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The 'Many Worlds' Theory of Quantum Physics

Physics is one of the oldest fields of scientific study, with some of the most mature theories and laws about how the world works. But those theories don’t always match up perfectly with each other.

The way physics is explained is typically different if you’re talking about bridges and airplanes than it is if you’re talking about quarks or electrons. For that matter, some ideas that seek to explain how our world works seem to fly in the face of our lived experiences and the observations we make.

Sean Carroll is trying to bridge those gaps using quantum physics, and – fair warning – it’s pretty mind-blowing. But, unlike many others, he says quantum physics is something we should be able to understand.   

Carroll is a theoretical physicist at the California Institute of Technology, host of the Mindscape podcast, and author of several books. His latest is Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime.

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Elsa Partan is a producer and newscaster with CAI. She first came to the station in 2002 as an intern and fell in love with radio. She is a graduate of Bryn Mawr College and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. From 2006 to 2009, she covered the state of Wyoming for the NPR member station Wyoming Public Media in Laramie. She was a newspaper reporter at The Mashpee Enterprise from 2010 to 2013. She lives in Falmouth with her husband and two daughters.