that was a moment when the discovery happened and at that point i call a senior colleague and there was a pause

and then he says very kindly but you do realize that's impossible.

I'm like, I know, but all I can tell you is it's what's happening.

And yeah, over the years, people told me that in less kind of fashion, like, clearly something was wrong with this finding.

This is The Leap, a series about gutsy scientists

who are risking their careers, their reputations, and even their lives

to discover something new.

Thank you. and even their lives to discover something new. People often describe science as a method for generating new knowledge about the world.

Another way of saying that is that science makes the world feel like less of a stranger.

Finding by finding, we get to know the world a little bit better.

And in that way, science can be a comfort.

But that's not always how science goes.

Sometimes a discovery does the exact opposite.

It makes our world feel more alien.

It thrusts us into the deep unknown.

It suggests what we knew for sure isn't a sure thing at all.

So if you make a discovery like that, how do you navigate in those uncharted waters?

How do you make sure you're not pulled under by an old way of thinking?

It's scary. Like there's the fear or the discomfort of being unfamiliar, not knowing what's happening.

But that's the only way you will find something new.

This is Cambridge University physicist Suchitra Sebastian. She made a discovery like this,

a possible new state of matter. It was baffling and strange and pushed her into the limelight

...