Chris also discusses how research on the universe can influence what we do and think on earth. For example, did you know that some of the experimental techniques and technology developed to probe space led to the invention of WiFi and the World Wide Web?
Listen on聽听触听听触听听触听
In this episode
00:55 I'm mainly interested in an area known as dark matter.聽It's a part of cosmology which is where we are studying the whole universe. We think that there is this very unusual type of matter, which is actually more numerous than ordinary atoms that we're familiar with. The only thing is it doesn't seem to interact with light or ordinary matter except gravitationally.聽So even if we were having dark matter passing through us right now, we wouldn't notice it.
02:16 With dark matter, the light will simply pass straight through it.聽The only way we can see it, is to see things like galaxies attracted towards something, even though there's no light being reflected from that thing. So we then assume聽there's some kind of matter there which doesn't interact with light.
02:56 One of the first ways they were becoming aware of this dark matter was when they looked at how galaxies were rotating.
03:56聽Then we see those stars would not be sufficient to have that galaxy spinning so fast, it should be flying apart. So聽there must be some other material in there that鈥檚 providing that extra needed gravity.
06:40听With a lot of this very kind of cutting edge high energy physics. often聽there are quite a lot of spinoff benefits because the experimental techniques that they have to develop will often really push technology much further.
07:30听The famous example is, if you think of聽the World Wide Web, that was actually developed by someone at CERN, which is where they have the big particle accelerator聽in Switzerland.聽 Another example,听Wi-Fi, was developed by radio astronomers聽when they were setting up their experiments. So there's lots of technological spinoffs like that which come from this research, which seems disconnected from everyday life, but then does end up having some benefits.
Meet our speakers
Chris Gordon
顿谤听Chris Gordon聽is a Senior Lecturer of Physics at the聽School of Physical and Chemical Sciences聽at UC, specialising in high-energy astrophysics and cosmology. He has spent much of his career studying dark matter 鈥 the shadowy, unseen substance that makes up the majority of our universe but remains a mystery to science. While we know dark matter exists and that there is lots of it out there 鈥 we still don鈥檛 know what it is, why it exists or where it came from. Dr Gordon is particularly interested in finding non-gravitational evidence for dark matter, and in the astrophysics of the Galactic Centre (the rotational centre of the Milky Way). Dr Gordon gained his PhD in Cosmology from University of Portsmouth in the UK, is a member of the International Astronomical Union, and was recently the secretary of the New Zealand Institute of Physics.
Learn more about Chris:聽Research profile
Molly Magid
Molly Magid聽is an MSc student at UC. A recent graduate of Brown University, Molly is working on research in conservation genomics with Associate Professor Tammy Steeves from the School of Biological Sciences. Molly is passionate about finding ways to communicate science to the public in a clear, novel, and engaging ways. Most recently, Molly worked as the lead student producer on the podcast聽,听which answers listener's questions about sustainability using relevant science research.
