Episode 38: Blazar McBlazeface

Two Bit Geeks

Ped and Tom followup on some recent developments in the world of science including the mysterious ?Oumuamua, a super-powerful blazar, and a neutrino detector buried deep in the ice. Then, Ped extolls the benefits of three recent self-improvement books while Tom prefers self-deprecation.

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Interstellar Interloper Revisited [01:32]

• Episode 22: Nostalgia Kilonova
• ?Oumuamua
• Non-gravitational acceleration in the trajectory of 1I/2017 U1 (‘Oumuamua) (Nature)
• Occam’s razor

Ice Cubes and Star Blazers [08:56]

• Multimessenger observations of a flaring blazar coincident with high-energy neutrino IceCube–170922A (Science)
• Neutrinos
• Cosmic rays
• Blazars
• It Came From a Black Hole, and Landed in Antarctica (New York Times)
• TXS 0506+056 aka “Blazar McBlazeface”
• Multi-messenger astronomy
• IceCube Neutrino Observatory
• There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom by Richard Feynman
• 30-Second Quantum Theory by Brian Clegg
• Newtonian physics vs Quantum mechanics
• The Double Slit Experiment

Ped’s Book Report x 3 [32:10]

• The Heartfulness Way: Heart-Based Meditations for Spiritual Transformation by Kamlesh Patel and Joshua Pollock
• Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World by Cal Newport
• Ikigai: The Japanese Secret to a Long and Happy Life by Héctor García and Francesc Miralles

Music by Lee Rosevere (CC by 4.0)