Cool Worlds

Exomoons and Earth Twins QandA

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 11:10:54 -0000

Answers to your questions on our recent Earth Twins (https://youtu.be/1eJnZncyAyM) and Exomoons (https://youtu.be/S3VQ0PdoR3M) videos. Sorry for the poor sound on this one, new camera setup caused some issues but should be fixed next time!

::More about this Video::

► "Where are the Exomoons?" Cool Worlds video: https://youtu.be/S3VQ0PdoR3M
► "How Unique is the Earth?" Cool Worlds video: https://youtu.be/1eJnZncyAyM
► Kipping et al. (2015), "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): V. A Survey of 41 Planetary Candidates for Exomoons": http://arxiv.org/abs/1503.05555
► Canup & Ward (2006), "A common mass scaling for satellite systems of gaseous planets": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v441/n7095/full/nature04860.html
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
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THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Why We Might NEVER Detect Alien Life

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 10:08:10 -0000

For 72 hours, enjoy 15% OFF on all Hoverpens with code COOLWORLDS, or click on the link https://noviumdesign.shop/CoolWorlds - Free shipping to most countries. Also on Amazon: https://noviumdesign.shop/1HrMzs

We've all the heard headlines of scientists claiming evidence of alien life, but time and time again it turns up bust. Why does this keep happening? And will we ever be able to break out of this cycle? Our new research paper tackles this profound question, and outlines a possible way out...

Written & presented by David Kipping

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to S. Shardool, M. Seay, M. McMillan, M. Popovski, M. Singh, M. Elliott, M. Donkin, M. Zajonc, M. Czirr, M. Williams, M. Daughaday, M. Muriuki, M. Cartmell, M. Ford, M. Devermont, M. Hedlund, M. Patterson, M. Murphy, M. Bassnett, M. Lovely, M. Schiff, M. Bylinsky, C. Fitzgerald, M. Danielson, M. Morrow, M. Corwin, M. Schreiner, M. Metts, M. Stevenson, M. Vystoropskyi, M. Brownlee, M. Shamp, M. Sattler, M. Ross-Lee, M. Bueche, M. Fitzsimmons, M. Borisoff, M. Larter, M. Cunningham, M. Williams, M. Alley, M. Adler, M. Murray, L. Deacon, M. Kruger, M. Bryant, M. Lee, P. Johnston, M. Sanford, N. Offor, M. Saint, R. Borbidge, M. Reese, M. Langley, M. Howard, M. Stewart, M. Morrison, M. Kennedy, M. Aron, M. Rockett, M. Kingston, M. Daniluk, M. Schoen, M. Lee, M. Huch, M. Chaffee, M. Simmons, M. Herman, M. Vaal, M. Canning, M. Kochkov, M. Fullwood, G. Belsak, M. Bergman, M. Armstrong, M. Bottaccini, M. Farabee, B. Gaalen, M. Haan, M. Hoffman, E. Garland, M. Everest, M. Venzor, M. Frederick, M. Peraza, W. Ruf, M. Matters, M. Smith, M. Hansen, M. Edris, M. Souter, M. Smith, M. OBrien, M. Provost & M. Nimmerjahn.

PAPER
Check out my paper at https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.02969

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist. You can see all of our past music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Bu2UQlKDb0KaeliLZUOZn
0:00 Falls - Life in Binary
1:52 Sid Acharya - Searching for Answers
5:06 Atlas - Waking Up
6:28 Brad Hill - World of Wonder
7:46 Chris Zabriskie - Music from Neptune Flux 01
8:28 Scott Buckley Dragon’s Lullabye
10:33 Hill - It Wasnt Mine To Begin With
14:10 Hill - Don’t Think
20:20 Hill - When Darkness is No Longer Dark
23:44 Hill - Mourning Wakes

CHAPTERS
0:00 The Cycle of False Hope
1:53 A Century of Alien Claims
5:07 Why This Keeps Happening
6:28 Novium
7:47 It’s all Aliens!
8:28 -A Claim of Last Resorts
10:33 Unknown Unknowns
11:59 The Phosphine Case Study
18:04 A/B Testing
21:15 High Stakes Experiments
23:45 Final Thoughts
24:32 Outro

#Aliens #Astrobiology #CoolWorlds

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Discovery of a Jupiter Twin: QandA

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 09:05:27 -0000

We recently announced the discovery of the first Jupiter-like planet seen to transit its star. Thanks to all of you who watched our last video (link below!). There were some great questions posted in the comments and elsewhere, so in this video the discovered, Prof Kipping, answers your questions directly!

::More about this Video::

► Our video announcing the discovery of Kepler-167e: https://youtu.be/ZTKVC2zBElA
► Kipping et al. (2016), "A Transiting Jupiter Analog": https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.00042
► Centauri Dreams blog article: http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=35135
► Bryan et al. (2016), "Statistics of Long Period Gas Giant Planets in Known Planetary Systems": http://arxiv.org/abs/1601.07595
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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We're Finally Unlocking the "Cosmic Shoreline"

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 08:02:43 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

Head to an exoplanet seminar or conference and you'll constantly hear astronomers talking about "the Cosmic Shoreline". But - what the heck is that? Why is it so important? And why is JWST dedicating a huge amount of telescope time to studying it?

Written & presented by David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to S. Shardool, M. Seay, M. McMillan, M. Popovski, M. Singh, M. Elliott, M. Donkin, M. Zajonc, M. Czirr, M. Williams, M. Daughaday, M. Muriuki, M. Cartmell, M. Ford, M. Devermont, M. Hedlund, M. Patterson, M. Murphy, M. Bassnett, M. Lovely, M. Schiff, M. Bylinsky, C. Fitzgerald, M. Danielson, M. Morrow, M. Corwin, M. Schreiner, M. Metts, M. Stevenson, M. Vystoropskyi, M. Brownlee, M. Shamp, M. Sattler, M. Ross-Lee, M. Bueche, M. Fitzsimmons, M. Borisoff, M. Larter, M. Cunningham, M. Williams, M. Alley, M. Adler, M. Murray, L. Deacon, M. Kruger, M. Bryant, M. Lee, P. Johnston, M. Sanford, N. Offor, M. Saint, R. Borbidge, M. Reese, M. Langley, M. Howard, M. Stewart, M. Morrison, M. Kennedy, M. Aron, M. Rockett, M. Kingston, M. Daniluk, M. Schoen, M. Lee, M. Huch, M. Chaffee, M. Simmons, M. Herman, M. Vaal, M. Canning, M. Kochkov, M. Fullwood, G. Belsak, M. Bergman, M. Armstrong, M. Bottaccini, M. Farabee, B. Gaalen, M. Haan, M. Hoffman, E. Garland, M. Everest, M. Venzor, M. Frederick, M. Peraza, W. Ruf, M. Matters, M. Smith, M. Hansen, M. Edris, M. Souter, M. Smith, M. OBrien, M. Provost & M. Nimmerjahn.

REFERENCES
Rocky Worlds DDT website https://rockyworlds.stsci.edu

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist. You can see all of our past music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Bu2UQlKDb0KaeliLZUOZn
0:00 Falls - Life In Binary
4:38 Scott Buckley - Dragon’s Lullabye
5:57 Hill - World of Wonder
7:44 Sid Acharya - Searching for Answers
10:56 Atlas - Waking Up
13:21 Scott Buckley - Dragon’s Lullabye
15:15 Chris Zabriskie - The Sun is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow

CHAPTERS
0:00 Teaser
0:24 The Martian Anchor
1:36 Atmospheric Loss
3:42 The M-Dwarf Factor
5:58 Incogni
7:45 The Shoreline is Born
10:43 Exoplanets Spoil the Party
13:10 The Empirical Shoreline
13:57 Going Ultraviolet
15:05 JWST Attacks the Shoreline
16:17 Final Thoughts
17:20 Outro and Credits

#JWST #Exoplanets #CoolWorlds

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How to Characterize Proxima b's Atmosphere

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 07:00:00 -0000

As regular watchers of the channel may remember, this summer astronomers announced the discovery of a potentially Earth-like planet orbiting our nearest star, Proxima Centauri. Sadly, research at the Cool Worlds Lab was unable to find any evidence that Proxima b transits its star, which is a blow for those hoping for near-term characterization of its atmosphere. But! Dr Jayne Birkby comes to the rescue and explains here how an alternative technique should work if we can wait a few years! Thanks to Jayne for visiting the lab and giving us all some hope for Proxima!

::More about this Video::

► Dr Jayne Birkby homepage: http://home.strw.leidenuniv.nl/~birkby/wordpress/
► Snellen et al. (2010), "The orbital motion, absolute mass, and high-altitude winds of exoplanet HD209458b": https://arxiv.org/abs/1006.4364
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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How Thermodynamics Holds Back Negative Carbon Tech

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 05:57:16 -0000

Go to our sponsor https://betterhelp.com/coolworlds for 10% off your first month of therapy with BetterHelp and get matched with a therapist who will listen and help.

Direct Air Capture (DAC) has been getting more and more attention over the last few years. Could we avert climate change by pulling carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere? Could we not just stop, but actually *reverse* the damage done? Unfortunately, most don't fully appreciate just quite how much CO2 we've emitted and the outrageous scale of the problem facing us. Today, we apply the fundamental principles of thermodynamics to question whether this is even feasible.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas. Fact checking by Alexandra Masegian.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, E. Loomans, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, & J. Smallbon.

REFERENCES
► House, K. Z. et al. 2011, "Economic and energetic analysis of capturing CO2 from ambient air", Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci., 108(51), 20428-33: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22143760/
► Lackner, K. S. 2013, "The thermodynamics of direct air capture of carbon dioxide", Energy, 50, 38: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544212006901
► Long-Innes, R. & Struchtrup, H. 2022, "Thermodynamic loss analysis of a liquid- sorbent direct air carbon capture plant", Cell Reports Physical Science, 3, 100791: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666386422000583
► Ozkan, M. et al., 2022, "Current status and pillars of direct air capture technologies", iScience, 25, 103990: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2589004222002607
► Sanz-Perez E. S. et al., 2016, "Direct Capture of CO2 from Ambient Air", Chem. Rev., 116, 11840: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.chemrev.6b00173

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
► Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog [0:00]
► Falls - Life in Binary [3:24]
► Hill - Northern Boards [8:03]
► Hill - To Quiet the Drumming Inside My Head [11:13]
► Hill - Chasing out the Chaos [15:29]
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Seven [19:23]
► Joachim Heinrich - Y [22:53]

CHAPTERS
0:00 Climate Change
2:44 Removal Requirements
3:38 Possible Solutions
5:03 Introducing DAC
5:43 Climate Anxiety
7:12 DAC Principles
8:14 Scalability
9:29 Thermodynamics
12:08 Progressive DAC
13:32 RCPs
15:09 Simulations
17:03 Energy Requirements
19:34 Efficiency
21:21 Conclusions
24:35 Outro and credits

#DirectAirCapture #ClimateChange #NetZero

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What's Stopping Us From Building a Warp Drive?

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 04:54:32 -0000

Get a 7-day free trial and 25% off Blinkist Annual Premium by clicking here: https://www.blinkist.com/coolworldslab

A faster-than-light (FTL) warp drive would arguably represent the most important invention of all time. In 1994, Miguel Alcubierre gave all of us hope as he found a solution within general relativity that would cause the necessary warping of space. But after nearly 30 years of further study, what does our current understanding of physics say about the feasibility of a warp drive?

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Thanks to Bobrick Martire for clarifications and to John Michael Godier and team for audio from their interview with Alcubierre (https://youtu.be/JafY92PhgKU). Thumbnail image by Zamanday Yolculugunu (www.zamandayolculuk.com)

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, E. Loomans, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams & J. Sattler.

REFERENCES
► Alcubierre 1994, Class. Quant. Grav. 11, L73 https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0009013
► Everett 1996, Phys. Rev. D 53, 7365 https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.53.7365
► Krasnikov 1998, Phys. Rev. D 57, 4760 https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9511068
► Pfenning & Ford 1998, Phys. Rev. D 57, 3489 https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9710055
► Van Den Broeck 1999, Class. Quant. Grav. 16, 3973 https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9905084
► Bobrick & Martire 2021, Class. Quant. Grav. 38, 22 https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.06824
► Fell & Heisenberg 2021, Class. Quant. Grav. 38, 16 https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.06488
► Lentz 2021, Class. Quant. Grav. 38, 14 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6382/abe692
► Santiago et al. 2022, Phys. Rev. D 105, 064038 https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.03079
► McMonigal et al. 2012, Phys. Rev. D 85, 064024 https://arxiv.org/abs/1202.5708
► Finazzi et al. 2009, Phys. Rev. D 79, 124017 https://arxiv.org/abs/0904.0141
► Coule 1998, Class. Quant. Grav. 15, 2523 https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0264-9381/15/8/026
► Van Den Broeck 1999, arXiv https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9906050
► Gast 2021, Scientific American www.scientificamerican.com/article/star-treks-warp-drive-leads-to-new-physics/
► Hawking 1992, Phys. Rev. D 46, 603 https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.46.603
► Alcubierre & Lobo 2017, Wormholes, Warp Drives and Energy Conditions, Fundam. Theor. Phys. 189, 257 https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.05610

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
► 0:00 Sid Acharya - Searching for Answers
► 3:18 Falls - Life in Binary
► 5:01 Hill - There is but

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Why Technological Civilizations Might Be Insanely Rare

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 03:51:49 -0000

Sponsored by Perplexity! This is truly a game-changer – Perplexity Computer built this insane tool in only one prompt! Check out my tool and build your own today: https://pplx.ai/cool-worlds-youtube-1

Today's video explores the most terrifying calculation I've ever done, one that comes with some deeply unsettling implications for the Universe in which we live...

