Cool Worlds

Why We Might Live in a "Barely Habitable" Universe

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 05:45:00 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A MILLION MPH

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 05:22:30 -0000

How fast are you moving? Remarkably you are moving, by some definitions, around a million miles per hour. But, why don't we feel this motion? Is this speed useful in some way? And what does the question of speed really even mean? Join us today as Cool Worlds explores our motion through space. Written and presented by Prof David Kipping.

You can support our research program and the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support

Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store

Thank-you to our supporters T. Widdowson, D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, M. Elliot, B. Daniluk, J. Patrick-Saunders, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, B. Edelman, G. Ganguly, T. Plant & D. Alicen.

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Joachim Heinrich - Y
► Falls - Life in Binary
► The Europa Protoharmonic Symphony Orchestra - Our Guests Have Arrived
► Atlas - Waking Up
► Holiday On The Moon - Everything That Matters
► Indive - Ion
► Chris Zabriskie - Music From Neptune Flux 10
► Chris Zabriskie - Music From Neptune Flux 4
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder 7

::Video clips::
► A Flight Through the Universe by Berkeley Lab/SDSS
► Kuba Jurkowski
► Aryeh Nirenberg @art_only
► BlueTurn with NASA/DSCOVR
► Discovery News - How Fast Are You Moving
► BBC Wonders of the Universe
► Pole Position Motorsport
► Bon Iver - Holocene (NE Direction)
► Earth orbit animation by Brad Freese
► The Expanse - Amazon Studios
► Juno slingshot by NASA/JPL/SwRI
► Voyager animation by NASA/JPL
► Zoom-out from Earth by ESO/spaceengine.org/L. Calcada
► Helical orbits by Thord Christoffersson, djsadu and Rhys Taylor
► Galactic orbit by American Museum of National History
► Galactic orbit animation by ESA
► Milkromeda collision by NASA/ESA/F. Summers/ G. Besla/ R. van der Marel
► Planck telescope animation by ESA
► Reionization animation by CITA/R. Kaehler/M. Alvarez/T. Abel
► Expanding universe animation by M. Kornmesser/L. Calcada/NASA/ESA/Hubble
► Milky Way animation by ESA/Hubble/M. Kornmesser/L. L. Christensen

::Film clips used::
► Agora (2009) - Newmarket Films
► Interstellar (2014) - Paramount Pictures
► Inception (2010) - Warner Bros. Pictures
► First Man (2018) - Universal Pictures
► Drive (2011) - FilmDistrict
► Baby Driver (2017) - Sony Pictures Releasing
► Man of Steel (2013) - Warner Bros. Pictures
► Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) - Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures
► Star Wars: The Rise of SkyWalker (2019) - Walt Disney Studio Motion Pictures
► The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) - Warners Bros. Pictures
► Avatar (2009) - 20th Century Fox
► The Commuter (2018) - Lionsgate

::Chapters::
0:00 Prologue
0:42 Perception
6:26 Terrestrial
10:54 Extra-Terrestrial
15:33 Extra-Solar
19:40 Extra-Galactic
25:11 Credits

#MillionMPH #HowFastAreYouMoving #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Cloaking Device for Planets

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 05:00:00 -0000

NSF Graduate Fellow Alex Teachey of the Cool Worlds Lab explains our new paper which devises a method to cloak entire planets from extraterrestrial civilizations! This was a really fun little paper which started out from the idea of how to broadcast or signal our presence, but as we worked on it we realized it could also be used a cloaking device too. As always, ask us your questions in the comments below and we'll get back to you!

::More about this Video::

► Kipping & Teachey (2016): "A Cloaking Device for Transiting Planets" http://arxiv.org/abs/1603.08928
► BBC article on Stephen Hawking's comments about avoiding alien contact: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/8642558.stm
► 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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why We Haven't Found Any Earth-Like Planets

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 04:37:30 -0000

Twelve years ago, NASA predicted around 50 Earth-like planets would be discovered by the Kepler telescope, planets with the same size, warmth and host star as we do. And yet, we're left essentially none. What happened? Why did those predictions not match reality? And what can we learn from these 50 lost dreams...

Written & 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, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday,A. Jones, S. Brownlee, G. Fulton, N. Kildal, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, A. de Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Deschaine, B. Stanciu & A. Pirogov.

::References::
► NASA Exoplanet Archive: https://exoplanetarchive.ipac.caltech.edu/cgi-bin/TblView/nph-tblView?app=ExoTbls&config=cumulative
► Borucki & Summers (1984), "The photometric method of detecting other planetary systems": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1984Icar...58..121B
► Borucki et al. (1996), "FRESIP: A Mission to Determine the Character and Frequency of Extra-Solar Planets Around Solar-Like Stars": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1996Ap&SS.241..111B
► Borucki et al. (1997), "The Kepler Mission: A Mission To Detennine The Frequency Of Inner Planets Near The Habitable Zone For A Wide Range Of Stars": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1997ASPC..119..153B
► Borucki et al. (2003), "The Kepler Mission: Finding the Sizes, Orbits and Frequencies of Earth-size and Larger Extrasolar Planets": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003ASPC..294..427B
► Borucki et al. (2003), "Kepler Mission: a mission to find Earth-size planets in the habitable zone": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003ESASP.539...69B
► Borucki et al. (2004), "The Kepler mission: a technical overview": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2004ESASP.538..177B
► Quintana et al. (2014), "An Earth-sized Planet in the Habitable Zone of a Cool Star": https://arxiv.org/abs/1404.5667
► Jenkins et al. (2015), "Discovery and Validation of Kepler-452b: A 1.6-Re Super Earth Exoplanet in the Habitable Zone of a G2 Star":
https://arxiv.org/abs/1507.06723
► Mullaly et al. (2018), "Kepler's Earth-like Planets Should Not Be Confirmed Without Independent Detection: The Case of Kepler-452b": https://arxiv.org/abs/1803.11307
► Burke et al. (2019), "Re-Evaluating Small Long-Period Confirmed Planets From Kepler": https://arxiv.org/abs/1901.00506
► The LUVOIR team (2019), "The LUVOIR Mission Concept Study Final Report", https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.06219
► Borucki et al. (2020), "Science merit function for the Kepler mission": https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2020JATIS...6d4003B
► Christiansen et al. (2020): "Measuring Transit Signal Recovery in the Kepler Pipeline. IV. Completeness of the DR25 Planet Candidate Catalog": https://arxiv.org/abs/2010.04796
► Astro 2020 Decadal Survey: https://nap.edu/resource/26141/interactive/

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Brad Hill - Evening Approaches (0:00) [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx]
► Atlas - Waking Up (01:48)
► Brad Hill - There is but One Good (03:54) [https://open.spotify.com/

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do planets remember how they formed?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 04:15:00 -0000

After discovering thousands of planetary systems orbiting other stars, we are finally at a point where we can start looking at the patterns we see to hopefully understand how they formed. But hold the phone - because maybe the configurations we see are nothing but purely random. Dynamical evolution tends to disorder initially pristine systems, so do planets even still remember how they formed? Is the ordered nature of the Solar System typical or rare? This week we dive into these questions by discussing a new research paper by Prof Kipping on the topic.

::More about this Video::

► Kipping (2017), "Do planets remember how they formed?": https://arxiv.org/abs/1709.04987
► GitHub repo of the microstate visualizations: https://github.com/CoolWorlds/exoinformatics
► Cake number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cake_number
► Eulerian number: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eulerian_number
► Kepler Orrey by Dan Fabrycky: http://astro.uchicago.edu/~fabrycky/kepler/
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Outro music by 8-bit Universe "Harder Better Faster Stronger [8 Bit Cover Tribute to Daft Punk]": https://8bituniverse.bandcamp.com/track/harder-better-faster-stronger-8-bit-tribute-to-daft-punk

::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
Tabby's Star ► http://bit.ly/TabbysStar
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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Dawn of Immortal Space Telescopes

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 03:52:30 -0000

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

Today we discuss how three emerging technologies are poised to transform space telescopes forever.

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, 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 & L. Schreiner.

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
Falls - Life In Binary
Hill - World of Wonder
Sid Acharya - Searching for Answers
Atlas - Waking Up
Hill - Mourning Wakes

#Astronomy #AI #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Freakish One-Offs in Astronomy

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 03:30:00 -0000

Signup for your FREE trial to The Great Courses Plus here: http://ow.ly/x8l230rIoRs - thank you to our sponsors!

New research! One-offs... there's something about them, whether it be the first interstellar asteroid or a star behaving in an unprecedented way. These "black swans" capture our attention and imagination but interpreting them is challenged by the inherent scarcity of data. Perhaps no case encapsulates this more than the famous 1977 Wow Signal. Join us today as we discuss our new paper on Black Swan Theory with consequences for the Wow signal.

You can support our research program and the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support

Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store

Thank-you to our supporters T. Widdowson, D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, M. Elliot, B. Daniluk, J. Patrick-Saunders, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, A. Rao, E. Crump & J. Bergman.

