© 2024
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Strange Universe: A special solstice 6/18/23

It's widely misunderstood where in the heavens the sun sits at the time of the solstice. Traditionally it was the zodiacal sign of Cancer, hence "Tropic of Cancer" as the earthly place where you’d see the midday sun standing straight overhead. But despite the lingering name, the solstitial sun drifted out of Cancer and into Gemini two thousand years ago. This week: a special solstice.

Related Content
  • Many people are truly imaginative when it comes to thinking of alternatives to established cosmology models. One listener recently asked, “Could the expanding universe be caused by the emptiness on the outside sucking everything in its direction?” Hear countless possibilities offered by alternate universes on the nature of the cosmos.
  • The universe’s four forces are identical everywhere. So, any physical truth that applies to our galaxy must be identical everywhere else and throughout all of time. In the 1930s, future Nobel-winner Paul Dirac wondered whether time has always passed the same way and whether light’s speed is truly a constant. But despite such doubts, the cosmos certainly appears to be the same always and everywhere. This week we’ll explore where the universe is heading.
  • Everyone knows that Quantum mechanics can be non-logical. Yet it works when it comes to describing the behavior of atoms and all the other small stuff that makes up our universe. It has also been used to create new technologies such as the transistor. But to believe it means believing things about reality that very few of us would find acceptable. Even Albert Einstein, who helped establish quantum theory more than a century ago, came to question its principles for most of his life. This week we'll explore two basic principles of common sense that quantum theory throws away.