Written & presented by David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to S. Shardool, M. Seay, M. McMillan, M. Popovski, M. Singh, M. Elliott, M. Donkin, M. Zajonc, M. Czirr, M. Williams, M. Daughaday, M. Muriuki, M. Cartmell, M. Ford, M. Devermont, M. Hedlund, M. Patterson, M. Murphy, M. Bassnett, M. Lovely, M. Schiff, M. Bylinsky, C. Fitzgerald, M. Danielson, M. Morrow, M. Corwin, M. Schreiner, M. Metts, M. Stevenson, M. Vystoropskyi, M. Brownlee, M. Shamp, M. Sattler, M. Ross-Lee, M. Bueche, M. Fitzsimmons, M. Borisoff, M. Larter, M. Cunningham, M. Williams, M. Alley, M. Adler, M. Murray, L. Deacon, M. Kruger, M. Bryant, M. Lee, P. Johnston, M. Sanford, N. Offor, M. Saint, R. Borbidge, M. Reese, M. Langley, M. Howard, M. Stewart, M. Morrison, M. Kennedy, M. Aron, M. Rockett, M. Kingston, M. Daniluk, M. Schoen, M. Lee, M. Huch, M. Chaffee, M. Simmons, M. Herman, M. Vaal, M. Canning, M. Kochkov, M. Fullwood, G. Belsak, M. Bergman, M. Armstrong, M. Bottaccini, M. Farabee, B. Gaalen, M. Haan, M. Hoffman, E. Garland, M. Everest, M. Venzor, M. Frederick, M. Peraza, W. Ruf, M. Matters, M. Smith, M. Hansen, M. Edris, M. Souter, M. Smith, M. OBrien, M. Provost & M. Nimmerjahn.

REFERENCES
► Kipping, D. (2026), "The Cosmological Hart-Tipler Conjecture": https://arxiv.org/abs/2606.04044
► Hart, M. (1975), "Explanation for the Absence of Extraterrestrials on Earth": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975QJRAS..16..128H
► Tipler, F. (1980), "Extraterrestrial intelligent beings do not exist": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980QJRAS..21..267T
► Olson, S. J. (2015), "Homogeneous cosmology with aggressively expanding civilizations": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2015CQGra..32u5025O
► Armstrong & Sandberg (2013), "Eternity in six hours: Intergalactic spreading of intelligent life and sharpening the Fermi paradox": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013AcAau..89....1
► Forgan, D. (2019), "Predator-prey behaviour in self-replicating interstellar probes": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019IJAsB..18..552F
► von Neumann, J. (1966) "Theory of Self-Reproducing Automata": https://cba.mit.edu/events/03.11.ASE/docs/VonNeumann.pdf
► Ellery, A. (2022), "Self-replicating probes are imminent ─ implications for SETI": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2022IJAsB..21..212E
► Borgue & Hein (2021), "Near-term self-replicating probes - A concept design": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2021AcAau.187..546B

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist. You can see all of our past music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Bu2UQlKDb0KaeliLZUOZn
► Amnesia OST - Ending Agrippa
► Scott Buckley - Dragon’s Lullabye
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four
► Hill - It Wasn’t Mine to Begin With
► Hill - World of Wonder
► Hill - Don’t Think
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Two

#FermiParadox #Aliens #CoolWorlds

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Where are the exomoons?

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 02:49:05 -0000

The Cool Worlds Lab is trying to find the first exomoon, a moon around a planet outside the Solar System. But, exomoons have been eluding us for a few years now. So why are they so hard to find and what do we know so far? Get up to date with the latest limits and prospects for detection. You can find the latest paper on constraints on exomoons at

::More about this Video::

► Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK) Project website: www.exomoon.org
► HEK Project Twitter feed https://twitter.com/hek_project
► Kipping et al. (2012), "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): I. Description of a New Observational Project": https://arxiv.org/abs/1201.0752
► Kipping et al. (2013a), "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): II. Analysis of Seven Viable Satellite-Hosting Planet Candidates": https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.1853
► Kipping et al. (2013b), "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): III. The First Search for an Exomoon around a Habitable-Zone Planet": https://arxiv.org/abs/1306.1530
► Kipping et al. (2014), "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): IV. A Search for Moons around Eight M-Dwarfs" https://arxiv.org/abs/1401.1210
► Kipping et al. (2015), "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): V. A Survey of 41 Planetary Candidates for Exomoons": https://arxiv.org/abs/1503.05555

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Why Finding Aliens Could Doom Humanity

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 01:46:21 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

The "Great Filter" is a pivotal idea in astrobiology. It may very well explain the Fermi Paradox. Today we explore what it is, some candidates for it's cause, and the shocking consequences it implies with respect to our future detections.

Written & presented by David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Aron, B. Bueche, S. Lee, G. Bylinsky, M. Czirr, C. Fitzgerald, S. Shardool, B. Gaalen, G. Metts, D. Hoffman, M. Simmons, C. Frederick, H. Schiff, D. Stewart, M. Sanford, R. Borbidge, S. Patterson, M. Farabee, M. Elliott, A. Kochkov, B. Cartmell, G. Fullwood, C. Seay, Z. Danielson, J. Bergman, D. Lee, P. Stevenson, S. Brownlee, B. Reese, B. Daniluk, N. Offor, T. Ford, R. Williams, I. Williams, L. Cunningham, N. Haan, K. Howard, C. Bottaccini, C. Souter, A. Nimmerjahn, W. Ruf, G. Belsak, J. Alley, M. OBrien, T. Zajonc, S. Lewis, J. Canning, R. Provost, T. Inc, J. Matters, B. Devermont, B. Kingston, A. Huch, R. Chaffee, M. Hedlund, M. Everest, M. Gillette, V. Popovski, J. Armstrong, D. Daughaday, N. Corwin, S. Murray, C. Fitzsimmons, T. Donkin, C. Kennedy, M. Adler, L. MacFarlane, B. Langley, E. Garland, S. Vystoropskyi, J. Bryant, D. Ervin, M. Morrow, B. McMillan, J. Bassnett, T. Edris, J. Kruger, C. Hansen, L. Schreiner, D. Smith, R. Muriuki, P. Borisoff, B. Ross-Lee, A. Schoen, L. Deacon, I. Venzor, P. Johnston, W. Smith, J. Murphy, R. Lovely & J. Rockett.

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist. You can see all of our past music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Bu2UQlKDb0KaeliLZUOZn
0:00 It Wasnt Mine To Begin With - Hill
3:18 Dust and Light - Hill
4:59 World of Wonder - Hill
6:30 Cylinder Four - Chris Zabriskie
8:04 First and Last - Hill
10:59 Don’t Think - Hill
16:36 Cylinder Two - Chris Zabriskie
19:29 Cylinder Six - Chris Zabriskie
24:31 To Accept the Partings That Must Come - Hill

CHAPTERS
0:00 Teaser
0:18 Background
5:00 Incogni
6:31 Candidates
15:45 Tier List
19:13 Bostromian Logic
26:04 Outro and Credits

#GreatFilter #AreWeAlone #CoolWorlds

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What the Hell Happened to Venus?

Mon, 05 Oct 2026 00:43:38 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

Venus resembles our Earth in so many ways, yet in many others it's frightningly different. Was Venus always this way? Could it have once been habitable? And if so, what went wrong? Why did Venus transform to the hellscape we see today? Let's explore the world next door...

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas. Special thanks to Prof Stephen Kane for fact checking our script.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, E. Loomans, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay & X. Yao.

REFERENCES
► Weller, M. et al. 2023, "Venus’s atmospheric nitrogen explained by ancient plate tectonics", Nature Astronomy: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-023-02102-w
► Truong, N. & Lunine, J. 2021, "Volcanically extruded phosphides as an abiotic source of Venusian phosphine", PNAS, 118, e2021689118: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021689118
► Greaves, J. et al. 2021, "Phosphine gas in the cloud decks of Venus", Nature Astronomy, 5, 655: https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.06593
► Way, M. et al. 2016, "Was Venus the First Habitable World of our Solar System?", Geophysical Research Letters, 43, 8376: https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.00706

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Hill - The Great Alchemist
3:58 Hill - Unhurried
5:31 Hill - World of Wonder
7:27 Chris Zabriskie - Music from Neptune Flux 04
8:40 Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog
11:07 Falls - Life in Binary
15:38 Hill - Chasing out the Chaos
19:29 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Seven
23:28 Joachim Heinrich - Y

CHAPTERS
0:00 Not With 10,000 Men...
2:20 The Mysterious World
3:45 Communist Venus
5:34 Incogni
6:59 Venusian Volcanism
8:31 Resurfacing
10:15 92 Bars
12:24 The Outgassing Conundrum
13:41 Lost Oceans
15:30 Was Venus Habitable?
18:09 Venusian Life
21:54 Future Exploration
23:08 Endgame
24:45 Outro & Credits

#Venus #CoolWorlds

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Discovery of a Jupiter Twin!

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 23:40:54 -0000

The Cool Worlds Lab just announced the discovery of the first transiting Jupiter-analog outside the Solar System, named "Kepler-167e". The transit method has been incredibly successful at finding exoplanets, with thousands now known thanks to NASA's Kepler Mission. But, planets on wide orbits, like Jupiter, are very tricky to find with this technique. Prof Kipping explains how his team overcame these obstacles to make this important discovery, opening the door to learning about alien Jupiters in much more detail.

::More about this Video::

► Kipping et al. (2016), "A Transiting Jupiter Analog": https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.00042
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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The Genius Who Thought Aliens Lived in the Sun

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 22:38:10 -0000

► 🌏 Upgrade your online protection with an all-in-one security app! ➵ https://NordVPN.com/coolworlds It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!✌

In 1781, William Herschel discovered Uranus. He became the most famous astronomer of his day, and a legend in the annals of history. Yet he also had some very strange beliefs about aliens. So strange it begs the question - how?!

:Written & presented by David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to S. Shardool, M. Seay, M. McMillan, M. Popovski, M. Singh, M. Elliott, M. Donkin, M. Zajonc, M. Czirr, M. Williams, M. Daughaday, M. Muriuki, M. Cartmell, M. Ford, M. Devermont, M. Hedlund, M. Patterson, M. Murphy, M. Bassnett, M. Lovely, M. Schiff, M. Bylinsky, C. Fitzgerald, M. Danielson, M. Morrow, M. Corwin, M. Schreiner, M. Metts, M. Stevenson, M. Vystoropskyi, M. Brownlee, M. Shamp, M. Sattler, M. Ross-Lee, M. Bueche, M. Fitzsimmons, M. Borisoff, M. Larter, M. Cunningham, M. Williams, M. Alley, M. Adler, M. Murray, L. Deacon, M. Kruger, M. Bryant, M. Lee, P. Johnston, M. Sanford, N. Offor, M. Saint, R. Borbidge, M. Reese, M. Langley, M. Howard, M. Stewart, M. Morrison, M. Kennedy, M. Aron, M. Rockett, M. Kingston, M. Daniluk, M. Schoen, M. Lee, M. Huch, M. Chaffee, M. Simmons, M. Herman, M. Vaal, M. Canning, M. Kochkov, M. Fullwood, G. Belsak, M. Bergman, M. Armstrong, M. Bottaccini, M. Farabee, B. Gaalen, M. Haan, M. Hoffman, E. Garland, M. Everest, M. Venzor, M. Frederick, M. Peraza, W. Ruf, M. Matters, M. Smith, M. Hansen, M. Edris, M. Souter, M. Smith, M. OBrien, M. Provost & M. Nimmerjahn.

REFERENCES
► Hoskin, Michael, "Discoverers of the Universe: William and Caroline Herschel"

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist. You can see all of our past music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Bu2UQlKDb0KaeliLZUOZn
► In the Moment - Scott Buckley
► Dust and Light - Hill
► Cylinder Four - Chris Zabriskie
► World of Wonder - Hill
► Cylinder Four - Chris Zabriskie
► First and Last - Hill
► Don’t Think - Hill
► To Accept the Partings That Must Come - Hill

#Uranus #Aliens #CoolWorlds

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The Fate of Our Sun

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 21:35:27 -0000

For billions of years the Sun has been the perpetual, life-giving star in our sky. It's a force of immense power, yet one we take for granted in our every day lives. But like all things, it too must eventually end. Today, we chronicle the future of our home star, its various phases, why this all happens, and the final fate of our Solar System.

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas. Thanks to Matt Scoggins for checking the script.

→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast over at www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien & P. Muzyka.

::References::
► Schröder & Smith, 2008, "Distant future of the Sun and Earth revisited", MNRAS, 386, 155: https://arxiv.org/abs/0801.4031

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist.
► Hill - Pinhole of Light [https://open.spotify.com/track/1gJEKPQETo3GDqUAhVomJD]
► Chris Zabriskie - Stories About the World That Once Was
► Falls - Ripley
► Hill - Don't Think [https://open.spotify.com/track/1KUcWR8FzkVVKzyq8mJH3O]
► Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog [https://open.spotify.com/track/0GgkyL3y22kFslT6wUsKlt?si=35f82c623b9f486d&nd=1]
► Chris Zabriskie - The Ocean's Continue to Rise
► Joachim Heinrich - Y
► Indive - Fusion

::Chapters::
00:00 Introduction
02:06 The Modern Sun
06:41 Leaving the Main Sequence
09:49 Sub-Giant Phase
12:24 Giant Mode
17:05 The Helium Flash
19:07 A Second Life
20:58 Asymptotic Hell
23:25 The White Dwarf Sun
25:38 The Bitter End
27:54 Outro & Credits

#TheSun #DistantFuture #Astronomy

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The Star That Shouldn't Exist

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 20:32:43 -0000

Go to http://DrinkLMNT.com/coolworlds for a free sample pack with any order!

One of strangest discoveries in astronomy is one you've probably never heard of - Przybylski’s Star. This is a star that defies natural explanation and has many wondering whether this could be evidence of alien life, a star being deliberately "salted" by some advanced civilization. Join us today to learn more.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas. Special thanks to Jason Wright for fact checking and for his wonderful blog that inspired this video - https://sites.psu.edu/astrowright/przybylskis-star/.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, M. Pittelli, A. Nimmerjahn & C. Seay.

REFERENCES
► Przybylski, A. 1977, "Is iron present in the atmosphere of HD 101065?", MNRAS 178, 71: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1977MNRAS.178...71P
► Wolff S. & Hagen, W. 1976, "The magnetic field of HD 101065", PASP 88, 119: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1976PASP...88..119W
► Gopka, V. et al. 2008, "Identification of absorption lines of short half-life actinides in the spectrum of Przybylski's star (HD 101065)", KPCB 24, 89: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2008KPCB...24...89G/abstract
► Whitemire, D. & Wright, D. 1980, "Nuclear waste spectrum as evidence of technological extraterrestrial civilizations", Icarus 42, 149: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980Icar...42..149W/abstract

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00: Arc - Hill
0:30: Falls - Ripley
2:07: Cylinder Seven - Chris Zabriskie
6:39: There is But One Good - Hill
24:32: Y - Joachim Heinrich

CHAPTERS
0:00 A Peculiar Star
2:39 Spectroscopic Strangeness
5:25 It Gets Weirder
5:50 LMNT
7:15 Impossible Chemistry
9:44 Explanations
13:09 Aliens
16:12 Outro & Credits

#Aliens #Astrobiology #CoolWorlds

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The Ultra-Cool Dwarf: TRAPPIST-1 | Elisabeth Newton

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 19:30:00 -0000

Astronomers just announced the discovery of seven Earth-sized transiting planets around TRAPPIST-1! Elisabeth Newton, who studies very small stars like TRAPPIST-1, came by the Cool Worlds Lab to tell us about how this star might affect the prospects for life on these potentially habitable worlds.

