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The John Batchelor Show

S8 Ep322: Mapping the Future of Space Observation. Guest: DINESH NANDAL. Advancing cosmology requires a "James Webb 2.0" with larger mirrors and a successor to the Chandra X-ray telescope. Funding is also needed for researchers to develop new mathematical models. W

The John Batchelor Show

John Batchelor

Books, Society & Culture, News, Arts

4.62.7K Ratings

🗓️ 16 January 2026

⏱️ 6 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Mapping the Future of Space Observation. Guest: DINESH NANDAL. Advancing cosmology requires a "James Webb 2.0" with larger mirrors and a successor to the Chandra X-ray telescope. Funding is also needed for researchers to develop new mathematical models. While AI can assist with pattern recognition, human physicists remain essential for creating the necessary new theoretical frameworks.
BIG BANG EVIDENCE

Transcript

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0:00.0

I'm John Batchett. It's a great pleasure to speak of cosmology. It's just a joy. And helping us is

0:24.0

Danishdan Andal of the Harvard, of the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and the Smithsonian. He's a postdoc.

0:30.9

And we're talking about Little Red Dots. And David and I have a game. It's a fun game.

0:35.4

David, have you got your petty cash door open. Are you ready? Okay.

0:39.5

Yes. We're giving you an unlimited budget, Dr. Dundal. And we want you to tell us what you want to do next because you've got a great clue in the little red dots. Where is it going to take you?

0:51.5

With no excuse about how much time you need on the James Webb, you can have as much time as you want.

0:58.4

Great.

0:59.0

Thank you.

0:59.5

This is a wonderful opportunity.

1:01.5

And it's a great exercise for us to want the scientific side as well to see what the next steps are.

1:07.2

So I'll start small and I'll work my way to the absolutely absurd,

1:11.4

because I have all the funds available in the universe, right? I have everything, no time.

1:15.7

So the first level that we need at the basic level is actually we have a lot of

1:22.4

interesting undergraduate and postgraduate students already working and getting their PhDs. So what's really

1:30.0

needed is this subfield that's called it that. At the lowest level, we want to have essentially

1:36.1

funding come into where these young researchers could be employed as researchers like myself

1:42.1

once they finish the degrees to work on this little red dot project.

1:45.4

And here, like I mentioned earlier, the observations are really challenging us.

1:49.8

What's needed is newer theory, newer mathematics to be developed, newer models to be developed,

1:54.7

newer computational techniques to be developed.

1:56.9

So this is where we're lacking right now because the universe is challenging us.

2:00.5

And the easiest way, let's say that the first step would be is to actually... So this is where we're lacking right now because the universe is challenging us.

...

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