Aimed at enthusiastic, but sometimes baffled, listeners to science podcasts, Matter Over Mind (we like to call it MOM) is the essential guide to the secrets of the Universe, as revealed through physics and psychology. So if you've been listening to a 'science communicator' talking about the AdS CFT Correspondence, but it still sounds like a News Agency to you, or you think the Legrangian is a character from The Matrix, but you really want to understand it, MOM's the word. Confusion is not limited to physics though, so if you're conscious that you don't know about the unconscious, or you don't know what to think about claims about archetypes and essentialism, or if you want to understand what the experts are saying about proposed links between quantum physics and consciousness, then again it's MOM you need.
Hosts are Thomas Vincent, an experimental physicist at the University of Oxford with a Masters degree in Theoretical physics, and currently working towards a PhD in Atomic and laser physics and Stephen Mather, Business Psychologist, with a Bachelors in Psychology and a Masters in Organizational Psychology from the University of London. In each episode Stephen and Thomas take turns to ask the questions about the chatter in the science podcast and YouTube ecosystem, and try their best to make sense of it all. Oh and to spice things up a bit more, Stephen is Thomas' soon-to-be father-in-law!
Music: www.purple-planet.com
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Aimed at enthusiastic, but sometimes baffled, listeners to science podcasts, Matter Over Mind (we like to call it MOM) is the essential guide to the secrets of the Universe, as revealed through physics and psychology. So if you've been listening to a 'science communicator' talking about the AdS CFT Correspondence, but it still sounds like a News Agency to you, or you think the Legrangian is a character from The Matrix, but you really want to understand it, MOM's the word. Confusion is not limited to physics though, so if you're conscious that you don't know about the unconscious, or you don't know what to think about claims about archetypes and essentialism, or if you want to understand what the experts are saying about proposed links between quantum physics and consciousness, then again it's MOM you need.
Hosts are Thomas Vincent, an experimental physicist at the University of Oxford with a Masters degree in Theoretical physics, and currently working towards a PhD in Atomic and laser physics and Stephen Mather, Business Psychologist, with a Bachelors in Psychology and a Masters in Organizational Psychology from the University of London. In each episode Stephen and Thomas take turns to ask the questions about the chatter in the science podcast and YouTube ecosystem, and try their best to make sense of it all. Oh and to spice things up a bit more, Stephen is Thomas' soon-to-be father-in-law!
Music: www.purple-planet.com
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How do Gyroscopes actually work? Physicist Thomas explains to his dad-in-law.
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A person freewheels down a steep hill. What effect does their weight have on their velocity? Do they go faster the heavier they are? Do they go slower? Or does it make no difference? A question close to Stephen's heart. Physicist Thomas has the answer and he has the workings to prove it.
Matter Over Mind (MOM) is a much needed alternative to hate-fuelled content. MOM caters to the inquisitive viewer, seeking something to calm the mind; Plasma Physicist Thomas and Organizational Psychologist Stephen explore a new topic every two weeks. Subscribe so you don't miss it.
The Feather and bowling ball experiment. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=frZ9dN_ATew
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It's worth a rewatch of Ex Machina now that we have LLMs chatting away to us. How do we think about that film now? Anyway, it's a good excuse to watch a great film again.
Matter Over Mind (MOM) is a much needed alternative to hate-fuelled content. MOM caters to the inquisitive viewer, seeking something to calm the mind; Plasma Physicist Thomas and Organizational Psychologist Stephen explore a new topic every two weeks. Subscribe so you don't miss it.
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Shortly after the Big Bang the Universe went dark. Experimental Physicist, Thomas tells his dad-in-law all about it.
Matter Over Mind (MOM) is a much needed alternative to hate-fuelled content. MOM caters to the inquisitive viewer, seeking something to calm the mind; Plasma Physicist Thomas and Organizational Psychologist Stephen explore a new topic every two weeks. Subscribe so you don't miss it.
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Music by:
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Con artists and scammers use psychological tricks to manipulate us. In this episode, Stephen and Thomas explore how it works and how to avoid becoming a victim.
Paper: Modic, D., & Lea, S. E. (2013). Scam compliance and the psychology of persuasion. Available at SSRN 2364464.
