192 | Nicole Yunger Halpern on Quantum Steampunk Thermodynamics

192 | Nicole Yunger Halpern on Quantum Steampunk Thermodynamics

Randomness and probability are central to modern physics. In statistical mechanics this is because we don't know everything about the distribution of atoms and molecules in a fluid, so we consider a probability distribution over what they might be; in quantum mechanics it's because the theory only lets us predict measurement outcomes probabilistically. Physicist Nicole Yunger Halpern explains how we've been lagging behind at bringing these two theories together, and how recent progress is changing the landscape of how we think about the microworld.

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Nicole Yunger Halpern received her Ph.D. in physics from Caltech. She is currently a NIST physicist and Adjunct Assistant Professor of Physics and IPST at the University of Maryland. Her Ph.D. thesis won the international Ilya Prigogine Prize for a thermodynamics dissertation. As a postdoc she received the International Quantum Technology Emerging Researcher Award. Her new book is Quantum Steampunk: The Physics of Yesterday's Tomorrow.


Jaksot(416)

321 | David Tong on Open Questions in Quantum Field Theory

321 | David Tong on Open Questions in Quantum Field Theory

Quantum field theory is the basis for our most successful theories of fundamental physics. And yet, there are things we don't understand about it. Some of these puzzles are relatively well-known, whil...

14 Heinä 20251h 19min

AMA | July 2025

AMA | July 2025

Welcome to the July 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreo...

7 Heinä 20254h 3min

320 | Solo: Complexity and the Universe

320 | Solo: Complexity and the Universe

Our universe started out looking very simple: hot, dense, smooth, rapidly expanding. According to our best current model, it will end up looking simple once again: cold, dark, empty. It's in between -...

30 Kesä 20252h 14min

319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the World

319 | Bryan Van Norden on Philosophy From the Rest of the World

It is common to refer to philosophy as "a series of footnotes to Plato." But in the original quote, Alfred North Whitehead was more careful: he limited his characterization to "the European philosophi...

23 Kesä 20251h 12min

318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economics

318 | Edward Miguel on the Developing Practice of Development Economics

Economics is seeing an upsurge in the importance of controlled, reproducible empirical studies. One area where this has had a great impact is on development economics, which studies the economies of l...

16 Kesä 20251h 20min

317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders

317 | Nicole Rust on Why Neuroscience Hasn't Solved Brain Disorders

The human brain is extremely complicated, but decades of careful neuroscientific research have revealed quite a bit about how it works, including how certain genes affect particular brain behaviors. N...

9 Kesä 20251h 14min

AMA | June 2025

AMA | June 2025

Welcome to the June 2025 Ask Me Anything episode of Mindscape! These monthly excursions are funded by Patreon supporters (who are also the ones asking the questions). We take questions asked by Patreo...

2 Kesä 20253h 23min

316 | Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper

316 | Niayesh Afshordi and Phil Halper

Einstein's general theory of relativity, plus some reasonable assumptions about the universe and what it's made of, has a remarkable implication: that as we trace cosmic evolution into the far past, w...

26 Touko 20251h 28min

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