PODCAST

TIL: ELI5

TIL

A complex topic, explained like you"re a 5-year old.

education courses

All Episodes

1:47

The Peter Principle

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

In simple terms, the Peter Principle is a concept in management theory that states that people in a hierarchical organization (like a company or a government) tend to be promoted until they reach their level of incompetence. In other words, they keep getting promoted as long as they are good at their job, but once they are promoted to a position where they are not very effective, they stop getting promoted. The Peter Principle was introduced by Dr. Laurence J. Peter in his 1969 book, "The

en-us

2:01

The Banach-Tarski Paradox

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Banach-Tarski Paradox is a concept in mathematics that deals with the strange and counterintuitive properties of infinite sets. It's named after the two mathematicians, Stefan Banach and Alfred Tarski, who discovered it in 1924. In simple terms, the Banach-Tarski Paradox states that it's possible to take a solid sphere, cut it into a small number of pieces, and then reassemble those pieces to form two identical copies of the original sphere, each with the same volume as the original

en-us

2:26

The Many Worlds Interpretation

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

Imagine you're about to flip a coin. You know there's a 50-50 chance that it'll land on either heads or tails. Now, what if I were to tell you that after the flip, two realities would be created: one where the coin lands on heads, and another where it lands on tails? This concept of multiple realities branching out based on every possible outcome of an event is the idea behind the Many Worlds Interpretation (MWI) of quantum mechanics. In simple terms, the MWI suggests that for every

en-us

1:52

The Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

In the world of mathematics and logic, there are many complex ideas and theories. One such idea is Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems, proposed by the mathematician Kurt Gödel. While the concept may seem daunting, we can break it down into simpler terms. At its core, the Gödel's Incompleteness Theorems are a set of two important statements about mathematical systems, such as number theory or geometry. These statements describe certain limitations within these systems that no one had proven

en-us

1:58

The Monty Hall Problem

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

Imagine that you're a contestant on a game show. The host, Monty Hall, presents you with three doors. Behind one door is a brand new car, and behind the other two doors are goats. Your goal is to pick the door with the car behind it. You choose one of the doors, say door number 1. But Monty doesn't open it just yet. Instead, he opens one of the other two doors, revealing a goat. Now, Monty gives you an option: you can either stick with your original choice, door number 1, or switch to the

en-us

2:30

The Langlands Program

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Langlands Program is a collection of profound ideas and conjectures that interconnect various areas of mathematics. First proposed by Canadian mathematician Robert Langlands in the late 1960s, this ambitious research framework aims to establish deep connections between two seemingly different mathematical disciplines: number theory and the geometry of space-time. To understand the essence of the Langlands Program, let's first take a brief look at the two core disciplines it connects

en-us

1:45

Hofstadter's Strange Loop

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

Hofstadter's Strange Loop is a concept developed by Douglas Hofstadter, an American cognitive scientist, in his book "Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid." The idea revolves around self-referential systems – systems that somehow refer back to themselves – and their potential for creating consciousness and meaning. To understand this concept, we can look at an example. Imagine a video camera connected to a TV set. You point the camera at the TV screen, and then you see the screen

en-us

1:58

The Cassandra Complex

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Cassandra Complex is a concept from psychology and sociology that describes a situation where someone's accurate prediction of a crisis or negative event is ignored, dismissed, or disbelieved by others. It originates from Greek mythology, where Cassandra was a princess who was cursed with the ability to foresee the future, but no one would believe her, often leading to tragic consequences. In the modern context, it is used to describe people who, despite their knowledge and credibility,

en-us

1:51

The Simulation Hypothesis

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Simulation Hypothesis is a fascinating concept that has gained popularity in recent years. It argues that the world we live in might not be entirely real, but rather a sophisticated computer simulation created by a highly advanced civilization. If this is true, then everything we experience and know, including our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations, could be part of this virtual reality. To better understand this idea, think about video games. As technology progresses, the

en-us

1:43

The Bystander Effect

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Bystander Effect is a psychological theory that tries to explain why people tend to be less likely to help someone in need when there are other people around. You might have heard stories of someone in a crowded place having an emergency, like falling down or needing help, but no one steps forward to help them. Now, you might think that sounds strange - after all, there are more people around to help, so shouldn't someone step up? The Bystander Effect happens because of something

