WEBVTT - Explain the Universe: Behind the Scenes 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.279 Hey everyone, Daniel here. Today's episode is our five hundredth 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.960 episode of the podcast. Thank you so much to everyone 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:10.520 out there who's joined us on this wild ride to 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:14.800 explore the beauty and mystery of our universe. Those people 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:18.000 who feel that buzzing need to know the truth about 0:00:18.040 --> 0:00:21.360 the deepest cosmic questions, and who share my hunch that 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:25.120 humans are capable of figuring it all out. I always 0:00:25.120 --> 0:00:27.640 wanted to share with all of you the incredible feeling 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:31.000 of satisfaction I get when something clicks into place in 0:00:31.120 --> 0:00:34.360 my mind. It's been my absolute pleasure, and here's to 0:00:34.640 --> 0:00:48.040 many more moments of deep insight. Everyone is curious about 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:51.639 how things work and how it all comes together, especially 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:54.600 you since you're listening to this podcast right now, and 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:56.960 over the last five years that we've been on air, 0:00:57.040 --> 0:00:59.640 we've spent a lot of time talking about how the 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:03.000 universe works and how particles are woven together to make 0:01:03.040 --> 0:01:07.120 our reality. But did you ever wonder how this podcast works. 0:01:07.360 --> 0:01:09.960 How a physicist with a full time job puts up 0:01:09.959 --> 0:01:12.800 two episodes per week with his co hosts and guests. 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:15.640 How lots of people working together weave all of their 0:01:15.720 --> 0:01:34.480 efforts to make this podcast a reality. Hi, I'm Daniel. 0:01:34.560 --> 0:01:37.520 I'm a particle physicist and a professor at uc Ermine, 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:41.000 and I'm a podcaster. I usually don't list that in 0:01:41.120 --> 0:01:43.839 my introduction to episodes, which is kind of weird because 0:01:43.840 --> 0:01:46.759 that's actually how most of you who know me. Very 0:01:46.800 --> 0:01:48.840 few of you out there know me in any of 0:01:48.880 --> 0:01:52.840 my other worlds a particle physicist or university professor. Those 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:55.840 are the worlds that occupy most of my time. You 0:01:55.920 --> 0:01:58.720 all mostly know me through this podcast, and today I 0:01:58.760 --> 0:02:00.960 want to meld those worlds a little bit to show 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:03.120 you how I ended up becoming a podcaster and how 0:02:03.120 --> 0:02:05.280 it fits into the rest of my life and how 0:02:05.320 --> 0:02:09.000 the podcast comes together. So welcome to the podcast. Daniel 0:02:09.000 --> 0:02:11.640 and Jorge explain the Universe, in which we explore and 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:15.120 explain the nature of the universe from the smallest, tiny 0:02:15.160 --> 0:02:18.359 little bits out there to the whole nature of the universe, 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:22.480 black holes and cosmic strings and everything out there. We 0:02:22.520 --> 0:02:24.919 tackle the biggest questions and we try to break them 0:02:24.960 --> 0:02:27.280 down and explain them to you. If you're new to 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:30.919 the podcast. The note that today is not a typical episode. 0:02:31.120 --> 0:02:34.960 This episode instead is something of a celebration and self reflection. 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:39.040 We've done five hundred episodes of the podcast. Now, that's 0:02:39.320 --> 0:02:43.239 two a week every week for about five years. Along 0:02:43.240 --> 0:02:45.760 the way, we've had highs and lows, and moments of 0:02:45.840 --> 0:02:49.040 laughter and moments of tears, and we'll share a lot 0:02:49.080 --> 0:02:51.520 of those with you today. But mostly I did want 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.280 to use this episode to celebrate what we've accomplished here, 0:02:54.639 --> 0:02:57.000 and to do that, I wanted to pull back the 0:02:57.080 --> 0:02:59.760 curtain and let you in on the process of how 0:02:59.800 --> 0:03:02.960 the podcast is made. So today's episode will not be 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:07.079 a deep dive into physics, but into the podcast itself. 0:03:07.440 --> 0:03:09.680 I hope that's interesting to all of you out there. 