Harry Cliff on Particle Physics and the Large Hadron Collider

Harry Cliff on Particle Physics and the Large Hadron Collider

Lex Fridman interviews Harry Cliff in the latest episode of his podcast.

Harry Cliff is a particle physicist at the University of Cambridge working on the Large Hadron Collider beauty experiment that specializes in searching for hints of new particles and forces by studying a type of particle called the “beauty quark”, or “b quark”. In this way, he is part of the group of physicists who are searching answers to some of the biggest questions in modern physics. He is also an exceptional communicator of science with some of the clearest and most captivating explanations of basic concepts in particle physics I’ve ever heard. 

Time Index:

  • 0:00 – Introduction
  • 3:51 – LHC and particle physics
  • 13:55 – History of particle physics
  • 38:59 – Higgs particle
  • 57:55 – Unknowns yet to be discovered
  • 59:48 – Beauty quarks
  • 1:07:38 – Matter and antimatter
  • 1:10:22 – Human side of the Large Hadron Collider
  • 1:17:27 – Future of large particle colliders
  • 1:24:09 – Data science with particle physics
  • 1:27:17 – Science communication
  • 1:33:36 – Most beautiful idea in physics

A Camera Lens that Can See Behind Objects?

A Camera Lens that Can See Behind Objects?

Applied Science explores a type of optics that defy conventional logic.

Telecentric and hypercentric optics are very different from our eyes or normal camera lenses. They have “negative” perspective or no perspective, respectively, leading to very unusual images. In this video I show how to use a common fresnel lens in the creation of your own telecentric optical system.

The Future of Quantum Computing Could Live on a Cryogenic Chip

The Future of Quantum Computing Could Live on a Cryogenic Chip

Commercially viable quantum computing could be here sooner than you think, thanks to a new innovation that shrinks quantum tech down onto a chip: a cryochip.

Seeker explains:

It seems like quantum computers will likely be a big part of our computing future—but getting them to do anything super useful has been famously difficult. Lots of new technologies are aiming to get commercially viable quantum computing here just a little bit faster, including one innovation that shrinks quantum technology down onto a chip.

A Dark Matter Hunter Is Built With Quantum Computer Parts

A Dark Matter Hunter Is Built With Quantum Computer Parts

Seeker examines how research into quantum computing may uncover more about the universe.

Scientists have built an advanced instrument with parts from a quantum computer that’s sensitive enough to listen for the signal of a dark matter particle. The Axion Dark Matter Experiment (ADMX) at the University of Washington is the world’s first dark matter experiment that’s hunting specifically for axions.

Lee Smolin on Quantum Gravity and Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution

Lee Smolin on Quantum Gravity and Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution

Lex Fridman interviews Lee Smolin, a theoretical physicist, co-inventor of loop quantum gravity, and a contributor of many interesting ideas to cosmology, quantum field theory, the foundations of quantum mechanics, theoretical biology, and the philosophy of science.

He is the author of several books including one that critiques the state of physics and string theory called The Trouble with Physics, and his latest book, Einstein’s Unfinished Revolution: The Search for What Lies Beyond the Quantum.

This conversation is part of the Artificial Intelligence podcast. 

Time Stamps:

  • 0:00 – Introduction
  • 3:03 – What is real?
  • 5:03 – Scientific method and scientific progress
  • 24:57 – Eric Weinstein and radical ideas in science
  • 29:32 – Quantum mechanics and general relativity
  • 47:24 – Sean Carroll and many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics
  • 55:33 – Principles in science
  • 57:24 – String theory

John Hopfield on the Physics View of the Mind and Neurobiology

John Hopfield on the Physics View of the Mind and Neurobiology

Lex Fridman interviews John Hopfield, a professor at Princeton, whose life’s work weaved beautifully through biology, chemistry, neuroscience, and physics.

Most crucially, he saw the messy world of biology through the piercing eyes of a physicist. He is perhaps best known for his work on associate neural networks, now known as Hopfield networks that were one of the early ideas that catalyzed

Timeline:

  • 0:00 – Introduction
  • 2:35 – Difference between biological and artificial neural networks
  • 8:49 – Adaptation
  • 13:45 – Physics view of the mind
  • 23:03 – Hopfield networks and associative memory
  • 35:22 – Boltzmann machines
  • 37:29 – Learning
  • 39:53 – Consciousness
  • 48:45 – Attractor networks and dynamical systems
  • 53:14 – How do we build intelligent systems?
  • 57:11 – Deep thinking as the way to arrive at breakthroughs
  • 59:12 – Brain-computer interfaces
  • 1:06:10 – Mortality
  • 1:08:12 – Meaning of life

How Decoherence Splits The Quantum Multiverse

How Decoherence Splits The Quantum Multiverse

Why is it that we can see these multiple histories play out on the quantum scale, and why do lose sight of them on our macroscopic scale?

Many physicists believe that the answer lies in a process known as quantum decoherence.

Does conscious observation of a quantum system cause the wavefunction to collapse? The upshot is that more and more physicists think that consciousness – and even measurement – doesn’t directly cause wavefunction collapse.

In fact probably there IS no clear Heisenberg cut. The collapse itself may be an illusion, and the alternate histories that the wavefunction represents may continue forever. The question then becomes: why is it that we can see these multiple histories play out on the quantum scale, and why do lose sight of them on our macroscopic scale? Many physicists believe that the answer lies in a process known as quantum decoherence. 

What Quantum Computing Isn’t

What Quantum Computing Isn’t

Quantum computing, a subject as confusing as it is intriguing.

In this fascinating and entertaining talk, Scott Aaronson elucidates the potential and the limits of quantum computing.

In a sober fashion, he gives an overview of the state of research, telling us not only what we could expect from quantum computers in the future, but also what we probably shouldn’t.

Scott Aaronson is the David J. Bruton Centennial Professor of Computer Science at The University of Texas at Austin, USA, and director of its Quantum Information Center. He is well-known for his “complexity zoo,” which helps to classify problems that can be solved by computers, both quantum and classical, according to how hard it is to solve them.

Scott is an accomplished academic researcher who published dozens of influential papers and won various notable awards, like the Alan T. Waterman Award in 2012. Before his current position at UT Austin, he taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for nine years. In 2004, he received his Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley and held positions at the University of Waterloo and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

Shohini Ghose on a Beginner’s Guide to Quantum Computing

Shohini Ghose on a Beginner’s Guide to Quantum Computing

A quantum computer isn’t just a more powerful version of the computers we use today; it’s something else entirely, based on emerging scientific understanding — and more than a bit of uncertainty.

Enter the quantum wonderland with TED Fellow Shohini Ghose and learn how this technology holds the potential to transform medicine, create unbreakable encryption and even teleport information.

Can’t get enough? Here’s another video.