Correction at 10:19 - the hydrogen line is 1420 MHz not kHz

::Links::
► Kipping, D. (2021), "Black Swans in Astronomical Data", MNRAS, in press: https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.07693
► Harp, G., Gray, R., et al., (2020), "An ATA Search for a Repetition of the Wow Signal", AJ, 160, 162: https://doi.org/10.3847/1538-3881/aba58f
► Event Horizon interview with Dr Jerry Ehman: https://youtu.be/x67K-Vq1KWk
► Our previous video about BLC-1: https://youtu.be/lU7h-Mgzk7c
► Breakthrough Listen live-stream about BLC-1: https://youtu.be/qpewt9qEYXw

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Brad Hill - Replicant [https://open.spotify.com/track/39M7ddbgjg1GUVGb4OFLox?si=486c05a6b799440b]
► Joachim Heinrich - Y
► Brad Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog [https://open.spotify.com/track/0GgkyL3y22kFslT6wUsKlt?si=35f82c623b9f486d]
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five
► Indive - Lightyears Away
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four
► Falls - Life in Binary
► Falls - Ripley
► Kevin MacLeod - Long Note Two
► Joachim Heinrich - Horizon

::Video clips::
► LHC footage and animations by CERN: https://home.cern/resources
► Pulsar animation I by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/13058
► Pulsar animation II by NASA/Fermi/Cruz deWilde https://youtu.be/PYsx8xUFOSk
► Oumuamua animation I by ESO/M. Kornmesser/L. Calcada: https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1737b/
► Oumuamua animation II by ESA/Hubble/NASA/ESO/M. Kornmesser: https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1820c/
► Parker probe animation by NASA/JHUAPL: https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/12729
► Footage of Mayor & Queloz by NCCR PlanetS: https://youtu.be/Udjxfdydo_Q
► Douglas Vakoch footage by TEDx talks: https://youtu.be/3ZYVGnZMyOg
► Gaia animation by ESA/C. Carreau: https://youtu.be/BnFyzZGWuYs
► APEX timelapse by ESO/B. Tafreshi (twanight.org): https://www.eso.org/public/usa/videos/apextimelapse12a/
► Orbital debris animation by NASA/ODPO/JSC: https://orbitaldebris.jsc.nasa.gov/photo-gallery/
► Outro video by ESO/L.Calçada/spaceengine.org

::Film clips used::
► Contact (1997) - Warner Bros
► Independence Day (1996) - 20th Century Fox
► Ad Astra (2019) - 20th Century Fox

::Chapters::
00:00 Discovery
02:50 Black Swans
07:53 Sponsorship
09:08 The Wow Signal
11:59 Black Swan Theory
17:09 Wow as a Black Swan
23:48 Credits

#BlackSwanTheory #WowSignal #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Truth About JWST Detecting Alien Life...

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 03:07:30 -0000

JWST is the pinnacle of our astronomical aspirations, the most sensitive telescope ever built by human hands. But can this feat of engineering resolve a question which has haunted us since the dawn of civilization - are we alone? So let's explore whether JWST could detect signatures of biology on another world, and if so under what conditions? Sponsored by Ground News, head to https://ground.news/coolworlds

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping, edited by Jorge Casas. Thanks to Ryan MacDonald (https://www.youtube.com/@martiancolonist) for checking over some technical points.

→ 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.

::References::
► Schwieterman et al., 2018, Exoplanet Biosignatures: A Review of Remotely Detectable Signs of Life, Astrobiology, 18, 6: https://arxiv.org/abs/1705.05791
► Kozakis et al. 2022, Is ozone a reliable proxy for molecular oxygen? I. The O2-O3 relationship for Earth-like atmospheres, A&A, 665, 156: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.09415
► Leung et al. 2022, Alternative Methylated Biosignatures I: Methyl Bromide, A Capstone Biosignature, ApJ, 938, 6: https://arxiv.org/abs/2208.07393
► Lin et al. 2021, Differentiating Modern and Prebiotic Earth Scenarios for TRAPPIST-1e: High-resolution Transmission Spectra and Predictions for JWST, MNRAS, 505, 3562: https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.09319
► Fauchez et al. 2019, Impact of Clouds and Hazes on the Simulated JWST Transmission Spectra of Habitable Zone Planets in the TRAPPIST-1 System, ApJ, 887, 194: https://arxiv.org/abs/1911.08596
► Kaltenegger et al. 2020, The White Dwarf Opportunity: Robust Detections of Molecules in Earth-like Exoplanet Atmospheres with the James Webb Space Telescope, ApJ, 901, 1: https://arxiv.org/abs/2009.07274
► Limbach et al. 2022, A New Method for Finding Nearby White Dwarf Exoplanets and Detecting Biosignatures, MNRAS, 517, 2622: https://arxiv.org/abs/2209.12914

::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]
► 03:57 & 14:59 Hill - The Great Alchemist [https://open.spotify.com/track/3PAx36jIsKiQMT9CQsRk4G?si=035fc819505445a1]
► 08:01 & 18:50 Outside the Sky - Trillions
► 11:57 Hill - We Are Unceasing Beings [https://open.spotify.com/track/3TnhawPMycRrPuTnKzNGNN?si=bddf4e61177d48c4]
► 25:18 Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna

::Chapters::
00:00 Introduction
01:00 A Biosignature Primer
11:00 Sponsorship
12:21 TRAPPIST-1e
19:12 White Dwarfs
25:29 A Fool's Hope
27:05 Outro and credits

#JWST #AlienLife #Astrobiology

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Extremely Large Telescopes | Moiya McTier

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 02:45:00 -0000

Extreme!!! Everyone loves extreme stuff and astronomers are no different. When it comes to telescopes, size matters. Moiya McTier goes through the biggest telescopes around and what astronomers are planning for in the next few decades. But increasingly astronomers are realizing that we can't just put telescopes wherever we want, the locals may not want us to construct gigantic machines on what can sometimes be sacred ground...

::More about this Video::

► Green Bank Observatory: http://greenbankobservatory.org
► GMT: https://www.gmto.org
► TMT: https://www.tmt.org
► E-ELT: https://www.eso.org/public/usa/teles-instr/elt/
► Arecibo drone footage by DJI 101: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBLgYXytaP0
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Background music by Thomas Bergersen "Final Frontier": http://www.thomasbergersen.com

A note on comments- we always love to engage with you down below but aggressive, inappropriate, hostile and trolling comments directed at our junior scientists especially will be removed.

::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
Tabby's Star ► http://bit.ly/TabbysStar
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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Discoveries on Wormholes Are Changing Everything

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 02:22:30 -0000

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

How do wormholes work? Are they actually possible? How could we make one? Join us today for a deep dive into the wormhole...

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

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 - Scott Buckley - Incantation
1:42 - Scott Buckley - Never Dying
4:57 - Scott Buckley - The Long Dark
7:41 - Brad Hill - World of Wonder
9:17 - Scott Buckley - Dragon’s Lullabye
11:23 - Brad Hill - The Mysterious
13:33 - Brad Hill - Lost In Wandering
14:38 - Brad Hill - It Wasnt Mine To Begin With
18:32 - Brad Hill - Don’t Think (Extended)
24:49 - Brad Hill - Mourning Wakes

CHAPTERS
0:00 - Intro
1:42 - Black Holes
4:59 - Einstein-Rosen Bridges
7:41 - Incogni
9:17 - Morris-Thorne Wormholes
11:55 - Paper Demo
14:38 - Causality Violation
18:32 - Quantum Wormholes
23:50 - Conclusion
26:25 - Outro

#Wormholes #FTL #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Big Is The Universe?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 02:00:00 -0000

Is the Universe infinite? Or does it somehow fold in on itself? And if so in what shape? Join us today as explore the size of the Universe. Written and presented by Prof David Kipping, with special thanks to cosmologist Prof Colin Hill for fact checking.

You can support our research program and the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support

Get Stash here! https://teespring.com/stores/cool-worlds-store

Thank-you to our supporters T. Widdowson, D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, M. Elliot, B. Daniluk, J. Patrick-Saunders, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar & I. Sandaljian.

::References used::
► Levin, J. (2001), "Topology and the Cosmic Microwave Background", Phys. Rep., 365, 251: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0108043
► de Bernardis et al. (2000), "A Flat Universe from High-Resolution Maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation", Nature, 404, 955: https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0004404v1
► Bennett et al. (2013), "Nine-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Final Maps and Results", ApJS, 208, 20 https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJS..208...20B/abstract
► Planck Collaboration et al. (2020), "Planck 2018 results. VI. Cosmological parameters", A&A, 641, 60
► Park, J. (1970), "The concept of transition in quantum mechanics", Fo. of Phys., 1, 23: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1970FoPh....1...23P/abstract [also https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.06910]

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Joachim Heinrich - Y
► Falls - Ripley
► Falls - Life in Binary
► Chris Zabriskie - Neptune Flux 1
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five
► Stephen Keech - Fable
► Painted Deserts - Shimmer
► Brad Hill - Fragmented [https://open.spotify.com/track/39M7ddbgjg1GUVGb4OFLox?si=486c05a6b799440b]

::Video clips used::
► Zoom out through space by ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser/spaceengine.org
► Deep field flythrough by ESO/M. Swinbank/Instit. Comp. Cosmology/Durham U
► JWST animations by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
► Jupiter telescope images by J. W. Astronomy
► Parallax demonstration by ESA/Gaia/DPAC
► Galaxy merger animation by ESO/M. Kornmesser
► Expanding universe animation by M. Kornmesser/L. Calcada/NASA/ESA/Hubble
► Cosmological simulation by K. Dolag/Deutsches Museum/Universe Cluster
► Planck mission animation by ESA
► Expanding horizon animation by ESA/www.worldwidetelescope.org
► Recombination clip I by R. Kaehler/M. Alvarez/Tom Abel/KIPAC/CITA/Stanford
► Recombination clip II by ESO/L. Calcada
► WMAP animation by NASA/WMAP Science Team
► Planck animation by ESA
► Janna Levin footage by The Aspen Institute
► Snake footage by Matthias L
► Pacman footage by Old Classic Retro Gaming
► 2-torus animation by V. Borrelli/S. Jabrane/F. Lazarus/D. Rohmer/B. Thibert: http://hevea-project.fr/ENPageToreImages.html
► Multiverse animation by Science Time

::Quotes used::
► Intro quote from Prof. Janna Levin
► Outro quote taken from "The Laughing Heart" by Charles Bukowski

::Film/TV clips used::
► Ad Astra (2019) - 20th Century Fox
► Agora (2009) - Newmarket Films
► The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007) - Warners Bros. Pictures
► Cosmos (1980) - PBS
► A Beautiful Mind (2001) - Universal Pictures
► Passengers (2016) - Sony Pictures Releasing
► Interstellar (2014) - Paramount Pictures
► The Time Machine (2002) - DreamWorks Pictures
► Logan (2017) - 2

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bayesian Worlds

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 01:37:30 -0000

One branch of statistics, called Bayesian statistics, is becoming increasingly important in detecting new planets. Emily Sandford, a second-year graduate student with the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia, explains our new paper and the concept of Bayesian priors, hopefully providing astronomers the tools we need to analyze new discoveries!

