Come on, admit it, you’ve had this question. If the Universe is expanding from the Big Bang, what is it expanding into? What’s outside the Universe? Ask any astronomer and you’ll get an unsatisfying answer. We give you the same unsatisfying answer, but really explain it, so your unsatisfaction doesn’t haunt you any more.
Ep. 26: The Largest Structures in the Universe
This week we continue the story of galaxy formation, learning how groups of galaxies come together to form the biggest structures around – galaxy superclusters. And when you look at the Universe at this scale, environment is everything.
Ep. 11: A Universe of Dark Energy
The discovery of dark energy was one of the biggest surprises in astronomy. Instead of a nice, predictable expanding Universe, acted on only by gravity, astronomers turned up a mysterious repulsive force accelerating the expansion of the Universe. Fraser and Pamela explain
the evidence for a dark energy, and a few possible theories for what could be providing this repulsive force.
Ep. 9: Einstein's Theory of Special Relativity
It’s all relative. How many times have you heard that? Well, when you’re traveling close to the speed of light, everything really is relative; especially the passage of time. This week, Fraser and Pamela give you the skinny on Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity. After listening to a few thought experiments, you too should be able to wrap your head around this amazing theory.
Ep. 6: More Evidence for the Big Bang
Last week’s episode started out with a bang… a Big Bang. This week we continue our discussion into the beginning of everything. We present three additional lines of evidence that have led astronomers to the conclusion that our Universe started out as a singularity 13.7 billion years ago, and has been expanding ever since.
Ep. 5: The Big Bang and Cosmic Microwave Background
As a tribute to John Mather and George Smoot, the two leaders of the Cosmic Microwave Background Explorer (COBE) satellite science team, and winners of this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics, we head back to the beginning of everything… the Big Bang. Follow as we trace the Big Bang’s discovery, and one of the most important lines of evidence: the cosmic microwave background radiation which was predicted by theory and then discovered by accident.
Ep. 4: The Search for Dark Matter
Dark matter . . . What is it? Nobody knows for sure, but it’s definitely there. Or maybe it’s not there, and we just need some redefinition of gravity at vast scales. Join Fraser and Pamela as we discuss the discovery, detection, and possible explanations of dark matter.