::More about this Video::

► Gillon et al. (2017), "Seven temperate terrestrial planets around the nearby ultracool dwarf star TRAPPIST-1": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v542/n7642/full/nature21360.html
► O'Malley-James & Kaltenegger (2017), "UV Surface Habitability of the TRAPPIST-1 System": https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.06936
► TRAPPIST-1 website: www.trappist.one
► Elisabeth Newton's website: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/~enewton/
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Listening for Alien Civilizations at a Temporal "Waterhole"

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 17:13:20 -0000

We're looking forward to the new sci-fi film "Arrival", which explores the barriers to communicating with aliens even face to face. Astronomers really are trying to listen for alien communications, mostly using radio receivers but increasingly by looking for optical laser transmissions too. One of our wild ideas here at the Cool Worlds Lab is that optical SETI could try focussing these efforts to physically-motivated special moments in time to dramatically increase the survey efficiency. Prof Kipping pitches this new concept to all you Cool Worlders!

::More about this Video::

► Kipping & Teachey (2016), "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08928
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Some Good News

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 15:56:40 -0000

Off the cuff (again)

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Outlasting the Universe

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 14:40:00 -0000

Now and again we make a video that's a bit different from our usual stuff and here's one of them. A fictional narrative that weaves in scientific ideas of deep time and how intelligence might persist, challenging us to imagine what infinite life might truly be like. Thanks for watching.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, E. Loomans, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay & X. Yao.

REFERENCES
► Dyson, F., 1979, "Time without end: Physics and biology in an open universe", Rev. Modern Phys, 51, 447: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1979RvMP...51..447D

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Sid Acharya - Journey
2:49 Sid Acharya - Stories from the Sky
6:11 Falls - Ripley
7:45: Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four
9:55 Hill - Echoes of Yesterday (https://open.spotify.com/track/4AfA4TrR2WPUJ6N6Th5j8B?si=eed02e1a8f124345)
13:18 Hill - The Now Is Only a Thin Slice of Who I Am (https://open.spotify.com/track/396DSpd9UzSEVNxJORJU1n?si=35659345189a4680)
19:25: Y - Joachim Heinrich

#EternalIntelligence #LivingForever #CoolWorlds

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Does Life's Early Appearance Mean it's Easy?

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 13:23:20 -0000

Does life's early emergence mean life starts easily? Growing evidence shows that life got started very quickly (within ~100 million years) after conditions became suitable for life on Earth (~3.7 billion years ago). This is often taken as evidence that life starts easily, but is this really true? Prof Kipping explains why things aren't as simple as they seem.

::More about this Video::

► Nutman et al. 2016, "Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v537/n7621/full/nature19355.html
► Allwood 2016, "Geology: Evidence of Life in Earth's Oldest Rocks": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v537/n7621/full/nature19429.html
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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How Does ChatGPT Do on a College Level Astrophysics Exam?

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 12:32:00 -0000

Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) systems have been rapidly improving in recent years and Chat-GPT3 took the world by storm in Nov 2022. As smart at it may be, how does it compare to a typical undergraduate student sitting an introductory astronomy exam? Let's find out! Sponsored by Ground News, head to https://ground.news/coolworlds

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store

THANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, G. Canterbury, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman & A. Phan Le.

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist.

::Chapters::
00:00 What is ChatGPT?
02:53 Rise of the Machines
05:07 Sponsorship
06:27 Challenging ChatGPT
07:58 Question 1
10:00 Question 5
11:15 Question 8
13:14 Question 12
14:16 Question 13
15:29 Question 15
17:48 Question 22
19:25 Question 23
20:57 Question 26
24:31 Final Score
28:10 Outro & Credits

#ChatGPT #ArtificialIntelligence #CoolWorlds

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How to Destroy a Nuke Anywhere on Earth

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 12:06:40 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

Nuclear weapons are the most terrifying invention of humanity. Could our genius to create such weapons also end them? Today we explore how neutrinos could be used to do just that, fizzling out nukes anywhere on Earth and with no defense.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas. Special thanks to Sam Gregson (youtube.com/@BadBoyofScience) for fact checking.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

REFERENCES
► The IceCube Collaboration 2023, "Observation of high-energy neutrinos from the Galactic plane", Science, 380, 1338: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.04427
► Sugawara et al. 2003, "Destruction of Nuclear Bombs Using Ultra-High Energy Neutrino Beam", arXiv:hep-ph/0305062: https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-ph/0305062
► King 1999, "Potential Hazards from Neutrino Radiation at Muon Colliders", Proceedings of the 1999 IEEE Particle Accelerator Conference. 29 Mar - 2 Apr 1999, New York, New York. 18th IEEE Particle Accelerator Conference, p.318-320: https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/9908017
► Silagadze 2008, "SETI and muon collider", Acta Physica Polonica B, 39, 2943: https://arxiv.org/abs/0803.0409

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, M. Pittelli, A. Nimmerjahn & C. Seay.

MUSIC
0:00 Stephen Keech - Fable
1:25 Brad Hill - It’s Always Darkest Before The Dawn
3:54 Brad Hill - World of Wonder
5:00 Chris Zabriskie - Music From Neptune Flux 04
7:46 Brad Hill - Arctic Warmth
10:36 Brad Hill - Northern Boards
13:25 Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna
14:58 Brad Hill - Fragile

CHAPTERS
0:00 Neutrinos
3:39 Incogni
5:08 Neutrino Factories
9:11 Applications
14:19 My Take
16:17 Outro & Credits

#nuclearwar #nuke #coolworlds

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Why Black Holes Break The Universe

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 10:50:00 -0000

Thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video! Download unlimited stock media at one set price with Storyblocks: http://storyblocks.com/CoolWorlds

Today we explore a problem that has haunted theoretical physicists for decades and remains a topic of active debate - do black holes destroy information? A key precept in quantum theory is that information should be conserved, yet anything that falls into a black hole is seemingly obliterated. How can we reconcile our theories of gravity with that of the quantum world? And could the answer transform the way we look at the Universe...

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Special thanks to Prof Janna Levin for fact checking and for her wonderful book that inspired this video, "Black Hole Survival Guide" https://a.co/d/eqqP6z1

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, M. Pittelli, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, R. Strain, B. Devermont, & Y. Muheim.

REFERENCES
► Bekenstein, J. 1972, "Black Holes and Entropy", Physical Review D: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1973PhRvD...7.2333B
► Hawking, S. 1975, "Particle Creation by Black Holes", Communications In Mathematical Physics,: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975CMaPh..43..199H
► Hooft, G.'t, 1993, "Dimensional Reduction in Quantum Gravity", General Relativity & Quantum Cosmology: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1993gr.qc....10026T
► Susskind, L. 1995, "The World as a Hologram", Journal of Mathematical Physics: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1995JMP....36.6377S
► Maldacena, J. 1997, "The Large N Limit of Superconformal field theories and supergravity", Advances in Theoretical and Mathematical Physics: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1998AdTMP...2..231M

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Hill - The Travelers [https://open.spotify.com/track/5EfCXFyDpZmu0u6hM3ByjK?si=76241b8ce56747a4]
2:51 Chris Zabriskie - We Were Never Meant to Live Here
4:30 Hill - The Great Alchemist [https://open.spotify.com/track/3PAx36jIsKiQMT9CQsRk4G?si=c00e84291e664f8e]
9:33 Falls - Life in Binary
11:55 Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog [https://open.spotify.com/track/0GgkyL3y22kFslT6wUsKlt?si=3f07e63c56674a21]
13:23 Falls - Ripley
17:06 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Seven
19:11 Joachim Heinrich - Y
21:32 Indive - Halo Drive

CHAPTERS
0:00 Prologue
0:30 Black Holes 101
3:18 Storyblocks
4:30 Unitarity
6:19 Into the Black Hole
7:19 Hawking Radiation
9:33

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The Fermi Paradox Has An Incredibly Simple Solution

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 09:33:20 -0000

It’s possibly the most famous question in all of science - where is everyone? Join us today for deep dive into Fermi Paradox. 🌏 Get exclusive NordVPN deal here ➵ https://NordVPN.com/coolworlds It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!✌

The Fermi Paradox has been a topic of keen debate amongst scientists, astronomers and the rest of us for more than seven decades. We can't resist the urge to speculate about aliens! But what is the paradox even really about? What explanations have been offered? Today, we explore this famous question, and offer a mind-shifting explanation.

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping.

→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store

THANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, G. Canterbury, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer & T. Edris.

::References::
► Jones, E. B. 1985, "Where Is Everybody? An Account of Fermi's Question": https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/doe/lanl/la-10311-ms.pdf
► Hart, M. H. 1975, "Explanation for the Absence of Extraterrestrials on Earth", QJRAS, 16, 128: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1975QJRAS..16..128H
► Tipler, F. J. 1980, "Extraterrestrial intelligent beings do not exist", QJRAS, 21, 267: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1980QJRAS..21..267T
► Wright, J. T., Kanodia, S. & Lubar, G. 2018, "How Much SETI Has Been Done? Finding Needles in the n-Dimensional Cosmic Haystack", AJ, 156, 260: https://arxiv.org/abs/1809.07252
► Gray, R. H. 2015, "The Fermi Paradox is Neither Fermi's Nor a Paradox", Astrobiology, 15, 195: https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.09187
► Freitas, R. A. Jr. 1985, "There is no Fermi Paradox", Icarus, 62, 518: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1985Icar...62..518F
► Sandberg, A., Drexler, E., Ord, T. 2018, "Dissolving the Fermi Paradox": https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.02404

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist.
► Brad Hill - Echoes of Yesterday (0:00) [https://open.spotify.com/track/4AfA4TrR2WPUJ6N6Th5j8B?si=ecb4d3f6f25744cf]
► Brad Hill - Circle (5:22) [https://open.spotify.com/track/5ahoF1JU8MMTgH7NIbZNvv?si=79c036a9ace4463c]
► Falls - Life in Binary (9:38)
► Brad Hill - The Great Alchemist (14:08) [https://open.spotify.com/album/0sfu5xfxKyQCxykRUlQATy]
► Brad Hill - There Is But One Good (19:03) [https://open.spotify.com/track/1vlxAsmQaHJo1HyvYJF770]
► Joachim Heinrich - Y (25:01)

::Chapters::
00:00 Introduction
01:22 A Brief History
06:13 Two Fermi Paradoxes
08:16 Sponsorship
09:38 The Eerie Silence
11:56 Direct Fermi Paradox
15:11 Capability?
18:38 Motivation?
20:53 Anthropicism
25:01 Extragalactic SETI
27:17 Outro & credits

#fermiparadox #aliens #seti

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Traversable Wormholes

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 08:16:40 -0000

Until recently, it was thought that travel through a wormhole, like that seen in the 2014 Christopher Nolan film Interstellar, was forbidden by the laws of physics. Prof Daniel Jafferis and his team have recently had a breakthrough and found a way to make it physically allowed. Prof Jafferis dropped by the Cool Worlds Lab to tell us about this fascinating idea.

::More about this Video::

► Gao, Jafferis & Wall (2016), "Traversable Wormholes via a Double Trace Deformation": https://arxiv.org/abs/1608.05687
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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NASA's in Trouble

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

NASA is the primary means through which US astronomy is funded, which in turn leads astronomy globally. But significant cuts to NASA this year are hurting programs across the board, and many worry that the future looks grim for NASA's astronomy programs due to two growing problems on its horizon. Join us as we explore what's happening and what you can do.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Special thanks to Grant Tremblay for useful information in preparing this video.

→ Head to www.SaveChandra.org for information on how to save NASA's Chandra telescope
→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, M. Pittelli, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, R. Strain, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim & A. Stark.

REFERENCES
► NASA budget figures spreadsheet: https://t.co/kt8pE0anCT
► Rasmussen, S. 2023, "Has the Last Great Space Observatory Already Launched?", Scientific American: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/has-the-last-great-space-observatory-already-launched/
► HST & Beyond Committee Report 1996: https://www.stsci.edu/stsci/org/hst-and-beyond-report.pdf
► NASA IRB JWST Report 2018: https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/webb_irb_report_and_response_0.pdf?emrc=d3ca32
► Reichhardt, T. 2006, "Is the next big thing too big?", Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/440140a
► Elvis, M. 2016, "What Can Space Resources do for Astronomy and Planetary Science?", Space Policy, 37, 65: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1608.01004
► Van Belle, G., 2021, "The Scaling Relationship Between Telescope Cost and Aperture Size for Very
Large Telescopes", Proceedings of the SPIE, 5489, 563: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2107.09605

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog
3:36 Hill - Unhurried
5:58 Chris Zabriskie - Music From Neptune Flux 4
8:29 Hill - World of Wonder
11:18 Falls - Life in Binary
15:27 Chris Zabriskie - Music From Neptune Flux 1
18;24 Joachim Heinrich - Y
20:42 Indive - Fusion

CHAPTERS
0:00 Astronomy Funding
5:58 Incogni
7:18 Crisis Ahead
20:42 Outro & Credits

#NASA #Astronomy #CoolWorlds

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Crowded or Lonely? The Statistics of Alien Life

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 05:43:20 -0000

New research paper from the Cool Worlds Lab! Today we explore the implications of a classic result in statistics but applied to alien life for the first time. The result implies a startling conclusion, the cosmos is either teeming with intelligent civilizations, or we're essentially alone. Join us today as explore how this works and what the implications might be.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, M. Pittelli, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, R. Strain, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim & A. Stark.

REFERENCES
► Kipping & Geraint 2024, "Do SETI Optimists Have a Fine-Tuning Problem?", International Journal of Astrobiology, submitted (https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OxsjoOm8yJA7V3Yn_qt_sKshX8EYGT9U)
► Jaynes 1968, "Prior Probabilities", IEEE Transactions on Systems Science and Cybernetics , 4, 227: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4082152

CHAPTERS
0:00 Aliens!
1:00 Jaynes' Experiment
3:33 What about Drake?
6:31 Birth-Death Balance
9:51 Bridging to Jaynes
11:04 Challenging the Optimists
13:17 Just Sample More Stars?
15:39 Disequilibria
17:22 The Case for SETI
19:31 Outro & Credits

#Aliens #AreWeAlone #CoolWorlds

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How to Flip a Planet

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 04:26:40 -0000

Many exoplanets, including hot-Jupiters, have been observed to orbit the star the wrong way round, in retrograde orbits relative to the star's rotation. Prof. Smadar Naoz from UCLA visited the Cool Worlds Lab and explained why this is so odd and how we might explain these bizarre observation.