::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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Steps for Applying to Graduate School

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 01:15:00 -0000

Are you considering apply for graduate school? Or perhaps would like to one day in the future? If so, you are not alone and plenty of students around the US and beyond are starting to worry about what they need to do to apply. We decided to do something a bit different this week and do a longer video explaining the ten steps you need to follow if you ever plan to apply. Please do let us know if you have any questions or concerns about applying and we'll try to get back to you in the comments below!

1. Deciding if you want to apply 0:41
2. Try to gain research experience 1:09
3. What grades are needed for grad school? 4:51
4. What about the GRE? 6:19
5. Try to plan your applications early 8:55
6. Choosing where to apply 11:18
7. Should I email faculty members? 13:30
8. What to put in personal statements 14:41
9. Getting letters of recommendation 17:50
10. After your application is sent 21:33

::More about this Video::

► National Science Foundation (NSF) supported Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) programs in astronomy: https://www.nsf.gov/crssprgm/reu/list_result.jsp?unitid=5045
► List of astronomy US/Canadian astronomy programs and their present requirements in regard to the GRE: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/19UhYToXOPZkZ3CM469ru3Uwk4584CmzZyAVVwQJJcyc/edit
► Information on the GRE test dates: https://www.ets.org/gre/revised_general/register/centers_dates/
► Application fee waiver information for Columbia Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (GSAS): https://gsas.columbia.edu/degree-programs/admissions/application-fee-waivers
► Regarding Columbia University Department of Astronomy's fee waiver program, see http://www.astro.columbia.edu/grad/intro.
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy's application information: http://www.astro.columbia.edu/grad/admissions
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Outro music by Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster": http://www.daftpunk.com and http://smarturl.it/DaftPunkiTunes
► Blooper real music by Bernard Hermann "Taxi Driver Theme"

::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
Tabby's Star ► http://bit.ly/TabbysStar
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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

My Thoughts on Artemis II

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:52:30 -0000

An amazing experience I had to share with you all...

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

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
Scott Buckley - Starfire
Atlas - Waking Up
Hill - When Darkness is No Longer Dark

#TravelByYouTube #CoolWorlds #Artemis

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Don't We Live Around a Red Dwarf?

Sun, 01 Nov 2026 00:30:00 -0000

Visit our sponsor, Brilliant.org: https://brilliant.org/CoolWorlds

New research! Join us today as we discuss a new research paper just published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences from our team - The Red Sky Paradox.

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

THANK-YOU to our supporters T. Widdowson, D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, Z. Star, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, J. Patrick-Saunders, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, K. Clawson, M. Sanford, P. Matos, S. Hannum, T. Jawad, T. Schnipper, T. Donkin, T. Moss, K. Myers & M. O'Brien.

::Links::
► Kipping, D. (2021), "Formulation and resolutions of the red sky paradox", PNAS, 118 (26) e2026808118: https://arxiv.org/abs/2106.11207
► Our video "The Odds of Life and Intelligence": https://youtu.be/iLbbpRYRW5Y
► Our video "Why we might be alone in the universe": https://youtu.be/PqEmYU8Y_rI

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Joachim Heinrich - Arrival
► Falls - Life in Binary
► Joachim Heinrich - Y
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Two
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five
► Indive - Fusion

::Video clips::
► The Thinker clip by Great Art Explained
► Tea sitirring clip by Chirag Kalelkar
► Cosmology simulation by ESO/L. Calçada/Microsoft WWT
► Sun videos by NASA/SDO
► TRAPPIST-1 animations by ESO/L. Calcada/spaceengine.org
► Roulette clip by steveh552
► Galactic colonization animation by Jonathan Caroll-Nellenback
► Easter Island clips by Easter Island WTM
► Proxima Centauri b animations by ESO/Konstantino Polizois/Nico Bartmann
► Planet formation animation by NCSA, NASA, A. Boley
► Jupiter clip by NASA/SwRI/MSSS/G. Eichstadt/S. Doran
► M-dwarf planet animation by ESO/M. Kornmesser
► HabEX animation by NASA/JPL
► Outro video by ESO/L.Calcada/spaceengine.org

::Film clips used::
► The House (2017) - Warner Bros
► Noah (2014) - Paramount Pictures
► Avatar (2009) - 20th Century Fox

::Thumbnail::
► Created by Helena Valenzuela Widerström: https://helenavw.artstation.com

::Chapters::
00:00 Prologue
00:39 Paradoxes
03:05 Red Sky Paradox
05:05 Resolution I
10:39 Sponsored section
11:24 Resolution II
12:40 Resolution III
13:38 Resolution IV
16:19 Outro and credits

#RedSkyParadox #Astrobiology #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Exomoons and Earth Twins QandA

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 18:01:15 -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
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Semantics

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 17:32:30 -0000

Lately there has been a growing push-back from the exoplanet community for astronomers to stop using the phrase "Earth-like". In this video, we get into the arguments being made and some reasons why I am personally finding the movement unpalatable. This is a topic ripe for public discussion so please watch through then let us know in the comments section what your opinion is! Thanks for your time!

::More about this Video::

► Miriam Kramer (2016), "If we keep using 'Earth-like' to describe alien planets, it will become meaningless", Mashable: http://mashable.com/2016/08/28/earth-like-planets-proxima-b/
► Moore et al. (2017), "How habitable zones and Super-Earths leads us astray", Nature Astronomy: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-017-0043
► Nathaniel Scharping (2016), "What's the difference between Earth-mass and Earth-like?", Astronomy: http://www.astronomy.com/news/2016/10/whats-the-difference-between-earth-mass-and-earth-like
► Elizabeth Task (2017), "Let's Lose the Term 'Habitable-Zone' for Exoplanets", Scientific American: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/lets-lose-the-term-habitable-zone-for-exoplanets/
► Kipping et al. (2014), "The Hunt for Exomoons with Kepler (HEK): IV. A Search for Moons around Eight M-Dwarfs", ApJ, 784, 28: https://arxiv.org/abs/1401.1210
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Outro music by Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster": http://www.daftpunk.com and http://smarturl.it/DaftPunkiTunes

::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
Tabby's Star ► http://bit.ly/TabbysStar
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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Habitable Zone: Undergraduate Outreach Project

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 17:03:45 -0000

This semester I taught "Exoplanets & Astrobiology" at Columbia and decided to do something a bit non-traditional and ask my class to make outreach videos in any style they want about a topic we covered in class. This video, by Elliotte Jun Beom Lee, Natalie Gaisser & Huiying Zhang was voted the class favorite and so I decided to upload it on the Cool Worlds channel to share with everyone! Let us know what you think and if you have any questions about habitable-zones.

You can check out some of the other great videos made by class here:
► "What is a Planet by the Left-Handed Sneutrinos" by Leah Hays, Greg Humphries & Kaitlyn Loftus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4U9kd9NjaA
► "Sipping with Kipping" by Jeff Xie and Gabrielle Englemann-Suisse: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4U9kd9NjaA
► "Astrometry & Exoplanets" by Shreyas Vissapragada and Briley Lewis: http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=7osiO8m

::More about this Video::

► Kopparapu et al. (2013), "Habitable Zones Around Main-Sequence Stars: New Estimates": https://arxiv.org/abs/1301.6674
► Ramirez & Kaltenegger (2014), "The Habitable Zones of Pre-Main-Sequence Stars": https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.1764
► Ramirez & Kaltenegger (2016), "Habitable Zones of Post-Main Sequence Stars": https://arxiv.org/abs/1605.04924
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu

::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!! ヅ

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is It Possible to Learn The Language of Planets?

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 16:35:00 -0000

Could we learn to "speak planet"? Computational linguistics is now found in your smart phone, car and speakers, making sense of our speech and text. Could these same algorithms make sense of exoplanets? Join us today as we explore a radical new research idea recently published by the Cool Worlds Lab. Written and Presented by Dr Emily Sandford. This research was made possible through funding from the Data Science Institute’s Seed Fund Award.

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

THANK-YOU to our supporters T. Widdowson, D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, Z. Star, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, J. Patrick-Saunders, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, A. Critchley, A. DeRuiter, B. Sando, J. La Plante, M. Freydl, N. Popp, T. Gross, M. Nielsen, G. McLean, J. Black, P. Ainsworth & E. Moyle.

::Links::
► Sandford, E., Kipping, D. & Collins, M. (2021), "On planetary systems as ordered sequences", MNRAS, 505, 2224: https://arxiv.org/abs/2105.09966
► Brown et al. 1992, "Class-Based n-gram Models of Natural Language": https://www.aclweb.org/anthology/J92-4003.pdf
►McAllester 2018, "Information Theoretic Co-Training": https://arxiv.org/abs/1802.07572
► Stratos 2019, "Mutual Information Maximization for Simple and Accurate Part-Of-Speech Induction": https://arxiv.org/abs/1804.07849

::Music::
Music licensed via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
► Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna
► Indive - Trace Correction

::Video clips::
► Exoplanet animations by ESO/L. Calçada/spaceengine.org https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso2102c/; ESO, L. Calçada, V.Romanyuk https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1837a/; ESO, M. Kornmesser, L.Calcada https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1737c/; ESO/L. Calçada https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1035e/; ESO/L. Calçada/spaceengine.org https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1706g/; ESO/L. Calçada https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1410g/; ESO/L.Calçada/spaceengine.org https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso2005c/; ESO/L. Calçada https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1035b/; ESO/L. Calçada https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso2102b/; ESO/L. Calçada/spaceengine.org https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso2102c/; ESO/L.Calçada/M.Kornmesser https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1621a/; ESO/M. Kornmesser/Nick Risinger https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1517b/; ESO, M. Kornmesser, L.Calcada https://www.eso.org/public/videos/eso1045b/
► TESS animation by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Conceptual Image Lab https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/20260#60680
► Kepler animation by NASA/Kepler mission/Dana Berry https://exoplanets.nasa.gov/resources/1002/kepler-beauty-shot/
► Planet formation simulation by Sean Raymond: https://youtu.be/oBQqwfNLHug
► Hydraulic press videos by Crazy Hidraulic Press:
https://youtu.be/QYqOMjoz_i8 and https://youtu.be/MObYpxKG9XI
► Animated solar system animation by Steven Howe:
https://youtu.be/08J_MI0KSqA

::Film/TV clips used::
► Arrival (2016) - Paramount Pictures
► The House (2017) - Warner Bros. Pictures
► Star Trek: The Next Generation - Paramount Television
► Saturday Night Live - NBS

::Chapters::
00:00 Prologue
01:42 Exopatterns
07:25 Computational Linguistics
10:40 Brown Clustering
19:25 Planetary Linguistics
29:52 Outro and credits

#PlanetaryLinguistics #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why We Might NEVER Detect Alien Life

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 16:06:15 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discovery of a Jupiter Twin: QandA

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 15:37:30 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What If Intelligence Re-Emerges?