0:03:09.840 --> 0:03:13.400 While each episode is mostly about physics, I find that 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:17.560 listeners also usually respond positively to our occasional personal comment 0:03:17.720 --> 0:03:20.560 like when I talk about white chocolate versus dark chocolate, 0:03:20.760 --> 0:03:22.600 or complain about having to help my son with his 0:03:22.680 --> 0:03:25.359 chemistry homework. And so I hope there's interest out there 0:03:25.440 --> 0:03:27.799 in getting to know the team behind the podcast and 0:03:27.960 --> 0:03:30.440 how they do what they do. I think it's pretty 0:03:30.520 --> 0:03:33.960 unusual to put out such a high volume of content 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:36.080 with such a small team, and I want to show 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.280 you how we do it, what a joy it is 0:03:38.320 --> 0:03:40.160 to do, and what it means to all of us, 0:03:40.200 --> 0:03:42.600 because it wasn't always obvious that we were going to 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:46.120 get here five hundred episodes in. For example, here's a 0:03:46.120 --> 0:03:48.840 frank comment from a listener along these lines. He's a 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:51.960 friend and a fellow particle physicist, Brian Field. 0:03:52.040 --> 0:03:56.480 I believe I saw a fellow podcaster who had retweeted 0:03:56.600 --> 0:04:00.080 that there was going to be a new podcast. The 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:03.960 people that wrote, you know, we have no idea, you know, 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:09.160 sort of thing. These books that I enjoyed, and so 0:04:09.280 --> 0:04:11.200 I got kind of got in on the ground floor, 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:16.040 and as a professional scientist myself, I was very surprised 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:20.760 to find how great they were, how high level they were. 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:23.480 And I have to admit that my first thought was, well, 0:04:23.520 --> 0:04:25.640 these are great, but there's no way they're going to 0:04:25.720 --> 0:04:28.640 be able to keep this level of discourse with this 0:04:28.800 --> 0:04:31.760 many topics for any amount of time. They're just going 0:04:31.839 --> 0:04:34.240 to run out of clever things to say, They're going 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.040 to run out of topics. They're going to cover it all. 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:37.840 But you know, while it lasts, this is going to 0:04:37.920 --> 0:04:41.279 be great. And it was right that it was great, 0:04:41.279 --> 0:04:43.640 and I was wrong about everything else. And I hope 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:45.560 that this is just the beginning and that it continues 0:04:45.600 --> 0:04:50.200 to be a great source of science news in the future, 0:04:50.320 --> 0:04:52.559 and I'm just so glad that it's part of my life. 0:04:53.279 --> 0:04:53.680 Keep doing. 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.560 Keep up the great work, guys, and from your number 0:04:56.560 --> 0:04:58.039 one friend, Brian, talk to you later. 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:00.560 Brian didn't think we could keep it up, have enough 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:03.800 clever things to say for all those episodes. Well I'm 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.560 glad to say that we proved him wrong. That five 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:09.720 hundred episodes of Bananas and black Holes later, we've kind 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:12.000 of found a rhythm and a team that works together 0:05:12.080 --> 0:05:14.839 well and puts out two episodes a week without fail 0:05:15.080 --> 0:05:18.560 every week. But let's start at the very beginning. Before 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:21.080 we can talk about how an episode is made, I 0:05:21.080 --> 0:05:23.039 want to tell you the story about how the podcast 0:05:23.120 --> 0:05:26.760 itself came to be. Like many podcasts, Ours came out 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:28.719 of writing a book, the book that Jorge and I 0:05:28.760 --> 0:05:32.640 wrote together in twenty seventeen called We Have No Idea, 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:36.000 and that book grew out of some earlier collaborations, ones 0:05:36.000 --> 0:05:39.159 that frankly I never thought could happen. Because while you 0:05:39.279 --> 0:05:42.520 all probably know Jorge as the co host of this podcast, 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:47.000 I first knew him as the famous cartoonist behind PhD Comics, 0:05:47.000 --> 0:05:50.080 and he certainly had no idea who I was. It 0:05:50.160 --> 0:05:52.240 was kind of a miracle that I got to work 0:05:52.279 --> 0:05:54.880 with such an internet celebrity at all. He was a 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.200 clip of me during a presentation we gave at Harvard 0:05:57.520 --> 0:05:59.800 telling the story of how Orgey and I came to 0:05:59.839 --> 0:06:05.640 work together till one. It's been a real pleasure working 0:06:05.640 --> 0:06:08.160 on these projects with Jorge. Not only he's the an 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.680 amazing artist, he's also really modest. So for example, I 0:06:10.720 --> 0:06:12.360 have to correct the story a little bit that he 0:06:12.400 --> 0:06:15.280 told you because he leaves out some important details. When 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.320 I thought about