Physics podcasts

Medical physicist Nick Zacharopoulos, chief executive of Aktina Medical, talks with Tami Freeman about developing radiation-oncology technologies and combining industry with academic research. He traces a career that began building radiotherapy components with his father, discusses product development at Aktina, and explains how persistence and a conversation with a colleague led him to a doctorate at McGill University.

Hosted by Tami Freeman

Jonathan Webb interviews Theresa Fruth of the University of Sydney about a potential dark-matter signal in the LUX-ZEPLIN xenon experiment. They explain how detector observations are interpreted, why the signal is of interest and what further evidence would be needed.

Hosted by Jonathan Webb

This Nature Podcast explores how anonymized banking records can reveal patterns of financial abuse and inform support for victim-survivors. A second segment examines how opposing forces within Earth’s core can change the planet’s rotation and the length of a day. Research highlights cover Mercury’s contraction and cognitive resilience in predicting Alzheimer’s dementia.

Lin Ma discusses the development of batteries for electricity grids, including the promise and limitations of sodium-ion systems. The conversation considers safety, materials choices and the role of storage in electricity systems that depend increasingly on renewable generation.

Hosted by Hamish Johnston

Ethan Meitz and Jerry Wang discuss molecular simulation, heat transfer and the conversations that have shaped Meitz’s doctoral research. The episode connects computational methods with collaboration and mentoring, offering a practical view of research supported by the DOE Computational Science Graduate Fellowship.

Hosted by Sarah Webb

Hamish Johnston speaks with iGii co-founder Marco Caffio about Gii, a porous three-dimensional carbon nanomaterial. They discuss how it retains useful electronic, structural and chemical properties associated with graphene while offering different manufacturing and integration options. Applications include chemical sensors, batteries and heaters. The conversation also covers the company’s origins and career advice for physicists entering materials technology.

Hosted by Hamish Johnston

This Nature Podcast episode discusses telephone tutoring during school shutdowns and what changing world-map projections could mean for atlases. Research highlights cover synchronized optical clocks and greenhouse-gas emissions from pigs. The publisher provides the episode audio on Acast.

Nature's Benjamin Thompson and Maren Hunsberger discuss research recognised by the 2026 Ig Nobel prizes, including a soil-health experiment, and examine an intriguing signal from a xenon-based dark-matter experiment. Published on 4 September 2026, this episode connects environmental measurement with particle-physics news.

Jim Al-Khalili and Sean Carroll discuss the nature of time, whether it is fundamental or emergent, and how its direction relates to physical laws and human experience. Their conversation connects the arrow of time with unresolved questions in quantum mechanics, biology and cosmology.

Hosted by Sean Carroll

Max Welling discusses how ideas from physics may inform the next generation of artificial intelligence. The conversation examines physical structure, generative modelling and the relationship between learning systems and scientific discovery.

Hosted by Sam Charrington

Vitor Cardoso discusses how observations and theory are changing black-hole physics. The conversation covers Hawking radiation, general relativity, gravitational-wave observations and the Event Horizon Telescope, asking what these measurements reveal about black holes and what future observatories could test.

Hosted by Sean Carroll

Katia Moskvitch joins Hamish Johnston to discuss The Quantum Kid, the video channel she co-hosts with her son Kai. Their child-led interviews and laboratory visits encourage researchers to explain quantum ideas to wider audiences. The conversation examines whether early exposure to counterintuitive concepts can inspire future science study and participation in quantum technology. The episode is supported by American Elements.

Hosted by Hamish Johnston

NASA aerospace engineer Nate Olson joins Taylor Sparks and Andrew Falkowski to discuss the materials and engineering behind spacecraft thermal protection. Topics include blunt-body designs, Apollo’s ablative heat shield, the Artemis I heat-shield anomaly and future protection systems. The scientific discussion is part of the Materialism materials-science series.

Hosted by Taylor Sparks, Andrew Falkowski

Øystein Elgarøy and Anders Kvellestad discuss unresolved problems in physics, drawing on cosmology and particle physics. Conversation in Norwegian.

Hamish Johnston interviews Yonatan Cohen, co-founder and chief technology officer of Quantum Machines, about control systems linking quantum computers to classical computation. Topics include the increasing importance of hybrid control as qubit counts grow, support for superconducting circuits, trapped ions, neutral atoms, spins and nitrogen-vacancy centers, industry collaborations and careers in quantum technology.

Hosted by Hamish Johnston

Ulrich Sperhake and Seppe Staelens explain hypothetical boson stars and how researchers use mathematical modelling to investigate them. The discussion connects these unusual compact objects to black holes, gravity and gravitational-wave observations.

Adam Riess explains how astronomers measure the universe's expansion and why different methods give conflicting results. He revisits the evidence for accelerated expansion and examines what the Hubble tension might reveal about measurement techniques or missing ingredients in cosmological models.

Hosted by Steven Strogatz

David Kipping considers how to reason about extraterrestrial life when evidence is scarce. The discussion covers promising places to search, the interpretation of possible biosignatures and the role of statistical inference, alongside questions about habitable worlds and moons beyond our solar system.

Hosted by Janna Levin

Margaret Harris talks with Scott Waitukaitis of the Institute of Science and Technology Austria about unresolved questions in contact electrification. The discussion connects his earlier research in granular physics with current investigations of how objects exchange charge, including the role of molecules adsorbed on their surfaces.

Hosted by Margaret Harris

Sean Carroll explores explanations for cosmic acceleration beyond a constant vacuum energy. He discusses dynamical dark-energy models, their relationship to particle physics, possible changes to gravity and the observations that could help distinguish competing theories.

Hosted by Sean Carroll