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Standard Model
Practically all of the matter we see and interact with is made of atoms, which are mostly empty space. Then why is reality so... solid?
If the electromagnetic and weak forces unify to make the electroweak force, maybe, at higher energies, something even grander happens?
The majority of the matter in our Universe isn't made of any of the particles in the Standard Model. Could the axion save the day?
The "first cause" problem may forever remain unsolved, as it doesn’t fit with the way we do science.
A great many cosmic puzzles still remain unsolved. By embracing a broad and varied approach, particle physics heads toward a bright future.
Physicists just can't leave an incomplete theory alone; they try to repair it. When nature is kind, it can lead to a major breakthrough.
You can only create or destroy matter by creating or destroying equal amounts of antimatter. So how did we become a matter-rich Universe?
Discrepancies between observations and theory regarding subatomic particles called muons may force scientists to rethink the quantum world.
The DUNE project will beam tiny neutrinos across vast distances. But the first step involved moving a heavier material: 1 million tons of rock.
In our Universe, matter is made of particles, while antimatter is made of antiparticles. But sometimes, the physical lines get real blurry.
In the early stages of the hot Big Bang, matter and antimatter were (almost) balanced. After a brief while, matter won out. Here's how.
For a substantial fraction of a second after the Big Bang, there was only a quark-gluon plasma. Here's how protons and neutrons arose.
In the very early Universe, practically all particles were massless. Then the Higgs symmetry broke, and suddenly everything was different.
When the hot Big Bang first occurred, the Universe reached a maximum temperature never recreated since. What was it like back then?
38mins
Our host Kmele went inside Fermilab, America’s premiere particle accelerator facility, to find out how the smallest particles in the universe can teach us about its biggest mysteries.
In our Universe, all stable atomic nuclei have protons in them; there's no stable "neutronium" at all. But what's the reason why?
Back during the hot Big Bang, it wasn't just charged particles and photons that were created, but also neutrinos. Where are they now?
From unexplained tracks in a balloon-borne experiment to cosmic rays on Earth, the unstable muon was particle physics' biggest surprise.
The question of why the Universe is the way it is is an ancient one, and none of the answers we have come up with are satisfying.
The laws of physics don't prefer matter over antimatter. So how can we be certain that distant stars & galaxies aren't made of antimatter?
Cosmology is unlike other sciences. When our view of the Universe changes, so does our understanding of philosophy and science itself.
There are a few clues that the Universe isn't completely adding up. Even so, the standard model of cosmology holds up stronger than ever.
Some constants, like the speed of light, exist with no underlying explanation. How many "fundamental constants" does our Universe require?
In physics, we reduce things to their elementary, fundamental components, and build emergent things out of them. That's not the full story.
If we waited long enough, would even protons themselves decay? The far future stability of the Universe depends on it.
42mins
Sabine Hossenfelder talks about Albert Einstein, dead grandmothers, the physics of aging, and more in this full interview with Big Think.
We can reasonably say that we understand the history of the Universe within one-trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. That's not good enough.
The standard model of cosmology has a big new problem: Some galaxies seem to be too old.
Cosmologists are largely still in the dark about the forces that drive the Universe.
It may be time for a cosmological paradigm shift.