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 15:08:45 -0000

Visit our sponsor, Brilliant.org: https://brilliant.org/CoolWorlds.

Astronomers are on a quest to search for life in the Universe. Two different pathways lay ahead for this hunt, biosignatures and technosignatures. Today, we discuss the arguments for and against each and consider that intelligence could be a far more persistent phenomenon that we might naively think - with important consequences for astronomers...

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping of Columbia University

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

THANK-YOU to our supporters T. Widdowson, D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, Z. Star, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, J. Patrick-Saunders, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black & R. Ramezankhani.

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Joachim Heinrich - Stratosphere
► Brad Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog [https://open.spotify.com/track/0GgkyL3y22kFslT6wUsKlt?si=35f82c623b9f486d]
► Chris - Cylinder Five
► Falls - Life in Binary
► Chris - Cylinder Five
► Falls - Ripley
► Chris - The Sun is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow
► Joachim Heinrich - Y
► Indive - Trace Correction

::Video clips::
► Iceland footage by Louis Houiller
► Canada footage by Florian Nick/Arc'teryx
► Starry timelapse by Kuba Jurkowski
► Earth zoom-out by ESO/L. Calçada/M. Kornmesser
► Flask burning video by Science Skool
► Plankton bloom by Planet Ocean
► Wildfire footage by Meese Engine and The Atlantic
► Space debris animation by ESA
► JWST footage by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
► HabEx animation by NASA/JPL/Caltech
► LUVOIR animation by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
► The Thinker by Great Art Explained
► Rotating planet animation by Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach
► Paranal timelapse ESO/S. Guisard
► Oumuamua animation by ESO, M. Kornmesser, L.Calcada
► Colonization animation by Jonathan Carroll-Nellenback
► Sun evolving animation by ESA/Hubble (M. Kornmesser & L. L. Christensen)
► K2-18b animation by ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser
► Earth methane animation by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
► Greenhouse gas animation by djxatlanta
► Curiosity animation by NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
► Stomatalites by Ed Austin
► Chlorophyll video by Sci- Inspi
► Bacteria videos by Nikon Small World 2020
► Radio animation by Saturday's World
► NYC timelapse by the TV Series Metropolis
► Antartica base footage by the Smithsonian Channel
► Tristan de Cuna footage by Redfern Natural History Productions
► Easter Island drone footage by Michael Kohen
► Amazonian tribe footage by the BBC
► Hunting humans reconstruction by NHK WORLD-JAPAN
► Chimpanzee footage by BBC
► Earth in 4k by NASA/ESA/M.Kornmesser
► RCP 8.5 simulation by NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio and NASA Center for Climate Simulation
► Solar farms footage by VISION
► Wind farm footage by Jamie Jenkins
► Pyramid footage by Explore&Share
► Easter Island footage by EasterIslandWTM
► Stonehenge timelapse by Stonehenge Dronescapes
► Supercomputer footage by Verge Science
► Dancing robots by Boston Dynamics
► LUVOIR unfolding by AURA

::Film/TV clips used::
► Papillon (2017) Bleecker Street
► Star Wars: The Last Jedi (2017) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
► Ad Astra (2019) 20th Century Fox
► Gravity (2013) Warner Bros. Pictur

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We're Finally Unlocking the "Cosmic Shoreline"

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 14:40:00 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Reflections from an Alien World | Tiffany Jansen

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 14:11:15 -0000

One of big projects here at the Cool Worlds Lan has been to try and detect reflected light off exoplanets. Tiffany Jansen has been leading this effort and here gives a 101 explainer as to how astronomers can do this and why it's so awesome!

::More about this Video::

► Knutson et al. (2007), "A map of the day–night contrast of the extrasolar planet HD 189733b": https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v447/n7141/full/nature05782.html
► Demory et al. (2013), "Inference of Inhomogeneous Clouds in an Exoplanet Atmosphere": https://arxiv.org/abs/1309.7894
► Hu et al. (2012), "Theoretical Spectra of Terrestrial Exoplanet Surfaces": https://arxiv.org/abs/1204.1544
► Kipping & Spiegel (2011), "Detection of visible light form the darkest world" https://arxiv.org/abs/1108.2297
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Outro music by Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster": http://www.daftpunk.com and http://smarturl.it/DaftPunkiTunes

::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
Tabby's Star ► http://bit.ly/TabbysStar
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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Characterize Proxima b's Atmosphere

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 13:42:30 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Astronomers Can Use Origami to Find Exomoons

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 13:13:45 -0000

Visit our sponsor, MorningBrew at https://bit.ly/mbcoolworlds

New research from the Cool Worlds Lab! Join us to learn about a new technique we've developed to search for exomoons - "Transit Origami".

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping of Columbia University

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

THANK-YOU to our supporters T. Widdowson, D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday, A. Jones, S. Brownlee, Z. Star, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, J. Patrick-Saunders, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black & R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, D. Kriha, H. Kruszynski, K. Bjärkefur, A. Koczan, M. Gaal, M. Zaenger & M. Samuels.

::Further Reading::
► Kipping, D. (2021), "Transit Origami: A Method to Coherently Fold Exomoon Transits in Time Series Photometry", MNRAS, In Press: https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.02903
► Kipping, D. (2020), "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

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Brad Hill - Searching [https://open.spotify.com/album/2oDAnUfX0OYYOnuIToAEcX]
► Joachim Heinrich - Stratosphere
► Falls - Life in Binary
► Joachim Heinrich - Cassiopeia
► Joachim Heinrich - Y
► Atlas - Waking Up
► Outro is by Tristan Armes - Orio [https://soundcloud.com/emergentmusic/sets/tristan-armes-halo-drive-ep]

::Video clips::
► Starry timelapse by Kuba Jurkowski
► NASA animations by footage by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Space Telescope Science Institute’s Office of Public Outreach, NASA/JPL/Caltech and NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio.
► ESO animations ESO, L.Calcada, M. Kornmesser

::Film/TV clips used::
► Avatar (2009) 20th Century Fox
► Prospect (2018) DUST
► Clara (2018) D Films

::Chapters::
00:00 A Dearth of Moons
10:07 Sponsorship
11:12 The Way of Origami
16:31 Where From Here?
17:49 Outro and credits

#Exomoons # TransitOrigami #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Messaging Aliens a Bad Idea?

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 12:45:00 -0000

We listen, but we don't send. Why do we expect aliens to transmit if we don't? Many have voiced concerns about any programs designed to broadcast our presence - afterall, they may not be friendly. Although it may be a popular idea in science fiction, what do scientists say about this scenario? Today we explore the arguments for and against messaging, and what it might imply about the type of civilization that chooses to engage in messaging...

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping. Special thanks to Erik Wernquist for giving us permission to use a clip from his beautiful "Wanderes" short film (https://youtu.be/YH3c1QZzRK4)

→ 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
► Sid Acharya - Stories from the Sky (0:00)
► Brad Hill - There Is But One Good (02:00) [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx0]
► Falls - Ripley (05:54)
► Outside The Sky - Come Home (09:11)
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Two (13:07)
► Joachim Heinrich - Y (16:18)
► Chris Zabriskie - Neptune Flux 1 (17:07)
► Brad Hill - Loneliness (18:30) [https://open.spotify.com/album/6vasPO2FKG0ddtkOiHmqBC?si=qWxcwquXSiaSXAeHFG6OMw]
► Chris Zabriskie - Neptune Flux 10 (21:46)
► Brad Hill - When It Feels Like The World Is On Your Shoulders (23:22) [https://open.spotify.com/album/6Y6yawX2LQVsr5Cizda4j9?si=aGyeEp7BSMGlMKgzrWtWvA]
► Indive - Trace Correction (25:42)

::Film/TV clips used::
► Cosmos (PBS Television)
► Cosmos: A Space Odyssey (20th Television)
► Star Trek: The Next Generation (Paramount Television)
► Contact (Warner Bros. Pictures)
► War of the Worlds (Paramount Pictures)
► Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (EuropaCorp Distribution)
► Star Trek: Discovery (Paramount+)
► Arachnophobia (Buena Vista Pictures Distribution)
► Apocalypto (Buena Vista Pictures Distribution)
► Gladiator (Dreamworks Distribution LLC)
► Star Trek (Paramount Pictures)
► A River Runs Through It (Columbia Pictures)
► Independence Day (20th Century Fox)
► Arrival (Paramount Pictures)
► Close Encounters of the Third Kind (Columbia Pictures)
► The Watcher (Netflix)
► Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
► Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner (Looney Tunes)
► Margin Call (Lionsgate)
► Avengers: Infinity War (Walt Disney Studios & Motion Pictures)
► Casino Royale (Sony Pictures Releasing)
► Star Trek: Picard (Paramount+)
► The Hangover (Warner Bros. Pictures)
► Into The Wild (Paramount Vantage)
► Dallas Buyers Club (Focus Features)
► The Bucket List (Warner Bros. Pictures)
► Johnny Cash - Hurt (American Recordings)
► Game of Thrones (HBO)
► Prometheus (20th Century Fox)
► The Expanse (Legendary Television Distribution)
► Star T

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Did we find an exomoon?

