Cool Worlds

The Question That Keeps Me Awake At Night

Cool Worlds

Show Notes

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 Nights02:35 Candle in the Dark09:25 Ontological Crises10:35 Why Not Nothing?13:19 A Brutal Possibility16:59 A Personal Reflection#WhyIsThereAnything #WhyNotNothing #CoolWorlds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Oct 27, 2026

Thanks to Storyblocks for sponsoring this video! Download unlimited stock media at one set price with Storyblocks: https://www.storyblocks.com/CoolWorldsThere 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/@CoolWorldsPodcastTHANK-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/2106.11207MUSICLicensed 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 Pull2:55 - Joachim Heinrich - Horizon4:13 - Joachim Heinrich - Stjärna6:41 - Hill - World of Wonder 7:43 - Chris Zabriskie - The Oceans Continue to Rise9:33 - Hill - Arctic Warmth12:21 - Hill - Northern Boards15:39 - Hill - Fragile 19:10 - Hill - The MeekCHAPTERS0:00 Grabby Aliens6:43 StoryBlocks7:47 Hard Steps12:00 M-Dwarfs15:30 Philosophical Issues18:05 Conclusions19:10 Outro and Credits#GrabbyAliens #FermiParadox #CoolWorlds Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 27, 2026

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/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 27, 2026

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/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! ヅ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 27, 2026

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/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ►http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 27, 2026

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/NewCoolWorldsCool Worlds Research ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsResearchGuest Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsGuestsQ&A Videos ► http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsQAScience of TV/Film ► http://bit.ly/ScienceMovies::Follow us::SUBSCRIBE to the channel http://bit.ly/CoolWorldsSubscribeCool Worlds Lab http://coolworlds.astro.columbia.eduTwitter https://twitter.com/david_kippingInstagram https://www.instagram.com/cool.worldsTHANKS FOR WATCHING!! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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