket Oct 14, 2012

Zounds! What Fun!

So when I started the show, everyone was like "HEY BEN! DO A SHOW ON THE HIGGS"

and i was like "No, it's boring and hard to explain and they aren't even going to find it anyway."

then they found it and everyone was like "Hey Ben! Do a show on the higgs!"

and i was like "ugh, I need to do at least four episodes. One on particle decay, one on particel detectors, one on the higgs field, and then maybe a detailed on on how they found it. but that's hard..."

anyway. So. here's a show on the Higgs field. It's how everything gets mass. kind of. we're in tip of the iceberg territory here.

OKAY! SO!

Today's physicists are Tia Miceli, and Matt Buckley.

and our guest today is Greg Proops, The smartest man in the world.

Enjoy.

Episode 23: Quantum Tunneling Oct 01, 2012

well. here is a very stupid riddle: How does a very small mole?

if you answer it, send me an email and i'll send you a prize.

lets talk shop.

1) todays show is about quantum tunneling. it features henry Reich blowing us all out of the water with his high caliber explanations. It also features Justin Pierce of Wonderella fame. you should watch one minute physics videos and read wonderella. skip work today.

2.0) sorry about the sound quality, i'm still fighting a new internet connection. I'm doing my best, and i have honestly spent about 12 hours edting this.

2.1) at the end of the show is a lot of content that I threw into the appendices. enjoy.

2) Apple has a new podcast app. go see if you can find us on it? if you can't write us a review or something. I'm still trying to wrangle it currently. I hate it when things change.

3) maybe nominations for this year's podcasting awards are going to open up? maybe we should be nominated for the science category? maybe we don't stand a chance against those skeptics podcasts. maybe lots of things happen. getting on that list sure would make a lot of people notice the show though.

4) KEEP SCIENCE IN YOUR HEARTS!

5) If we get nominated for a podcasting award, i'll try to find a better (cheaper) place that sells t-shirts. then, tshirts for everyone!

Episode 22: Falling Down the Stepped Leader Sep 17, 2012

Hi everyone!

We're back, after a short vacation, with a show for the summertime!

THUNDER! banana-nananana THUNDER! banana-nananana! THUNDER!

today's guest is Elizabeth Bear, award winning author!

and our experts are Amanda Bauer and Zach Weinersmith!

lots of fun for everyone.

SHAZAM!

Episode 21: Things Fall Apart Aug 20, 2012

Today the topic is Particle decay. it's the first of a larger set of episodes leading up to an explanation of the discovery of the Higgs.

but more interestingly. particles decay.

My guest is Dan Jankwoski, and my physicists are Ken Clark and Tia Miceli!

ALLEZ! PHYSIQUE!

Episode 20: Time Dilates When You're Having Fun Jul 29, 2012

Oh gosh,

we got carried away on the discussions in this one.

the raw recording was about 100 minutes long,

and even after some heavy editing, i couldn't get the "regular show" part under 40 minutes *shame*.

perhaps... your clock is just running faster than mine?

well... it's summer.

anyway! This episode's guest is Michael Mookie Terracciano, author of the webcomic "Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire"

and we're taking the special event of our 20th episode to talk about SPECIAL RELATIVITY.

Episode 19: The Northern Lights Jul 14, 2012

Hello everybody.

What causes the northern lights?

as far as I understand it... northern lights are what happens when polar bears drink cocacola.

but... maybe I'm just being silly.

Today's guest is Nathan Lowell! Go listen to some of his books on your next car trip. when you arrive, you'll feel pretty good about everything. maybe you'll even want to go back to school. learning is cool.

man, these things sure sound a lot different in the final cut than they do in their initial raw audiofile.

for one thing, we don't all talk like genius auctioneers.

maybe you should try listening to this with the *1/2 speed* turned on on your ipod. @_@

Episode 18: That Superconductor Episode Jul 02, 2012

Fiona Burnell! Darren Peets! Ryan North!

it's a Festival of wonderful.

listen, i'm going to admit it here. I didn't know much about how superconductors work when i chose this topic.

I don't know why i never learned how it worked, but I never did. whoops.

anyway, the answer is crazy. it has to do with electrons getting married and having to get their credit card spending under control.

I don't know if that Gail Lady visited them or what.

SBS! The Weekly Weinersmith Ep. 2 Jun 25, 2012

Hi tiphyters!

there was a problem this week and we had to postpone recording. boooo I know.

but don't feel bad. the next episode will have ryan north and fiona return. we'll talk about superconductors.

anyway, I thought I'd try one of the fun features of the brachiolope media network: The Substitute Brachiolope System.

so the deal is that when one of our shows can't make it (for whatever reason) we can reroute content from one of our sister podcasts.