explaining physics using cartoons, I thought that 0:06:18.320 --> 0:06:19.840 would be a lot of fun, But I don't have 0:06:19.880 --> 0:06:22.279 the artistic talent to do it myself. Who could I 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:25.160 get to do this? And my wife, who's also a 0:06:25.200 --> 0:06:28.120 fan of PhD comics, she said, well, why don't you 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:30.880 email Jorge Chom And I thought, well, you know, Jorge 0:06:30.960 --> 0:06:33.840 is not just some cartoonist, right, He's like in academia 0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.120 and in research, he's world famous. You can't go to 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:38.479 a lab that does research and not find one of 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.680 his cartoons on the wall because he's really captured, you know, 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:43.960 the experience of being a graduate student and the suffering 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:46.560 of research and all of these things. So it's like 0:06:46.720 --> 0:06:49.000 just emailing a famous person, right, So she says, why 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:51.280 don't you email Jorge Chom And I thought, sure, and 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:53.520 then I'll call Brad Pitt and ask him to make 0:06:53.520 --> 0:06:57.000 a movie about me him, right, like while we're at it. Right, 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.080 So I still having her back from Brad. But I 0:07:01.120 --> 0:07:03.000 did get to write this awesome book with Horage, which 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:05.799 is a lot of fun. So after I cold email 0:07:05.920 --> 0:07:09.760 this internet celebrity, Jorge and I amazingly started out making 0:07:09.880 --> 0:07:12.640 videos where I would explain the particle physics and he 0:07:12.680 --> 0:07:16.760 would make these incredible cartoons to illustrate and clarify the ideas. 0:07:16.960 --> 0:07:21.440 Then in twenty seventeen, the cartoonist behind the webcomic XKCD 0:07:21.760 --> 0:07:24.840 had a massive best selling book called what If, which 0:07:24.880 --> 0:07:27.720 if you haven't read, you should, and his agent reached 0:07:27.720 --> 0:07:30.080 out to Jorge to see if Jorge was interested in 0:07:30.160 --> 0:07:33.480 also doing a science comic book to blend explaining science 0:07:33.600 --> 0:07:36.760 and comics, and you know, explaining physics using cartoons was 0:07:36.880 --> 0:07:39.680 kind of my jam. So Jorge called me and said, hey, 0:07:39.720 --> 0:07:41.880 I think we could write a book about particle physics. 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:45.240 And I said, I don't know. Let's find out what's involved. 0:07:45.360 --> 0:07:48.480 I'm a physics professor. I don't really know anything about publishing. Well, 0:07:48.520 --> 0:07:50.600 it turns out to sell a nonfiction book is pretty 0:07:50.600 --> 0:07:53.240 weird process. If you want to sell a novel, you 0:07:53.280 --> 0:07:55.800 typically have to write the whole thing and then sell it, 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:58.320 unless you're like Stephen King and have a track record. 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:01.360 But for nonfiction, you don't actually have to write it first. 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:04.360 You just write a sample chapter and an outline. So 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:06.720 we did, and the whole thing came together kind of 0:08:06.840 --> 0:08:10.000 shockingly fast. I remember sitting down and banging out the 0:08:10.000 --> 0:08:12.920 first draft of a sample chapter during my daughter's gymnastics 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.480 practice one Saturday morning, and it just kind of flowed 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.160 out of me. You know, all these thoughts and ideas 0:08:18.200 --> 0:08:20.360 I had about dark matter and how little we know 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.280 about the universe, and how much there was left to discover, 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:26.240 and how exciting that was, and the opportunity and the 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:28.280 thrill of all that just sort of like flowed on 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:30.800 to the page. I sent it out to Jorge, who 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:32.840 whipped it into shape and made sure it was clear 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.120 and relatable in that way that he's so good at, 0:08:35.200 --> 0:08:37.480 and then he drew his wonderful cartoons, and we sent 0:08:37.559 --> 0:08:40.400 it off to the agent and just like two weeks later, 0:08:40.640 --> 0:08:43.559 we had a very flattering book contract. The whole thing 0:08:43.679 --> 0:08:46.600 was like really a whirlwind. Then of course we got 0:08:46.600 --> 0:08:48.680 to actually write the book, which took about a year, 0:08:49.120 --> 0:08:50.560 and it was a lot of fun. Jorge and I 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.280 had lots of conversations about what to write about and 