::More about this Video::

► Prof Smadar Naoz homepage: http://www.astro.ucla.edu/~snaoz/
► Simulation video of planet-planet scattering, credit Trent Schindler / National Science Foundation: http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/04/13_planet.shtml
► Galaxy simulation (showing conservation of angular momentum) by Rob Crain (Leiden) and the Virgo Consortium, visualization by Rob Crain (Leiden) and Jim Geach (Hertfordshire)
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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A JuMBO Mystery - This Shouldn't Happen!

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 03:10:00 -0000

Some startling discoveries from JWST and now Euclid and shaking up our ideas of planet formation and evolution - free floating worlds that really tax our current theories and could be just the tip of the iceberg. Join us today as we explore a "jumbo" mystery that's recently emerged in astronomy...

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, RAND Corp., N. Corwin, K. Howard, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero & P. Borisoff.

REFERENCES
► McCaughrean, M. J. & Pearson, S. G. 2023, "A JWST survey of the Trapezium Cluster & inner Orion Nebula. I. Observations & overview": https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.03552
► Pearson, S. G. & McCaughrean, M. J. 2023, "Jupiter Mass Binary Objects in the Trapezium Cluster": https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.01231
► Wang, Y., Perna, R., Zhu, Z. 2024, "Floating binary planets from ejections during close stellar encounters", https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.06016
► Zwart, S. P. & Hochart, E. 2023, "The origin and evolution of wide Jupiter Mass Binary Objects in young stellar clusters": https://arxiv.org/abs/2312.04645

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Hill - There is but One Good [https://open.spotify.com/track/1vlxAsmQaHJo1HyvYJF770]
3:39 Falls - Life in Binary
5:10 Hill - Circle
10:13 Chris Zabriskie - The Sun is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow
13:23 Indive - Trace Correction

CHAPTERS
0:00 Free Floating Planets
3:39 YT Premium
5:10 Seeking Rogue Worlds
7:12 A Binary Headache
13:23 Outro & Credits

#Astronomy #JWST #CoolWorlds

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Cool Worlds Research in 2017: A Look Ahead!

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 01:53:20 -0000

It's time to take a break for a few weeks but before we do, here's a look ahead at what research we'll be getting up to in 2017! Many of us are heading to the American Astronomical Meeting in Grapevine, TX, so be sure to say hello if you'll be there. Thanks to everyone for tuning in and supporting our channel in 2016!

::More about this Video::

► 229th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society: https://aas.org/meetings/aas229
► Proxima b Transit Results video: https://youtu.be/fLPZiCZtr_k
► Machines Predict Exoplanets video: https://youtu.be/6xxt9ke8uYo
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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The Great American Eclipse 2017

Sun, 04 Oct 2026 00:36:40 -0000

Get ready! On August 21st 2017, Americans will be treated to a rare total Solar eclipse. From coast to coast, everyone in the US should be able to see at least a partial eclipse and be within a day's drive of catching the total eclipse. Here's a quick rundown of what to expect, where to go and how to plan your trip.

::More about this Video::

► The web app you can use to plan your trip (as shown in the video) is available at www.GreatAmericanEclipse.com
► NASA's page on the upcoming eclipse: http://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEgoogle/SEgoogle2001/SE2017Aug21Tgoogle.html
► Where to buy your glasses from: https://www.greatamericaneclipse.com/store/ and http://www.eclipse2017.org/glasses_order.htm
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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A Real Tractor Beam

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 23:20:00 -0000

NYU Professor of Physics, David Grier, dropped in to tell us about his team's amazing work building the world's first real life tractor beam. Just like Star Trek, he explains how their light beam pulls things toward it, how it works and how it could soon be used by NASA.

::More about this Video::

► Prof David Grier's homepage: http://physics.nyu.edu/grierlab/
► "Building Star Trek", Smithsonian Channel: http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/shows/building-star-trek/0/3436402
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Are Dyson Spheres Physically Possible?

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 22:03:20 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

The idea of Dyson Spheres was a radical proposal by the physicist Freeman Dyson, an enormous shell of material enveloping a star. Dyson's idea may be over half a century old, but interest in looking for such objects has only grown in the decades since. But how would such structures work? Are they physically even possible? And what might someone use them for? Today, we dive into the physics of Dyson spheres.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas. Special thanks to Jason Wright for fact checking.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan & H. Schiff.

REFERENCES
► Wright, J. 2020, "Dyson Spheres", Serbian Astronomical Journal, 200, 1: https://arxiv.org/abs/2006.16734
► Dyson, F. 1960, "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation", Science, 131, 1667: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1960Sci...131.1667D
► Dyson, F. 1960, Science, 132, 250
► NASA IRB JWST Report 2018: https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/webb_irb_report_and_response_0.pdf?emrc=d3ca32
► Papagiannis, M. D. 1985, "SETI - a look into the future.", The search for extraterrestrial life: recent development, 543: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1985IAUS..112..543P
► Scoggins, M. & Kipping, D. 2023, "Lazarus stars: numerical investigations of stellar evolution with star-lifting as a life extension strategy", MNRAS, 523, 3251: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.02338

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:34 Tamuz Dekel - Quiet Pull
3:05 We Dream of Eden - Discovery
4:23 Hill - World of Wonder [https://open.spotify.com/track/7kYX7Gq7wWwGwvZbMfu9Qv]
6:28 Chris Zabriskie - Music from Neptune Flux 04
8:59 Hill - Arctic Warmth
11:54 Hill - Northern Borders
15:13 Hill - Fragile
17:45 Indive - Trace Correction

CHAPTERS
0:00 Prologue
0:39 Inception
3:11 Incogni
4:27 Mechanical Stability
8:31 Gravitational Stability
11:08 Stellar Feedback
13:42 Computational Limits
16:23 Rings and Swarms
17:45 Outro and Credits

#DysonSphere #Astronomy #CoolWorlds

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Alien signal received from HD 164595?

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 20:46:40 -0000

Dr Seth Shostak, Senior Astronomer of the SETI Institute, was at the New England Fall Astronomy Festival with me last week and I took the opportunity to ask him about the news reports of a SETI signal detected in Russia from the star HD 164595. Dr Shostak explains why he's not convinced that we've just heard from another civilization. Apologies for the noisy background and typo on the title: Shostak not Shostack!

::More about this Video::

► CNN News report: http://www.cnn.com/2016/08/31/europe/seti-signal-hd-164595-not-alien-civilization/
► Big Picture Science: http://radio.seti.org/about_the_show
► SETI Institute: http://www.seti.org/
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Do "Grabby Aliens" Solve The Fermi Paradox?

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 19:30:00 -0000

Thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video! Download unlimited stock media at one set price with Storyblocks: https://www.storyblocks.com/CoolWorlds

There are many possible solutions to the Fermi Paradox but a few have risen to particular prominence - including the "Grabby Aliens" hypothesis. Today, we'll explore what this solution proposes, what it assumes, and ultimately three reasons why I personally don't think it's right.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas. Special thanks to Robin Hanson for his discussions with me on this.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan & H. Schiff.

REFERENCES
► Hanson, R. et al. 2021, "If Loud Aliens Explain Human Earliness, Quiet Aliens Are Also Rare", ApJ, 922, 182: https://arxiv.org/abs/2102.01522
► Carter, B. 2008, "Five or six step scenario for evolution?", Int. J. Astrobiology, 7, 103516: https://arxiv.org/abs/0711.1985
► Kipping, D. 2021, "The Red Sky Paradox", PNAS, 118, e2026808118: https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.11207

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 - Tamuz Dekel - Quiet Pull
2:55 - Joachim Heinrich - Horizon
4:13 - Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna
6:41 - Hill - World of Wonder
7:43 - Chris Zabriskie - The Oceans Continue to Rise
9:33 - Hill - Arctic Warmth
12:21 - Hill - Northern Boards
15:39 - Hill - Fragile
19:10 - Hill - The Meek

CHAPTERS
0:00 Grabby Aliens
6:43 StoryBlocks
7:47 Hard Steps
12:00 M-Dwarfs
15:30 Philosophical Issues
18:05 Conclusions
19:10 Outro and Credits

#GrabbyAliens #FermiParadox #CoolWorlds

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The Question That Keeps Me Awake At Night

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 17:23:20 -0000

The most fundamental question we can ever ask: Why is something rather than nothing? Not nothing as in no particles or no energy, but nothing as in no space, no time, no laws of physics at all. This is a question that has haunted me for years and today this deepest of questions.

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store [themed T-shirt for the video is here: https://cool-worlds-store.creator-spring.com/listing/why-is-there-anything]

THANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, G. Canterbury, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky & J. Werner.

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► 00:00 Hill - The Great Alchemist [https://open.spotify.com/track/3PAx36jIsKiQMT9CQsRk4G?si=035fc819505445a1]
► 04:28 Falls - Ripley
► 08:11 Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna
► 09:49 Hill - Evening Approaches [https://open.spotify.com/track/3mYMEDKgj4qwBkuwcXeb89]
► 11:18 Hill - Fragmented [https://open.spotify.com/track/1z9xpNXpQmbXYd9M8dcJhE]
► 13:49 Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog [https://open.spotify.com/track/0GgkyL3y22kFslT6wUsKlt]
► 16:57 Joachim Heinrich - Y

::Chapters::
00:00 Restless Nights
02:35 Candle in the Dark
09:25 Ontological Crises
10:35 Why Not Nothing?
13:19 A Brutal Possibility
16:59 A Personal Reflection

#WhyIsThereAnything #WhyNotNothing #CoolWorlds

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The Signatures of Alien Life… or Not | Tiffany Jansen

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 16:32:00 -0000

Astronomers are finding habitable exoplanets everywhere! We are now starting to think about the next step, how can we use our telescopes to look for signs of life on distant worlds? Cool Worlds Lab astronomer Tiffany Jansen talks about possible atmospheric signals that could indicate the presence of a biosphere, but also the abiotic sources that could fool us all.

::More about this Video::

► Reinhard et al. (2017), "False negatives for remote life detection on ocean-bearing planets: Lessons from the early Earth": https://arxiv.org/abs/1702.01137
► Hein et al. (2013), "Some inconvenient truths about biosignatures involving two chemical species on Earth-like exoplanets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1404.6531
► Wordsworth & Pierrehumbert (2014), "Abiotic oxygen-dominated atmospheres on terrestrial habitable zone planets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.2713
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Climate Emergency? Global Sea Ice at Anomalously Low Levels

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 16:16:40 -0000

This week a plot showing the global sea ice over time went viral due to shockingly low levels, smashing previous records. The plot was so weird that we decided to check out the data for ourselves and see if it was legit. Indeed, we can reproduce this alarming plot and provide some links and scripts for any of you who want to go ahead and try yourselves. Here we get into why we think these kinds of weird observations may become more common in the future.

::More about this Video::

► National Sea and Ice Data Center archive of sea ice extent data: https://nsidc.org/data/docs/noaa/g02135_seaice_index/
► My Mathematica script used to generate a confirming plot: https://github.com/davidkipping/seaiceextent
► Two of the first tweets publicizing the viral plot, Zach Labe (https://twitter.com/ZLabe/status/798913080168095744) and Eric Holthaus (https://twitter.com/EricHolthaus/status/800067428419940352).
► Wipneus archive of plots: https://sites.google.com/site/arctischepinguin/home/sea-ice-extent-area/grf
► Eric Holthaus blog article about the viral plot: http://tinyletter.com/sciencebyericholthaus/letters/today-in-weather-climate-sea-ice-tipping-point-edition-monday-november-21th
► Guardian article on record Arctic temperatures: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/nov/22/extraordinarily-hot-arctic-temperatures-alarm-scientists
► CNN article on record Arctic temperatures: http://www.cnn.com/2016/11/18/world/sea-ice-arctic-antarctic-lows/
► Conrath at al. (1970), "The Infrared Interferometer Experiment on Nimbus 3": http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/JC075i030p05831/abstract
► Gavin Schmidt explains "How we know that the Earth's climate is changing": https://youtu.be/mkT7IyUSjq0
► Video background music by Nick Caville: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv2WSDMBRxA

::Playlists For Channel::

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Q&A Videos ►http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

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Proxima b QandA - is Proxima b tidally locked?

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 15:10:00 -0000

Thanks for all of your great comments and questions on our last two Proxima b videos! Here's a quick video covering some of the most common questions about Proxima b, such as: Is it tidally locked? Can we image it with Hubble? Can we take a photo with a flyby spaceship?

::More about this Video::

► "Discovery of a Planet around our Nearest Star: Proxima b" Cool Worlds video by Dr Guillem Anglada: https://youtu.be/59ClESB1AqA
► "Proxima b: Transits, Habitability & How to Get There!" Cool Worlds video by Prof Kipping: https://youtu.be/tcc635lNRwY
► Video of zonal winds on a tidally locked planet taken from Merlis & Schneider (2010), "Atmospheric dynamics of Earth-like tidally locked aquaplanets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1001.5117
► Leconte et al. (2015), "Asynchronous rotation of Earth-mass planets in the habitable zone of lower-mass stars": http://science.sciencemag.org/content/347/6222/632
► Kreidberg & Loeb (2016), "Prospects for Characterizing the Atmosphere of Proxima Centauri b": http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.07345
► Proxima b flyby video by the Planetary Habitability Laboratory, University of Puerto Rico at Arecibo: http://phl.upr.edu/press-releases/proxb
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
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THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Interstellar Propulsion Technologies - RANKED!

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 14:03:20 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

Many of you wanted me to talk about the different interstellar propulsion ideas out there so we figured a fun way to compare them all would be in a tier list! Today we take a look at 14 different methods proposed to explore the stars. Let us know your rankings down below in the comments.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, & R. Chaffee.

