Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

• Astrobiologist Says We’ve Been Searching for Aliens the Wrong Way with Nathalie Cabrol

  Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 What if alien life is everywhere, but we’ve been looking for it in all the wrong places? We assume life needs water, carbon, a warm little pond—just like Darwin said. But what if life doesn't care about what we assume to be necessary? Today, we’re joined by Dr. Nathalie Cabrol, director of the Carl Sagan Center at the SETI Institute. Cabrol has spent her career exploring Earth’s most extreme environments—boiling lakes that freeze at night, toxic salt flats, and places where life should be impossible. And yet, it finds a way. In this episode, we talk about the intricacies of the search for extraterrestrial life and question whether Earth might be a cosmic accident after all. We explore whether civilizations out there may stay silent on purpose—and what it would take for humanity to survive its own future, based on what we know about the deep secrets of the universe. — Key Takeaways:  00:00:00 Intro 00:01:55 What is life?  00:05:17 Exploring extreme environments  00:08:51 Agnostic biosignatures 00:13:57 Judging a book by its cover  00:17:33 The shadow biosphere 00:22:27 Errors in the search for extraterrestrial life  00:37:31 The Rare Earth Hypothesis  00:40:41 Should we stop broadcasting our location? 00:52:00 The impact of discovering extraterrestrial life  01:00:06 Are we worth saving?  01:06:46 Outro — Additional resources:  ➡️ Learn more about Nathalie Cabrol: 🛸 SETI Institute: https://www.seti.org/our-scientists/nathalie-cabrol  📚 The Secret Life of the Universe: https://a.co/d/dzdzcD9 ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  🔔 YouTube:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  📝 Join my mailing list:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/list⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ✍️ Check out my blog:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  🎙️ Follow my podcast:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• Did Eric Weinstein Just Delete Einstein’s Cosmological Constant - Confirmed by DESI?

  Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Can geometric unity actually solve the deepest mysteries of our universe, or will it join the many others that have tried unsuccessfully in the past to create a new unified theory? Eric Weinstein is one of the most revered thinkers of our generation. Though not an academic physicist, he proposed a unified theory of physics in 2013, which is supposed to have the potential to explain phenomena that string theory cannot. In a lecture held live at UCSD in April 2025 at the prestigious Astrophysics and Cosmology Seminar, Eric presented an update to his groundbreaking theory. Today, we’re sharing his fascinating lecture with you!  Eric is an investor, financial executive, and host of The Portal. He and his brother, Bret Weinstein, coined the term Intellectual Dark Web to refer to an informal group of pundits. Eric is a vocal critic of modern academic hierarchies and advocates for advances in scientific theory over an emphasis on experimental results. He proposed a new unified theory of physics in 2013 and has been an active member of the physics community.  — Key Takeaways:  00:00 Intro 01:58 Cosmological sector and geometric unity  03:57 The Poincaré group  08:31 Quantum gravity and the standard model  14:41 Torsion and gauge invariance  28:13 Spinor group and 14-dimensional space  38:24 Grand unification and spinors  42:34 The Higgs is an illusion 50:08 Outro — Additional resources:  ➡️ Learn more about Eric: 🎙️ Website: https://ericweinstein.org/ ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating⁠⁠⁠⁠  🔔 YouTube:⁠⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1⁠⁠⁠⁠  📝 Join my mailing list:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/list⁠⁠⁠⁠  ✍️ Check out my blog:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/⁠⁠⁠⁠  🎙️ Follow my podcast:⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠⁠  — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• The Scientists Ep. 3: Isaac Asimov -- Atomic Habits

  Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Brian Keating takes us on a journey through the fascinating life and legacy of Isaac Asimov—but not as the sci-fi visionary you might expect. Instead, Brian explores Asimov the scientist: the prolific chemist, professor, and master storyteller who wrote more nonfiction science books than anyone in history. Discover how Asimov made chemistry come alive—turning even the most complex topics into vibrant, page-turning tales that inspired generations (including Brian himself!) to pursue science. From tales of the periodic table and the drama of scientific discovery to the human stories behind elements like carbon and nitrogen, Brian shares his favorite five Asimov books and explains why they still outshine almost everything else in science writing. Along the way, you’ll hear about the power of storytelling in science education, the unexpected tragedies behind groundbreaking chemical discoveries, and why Asimov’s work remains a hidden gem for anyone passionate about learning. So grab your curiosity and get ready to see why Isaac Asimov wasn’t just a legendary sci-fi writer—he was the greatest science storyteller atoms ever made. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Asimov's Essential Chemistry Books 04:53 "Impactful Chemistry Book, 1965" 08:59 Galileo's Captivating Scientific Discovery 12:08 "Simplified Communication" Podcast Strategy 16:26 Carbon: Backbone of Life's Chemistry 17:42 "Benzene Dream & Carbon's Impact" 22:26 Pursuer of Clarity in Education - Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get a copy of my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un 📺 Watch my most popular videos:📺 Neil Turok https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dt5cFLN65fI Frank Wilczek https://youtu.be/3z8RqKMQHe0?sub_confirmation=1 Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OI0AZ4Y4Ip4?sub_confirmation=1 Sir Roger Penrose: https://youtu.be/AMuqyAvX7Wo Sabine Hossenfelder: https://youtu.be/g00ilS6tBvs Avi Loeb: https://youtu.be/N9lUceHsLRw Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #intotheimpossible #briankeating #richardfeynman #manhattanproject #atomicbomb #losalamos #physics #teaching #curiosity #legacy #science Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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• How Black Holes Break Reality | Marcus Chown [Ep. 493]

  Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Could a black hole erase your past? Wipe out every memory, every detail, that makes you who you are? That’s just one of the crazy questions we explore as we encounter the insane paradoxes of black holes.  Black holes don’t just trap matter. They trap information too. This is what makes them one of the greatest mysteries of our universe. They challenge our fundamental understanding of physics and our reality. Everything we know about our world breaks down when we confront their mystifying properties. Today's guest, Marcus Chown, has spent years tracing the history of black holes—not just the science, but also the brilliant scientists who gave us the knowledge and insight into these marvels. From equations scribbled in the trenches of WWI to a vanishing dark star in the 1970s, Marcus takes us on a journey from discovery to understanding…of all that we know so far. His latest book, A Crack in Everything, tells the astonishing story of how black holes went from absurd fantasy to perhaps the fundamental phenomenon that shapes our entire reality. — Key Takeaways:  00:00:00 Intro 00:01:09 The most terrifying object in the universe 00:03:05 Judging a book by its cover  00:05:10 Paradoxes and information in black holes  00:10:26 Historical figures and black holes 00:23:23 The future of black hole research  00:34:44 Are black holes responsible for our existence? 00:38:53 Do black holes create universes?  00:44:06 Human stories that didn’t make it into the book  00:59:37 Outro — Additional resources:  ➡️ Learn more about Marcus Chown:  📚 A Crack in Everything: https://a.co/d/5KI9iZK ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating⁠⁠⁠  🔔 YouTube:⁠⁠⁠ https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1⁠⁠⁠  📝 Join my mailing list:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/list⁠⁠⁠  ✍️ Check out my blog:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/⁠⁠⁠  🎙️ Follow my podcast:⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/podcast⁠⁠⁠  — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  1:05:23
• The Scientists Ep. 2: Pure Genius - The Feynman Method: How a Physicist Rewired the Way We Learn

  Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 This conversation explores the life and legacy of Richard Feynman, exploring his pivotal role in the Manhattan Project, his unique personality, and his innovative teaching methods. Feynman's contributions to physics and his playful approach to science are highlighted, alongside the complexities of his character and the lasting impact he has had on future generations of scientists. - Key Takeaways: 00:00 The Call to Arms: Feynman's Early Involvement in WWII 03:08 Los Alamos: The Birthplace of the Atomic Bomb 06:01 Feynman's Playful Genius: Safe-Cracking and Curiosity 08:52 The Personal and Professional: Feynman's Complex Life 12:13 Feynman's Iconoclastic Nature and Humor 15:07 The Legacy of Richard Feynman: A Lasting Impact 18:01 Feynman's Approach to Learning and Teaching 20:49 The Man Behind the Genius: Feynman's Flaws and Foibles - Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get a copy of my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life-changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here: http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast #universe #podcast #briankeating #intotheimpossible #science #astronomy #cosmology #cosmicmicrowavebackground #intotheimpossible #briankeating #richardfeynman #manhattanproject #atomicbomb #losalamos #physics #teaching #curiosity #legacy #science #nobelprize Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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  25:20

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