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.280 how to write it. We talked about science, send me jokes, 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:57.640 and had a lot of fun, and you know, I 0:08:57.720 --> 0:09:00.000 learned a lot just in trying to explain particle physics 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:02.760 to somebody who's really smart and ask good questions. So 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:05.080 many times Jorge would like back things up and say, 0:09:05.120 --> 0:09:06.880 a whole lot a second, what do you mean we 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:10.160 don't know what mass is or we don't understand space, 0:09:10.559 --> 0:09:13.319 And whole chapters of that book came into being from 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.680 his questions. And then of course the book came out 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:17.840 and we went on tour to promote the book. That 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.880 clip you heard earlier is from our presentation the book Talk, 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:23.319 and this something you need to understand about how that 0:09:23.400 --> 0:09:26.720 book Talk came together. That's kind of shaped all five 0:09:26.840 --> 0:09:30.120 hundred episodes of the podcast that followed. Let's just say 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:34.680 like it wasn't very highly prepared. Basically, we waned it 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.640 every time personally, I wanted to plan it, to lay 0:09:37.679 --> 0:09:39.720 it out and nail it down, because I'm kind of 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:42.319 a planner the way I balance everything in my life, 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:45.840 you know, an overwhelming academic job, a family, a podcast, 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:48.719 a TV show. Book writing is vie staying organized and 0:09:48.760 --> 0:09:51.160 getting things done in advance. But for the book talk, 0:09:51.240 --> 0:09:53.000 we just kind of had a rough idea of what 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.680 we wanted to say and we went for it. Kind 0:09:55.679 --> 0:09:58.439 of terrified me, but you know what, it went pretty well. 0:09:58.559 --> 0:10:00.760 All in all. We gave that talk more than fifty 0:10:00.800 --> 0:10:03.319 times across the country. In the UK, we'd get a 0:10:03.440 --> 0:10:06.599 talking fields and auditoriums filled with one thousand people, or 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.360 the tiny bookstores with a handful of eager listeners. And 0:10:09.400 --> 0:10:13.160 because it wasn't superscripted, every single time it really was different. 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.800 There was always like some new joke or a new twist. 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:18.720 Maybe Jorge would like draw a silly doodle of me 0:10:18.920 --> 0:10:21.160 making fun of me while I was speaking. The audience 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.080 would roar with laughter while I was totally clueless, or 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.319 I'd make some dumb physics dad joke to earn a 0:10:26.400 --> 0:10:28.559 rueful chuckle. It turned out that we kind of had 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:30.840 a knack for a spontaneous humor, and we had a 0:10:30.840 --> 0:10:34.160 good chemistry together. We were just more natural and sincere 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:37.320 when it wasn't tightly planned, because we just had fun 0:10:37.360 --> 0:10:40.440 talking and joking about science. And that's where the podcast 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:43.280 was born. Two guys at a company called stuff Media 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:46.280 reached out to us about launching a podcast. This is 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:50.760 like twenty seventeen, a few years after podcasts had started 0:10:50.800 --> 0:10:53.400 to take off, but before they were like really huge, 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:57.120 before everybody had a podcast, so it wasn't really something 0:10:57.160 --> 0:10:59.040 on my radar yet, but I thought it was an 0:10:59.080 --> 0:11:02.120 intriguing idea. The guys of stuff Media thought that we 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:04.760 had what a take to make a podcast work, so 0:11:04.960 --> 0:11:07.480 to understand what they saw in us, I recently sat 0:11:07.480 --> 0:11:09.960 down with Will Pearson, one of the guys who originally 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:12.440 recruited us into the podcast world, to hear about why 0:11:12.559 --> 0:11:15.480 he thought our podcast might work and whether it's turned 0:11:15.520 --> 0:11:18.319 out as he's planned in the time since his company 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:22.360 was bought by iHeartMedia and he now runs their podcast division. 