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Cutting-edge physics in all its remarkable strangeness
Many people ask me if science is getting more glamorous. Well, I hope so. The world of Hollywood and the media tell us that if you are beautiful and strong then you are at the top of the pyramid where everyone else is at the bottom. But as soon as you graduate into the real world—the pyramid goes ...
In my most recent book "Physics of the Impossible," I define three classes of impossibilities in regards to technology. Class One impossibilities are technologies that are impossible today but don’t necessarily violate the known laws of physics; Class Two impossibilities are those that are at the ...
We physicists used to laugh whenever we talked about some of the topics that I mention in my book, "Physics of the Impossible"—some of these include such ideas as invisibility and teleportation. But we aren’t laughing anymore and we realize that we were wrong on this one. Quantum teleportation ...
If I were Obama--I would have taken a different approach after hearing about the BP Oil Spill. 1. I would have removed BP from being in charge of this operation and have them serve as consultants. The fundamental problem is that BP has been low-balling all of the estimates because they are ...
The number one story that has been dominating the headlines for the past two months is the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. President Obama is now dealing with the greatest environmental catastrophe ever to hit the continental United States. The main issue that I have with the oil spill is the ...
When we look for signals from alien life in outer space, we see nothing and all seems to be quiet. The laws of probability tell us that the Universe should be teaming with intelligent life forms, some possibly even more intelligent than us. One theory says that there were many Type 0 civilizations ...
I'm nearly done filming a second season of "SCI-FI Science: Physics of the Impossible" on The Science Channel. In this exciting new series, I've identified 12 more familiar science-fiction movie, TV and literature notions and technologies. I've been explaining how we can build some of these SCI-FI ...
If you are a Star Trek fan, you may long have been fascinated by the idea of a "replicator"; a device where you simply ask for something and the device releases something called nanobots which are miniature robots that molecule for molecule assembles the object that you want. Now this replicator ...
Albert Einstein once said something very profound. He said the Universe could have been chaotic, random and ugly—and yet we have this gorgeous synthesis at the origin of the Universe itself, giving birth to the galaxies, the planets, DNA, life. Einstein said that the harmony he sees could not have ...
Last month, I had the honor of greeting my colleague, Stephen Hawking, famed cosmologist, in New York, where he was being honored by the World Science Festival for all his scientific contributions. On one hand, it was a thrilling moment, seeing him surrounded by the press and then seeing him ...
I would like to engage the readers of Dr. Kaku's Universe and hear your thoughts on what you would like to see me write about in upcoming blog posts. There are no limitations on topics or subject nature. Simply post your thoughts in the comment section below and I will randomly select topics in ...
Personally, I remember back in the 1970s when string theory fell out of favor. At the time, it was very difficult to get a job and many people dismissed the theory as heresy. This of course is a common instance for new ideas or theories to initially be dismissed that are not yet understood. A few ...
"In fact, it is often stated that of all the theories proposed in this century, the silliest is quantum theory. Some say that the only thing that quantum theory has going for it, in fact, is that it is unquestionably correct." Almost since its inception, the development of quantum theory has ...
Up until just a few hundred years ago most people thought that the Universe was a stable, static place that had been here forever and would continue forever. Today we know that nothing could be further from the truth. In reality, we know that the Universe is a violent and continually changing place ...
There was brief speculation in the media about using nuclear weapons to seal up the raging oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. I think this is a bad idea, from a physics point of view. Let me say that my mentor while I was in high school and at Harvard, Edward Teller, father of the H-bomb, was a firm ...