Best Dark Matter Digital Network Podcasts (2025)

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332 | Dmitri Tymoczko on the Mathematics Behind Music 1:21:11

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17h ago1:21:11

1:21:11

Music is math that you can dance to. The fact that certain notes sound good when played together, or in succession, is related to the mathematical properties of the frequencies to which they correspond, an idea that goes back as far as Pythagoras himself. These days we have a much more intricate understanding of these relationships and how to manip…

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AMA | October 2025 3:37:18

8d ago3:37:18

3:37:18

Welcome to the October 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the ques…

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331 | Solo: Fine-Tuning, God, and the Multiverse 1:54:45

15d ago1:54:45

1:54:45

Certain features of our universe seem unnatural to us. These include "constants of nature" such as the cosmological constant and the mass of the Higgs boson, as well as features of the initial conditions like the curvature of space and the initial entropy. But they can't truly be "unnatural" -- they are literally features of Nature itself. Some hav…

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Weirdly Normal - The Science of Neurodiversity - Live from Latitude 42:17

18d ago42:17

42:17

What if being a bit weird is actually entirely normal? What if sharing our internal struggles wasn't a sign of weakness, but strength? Let some experts help you wade through the 'neurotrash' to talk about the science of neurodiversity. Gina Rippon is a Professor of Cognitive NeuroImaging and author of The Gendered Brain and The Lost Girls of Autism…

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330 | Petter Törnberg on the Dynamics of (Mis)Information 1:12:01

22d ago1:12:01

1:12:01

A characteristic of complex systems is that individual components combine to exhibit large-scale emergent behavior even when the components were not specifically designed for any particular purpose within the collective. Sometimes those individual components are us -- people interacting within societies or online communities. Studying the dynamics …

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329 | Steven Pinker on Rationality and Common Knowledge 1:16:32

29d ago1:16:32

1:16:32

Getting along in society requires that we mostly adhere to certainly shared norms and customs. Often it's not enough that we all know what the rules are, but also that everyone else knows the rules, and that they know that we know the rules, and so on. Philosophers and game theorists refer to this as common knowledge. In Steven Pinker's new book, W…

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We're Going On a Dark Matter Hunt - Live from Latitude 51:43

1M ago51:43

51:43

Recorded live at Latitude 2025, join Dr Clara Nellist of CERN, and two astrophysicists, Sky at Night co-host Dr Maggie Aderin-Pock and Sky at Night regular Dr Jen Gupta alongside Dr Helen Czerski to discuss what we know about Dark Matter, and how we're trying to actually find it. Support the show at patreon.com/cosmicshambles and watch the video ve…

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328 | Mary Roach on Replacing Parts of Our Bodies 1:07:20

1M ago1:07:20

1:07:20

Like any machine, bodies occasionally break down, and it's natural to go in search of a replacement part. Ancient societies featured simple prosthetics for teeth, noses, and limbs, while modern medicine pursues more advanced ways of replacing internal organs and microbiomes. But what is striking is not just the impressive ingenuity of our attempts …

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AMA | September 2025 3:30:04

1M ago3:30:04

3:30:04

Welcome to the September 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the qu…

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327 | Cass Sunstein on Liberalism 1:10:15

2M ago1:10:15

1:10:15

"Liberalism," divorced from its particular connotations in this or that modern political context, refers broadly to a philosophy of individual rights, liberties, and responsibilities, coupled with respect for institutions and rule of law over personalized power. As Cass Sunstein construes the term, liberalism encompasses a broad tent, from Ronald R…

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326 | Natalie Batalha on What We Know and Will Learn About Exoplanets 1:12:12

2M ago1:12:12

1:12:12

In a relatively short period of time, exoplanets (planets around stars other than our Sun) have gone from an intriguing conjecture to an active field of scientific study, with over 5,000 confirmed discoveries. The task now is to move beyond merely accumulating new examples, and embarking on systematic studies of their properties. What fraction of s…

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325 | Alvy Ray Smith on Pixar, Pixels, and the Great Digital Convergence 1:26:40

