Gay Scientist

Gay Scientist (Remastered)

Out there in the Universe, each star represents an opportunity: a chance for a stellar system to develop that just might possess something remarkable. While we normally think about life, and intelligent life at that, as the grand prize the Universe has to offer, there are a wide variety of fascinating phenomena that are out there to consider. Whereas Mercury, for example, is the closest world to our Sun in our own Solar System, it still takes 88 days to make a complete revolution. In other systems, however, exoplanets can be so hot that they orbit their parent star in less than a single Earth day.

In fact, we've discovered a few systems that are so extreme, the planets that orbit them are in the process of disintegrating: where the heat, winds, and radiation from the parent star actually blows part of the planet itself away. This doesn't just include a planet's atmosphere, which is what we see for giant worlds, but even the surfaces and interiors of rocky planets in the most extreme cases. At temperatures of around 2000 degrees and upwards, these exoplanets can lose their crusts, mantles, and even their cores over long enough timescales.

Believe it or not, we've actually caught a few exoplanets doing exactly this, and we've got the JWST spectra in hand for one of them now, teaching us, for the first time, what a planetary interior is made of outside of our own Solar System. I'm so pleased to have the first author from that 2025 study, soon-to-be Dr. Nick Tusay, as our guest on this edition of the Starts With A Bang podcast, as we take a look at the most extreme exoplanetary systems ever discovered!

(This image shows an illustration of an evaporating, rocky exoplanet, with an enormous dust tail arising from the material blown off of the planet from its interaction with the nearby star. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

Starts With A Bang #116 - Disintegrating exoplanets

“Humanity… is at a critical moment in history where the decisions that we make could have massive, massive implications, for our future trajectory, for the future trajectory of human civilization over the next two centuries. Those decisions can either ensure that we have a prosperous millennium or that we have a disastrous one.”

Erald Kolasi joins Steve to talk about his book, The Physics of Capitalism. Erald’s interdisciplinary approach merges economics, technology, energy, and ecological dynamics. He explains that science can provide facts and data about the world, but to address the challenges we need to go beyond physics. Solutions will depend on the political, economic, and social spheres.

The discussion includes the flaws of neoclassical economic models, the limitations of technological innovation in solving ecological crises, and the necessity of systemic changes for a sustainable future. Erald describes a vision for a new political and economic order that emphasizes ecological stability, socialization, modularity, and localized production.

Erald Kolasi is a writer and researcher focusing on the nexus between energy, technology, economics, complex systems, and ecological dynamics. His book, The Physics of Capitalism, came out from Monthly Review Press in February 2025. He received his PhD in Physics from George Mason University in 2016. You can find out more about Erald and his work at his website, www.eraldkolasi.com and follow him on Substack: Erald Kolasi, PhD

The Physics of Capitalism with Erald Kolasi

Get your students singing and dancing to this hit from the Learning Thru Music Science Notes library! This vocabulary-packed, upbeat song will peak students' interest in the characteristics and types of energy along with much more! Also included in the download from the Learning Thru Music Teachers Pay Teachers store is the instrumental version and assessments and activities to further students' learning about energy. As a bonus, we've included a genres of music activity package! Enjoy this addition to your elementary Science program!


Science Notes

Energized

Forces push! Forces pull! Your students will be singing this chorus in the hallways! Enjoy this addition to your elementary Science program from the Learning Thru Music: Science Notes library. Your students will learn about gravitational, magnetic and muscular force with this resource from the Learning Thru Music Teachers Pay Teachers store which also includes the instrumental version of the song, plus accompanying activities and assessments to further engage your students in science class!


The Force

Differentiate your Science classroom with this hit from the Learning Thru Music: Science Notes library! With the accompanying activities and assessments from the Learning Thru Music Teachers Pay Teachers store, students will learn about compression, tension, bending and shearing forces that act on structures while singing and creating dances to the song! Also included is a genres of music activity package. Enjoy this addition to your elementary science program!