That way you get lots of science, and we feel slightly less guilty.

So. I'm putting in an episode of The Weekly Weinersmith. this one is lots of fun!

Episode 17: See Spot Sun! Jun 09, 2012

Hellooo. today we're going to talk about how the solar dynamo causes sunspots to form.

and we're doing it with David Malki!

this episode is pretty rad.

listen past the end music to hear a lot of silly conversations. there are a lot of them. :( why does my show have to be half an hour of ramming physics down your gullet? why cant i leave the funny and distracting stuff in context? If you know the answer to these questions, email me, and I'll give you a prize.

Episode 16: Drinking Superfluid from the Fire Hose of Knowledge May 28, 2012

Oh My gosh! It's Kelly Link! The awardwinning Author of my favourite short story "Magic for Beginners"!!! You can download some of her stories for free, and even listen to them on the internet.

Anyway, we're talking about superfluids today. What's a superfluid? Well. It's what you get when you cool helium down really cold. It has strange properties. Watch some videos on it, if you have time... It might help.

Fiona and Jocelyn are back to help me explain. well. try to explain.

Episode 15: Music From Before Time May 13, 2012

Today's Show is Awesome because our guest is TED LEO! the guy from the intro-song (Tell Balgeary, Balgury is Dead)! I bring together Vicky Scowcroft and Mike Zemcov and we talk about how GIANT SOUND WAVES which rang through the universe at a time before recombination (like.. 13+ billion years ago) provided that seeds for gravitational collapse. as a result, the size of these sound waves explain the size of the largest "objects" in the universe: gravitational super clusters! They also explain why there's nothing bigger.

It turns out that before there was any differentiation at all, there was music.

ROCK ON TED LEO!

ROCK ON TIPHYTERS!

(P.S. there's a couple rad conversations after the end music. that Ted Leo is a smart guy.)

Episode 14: How Do You Spell Quasar? Apr 30, 2012

Hey everyone!

I decided to do a show on Quasars. because I didn't know what they were. So then I looked It up. Turns out, they're black holes! My Favourite.

I also looked up two of my other favourites, Laura Hainline and Sean Moran. Turns out, they know Everything about Quasars.

So then I looked up the author of one of my favourite webcomics, Howard Tayler.

This show is fantastic. Too bad we had to record the show using two tin cans and a piece of string, and an old wax cylinder sound recorder. Oh well. It's not like I have any money to spend on sound quality (I spend it all on quality of character).

by the way, if anyone can spot the magical SUPERFLUOUS word I've worked into the usual script, send me an email with it as the subject line, and I'll write you back a prize.

the prize is a haiku about whatever's on my mind.

Also note that there are a couple extra bits after the bunny song. not much. I left a couple extra (edited) minutes in the regular part of the show, so we ran a couple min overtime.

bn

Episode 13: That Which Lies Beneath The Ice Apr 16, 2012

Today we've got Andrew Johnstone from the Podcast Squared Podcast. I wanted to do him ONE BETTER, and In a cool way, so today we're going to talk about Ice Cube (not the rapper).

ICE CUBE is humankind's largest constructed structure. It's a one-kilometer squared cube neutrino detector buried one mile deep under a glacier in antarctica.

to help me along with this show, I've brought on my old friends Ken Clark and Laura Gladstone. note: This isn't an episode of the flintstones. if it were, Ken's name would be Slate Clarkrock.

BIG NOTE: this show has a long series of very silly conversations following the bunny song at the end. they are very silly. please don't try riding a bicycle slowly through a crowd of toddlers when listening to the appendix bits. you will probably laugh, lose your ballance and crush a child.

Episode 12: Exiled Worlds on the Outskirts Apr 02, 2012

HaHa!

You all remember how Pluto got kicked to the curb.

It turns out that Pluto is just one of a large family of worlds: The Dwarf planets of the Kuiper Belt!

I have brought on two fantastic astronomers to aide me: Sean Moran and Laura Hainline.

We explain everything you've ever wanted to know about the Dwarf Planets of the Kuiper Belt:

what's a planet. what's a dwarf. How big are Kuiper's pants?

We explain everything to Keith Hayward and Max Wellenstein of the Henshin Justice Unlimited Podcast and Website.

