Physics Department Colloquium
From Mars Sample Return to Enceladus plume missions: finding habitable environments and life across the solar system
When
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Abstract: Planetary exploration has unveiled environments that could support life today, or in the past, or contain the ingredients of life. Mars was once habitable; Enceladus’ ocean is today, Europa is a question mark, and Bennu contains most of the basic key monomers of life in abiotic form. I will discuss how this all fits together.
Closing the Loop in Early Universe Cosmology
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Abstract: Inflationary cosmology has been widely accepted for decades. Yet there are persistent debates about inflation which raise central questions in philosophy of science. Skeptics have often expressed doubt regarding whether inflation is "testable" or "falsifiable," due to the flexibility of inflationary models. This is an instance of a general question in philosophy of science: to what extent does phenomenological success support the claim that a theory gets the physics right?
Tabletop X-Ray Lasers: From Star Wars to Quantum Sculpting
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Abstract: Ever since the invention of the laser over 60 years ago, scientists have been striving to create x-ray lasers. In the same way that visible lasers can concentrate light energy far better than a light bulb, a directed beam of x-rays would have many useful applications. The problem was that until recently, ridiculously high powers were needed to make an x-ray laser.
A world from a sheet of paper
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Abstract: Starting from just a sheet of paper, by folding, stacking, crumpling, sometimes tearing, we will explore a diversity of phenomena, from magic tricks and geometry to elasticity and the traditional Japanese art of origami. Much of the lecture consists of table-top demonstrations, which you can try later with friends and family.
So, take a sheet of paper . . .