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PBS Space Time

Space Time explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and anything else you can think of beyond Planet Earth with our astrophysicist host: Matthew O’Dowd. For all business inquiries and sponsorship opportunities please reach out to: pbsspacetime@lighthouseagents.com Matt O"Dowd spends his time studying the universe, especially really far-away things like quasars, super-massive black holes, and evolving galaxies. He uses telescopes in space to

science astronomy

All Episodes

20:20

Why Do You Remember The Past But Not The Future?

PBS Space Time ·

2026/07/18

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE ↓ More info below ↓ Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime The laws of physics don’t specify an arrow of time - they don’t distinguish the past from the future. The equations we use to describe how things evolve forward in time also perfectly describe their evolution backwards in time. So the brain is a thing ruled by the laws

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17:28

How Do We Know What Stars Are Made Of?

PBS Space Time ·

2026/07/18

Thank you to Target for supporting PBS. You can learn more at https://target.com/community Share your story today: https://to.pbs.org/3izZeXh PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Pin-pricks in the celestial sphere, through which shines the light of heaven? Or gods and heroes looking down from their constellations? Or lights kindled above middle earth by Varda Elbereth and brightened with the dew of the trees of Valinor

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24:45

How to Communicate Across the Quantum Multiverse

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/21

Check Out Megawow on PBS Kids: https://youtu.be/meU4f31gqYI In the Many Worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the universal wavefunction is the reality, encompassing all possible histories and futures and all exist. But we are only sensitive to a slice of the wavefunction corresponding to our “world”, and due to the superposition principle our world can happily do its thing unperturbed by other parts of the wavefunction - other “ripples,” or worlds. And while it may seem like it would be

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17:59

How Vacuum Decay Would Destroy The Universe

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/20

Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime The universe is going to end. But of all the possible ends of the universe vacuum decay would have to be the most thorough - because it could totally rewrite the laws of physics. Today I hope to help you understand exactly how terrified you should be. Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special

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22:57

First Detection of Light from Behind a Black Hole

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/20

Thank you to Blinkist for supporting PBS. For more information and trial go to http://www.blinkist.com/PBSSpacetime How do you see the unseeable - how do you explore the inescapable? Our cleverest astronomers have figured out ways to catch light that skims the very edge of black holes. Let’s find out what they learned. A few weeks ago a story made the rounds of pop-sci media proclaiming that for the first time light had been detected from behind a black hole. The reports were about a paper that

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18:59

Neutron Stars: The Most Extreme Objects in the Universe

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/19

Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime We’ve traveled to lots of weird places on this show - from the interiors of black holes to the time before the big bang. But today I want to take you on a journey to what has got to be the weirdest place in the modern universe - a place where matter exists in states I bet you’ve never heard of. Today we take a journey to the center of the neutron star. Check out the Space Time Merch

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25:13

How Electron Spin Makes Matter Possible

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/18

Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord!https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Today I’m going to explain why you’re not falling through your chair right now using one simple fact, and one object. The fact is that all electrons are the same as each other, and the object is a structurally critical item of my clothing. There’s a chance this episode could get very weird. Electrons DO NOT Spin https://youtu.be/pWlk1gLkF2Y Spin Renderings by the Incredible Jason

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24:11

Why Magnetic Monopoles SHOULD Exist

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/17

Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime What happens if you cut a bar magnetic in half? We get two magnets, each with their own North and South poles. But what happens if you keep on cutting, into fourths and eighths and sixteenths and so on? Will we ever get to a single pole? I’ll spoil the answer for you: we don’t know! But the idea of magnetic monopoles remains one of physics’ most tantalizing maybes. Check out the Space Time Merch

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23:15

New Results in Quantum Tunneling vs. The Speed of Light

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/17

Learn More about Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/SpaceTime/ Paradoxically, the most promising prospects for moving matter around faster than light may be to put a metaphorical brick wall in its way. New efforts in quantum tunneling - both theory and experiment - show that superluminal motion may be possible, while still managing to avoid the paradox of superluminal signaling.Paradoxically, the most promising prospects for moving matter around faster than light may be to put a metaphorical brick

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21:03

Will Constructor Theory REWRITE Physics?