0:11:22.600 --> 0:11:26.000 That's pretty impressive. I mean, iHeart is the biggest podcasting 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:28.960 company on the planet, which means Will is basically the 0:11:29.000 --> 0:11:33.160 worldwide president of podcasting. He's an important guy, but when 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.760 we spoke, he wasn't actually able to use his usual 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:39.400 quiet space for high quality audio recordings because his thirteen 0:11:39.480 --> 0:11:41.800 year old son had and I'm quoting him here, a 0:11:42.000 --> 0:11:46.520 very important gaming session. Here's my conversation with Will. Well, 0:11:46.559 --> 0:11:49.000 thanks very much, Will forging to have a candid conversation 0:11:49.080 --> 0:11:51.600 with me. First, introduce yourselves to our listeners, to one 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:54.240 of the many people behind the scenes that makes this happen. 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:56.160 But they don't know you, so tell us a little 0:11:56.160 --> 0:11:56.920 bit about who you are. 0:11:57.080 --> 0:12:00.199 Yeah, and Will Pearson. I run the podcast division here 0:12:00.240 --> 0:12:01.120 at iHeart. 0:12:01.360 --> 0:12:02.360 I was actually part of a. 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:05.800 Company called stuff Bedia or maybe more publicly known as 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:09.280 how Stuff Works a few years ago and we were 0:12:09.320 --> 0:12:13.880 acquired by iHeartMedia or iHeartRadio to come on board and 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:17.640 run the podcast division here. But you know, we had 0:12:17.679 --> 0:12:20.559 come out of a world of podcasts that we're all 0:12:20.720 --> 0:12:22.120 very general knowledge driven. 0:12:22.400 --> 0:12:24.800 Cool. Well, let's not understate your job. I mean iHeart 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.640 is like number one podcast company in the world and 0:12:27.640 --> 0:12:30.040 you're heading up the podcast division there. That seems like 0:12:30.080 --> 0:12:30.760 kind of a big deal. 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:33.400 It's you know, it's one of those things that because 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:36.000 it doesn't happen overnight, you really don't stop to think 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:36.920 about it, but yeah, I didn't know. 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:41.880 We're supposed to brag awesome. Well, podcasts are everywhere now 0:12:41.920 --> 0:12:44.560 and everybody listens to podcast and sort of a big deal. 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:48.120 But take us back to like twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen 0:12:48.160 --> 0:12:51.400 when our podcast started. What was a podcast landscape like 0:12:51.520 --> 0:12:53.880 back then? What kind of things were you looking for? 0:12:54.160 --> 0:12:56.120 I think, first of all, the thing that drew me 0:12:56.280 --> 0:12:58.800 to the podcast base, because that's right around the time 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.080 that I had joined and stuff media, as I mentioned before, 0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:05.600 was around twenty seventeen, was the fact that it was 0:13:05.640 --> 0:13:10.000 a medium built off of knowledge based shows, Like we 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:13.360 started seeing the biggest shows in the category were really 0:13:13.400 --> 0:13:15.720 shows where people were coming to them because they wanted 0:13:15.720 --> 0:13:17.920 to learn, They wanted to walk away feeling a little 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.520 bit smarter from whatever they were listening to. You could 0:13:20.520 --> 0:13:24.360 find a great podcast for those, and that podcast sort 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.000 of stripped away the layers that you find in most 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:30.920 other medium and get down to the very basics of 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:31.760 a conversation. 0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:34.800 Awesome, And so why did you reach out to us? 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:36.920 What did you see in us? Why did you think 0:13:36.960 --> 0:13:39.080 that danie Le Jorge explain the universe? It might be 0:13:39.400 --> 0:13:40.760 a good fit for your company. 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:43.280 Well, I mean, first of all, it was a category 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:46.600 that I've long been interested in, you know, the idea 0:13:46.640 --> 0:13:51.800 of helping a general population or curious minds better understand 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.880 the universe, better understand astronomy. You know, as a kid, 0:13:56.080 --> 0:13:59.120 was the nerd that was obsessed with you know, Carl 0:13:59.200 --> 0:14:02.320 Sagan and Stephen Hawking and everything I could get my 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:06.080 hands on. That sort of made this category accessible, and 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:08.400 I just felt like that there was a larger population 0:14:08.559 --> 0:14:10.720 that would be interested in this as well. You know, 0:14:10.760 --> 0:14:13.840 we saw with the success of our House Stuff Works 0:14:14.120 --> 0:14:17.080 line of shows that there really was a hunger for 0:14:17.200 --> 0:14:21.080 good audio in the general knowledge space. And when we 0:14:21.160 --> 0:14:24.600 saw we have no idea, we really felt like, Okay, 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:26.520 here are two guys that get it. You know, when 0:14:26.880 --> 0:14:31.400 it's a rare moment that you find super smart people 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:35.000 that really know how to communicate with a general audience, 0:14:35.240 --> 0:14:37.400 it feels like we're all in it together. It didn't 0:14:37.400 --> 0:14:39.800 feel like you're being lectured to. It didn't feel like 0:14:39.880 --> 0:14:43.440 you were just you know, had the pleasure of just 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:46.080 being with somebody that was one hundred times smarter than 0:14:46.080 --> 0:14:50.200 you were. Like you guys obviously are incredibly intelligent, but 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:52.240 at the same time, it just feels like you're getting 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:55.720 the chance to listen in on a great conversation, and 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:59.520 we felt like there was that opportunity to create a 0:14:59.560 --> 0:15:02.560 show with you two in a way that could do that. 0:15:02.840 --> 0:15:05.800 And fortunately, the first time we heard you guys in 0:15:05.880 --> 0:15:07.920 a pilot when we said, you know what, we think 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:10.480 this could be an interesting podcast. Let's have a conversation 0:15:10.560 --> 0:15:12.680 about it. The first time you guys ever recorded, not 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:15.000 to say that it was perfect, but like you immediately 0:15:15.040 --> 0:15:17.920 knew something was there, so we were super excited about it. 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:20.960 Wow awesome, And you know we've done five hundred episodes 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.560 now and the show has evolved and you know, gained 0:15:23.560 --> 0:15:26.200 its own inside jokes and all sorts of stuff. Would 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:28.200 you say that it's like different from what you might 0:15:28.240 --> 0:15:31.040 have predicted it turned into five years ago, or is 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:32.480 it mostly what you were looking for? 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.720 I mean, I would say, fortunately, it is what we 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:38.320 were looking for, because you know, we we try not 0:15:38.440 --> 0:15:42.320 to be too prescriptive when we bring on a new podcast. 0:15:42.400 --> 0:15:44.880 We know at the core what we were looking for 0:15:45.760 --> 0:15:49.520 was something that could help curious minds better understand the 0:15:49.680 --> 0:15:54.480 universe and also to feel like they were being entertained 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:56.360 when they listen to something and if you can find 0:15:56.400 --> 0:15:59.360 the right blend there sort of walking that line in 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:02.680 a really small, a't way, I think you know, you've 0:16:02.680 --> 0:16:04.720 got a hit show on your hands. And so we 0:16:04.800 --> 0:16:07.080 didn't know exactly what it was going to sound like, 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:10.560 but the vibe and the sort of effect of the 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:13.240 show was exactly what we were going for. So no, 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:15.640 I think the show is exactly what we wanted to be. 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:19.600 I had no idea that it would run five hundred episodes, 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.520 but that's been part of the beauty of shows of 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:26.640 this type is that listeners fall in love with the hosts, 0:16:26.760 --> 0:16:30.440 with the concept and just stick with it. And so 0:16:30.440 --> 0:16:32.440 so it's been a blast to just watch it. I 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:34.680 didn't know that it would be as big as it 0:16:34.800 --> 0:16:37.640 is because it felt like, Okay, this is a category 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.160 that maybe will be a little more niche. But you know, 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:43.760 you've got hundreds of thousands of people listening to every 0:16:43.840 --> 0:16:45.800 single episode, which is just amazing. 0:16:45.920 --> 0:16:47.520 It feels like a huge privilege to me that all 0:16:47.520 --> 0:16:50.160 those folks aren't trusting us with their time and energy. 