Tidal Forces



The tides come in and out, but the physics of tidal forces are so much more fascinating that just that. We explore what tidal forces can really do this week going from the earth-moon system to forming planetary rings and finally stars being ripped apart by black holes.

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Outro by Eric Pierce


Terraforming the Martian Atmosphere



Terraforming mars has been a topic on science fiction for decades, but it is actually possible. There are still many problems associated with it and one of the biggest issues of transforming the Martian atmosphere is heavily based in physics. I don’t hear this mentioned very much, but that’s what we talk about this week.

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Outro by Eric Pierce


The Bronze Age Collapse



How was it that earliest civilizations suddenly disappeared. During the bronze age, there were complicated interconnected societies most of which collapsed over the course of a few centuries. We talk about some of the leading theories that lead to this collapse.

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Outro by Eric Pierce


The physics behind climate change



We’ve heard from scientists that CO2 is a greenhouse gas that is causing average global temperatures to rise, but that’s it. Few people know why that is the case and even fewer know the physics behind this phenomenon, which is surprisingly simple. Here we go through why climate change is just logical physics.

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Outro by Eric Pierce


Forever the fuel of the future – Hydrogen Fuel Cells



Just like fusion, hydrogen fuel cells have been touted as being the fuel of the future, but as the years go on that promise never becomes a reality. This week we talk about what fuel cells are and some of the challenges that face the technology along with some of its benefits over conventional electric or gas vehicles.

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Outro by Eric Pierce


Why we do physics



Perhaps the most consistent question asked about scientific research is why does this matter. It is something each researcher struggles with everyday. That question is important, but it needs to be put into a larger context before its importance can be realized. That’s what we talk about this week using two historical examples and relating it to the launch of JWST.

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Outro by Eric Pierce


The First Market Bubble – Tulip Fever



The existence of market bubbles are not unique to our modern world. They’ve existed in the past and possibly the first market bubble involved the sale of Tulips. How exactly did the situation lead to a bubble that eventually popped and is it any different from the bubbles we are aware of today?

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Outro by Eric Pierce