Did She Just Prove the Multiverse Is Real? (Ft Laura Mersini-Houghton) [Ep. 501]
What if the Big Bang wasn’t the beginning? What if our universe is just one in a vast cosmic ocean of universes, and we have the evidence to prove it?
In this episode of Into the Impossible, I’m joined by theoretical physicist Laura Mersini-Houghton to explore one of the most provocative ideas in modern cosmology: the multiverse is not only real—it’s testable. Mersini, author of Before the Big Bang, walks us through her bold predictions about the structure of the cosmos, including the mysterious cold spot in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) that she foresaw years before it was confirmed by the Planck satellite.
Together, we dissect her groundbreaking theory that our universe began as one branch of a quantum wave function stretching across a multiverse landscape. We talk quantum decoherence, cosmic scars, and how entanglement with other universes could leave measurable fingerprints in our sky. We also debate criticisms from fellow physicists and dive into what these revelations mean for the future of dark energy and cosmological theory.
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Key Takeaways:
00:00 What happened before the Big Bang?
01:56 The CMB cold spot prediction
05:16 Quantum entanglement and decoherence
11:31 Criticism and evidence for the multiverse
17:06 The wave function of the universe
20:48 The string landscape and constants of nature
23:54 The cold spot and the hemispherical anomaly
37:20 Thoughts on the recent DESI suggestions
40:46 Judging a book by its cover
47:31 The multiverse and religion
57:29 Outro
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Additional resources:
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58:57
Timescapes Make Dark Energy Irrelevant! (ft. David Wiltshire) [Ep. 500]
What if everything we know about the universe’s expansion is wrong?
David Wiltshire offers a radical perspective on cosmic acceleration and dark energy, proposing that both might be illusions created by the varying passage of time in different regions of the universe.
Wiltshire challenges the foundations of modern cosmology with his innovative Timescape model.
We discuss the foundations of Einstein's theory of relativity, examining how time behaves differently in regions of high and low matter density.
Wiltshire explains how this could alter our understanding of the universe’s expansion, potentially eliminating the need for dark energy altogether.
His work revisits Mark’s Principle and its influence on cosmology, offering an alternative explanation for cosmic phenomena.
This episode will captivate anyone interested in the future of cosmological theory, the mystery of dark energy, and the complex nature of time.
Don’t miss out!
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Key Takeaways:
00:00:00 Intro
00:01:36 David Wiltshire’s model and its implications
00:02:35 Mach's Principle and its influence on relativity
00:06:28 Gravitational time dilation and its implications
00:42:16 The cosmological equivalence principle
00:42:50 The Timescape Model and its predictions
00:43:53 The role of dark energy and the cosmological constant
00:53:43 The philosophical and psychological implications of Timescape
01:09:41 Outro
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Additional resources:
➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:
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✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/
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—
Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.
Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode!
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1:15:47
The Scientists Ep. 6: The Life of Hedy Lamarr
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This episode, hosted by Brian Keating—Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego—delves into one of the most fascinating and underappreciated stories at the intersection of beauty, brilliance, and invention. Today, we step away from pure physics and astronomy to explore the remarkable life of Hedy Lamarr, an iconic Hollywood actress whose real genius lay not just on the silver screen, but at the heart of technological innovation.
Listen in as Brian Keating brings to life the legacy of a woman who changed the world—not for fame, but for the sheer joy of invention and enduring curiosity.
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Key Takeaways:
00:00 Hedy Lamarr: Star and Inventor
03:30 Dual Facade: Performance and Analysis
09:04 Espionage and Escape Plan
10:35 Hedy Lamarr's Hollywood Transformation
13:59 Frequency Hopping Communication Technique
16:35 Hedy Lamarr's Overlooked Invention
22:43 Genius: Curiosity Over Credentials
24:01 "Hedy Lamarr: Beyond Hollywood"
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The Scientists is a documentary-style podcast series hosted by astrophysicist Brian Keating. Each episode explores the untold stories behind history’s greatest minds—from Nobel laureates to visionary misfits—revealing the personal struggles, intellectual triumphs, and paradigm-shifting ideas that changed the world. Each week, I dive into the life and legacy of a legendary scientist—experimentalists, theorists, and observers alike—and uncover insights you can apply to your own work and worldview. Science didn’t appear fully formed; it was built by real people solving real problems under pressure. Their ideas still shape our future. We’ll examine not just what they discovered, but who they were—from their obsessions and honors to their most spectacular ideas, brilliant blunders, and beautifully human flaws.
