The Origins Podcast with Lawrence Krauss

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1. Nothing and Everything: From Antiquity to today: 5000 years of human inquiry into the Universe.

   2 november 2026 · 1 uur

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   Many of the same questions that provoke our imagination about our universe today were asked by the ancients. How did the universe begin? What is it made of? etc. What is particularly interesting is how the ancients addressed the question of how to get something from nothingness, and ultimately how the notion of the aether evolved. In this lecture I discuss the ancient greek philosophers’ ideas of the stuff of matter and the origin of the universe, and contrast that with our modern understanding. While our modern picture of the universe is vastly different than that of the ancients and we dispensed with the idea of an aether in the early 20th century, we have now replaced it with something even stranger, in which the dominant energy of the universe is contained in empty space. In some ways, the more things change, the more they stay the same. And the most beautiful thing of all is that the mysteries continue... Lees meer

   As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

   Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

2. Physics for Everyone, Lecture 6. The Unification of Space and Time

   19 oktober 2026 · 1 uur 22 min

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   Everything we have discussed in these lectures so far has brought us to this, the first 20th century revolution in physics. And that is the way it should be, but it is most definitely NOT the way it is normally taught in physics classes. Lees meer

   One of my pet peeves about the teaching of physics is how Special Relativity is introduced in introductory physics, as if it is some insight from God that Einstein had. Instead of the Ten Commandments, Einstein was given a tablet that said: “The speed of light is the same for all observers, regardless of their relative motion to the source of the light” and everything followed from that.

   No! Maxwell’s unification of electricity and magnetism taught us something fundamental about light, that it is an electromagnetic wave. From that, the equations of electromagnetism allowed Maxwell to derive the speed of light using only measurements of electricity and magnetism.

   It was the brilliance of Einstein to realize that this result was inconsistent with the rest of classical physics, in particular the results of Galileo about the nature of motion.

   And from there, Einstein was inevitably dragged to equations of special relativity.

   And only after he followed through, did someone else, his former math teacher, Minkowski, realize that Einstein had discovered something deep about the connection between space and time, and they symmetries of nature.

   That is the actual story I describe here. It is elegant and beautiful, and much more sensible than the “Einstein revelation” fable that is too often used in the teaching of physics.

   I hope you enjoy this. The culmination of classical physics, and the beginning of the modern era.

   As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will al…

3. What's New in Science with Sabine and Lawrence | AI Dreams and Nightmares, Dark Matter Discovered? and Fake Science News.

   23 september 2026 · 1 uur 6 min

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   There has been a lot of doom and gloom combined with excitement, if that is possible, about AI in the science news lately. Sabine and I tried to deconstruct the hype associated with the highly touted Open AI solution of one of the Millennium Problems in Mathematics, as well as explore the real concerns and imaginary concerns associated with both the recent Open AI agent hacking of Huggy Face, and the blog post by the CEO of Anthopic arguing for a pause in AI development because of the potential for disaster—a statement endorsed by both Elon Musk and Sam Altman. As usual, things are neither as bad, nor as good as they might seem. Lees meer

   We also tackled two other stories of interest. A single data point might signal the discovery of particle dark matter in an underground detector! Sabine and I come at this from different perspectives—she has always been suspicious of the claimed need for dark matter, and I have not only explored and proposed a number of the prime candidates, but I also helped propose and promote the kind of technologies that led to LZ/LUX, the collaboration making the current announcement. Nevertheless both Sabine and I agree that it is premature to celebrate. And while Sabine won’t bet, I am betting that this single point will not be substantiated when more data comes in. Stay tuned.

   Finally we discuss a sad development—Scientific Paper Mills. Apparently you can buy your way to a first authorship, or just an authorship, on a scientific paper that can eventually be published somewhere, even if the results might not be completely kosher. While this is a disturbing new possibility, it seems like it is just affecting science at the margins. We need to try and stamp it out, but it is not undermining the bulk of scientific research.

   In any case, as they used to say on a famous TV show, after all the AI world-ending hype, happy to say: See you next time.. if there is a next time!

   As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Cr…

4. Searching for Aliens. The Wrong Way? A dialogue with John Gertz

   8 september 2026 · 2 uur 25 min

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   John Gertz is a Renaissance Man. One might think that the President of Zorro Productions might be the last person to talk with about the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI), and the last person to chair SETI’s governing board. But as is clear from our discussion, and from the material in his recent book, Reinventing SETI, John has not only mastered all of the relevant technical issues, he has thought deeply about the motivation for SETI, and the likelihood of its success. Treating the issue as a businessman rather than a scientist, he has tried to anticipate what signals other civilizations might send, and what we might listen for. He also takes a realistic view of what we might actually be able to detect. The net result of our conversations is that the prospects are not good for detecting anything out there. Distant aliens are likely not broadcasting in a way we could be sensitive to. And as he points out, we should probably do the same. His great hope is that alien civilizations have instead installed probes in other solar systems, including ours. However, this possibility too, as I emphasized with him, is also rife with difficulties. Lees meer

   I have thought a lot about SETI since I wrote The Physics of Star Trek. I don’t think anyone has affected my thinking on the issue since then more than John. I was pessimistic before. Now I think the whole effort is probably misguided. Though, if someone other than the government is willing to pay for it, what the heck. As I often tell experimentalists. Do what you can do, no matter what us theorists say. We may be wrong.

