Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe

Daniel and Kelly interview Dr. Moiya McTier about how we define and measure creativity, and the impacts of the modern world on creative pursuits. Check out her new book, Mothers of Invention.

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Daniel and Kelly explore the structure of the Universe and examine its emptiest places, making no effort to spare the scatological humor.

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Daniel and Kelly answer listener questions about special relativity, organisms that eat plastic, and whether the future is already determined.

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Daniel and Kelly chat with Dr. Andy Sih about the kinds of mistakes wild animals make, and why they make them.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about the recent observation of a dark matter candidate

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Daniel and Kelly answer listener questions about scent dialects, drilling through the ice above the oceans of Enceladus, and why some animals have penises.

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Daniel and Kelly interview Dr. Marcelo Wood about what addiction does to our brains, why some of us become addicted to drugs while others don't, what drugs do to our brains in the long term, and more.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about whether physicists are trying to understand the expansion of the Universe, or pull the cosmic wool over everyone's eyes. Also, horse milk comes up.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about alternatives to the Big Bang, scurvy, and supercontinents.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about the differences between conservation and rewilding, and discuss some of the successes, failures, and wild ideas that have come from the rewilding movement so far.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about what a recent simulation project can tell us about how the Universe got so clumpy.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about crackpots, hearing meteors, and the age of everything.

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Daniel, Kelly, and Katrine take on the origins of life. They discuss competing definitions for "life", whether it's even helpful to have a definition, the oldest evidence we have for life, and how we think life got started.

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Daniel and Kelly review the recent movie 'Disclosure Day' and discuss some tough questions about knowledge and secrecy.

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Daniel and Kelly are joined by Dr. Manuel Lerdau to answer listener questions about toxic plants, seed germination, and micropropagation.

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Daniel and Kelly explain the limitations of chemical rockets and how physics can propel humans to the outer reaches of the solar system.

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It's July 2026, and the United States is dealing with an outbreak of cyclospora. Diarrhea makes people think of Kelly, so today we're dealing with the many questions Kelly has gotten about parasites in our food supplies.

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Daniel and Kelly answer listener questions about tick-induced meat allergies, experiencing quantum effects, and fibroids.

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Daniel and Kelly chat with DKEU's audio engineer, Mat Keselman, about the physics of sound and give a behind the scenes look at how Mat works his magic.

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Daniel and Kelly break space, twist time, and then put it back together to explain the most important concept in relativity you've never heard of.

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Daniel and Kelly wonder how many Extraordinaries are planning on becoming supervillains as they discuss how to make Jupiter explode, the changing colors of children's hair, and whether or not aliens could discover electromagnetism without iron.

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Daniel and Kelly chat with Dr. Chelsea Wood about rat lungworm - a particularly unpleasant nematode parasite that is spreading way outside of its native range.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about what it means to be a physics fudge factor and whether DM is fudgy or solid science.

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Dr. John Hutchinson is back to help Kelly and Daniel answer listener questions about how fast animals can grow, how fast animals can go, and whether animal size impacts average lifespans. Also, cheese.

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Daniel and Kelly explore what lice can teach us about human evolution, and the role lice have played in some of humanity's most devastating wars.

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Daniel and Kelly dissect the evidence presented in recent peer-reviewed science papers for pre-Sputnik artificial satellites in Earth orbit.

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Daniel and Kelly marinate in ethanol and saltwater, and reflect on the symmetries of antiparticles.

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Daniel, Kelly, and Katrine talk about what bathing does to your microbiome, and weigh up the pros and cons.

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Daniel and Kelly walk through the early history of the Universe to explain how forces can be unified, or broken.

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Zach joins Daniel and Kelly for a segment on art and science communication. Then Daniel and Kelly explore the concept of absolute hot, and what makes some rocks glow.

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Daniel and Kelly talks about a species of social amoeba that will die to help others. Why the heck does it do that? And bonus: the amoeba are farmers!

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Daniel and Kelly talk about the James Webb Telescope and something mysterious it saw

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions from listeners about earthworms, the origins of the galaxy, and snails!

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Daniel and Kelly talk to Prof. Scott Egan about the meaning of species in modern biology.