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 12:16:15 -0000

::More about this Video::

► Teachey & Kipping (2017), "HEK VI: On the Dearth of Galilean Analogs in Kepler and the Exomoon Candidate Kepler-1625b I": https://arxiv.org/abs/1707.08563
► Alex's SciAm blog article: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/are-astronomers-on-the-verge-of-finding-an-exomoon/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciam%2Fspace+%28Topic%3A+Space%29
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► 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
Tabby's Star ► http://bit.ly/TabbysStar
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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Starship Could Transform Astronomy

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 11:47:30 -0000

SpaceX's Starship rocket is nearing first orbital tests. This Super Heavy launch vehicle promises to lift enormous masses into space, and do so at far cheaper costs than the competitors. What could these capabilities do for astronomy though? Join us today as we explore the potential transformative power of Starship for astronomy.

Written & presented by Prof David Kipping.

→ Support our research program: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get merch 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, H. Jensen, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, D. Holland, E. Hanway, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. Van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, T. Wheeler, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, S. Krasner, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., I. Attard, M. Donovan, N. Corwin & M. Mangione.

::References::
► House Science, Space, and Technology Committee video: https://science.house.gov/hearings/keeping-our-sights-on-mars-part-3-a-status-update-and-review-of-nasas-artemis-initiative
► Starship Update by SpaceX: https://youtu.be/3N7L8Xhkzqo

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Hill - There is But One Good [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx]
► Hill - Arc [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx]
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder 2
► Falls - Life in Binary
► Chris Zabriskie - The Sun is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow
► Atlas - Waking Up

::Film/TV clips used::
► Interstellar (2014) Paramount Pictures

::Chapters::
00:00 Prologue
00:48 Space Telescopes
05:10 Starship Background
07:38 Bigger is Better
10:42 What Makes Starship Different
16:32 Astronomy Benefits
21:41 Risk
22:46 Outro and Credits

#SpaceX #Starship #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Star That Can't Exist

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 11:18:45 -0000

Visit our sponsor, Brilliant.org: https://brilliant.org/CoolWorlds

The cosmos is littered with blue and red stars... but curiously no green ones. Why? Is this a fundamental constraint or merely an unlikely outcome? And what would it mean for humanity if we ever did detect a green star? Join us today as we explore this simple question with major implications.

Written & 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, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday,A. Jones, S. Brownlee, G. Fulton, N. Kildal, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, A. de Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. van Exter, S. Roulier, M. Hammer, J. Swigo & A. Murphy.

::Music::
Music licensed via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

► Brad Hill - Of Love and Loss [https://open.spotify.com/album/2oDAnUfX0OYYOnuIToAEcX]
► Joachim Heinrich - Cassiopeia
► Falls - Life in Binary
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five
► Falls - Ripley
► Indive - Trace Correction

::Film/TV clips used::
► Contact (1997) - Warner Bros. Pictures
► Avengers: Endgame (2019) - Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

::Chapters::
00:00 Prologue
00:59 The Dearth of Green Stars
05:25 Sponsorship
06:28 The Blackbody Approximation
10:51 Entering the Multiverse
13:04 The Viridian Flash
14:46 A Green Technosignature
18:37 Concluding Remarks
19:27 Outro and credits

#NoGreenStars #Technosignatures #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Thermodynamics Holds Back Negative Carbon Tech

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 10:50:00 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's Stopping Us From Building a Warp Drive?

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 10:21:15 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are Alien "Lurkers" Watching You?

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 09:52:30 -0000

Visit our sponsor, Private Internet Access to get digital privacy for $2.08/month: https://www.privateinternetaccess.com/CoolWorlds

The search for alien intelligence is usually a framed as a search for life around other stars. But some have suggested that we should look within the Solar System instead - seeking so-called "Lurkers", alien probes sent here to monitor us. Today we explore this interesting idea, the motivations behind it and where we might actually try surveying.

Written & 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, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday,A. Jones, S. Brownlee, G. Fulton, N. Kildal, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, A. de Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, A. Cook, J. Martinez, K. Nardone, L. Feng, M. Rydqvist, P. Schnakenburg & A. Moore.

::References::
► Bohn et al. 2020, Two Directly Imaged, Wide-orbit Giant Planets around the Young, Solar Analog TYC 8998-760-1, ApJL 898, 16: https://arxiv.org/abs/2007.10991
► Benistry et al. 2021, A Circumplanetary Disk Around PDS70 c, ApJL 916, 2: https://arxiv.org/abs/2108.07123
Pale Blue Dot NASA JPL/Caltech https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/pale-blue-dot-revisited
► Benford 2019, Looking for Lurkers: Co-orbiters as SETI Observables, AJ 150, 5: https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2019AJ....158..150B
► Hippke 2020, Interstellar Communication Network. I. Overview and Assumptions, AJ 159, 10: https://arxiv.org/abs/1912.02616

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Brad Hill - Fragile [https://open.spotify.com/album/1QDRubBTOO50Kwb8MtRwjF]
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four
► Atlas - Waking Up
► Falls - Life in Binary
► Falls - Ripley
► Joachim Heinrich - Cassiopeia
► Brad Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog [https://open.spotify.com/album/0i7df7bwsTHcJ7zRCHqq1G]
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Seven
► Joachim Heinrich - Stratosphere
► Indive - Trace Correction

::Video clip credits:: (See bit.ly/3lnqk8j for links)
► Licensed clips via Envato
► PHL @ UPR Arecibo, ESO
► ESA/Hubble, M. Kornmesser
► ESA/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona
► National Space Society/NASA
► ESO/L. Calçada, ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Benisty et al.
► NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
► P. Horálek/ESO
► ESO
► ESO / L. Calçada https://eventhorizontelescope.org/
► Eameses
► NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, NOAA, Lockheed Martin
► NASA
► ESO, M. Kornmesser, L.Calcada
► NASA/ESA/M.Kornmesser
► NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
► NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
► California Academy of Sciences
► NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
► NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech
► NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
► NASA/JPL/SwRI
► ESA/Hubble, NASA, ESO, M. Kornmesser

::Film/TV clips used::
► The Straight Story (1999) Buena Vista Pictures Distribution
► The Truman Show (1998) Paramount Pictures
► Gravity (2013) Warner Bros. Pictures
► Contact (1997) Warner Bros. Pictures
► First Man (2018) Universal Pictures
► Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
► Interstellar (2014) Paramount Pictures
► Star Trek: Voyager (Paramount Television)

Thumbnail by pc8650 htt

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Technological Civilizations Might Be Insanely Rare

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 09:23:45 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Where are the exomoons?

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 08:55:00 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is the Solar System Special?

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 08:26:15 -0000

This video was sponsored by CuriosityStream - sign up for CuriosityStream at https://curiositystream.com/CoolWorlds to get a year's subscription for $14.99.

Before we discovered any exoplanets, it was generally assumed the Solar System was just a typical planetary system. More and more though, we are finding that the Solar System might not be so ordinary afterall. Join us today as we explore the question - is the Solar System unusual?

Written & 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, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday,A. Jones, S. Brownlee, G. Fulton, N. Kildal, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, A. de Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, D. Christensen, J. Davison, R. Brook & R. Hartwell.

::References::
► He et al. (2020), "Architectures of Exoplanetary Systems. II: An Increase in Inner Planetary System Occurrence Toward Later Spectral Types for Kepler's FGK Dwarfs", AJ 161, 24: https://arxiv.org/abs/2003.04348
► Poleski et al. (2021), "Wide-orbit exoplanets are common. Analysis of nearly 20 years of OGLE microlensing survey data", Acta Astronautica 71, 1: https://arxiv.org/abs/2104.02079
► Foreman-Mackey et al. (2014), "Exoplanet population inference and the abundance of Earth analogs from noisy, incomplete catalogs", ApJ 795, 12: https://arxiv.org/abs/1406.3020
► Wittenmyer et al. (2016), "The Anglo-Australian Planet Search XXIV: The Frequency of Jupiter Analogs", ApJ 819, 28: https://arxiv.org/abs/1601.05465
► Bryan et al. (2019), "An Excess of Jupiter Analogs in Super-Earth Systems", AJ 157, 18: https://arxiv.org/abs/1806.08799

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Joachim Heinrich - Stjarna
► Falls - Ripley
► Falls - Life in Binary
► Chris Zabriskie - The Sun is Scheduled to Come Out Tomorrow
► Joachim Heinrich - Cassiopeia
► Painted Deserts - Shimmer
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Two
► Joachim Heinrich - Stratosphere
► Indive - Fusion

::Chapters::
00:00 Mediocrity
07:54 Typical Systems
11:27 Sponsorship
12:54 Solar System Analogs
20:00 Final Thoughts
22:01 Outro and Credits

#SolarSystem #AreWeUnusual #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New Discoveries from Kepler

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:57:30 -0000

NASA's Kepler Mission is now into's eighth year of discovering new planets. This week, NASA held the fourth Kepler Science Conference at NASA Ames with important discoveries being announced there. Here's a rundown of a couple of the stories making the news and some insights into how these results fit into our emerging picture of exoplanets.

