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Video
Why is there something rather than nothing? Why does so much interesting stuff exist in the universe? Particle physicist Harry Cliff works on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and he has some potentially bad news for people who seek answers to these questions. Despite the best efforts of scientists (and the help of the biggest machine on the planet), we may never be able to explain all the weird features of nature. Is this the end of physics? Learn more in this fascinating talk about the latest research into the secret structure of the universe.
- Subjects:
- Physics
- Keywords:
- Particles (Nuclear physics) -- Research
- Resource Type:
- Video
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Video
James Beacham looks for answers to the most important open questions of physics using the biggest science experiment ever mounted, CERN's Large Hadron Collider. In this fun and accessible talk about how science happens, Beacham takes us on a journey through extra-spatial dimensions in search of undiscovered fundamental particles (and an explanation for the mysteries of gravity) and details the drive to keep exploring.
- Subjects:
- Physics
- Keywords:
- Particles (Nuclear physics) -- Research Astrophysics Nuclear astrophysics
- Resource Type:
- Video
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Video
You're on an airplane when you feel a sudden jolt. Outside your window nothing seems to be happening, yet the plane continues to rattle you and your fellow passengers as it passes through turbulent air in the atmosphere. What exactly is turbulence, and why does it happen? Tomás Chor dives into one of the prevailing mysteries of physics: the complex phenomenon of turbulence.
- Subjects:
- Physics
- Keywords:
- Turbulence Atmospheric turbulence
- Resource Type:
- Video
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Video
To study a system as complex as the entire universe, astrophysicists need to be experts at extracting simple solutions from large data sets. What else could they do with this expertise? In an interdisciplinary talk, TED Fellow and astrophysicist Federica Bianco explains how she uses astrophysical data analysis to solve urban and social problems -- as well as stellar mysteries.
- Subjects:
- Environmental Sciences, Research Methods, and Statistics and Research Method
- Keywords:
- Social problems Astrophysics -- Statistical methods Urban pollution
- Resource Type:
- Video
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Video
Berg begins his lecture with a brief history of observations of bacterial motion. He then uses physics to describe the many hurdles that E. coli must overcome as it tries to swim up or down a chemical gradient. For instance, an entity as tiny as E. coli is constantly buffeted by Brownian motion and can neither stay still nor swim in a straight line. Then there is the question of how E. coli senses a gradient and translates that information into a change in its direction of movement. And finally, how does E. coli use its flagella to generate thrust at all? In Part 2, Berg explains that E. coli travels using a series of runs, when it moves in a straight line, and tumbles, when it changes direction. During a run, all of the flagella are moving counterclockwise in a tight bundle. During a tumble, one or more flagella switch to a clockwise movement and disengage from the bundle causing a change in the swimming direction. The motor that drives the rotation of the flagella is an amazing structure made of about 20 different protein parts. Berg tells us that chemosensory receptors on the cell surface detect a chemical gradient and transfer this information, via protein phosphorylation, to the motor. This chemical modification determines the direction of motor rotation and, hence, the direction the E. coli swims. An amazing system that E. coli has been perfecting for millions of years!
- Subjects:
- Physics and Biology
- Keywords:
- Bacteria -- Motility Physics Escherichia coli
- Resource Type:
- Video
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Video
Physics and marketing don't seem to have much in common, but Dan Cobley is passionate about both. He brings these unlikely bedfellows together using Newton's second law, Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, the scientific method and the second law of thermodynamics to explain the fundamental theories of branding.
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Video
Traveling is extremely arduous for microscopic sperm -- think of a human trying to swim in a pool made of...other humans. We can compare the journey of a sperm to that of a sperm whale by calculating the Reynolds number, a prediction of how fluid will behave, often fluctuating due to size of the swimmer. Aatish Bhatia explores the great (albeit tiny) sperm's journey.
- Subjects:
- Physics
- Keywords:
- Fluid dynamics Sperm whale Spermatozoa
- Resource Type:
- Video
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Video
When Dick Fosbury couldn't compete against the skilled high jumpers at his college, he tried jumping in a different way -- backwards. Fosbury improved his record immediately and continued to amaze the world with his new technique all the way to Olympic gold. Asaf Bar-Yosef explains the physics behind the success of the now dominant Fosbury Flop.
- Subjects:
- Physics
- Keywords:
- Soccer -- Kicking Physics
- Resource Type:
- Video
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Video
In the third act of "Swan Lake", the Black Swan pulls off a seemingly endless series of turns, bobbing up and down on one pointed foot and spinning around and around and around ... thirty-two times. How is this move — which is called a fouetté — even possible? Arleen Sugano unravels the physics of this famous ballet move.
- Subjects:
- Physics
- Keywords:
- Ballet dancing Physics
- Resource Type:
- Video
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Video
Physics doesn't just happen in a fancy lab -- it happens when you push a piece of buttered toast off the table or drop a couple of raisins in a fizzy drink or watch a coffee spill dry. Become a more interesting dinner guest as physicist Helen Czerski presents various concepts in physics you can become familiar with using everyday things found in your kitchen.
- Subjects:
- Physics
- Keywords:
- Physics -- Popular works
- Resource Type:
- Video