You and Betty and the Nancy's and Bill's and Joes and Jane's will find in the study of science a richer, more rewarding life.

Hey, welcome to Inquiring Minds. I'm Indrae Viscontas. This is a podcast that explores the space where science and society collide.

We want to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it matters.

I've been making this podcast for over a decade now, so it's almost inevitable that I have repeat guests.

But there are some people who have a permanent, anytime you like, open invitation to come on the show. And this week's guest is one of those.

Physicist Sean Carroll has mastered the art of taking something we encounter every day

and not only revealing its magic, but giving us the

foundational knowledge that we need to have really interesting conversations with the experts

who study it. We've had him on the show in the past to talk about his book, The Big Picture,

on the origins of life, Meaning, and the Universe itself.

So you get what I'm talking about. And more recently, space, time, and motion, which was the first

in his three-part series on the biggest ideas in the universe. Now, if you haven't heard those

episodes, I highly recommend that you give them a listen and listen to anything else that

Sean Carroll is in.

But if you have, then you know you're in for a treat. And so today we get to hear Sean talk about

the second installment in his biggest ideas in the universe series, this time on Quanta and Fields.

So if you still don't know who he is, John Carroll is the Homewood Professor of

Natural Philosophy at Johns Hopkins, which is a joint appointment in physics and philosophy,

which seems to me like the perfect home for someone who has had a storied career in theoretical

physics and also has turned his attention to some of the foundational questions about the universe

and has built an extensive career bringing science to the general public

through his appearances on TV and radio, his books, and his own weekly podcast, Mindscape.

...