"investigations of astrophysics and quantum mechanics"
March 28, 2023 2:23 AM Subscribe
PBS Space Time is a long-running series of videos about high-level physics, ranging from about five to twenty-five minutes long. It was hosted by Gabe Perez-Giz and is currently hosted by Matt O'Dowd. The videos can be watched both on YouTube and the PBS website. With 300+ videos it's hard to know where to start, but they've sorted them into over thirty playlists, such as Futurism and Space Exploration, Standard Model Lagrangian Playlist and Dark Matter and Dark Energy Explained.
Yes! These videos are fantastic.
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 3:30 AM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 3:30 AM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
Seconded for mixing Dowds. Still excited but just slightly less.
posted by BlunderingArtist at 4:16 AM on March 28, 2023
posted by BlunderingArtist at 4:16 AM on March 28, 2023
To try to pull the thread back from my first jokey comment -- I'm pleasantly surprised to see a general-interest channel like PBS producing videos about the standard model Lagrangian, of all things! Looking forward to watching in my free time.
posted by a car full of lions at 4:32 AM on March 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by a car full of lions at 4:32 AM on March 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
After watching this channel for a while you begin to realise how much work goes into these videos, but is also seems like a labour of love. The titles are clickable without being clickbait with a sense of humour Why String Theory is Right, Why String Theory is Wrong and I enjoy the wry dialog with viewers in the response to comments segment at the end of most programmes.
posted by jozifd at 6:37 AM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by jozifd at 6:37 AM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
I am surprised that PBS allows comments on these YouTube videos. Physics tends to attract the kookiest kind of self described geniuses (geniusii), all coming in with their own 'theories' offering solutions to the really knotty problems in Quantum Physics and GR.
posted by indianbadger1 at 8:02 AM on March 28, 2023
posted by indianbadger1 at 8:02 AM on March 28, 2023
The one I’ve watched most recently is What if Black Holes ARE Dark Energy?.
I had what’s become almost my standard reaction to the series: 'it cannot possibly be this good.'
Before I watched, I’d seen headlines about the theory and put it in the same category as that Harvard professor's theory that the Ouamoua object is an alien spaceship, and I was shocked at how plausible and well-grounded it turned out to be. O'Dowd makes it very clear that the theory is highly speculative, and I’d guess he thinks there's nothing to it, but he gives it a very fair hearing.
posted by jamjam at 8:44 AM on March 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
I had what’s become almost my standard reaction to the series: 'it cannot possibly be this good.'
Before I watched, I’d seen headlines about the theory and put it in the same category as that Harvard professor's theory that the Ouamoua object is an alien spaceship, and I was shocked at how plausible and well-grounded it turned out to be. O'Dowd makes it very clear that the theory is highly speculative, and I’d guess he thinks there's nothing to it, but he gives it a very fair hearing.
posted by jamjam at 8:44 AM on March 28, 2023 [2 favorites]
Are these accessible to the average STEM-challenged humanities major? Because I avoided physics like the plague, which was still a concern back when I was in high school, and only got through bio and chem by the skin of my teeth. IOW, I don't have any of the personal knowledge base that would allow me to know more than Newton being hit on the head by an apocryphal apple.
posted by the sobsister at 10:27 AM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by the sobsister at 10:27 AM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
Are these accessible to the average STEM-challenged humanities major?
Not really. They're pretty hardcore on the math/theory side of things. If you want to start learning some physics, the best is: The Mechanical Universe - YouTube. It's from 1985 and is a product of Caltech and aired on some PBS channels back then. It's a great introduction to everything you would have studied in say the first couple of semesters of physics. History and everything. Totally how I got started at fifteen.
posted by zengargoyle at 10:52 AM on March 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
Not really. They're pretty hardcore on the math/theory side of things. If you want to start learning some physics, the best is: The Mechanical Universe - YouTube. It's from 1985 and is a product of Caltech and aired on some PBS channels back then. It's a great introduction to everything you would have studied in say the first couple of semesters of physics. History and everything. Totally how I got started at fifteen.
posted by zengargoyle at 10:52 AM on March 28, 2023 [3 favorites]
PBS Spacetime is great! I'm happy for it to be posted on the blue.
One of the things I like about it is that it does not shy away from showing the math around the concepts they explain, and they also do not oversimplify. On the other hand, this is a channel where being distracted for ten seconds makes the rest of the video incomprehensible, and I find myself rewinding the videos again and again at some spots.
May I also recommend their sister channel, PBS Eons? It is also well researched, it deals with geology and paleontology topics, and is not as hardcore as PBS Spacetime.
posted by LaVidaEsUnCarnaval at 2:22 PM on March 28, 2023 [5 favorites]
One of the things I like about it is that it does not shy away from showing the math around the concepts they explain, and they also do not oversimplify. On the other hand, this is a channel where being distracted for ten seconds makes the rest of the video incomprehensible, and I find myself rewinding the videos again and again at some spots.
May I also recommend their sister channel, PBS Eons? It is also well researched, it deals with geology and paleontology topics, and is not as hardcore as PBS Spacetime.
posted by LaVidaEsUnCarnaval at 2:22 PM on March 28, 2023 [5 favorites]
My favorite physics videos are the short demonstrations by Julius Sumner Miller.
posted by neuron at 10:04 PM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by neuron at 10:04 PM on March 28, 2023 [1 favorite]
Been following this channel for years. One of my top ten picks on YT. :-)
On the other hand, this is a channel where being distracted for ten seconds makes the rest of the video incomprehensible, and I find myself rewinding the videos again and again at some spots.
Very much this.
posted by Pouteria at 6:30 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
On the other hand, this is a channel where being distracted for ten seconds makes the rest of the video incomprehensible, and I find myself rewinding the videos again and again at some spots.
Very much this.
posted by Pouteria at 6:30 PM on March 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Fermilab's channel is in the same vein and is very good.
posted by tayknight at 8:57 AM on March 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by tayknight at 8:57 AM on March 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
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posted by a car full of lions at 3:07 AM on March 28, 2023 [5 favorites]