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Daniel and Kelly explain the bizarre Tychonic model of the solar system, which for centuries stood as a valid theory alongside the Copernican model.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about relativistic paradoxes, parasitoid wasp viruses, and detector technologies.

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A recent paper found tantalizing evidence that rural raccoons are showing evidence of domestication. So how long until we all have pet raccoons? And how well do we really understand the domestication process anyway?

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Daniel and Kelly dig into the mysterious concept of quantum contexuality: how measurements depend on each other.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about muscle memory, water-less showers, and why everyone can't be ambidextrous.

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Over 50% of Earth's surface is the deep seabed. Dr. Andrew Thaler joins Daniel and Kelly to talk about the amazing diversity of life on the deep seabed, the resources found here, and the rules that govern this region.

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Daniel and Kelly explain how signals get jammed, how to avoid being jammed, and whose music makes the best jam.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about aliens watching Earth, about lone species, and about the size limits of intelligence.

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Parasites can have amazingly complicated life cycles - moving through a series of host species, and looking quite different while residing within each type of host. Frankly, this stumped scientists for a long time. In today's episode, Daniel and Kelly take a stroll through the history of science to explore how we finally started to figure parasite life cycles out.

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Daniel and Kelly explain the nature of the quantum vacuum, whether its real or philosophical, and if it's possible to use to make your toast.

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Daniel and Kelly explain how cells in a fetus or in an adult know what they're supposed to do, and discuss whether opposable thumbs are necessary for the development of tools and technology.

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Daniel and Kelly talk to Dr. Steve Brusatte about his new book "The Story of Birds". We discuss if chickens are really dinosaurs, if we know what color dinosaur feathers were, and why birds survived the devastating asteroid collision with Earth while pterosaurs didn't.

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Daniel and Kelly explain the role of AI in physics and speculate about its future impact on discoveries and curiosity.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about Odderon particles, Langerhans cells, and black holes within black holes.

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Daniel, Kelly, and Katrine talk about biofilms, and how they can be delicious, adorable, and bad. For the bad ones, we discuss current tactics for overcoming them.

Show links:

1. Nature's cutest symbiosis: The Bobtail Squid: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ivMSCi-Y2Q

2. The Joyful Microbe's guide to Kombucha: https://joyfulmicrobe.com/kombucha/(Notice the lighthearted joy, no fear mongering here!)

3. Beautiful image of a phenazine mutant of Pseudomonas: https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/883781

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Daniel and Kelly discuss whether ideas from science fiction have inspired real scientific or technological progress.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about innate behaviors and what it means to "decode" a genome with help from Dr. Benjamin de Bivort.

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If a rattlesake bit an octopus, would its venom have any effect? Daniel and Kelly bring venom expert Dr. Matt Giorgianni on to the show to answer this listener question, and to talk about the evolution of snake venom.

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Daniel and Kelly explore Penrose's Orchestrated Objective Reduction Theory that aims to explain consciousness, quantum measurements, quantum gravity and anaesthesia!

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Daniel and Kelly answer listener questions about what creates the morning fog, why bats don't get dizzy, and the cauchy horizon.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about what Vibrio cholerae does to your body, and the methods we have to combat it. They also talk about some of the really bad methods we tried using in the past. Like, real bad.

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Daniel and Kelly dive into the history of medicine, and discuss the data John Snow collected to argue that cholera is transmitted through contaminated water and not foul-smelling air. These data bolstered the emerging germ theory of disease.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about tongue worms, units, and Kelly's nightmares.

Link: Standard reference peanut butter

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Daniel and Kelly explore the structure of the space between solar systems and reveal our cosmic context.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about the challenges of hot fusion and the frustrated potential of cold fusion. And Keanu Reeves.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about the expanding universe, how sleep aids impact sleep quality, and what characteristics might make aliens better adapted for interstellar travel.

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Daniel and Kelly welcome Dr. Scott Solomon back on the show to talk about his new book Becoming Martian: How Living in Space Will Change our Bodies and Minds.

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Daniel and Kelly discuss Elon Musk's recent announcement that SpaceX has shifted focus from a self-sustaining settlement on Mars to a self-growing city on the Moon.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about how it can both be true that humans share 98.7% of their DNA with bonobos and that fraternal twins share 50% of their DNA, why black holes don't have color charges, and whether or not you could treat a fever or let it ride.