REFERENCES
► Kipping, D., 2024, "The Halo Drive: Fuel-Free Relativistic Propulsion of Large Masses via Recycled Boomerang Photons", JBIS: https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.03423

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Tamuz Dekel - Quiet Pull
2:55 Joachim Heinrich - Horizon
4:17 Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna
6:40 Hill - World of Wonder
7:46 Chris Zabriskie - The Oceans Continue to Rise
8:17 We Dream of Eden - Discovery
9:48 Chris Zabriskie - The Oceans Continue to Rise
11:11 Hill - Arctic Warmth
13:50 Hill - Northern Boards
17:25 Hill - Fragile
21:02 Hill - The Meek

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
1:33 Chemical Rockets
3:31 Nuclear Thermal Rockets
5:55 Nuclear Pulse
8:20 Incogni
9:48 Solar Sails
12:15 Fission Sails
13:05 Laser Sails
14:47 Alcubierre Drive
15:24 Wormholes
16:09 Antimatter
17:28 Mind Upload
18:02 Negative Mass
18:42 Halo Drive
19:46 Ion Engine
20:32 Bussard Ramjet
21:03 Outro
22:51 Credits

#InterstellarPropulsion #TierList #CoolWorlds

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How often does life start on other worlds?

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 12:56:40 -0000

Astrobiology an exciting new field studying how life begins and the conditions needed both on Earth and elsewhere in the cosmos. Columbia's Director of Astrobiology, Dr Caleb Scharf, dropped into the Cool Worlds Lab to tell us about his new paper which created a "Drake Equation" for abiogenesis. Whilst we can only guess at many of the factors in the equation right now, it provides a framework for tackling this problem going forward.

::More about this Video::

► The paper by Scharf & Cronin (2016), "Quantifying the Origins of Life on a Planetary Scale": https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.02549
► Drake Equation explained on the SETI website: http://www.seti.org/drakeequation
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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IT'S HAPPENING!! RIGHT NOW!

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 11:50:00 -0000

Unscripted excitement about what's coming next...

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

Previous videos in this story…
- Some Bad News
https://youtu.be/HtHqmlAb1pA
- Some Good News https://youtu.be/4sv_sa_tLPg?si=9D4Pzh8H0TkisrTr
- Why Exomoons Are So Important https://youtu.be/b2crw2DGy38?si=-mEc8rznBsO0GDah

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, & R. Chaffee.

#Exomoons #JWST #CoolWorlds

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1000 Subs Thank-you + Channel Mission

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 10:43:20 -0000

Woah, 1000 subscribers! Thanks to everyone who viewed and subscribed so far! Quick thank-you video and some background about this channel's goals and future. Stay curious!

::More about this Video::

► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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The Odds of Life - THIS CHANGED MY MIND

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 09:36:40 -0000

Go to https://ground.news/CoolWorlds to discover the full spectrum of truths and absurdities behind today’s headlines. Save 40% on the Ground News unlimited access Vantage plan with my link.

There's been some new studies in the fields of paleopaleontology that have changed my mind about one of the most profound questions - does life start easily on Earth-like planets? Join me today to find out why.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan & H. Schiff.

REFERENCES
► Kipping 2020, "An objective Bayesian analysis of life's early start and our late arrival", PNAS, 117, 11995,
► Graham et al. 2024, "Substantial extension of the lifetime of the terrestrial biosphere", Planetary Science Journal, accepted: https://arxiv.org/abs/2409.10714
► Moody et al. 2024, "The nature of the last universal common ancestor and its impact on the early Earth system", Nature Ecology & Evolution, 8, 1654 : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02461-1
► Nutman et al. 2016, "Rapid emergence of life shown by discovery of 3,700-million-year-old microbial structures", Nature, 537, 535: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19355
► Schmidt & Frank 2019, "The Silurian Hypothesis: Would it be possible to detect an industrial civilization in the geological record?", IJAsB, 18, 142: https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.03748
► Schopf 2006, "Fossil evidence of Archaean life", Phil. Tran. Roy. Soc. B, 361, 1470: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rstb.2006.1834
► Wilde et al. 2001, "Evidence from detrital zircons for the existence of continental crust and oceans on the Earth 4.4 Gyr ago", Nature, 409, 175: https://www.nature.com/articles/35051550
► Allwood 2016, "Evidence of life in Earth's oldest rocks", 537, 500: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature19429
► Bell et al. 2015, "Potentially biogenic carbon preserved in a 4.1 billion-year-old zircon", PNAS, 112, 14518: https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1517557112

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 - Tamuz Dekel - Quiet Pull
2:55 - Joachim Heinrich - Horizon
4:16 - Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna
7:04 - Hill - World of Wonder
8:28 - Chris Zabriskie - The Oceans Continue to Rise
9:40 - We Dream of Eden - Discovery
11:10 - Chris Zabriskie - The Oceans Continue to Rise
12:33 - Hill - Arctic Warmth
15:08 - Hill - Northern Boards
18:16 - Hill - The Meek

#abiogenesis #life #CoolWorlds

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How Many Planets in the Universe? | Part 2: Our Universe

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 08:30:00 -0000

Hey Cool Worlders! Here's part 2 of the mini series "How Many Planets in the Universe?" where we now estimate the total number of worlds in the cosmos. If you haven't seen part 1, link is just below!

::More about this Video::

► Check out part 1 of this video series, "How Many Planets in the Universe? | Part 1: Our Galaxy": https://youtu.be/QQbp91m16Fw
► Size of the Universe reference, Vardanyan et al. (2011), “Applications of Bayesian model averaging to the curvature and size of the Universe”: https://arxiv.org/abs/1101.5476v2
► Number of galaxies in the observable Universe reference, Conselice et al. (2016), “The Evolution of Galaxy Number Density at z less than 8 and its Implications”: https://arxiv.org/abs/1607.03909v2
► Simon Driver speaking at the IAU XXVth General Assembly, Sydney, Australia 2003. I can’t find a paper but the press release is reported at http://www.cnn.com/2003/TECH/space/07/22/stars.survey/ and http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3085885.stm
► Background music by Thomas Bergersen "Final Frontier": http://www.thomasbergersen.com

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
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THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Proxima b: Transits, Habitability and How to Get There!

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 07:23:20 -0000

Dr Guillem Anglada and the Pale Red Dot project team announced today the discovery of a planet orbiting our nearest star, Proxima Centauri! Prof Kipping provides an update on the search as to whether "Proxima b" also is seen to transit its star our the Cool Worlds Lab MOST data + a discussion of habitability and how to reach this planet!

::More about this Video::

► MOST telescope homepage: http://most.astro.ubc.ca
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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From Wobbles to Worlds - Discovery of The Exoplanet Edge!

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 06:16:40 -0000

Thanks to Incogni for sponsoring us. Use the code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

Today we explore what could be considered a classic problem in exoplanetary science, yet one which has eluded astronomers for decades. Transit timing variations (TTVs) are seen in thousands in systems, literally wobbling worlds. Yet for the vast majority of cases, we have no solution for the culprit. Today, we present new research from our team that finds analytic expressions for the allowed solution space and reveals the startling existence of an "exoplanet edge".

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping & Daniel Yahalomi. Edited by Jorge Casas & David Kipping. Thumbnail by Helena Valenzuela Widerstrom.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, D. Ohman, P. Stevenson, T. Ford & T. Tarrants.

REFERENCES
► Yahalomi & Kipping 2024, "The Exoplanet Edge: Planets Don't Induce Observable TTVs Faster than Half their Orbital Period", ApJ submitted: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.09752
► Yahalomi & Kipping 2024, "A Map of the Orbital Landscape for Perturbing Planet Solutions for Single-Planet Systems with TTVs", ApJ submitted: https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.10493
► Holman & Murray 2005, "The Use of Transit Timing to Detect Extrasolar Planets with Masses as Small as Earth", Science, 307, 1288: https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0412028
► Kipping 2021, "The Exomoon Corridor: Half of all exomoons exhibit TTV frequencies within a narrow window due to aliasing", MNRAS, 500, 1851: https://arxiv.org/abs/2012.00764
► Kipping &Teachey 2020, "Impossible moons -- Transit timing effects that cannot be due to an exomoon", SerAJ, 201, 25: https://arxiv.org/abs/2004.04230

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Atlas - Waking Up
2:56 Sid Acharya - Searching for Answers
5:01 Hill - World of Wonder
6:22 Stephen Keech - Selha
12:20 Falls - Life in Binary
13:40 Hill - The Persecuted
16:53 Joachim Heinrich - Y

CHAPTERS
0:00 What are TTVs?
5:01 Incogni
6:22 The Landscape of TTVs
8:41 Tidal Effects
12:20 Aliasing
14:13 Aliased Conjunctions
15:51 Big Picture
18:22 Outro & Credits

#Exoplanets #Astronomy #CoolWorlds

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Could A.I. Replace Scientists?

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 05:10:00 -0000

It's getting harder to harder to ignore the potential disruptive power of AI in research. Scientists are already using AI tools but could the future lead to complete replacement of humans? How will our scientific institutions transform? These are difficult questions but ones we have to talk about in today's episode.

Written, presented & edited by Prof. David Kipping.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, D. Ohman, P. Stevenson, T. Ford & T. Tarrants.

REFERENCES
► Smith & Geach 2024, "Astronomia ex machina: a history, primer, and outlook on neural networks in astronomy", Royal Society Open Science, 10, 221454: https://arxiv.org/abs/2211.03796
► Toner-Rodgers 2024, "Artificial Intelligence, Scientific Discovery,
and Product Innovation": https://aidantr.github.io/files/AI_innovation.pdf
► Dell'Acqua et al. 2023, "Navigating the Jagged Technological Frontier: Field Experimental Evidence of the Effects of AI on Knowledge Worker Productivity and Quality": http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4573321

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Hill - The Travelers
2:50 Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog
5:57 Kyle Preston - Dark Tension
7:50 Falls - Ripley
10:50 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four
13:18 Hill - Echoes of Yesterday
17:28 Joachim Heinrich - Y

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intellectual AI
3:00 Current AI in Astronomy
6:59 @DrBrianKeating
7:56 The Research Cycle
9:59 Neil DeGrasse Tyson
10:51 Disruptive Machines
14:37 Humanism
16:51 The Future
19:04 Outro and Credits

#AI #AGI #CoolWorlds

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How we know that the Earth's climate is changing

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 04:03:20 -0000

Our own cool world is warming up. Dr Gavin Schmidt, Director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS), visited the Cool Worlds Lab and explains how NASA actually measures these climatic changes and the modeling used to understand what is responsible for them.

::More about this Video::

► NASA GISS Surface Temperature Analysis software and data sources: http://data.giss.nasa.gov/gistemp/
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Did Astronomers Just Prove Dark Energy is an Illusion?

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 02:56:40 -0000

Did astronomers just prove dark energy is wrong? Some breaking news this week that I couldn't resist covering on here...

Written, presented & edited by Prof. David Kipping.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, D. Ohman, P. Stevenson, T. Ford & T. Tarrants.

Check out Ryan Ridden’s video at https://youtu.be/YhlPDvAdSMw

REFERENCES
► Seifert et al. 2024, "Supernovae evidence for foundational change to cosmological models", MNRAS Letters, 537, L55: https://www.arxiv.org/abs/2412.15143

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Falls - Life in Binary
4:55 Hill - There Is But One Good

CHAPTERS
0:00 Prologue
0:39 Evidence for Dark Energy
2:50 Timescapes
4:53 Testing Timescapes
6:07 Is Dark Energy Cooked?
7:15 Credits

#DarkEnergy #Timescapes #CoolWorlds

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What is an Alien Megastructure?

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 01:50:00 -0000

Alien megastructures are back in the headlines after some new research published last week. It has been claimed that Tabby's Star is confirmed to be steadily dimming, which is completely unexpected behavior for a star. Prof Kipping explains what we know (and don't know) about this mysterious star and what astronomers really mean by "alien megastructures".

::More about this Video::

► Montet & Simon (2016), "KIC 8462852 Faded Throughout the Kepler Mission": http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.01316
► Schaefer (2016), "KIC 8462852 Faded at an Average Rate of 0.165+-0.013 Magnitudes Per Century From 1890 To 1989": http://arxiv.org/abs/1601.03256
► Boyajian et al. (2016), "Planet Hunters X. KIC 8462852 - Where's the Flux?": https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.03622
► Arnold (2005), "Transit Lightcurve Signatures of Artificial Objects": http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0503580
► Kipping & Teachey (2016), "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets": http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08928
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Why Finding Earth-Sized Planets is Hard

Sat, 03 Oct 2026 00:43:20 -0000

The transit method of finding exoplanets is easier for big planets than small planets. But new work from the Cool Worlds Lab shows that transits disfavor the detection of small, Earth-sized planets even more than previously realized. Emily Sandford, a third-year graduate student with the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia, explains our new paper which derives these biases, allowing astronomers to correct for these effects when figuring out how many Earths there really are.

::More about this Video::

► Kipping & Sandford (2016), "Observational biases for transiting planets": http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.05662
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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The Ambiguity Problem

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 23:36:40 -0000

🌏 Get exclusive NordVPN deal here ➵ https://NordVPN.com/coolworlds It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!✌

What kind of evidence would be needed to convince the world of alien life? Sagan said that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence", but what exactly is "extraordinary"? Today we explore the difficult problem of dealing with potentially ambiguous evidence and how it might affect our search for life.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, E. Loomans, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, & J. Smallbon.

REFERENCES
► Brzycki, B. et al. 2023, "On Detecting Interstellar Scintillation in Narrowband Radio SETI", ApJ, 952, 46: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.08793
► Davenport, J. et al. 2023, "Searching the SETI Ellipsoid with Gaia", AJ, 164, 117: https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.04092

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Diversified Alien Hunting
2:33 NordVPN
3:43 Priors
9:45 Disambiguation
13:04 New Tricks
16:07 Outro & Credits

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Why Exomoons Are So Important

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 22:30:00 -0000

Flexispot’s anniversary sale is here! Get up to 60% off with my code COOLWORLDS on orders over $500 at http://bit.ly/coolworlds10!

Exoplanets was a transformative discovery for astronomy. Exomoons is the next. I’ve spent most of my career looking for exomoons and today I explain the five reasons why finding them isn’t just fascinating - it’s necessary.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, E. Loomans, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams & J. Sattler.

CHAPTERS
0:00 Reason 1
03:20 Reason 2
7:18 Sponsorship
8:50 Reason 3
10:48 Reason 4
12:33 Reason 5
16:26 The Future

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
► Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog
► Falls - Life in Binary
► Chris Zabriskie - We Were Never Meant to Live Here
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Two
► Hill - To The Quiet Drumming Inside My Head [https://open.spotify.com/track/1QAGagFWsbTZyGfAJxs06d]
► Hill - Chasing Out The Chaos [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx]
► Joachim Heinrich - Y

#astronomy #jwst #exoplanets

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Earth Over The Next Billion Years

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 20:32:00 -0000

Our lifespans might feel like a long time by human standards, but to the Earth it's the blink of an eye. Even the entirety of human history represents a tiny slither of the vast chronology for our planet. We often think about geological time when looking back into the past, but today we look ahead. What might happen on our planet in the next billion years?