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/16

Check Out American Voices: Keep it Close: https://youtu.be/LMJqb5A51_Y The people behind the greatest leaps in physics - Einstein, Newton, Heisenberg, all had the uncanny ability to see the fundamentals - see the deepest, underlying facts about the world, and from simple statements about reality they built up their incredible theories. Well what if we all had a recipe book for doing exactly this. Well, one might be just around the corner and it’s called Constructor Theory. Sign Up on Patreon to

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25:24

Is ACTION The Most Fundamental Property in Physics?

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/15

Learn More About NordVPN at: https://nordvpn.com/spacetime It’s about time we discussed an obscure concept in physics that may be more fundamental than energy and entropy and perhaps time itself. That’s right - the time has come for Action. Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Check out the Space Time Merch Store https://www.pbsspacetime.com/shop Sign up for the mailing list to get episode notifications and hear special

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24:12

What If Our Understanding of Gravity Is Wrong?

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/14

Thank you to CuriosityStream for supporting PBS. For more information go to https://curiositystream.thld.co/PBSSPACETIME Check Out @PBSVitals here: https://youtu.be/FOL0Hs8UcNs What if there is no such thing as dark matter? What if our understanding of gravity is just wrong? New work is taking another shot at that Einstein guy. Let’s see if we’ve finally scored a hit with Modified Newtonian Dynamics aka MOND. Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time

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21:13

Are Black Holes Actually Fuzzballs?

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/14

Learn More about Brilliant: https://brilliant.org/SpaceTime/ Take the 2023 PBS Audience Survey: https://to.pbs.org/pbssurvey2023d Black holes are a paradox. They are paradoxical because they simultaneously must exist but can’t, and so they break physics as we know it. Many physicists will tell you that the best way to fix broken physics is with string. String theory, in fact. And in the black holes of string theory - fuzzballs - are perhaps even weirder than the regular type. Sign Up on Patreon

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46:23

2021 End of Year AMA!

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/13

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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26:10

What Happens If A Black Hole Hits Earth?

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/12

Check Out Above The Noise: https://youtu.be/GKS3ph3G2jc Take the Space Time Fan Survey Here: https://forms.gle/wS4bj9o3rvyhfKzUA The possibility that a black hole could actually impact Earth may seem straight out of science fiction, but the reality is that microscopic primordial black holes could actually hit Earth. If one did, it wouldn't just impact like an asteroid, it'd pass straight through the entire Earth and exit the other side. Perhaps craziest of all, this may have already

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19:26

How to Find ALIEN Dyson Spheres

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/11

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to:http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Take the Space Time Fan Survey Here: https://forms.gle/wS4bj9o3rvyhfKzUA ***** Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime On our search for alien lifeforms we scan for primitive biosignatures, and wait and hope for their errant signals to happen by the Earth. But that may not be the best way. Any energy-hungry civilization more

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26:37

How To Simulate The Universe With DFT

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/11

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Take the Space Time Fan Survey Here: https://forms.gle/wS4bj9o3rvyhfKzUA ***** Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime If you used every particle in the observable universe to do a full quantum simulation, how big would that simulation be? At best a large molecule. That’s how insanely information dense the quantum wavefunction

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18:09

How To Build The Universe in a Computer

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/10

Thank you to Wren for supporting PBS. To learn more, go to https://wren.co/start/spacetime.Take the Space Time Fan Survey Here: https://forms.gle/wS4bj9o3rvyhfKzUA PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to:http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE ***** Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime We routinely simulate the universe on all of its scales, from planets to large fractions of the cosmos. Today we’re

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23:58

How Does Gravity Escape A Black Hole?

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/09

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Take the Space Time Fan Survey Here: https://forms.gle/wS4bj9o3rvyhfKzUA Sign Up on Patreon to get access to the Space Time Discord! https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Fact: in a black hole, all of the mass is concentrated at the singularity at the very center. Fact: every black hole singularity is surrounded by an event horizon. Nothing can escape from within the event horizon

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50:19

The Nature of Space and Time AMA

PBS Space Time ·

2026/06/09

Take the Space Time Fan Survey Here: https://forms.gle/wS4bj9o3rvyhfKzUA On February 10th, 5pm EST Matt will answer the space time community's top questions on the nature of space and the nature of time! Questions are being pulled from the community tab: https://www.youtube.com/c/pbsspacetime/community Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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