This Is Physics – Details, episodes & analysis

Physics Magazine speaks with scientists who are relying on senses other than their sight, such as hearing and touch, to interpret data, communicate their research, and make art. For example, they use sonification—the transformation of data into sound—to “listen” to hydrogen bonds and interpret gravitational-wave signals and other astrophysical data. Sonification also offers tools for visually impaired researchers and scientific outreach.

Podcast host Julie Gould speaks with the following guests: Martin Gruebele, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, US; Carla Scaletti; Scott Hughes, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, US; Garry Foran, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia; Beatriz Garcia, National Technological University, Argentina; Anita Zanella, National Institute for Astrophysics, Italy; Nigel Meredith, British Antarctic Survey, UK; Diana Scarborough, University of Cambridge, UK.

Music credit: Sounds of Space project by Nigel Meredith, Diana Scarborough, and Kim Cunio. Excerpts from Celestial Incantations: Stone Age Ice; Aurora Musicalis: The Ending of the Symphony of the Harmony of Celestial Revelations; and Sunconscious: Sunset Phosphorescence.

Image credit: APS/Alan Stonebraker

Produced by Julie Gould.

In this episode of This is Physics, Physics Magazine speaks with two researchers and a chef who have spent the entire polar night at the Amundsen–Scott South Pole Station. The two researchers work with telescopes observing the cosmic microwave background.

Podcast host Julie Gould speaks with the following guests: Thomas Leps, BICEP/NSF/University of Minnesota; Allen Foster, SPT/NSF/Case Western Reserve University; Kelly Murphy, breakfast/pastry sous chef, NSF.

Music credit: Symphony Antarctica (excerpts from The Seasons: I. Summer and IV. Spring; Telescopes to the Stars: III. Cosmic Strings and IV. Quiet Nights), by Valmar Kurol and Michael Stibor. The symphony is the duo’s fourth album inspired by Antarctica. Kurol is a director of the Antarctican Society.

Image credit: Artsiom P/stock.adobe.com

Produced by Julie Gould.

Researchers with the two collaborations that discovered the Higgs boson—ATLAS and CMS—relive the 2012 announcement of the discovery. They also talk about what it’s like to work on Higgs experiments and what they would still like to learn about the mass-giving particle.

Podcast host Julie Gould speaks with the following guests: Joseph Incandela (University of California Santa Barbara/CERN), Jon Butterworth (University College London/CERN), Flavia de Almeida Dias (University of Amsterdam/CERN), Sahal Yacoob (University of Cape Town/CERN), and Victoria Martin (University of Edinburgh/CERN).

This podcast is part of a series of pieces that Physics Magazine is publishing to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Higgs boson discovery. See also: News Feature: The Era of Higgs Physics; Poem: Higgs Boson—The Visible Glyph; Research News: A Particle is Born—Making the Higgs Famous; Q&A: The Higgs Boson—A Theory, An Observation, A Tool; and Collection: The History of Observations of the Higgs Boson.

Music credit: Jarabi (Passion), performed by Derek Gripper, composed by Toumani Diabaté. Image credit: stock.adobe.com/master_andrii.

Produced by Julie Gould.

In the inaugural episode of This Is Physics, the Physics Magazine podcast, LGBTQ+ physicists talk about how their sexual or gender identities affect their careers and suggest actions that could improve the current climate. 

Podcast host Julie Gould speaks with the following guests: Tim Atherton (he/him), a soft matter physicist at Tufts University, USA; Chanda Prescod-Weinstein (she/they), a cosmologist at the University of New Hampshire, USA; Yasmeen Musthafa (they/them), a Junior Scientist at TAE Technologies; Ramon Carrillo Bastos (he/him), a condensed-matter physicist at the Autonomous University of Baja California, Mexico; Jan Eldridge (she/her), an astrophysicist at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

This podcast is part of a series of Physics Magazine pieces on the experiences of LGBTQ+ physicists. See also: Viewpoint: Making Physics Inclusive to LGBTQ+ Folks, Q&A: Seeking Diversity When Faced with Adversity, and Opinion: Wanted: LGBTQ+ Allies.

Music credit: The Sandhunter, by Maeve Gilchrist, performed by Maeve Gilchrist (harp) and Nic Gareiss (percussive dancing).

Produced by Julie Gould.

Physics Magazine launches a new series of short podcasts, called Inside Physics, in which the magazine’s editors take a deep-dive into a result they highlighted. In the inaugural episode of the series, researchers with the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator Center (BELLA) share sounds and experiences from their laboratory, explain how they achieved a new laser-acceleration milestone, and discuss their plans for the future.

Podcast host Julie Gould and Physics Magazine Editor Matteo Rini speak with research scientist Alexander Picksley and PhD student Joshua Stackhouse, both with Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California.

Music credit: Lunga by Sofia Ribeiro. Sofia is a singer, composer and educator from Portugal. She taught at Bobby McFerrin’s CircleSongSchool and was an artist in residence at Carnegie Hall in New York.

Produced by Julie Gould

In this episode of This is Physics, podcast host Julie Gould speaks with women who signed the statement called “Women for Quantum—Manifesto of Values.” Women for Quantum (W4Q)—a group of 33 leading quantum scientists from Europe and Japan—wrote the manifesto to call for “changes in the current model of scientific leadership, funding, and authority,” hoping to remove barriers to the participation of women and other underrepresented groups. Gould also speaks with two women researchers not involved in the initiative who react to the manifesto and share their personal experiences.

Podcast host Julie Gould speaks with W4Q members Costanza Toninelli (European Laboratory for Non-Linear Spectroscopy, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy), Ana Predojević (Stockholm University, Sweden), and Marilu Chiofalo (University of Pisa, Italy). She also interviews Ilana Wisby (MOTH Quantum, UK) and Jessica Wade (Imperial College, UK).

Music credit: Bella Ciao by Faraualla. Faraualla is a female vocal quartet from Apulia, Italy, whose music incorporates sounds from a diverse set of places, times, and cultures.

Image credit: AdriaVidal/stock.adobe.com

Produced by Julie Gould.