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store

THANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, G. Canterbury, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough & F. Demopoulos.

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► 00:00 Hill - All Flesh Is as the Grass [https://open.spotify.com/track/1WuMK4qy9tUSGMINoEClxL?si=5635838259b34fa4]
► 03:56 Hill - The Great Alchemist [https://open.spotify.com/track/3PAx36jIsKiQMT9CQsRk4G?si=035fc819505445a1]
► 07:50 Outside the Sky - Trillions
► 11:41 Hill - We Are Unceasing Beings [https://open.spotify.com/track/3TnhawPMycRrPuTnKzNGNN?si=bddf4e61177d48c4]
► 14:57 Indive - Halo Drive

::Chapters::
00:00 A Recurring Dream
02:12 The Timescape Ahead
04:06 Gyr Evolution
06:32 A Technological Future?
09:38 What We Leave Behind
11:42 Who Are We To Them?
13:02 Unidirectional
14:57 Outro and credits

#GeologicalTime #Earth #Future

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The Strangest Idea in Science: Quantum Immortality

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 17:27:16 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

One of the leading interpretations of quantum theory is that every probabilistic event leads to a branching of reality, where all possibilities occur. This "many worlds" interpretation has been growing in prominence, but it implies a bizarre consequence. It might mean that you can never die, and will continue to survive not only life threatening events but even old age. Join us today as we explore the extraordinary idea of quantum immortality.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, D. Ohman, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, T. Tarrants, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, A. Taylor, D. Wedgewood, J. Alley, D. Aron & G. Thomsen.

REFERENCES
Tegmark, Max (1998), "The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics: Many Worlds or Many Words?", Fortsch. Phys. 46, 855-862: http://xxx.lanl.gov/abs/quant-ph/9709032

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Hill - A Flickering Start
2:48 Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna
5:48 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five
9:24 Chris Zabriskie - World of Wonder
10:51 Stephen Keech - Selha
13:25 Hill - A Sad Scene from a Sad Film
16:54 Hill - The Persecuted
19:39 Falls - Life in Binary
22:10 Hill - Mourning Wakes
25:35 Hill - The Now is Only a Thin Slice of Who I Am
28:46 Kyle Preston - An Ocean of Quiet Confession
31:29 Kyle Preston - Up The Oregon Coast
33:43 Joachim Heinrich - Y

CHAPTERS
0:00 Introduction
5:48 The Wavefunction Never Collapses
9:26 Incogni
10:55 Quantum Russian Roulette
14:41 Generalized Immortality
16:57 Anthropic Reasoning
19:28 Corrected Intensity Rule
22:10 Non-Quantum Analogies
28:45 What is Self?
31:26 Final Thoughts
35:43 Outro & Credits

#CoolWorlds #QuantumImmortality #ManyWorlds

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The Doomsday Argument | When Will Civilization End?

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 16:24:32 -0000

When will our civilization end? Whether it be by our own means or an external threat, there are many plausible scenarios which could extinguish humanity. Remarkably, using the Principle of Mediocrity (that we are just typical observers and not special) it is possible to answer this question statistically with a line of thought called the Doomsday Argument. We get into how this works and what it says about our prospects for survival...

::More about this Video::

► Richard Gott (1993), "Implications of the Copernican principle for our future prospects": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v363/n6427/abs/363315a0.html
► Fergus Simpson (2016), "Apocalypse Now? Reviving the Doomsday Argument": https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.03072
► Carter & McCrea (1983): "The Anthropic Principle and its Implications for Biological Evolution [and Discussion]", http://rsta.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/310/1512/347
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Shocking Result from DESI Stuns Cosmology

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 15:21:49 -0000

Thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video! Download unlimited stock media at one set price with Storyblocks: https://storyblocks.com/CoolWorlds

The Standard Model of Cosmology has reigned supreme for decades, confirmed over and over again. But chinks in the armour have been developing, such as the Hubble Tension. Now, however, a new result threatens to completely upend our view of the Universe - we no longer even know how it will end.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, D. Ohman, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, T. Tarrants, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, A. Taylor, D. Wedgewood, J. Alley, D. Aron & G. Thomsen.

REFERENCES
The DESI papers are available here: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/public-libraries/XCj7bW-vSMaNZVV0C0QyGA

#CoolWorlds #DarkEnergy #DESI

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Are UFOs Legitimate Science?

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 14:19:05 -0000

UFOs, UAPs are dominating the media, but what do astronomers really think is going on? Check out our sponsor by using the code coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan: https://incogni.com/coolworlds

Over the last few years, there has been growing public attention and interest in UFOs/UAPs fuelled by whistleblowers, leaked videos and of course the media. But astronomers have been looking for life in the Universe for decades already, using systematic searches and established scientific methodologies. No-one spends more time looking up and thinking about aliens than astronomers, so what do we think about this? How does science more broadly ingest UFO claims? Today, in the spirit of transparency, we explore this complex and evolving topic...

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
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THANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien & P. Muzyka

::References::
► Yingling et al. (2023), "Faculty perceptions of unidentified aerial phenomena", Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10, 246, : https://www.nature.com/articles/s41599-023-01746-3
► Kopparapu & Haqq-Misra (2020), Scientific American, ‘Unidentified Aerial Phenomena,’ Better Known as UFOs, Deserve Scientific Investigation: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/unidentified-aerial-phenomena-better-known-as-ufos-deserve-scientific-investigation/

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist.
► 0:00 - A Slowly Lifting Fog - Brad Hill
► 3:41 - Falls - Life in Binary
► 6:46 - Northern Boards - Brad Hill
► 10:34 - To Quiet the Drumming Inside My Head - Brad Hill
► 14:48 - Chasing Out the Chaos - Brad Hill
► 19:44 - Cylinder Seven - Chris Zabriskie
► 25:55 - Joachim Heinrich - Y

::Chapters::
00:00 Introduction
02:27 A Science 101
05:07 Sponsored Message
06:47 Ingesting UAPs into Science
19:30 Academics on UAPs
21:53 SETI Scientists on UAPs
24:39 Concluding Thoughts
26:59 Outro & Some Interviews

#UFO #UAP #SETI

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Juno Explained

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 13:16:21 -0000

The Juno spacecraft just arrived at Jupiter! Prof Kipping explains what Juno is all about, how NASA got the spacecraft safely into orbit and how this connects to exoplanetary science.

::More about this Video::

► NASA Juno homepage: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/juno/main/index.html
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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In Defense of Science

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 12:13:38 -0000

ACTION CENTER: https://aas.org/advocacy/get-involved/action-alerts

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The K2-18b Video You've Been Waiting For

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 11:10:54 -0000

Thanks to Opera for sponsoring this video. Click here to upgrade your browser for FREE! - https://opr.as/Opera-browser-coolworldslab

So the whole world seems to have become very excited about the claim of a biosignature discovered in the atmosphere of the exoplanet K2-18b. And no sooner did those headlines hit the airwaves, astronomers came out in droves expressing skepticism and concerns. It feels a bit confusing to have two sides so certain of their position, and often the truth is more nuanced than either side will concede. So today, we're going to take a deep dive into K2-18b. You'll get the chance to hear both arguments and make up your own mind.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Special thanks to Nikku Madhusudhan and Ryan Macdonald for joining this episode.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, D. Ohman, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, T. Tarrants, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, A. Taylor, D. Wedgewood, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, B. Kingston, A. Phan Le, N. Voyton, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison & C. Fitzsimmons.

REFERENCES
► Madhusudhan et al. 2025, "New Constraints on DMS and DMDS in the Atmosphere of K2-18 b from JWST MIRI", ApJL, accepted: https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.12267
► Madhusudhan et al. 2023, "Carbon-bearing Molecules in a Possible Hycean Atmosphere", ApJ, 956, 13: https://arxiv.org/abs/2309.05566
► Schmidt et al. 2023, "A Comprehensive Reanalysis of K2-18 b's JWST NIRISS+NIRSpec Transmission Spectrum", AAS Journals, submitted: https://arxiv.org/abs/2501.18477
► Madhusudhan et al. 2021, "Habitability and Biosignatures of Hycean Worlds", ApJ, 918, 1: https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.10888
► Wogan et al. 2024, "JWST observations of K2-18b can be explained by a gas-rich mini-Neptune with no habitable surface", ApJ, 963, 7: https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.11082
► Cooke & Madhusudhan 2024 , "Considerations for Photochemical Modeling of Possible Hycean Worlds", ApJ, 977, 209: https://arxiv.org/abs/2410.07313

#CoolWorlds #K218b #Biosignature

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Could Quark Stars be the Engines of Self-Replicating Strange Matter?

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 10:08:10 -0000

Check out https://NordVPN.com/coolworlds for 4 months for free when you sign up today, thanks to Nord for sponsoring us!

Could there be a bizarre exotic type of star out there made of quarks? What would these things be like and how could they form? Join us as we explore quark stars, and the terrifying implications they have for forging strange matter within their cores...

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas. Special thanks to Dr Sam Gregson (www.youtube.com/@BadBoyofScience) for fact checking our script.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, A. Harrison, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, E. Loomans, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay & X. Yao.

REFERENCES
► Drake et al 2002, Is RX J185635-375 a Quark Star?, ApJ 572, 996: https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0204159
► Truemper et al 2003, The Puzzles of RX J1856.5-3754: Neutron Star or Quark Star?, Nuc Phys B Proc S 132, 560: https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0312600
► Kareet et al 2006, Evidence for 1122 Hz X-Ray Burst Oscillations from the Neutron-Star X-Ray Transient XTE J1739-285, ApJ 657, L97: https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0611716
► Chakrabarty 2008, The Spin Distribution of Millisecond X-ray Pulsars, In "A Decade if Accreting Millisecond X-Ray Pulsars", AIP Conf Proc 1068, 67: https://arxiv.org/abs/0809.4031
► Annala et al 2020, Evidence for quark-matter cores in massive neutron stars, Nat Phys 16, 907: https://arxiv.org/abs/1903.09121
► Cherman et al 2009, Bound on the speed of sound from holography, Phys Rev D 80, 066003: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.80.066003
► Ouyed et al 2002, Quark Nova, A&A 390, 39: https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0105109
► Gell-Mann 1964, A schematic model of baryons and mesons, Phys Lett 8, 214: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0031916364920013
► Zweig 1964, An SU3 model for strong interaction symmetry and its breaking, Developments in the Quark Theory of Hadrons, 22: https://cds.cern.ch/record/570209
► Rochester & Butler 1947, Evidence for the Existence of New Unstable Elementary Particles, Nat 160, 855: https://www.nature.com/articles/160855a0
► Bodmer 1971, Collapsed Nuclei, Phys Rev D 4, 1601: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.4.1601
► Witten 1984, Cosmic separation of phases, Phys Rev D 30, 272: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.30.272
► Farhi & Jaffe 1984, Strange matter, Phys Rev D 30, 2379: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.30.2379
► Caldwell & Friedman 1991, Evidence against a strange ground state for baryons, Phys Lett B 264, 143: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.

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The Most Mysterious Star | Prof Jason Wright

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:05:27 -0000

Prof Jason Wright from Penn State explains why Tabby's Star has become known as the most mysterious star in the galaxy and how you can help him and Tabby Boyajian solve this mystery. To contribute to their Kickstarter campaign, go to https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/608159144/the-most-mysterious-star-in-the-galaxy right now!

::More about this Video::

► Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/608159144/the-most-mysterious-star-in-the-galaxy
► Boyajian et al. (2016), "Planet Hunters X. KIC 8462852 - Where's the Flux?": http://arxiv.org/abs/1509.03622
► Wright et al. (2016), "The Ĝ Search for Extraterrestrial Civilizations with Large Energy Supplies. IV. The Signatures and Information Content of Transiting Megastructures": http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.04606
► Prof Wright's blog, AstroWright: http://sites.psu.edu/astrowright/
► Dr Tabetha Boyajian's TED talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/tabetha_boyajian_the_most_mysterious_star_in_the_universe
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Why I Don’t Buy The Dark Forest Hypothesis

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 08:02:43 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off.

Many of you wanted me to talk about the Dark Forest Hypothesis - an idea popularised (bit not limited to) the the sci-fi novel and Netflix series, "The Three Body Problem" by Liu Cixin. So in this video I'll explain what dark forest says and why I don't buy it. (Note - this is *not* an analysis of Cixin’s story beats set in his fictional universe, but rather the concept of dark forest in our real one! Although, I will refer to the aliens as Trisolarans purely as a placeholder example civilization).

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, D. Ohman, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, T. Tarrants, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, A. Taylor, D. Wedgewood, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, B. Kingston, A. Phan Le, N. Voyton, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison & C. Fitzsimmons.

REFERENCES
► Project Nash 2020, "https://www.projectnash.com/aliens-the-fermi-paradox-and-the-dark-forest-theory/" https://www.projectnash.com/aliens-the-fermi-paradox-and-the-dark-forest-theory/
► Siraj & Loeb 2021, "The Copernican Principle Rules Out BLC1 as a Technological Radio Signal from the Alpha Centauri System": https://arxiv.org/abs/2101.04118
► Carroll-Nellenback et al. 2012, "The Fermi Paradox and the Aurora Effect: Exo-civilization Settlement, Expansion and Steady States", The Astronomical Journal, 158, 117: https://arxiv.org/abs/1902.04450
► Hart 1975, "Explanation for the Absence of Extraterrestrials on Earth", Quarterly Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society, 16, 128

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog
2:24 Kyle Preston - Dark Tension
5:51 Kyle Preston - Up the Oregon Coast
9:41 Hill - The Planet of Lost Souls
12:28 Falls - Ripley
16:10 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Seven
20:24 Joachim Heinrich - Y
22:44 Indive - Trace Correction

CHAPTERS
0:00 Dark Forest
4:20 Incogni
5:51 Game Theory
9:13 Game Theory Nuance
15:01 Berserker is Better
20:32 Closing Thoughts
22:44 Outro & Credits

#DarkForest #ThreeBodyProblem #CoolWorlds

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Some Bad News

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Off the cuff immediate reaction…

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The Kepler Revolutions

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 05:57:16 -0000

There have been two scientific revolutions involving a "Kepler"- one 400 years ago and one on-going! Prof Kipping explains both and why NASA's Kepler Mission will go down in the history books as transformative.

