Physics World Stories Podcast

Over the past half century, laser cooling has revolutionized atomic, molecular and optical physics. Laser cooling of atoms and ions has enabled dramatic leaps in the precision of atomic clocks, allow…

This episode of the Physics World Stories podcast features an interview with Kai Bird, co-author of the book that inspired the recent blockbuster film Oppenheimer, directed by Christopher Nolan. Winn…

This year, 2023, marks the half-way point to the 2030 deadline for achieving the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Recent global developments, including conflicts and the COVID-19 pandemic, m…

Energy accounts for more than three-quarters of our greenhouse gas emissions globally each year. That’s not surprising, given the role of energy in almost every aspect of modern life. To stand any ch…

In recent weeks the astrophysics community has been buzzing following the discovery that the universe appears to be filled with a background hum of gravitational waves. Using radio telescopes in the …

Gordon Moore, the co-founder of Intel who died earlier this year, is famous for forecasting a continuous rise in the density of transistors that we can pack onto semiconductor chips. His eponymous “…

When discussing the capabilities of the latest AI chatbots, a physicist may argue: “Okay, they’re impressive at regurgitating texts that sound increasingly human. But we physicists don’t have much to…

If you were awarded $3m prize money for your scientific excellence and hard graft, would you give it all away to strangers? That’s what the Northern Irish astrophysicist Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell did…

Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) are set to play a key role in the transition to a decarbonized world. They are one of the principal energy sources for electric vehicles, grid storage and many consumer e…

When pioneering musicians such as Kraftwerk and Brian Eno began experimenting with synthesizers and digital samplers in the 1970s, it was considered avant-garde and confined to niche audiences. It di…

A new film Space, Hope and Charity tells the story of Charity Woodrum, an astrophysicist whose childhood dream of working for NASA was nearly derailed by a personal tragedy. Woodrum is now studying f…

The European Space Agency (ESA) recently made history by selecting John McFall – an amputee, Paralympic sprinter and medical scientist – among its latest cohort of astronauts. McFall’s inclusion is p…

Long-term listeners will know that the December episode of Physics World Stories is a celebration of the year’s best popular-science writing. This year, Andrew Glester is joined by comedian and write…

This month’s episode of the Physics World Stories podcast looks in depth at the science behind the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physics and the technologies that are emerging as a result. Alain Aspect, John …

The 2022 FIFA World Cup is about to kick off in Qatar, with millions of football fans across the planet set to be gripped by sporting drama. But in the years leading up to the event, concerns have be…

Researchers in the United Kingdom are facing an uncertain future, due to a political spat about the UK’s participation in Horizon Europe – Europe’s flagship research funding programme. Following Brex…

A small alien creature crash lands on Earth before striking up a rapport with a boy. Sound familiar? Two decades before ET was released, Indian director Satyajit Ray wrote a script for a film that wo…

Everyone knew something big was coming. Students had camped outside CERN’s designated seminar hall overnight in the hope of grabbing one of the few unreserved seats. Finally, on the morning of 4 Jul…

From windows and bottles, to optical fibres and solar cells, glass is an incredibly versatile material that underpins many technologies. In the June episode of the Physics World Stories podcast, Andr…

Science benefits enormously from supercomputing, which enables researchers to process vast amounts of data and conduct complex simulations. But these machines can be notorious energy guzzlers, with t…