The Thought Experiment
Scott V. Burger
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Top 10 The Thought Experiment Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best The Thought Experiment episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to The Thought Experiment for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite The Thought Experiment episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
Heisenburg's Uncertainty Principle
The Thought Experiment
09/13/07 • -1 min
What can a retired basketball player and a cannon full of paintballs teach us about quantum uncertainty? A lot, actually. Have a listen in on why we can't tell where a proton is at the same time when we know its momentum: the quintessential uncertainty principle. For a link to the blog post I mouth off about, see the exposé on Ramtha and What the Bleep Were They Thinking?
New and permenant theme music: Baxiden by Liquid Tension Experiment
First New Show
The Thought Experiment
08/08/11 • -1 min
The Strong Nuclear Force (video)
The Thought Experiment
07/03/08 • -1 min
The Thought Experiment podcast has been kind of stagnant lately. Largely because I've been so busy here on campus with Dark Matter research and so on and hopefully this video, a talk I gave recently on the strong nuclear force that holds atomic nuclei together, can shed some light on just how jam packed my schedule has been these last few days.
The recording quality is rather lacking, yes, but my placement of the microphone in the lecture hall I guess was less than strategic. Plus it has more buttons to confuse an astronaut!
Enjoy!
Kent Hovind's Last Debate
The Thought Experiment
07/24/07 • -1 min
Well, this week we had originally planned to go over Maxwell's Demon, but a screwup in the recording prompted us to ditch the file. Perhaps it was for the better, given that it is the 1 year anniversary of our debate with famed creationist Kent Hovind. Perhaps one of our few PDFcasts, the debate is about 20 some odd pages in length, but filled with comedic gold. As a toast to the convicted tax evasionist and 'scientist', we are putting up for free download a transcript from our debate with an intro included.
The feed has now been updated. Hopefully it should work at this point. If any other podcasts are not up and running, please alert me and I'll fix 'em.
Mach's Machine
The Thought Experiment
07/14/07 • -1 min
Courtesy of Stanford
Ersnt Mach proposed that perpetual motion machines went against common sense. In this solitary episode, I talk about various claims of pseudo-scientific energy companies and talk about why their murky science is, at best, flawed. From tachyon theory of gravity to consciousness-energy, a short list of problems is noted.
White Army, Black Baron is by the Soviet National Choir
Can Life be Patented? (Skypecast)
The Thought Experiment
07/10/07 • -1 min
A deep philosophical question indeed, arisen from the recent episode of Science Friday's discussion on ethics of cloning. Andrew and I are joined by members of the Skype community in the form of a skypecast in which we discuss the ideas and let the fans of the podcast get a word in as well, live. Despite off-topicness and quality issues (Skypecasts have been under repair as of late), we venture forth into a discussion about whether or not life as we know it or not can indeed by patented.
'The White Tree' by Howard Shore
Shedding Light on Dark Matter (supplement)
The Thought Experiment
08/31/08 • -1 min
I've added as supplementary material here, my actual printed powerpoint presentation slides for the 4-part 50-minute lecture. Although the incredible animation effects that went into the Barry Bonds segment aren't alive on the .pdf document, the images provide backup to all those times that I say, "search this or that." It may also be helpful to scroll through it while listening.
Also, I may as well attach my paper, Dark Matter Versus Modified Newtonian Dynamics, for those who are interested in my segment in the series that covered it. I went over the topic briskly and may have skipped some things, so the paper is also in this post for everyone to gawk over.
Shedding Light on Dark Matter (part 3)
The Thought Experiment
08/22/08 • -1 min
In the fall I'm giving a lecture series on topics ranging from the history of the universe to time travel. Dark Matter is one of those topics.
In this third of 4 part series, we go over candidates for dark matter particles and detection techniques.
Next installment goes over the history of Dark Matter and its competitors.
Olbers' Paradox
The Thought Experiment
07/05/07 • -1 min
Detailing how the universe, if infinite, should be as bright as the surface of the sun, Andrew and I also talk about whether or not if theory is ahead of testability and the feasibility thereof. Sorry about the overlap between Andrew and I's speaking, it was a latency error with the recording program used. It gets annoying, but just listen to what Andrew has to say.
I only realized at the last possible second that I needed some sort of July 4th theme music, and due to the fact I was lacking some 1812 Overture, I tossed in the most patriotic song that wasn't a Hans Zimmer work. Fight For Freedom is by Manowar.
Shedding Light on Dark Matter (part 1)
The Thought Experiment
08/09/08 • -1 min
In the fall I'm giving a lecture series on topics ranging from the history of the universe to time travel. Dark Matter is one of those topics.
In this first of 4 part series, I give a brief introduction and go over distinguishing Dark Matter from what isn't Dark Matter.
Next installment deals with properties of matter and Dark Matter and how they apply to baseball.
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FAQ
How many episodes does The Thought Experiment have?
The Thought Experiment currently has 21 episodes available.
What topics does The Thought Experiment cover?
The podcast is about Knowledge, Astronomy, Natural Sciences, Podcasts, Science, Philosophy, Thought and Physics.
What is the most popular episode on The Thought Experiment?
The episode title 'Shedding Light on Dark Matter (supplement)' is the most popular.
How often are episodes of The Thought Experiment released?
Episodes of The Thought Experiment are typically released every 9 days, 22 hours.
When was the first episode of The Thought Experiment?
The first episode of The Thought Experiment was released on Jun 26, 2007.
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