::More about this Video::

► NASA's Kepler Mission website: http://kepler.nasa.gov
► Burke et al. (2015), "Terrestrial Planet Occurrence Rates for the Kepler GK Dwarf Sample": http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.04175
► Doyle et al. (2011), "Kepler-16: A Transiting Circumbinary Planet": http://arxiv.org/abs/1109.3432
► Johansen et al. (2012), "Can planetary instability explain the Kepler dichotomy?": http://arxiv.org/abs/1206.6898
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Ask Me Anything Million Subs Special

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 04:54:32 -0000

A huge thank-you to everyone who helped us reach this milestone!

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, D. Ohman, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, T. Tarrants, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, A. Taylor, D. Wedgewood, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, B. Kingston, A. Phan Le, N. Voyton, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison & C. Fitzsimmons.

CHAPTERS
0:00 AMA
0:18 Ultimate Telescope
4:32 YouTuber Academic
7:27 Unscientific Belief
9:58 If Not Astronomy...
12:46 Origins Story
18:05 What I Suck At
20:24 Crisis in Physics
25:16 Will We Confirm Life?
28:19 K167e Update
31:49 Coping with Setbacks
36:46 Wildest Hunch
40:03 Fermi Paradox Solution
43:26 Personal Inspirations
46:33 Mental Health Advise
50:20 Career Advise
54:29 Longer Healthspans
59:13 Breakfast?
59:51 BH Singularities
1:00:51 Life Evidence
1:03:48 Sci-Fi Books
1:05:29 Terrascope Update
1:09:12 Science Sensationalism
1:13:09 AI Good or Bad?
1:15:24 Creativity Advise
1:19:06 Thank-you
1:19:51 Outro and Credits

#AMA #CoolWorlds

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Red and White Dwarfs QandA

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 03:51:49 -0000

Answers to your questions by Prof David Kipping from our "Proxima Planet Hunt" and "Polluted Dead Stars" videos (links below)! Thanks to all of you who posted questions, keep 'em coming, we love interacting with you all!

::More about this Video::

► "Proxima Planet Hunt" video: https://youtu.be/z5LVcfzRDI8
► "Polluted Dead Stars" video: https://youtu.be/MAeqIQd6BMM
► Dressing & Charbonneau (2015), "The Occurrence of Potentially Habitable Planets Orbiting M Dwarfs Estimated from the Full Kepler Dataset and an Empirical Measurement of the Detection Sensitivity": http://arxiv.org/abs/1501.01623
► Veras (2015), "Post-main-sequence planetary system evolution": http://arxiv.org/abs/1601.05419
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Can We Save Ourselves?

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 02:49:05 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off.

Rubin Observatory just came online and one of its main goals is to detect comets and asteroids that could threaten the Earth. But how long will this take? How many threats do we know of so far? And what could we do about it if we discovered one with our name on it? Join us today as we explore just how dangerous the skies can be...

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to T. Widdowson, D. Smith, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, S. Marks, B. Smith, J. Kruger, S. Applegate, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, W. Evans, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, S. Thayer, T. Edris, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, B. Reese, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, Y. Muheim, A. Stark, C. Caminero, P. Borisoff, A. Donovan, H. Schiff, J. Cos, J. Oliver, B. Kite, C. Hansen, J. Shamp, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, D. Ohman, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, T. Tarrants, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, A. Taylor, D. Wedgewood, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, B. Kingston, A. Phan Le, N. Voyton, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison & C. Fitzsimmons.

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Hill - There Is but One Good [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]
4:18 Hill - When Comfort Becomes Uncomfortable [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]
7:24 Hill - World of Wonder [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]
9:00 Hill - A Flickering Start [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]
11:51 Hill - Pinhole of Light [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]
16:22 Hill - Bruised Hope [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]
20:09 Hill - The Meek [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]

CHAPTERS
0:00 Prologue
1:13 Populations
4:20 NEOs
7:24 Incogni
9:00 Spaceguard
10:15 Oort Cloud
12:22 Threat Assessment
16:08 Deflection
19:44 Insurance
22:55 Credits

#Asteroid #Rubin #CoolWorlds

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Polluted Dead Stars

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 01:46:21 -0000

Cool Worlds Lab guest Dr Sarah Ballard from MIT explains how observing dead stars (white dwarfs) can reveal the makeup of exoplanets and even exoplanetesimals! Be sure to follow Sarah on Twitter @hubbahubble and check out her website at http://www.drsarahballard.com.

::More about this Video::

► Farihi et al. (2013), "Evidence for Water in the Rocky Debris of a Disrupted Extrasolar Minor Planet": http://arxiv.org/abs/1310.3269
► Xu et al. (2014), "Elemental Compositions of Two Extrasolar Rocky Planetesimals": http://arxiv.org/abs/1401.4252
► Vanderburg et al. (2015), "A disintegrating minor planet transiting a white dwarf": http://arxiv.org/abs/1510.06387
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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An Idea So Crazy It Might Just Work...

Fri, 02 Oct 2026 00:43:38 -0000

Light sails are a promising method for traveling through space - indeed, Breakthrough Starshot proposed a laser driven version could reach nearby stars. But the exorbitant costs and engineering challenges of such a proposal have stymied its realization. What if there was a way of using the Sun - no lasers required - but keeping our dream of interstellar travel in tact? Introducing TARS.

This video is based on published research
(see https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.17615 ) supported by the Cool Worlds donors (see below). Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

Check out Anton’s Starshot video at https://youtu.be/HwPTF_TZvWY

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, J. Rockett, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Armstrong, B. Smith, J. Kruger, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, T. Edris, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, M. Czirr, I. Williams, B. Reese, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, P. Borisoff, H. Schiff, J. Cos, C. Hansen, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, B. Kingston, A. Phan Le, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison & C. Fitzsimmons.

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Hill - Circle
3:37 Hill - Rough Mix
6:51 Sid Acharya - Stories from the Sky
8:15 Kyle Preston - An Ocean of Quiet Confession
10:40 Atlas - Waking Up
14:43 Hill - There is but One Good
19:57 One Guitar Orchestra (@OneGuitarOrchestra) - No Time For Caution
22:19 Hill - Interstellar
25:28 Hill - Rough Mix

CHAPTERS
00:00 Echoes
00:30 Sea Longing
4:06 Breakthrough Starshot
6:51 The Cavalry Ain't Coming
8:39 The Art of Pragmatism
10:54 No Lasers Required
14:31 Enter the Quasite
16:39 Going Interstellar
18:32 Optimization
20:19 For Our Next Trick
23:26 Juicing TARS
27:13 Closing Thoughts
28:55 Outro and Credits

#TARS #Interstellar #CoolWorlds

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A Tale of Scientific Integrity

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 23:40:54 -0000

Click https://betterhelp.com/coolworlds for 10% off your first month of therapy with our sponsor BetterHelp. Join over 4 million people who’ve met with a therapist on BetterHelp and started living a healthier, happier life.

We usually celebrate the big wins, the major discoveries, the eureka moments... but sometimes the most important moments in science aren't like this. Today we explore a pivotal moment that may have saved the field of exoplanets from a much darker path...

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping. Thanks to Matt Bailes for graciously coming on.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer, T. Edris, B. Seeley, F. Blood, M. O'Brien, P. Muzyka, D. Lee, J. Sargent, M. Czirr, F. Krotzer, I. Williams, J. Sattler, J. Smallbon, B. Reese, J. Yoder, O. Shabtay, X. Yao, S. Saverys & M. Pittelli

REFERENCES
► Bailes, M., Lyne, A. & Shemar, S. 1990, "A planet orbiting the neutron star PSR1829–10", Nature 352, 311: https://www.nature.com/articles/352311a0

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00: Arc - Hill
0:30: Falls - Ripley
2:07: Cylinder Seven - Chris Zabriskie
6:39: There is But One Good - Hill
24:32: Y - Joachim Heinrich

CHAPTERS
0:00 Nightmare Scenario
2:24 Astronomical Errors
4:55 BetterHelp
6:39 PSR 1829
8:49 Matt Bailes Interview
24:51 Painful Truths
26:54 Outro & Credits

#Integrity #Science #CoolWorlds

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Proxima Planet Hunt

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 22:38:10 -0000

Proxima Centauri is our nearest star but we still don't know whether it has any planets. Prof Kipping discusses our planet hunting campaign using the space telescope MOST and gives you the latest news.

::More about this Video::

► Gillon et al. (2016), "Temperate Earth-sized planets transiting a nearby ultracool dwarf star": http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature17448.html
► Muirhead at al. (2012), "Characterizing the Cool KOIs III. KOI-961: A Small Star with Large Proper Motion and Three Small Planets": http://arxiv.org/abs/1201.2189
► MOST telescope homepage: http://most.astro.ubc.ca
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Could 3I/ATLAS Be Technological?

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 21:35:27 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

Déjà vu? Professor Avi Loeb has sparked controversy by suggesting - again - that a recently detected interstellar body passing through the Solar System (3I/ATLAS) could be an alien spacecraft. Today, we dive into what he his claiming and whether it holds up - just the science.

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas. Special thanks to Jason Wright for fact checking.

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, J. Rockett, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Armstrong, B. Smith, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, N. Corwin, K. Howard, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, T. Edris, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, M. Czirr, I. Williams, B. Reese, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, P. Borisoff, H. Schiff, J. Cos, C. Hansen, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, A. Phan Le, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison, C. Fitzsimmons, W. Smith, A. Twyman, B. Burgess, B. Bueche, D. Hoffman & J. Murph.

REFERENCES
► Avi Loeb's blog: https://avi-loeb.medium.com
► Hibberd, Crowl & Loeb 2025, "Is the Interstellar Object 3I/ATLAS Alien Technology?": https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.12213
► Loeb 2018, "Six Strange Facts About`Oumuamua": https://arxiv.org/abs/1811.08832
► Amrhein et al. 2019, "Scientists rise up against statistical significance", Nature, 567, 305-307: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00857-9
► Tonry et al. 2018: "ATLAS: A High-Cadence All-Sky Survey System", PASP, 130, 064505: https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.00879
► Loeb, Hibberd & Crowl 2025: "Intercepting 3I/ATLAS at Closest Approach to Jupiter with the Juno spacecraft": https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.21402
► Loeb & MacLeod 2024, "Interstellar meteors from the tidal disruption of rocky planets
on eccentric orbits around M dwarfs", A&A, 686, A123: https://arxiv.org/abs/2310.09399
► Hopkins et al. 2025, "From a Different Star: 3I/ATLAS in the context of the Ōtautahi-Oxford interstellar object population model", ApJL accepted: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.05318
► Belyakov et al. 2025, "Palomar and Apache Point Spectrophotometry of Interstellar Comet 3I/Atlas", RNAAS, 9, 149: https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.11720
► Jewitt et al. 2025, "Hubble Space Telescope Observations of the Interstellar Interloper 3I/ATLAS": https://arxiv.org/abs/2508.02934
► Dorman et al. 2013, "The Spatial Distribution of C2, C3 and NH in Comet 2P/Encke", ApJ, 778, 140: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637X/778/2/140/pdf

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Two
3:38 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Three
6:01 Triad - Reverence
7:37 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four
10:30 Jeremy Soule - Silent Footsteps
13:15 Jeremy Soule - Dragonsreach
15:40 Jeremy Soule - Under the Ancient Sun
18:47 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five
20:46 Hill - The Meek

CHAPTERS
0:00 Intro
4:35 Trajectory
6:04 Incogni
7:37 Close Encounters
10:50 Speed
13:24 Size
23:38 Outro

#CoolWorlds #3IATLAS #Interstellar

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Why Intelligent Life May Be Impossible Around Most Stars

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 20:32:43 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

New research from the Cool Worlds Lab leads a shocking conclusion - most stars might be incapable of developing intelligent life....

Written & presented by Prof. David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas. Thumbnail by Pablo Carlos Budassi https://pablocarlosbudassi.com

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

PAPER: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.01215

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, J. Rockett, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Armstrong, B. Smith, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, N. Corwin, K. Howard, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, T. Edris, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, M. Czirr, I. Williams, B. Reese, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, P. Borisoff, H. Schiff, J. Cos, C. Hansen, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, A. Phan Le, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison, C. Fitzsimmons, W. Smith, A. Twyman, B. Burgess, B. Bueche, D. Hoffman, J. Murphy, J. Matters, R. Borbidge, A. Singh, S. Larter & M. Adler.

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist.
0:00 Ending: Agrippa - Mikko Tarmia
2:41 Atlas - Waking Up
3:20 Hill - World of Wonder
5:11 Atlas - Waking Up
7:35 Hill - Fragile Beings
10:46 Hill - A Flickering Start
13:50 Hill - A Thin Place
18:51 Hill - Kingdom of the Skies

CHAPTERS
0:00 Two Existential Puzzles
3:20 Incogni
5:11 Possible Explanations
7:05 Bayesian Modeling
9:50 Results
12:05 No Luck
13:52 Interpretation
15:17 Lies & Statistics
18:11 Final Thoughts
20:09 Outro + Credits

#CoolWorlds #AlienLife #Sun

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Could We Detect the Death Star?

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 19:30:00 -0000

To celebrate the release of Star Wars Rogue One this weekend, let's ask the question - could we detect the Death Star with our current telescopes? Remarkably astronomers have been thinking about the detectability of alien megastructures, such as the Death Star, for many years and we can apply some scientific thinking to get to the answer.

::More about this Video::

► Companion video on Martin Archer's channel, "Is the Death Star a Star?": https://youtu.be/Q4CKSekJzxk
► Kipping & Teachey 2016, "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08928
► Cool Worlds video by Alex Teachey about our laser cloaking system: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1Pqqf_6J9w
► Most recent results from exomoon hunting, Kipping et al. 2015, "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): V. A Survey of 41 Planetary Candidates for Exomoons": https://arxiv.org/abs/1503.05555
► Cool Worlds video update on the search for exomoons: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S3VQ0PdoR3M
► Freeman Dyson's original paper on Dyson Spheres, "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation": http://science.sciencemag.org/content/131/3414/1667
► Cool Worlds video explaining "What is an Alien Megastructure?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYHVCW3BkHU

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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An Event So Deadly it Makes Parts of the Galaxy Inhospitable

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 17:27:16 -0000

Space is a bleak, hostile environment. Asteroid strikes, supernovae and gamma ray bursts could wipe us out at any moment. But could certain parts of the galaxy be more dangerous than others? And could this explain why we live, when and where we live?

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping, guest starring Jackson Kipping and edited by Jorge Casas.

