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Physical Attraction

New? Head to the episode guide or drop us a line with the contact form.

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 

About

Hello, and welcome to Physical Attraction.

Episode Guide

We produce some pretty eclectic material, mostly surrounding physics, but science, technology, climate change, and even economics have all been major focuses in the past. Here's a guide to some of the episodes we've done so far and what words to search for to track them down:


There have also been a variety of standalone episodes on topics ranging from superconductivity and the direct detection of dark matter to interstellar travel.


We produce a kind of bonus episode occasionally called "Thermonuclear Takes" (or TT). These episodes cover stories that are in the science and technology press - anything that's caught my eye that I think is worth discussing, or that relates to topics which we've been talking about on the show recently. The idea of these episodes is that they are slightly looser, slightly less scripted, and intended to be more "timely" and less "timeless". It doesn't always work out that way! 

 

Interviews


In addition to the scripted episodes that we've produced, we have also done many interviews with experts, including:


Support The Show

If you enjoy what we do here, you can help us keep the lights on!
You can donate to the show via: 
www.paypal.me/physicspodcast 

and for bonus and early episodes - often months in advance of publication for free! - you can subscribe to the Patreon feed at 
www.patreon.com/PhysicalAttraction 

Doing so will cost a tiny fee - as little as $1/month - and you will help to support the show, independent podcasting, and get access to many early and bonus episodes besides.

If you are interested in sponsoring the show, please get in touch via the contact form and we can discuss this in more detail. 

But the best things you can do is listen, enjoy, and tell other people about the show. Whisper it, shout it, badger them until they listen; that kind of thing. Because if everyone who listens tells one other person about it, within thirty episodes, I will have a trillion listeners. That's the power of exponential growth.

Transcripts

Finally, I have been publishing some of the transcripts of the episodes over at Medium. Here is a partial index of published transcripts:

Climate 201: Project Drawdown’s Climate Solutions

Climate 201: What on Earth is a Carbon Budget?

Climate 201: What’s Driving Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Climate 201: What On Earth is a Climate Change Scenario?

Climate 201: What on Earth are Greenhouse Gases?

DESERTEC and the dream of a Solar Sahara — podcast script edition

Subprime Attention Crisis and the Timebomb at the Heart of the Internet — Interview with Tim Hwang…

UK Citizens’ Assembly on Climate

Softbank’s Blurry Vision: Parts I-VI

Interview with Lord Martin Rees — Tran

The Psychology of Conspiracy Theories in US Public Life

Direct Detection of Dark Matter

Technology, inequality, and global catastrophic risks

COVID-19 and Climate Change: Parallels

The COVID-19 Pandemic: Podcast Script

Who Wants to Live Forever?

Drexler’s Model of CAIS

What Four-Year-Olds Can do That AI Can’t

Nuclear Fusion: The Last 20 Episodes [Podcast Scripts]

Nuclear Fusion, Episode IV: Teller’s Dream

Nuclear Fusion: The Semi-Empirical Mass Formula

Nuclear Fusion, Episodes I and II

Free Energy Scams (Episode Scripts)

The Laws of Thermodynamics [Podcast Scripts]

Interstellar, Starshot The Challenges of Interstellar Travel , the Starshot Project

Malicious AI Report

Nobel Prize 2017 Edition, Podcast Transcri

Superconductors

Concealing a Hadron — Particle Physics

Hothouse Earth and Heatwaves

Dimensional Analysis and Units

Antimatter

How Can We Save The World? Existential risks, and the philosophy of the end

TEOTWAWKI Bonus: Failed Predictions

The Rise and Fall of Nectome [Podcast Transcript]

We Can Always Shoot Them Later — 2018 Podcast Transcript

Stephen Hawking, The Voice of Physics [Podcast Transcript]

TEOTWAWKI Bonus: Alien Attack

TEOTWAWKI I: Nuclear Weapons
TEOTWAWKI II: Climate Change, Ecotastrophe

TEOTWAWKI Episode 3 — The Singularity (2017 Podcast Script)

TEOTWAWKI 4) Pandemics, Natural and Bioengineered (2017 Podcast Script)

TEOTWAWKI 5: Peak Oil (2017 Podcast Transcript)

TEOTWAWKI 7: Supervolcanoes (2017

TEOTWAWKI 8: Cyberwarfare (2017 Podcast Transcript)

[Only partial transcript available]

TEOTWAWKI 9: It Came From Outer Space (2017 Podcast Transcript)

TEOTWAWKI 10: Earthquakes (2017 Podcast Transcript)

Dimensional Analysis and Units

Isaac Newton (Episodes I-IV): Podcast Scripts
Fermi and Drake (2017 podcast script)

Extremely Thermonuclear Takes: Is There Life on Venus?

Progress on a post-COVID Green Stimulus: Physical Attraction Podcast Script

Technology, Inequality and Global Catastrophic Risks: Podcast Script

Will COVID-19 be a turning point on climate change?

Rutherford’s Atom — Podcast Script

Nuclear Fusion

The Psychology of The End

Good Vibrations: The Simple Harmonic Oscillator

Spontaneous Emission: The Radiation Episode

Hot and Heavy — The story of Stellar Formation

Stay safe and be kind to each other.