Into The Impossible

Watch the video of this episode here: https://youtu.be/AJJGv-5Rk4I #CondensedMatter #superconductors #quantummechanics The tagline for our podcast by Arthur C. Clarke is “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic”. Theoretical physicist Felix Flicker’s imaginative new book The Magick of Physics provides ample service to that notion. In Flicker’s book the magic is in “condensed matter physics”, the quotidian solids, liquids, and gasses that surround us—and the more exotic matter— which form the foundations for our electronic lives, and may hold the keys to a transformed future, from quantum computing to real-life invisibility cloaks. Flicker finds magic in real physics like creating new particles which never existed before, and making crystals that shoot out light that can cut through metal. Using metaphors of wizards, infinite libraries, staffs and wands, the book has a compelling narrative that circumvents the need for equations and charts, yet conveys real, practical knowledge. F