→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store

THANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, N. Kildal, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zajonc, C. Wolfred, L. Skov, G. Benson, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, J. Rockett, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, S. Roulier, B. Smith, G. Canterbury, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, B. Walford, J. Boyd, N. De Haan, J. Gillmer, R. Williams, E. Garland, A. Leishman, A. Phan Le, R. Lovely, M. Spoto, A. Steele, M. Varenka, K. Yarbrough, A. Cornejo, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, G. Bylinsky, J. Werner, B. Pearson, S. Thayer & T. Edris.

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist

::References::
► Spinelli & Ghirlanda, 2023, The Impact of GRBs on Exoplanetary Habitability, Universe, 9, 60: https://www.mdpi.com/2218-1997/9/2/60
► Gehrels et al., 2003, Ozone Depletion from Nearby Supernovae, ApJ, 585, 1169: https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0211361
► Thomas et al., 2006, Gamma-ray bursts and terrestrial planetary atmospheres, New. J. Phys., 8, 120: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/8/7/120
► Fisher & Valenti, 2005, The Planet-Metallicity Correlation, ApJ, 622, 1102: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1086/428383
► Buchhave & Latham, 2005, The Metallicities of Stars with and without Transiting Planets, ApJ, 808, 4: https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.03557
► Wang & Fisher, 2005, Revealing A Universal Planet-Metallicity Correlation For Planets of Different Sizes Around Solar-Type Stars, AJ, 149, 7: https://arxiv.org/abs/1310.7830

::Music::
► Chris Zabriskie - Music from Neptune Flux 0:00
► Falls - Ripley 6:06
► Chris Zabriskie - Music from Neptune Flux 9:32
► Brad Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog 13:53
► Joachim Heinrich - Y 16:58

::Chapters::
00:00 Introduction
02:28 Galactic Habitable Zone
05:09 Supernovae
10:26 GRBs
15:31 Multi-Threats
16:43 Planet formation
18:53 Planet retention
20:11 The Final Picture
22:56 Outro & Credits

#GalacticHabitableZone #Supernovae #GammaRayBursts

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The First Exoplanet Claim: Captain William S Jacob

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 16:24:32 -0000

In 1855, Captain William Stephen Jacob authored a paper in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society claiming that a planet likely existed in the binary star system 70 Ophiuchi. Although his claim ended being wrong, it's pretty remarkable that someone was even thinking about doing this with scientific methods at the time! Here we get into Jacob's claim, what went wrong, and what legacy this has left us with.

::More about this Video::

► Captain William S Jacob, "On Certain Anomalies Presented by the Binary Star 70 Ophiuchi": http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1855MNRAS..15..228J
► Information compiled about Captain William Stephen Jacob and family by his living descendant, Kenneth Jacob: http://www.myjacobfamily.com/favershamjacobs/williamstephenjacob.htm
► Thomas See, "Researches on the orbit of 70 Ophiuchi, and on a periodic perturbation in the motion of the system arising from the action of an unseen body": http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1896AJ.....16...17S
► Forest Ray Moulton, "The limits of temporary stability of satellite motion, with an application to the question of the existence of an unseen body in the binary system 70 Ophiuchi": http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1899AJ.....20...33M
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Is Time an Illusion? | Prof Sean Carroll

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 15:21:49 -0000

We caught up with Prof Sean Carroll at a recent astronomy conference and got his thoughts about time. Time may seem like a fundamental property of the Universe, but actually there's nothing in quantum theory which requires this to be so. Prof Carroll explains how time being merely an illusion, an emergent property rather than a fundamental one, is actually compatible with our best understanding of nature. This is one of two videos we shot with Sean so look out for the second video later in the year!

::More about this Video::

► Sean Carroll: "From Eternity to Here" book available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Eternity-Here-Quest-Ultimate-Theory/dp/0452296544
► Sean Carroll's blog "Preposterous Universe" at https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/blog/
► 229th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society: https://aas.org/meetings/aas229
► Background music by Hans Zimmer, Interstellar OST

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Disk Detectives

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 14:19:05 -0000

Would you like to help astronomers hunt for planets? Dr Marc Kuchner of NASA, principal investigator of the DiskDetective.org project, visited the Cool Worlds Lab and explains how you can become involved in a real planet hunting program online at DiskDetective.org.

::More about this Video::

► Disk Detective website: www.DiskDetective.org
► Zooniverse website: https://www.zooniverse.org
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Why We Might Live in a "Barely Habitable" Universe

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 13:16:21 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

Intelligent design purports that the Universe was made by a creator - God. One of the arguments often invoked to make this case is that the physical constants of the Universe are (apparently) finely tuned to permit life. But cosmologist Denis Sciama presented a thought-provoking analysis of this line of thought and suggested it might be possible to even test intelligent design. Join us today as we explore this fascinating concept.

Written & presented by David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, J. Rockett, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Armstrong, B. Smith, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, N. Corwin, K. Howard, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, T. Edris, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, M. Czirr, I. Williams, B. Reese, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, P. Borisoff, H. Schiff, J. Cos, C. Hansen, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, A. Phan Le, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison, C. Fitzsimmons, W. Smith, A. Twyman, B. Burgess, B. Bueche, D. Hoffman, J. Murphy, J. Matters, R. Borbidge, A. Singh, S. Larter, M. Adler, B. Ross-Lee & C. Frederick.

REFERENCES
► E. Siegel, 2015, "It Takes 26 Fundamental Constants To Give Us Our Universe, But They Still Don't Give Everything", Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/ethansiegel/2015/08/22/it-takes-26-fundamental-constants-to-give-us-our-universe-but-they-still-dont-give-everything/
► Z.-W. Wang & S. L. Braunstein, 2024, "Life in a random universe: Sciama's argument reconsidered", ApJ, 962, 8: https://arxiv.org/abs/2109.10241
► Z.-W. Wang & S. L. Braunstein, 2023, "Sciama's argument on life in a random universe: Distinguishing apples from oranges", Nature Astronomy, 7, 755: https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.14934

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist. You can see all of our past music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Bu2UQlKDb0KaeliLZUOZn
0:00 Hill - A Thin Place [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]
4:59 Hill - Arctic Warmth [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]
7:38 Hill - World of Wonder [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]
9:06 Hill - Conception [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]
11:05 Hill - Mourning Wakes [https://open.spotify.com/artist/1hdkvBtRdOW4SPsnxCXOjK]

CHAPTERS
0:00 Fine-Tuning
3:06 Sciama's Original Argument
7:37 Incogni
9:08 The New Argument
12:08 My Two Cents
15:30 Outro & Credits

#IntelligentDesign #FineTuning #CoolWorlds

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Classifying Worlds

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 12:13:38 -0000

Is there a way to naturally classify the different types of planets in the Universe? Two of the most fundamental properties of any object are its mass and size and generally one expects size to increase as we add more mass. The relationship between size and mass itself changes though at certain points, and this offers a clear way to classify worlds. Graduate student Jingjing Chen of the Cool Worlds Lab discusses one component of her new paper which does just this, classifying planets based off their mass and size and concluding that just four broad categories of planets explain the data.

::More about this Video::

► Chen & Kipping (2016), "Probabilistic Forecasting of the Masses and Radii of Other Worlds": http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08614
► "Forecaster" open-source software package: https://github.com/chenjj2/forecaster
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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JWST Surveyed a Jupiter-like Exoplanet for Exomoons: Results

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 11:10:54 -0000

Use code coolworlds at https://incogni.com/coolworlds to get an exclusive 60% off an annual Incogni plan.

The day has finally come! Today we share our results using JWST to look for exomoon around Kepler-167e... buckle in...

Written & presented by David Kipping

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, J. Rockett, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Armstrong, B. Smith, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, T. Edris, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, M. Czirr, I. Williams, B. Reese, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, P. Borisoff, H. Schiff, J. Cos, C. Hansen, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, A. Phan Le, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison, C. Fitzsimmons, W. Smith, A. Twyman, B. Burgess, B. Bueche, D. Hoffman, J. Murphy, J. Matters, R. Borbidge, A. Singh, S. Larter, M. Adler, B. Ross-Lee & C. Frederick.

REFERENCES
► Kipping et al., 2025, "A JWST Transit of a Jupiter Analog: II. A Search for Exomoons", AAS Journals, submitted: https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.15317
► Cassese et al., 2025, "A JWST Transit of a Jupiter Analog I: Constraints on the Oblateness of Kepler-167e", AAS Journals, submitted: https://arxiv.org/abs/2511.02067

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist. You can see all of our past music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Bu2UQlKDb0KaeliLZUOZn
0:00 Sid Acharya - Stories from the Sky
1:20 Hill - There Is but One Good
7:53 Falls - Life in Binary
13:00 Chris Zabriskie - tories About the World That Once Was
14:29 Kyle Preston - An Ocean of Quiet Confession
19:13 Chris Zabriskie - We Were Never Meant to Live Here
20:38 Kyle Preston - Up The Oregon Coast
23:15 Hill - Turn Away
26:35 Hill - To Accept the Partings That Must Come

CHAPTERS
0:00 Sixteen Years
3:57 Big Guns
8:57 First Impressions
13:00 Incogni
14:29 Too Good To Be True
18:54 Detective Mode
23:20 Aftermath
29:02 Credits & Outro

#JWST #Exomoons #CoolWorlds

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A Cloaking Device for Planets QandA

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 10:08:10 -0000

We've been overwhelmed by the huge numbers of views, likes and questions on our "Cloaking Device" video! Alex responds to a few of your questions, please keep commenting and sharing!

::More about this Video::

► "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets" Cool Worlds video: https://youtu.be/z1Pqqf_6J9w
► Kipping & Teachey (2016): "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets" http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08928
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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How Many Planets in the Universe? | Part 1: Our Galaxy

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 09:05:27 -0000

Have you ever wondered just how many planets there are in the Universe? So have we! We haven't surveyed the entire Universe (!) but based of the occurrence rate of planets in our local part of the cosmos, we can try to carefully extrapolate the total. In Part 1 of this mini-series, we focus on our galaxy, the Milky Way and explain why even here there is a great deal of uncertainty.

::More about this Video::

► Cassan et al. (2012), "One or more bound planets per Milky Way star from microlensing observations": https://arxiv.org/abs/1202.0903
► Sumi et al. (2011), "Unbound or Distant Planetary Mass Population Detected by Gravitational Microlensing": https://arxiv.org/abs/1105.3544
► Dressing & Charbonneau (2016) "The Occurrence of Potentially Habitable Planets Orbiting M Dwarfs Estimated from the Full Kepler Dataset and an Empirical Measurement of the Detection Sensitivity": https://arxiv.org/abs/1501.01623
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

::Playlists For Channel::

Latest Cool Worlds Videos ► http://bit.ly/NewCoolWorlds
Cool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearch
Guest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuests
Q&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQA
Science of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies

::Follow us::

SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribe
Cool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
Twitter https://twitter.com/david_kipping
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

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Our First Contact with Aliens Will Be Their Last Words

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 08:02:43 -0000

For 72 hours, enjoy 15% OFF on all Hoverpens with code COOLWORLDS, or click on the link https://noviumdesign.shop/CoolWorlds - Free shipping to most countries. Also on Amazon: https://noviumdesign.shop/1HrMzs

What is the most realistic way we'll detect an alien civilization? If the history of science and astronomy is any guide, there is a clear answer: The Eschatian Hypothesis.

Written & presented by David Kipping

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch: https://crowdmade.com/collections/cool-worlds
→ Check out our podcast: www.youtube.com/@CoolWorldsPodcast

THANK-YOU to D. Smith, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, S. Brownlee, E. West, T. Zajonc, A. De Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, C. Souter, M. Gillette, J. Rockett, M. Sanford, T. Donkin, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Armstrong, B. Smith, J. Bergman, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, N. Corwin, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, R. Provost, G. Fullwood, N. De Haan, R. Williams, E. Garland, R. Lovely, D. Compos, F. Demopoulos, T. Edris, M. O'Brien, D. Lee, M. Czirr, I. Williams, B. Reese, A. Nimmerjahn, C. Seay, D. Johnson, L. Cunningham, M. Morrow, M. Campbell, B. Devermont, P. Borisoff, H. Schiff, J. Cos, C. Hansen, R. Chaffee, A. Ortiz, B. McMillan, B. Cartmell, J. Bryant, J. Obioma, M. Zeiler, S. Murray, S. Patterson, C. Kennedy, G. Le Saint, W. Ruf, A. Kochkov, B. Langley, P. Stevenson, T. Ford, A. Laroye, I. Venzor, R. Raszka, B. Gaalen, J. Alley, D. Aron, G. Thomsen, S. Shardool, A. Phan Le, N. Offor, A. Huch, J. Morrison, C. Fitzsimmons, W. Smith, A. Twyman, B. Burgess, B. Bueche, D. Hoffman, J. Murphy, J. Matters, R. Borbidge, A. Singh, S. Larter, M. Adler, B. Ross-Lee, C. Frederick, M. Farabee, P. Johnston, V. Popovski & J. Brooks.

REFERENCES
► Kipping et al., 2025, "The Eschatian Hypothesis", RNAAS, accepted: https://arxiv.org/abs/2512.09970

MUSIC
Licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], Artlist.io, via CC Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) or with permission from the artist. You can see all of our past music here: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0Bu2UQlKDb0KaeliLZUOZn
0:00 Hill - Fragile Beings
2:46 Hill - Stratus
7:42 Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four
10:51 Hill - To Accept the Partings That Must Come
13:40 Joachim Heinrich - Y

CHAPTERS
0:00 Teaser
0:34 History
4:02 Supernovae
6:16 Novium
7:42 Eschatian Civilizations
11:00 Desperation
13:47 Anti-Hollywood
15:21 Credits & Outro

#Aliens #FermiParadox #CoolWorlds

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A Machine That Can Predict Exoplanets

Thu, 01 Oct 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Exciting new research from the Cool Worlds Lab has delved into the use of machine learning and artificial neural networks for astronomy. In new work from David Kipping & Chris Lam here at Columbia, we've shown how a machine can predict the presence of extra planets in known planetary systems using just a few pieces of information about the system. Chris Lam gives a neural network 101 and explains our implementation works.

::More about this Video::

► Kipping & Lam 2016, "Transit Clairvoyance: Enhancing TESS follow-up using artificial neural networks": https://arxiv.org/abs/1611.04904
► Tamayo et al. (2016), "A Machine Learns to Predict the Stability of Tightly Packed Planetary Systems": https://arxiv.org/abs/1610.05359
► Graff et al. (2013), "SKYNET: an efficient and robust neural network training tool for machine learning in astronomy": https://arxiv.org/abs/1309.0790
► Waldmann (2016), "Dreaming of atmospheres": https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.08339
► Outro music by Taylor Davis: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl9kI1yQKZk

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