2M ago1:26:40

1:26:40

The world is becoming pixelated. As computers and other digital devices become ubiquitous, human knowledge and communication and information is gradually being converted into, and manipulated as, strings of bits. What does that really mean, and what are the ramifications going forward? Alvy Ray Smith is a computer scientist, co-founder of Pixar, an…

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Trust Me, I'am an AI - Live from Latitude 54:19

2M ago54:19

54:19

AI is in the news everywhere you look at the moment. But amongst all of the sensationalist headlines, what’s really going on, and what should we actually be worried about when it comes to AI? Prof Kevin Fong recently took a look at medicine in AI for a BBC series and Elizabeth Black is a Professor of Artificial Intelligence at King’s College. They …

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324 | Elizabeth Mynatt on Universities and the Importance of Basic Research 1:13:31

2M ago1:13:31

1:13:31

It is not manifestly obvious that universities should be where most scholarly research is performed. One could imagine systems that separated out the tasks of "teaching students" and "generating new knowledge." But it turns out that combining them yields spectacular synergies, both from letting students experience cutting-edge research and from kee…

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AMA | August 2025 3:39:58

3M ago3:39:58

3:39:58

Welcome to the August 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the quest…

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323 | Jacob Barandes on Indivisible Stochastic Quantum Mechanics 2:58:21

3M ago2:58:21

2:58:21

The search for a foundational theory of quantum mechanics that all physicists can agree on remains active. Over the last century a number of contenders have emerged, including Many-Worlds, pilot-wave theories, and others, but all of them have aspects that many people object to. Jacob Barandes has taken up the challenge, proposing a new formulation …

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322 | Philip Pettit on Language, Agency, Politics, and Freedom 1:20:47

3M ago1:20:47

1:20:47

When we think of the capacities that distinguish humans from other species, we generally turn to intelligence and its byproducts, including our technological prowess. But our intelligence is highly connected to our ability to use language, which is in turn closely related to our capacities as social creatures. Philosopher Philip Pettit would encour…

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321 | David Tong on Open Questions in Quantum Field Theory 1:19:25

3M ago1:19:25

1:19:25

Quantum field theory is the basis for our most successful theories of fundamental physics. And yet, there are things we don't understand about it. Some of these puzzles are relatively well-known, while others are less celebrated. David Tong joins us to talk about some of the more interesting and perplexing aspects of quantum field theory. He also d…

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AMA | July 2025 4:03:26

4M ago4:03:26

4:03:26

Welcome to the July 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questio…

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320 | Solo: Complexity and the Universe 2:14:44

4M ago2:14:44

2:14:44

Our universe started out looking very simple: hot, dense, smooth, rapidly expanding. According to our best current model, it will end up looking simple once again: cold, dark, empty. It's in between -- now, roughly speaking -- that things look complex. I have been working to understand the stages by which complexity comes into existence, thrives, a…

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319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the World 1:12:39

4M ago1:12:39

1:12:39

It is common to refer to philosophy as "a series of footnotes to Plato." But in the original quote, Alfred North Whitehead was more careful: he limited his characterization to "the European philosophical tradition." There are other traditions, both ancient and ongoing: Chinese philosophy, Indian philosophy, Africana philosophy, and various indigeno…

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318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economics 1:20:39

4M ago1:20:39

1:20:39

Economics is seeing an upsurge in the importance of controlled, reproducible empirical studies. One area where this has had a great impact is on development economics, which studies the economies of low- and middle-income societies. Edward Miguel has been at the forefront of both the revolution in empirical methods, and in applying those techniques…

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317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders 1:14:50

4M ago1:14:50

1:14:50

The human brain is extremely complicated, but decades of careful neuroscientific research have revealed quite a bit about how it works, including how certain genes affect particular brain behaviors. Nevertheless, this progress has not led to quite as much improvement in the treatment of brain disorders as we might expect. I talk with neuroscientist…

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AMA | June 2025 3:23:07

5M ago3:23:07

3:23:07

Welcome to the June 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questio…

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316 | Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper 1:28:50

5M ago1:28:50

1:28:50

Einstein's general theory of relativity, plus some reasonable assumptions about the universe and what it's made of, has a remarkable implication: that as we trace cosmic evolution into the far past, we ultimately hit a singularity of infinite density and curvature, the Big Bang. Did that really happen? Einstein's theory is classical, after all, and…

