Guest: Dr. Dave Goldberg. Topics, physics, astronomy, astrophysics we can all understand and enjoy. Dr. Dave Goldberg, physics professor at Drexel University was our guest to discuss his new book, "A User's Guide to the Universe: Surviving the Perils of Black Holes, Time Paradoxes, and Quantum Uncertainty." Visit his blog website for more information, http://usersguidetotheuniverse.com. In addition, this book is available for purchase through the One Giant Leap Foundation website and if purchased this way, Amazon makes a contribution to OGLF and The Space Show. Please use www.amazon.com/dp/0470496517?tag=onegialeafou-20. In segment one, Dr. Goldberg provided us with the approach used to introduce the general population to the topics discussed in the book. Our early discussion focused on the equation E=MC2, matter and energy, nuclear technology, and even policy making based on understanding the science and technology. Dr. Goldberg took us through the theory that if one really understands the science and technology, better and wiser policy decisions will be made by those making such decisions. He recommended that policy makers have a broad education instead of a highly focused or targeted education. Toward the end of the segment, we talked about fringe or crackpot science and how he copes with it in his profession as well as the book. As we started the second segment, we continued with the discussion on wish list, crackpot, and fringe science. We then talked at length about string theory and here Dave had much to say, both as to the theory and those promoting it along with how the media treats the discussion. The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) came up and we talked about the Higgs Boson particle and the LHC collisions just announced. This led us to discussing the amounts of energy needed to do many experiments so don't miss this discussion. String theory was brought u again in the context of how much energy was needed for various experiments. Our third segment started off with Dr. Goldberg describing his Chapter 5 on time travel. We talked time travel for this full segment and he told about his recent article letter published on io9 regarding the Hot Tub Time Machine. This is a humorous letter which you will enjoy reading along with the comments. To see it, please visit http://io9.com/5504813/to-the-writers-and-director-of-hot-tub-time-mach…. During this segment, we mostly talked about the issues regarding time travel to past, paradoxes, and General Relativity. As you will hear, it might be possible were we to have the amount of energy thought to be needed, plus he said we probably could not go back in time before the time machine existed. Toward the end of the segment, I asked him about time travel to the future. Going into the future appears to be substantially different and more plausible than travel to the past. Don't miss this segment, not only was it fun, it was most informative. Our fourth segment dealt with Chapter 8 Extraterrestrials and then at last, Chapter 7, The Big Bang. Dr. Goldberg brought in the Drake Equation and the possibility of contacting an advanced ET civilization. He said space was huge and talked about randomness, yet another chapter in his book. A listener asked him about the possibility of alternative theories or rules for physics that we do not yet know or understand. Here, he talked about the Weak Anthropic Principle which he said was not liked by scientists. Listen to what he had to say to learn why its not liked. Our discussion then moved to the Big Bang and then in conclusion, he addressed the issue of how scientists work with the media and how their peers regard them. You will find this most interesting. To send a comment or question to Dr. Dave Goldberg, he directs us all to his blog which is http://usersguidetotheuniverse.com.
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The Space Show
