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Physical Attraction

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We are a physics podcast. But not just that - interviews with scientists, scholars, authors and reflections on the history and future of science and technology are all in the wheelhouse. Over the years, for over 200 episodes, we've had shows on the astrophysics of stars, a comprehensive history of nuclear fusion, thermodynamics, particle physics, climate change, economics, philosophy, the psychology of conspiracy theories, and even the lives of Louisiana Senator Huey Long, or scientists under Stalin in the Soviet Union. 

We are an independent show: everything you hear is created by one person out of passion and love. My aim in producing this show is never to talk down to people, but instead to discuss fascinating and vital subjects with scientific rigour, compassion, and an eye for narrative: to educate, inform, and entertain. I hope that you, the listener, will find something you like here. 

You can read about us here, which includes a comprehensive episode guide for new listeners covering all of the shows that we've done, as well as links to transcripts of many of the episodes.  

You can contact us here - everything goes through to my email and I try to answer each one. Your comments and questions help me to improve the show and also motivate me to carry on, so I highly appreciate reading anything you feel like sending. 

If you like what we do and want to help us keep doing it, you can donate here. I am extremely grateful for those of you who have done so. 

You can also subscribe to the Physical Attraction: Extra! Feed over at Patreon: www.patreon.com/PhysicalAttraction - where for a small fee per bonus episode, you can help to support the show, and get some juicy bonus content too. The Patreon includes unique bonus episodes that stand alone, or alongside our existing series. But you will also get episodes as soon as I finish producing them, which is often months in advance: so, if you can't wait for your fix, that's where to go. 

We had a sister podcast, Autocracy Now, which deals with the lives of famous historical dictators. You can find some of their episodes on our feed, or the show itself at www.autocracynow.libsyn.com 

  1. All Episodes
  2. I've written some new articles...

I've written some new articles...

Nov 4, 2017

Hey all,

I've been writing some articles for the good folks over at Singularity Hub, who'll help you keep on top of a lot of breaking technology news. Working with them has been great so far.

You can see all my work here but there are also some highlights:

 

What It Would Take to Suck CO2 Back Out of the Atmosphere

I briefly assess some of the various potentials for carbon dioxide removal (CDR) geoengineering. Lots of people ask me, when I talk about climate change, whether we can't just 'invent a machine that sucks carbon back out of the atmosphere'. The fact is, people are indeed working on this - although a better idea is to actually try to enhance natural processes, which are far better at removing and adding carbon to the atmosphere than we can hope to be.

The issue is that any method to remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere must be done on the same scale as we're currently putting it up there. And since that is currently on the scale of a vast, industrial activity, it's going to require a whole industry to suck it back out again.

Best, as you always hear, to leave it in the ground in the first place.

 

Does Our Survival Depend on Relentless Exponential Growth?

Expanding on thoughts that will be familiar to those of you who listened to the Malthus episode.

Solar Power Is Getting Cheaper—But How Do We Overcome Its Limits?


This is a slightly less detailed version of the episode I did about various new kinds of solar panel, Splitting Sunbeams.

 

Amazon Is Quietly Building the Robots of Sci-Fi—Piece by Practical Piece


And this is my pet theory that, of all the companies with an incentive to develop humanoid robots, Amazon are the ones with the most to gain. 


Happy reading, all.