en-us

2:15

The Tesseract and Fourth Dimension

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

A tesseract, often referred to as a hypercube, is a concept in mathematics that serves as a helpful way to visualize the fourth dimension. By now, you've probably heard of dimensions one, two, and three - these make up the physical world as we know it, with length, width, and height. They're simple to understand because we encounter and interact with these dimensions daily. But what if there's another dimension, called the fourth dimension, that exists beyond our ordinary perception? To

en-us

2:07

The Copenhagen Interpretation

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Copenhagen Interpretation is a concept from the world of quantum physics. To help you understand it, let's first talk about what quantum physics is. Quantum physics is a branch of science that studies the smallest things in the universe, like atoms and subatomic particles. It's famous for discovering some really weird things that don't make sense when we compare them to our everyday experiences. Now, let's talk about the Copenhagen Interpretation. It's one of the many ways that

en-us

2:12

The Bekenstein-Hawking Entropy

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

Imagine you're walking outside, and you suddenly see a very dense, dark object in the sky. That dark object is a black hole. A black hole is a cosmic phenomenon that has a gravitational force so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape its pull. Scientists have a lot of questions and theories about black holes, and one of them relates to something called the Bekenstein-Hawking Entropy. Entropy is a way to describe how messy or disordered a system is, for example, how sand might be

en-us

1:41

The Observer Effect

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Observer Effect is a concept from the world of science that suggests simply observing a situation or phenomenon can change the outcome or the behavior being observed. This idea comes from the field of quantum mechanics, which studies the smallest particles in the universe. Imagine you are baking cookies in the kitchen, and without you knowing, someone secretly observes you. You might feel a little uneasy or change the way you do things because you know someone is watching. This is

en-us

2:02

The Hilbert Space

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

Hilbert space is an important concept in the field of mathematics and physics, especially in quantum mechanics. It is quite challenging to understand as it deals with the idea of infinite dimensions. But fear not! Let's try to understand this topic in simpler terms. Imagine that you are standing in a room. This room is a three-dimensional space, meaning it has a width, height, and depth. In this space, you can move up or down, left or right, or forward and backward. Now, in mathematics,

en-us

1:36

The Three-Body Problem in Physics

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Three-Body Problem is a concept in physics that deals with finding the motion of three objects when they all interact with each other through gravity. Picture in your mind three balls, each with their own mass, size, and direction of movement. They all pull on each other due to gravity, and figuring out how they will move over time can be very tricky. In more simple terms, imagine playing the game of pool. When there are only two balls on the table - the cue ball and another ball -

en-us

2:11

The Arrow of Time

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

What if I told you that time doesn't always move forward? It sounds strange, right? Well, this idea is called the "Arrow of Time," and it's all about how time moves in a specific direction – from the past to the future. But, unlike an arrow in flight, the direction isn't always straightforward. You've probably heard of time machines in science fiction stories, where people travel through time to the past or the future. But in reality, the way that time moves is a bit more complex, because

en-us

2:07

The Nash Equilibrium

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Nash Equilibrium is a concept in the field of game theory, which is a branch of mathematics that deals with analyzing and modeling strategic decision-making situations. Named after the mathematician John Nash, the Nash Equilibrium is a situation in which no player in a game has an incentive to change their strategy, given the strategies of all the other players. Let's break it down with a simple example. Imagine you and a friend are at an ice cream shop, and there are two flavors

en-us

1:50

Mandelbrot Set

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Mandelbrot Set is a mathematical idea or concept named after its creator, Benoit Mandelbrot, a French mathematician. It is a complex (meaning it involves imaginary numbers) mathematical concept relating to fractals, which are shapes that are infinitely detailed and look similar at every level or scale. Although the concept of the Mandelbrot Set might sound complicated, let's break it down so we can understand it more easily. First, let's talk about complex numbers. A complex number is

en-us

1:53

The Kardashev Scale

TIL: ELI5 ·

2023/04/24

The Kardashev Scale is a set of hypothetical measurements created by Russian astrophysicist Nikolai Kardashev in 1964. It's used to determine a civilization's level of technological and energy advancement. Think of it as a kind of video game, where each level up means the society has progressed in its ability to gather and harness energy. There are three main levels or "types" in the original scale, but other scientists have since suggested additional levels. Type I represents a

en-us

214 results

TIL: ELI5

All Episodes

Similar Podcasts

Science Talk

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

五分钟心理学

柠檬心理

Daily Facts

Amalia Dupray and Montgomery Jones.

Les dents et dodo

BFMTV

Veterinary Clinical Podcasts

The Royal Veterinary College