Listen after the closing bunny song to hear an interesting discussion on whether there's a big giant planet the size of jupiter (planet X) out beyond pluto.

Episode 11: Of Matters Dark... Mar 18, 2012

Hello everyone. Allow me to introduce my old friend Ken Clark, and my new friend Amanda Bauer. He works on Ice Cube and she works in australia. But he's not a bar tender, and she is not a kangarooist. rather, they are my NEWEST TITANIUM PHYSICISTS! and today we're going to talk about how dark things matter. specifically, dark matter.

We've invited the clever Kai Nagata, the revolutionary canadian journalist onto the show. I felt that we'd need a journalist to figure out the nature of that which could not be seen but which clearly exists.

Check out the website for this episode especially. Both Amanda and Kai have done some fantastic things which can be found on the internet, and you should not miss out. Ken is fantastic too. Once I made him a spinach sallad and I didn't wash the spinach enough so it was super sandy, but he still wolfed it down and told me that it was the greatest salad he ever ate because he is VERY POLITE.

enjoy the show.

and if you read this, send me an email the phrase "sky palace 7" to tiphyter@titaniumphysics.com I'll give you a prize.

Episode 10: Neutron Stars Mar 05, 2012

OH HOH HOH! we're on episode 10. double digits! A NEW ORDER OF MAGNITUDE.

To celebrate, I've invited my old standards Jocelyn Read and David Tsang up from the basement I keep them in to help me explain Neutron Stars to my dear wife Bethany Murray.

What's a neutron star, you ask? well it's like a star made of neutrons. listen to the show.

Episode 9: Warp Drive Feb 20, 2012

In episode 9, Its back to the A team (which stands for Apple, which points to "g", cuz their words have weight!) with Jocelyn Read and Dave Tsang! Today We're talking about the Alcubierre Warp Drive. You've probably heard of this before, but not in this detail. Oh, we definitely brought our Bee game to this episode!

To help keep us in line and on time, we’ve invited Zach Weinersmith from Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and our sister podcast: The Weekly Weinersmith. It's lively and fun, so Sit Down in your seat, turn up the podcast, pay attention, and bee hive yourself.

Note: There’s some Extra bits after the end music. Two extra bits actually. There was a third very long conversation about bees, but It didn't make the cut.

Episode 8: The Sea of Dirac Feb 05, 2012

Jocelyn is back, and this time it's with our good pal Fiona Burnell! Today we get to talk to Ryan Haupt of Science Sort Of fame. The Topic of today's show is The Dirac Sea! You know how when you cookie-cutter out a cookie from some rolled out dough, there's a hole left behind the size and shape of the cookie? particles are like that too. and the cookie dough is called the Dirac sea: named after Dirac, the great lover of cookies. Listen past the end credits for a bit where I try to explain the dirac sea using bees, and jocelyn sings a song about the everlovin' Hulk! HULK! HULK!

Episode 7: Extra Solar Planets Jan 22, 2012

It's my old Friends Rupinder Brar and Joanna Woo! Today we get to talk to Ryan North of Dinosaur Comics fame. We try to explain how planets around other stars get detected. Also Star Trek gets mentioned. There's some edited-out conversation after the end music, for those of you who like to hear people talk even more about star trek. May The Force Live Long And Prosper With YOU!!!

Episode 6: Gravitational Waves Jan 09, 2012

Dave and Jocelyn are back, and we talk to Chris Lackey and Chad Fifer (from the HP Lovecraft literary Podcast) about Gravitational waves. Long story short, Physicists are on the verge of being able to listen to the music of the spheres... those horrible monstrous spheres which have been devouring planets and stars for untold aeons. Who knows what we will hear?

Episode 5: The Dunes of Titan Dec 23, 2011

In This Episode, charlie Barnhart, Catherine Neish and I talk to Ryan North about the similarities between Titan, Earth and Mars. This show has a bit of bonus conversation after the closing music

Episode 4: The Solar Neutrino Problem Dec 11, 2011

The Titanium Physicists explain the Solar Neutrino Problem To Artist and Apiarist Amy Pollien.

Episode 3: Time Travel Nov 28, 2011

Dave, Jocelyn and I sit down with dr mcninja creator Christopher Hastings. We teach him about time travel.

Episode 2: Black Hole Detection Nov 13, 2011

We explain black hole detection to Kelly Weinersmith.

Episode 1: Big Rips Nov 09, 2011

Titanium Physicists Jocelyn Read, David Tsang and Ben Tippett try to explain Big Rips to internet comic superstar Ryan North.