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Daniel and Kelly revel in the amazing multiplicity of moons in our solar system and what they reveal about our cosmic history.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about the evolution of cooperation, and why humans struggle so much with isolation.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about sentience, chicken eggs, and the early Universe!

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Daniel and Kelly dive into one of the most important but mysterious principles of physics: least action.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about rabies, which results in very few deaths in the United States but is a neglected tropical disease - taking approximately 60,000 lives globally each year.

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Here’s an episode of a show we think you’ll love. It’s History Daily which tells the fascinating stories of what happened “on this day” in history. New episodes come out every weekday. In this episode, it’s March 11, 1918. A US army cook becomes the first person diagnosed with the Spanish Flu, setting off the deadliest pandemic in modern history.

www.historydaily.com

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about bark beetles, ambipolar fields, and gray hairs!

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Daniel and Kelly talk about how computers store information, and how cosmic rays might flip some vital bits.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about interspecific brood parasites - which are species that sneak their eggs into the nests of other, unsuspecting species. How do they get away with this?

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about black holes, duplicate organs and bubble Universes!

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Daniel and Kelly slow down to understand what velocity really means, and how much we have of it.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about the problem of time in quantum mechanics and how the past might depend on the future.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about birthing multiple species, mental imagery, and face mites!

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Daniel and Kelly talk about why particle physicists are excited about a muon collider.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about a brain-infecting parasite of California Killifish, and discuss how the parasite might be altering the fish's behavior to its own ends.

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Daniel and Kelly take a tour through the various singularities that are predicted by general relativity.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about tornadoes, water purification, and massive moons in the sky.

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Daniel, Kelly, and Katrine discuss what happens during menopause, why evolutionary biologists think menopause occurs, and our current knowledge of the risks of hormone therapy.

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Daniel and Kelly dive into the hearts of blue giants, massive planets, and neutron stars to reveal a surprising limit on cosmic density.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about kissing bugs, magnetic fields in the Sun, and microbiomes in space.

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Daniel and Kelly answer a question from a listener about planets without stars and stars without galaxies.

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Microplastics are everywhere. How did they get there, and should we worry?

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about Jupiter and circadian rhythms.

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Daniel and Kelly explain how physics predicts the future rain and shine, and all of the incredible science involved.

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Daniel, Kelly, and Katrine chat about how mosquitos find us, and what we can do to protect ourselves from the diseases they transmit.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about fingerprints, particle beam accidents, tickles and yawns!

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Daniel and Kelly shine a light on the mysterious every day physics of shadows, including whether they can move faster than light.

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Hello Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe listeners.

We want to share a great show, Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman. ( Neuroscientist and Author)

Join David and Daniel as they explore the Brain and the Universe.

“Imagine we eventually meet some alien scientists. If they can see electrons or smell photons, would their science look like ours? Is physics a universal language, or just a local dialect of the human brain? Would aliens use math, or might their truths be organized unrecognizably? Are the “laws of nature” really laws, or simply our interpretations? “

Listen Here

and subscribe to Inner Cosmos with David Eagleman: on the iHeartRadio App or wherever you get your podcasts!

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Daniel and Kelly chat with Dr. Scott Solomon about ancient hominid species, and how we learn about them.

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Daniel and Kelly answer questions about interstellar comets, evolution of parasitoids, and the nature of scientific theories.

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Daniel and Kelly exercise their optimism and explore engineering solutions to the Sun's projected overheating and demise.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about the confusing aspects of quantum entanglement, and try to untangle the concepts.

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Daniel and Kelly chat with Dr. John Hawdon about how parasites like hookworm, malaria, and schistosomes hide from our immune system.

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Daniel and Kelly are joined by Cat Bohannan, who answers questions about whether we can shorten gestation, superhuman feats of strength, and whether viruses are ever good for us.

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Daniel and Kelly are joined by Andy Warner, the co-author and illustrator of Daniel's new book, Do Aliens Speak Physics, and talk about how we might chat about science with aliens.

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Daniel and Kelly talk about the development of the polio vaccine.

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