Into the Impossible With Brian Keating
Big Bang Productions Inc.
Think like a physicist. Wonder like a human. Into the Impossible is where Cosmic Conversations happen — uniting Nobel Prize winners, iconoclasts, authors, and technologists to explore reality’s deepest questions. From AI to aliens, from biophysics to the brain, from the cosmos to the multiverse, Brian Keating, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego covers it all.If you’ve ever asked What’s out there? or What’s next?, this is where curiosity meets clarity.Learn to think like this. 🎙 Full episodes, notes & more: briankeating.com/podcast
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 29, 2026 • 49min
Science Journalist: They Called Him Crazy Then The Death Rate Went to Zero
Matt Kaplan, science journalist and trained paleontologist at The Economist, tours the missteps of modern science. He tells the Semmelweis handwashing saga and why infection rates plunged. He contrasts Karikó's protection with Semmelweis's fate. He dives into the replication crisis, funding pressures, gatekeeping, and how journalism often mangles scientific process.
13 snips
Mar 23, 2026 • 1h 13min
There's a New Law of Nature — And It Changes Everything We Know About Life
Michael Wong, planetary scientist and astrobiologist at the Carnegie Institution, outlines the law of increasing functional information as a cross-disciplinary principle. He explains how functional information differs from Shannon entropy. They explore mineral evolution, biosignature detection, panspermia, cancer as an evolving system, and implications for AI, cosmology, and the Fermi paradox.
Mar 21, 2026 • 1h 54min
Did We Find Alien Technology? Avi Loeb Explains
Avi Loeb, theoretical astrophysicist and chair of the Galileo Project, advocates open scientific searches for technosignatures. He discusses puzzling interstellar objects, non‑gravitational motion, possible technosignatures like light sails and AI probes, tensions with scientific publishing, and why more intercepts and surveys could change everything.
Mar 20, 2026 • 1h 11min
Andy Weir Explains the Real Science of Project Hail Mary
Andy Weir, bestselling author of The Martian and Project Hail Mary, is a self-taught science enthusiast and tinkerer. He digs into the real physics and speculative biology behind Project Hail Mary. They discuss astrophage plausibility, interstellar travel limits, communicating with alien life, balancing scientific accuracy with storytelling, and adapting dense technical fiction for film.
50 snips
Mar 16, 2026 • 58min
Meta NeuroScientist SHOCKED Me: Scale Alone Won’t Create Consciousness!
David Sussillo, Meta Reality Labs research scientist and Stanford adjunct who built RNN training methods and brain-computer interfaces. He argues that scaling transformers alone will not produce consciousness. He contrasts RNNs and transformers, explains Meta’s EMG wristband work, and discusses the FORCE algorithm, lock-in to GPU/LLM paradigms, and why brain-inspired approaches may be needed.
Mar 9, 2026 • 1h 12min
What's The Real Value of Your Degree? Aswath Damodaran
Aswath Damodaran, NYU Stern finance professor and valuation guru, critiques academia and markets. He tackles why Nobel economists are not billionaires, explains how universities have lost their purpose, warns that most research is low value, and argues every major asset class looks overpriced. He also discusses valuation uncertainty, market wisdom, and where to put money when diversification fails.
47 snips
Mar 6, 2026 • 41min
Will AI Replace Scientists?
A wide-ranging conversation about how AI is reshaping physics research and the limits of machine creativity. They tackle whether silicon intelligence can match human insight and where predictive models fall short. The data deluge from modern observatories and practical AI tools for triage and discovery get attention. Ethical risks, academic disruption, and strategies for orchestrating AI in real research are explored.
19 snips
Mar 3, 2026 • 1h 15min
Nick Lane: The Engine That Built Life
Nick Lane, a biochemist at University College London who studies metabolism, mitochondria and the origin of life. He argues life is energy in motion, highlights a primordial metabolic "transformer" predating genes, explains the central role and directionality of the Krebs cycle, and explores hydrothermal vents, mitochondria’s rise, aging, and constraints on alien life.
43 snips
Feb 24, 2026 • 1h 27min
John C. Lennox: Has AI Become God? The Ultimate THREAT of Artificial Intelligence
John C. Lennox, Oxford mathematician and philosopher of science, reflects on AI, consciousness, truth, and humanity’s future. He debates whether AI can achieve genuine insight or creative breakthroughs. The conversation covers AI training feedback loops, surveillance and power, theological risks of human deification, and what it means to remain human in a tech‑driven age.
Feb 23, 2026 • 40min
Can You Find God in the Laws of Physics? This is World!
A lively interrogation of whether scientific methods can test claims about God, focusing on falsifiability and predictions. They debate if divine ideas can be framed as testable hypotheses and how cosmology experiments can disprove models. Conversations touch on Judaism, the limits of scientific proof, multiverse statistics, and the role of consciousness in shaping reality.