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm?abstractid=2364464
Biases
https://thedecisionlab.com/biases
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What is the Standard Model of Particle Physics? What is a fundamental particle? What are Quarks? What is the Higgs field? And more Lagrangian talk!
Dad asks physicist son-in-law the fundamental questions.
Illustration: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Model
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How do we experience 'Now'? It's a psychology episode today, although Thomas throws in some physics teasers too. How do we perceive what is happening right now and how does our brain construct our reality. Also does time really exist or is it a human construct too?
Organizational Psychologist Stephen and son-in-law, Plasma Physicist Thomas, get into the weeds.
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Are the neutrinos really mutating? Physicist Thomas points to some funny mistakes in the movies. Thomas and his father-in-law, Organizational Psychologist Stephen, argue about faster than light travel and generally nerd out.
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How might a trip to Mars change your brain? Mars is nine months away. No escape. No return. Can your mind handle it? In this episode, we dive into the psychological toll of the journey to Mars and how isolation, confinement, and cosmic distance test the limits of human resilience.
What happens to memory, time perception, and mental health in deep space?
And what can we learn from astronauts, psychologists, and sci-fi? And how does what we know about isolation, teamwork, and psychometrics help us prepare for the big trip?
Papers
De la Torre, G. G., Groemer, G., Diaz-Artiles, A., Pattyn, N., Van Cutsem, J., Musilova, M., ... & Antunes, I. (2024). Space Analogs and Behavioral Health Performance Research review and recommendations checklist from ESA Topical Team. npj Microgravity, 10(1), 98.
Wang, Y., Jing, X., Lv, K., Wu, B., Bai, Y., Luo, Y., ... & Li, Y. (2014). During the long way to Mars: effects of 520 days of confinement (Mars500) on the assessment of affective stimuli and stage alteration in mood and plasma hormone levels. PloS one, 9(4), e87087.
Music
https://www.purple-planet.com
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Are these the voids you're looking for?
Season 2 kicks off with a bang! Thomas explains a paper he co-authored in the Journal of Cosmology and Particle Physics, exploring the question of whether chameleon screening could be part of the answer to how modified gravity might work? Where would you look to find out if high density regions might turn off modified gravity effects? Cosmic voids of course!
Could this point to a fifth force that's pushing the universe apart?
On YouTube: https://youtu.be/8sRPHWIrjz4
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Paper
Tamosiunas, A., Briddon, C., Burrage, C., Cutforth, A., Moss, A., & Vincent, T. (2022). Chameleon screening in cosmic voids. Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics, 2022(11), 056.
Music
https://www.purple-planet.com
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Primordial Matter Over Mind. A recording with Thomas and Stephen as part of the Cult Hackers podcast. Quantum physics, separating the science from the woo.
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In this, the final episode of the season, Thomas, an experimental physicist and Stephen, Organizational Psychologist explore the psychology of a belief in God. Have we evolved to believe? Is god a type of psychological attachment? If so what type? And what happens when that relationship feels abusive.
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Does Math and Physics prove or even suggest a God or first cause? Experimental physicist Thomas gives his thoughts along with some of his own speculation about the beginning of the Universe.
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TV and Film introduce us to all sorts of psychological concepts and ideas. Are they true? Or is it a case of mental misinformation?
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Thomas plays with plasma! Exciting stuff! He talks about his experiment for his PhD in plasma physics.
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A listener request today. What shape is the Universe?
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Stephen makes a big claim this week! He thinks he knows what the 'self' actually is - it's probably not what you thought.
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Dad asks Thomas: exactly what is nuclear fusion? And is it still 20 years away?
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In their continuing mission to understand the self Thomas asks Stephen to explain how trait based theories work and the use of psychometrics.
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Thomas asks Stephen to explain the 'small matter' of consciousness. Stephen focuses upon the element of consciousness sometimes called a subjective experience. There is a lot of talk about this question on podcasts and YouTube channels - sometimes called the "hard question of consciousness', coined by David Chalmers. Stephen introduces the work of neuroscientists and psychologists to try to understand this mystery, and also finds what he believes is the most promising theory yet to explain consciousness scientifically. This will only be the first of many discussions about consciousness and its intersection with psychology and physics.
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