   I hope you find our discussion as informative and provocative as I did. I will be interested to hear if it changes your perspective on SETI as well.

   As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical…

5. Physics for Everyone, Lecture 4. The Beating Heart of Modern Physics: The Dog Who Didn't Bark in the Night.

   18 augustus 2026 · 1 uur 21 min

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   This lecture, recorded before lecture 5, which was released a month ago, actually more naturally follows it, which is why releasing it after lecture 5, while unintended, actually makes sense. In the last lecture I described the most important unification in all of physics, the unification of electricity and magnetism, a unification into electromagnetism by James Clerk Maxwell in the 19th century. Lees meer

   Because of its elegance, and its overpowering utility, the theory of electromagnetism has provided the prototype for all modern physical theories that have followed it. As I show in this lecture, the form of electromagnetism is governed by a new mathematical symmetry in nature, called gauge symmetry. It turns out the existence of this symmetry is profoundly important, and it not only governs the exact form of the theory, it turns out to govern the form of all the known forces of nature.

   Before we get to gauge symmetry, I want to explore more generally what is meant by symmetry in physics, and then I want to redo elementary physics by thinking about symmetry. In my mind, the fact that basic physics is introduced without reference to the symmetries of nature is perhaps the greatest failing in the teaching of modern physics. Concepts like energy and momentum have relevance because of fundamental symmetries of space and time. The facts that energy is ‘conserved’, and momentum is ‘conserved’ in systems, which rigorously fix determine the form of Newton’s laws of motion, are often introduced as if they are dictates on high, like the ten commandments. However, once one understands that these arise from symmetries of nature, the fact that these quantities exist and are conserved, becomes immediate, as the remarkable mathematician Emmy Noether showed at the beginning of the 20th century.

   Finally, as important as mathematical symmetries are in governing physical laws, it is equally striking that even if these fundamental symmetries exist in nature, they may not be manifest in par…

6. What's New in Science with Sabine and Lawrence | Cosmic oddities, Black Hole normalities, Quantum Batteries, and remote-controlled cockroaches

   3 augustus 2026 · 1 uur

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   Happy August! . Heading back to North America as we just concluded our Origin Project Adventure to Cyrpus and Greece, where we felt the heat, and avoided some wildfires while having some amazing positive experiences as well with an amazing group of 26 travelers. Please stay safe and try and stay cool this month. Lees meer

   To help distract you from the heat, I hope you will enjoy this latest conversation about new discoveries in science with Sabine Hossenfelder. As always, we try and deconstruct the facts behind the headlines, and also explore new strange corners of our universe.

   This episode begins with some new observations of the Bullet Cluster of galaxies. This cluster contains two galaxies that have collided, and seems to have provided evidence for exotic dark matter that has passed through the collision unscathed. Not so, says a new analysis, which claims evidence for more dark matter in the form of black holes and other less visible normal matter. There are strong reasons to be skeptical however, as both Sabine and I agree.

   Speaking of black holes, a new analysis of collisions of black holes at the terrestrial gravitational wave detectors proposes a solution to the mystery of how black holes in a so-called forbidden gap between 10-20 solar masses and more than 50 solar masses have formed. They provide evidence that some of the black holes observed in collisions have been built up from earlier collisions with other black holes. This hierarchical growth could potentially explain how very large black holes in the early universe form, though it is a long way from 50 solar masses to 1 billion solar masses!

   Strange goings on at the largest scales of the universe continue to be claimed, as yet another study argues for an unexpected and unexplained cosmic spatial asymmetry. It is hard to reconcile this with the observed uniformity of the universe on the largest scales we can observe via the Cosmic Microwave Background. As a result, it is too early to get excited, even if n…

7. Saving a Family from Afghanistan

   29 juli 2026 · 23 min

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   I remember when my friend, journalist Claire Berlinski, first contacted me about a tragic situation regarding a family trapped in Afghanistan after the Taliban takeover. She knew that I had helped a young girl interested in physics escape to the US to study years earlier and hoped that I might assist in this case. If ever one imagined a family appropriate to bring to safety, this would be the one. The mother was a women’s rights lawyer before the takeover, and the husband worked for a French firm. The Taliban had broken into the Bar Association Office and found records of lawyers, who were being sought for arrest. One older son, and five young daughters in danger of being married off if they were discovered. Lees meer

   Their original escape plan was foiled when the airport was bombed just before their planned departure. Because Claire lives in Frances the older boy had reached out to her for help, and she sent out a call to her followers to provide financial assistance to help the family.

   Claire contacted me because she knew I now lived in Canada, which has a well-established refugee program. In spite of this, for two years I was not able to find a single sponsoring agency who had a sufficiently large slot allocation to assist. Finally, after over a year, with five generous individuals who agreed to act as guarantors, Jewish Immigrant Aid Services in Toronto indicated they had the slots and would sponsor a refugee application for the family, provided we raised the necessary funds to guarantee support for family for their first year in Canada—a government requirement. After five months of fundraising, we achieved the goal, and the full application was submitted to the government of Canada.