::More about this Video::

► NASA Press Release "Hundreds of New Planet Candidates": https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-releases-kepler-survey-catalog-with-hundreds-of-new-planet-candidates
► Petigura et al. (2017), "The California-Kepler Survey. I. High Resolution Spectroscopy of 1305 Stars Hosting Kepler Transiting Planets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10400
► Johnson et al. (2017), "The California-Kepler Survey. II. Precise Physical Properties of 2025 Kepler Planets and Their Host Stars": https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10402
► Fulton et al. (2017), "The California-Kepler Survey. III. A Gap in the Radius Distribution of Small Planets": https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.10375
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Outro music by Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster": http://www.daftpunk.com and http://smarturl.it/DaftPunkiTunes

::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
Tabby's Star ► http://bit.ly/TabbysStar
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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Problem With "The Rare Earth Hypothesis"

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:28:45 -0000

The Rare Earth Hypothesis suggests that our planet may the product of an incredibly improbable sequence of events, and thus perhaps intelligent life is extremely rare in the cosmos. Here we tackle this highly influential idea and the arguments behind it. But, digging deeper, we'll uncover some problems with the Rare Earth idea - some of which strike to the very core of our scientific quest.

Written & 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, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday,A. Jones, S. Brownlee, G. Fulton, N. Kildal, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, A. de Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, T. Wheeler, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, B. Weaver, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, D. Osborn, D. Gustafson, M. Hedlund, N. Laugman, P. Kaup, T. Lindén, T. Brenard & I. Banks.

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Falls - Ripley
► Hill - There Is but One Good [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx]
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Two
► Falls - Life In Binary
► Hill - Bruised Hope [https://open.spotify.com/album/2oDAnUfX0OYYOnuIToAEcX]
► Hill - Looking for the Profound [https://open.spotify.com/album/69IrML6Y4K3Wh1pZr3L4Jb]
► Indive - Trace Correction

#RareEarth #AreWeAlone #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Documentary Shoot | Behind the Scenes

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 07:00:00 -0000

And now time for something completely different. This week I was interviewed for the science documentary show "How the Universe Works" and I decided to film some time lapses of the shooting and give you a little insight into this rather different way of communicating science to our regular style on Cool Worlds. I have no idea when this will air - probably many months away!

::More about this Video::

► Pioneer TV, "How the Universe Works": http://www.pioneertv.com/programmes/how-the-universe-works-5/
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Background music by David Cutter Music: https://dcuttermusic.bandcamp.com
► Outro music by Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster": http://www.daftpunk.com and http://smarturl.it/DaftPunkiTunes

::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
Tabby's Star ► http://bit.ly/TabbysStar
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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Finding Aliens Could Doom Humanity

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 06:31:15 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eyeball Earths

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 06:02:30 -0000

Earth-sized planets found in the habitable-zones of low-mass stars are likely to become tidally locked to the star, with one side baked in perpetual sunlight and other trapped in an eternal night. These so-called "Eyeball Earths" turn out to be extremely common and some famous examples include Proxima b and the planets around TRAPPIST-1. Here, we explain why this tidal locking happens and what it means for the potential habitability of these alien worlds.

::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
► 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
► 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
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Outro music by Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster": http://www.daftpunk.com and http://smarturl.it/DaftPunkiTunes

::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!! ヅ

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What the Hell Happened to Venus?

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 05:33:45 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Discovery of a Jupiter Twin!

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 05:05:00 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Genius Who Thought Aliens Lived in the Sun

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 04:36:15 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Fate of Our Sun

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 04:07:30 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Star That Shouldn't Exist

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 03:38:45 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 03:10:00 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listening for Alien Civilizations at a Temporal "Waterhole"

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 02:41:15 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some Good News

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 02:12:30 -0000

Off the cuff (again)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Outlasting the Universe

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 01:43:45 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Wow! Signal After 45 Years

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 01:15:00 -0000

The Wow! Signal was a radio signal detected in 1977 that remains the most compelling candidate for an alien radio transmission ever received. 45 years later, and after dozens of failed hours spent trying to catch it again, can we conclude the Wow signal was bogus? Join us today as we discuss a new research paper from the Cool Worlds Lab that explores this question and everything Wow.

Written & 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, H. Jensen, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, D. Holland, E. Hanway, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. Van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, T. Wheeler, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, S. Krasner, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., I. Attard, M. Donovan, N. Corwin & M. Mangione.

::References::
► Kipping, D. & Gray, R. (2022), "Could the “Wow” signal have originated from a stochastic repeating beacon?", MNRAS, accepted for publication: https://arxiv.org/abs/2206.08374
► "The Elusive Wow" book by Robert Gray: https://www.amazon.com/Elusive-Wow-Searching-Extraterrestrial-Intelligence/dp/0983958440/ref=sr_1_1?crid=N9C88NODCZ6G&keywords=the+elusive+wow&qid=1655582974&sprefix=the+elusive+wow%2Caps%2C88&sr=8-1
► Gray R. H., 1994, Icar, 112, 485. doi:10.1006/icar.1994.1199
► Gray R. H., Marvel K. B., 2001, ApJ, 546, 1171 doi:10.1086/318272
► Gray R. H., Ellingsen S., 2002, ApJ, 578, 967. doi:10.1086/342646
► Harp G. R., Gray R. H., Richards J., Shostak G. S., Tarter J. C.,
2020, AJ, 160, 162. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aba58f

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Brad Hill - A Slowly Lifting Fog (0:00) [https://open.spotify.com/album/0i7df7bwsTHcJ7zRCHqq1G]
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four (2:38)
► Falls - Ripley (4:41)
► Falls - Life in Binary (8:34)
► Brad Hill - There Is but One Good (13:04) [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx0]
► Chris Zabriskie - Stories About the World That Once Was (19:31)
► Joachim Heinrich - Y (23:51)
► Brad Hill - Downcast Spirit (26:12) [https://open.spotify.com/album/2oDAnUfX0OYYOnuIToAEcX]

::Film/TV clips used::
► Wow Documentary (2017) Peacock
► Agora (2009) Focus Features International
► Contact (1997) Warner Bros.
► Independence Day (1996) 20th Century Fox

::Chapters::
00:00 Introduction
02:51 Four Facts
07:15 False Positives?
08:15 Four Unknowns
12:06 Black Swans
13:54 Observatory Emulation
16:01 Hypothetical Signals
18:51 Big Ear Results
19:52 Multi-Observatory Results
22:43 Wow's Properties
24:49 Robert Gray
26:12 Outro and credits

#WowSignal #AreWeAlone #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:46:15 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How Does ChatGPT Do on a College Level Astrophysics Exam?

Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:17:30 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Destroy a Nuke Anywhere on Earth

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 23:48:45 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Black Holes Break The Universe

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 23:20:00 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why All Mirrors Are Lying to You

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 22:51:15 -0000

When you look the mirror, the image you see is accurate, right? Sure you left and right side get flipped, but what about your size, color and proportions? When we think about mirrors relativistically, there are a few strange (but tiny) effects which mean your appearance in the mirror is distorted. Cool Worlds explains what's going on, why it happens and how big an effect we are talking about.

::More about this Video::

► The following paper gives a derivation of why the law of reflection breaks down, although it not model the reaction of the mirror in response to the photon: Aleksandar Gjurchinovski, "Reflection from a moving mirror - a simple derivation using the photon model of light": https://arxiv.org/abs/1207.0998
► Physics Girl, "Why do mirrors flip horizontally (but not vertically)?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vBpxhfBlVLU
► Vsauce, "What Color is a Mirror?": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yrZpTHBEss
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Background music by MelodySheep "Secrets of the Stars": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuxFXHircaI

::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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Fermi Paradox Has An Incredibly Simple Solution

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 22:22:30 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Theory for Tabby's Star (Without Aliens) | Metzger and Stone

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 21:53:45 -0000

You've probably heard about the recent news of the strange dimmings of Tabby's Star and the provoactive hypothesis of an alien megastructure (fi not check out http://bit.ly/TabbysStar). But could there be a natural explanation instead? Well two theoretical astrophycistss here at Columbia think so and here they briefly summarize some of the leading theories (although news ones are appearing almost every day!) and they think their own explanation is the best one so far.

::More about this Video::

► Metzger, Shen & Stone (2017), "Secular Dimming of KIC 8462852 Following its Consumption of a Planet": https://arxiv.org/abs/1612.07332
► Montet & Simon (2016), "KIC 8462852 Faded Throughout the Kepler Mission": https://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": https://arxiv.org/abs/1601.03256
► Boyajian et al. (2016), "Planet Hunters X. KIC 8462852 - Where's the Flux?": https://arxiv.org/abs/1509.03622
► Live Q&A on Cool Worlds with Tabby Boyajian: https://youtu.be/k_-6SEb2QlM
► Cool Worlds video "What is an Alien Megastructure?" at https://youtu.be/tYHVCW3BkHU
► Jason Wright's Cool Worlds video, "The Most Mysterious Star": https://youtu.be/jjh0oK7ZyfM
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Outro music by Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster": http://www.daftpunk.com and http://smarturl.it/DaftPunkiTunes

::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
Tabby's Star ► http://bit.ly/TabbysStar
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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Traversable Wormholes

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 21:25:00 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We Discovered a New Exomoon Candidate!!

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 20:56:15 -0000

Exciting new result from the Cool Worlds Lab! Several years ago we started an ambitious research program to survey the sample of transiting cool, giant planets for exomoons. Our search is the first of its kind and provides one particularly interesting result - a new exomoon candidate, Kepler-1708 b-i. Today we discuss how we found this object and what it means.

Written & 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, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday,A. Jones, S. Brownlee, G. Fulton, N. Kildal, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, A. de Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger & S. Way.