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315 | Branden Fitelson on the Logic and Use of Probability 1:28:55

5M ago1:28:55

1:28:55

Every time you see an apple spontaneously break away from a tree, it falls downward. You therefore claim that there is a law of physics: apples fall downward from trees. But how can you really know? After all, tomorrow you might see an apple that falls upward. How is science possible at all? Philosophers, as you might expect, have thought hard abou…

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314 | Karen Lloyd on the Deep Underground Biosphere 1:09:18

5M ago1:09:18

1:09:18

There are living creatures dwelling deep below the surface of the Earth, as deep as we are able to drill. These hearty microorganisms are related to more familiar life forms on land and under water, but the operate and survive in ways that are quite different from what we're familiar with. They live off of nutrients that have penetrated from the su…

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313 | Eric Topol on the Changing Face of Medicine and Aging 1:12:03

6M ago1:12:03

1:12:03

Medical science is advancing at an astonishing rate. Today we talk with leading expert Eric Topol about two aspects of this story. First, the use of artificial intelligence in medicine, especially in diagnostics. This is an area that is a perfect match between an important question and the capabilities of machine learning, to the point where AI can…

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AMA | May 2025 3:38:06

6M ago3:38:06

3:38:06

Welcome to the May 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the question…

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312 | Thomas Levenson on the Mutual History of Humans and Germs 1:31:28

6M ago1:31:28

1:31:28

The germ theory of disease is a crowning achievement of science, up there with modern physics, continental drift, and evolution via natural selection. (Even if there will always be cranky skeptics.) But the road to widespread acceptance isn't always an easy one. Why did it take so long between Anton van Leeuwenhoek seeing "animalcules" in a microsc…

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311 | Annaka Harris on Whether Consciousness is Fundamental 1:09:58

6M ago1:09:58

1:09:58

Questions about consciousness range from the precise and empirical -- what neurons fire when I have some particular experience -- to the deeply profound -- does consciousness emerge from matter, or does matter emerge from consciousness? While it might be straightforward to think that consciousness arises from the collective behavior of atoms in the…

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AMA | April 2025 3:30:22

7M ago3:30:22

3:30:22

Welcome to the April 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questi…

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310 | Marc Kamionkowski on Dark Energy and Cosmic Anomalies 1:26:14

7M ago1:26:14

1:26:14

Cosmologists were, let us be honest, pretty stunned in 1998 when observations revealed that the universe is accelerating. There was an obvious plausible explanation, the cosmological constant proposed by Einstein, which is equivalent to a constant vacuum energy pervading space. But the cosmological constant was known to be enormously smaller than i…

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309 | Christof Koch on Consciousness and Integrated Information 1:20:46

7M ago1:20:46

1:20:46

Consciousness is easier to possess than to define. One thing we can do is to look into the brain and see what lights up when conscious awareness is taking place. A complete understanding of this would be known as the "neural correlates of consciousness." Once we have that, we could hopefully make progress on developing a theoretical picture of what…

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308 | Alison Gopnik on Children, AI, and Modes of Thinking 1:09:56

7M ago1:09:56

1:09:56

We often study cognition in other species, in part to learn about modes of thinking that are different from our own. Today's guest, psychologist/philosopher Alison Gopnik, argues that we needn't look that far: human children aren't simply undeveloped adults, they have a way of thinking that is importantly distinct from that of grownups. Children ar…

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AMA | March 2025 2:58:00

7M ago2:58:00

2:58:00

Welcome to the March 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the questi…

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307 | Kevin Peterson on the Theory of Cocktails 1:16:36

8M ago1:16:36

1:16:36

A lot of science goes into crafting the perfect cocktail. Balancing sweet and bitter notes, providing the right amount of aeration and dilution, getting it to just the right temperature and keeping it that way. And even if you have no interest in cocktails as such, the general principles extend to other activities in art and in life. I talk to scie…

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306 | Helen Czerski on Our Energetic Oceans 1:12:19

8M ago1:12:19

1:12:19

It is commonplace to refer to the Earth's oceans as vast and largely unexplored. But we do understand some aspects, and improving that understanding is crucial to ensuring the continued viability and success of life on this planet. The oceans are a paradigmatic complex system: there are many components, distinct but mutually interacting, that add u…

