In this episode of Curiosity Theory, hosts Dr. Dakotah Tyler and Justin Shaifer sit down with Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, astrophysicist, cosmologist, writer, and author of Disordered Cosmos and the new The Edge of Space-Time: Particles, Poetry and the Cosmic Dream Boogie, for one of the most wide-ranging conversations the pod has had yet.
The discussion moves from how a blog post at Perimeter Institute became the seed of her first book, to what neutrinos actually are, why they are among the strangest particles in the Standard Model, and why they may have played a quiet but essential role in making life on Earth possible. From there they get into Population III stars, how the first heavy elements ever got made, and the surprisingly contested question of what separates a galaxy from a globular cluster.
The conversation also dives into the philosophy of science and Dr. Prescod-Weinstein's concept of white empiricism, the idea that white supremacy and patriarchy shape what counts as legitimate knowledge and who gets treated as a credible scientist. She talks about what her new book offers readers who are skeptical that physics is for them, why the cosmos is a Black aesthetic, how hip hop and Big K.R.I.T. ended up in a physics book, and why access to a dark night sky is a social justice issue, not just an astronomy one.
Chapters
00:00:00 Intro and meeting Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
00:02:30 How a blog post became Disordered Cosmos
00:04:50 Blue Sky, Threads, and whiteness in online spaces
00:09:00 Being one of few Black women at the frontier of physics
00:11:45 Science communication, community accountability, and the book-before-tenure risk
00:15:27 What are neutrinos? Three flavors and oscillation explained
00:25:00 Why neutrinos may be essential to life on Earth
00:30:00 Population III stars and the origin of every heavy element
00:35:00 What makes a galaxy? Globular clusters, dark matter, and contested definitions
00:44:55 Neanderthal DNA and an unexpected dental tangent
00:49:40 Philosophy of science and the concept of white empiricism
00:52:00 How white supremacy and patriarchy shape what counts as valid science
01:02:30 The Edge of Spacetime: what readers can expect
01:04:48 Poetry, hip hop, and the cosmos as a Black aesthetic
01:08:40 Objectivity, mythology, and storytelling in science
01:14:00 Dark sky access as a social justice issue
01:19:52 Who science is written for and to
01:23:14 On courage, haters, and Kat Williams
01:25:18 Where to find Dr. Chanda and her books
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Guests
Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein
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