::References::
► Kipping, David et al. (2022), "An Exomoon Survey of 70 Cool Giant Exoplanets and the New Candidate Kepler-1708 b-i", Nature Astronomy: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41550-021-01539-1
► Teachey, Alex and Kipping, David (2018), "Evidence for a large exomoon orbiting Kepler-1625b", Science Advances: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aav1784

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Indive - Ion (0:00)
► Brad Hill - Looking for the Profound (0:30) [https://open.spotify.com/album/69IrML6Y4K3Wh1pZr3L4Jb]
► Chris Zabriskie - The Sun Is Scheduled To Come Out Tomorrow (06:30)
► Falls - Life in Binary (9:01)
► Brad Hill - Breathe (13:40) [https://open.spotify.com/album/69IrML6Y4K3Wh1pZr3L4Jb?si=5L0v6iu7RT6pYVtc6bX0ng]
► Brad Hill - Fragmented (17:17) [https://open.spotify.com/album/1QDRubBTOO50Kwb8MtRwjF]
► Brad Hill - There is but One Good (18:48) [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx]
► Brad Hill - The Mysterious (18:48) [https://open.spotify.com/album/69IrML6Y4K3Wh1pZr3L4Jb]
► Indive - Trace Correction (28:39)

::Film/TV clips used::
► Avatar (2009) 20th Century Fox
► Ad Astra (2019) 20th Century Fox
► Sunshine (2007) Fox Searchlight Pictures
► Avengers: Endgame (2019) Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
► Prisoners (2013) Warner Bros. Pictures
► Men in Black (1997) Sony Pictures Releasing
► Agora (2009) Fox International Pictures
► Prometheus (2012) 20th Century Fox
► The Imitation Game (2014) The Weinstein Company
► The Aviator (2004) Warner Bros. Pictures
► Prospect (2018) Gunpowder & Sky

::Chapters::
00:00 Teaser
00:25 Exomoon Hunting
09:01 Cool Giants Survey
17:23 KIC-7906827
24:05 Kepler-1708
28:39 Outro and credits

#Exomoons #Kepler1708 #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NASA's in Trouble

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 20:27:30 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Crowded or Lonely? The Statistics of Alien Life

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 19:58:45 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How to Flip a Planet

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 19:30:00 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A JuMBO Mystery - This Shouldn't Happen!

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 18:01:15 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does Quantum Entanglement Allow for Faster-Than-Light Communication?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:32:30 -0000

Quantum entanglement allows particles to affect one another faster than the speed of light. So does this mean we could one day build a device to exploit this and enable superluminal communication? A popular trope in sci-fi for sure, but today let's look at the science.

Presented by Prof David Kipping (Columbia). Special thanks to Prof. Ehud Altman (Berkeley), Prof Tim Byrnes (NYU) & Prof. Raquel Queiroz (Columbia) for fact checking our script.

→ 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, H. Jensen, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, D. Holland, E. Hanway, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. Van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, T. Wheeler, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, S. Krasner, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., I. Attard, M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, T. Mitchum, B. Walford, J. Boyd, J. Quayle, & N. De Haan.

::References::
► Gisin (2014), "Quantum measurement of spins and magnets, and the classical limit of PR-boxes", : https://arxiv.org/abs/1407.8122
► Pawlowski et al. (2009), "Information causality as a physical principle", Nature, 461, 1101: https://arxiv.org/abs/0905.2292
► Einstein et al. (1935), "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality Be Considered Complete?", PhysRev, 47, 777: https://journals.aps.org/pr/abstract/10.1103/PhysRev.47.777
► Salart et al. (208), "Testing spooky action at a distance", Nature, 454, 861: https://arxiv.org/abs/0808.3316

::Further video resources::
► "Why You Can't Use Quantum Mechanics to Communicate Faster Than Light?" by Looking Glass Universe https://youtu.be/0xI2oNEc1Sw
► "The puzzling tension between faster-than-light communication and quantum mechanics" by NYU Quantum Technology Lab: https://youtu.be/5tlSkdzIi_c

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Brad Hill - When Darkness is No Longer Dark (0:00) [https://open.spotify.com/track/2hU8LyGpcdB4h0HW05PMxb]
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five (2:09)
► Falls - Life in Binary (5:09)
► Falls - Ripley (10:05)
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four (13:24)
► Brad Hill - There Is but One Good (16:10) [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx0]
► Chris Zabriskie - The Sun Is Scheduled To Come Out Again Tomorrow (22:20)
► Brad Hill - At Sunrise (25:33) [https://open.spotify.com/album/3l3efyjYt1QK6dZtzGplPW]
► Indive - Trace Correction (28:11)

::Film/TV clips used::
► Moonfall (Lionsgate)
► Passengers (Sony Pictures Releasing)
► Mankind: The Story of All of Us (History Channel)
► Foundation (Apple Inc.)
► Interstellar (Paramount Pictures)
► Contact (Warner Bros.)
► Arrival (Paramount Pictures)
► Back to the Future (Universal Pictures)
► Avatar (20th Century Fox)
► Mass Effect 2 (Bioware)
► The Matrix (Warner Bros.)
► Star Trek: The Next Generation (Paramount Television)
► Star Wars: the Last Jedi (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
► Genius (National Geographic)
► Star Trek (Paramount Television)
► Star Trek: The Motion Picture (Paramount Pictures)

::Chapters::

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Juno Explained

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:27:16 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Cool Worlds Research in 2017: A Look Ahead!

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 17:03:45 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Great American Eclipse 2017

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 16:35:00 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Tale of Scientific Integrity

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 16:24:32 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Real Tractor Beam

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 16:06:15 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are Dyson Spheres Physically Possible?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:37:30 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In Defense of Science

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:21:49 -0000

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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alien signal received from HD 164595?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 15:08:45 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Do "Grabby Aliens" Solve The Fermi Paradox?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 14:40:00 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Classifying Worlds

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 14:19:05 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Question That Keeps Me Awake At Night

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 14:11:15 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Signatures of Alien Life… or Not | Tiffany Jansen

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 13:42:30 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 13:16:21 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jupiter: Friend or Foe? | Elisa Quintana

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 13:13:45 -0000

Jupiter is the King of the Solar System but exoplanet surveys have revealed that it's an unusual type of world. Just ~10% of Sun-like stars have planets of the same mass and orbit as Jupiter. So could the existence of Jupiter be somehow beneficial to emergence of complex life, like us, on other planets in the system? On the hand, maybe Jupiter's strong gravity should scatter asteroids towards us, perhaps making things worse? Dr Elisa Quintana from NASA Goddard dropped in to the Cool Worlds Lab and explained her research trying to resolve the mystery of Jupiter's role: friend or foe?

::More about this Video::

► Quintana et al. (2016), "The Frequency of Giant Impacts on Earth-like Worlds": https://arxiv.org/abs/1511.03663
► Johnson et al. (2010), "Giant Planet Occurrence in the Stellar Mass-Metallicity Plane": https://arxiv.org/abs/1005.3084
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Outro music by Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster": http://www.daftpunk.com and http://smarturl.it/DaftPunkiTunes

::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!! ヅ

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Climate Emergency? Global Sea Ice at Anomalously Low Levels

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 12:45:00 -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::

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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Proxima b QandA - is Proxima b tidally locked?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 12:16:15 -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
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The First Civilization to Emerge in the Galaxy

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 12:13:38 -0000

The Galaxy is approximately 13 billion years old, which makes one wonder - just how many civilizations could have come and gone across that ocean of time? Today, we try something a little bit different for this channel, and imagine when and how the first civilization could have lived. The story is a fiction, but it provides a narrative around which we can more viscerally experience the conditions of the early cosmos, and the fragility of life itself.

Written & presented by Prof David Kipping

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

I'll be speaking at RAND in Santa Monica, March 7th, on the future of space exploration, registration link here: https://www.rand.org/events/2022/03/7-8.html

THANK-YOU to our supporters D. Smith, M. Sloan, L. Sanborn, C. Bottaccini, D. Daughaday,A. Jones, S. Brownlee, G. Fulton, N. Kildal, M. Lijoi, Z. Star, E. West, T. Zanjonc, C. Wolfred, F. Rebolledo, L. Skov, E. Wilson, A. de Vaal, M. Elliott, B. Daniluk, M. Forbes, S. Vystoropskyi, S. Lee, Z. Danielson, C. Fitzgerald, V. Alexandrov, L. Macchia, C. Souter, M. Gillette, T. Jeffcoat, H. Jensen, F. Linker, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, B. Mlazgar, D. Holland, J. Alexander, E. Hanway, J. Molnar, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, T. Wheeler, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, B. Weaver, E. Simonson, M. Murru, M. Shea, P. Finch, R. Boots, S. Applegate, L. Watson, S. Netherclift T. Wheeler T. West A. West H. Kissick, C. MacPherson, D. Bayless, D. Rolfe, E. Zahnle & G. Bolloten.

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Brad Hill - Fragmented (0:00) [https://open.spotify.com/album/1QDRubBTOO50Kwb8MtRwjF]
► Brad Hill - Downcast Spirit (2:10) [https://open.spotify.com/album/2oDAnUfX0OYYOnuIToAEcX]
► Brad Hill - The Mysterious (4:43) [https://open.spotify.com/album/69IrML6Y4K3Wh1pZr3L4Jb]
► Falls - Life in Binary (7:34)
► Brad Hill - Don't Think (11:43) [https://open.spotify.com/album/0i7df7bwsTHcJ7zRCHqq1G]
► Brad Hill - Bruised Hope (18:07) [https://open.spotify.com/album/2oDAnUfX0OYYOnuIToAEcX]
► Brad Hill - Human Nature (21:03) [https://open.spotify.com/album/1QDRubBTOO50Kwb8MtRwjF]

::Film/TV clips used::
► Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) Paramount Television
► Ad Astra (2019) 20th Century Fox
► Alien: Covenant (2017) 20th Century Fox
► Knowing (2009) Summit Entertainment
► Sunshine (2007) Fox Searchlight Pictures
► Noah (2014) Paramount Pictures
► Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017) EuropaCorp Distribution
► Clara (2018) D Films
► Don't Look Up (2021) Netflix

::Chapters::
00:00 Teaser
02:02 Birth
04:27 Home
09:47 Society
15:09 Collapse
18:37 Hope
21:44 Legacy
23:14 Conclusion
24:23 Outro

#TheFirstCivilization #Imins #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Interstellar Propulsion Technologies - RANKED!

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 11:47:30 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How often does life start on other worlds?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 11:18:45 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 11:10:54 -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.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

IT'S HAPPENING!! RIGHT NOW!

