AaS! 262: Does the Universe Have Extra Dimensions?

Ask a Spaceman!

Paul M. Sutter

Astronomy, Science, Natural Sciences

4.8 • 853 Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2025

⏱️ 33 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What do extra dimensions have to do with the strength of gravity? What is a tower of gravitons? How can we detect extra dimensions even if we can't perceive them? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman!

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Hosted by Paul M. Sutter.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I always say that one of the things that separates real science from pseudoscience
0:12.2	is that while in both you're allowed to say whatever crazy idea pops into your head,
0:17.0	in real science, you're obligated to take that idea seriously.
0:22.4	You can imagine a late evening.
0:24.8	You're hanging out with friends, spitballing some crazy and wild ideas.
0:28.7	Maybe there are some illicit substances involved.
0:31.5	Maybe all you need is a good wine and cheese pairing.
0:34.4	And then you get an idea and you feel bold enough to share it with the group.
0:38.2	Hey, everyone, listen.
0:39.1	Let's it call them that.
0:39.7	Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey.
0:40.7	What if the universe had more dimensions?
0:44.3	Powerful idea.
0:45.9	Interesting idea.
0:46.8	Probably wrong idea, but that's never stopped us before.
0:50.4	Now, in pseudoscience, this is where the line of thinking largely stops, or you just start
0:54.6	spitting out loosely connected ideas that branch off of it.
0:58.2	But if you said this to a room full of physicists, you would see something magical happen.
1:03.9	You would start to see these very serious, very smart people taking the idea seriously.
1:10.5	And what does it mean to take a wild idea seriously? It means
1:14.0	we're going to explore if the idea actually works and if there's a way we can test it. So does the
1:20.6	universe have extra dimensions? Well, let's take the idea seriously and see where it takes us.
	...

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