By cooling atoms to temperatures just a tiny fraction of a degree above absolute zero, we can slow their motion enough to observe their strange quantum behavior directly. At these nanokelvin temperatures, atoms no longer behave like tiny billiard balls—they start to act like waves.

In this talk, McQuinn goes back in time to reconstruct the early history of small galaxies and explore the impact that starlight from massive stars has on the galaxy formation process using images obtained from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope.

Listen in for a compelling lecture by Brad Marston, Can Physics Save the Planet from Climate Change?, where he explores the vital role physics plays in addressing one of humanity’s greatest challenges. While no single solution can reverse climate change, physics provides powerful tools to help us understand its causes and develop effective responses.

Most of the Universe is invisible, but the invisibles determine our everyday existence. The CERN Large Hadron collider may produce signals of dark matter, new forces of nature or cousins of the Higgs boson. Discoveries from the LHC and from other experiments and observatories will be needed to pull together a coherent picture of the invisible world and explain the first instants of the Big Bang.

In this very non-technical talk Baym describes how quantum mechanics came about, starting with physicists in the late nineteenth century trying to understand why hot metal in blacksmith shops glowed red (like a hot stove burner) and became more bluish when even hotter.

Vuletić discusses the basic principles of trapping individual atoms in arrays of light beams and describe two applications: the coupling of single atoms to single photons in high-quality cavities and quantum computing using neutral atoms.

This lecture explores the extraordinary lengths scientists go to capture and study these “ghostly” particles, from massive underground detectors to space-based observatories. Learn how these investigations are shedding light on the hidden fabric of the universe and bringing us closer to answering some of science’s most profound questions.

Meigan Aronson is an experimental condensed matter physicist whose research centers on the discovery and exploration of quantum materials.

In this lecture, Melko examines the thread of emergence which connects different mysteries, such as superconductivity, universality, life, consciousness, and the appearance of internet memes.

Supermassive Black Holes are awesome! But do you know what’s even more awesome? Merging supermassive black holes! Black holes smashing together is one of the most powerful and weirdest phenomena in the universe, and astronomers want to measure where, when, and how often it happens.