New episodes weekly.
Learn more at BrianKeating.com.
🎙️ Subscribe for compelling science storytelling.
📚 Listen to our companion series Into the Impossible for interviews with living legends.
#science #sciencepodcast #historyofscience #nobelprizewinners #famousscientists #scientificdiscoveries #physics #chemistry #thescientistsbriankeating #intotheimpossible #sciencecommunication
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27:11
First Data from Vera Rubin Observatory Rewrites Astronomy (Starting Now)
In this exclusive interview, Professor Mario Jurić reveals how the Vera Rubin Observatory accidentally discovered 2,000 asteroids in just 10 hours while testing its capabilities on the distant Virgo Cluster—transforming humanity's asteroid discovery rate from 20,000 per year globally to potentially over one million annually with a single telescope. Jurić explains how VRO's revolutionary multi-messenger astronomy capabilities will detect dark matter's effects and light simultaneously, automatically slewing to capture cosmic catastrophes like black hole collisions within 30 seconds of detection. From mapping dark matter in galaxy clusters 54 million light-years away to building Earth's first comprehensive planetary defense system against asteroid impacts, this conversation explores how one observatory is about to fundamentally change both our understanding of the universe and our ability to survive in it.
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—
Key Takeaways:
00:00 Intro
03:10 Mario’s reaction to the first data
04:13 Democratizing astronomy and citizen science
06:38 Technical details and capabilities
11:28 First look: A fly-through of the Virgo Cluster
21:42 Rubin and the Lambda-CDM model
28:22 How faint a sensitivity can Rubin achieve
33:03 Asteroid discovery revolution
37:52 Challenges of data analysis
41:38 Astronomy and AI
46:34 What kinds of civilization-changing discoveries might be hiding in the data?
50:48 Outro
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Additional resources:
🔹Skyviewer App: https://skyviewer.app/
🔹First Images from NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory: https://www.youtube.com/live/dF1g-Ru8mjM?si=Y3-lKTSjZAH_oGHl
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➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:
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✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/
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Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.
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52:25
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52:25
NEW Dark Energy Data Surprises Scientists (ft. Kyle Dawson)
Is everything we thought we knew about the universe… wrong? Is the Lambda-CDM model nearing its breaking point? Could dark energy actually be evolving?
In this episode of Into the Impossible, I’m joined by Kyle Dawson and Daniel Green to discuss the latest data from the DESI experiment. These new results are making headlines, and rightfully so, as they hold the potential to transform our understanding of the universe completely.
Kyle Dawson, a key figure in the DESI project and professor at the University of Utah, explains the findings from DESI’s second data release. Together with Daniel Green from the University of California, San Diego, we dig into how fresh observations of dark energy, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), and cosmic expansion are revealing cracks in the standard model. We also break down the implications of these results and talk about the possible existence of negative neutrino masses—a topic that’s been gaining a lot of attention in the cosmology community.
Don’t miss out!
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Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥
—
Key Takeaways:
00:00 Intro
01:09 Most surprising results of the DESI experiment
02:38 DESI’s instrumentation and data analysis
05:43 What’s lacking in the CMB?
07:17 The 4.2 sigma tension in cosmological data
10:44 Theoretical models and dark energy evolution
22:16 Neutrino mass, dark energy, and paradigm shifts
28:41 Scepticism about current cosmological models
30:22 Negative neutrino mass
40:35 Technological advancements and the future of DESI
48:15 Outro
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Additional resources:
➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms:
✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating
🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1
📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list
✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/
🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast
—
Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known.
Make sure to follow so you never miss an episode!
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Think like a physicist. Wonder like a human. Into the Impossible is where Cosmic Conversations happen — uniting Nobel Prize winners, iconoclasts, authors, and technologists to explore reality’s deepest questions. From AI to aliens, from biophysics to the brain, from the cosmos to the multiverse, Brian Keating, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego covers it all.
If you’ve ever asked What’s out there? or What’s next?, this is where curiosity meets clarity.
Learn to think like this. 🎙 Full episodes, notes & more: briankeating.com/podcast
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