   I have always found it poetic that the organization in Canada that has been willing to help save this Muslim family is a Jewish organization. Perhaps, in the midst of all the horrible antisemitism that has blossomed in the world over the past years, this provide a useful example that reli…

8. Physics for Everyone, Lecture 5: The Unification that Changed the World

   7 juli 2026 · 1 uur 55 min

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   I began this lecture by saying I was daunted by what I was about to talk about. There are several reasons for this. Lees meer

   First, I will lead you through the development of what was certainly most important theoretical development in the 19th century, and what could easily be considered the most important mathematical framework in all of physics. Second, this development affected our modern picture of the universe more than almost any other. Next, this development made our modern technological society possible. And finally, it allowed a calculation that ultimately unveiled the true nature of light. A calculation we will perform together during this lecture

   I am going to take you through what is often taught in a whole semester course in physics. So hold onto your hats. Take it step by step. I think the reward of understanding will be worth the effort. I hope at the end of this lecture you agree with me.

   This month I will be traveling with the Origins Project and a group of 27 intrepid travelers to Cyprus and Greece. So the next Origins podcast will not air until August. I hope your July is enjoyable.

   As always, an ad-free video version of this podcast is also available to paid Critical Mass subscribers. Your subscriptions support the non-profit Origins Project Foundation, which produces the podcast. The audio version is available free on the Critical Mass site and on all podcast sites, and the video version will also be available on the Origins Project YouTube.

   Get full access to Critical Mass at lawrencekrauss.substack.com/subscribe

9. What's New in Science | Cosmic Surprises, Newton Supreme, A New Collider, and Feynman Dines Out?

   9 juni 2026 · 1 uur 12 min

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   I think this was one of my most enjoyable dialogues in our What’s new series. Maybe Sabine and I are getting more used to each other’s cadence and interests or maybe it was the subject matter. Either way, I think you will find this to be a fascinating and provocative discussion of science at the forefront, and at the not-so-forefront, because that science is interesting too! Lees meer

   We began our discussion describing a new finding of a Giant Ring of galaxies billions of light years across in the sky. The key questions are: Is it real? And is it surprising? We both have slightly different takes on this.

   Next we described a new measurement of the strength of gravity on scales from 80 to 800 million light years in distance. And guess what? Gravity falls off just like Newton predicted! This may seem like a big yawn, but one of the most popular models that claims to do away with dark matter would imply that Gravity would fall off differently on these scales. Does this new result kill that idea? Stay tuned.

   Microsoft, which has cried wolf a number of times so far when it comes to something called Majorana qubits as the basis of a new viable quantum computer just published a new paper claiming they finally have it. Sabine and I discuss why we are both still skeptical, but why the effort is worth it.

   Next, CERN, the large European particle physics laboratory, and the world particle physics community seem to have converged on plans for building a huge new accelerator in the current CERN site.. this time involving an underground ring 91 km in circumference, in which electrons and positrons would collide to explore the detailed properties of the Higgs particle. Is the effort worth it? Again, Sabine and I have slightly different takes on this.

   Fusion power, which we have talked about in a number of earlier episodes, continues to tempt humanity with the promise of unlimited energy. Many people, myself included, have tended to argue that fusion seems to be 25 years in the future, a…

10. Alvin Roth: Moral Economics, from Prostitution to Kidney Transplant Markets

    12 mei 2026 · 1 uur 42 min

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    Alvin Roth is a Nobel Prizewinning Economist whose work on designing markets has had real world impacts that may have saved thousands of lives around the world, while arousing strong emotions both for and against the programs he has helped put in place. Clearly not one to shy away from controversy, he represents the best of what The Origins Project is trying to promote: applying science and reason to public policy. In short, connecting science and culture! Lees meer

    Roth’s new book, which is fantastic, and comes out the same day this podcast is released deals with issues that often raise the public’s ire, from legalizing prostitution, to assisted suicide, and finally to a rational market for kidney transplants. For example, everywhere there is good date, legalizing prostitution reduces not only incidents of sexually transmitted disease, but also violent sexual assaults. It may also combat illegal human trafficking. As far as kidney transplants are concerned, in the US alone, over 130,000 kidney failures occur each year, and only 20,000-30,000 transplants are performed, because of a lack of suitable kidney donors. Roth has already helped resolve one bottleneck, connecting donors with those in need, through a kidney exchange, which is actually more complicated than it may seem due to medical incompatibilities even within closely related individuals. More generally, not only could lives be saved, but as he shows, it would save considerable money if a rational system of reimbursing prospective donors could be devised.

    Beyond his remarkable work tying empirical testing to theoretical ideas, as a human being, Roth is a saint. I have direct knowledge of this. On the day this podcast was recorded, we had an amazing 3 hour dialogue… one of the best I have had. Only problem was, I forgot to press record! We lost it all. With patience and grace that I never expected, Roth agreed to re-record another podcast on the same day. A friend of mine told me was a mensch. But I never expected …

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