Show Notes
When most of us think about time our minds likely turn to thoughts of the second hand that ticks around a clock, or maybe the occasions we’ve been late to catch a bus. But if we stop to think about what time actually is things quickly get more subtle and complicated. Does time only exist in our minds as a psychological illusion, does it really only run forwards and not backwards, and how close is modern physics to helping us to figure out its true nature?
In this episode we’re joined by physicist, best-selling author and BBC presenter Prof Jim Al-Khalili to talk about his latest book, On Time – The Physics That Makes the Universe Tick.
He tells us how thinkers going back as far as ancient Greece have struggled to define what time really is and how it works, how Einstein’s theories tell us that time can run at different rates in different circumstances, and how understanding its true nature maybe key in our search for a theory of everything.
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