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:52.600 So I'm really grateful. Well, thanks very much, Will for 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:56.080 sharing your perspective and for having that faith in us 0:16:56.120 --> 0:16:58.760 to create this thing. I'm always touched that so many 0:16:58.800 --> 0:17:02.480 people who make these shows happened were themselves inspired by 0:17:02.520 --> 0:17:04.919 something earlier. It's just like feeds forward. You know, you 0:17:04.960 --> 0:17:07.920 were inspired by Carl Sagan. You help make something which 0:17:07.960 --> 0:17:10.360 I hope will inspire somebody else out there to make 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:11.280 something else beautiful. 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:14.160 Oh, I appreciate that, And congratulations to you guys. It's 0:17:14.200 --> 0:17:16.480 no big surprise to me that you've been successful. 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:17.159 But I love it. 0:17:17.200 --> 0:17:19.119 I love that we get to partner with you guys, 0:17:19.160 --> 0:17:22.240 and look forward to being back on for episode one thousand. 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:26.200 All right, awesome, thanks very much. Will So Will thought 0:17:26.240 --> 0:17:28.040 that Jorge and I had a chemistry together and a 0:17:28.080 --> 0:17:30.439 knack for explaining this stuff and decided to give us 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:33.200 a chance. But you might also wonder, and many people 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.320 have asked me this, what made me want to do this? 0:17:36.440 --> 0:17:38.800 I mean, I already had a more than full time 0:17:39.000 --> 0:17:41.800 job as a physicist and have young kids at home, 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:45.440 and most academics are already like drowning in work and emails. 0:17:45.920 --> 0:17:48.720 Why take on this other new thing? So when we 0:17:48.760 --> 0:17:50.520 come back from the break, we'll talk about that, and 0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.240 we'll hear from other physicists in the podcast space. And 0:17:53.359 --> 0:17:55.640 why they do it, and I'll take you through how 0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.760 we go from idea to episode twice a week in 0:17:58.760 --> 0:18:14.359 a way that doesn't break my calendar or ruin my marriage. Okay, 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:17.159 we're back with our special behind the scenes episode or 0:18:17.160 --> 0:18:19.479 the podcast to give you a glimpse into the origin 0:18:19.520 --> 0:18:21.960 of the show and how it's put together. But I 0:18:21.960 --> 0:18:25.320 haven't told you yet. Probably the most important thing to me, 0:18:25.359 --> 0:18:28.560 at least, which is why I do the show. It 0:18:28.600 --> 0:18:31.280 wasn't because I liked talking science with the Jorge, though 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:33.960 of course I do, or because it was a fun 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:37.200 new adventure, which it was, Or because I might make 0:18:37.240 --> 0:18:40.480 some cash, though I have nothing against cash. Deep down, 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:43.520 It's really because I just wanted to share my joy 0:18:44.119 --> 0:18:47.080 with you all. There are these moments when you study 0:18:47.119 --> 0:18:50.200 physics that an idea clicks in your mind and you're 0:18:50.280 --> 0:18:54.040 just shaken with the power of it. A veal is 0:18:54.080 --> 0:18:56.439 pulled back and you have a new view of the 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.359 entire universe. You thought it worked like this, but then 0:18:59.400 --> 0:19:01.359 it turns out you were looking at it backwards or 0:19:01.440 --> 0:19:04.080 upside down, or missing ninety five percent of the picture, 0:19:04.160 --> 0:19:06.359 or trying to read it in the wrong language. And 0:19:06.400 --> 0:19:09.439 when you see it the right way, it connects in 0:19:09.480 --> 0:19:12.400 this beautiful way that makes you want to like shout 0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:15.320 with joy and whisper in reverence. At the same time. 0:19:15.600 --> 0:19:19.200 I'm not personally a very religious person, but those moments 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:22.080 of deep understanding, those are the most spiritual moments of 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:25.800 my life. When I feel like I've glimpsed something deeply true, 0:19:25.920 --> 0:19:29.880 I've seen behind the scenes. You know, when you realize, oh, 0:19:30.000 --> 0:19:33.160 light is a wiggle in these fields, or oh, electricity 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:36.920 and magnetism is just one big idea clicks together, or wow, 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:40.920 group theory describes a relationship between the particles. Or wow, 0:19:41.080 --> 0:19:44.360 forces only exist to preserve the gage symmetries of that 0:19:44.400 --> 0:19:47.280 group theory, or oh, our laws only apply to the 0:19:47.400 --> 0:19:51.040 current phase of the universe. Or wow, there isn't one 0:19:51.080 --> 0:19:53.840 single clock for the universe, there are infinite series of clocks, 0:19:53.840 --> 0:19:56.359 a new single history of events. Or oh, my gosh, 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:58.960 the speed limit of the universe comes naturally from this 0:19:59.119 --> 0:20:02.240 new way of thinking about space. All of these moments 0:20:02.280 --> 0:20:04.760