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305 | Lilliana Mason on Polarization and Political Psychology 1:17:25

8M ago1:17:25

1:17:25

Political outcomes would be relatively simple to predict and understand if only people were well-informed, entirely rational, and perfectly self-interested. Alas, real human beings are messy, emotional, imperfect creatures, so a successful theory of politics has to account for these features. One phenomenon that has grown in recent years is an alig…

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Bonus | Cuts to Science Funding and Why They Matter 1:10:25

8M ago1:10:25

1:10:25

The Trump administration, led by Elon Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency, has proposed sweeping cuts to spending on science research here in the US, in particular at the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. I explain a little about what is being cut and why these funds are important to scientific progress…

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304 | James Evans on Innovation, Consolidation, and the Science of Science 1:16:03

8M ago1:16:03

1:16:03

It is a feature of many human activities - sports, cooking, music, interpersonal relations - that being able to do them well doesn't necessarily mean you can accurately describe how to do them well. Science is no different. Many successful scientists are not very good at explaining what goes into successful scientific practice. To understand that, …

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303 | AMA | February 2025 3:44:12

9M ago3:44:12

3:44:12

Welcome to the February 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the que…

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303 | James P. Allison on Fighting Cancer with the Immune System 1:07:38

9M ago1:07:38

1:07:38

A typical human lifespan is approximately three billion heartbeats in duration. Lasting that long requires not only intrinsic stability, but an impressive capacity for self-repair. Nevertheless, things do occasionally break down, and cancer is one of the most dramatic examples of such breakdown. Given that the body is generally so good at protectin…

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302 | Chris Kempes on the Biophysics of Evolution 1:30:54

9M ago1:30:54

1:30:54

Randomness plays an important role in the evolution of life (as my evil twin will tell you). But random doesn't mean arbitrary. Biological organisms are physical objects, after all, and subject to the same laws of physics as non-biological matter is. Those laws place constraints on how organisms can fulfill their basic functions of metabolism, repr…

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301 | Tina Eliassi-Rad on Al, Networks, and Epistemic Instability 1:09:21

9M ago1:09:21

1:09:21

Big data is ruling, or at least deeply infiltrating, all of modern existence. Unprecedented capacity for collecting and analyzing large amounts of data have given us a new generation of artificial intelligence models, but also everything from medical procedures to recommendation systems that guide our purchases and romantic lives. I talk with compu…

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300 | Solo: Does Time Exist? 2:11:35

10M ago2:11:35

2:11:35

A new year, and a new centennial -- 300 (regularly-numbered) episodes of Mindscape! Our tradition is to have a solo episode, and what better topic than the nature of time? Physicists and philosophers have so frequently suggested that time is some kind of illusion that it's become almost passé to believe that it might be fundamental. This is an issu…

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Holiday Message | Hits and Misses 2:01:23

10M ago2:01:23

2:01:23

It's the end of the year, and time for our annual holiday break here at Mindscape. But as usual, we wrap up with a Holiday Message. This year, inspired by Joni Mitchell's "Hits" and "Misses" albums, I go through my scientific papers and talk about some of my favorites -- some of which were hits, in terms of making an impact on subsequent research, …

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299 | Michael Wong on Information, Function, and the Origin of Life 1:13:00

10M ago1:13:00

1:13:00

Living organisms seem exquisitely organized and complex, with features clearly adapted to serving certain functions needed to survive and procreate. Natural selection provides a compelling explanation for why that is so. But is there a bigger picture, a more general framework that explains the origin and evolution of functions and complexity in a w…

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298 | Jeff Lichtman on the Wiring Diagram of the Brain 1:09:09

11M ago1:09:09

1:09:09

The number of neurons in the human brain is comparable to the number of stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Unlike the stars, however, in the case of neurons the real action is in how they are directly connected to each other: receiving signals over synapses via their dendrites, and when appropriately triggered, sending signals down the axon to other ne…

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AMA | December 2024 3:55:31

11M ago3:55:31

3:55:31

Welcome to the December 2024 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreons, whittle them down to a more manageable number -- based primarily on whether I have anything interesting to say about them, not whether the que…