Forces on Structures

Gravity is a reggae inspired song from Learning Thru Music that gets students singing and dancing about the force that keeps us on the ground! In the Learning Thru Music Teachers Pay Teachers store we've included activities and assessments and the instrumental version as well as a genres of music activity package. Enjoy this addition to your elementary science program!


Gravity

"The Cosmological argument is a family of arguments that seek to demonstrate the existence of a Sufficient Reason or First Cause of the existence of the cosmos... The kalam cosmological argument traces its roots to the efforts of early Christian theologians who, out of their commitment to the biblical teaching of creation ex nihilo, sought to rebut the Aristotelian doctrine of the eternity of the universe." The argument is extremely simple:

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
2. The universe began to exist.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

This is part 2 of our apologetics study as we work through "The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology." James Sinclair, co-author of the chapter on the kalam cosmological argument with William Lane Craig, joins the show to discuss the scientific evidence in support of premise 2. We look at the FRW mode, astronomical evidence for the Big Bang, the Hawking-Penrose singularity theorems, the BVG theorem, quantum gravity approaches, and the exceptions to each of these approaches. Come join the conversation and bring your questions!

James D. Sinclair (MS Physics Texas A&M, BS Physics Carnegie-Mellon) is a senior anti-air warfare analyst for the United States Navy with a specialty in the constructive (digital only) modeling of air-to-air combat. Some career accomplishments include analytical support for the fielding of the AIM-9X Sidewinder missile, combat utility evaluation of the F-35 Lighting II, and presentations at public symposia such as the Military Operations Research Society (MORS) and the Combat Identification Systems Conference (CISC). He began to interview cosmologists in the early 2000s on the topic of the beginnings of the universe, bringing Navy knowledge integration methods to the formulation known as the Kalam Cosmological Argument. This ultimately led to a collaboration with philosopher William Lane Craig and two co-authored articles: “The Kalam Cosmological Argument,” in The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology and “On Non-Singular Spacetimes and the Beginning of the Universe,” in Scientific Approaches to the Philosophy of Religion. He also co-authored the article "Fine-Tuning and Indications of Transcendent Intelligence" with Robert Spitzer.

Does Science Prove the Universe Had a Beginning? Apologetics Study Part 2 (James Sinclair)

This song from Learning Thru Music will get your science students singing and creating gestures to lyrics about forces, friction, momentum and inertia! Explore Newton's Laws with the accompanying activities and assessments from the Learning Thru Music Teachers Pay Teachers store. Also included is the instrumental version of the song as well as a genres of music activity package! Enjoy this addition to your elementary Science program!


Moving at a Constant Speed

Composed of DJ Nerate and DJ Tall, Bagoong Beats is more than just a duo—it's a movement. Hungry for the next sound? Pull up a plate.

Learning Thru Music: Science Notes
Science. Music. Fun!

Training Christians to THINK WELL by curating conversations with Christian thinkers and giving a framework for engaging the culture with a biblical worldview.

Ryan Pauly has been working with students for over a decade as a high school teacher, missionary, and apologist. He is the Founder and President of Think Well, an organization focused on training Christians to engage the culture with a biblical worldview, and the Director of Immersive Experiences at MAVEN. Ryan holds a B.A. in theology and youth leadership from Vanguard University, an M.A. in Christian apologetics from Biola University, and is pursuing a doctorate in cultural engagement from Talbot School of Theology. Ryan lives in Southern California with his wife and two sons. He enjoys watching hockey, roasting coffee, and playing with his boys.

Macroeconomics has never been so ... delish!  Macro and Cheese explores the progressive movement through the lens of Modern Monetary Theory, with hot and irreverent political takes, spotlights in activism, and the razor sharp musings of Real Progressives Founder and host Steve Grumbine.  The cheese will flow as experts come in for a full, four course deep dive into the hot queso. 

Comfort Food for Thought!

New tracks tagged #physics