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 10:50:00 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Going Faster-Than-Light Leads to Time Paradoxes

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 10:21:15 -0000

Is faster-than-light (FTL) travel possible? In most discussions of this, we get hung up on the physics of particular ideas, such as wormholes or warp drives. But today, we take a more zoomed out approach that addresses all FTL propulsion - as well as FTL messaging. Because it turns out that they all allow for time travel. Join us today as we explore why this is so and the profound consequences that ensue.

Written & presented by Prof David Kipping. Special thanks to Prof Matt Buckley for fact checking and his great blog article that inspired this video (http://www.physicsmatt.com/blog/2016/8/25/why-ftl-implies-time-travel).

→ Support our research: https://www.coolworldslab.com/support
→ Get Stash! 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, H. Jensen, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, D. Holland, E. Hanway, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. Van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, T. Wheeler, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, S. Krasner, W. Evans, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp, T. Kordell, T. Ljungberg & M. Janke.

::References::
► Alcubierre, M., 1994, The warp drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity, Classical and Quantum Gravity, 11 L73: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/0009013
► Alcubierre & Lobo (2021), Warp drive basics, https://arxiv.org/abs/2103.05610
► Pfenning, M. & Ford, L., 1997, The unphysical nature of Warp Drive, Classical and Quantum Gravity, 14, 1743: https://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9702026
► Finazzi, S., Liberati, S., Barceló, C., 2009, Semiclassical instability of dynamical warp drives, Physical Review D., 79, 124017: https://arxiv.org/abs/0904.0141
► McMonigal, B., Lewis, G., O'Byrne, P., 2012, Alcubierre warp drive: On the matter of matter, Physical Review D., 85, 064024: https://arxiv.org/abs/1202.5708
► Everett, A., 1996, Warp drive and causality, Physical Review D, 53, 7365: https://journals.aps.org/prd/abstract/10.1103/PhysRevD.53.7365
► For a more rigorous breakdown of the axis flipping in Minkowski spacetime, see Chapter 3 of "Special Relativity" by Valerio Faraoni (https://williamsgj.people.cofc.edu/Minkowski%20Spacetime.pdf)

::Music::
Music licensed by SoundStripe.com (SS) [shorturl.at/ptBHI], or via Creative Commons (CC) Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), or with permission from the artist
► Hill - An Interesting Retirement [https://open.spotify.com/album/3S2hu2EP1lYOXHzwEHcclb]
► Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna
► Falls - Life In Binary
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Two
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Five
► Chris Zabriskie - Cylinder Four
► Falls - Ripley
► Caleb Etheridge - Always Dreaming
► Joachim Heinrich - Y
► Indive - Trace Correction

::Film/TV clips used::
► Interstellar (2014) Paramount Pictures
► Contact (1997) Warnes Bros.
► The Imitation Game (2014) The Weinstein Company
► Star Trek: Generations (1994) Paramount Pictures
► Cosmos: Possible Worlds (2020) National Geographic Fox
► Stephen Hawking's Favorite Places (2016) Curiosity Stream
► Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) 20th Century Fox
► Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (1993-1999) Paramount Television
► The Day The Earth Stood Still (2008) 20th Century Fox
► Stargate (1994) MGM/UA Distribution Co.
► Star Trek: Beyond (2016) Paramount Pictures
► Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986) Paramount Pictures
► The Expanse (

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Proxima Planet Hunt

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 10:08:10 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1000 Subs Thank-you + Channel Mission

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 09:52:30 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

JWST Reveals Exoplanets As Never Seen Before

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 09:23:45 -0000

JWST is approaching its one year anniversary since launching into space! So what has been found in that first year? Today we focus on exoplanets and summarize the various discoveries made thus far and what we can expect going forward.

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping. Edited by Jorge Casas. Thumbnail by Helena Widerstrom.

→ 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
► Conception (0:00)
► Brad Hill - There Is But One Good (03:30) [https://open.spotify.com/album/4pmiXcyRpPlFjWjb45pYLx0]
► Falls - Life in Binary (09:35)
► Indive - Trace Correction (14:26)

::Film/TV clips used::
► Interstellar (Paramount Pictures)

::Chapters::
00:00 Introduction
01:15 JWST Timeline
02:13 ERO
03:31 JWST Issues
05:42 ERS
06:59 Transit ERS
09:18 Imaging ERS
11:18 Cycle 1
12:12 Cycle 2
13:44 Final thoughts
14:26 Outro & Credits

#JWST #Exoplanets #CoolWorlds

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Most Mysterious Star | Prof Jason Wright

Fri, 30 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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Odds of Life - THIS CHANGED MY MIND

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 08:55:00 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 08:26:15 -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
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worlds

THANKS FOR WATCHING!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could 3I/ATLAS Be Technological?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 08:02:43 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can We Engineer The Sun?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:57:30 -0000

The Sun is dying. A slow death, to be sure, but slowly it creeps towards its end, gradually increasing in luminosity - an effect that will push Earth out of the habitable zone in about a billion years. Can we somehow stop this from happening? Can we save the Earth? Can we save *the Sun*? Join us today as discuss a new research paper from the Cool Worlds Lab at Columbia University, that may help our distant descendants buy themselves billions of years of new life.

Written and presented by Prof David Kipping and Matt Scoggins (Columbia). Special thanks to melodysheep for giving us permission to use their awesome starlifting animations from "Life Beyond 3" (https://youtu.be/saWNMPL5ygk)

→ 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, H. Jensen, J. Rockett, N. Fredrickson, D. Holland, E. Hanway, D. Murphree, S. Hannum, T. Donkin, K. Myers, A. Schoen, K. Dabrowski, J. Black, R. Ramezankhani, J. Armstrong, K. Weber, S. Marks, L. Robinson, F. Van Exter, S. Roulier, B. Smith, P. Masterson, R. Sievers, G. Canterbury, J. Kill, J. Cassese, J. Kruger, S. Way, P. Finch, S. Applegate, L. Watson, T. Wheeler, E. Zahnle, N. Gebben, J. Bergman, E. Dessoi, J. Alexander, C. Macdonald, M. Hedlund, P. Kaup, C. Hays, S. Krasner, W. Evans, D. Bansal, J. Curtin, J. Sturm, RAND Corp., I. Attard, M. Donovan, N. Corwin, M. Mangione, K. Howard, L. Deacon, G. Metts, G. Genova, R. Provost, B. Sigurjonsson, G. Fullwood, T. Mitchum, B. Walford, J. Boyd, J. Quayle, N. De Haan, R. Crayton, W. Borghei, N. Arc, M. Kay, J. Gillmer & R. Williams.

::References::
► [THIS RESEARCH!] Scoggins, M. & Kipping, D. (2020), Lazarus Stars: Numerical investigations of stellar evolution with star-lifting", submitted to MNRAS: https://arxiv.org/abs/2210.02338
► Criswell D. R. (1985), Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience, pp 50–87
► Matloff G. L. (2017), Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, 70, 458

::More videos::
► "Starlifting" by Isaac Arthur: https://youtu.be/pzuHxL5FD5U
► "Watching the End of the World" by Cool Worlds: https://youtu.be/p9e8qNNe3L0

::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
► Sid Acharya - Sky Sailing (0:00)
► Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna (1:48)
► Joachim Heinrich - Y (3:29)
► Sid Acharya - Searching for Answers (5:06)
► Kevin MacLeod - Long Note Two (8:13)
► Atlas - Waking Up (10:10)
► Falls - Life in Binary (13:15)
► Sid Acharya - Sky Sailing (16:11)
► Joachim Heinrich - Y (19:15)
► Indive - Trace Correction (21:21)

::Film/TV clips used::
► Interstellar (Paramount Pictures)
► Agora (Focus Features International)
► Dragonheart (Universal Pictures)
► Immortals (Relativity Media)
► Johnny Cash - Hurt (American Recording Studios)
► Noah (Paramount Pictures)
► The Planets (BBC)
► Sunshine (Fox Searchlight Pictures)
► Ad Astra (20th Century Fox)
► The Imitation Game (The Weinstein Company)
► Elysium (Sony Pictures Releasing)
► Avengers: Infinity War (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
► Lucy (Universal Pictures)
► Avengers: Endgame (Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures)
► Event Horizon (Paramount Pictures)
► Rubikon (Graf Film)
► The Expanse (Amazon)
► Don't Look Up (Netflix)
► Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (New Line Cinema)
► The Day After Tomorrow (20th Century Fox)
► Dragon's Den (BBC)
► How The Universe Works (Science Channel)
► Man of Steel (Warner Bros. Pictures)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:28:45 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Chat with "Space with Sarah"

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:00:00 -0000

Sarah Pearson, a graduate student here at the Department of Astronomy, Columbia University, is launching a new YouTube channel called "Space with Sarah". Cool Worlds wanted to help promote real science on YouTube so here David chats with Sarah about her new channel and explains what it's all about.

::More about this Video::

► Here's where you can find "Space with Sarah": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCGozv81LbhEvkeYIW7ora8g
► Here's the "Infinite Series" YouTube channel Sarah mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs4aHmggTfFrpkPcWSaBN9g
► Cool Worlds Lab website: http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.edu
► Columbia University Department of Astronomy: http://www.astro.columbia.edu
► Outro music by Daft Punk "Harder, Better, Stronger, Faster": http://www.daftpunk.com and http://smarturl.it/DaftPunkiTunes

::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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

JWST Surveyed a Jupiter-like Exoplanet for Exomoons: Results

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 07:00:00 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why I Don’t Buy The Dark Forest Hypothesis

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 06:31:15 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Wobbles to Worlds - Discovery of The Exoplanet Edge!

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 06:02:30 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Intelligent Life May Be Impossible Around Most Stars

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 05:57:16 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some Bad News

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 05:33:45 -0000

Off the cuff immediate reaction…

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Could A.I. Replace Scientists?

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 05:05:00 -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

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Cloaking Device for Planets QandA

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:54:32 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How we know that the Earth's climate is changing

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:36:15 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Kepler Revolutions

Fri, 30 Oct 2026 04:07:30 -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!!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices