Expanded. Yeah, so the most refined idea which is by in my opinion no means confirmed is an idea called inflationary cosmology, a more refined version of how did it begin. What was it that caused space to start swelling in the first place . We all believe that the universe is expanding, the observation to support that. What got the expansion started and the inflationary theory says that gravity itself is the culprit because even though the gravity that were familiar with in everyday life is attractive, pulls things together, einsteins theory shows that in certain exotic circumstances, gravity can be repulsive. So you have a repulsive force that at the beginning pushes things out. Does it create space and time as well as particles and matter . Its again a hard question but our best answer at the moment is that space and time needed to exist already for this phenomenon to take place it leverages the preexisting space and time which could be a tiny nugget and turns it into a large cosmos. So it basically takes space and time as an input very small, yields big space and time and matter and energy as the output. What happened the day before this happened . Yes, i knew you were going there which is why i played defense here and said i dont know five times already in the first two minutes. So we dont know but we have ideas, right . One possibility is that the notion of before is a concept that doesnt actually make sense when it comes to the beginning of the universe. A good analogy is think about the concept of heading northward on earth, right . So if youre heading northward you say point me in the direction of further north. You point, continue to walk, pass somebody else, same question, they point you in the northward direction. If you ask somebody in the north pole, they look at you sort of oddly, quizzically this notion of going further north in the north pole doesnt make sense. So going back in time doesnt make sense. At the beginning of time, that may be where the concept of time only comes into play and theres no notion of before when it comes to the beginning. How do we get from general relativity to figuring out mathematically and theoretically the notion of a big bang . Well, thats an exciting and curious story, einstein himself after he fashioned the equations of general relativity, he started to apply the theory to a variety of circumstances. The orbit of mercury being one famous one. The bending of starlight by the sun. But he also noted that if you applied the equations to the whole universe it gave rise toen a unfamiliar, unexpected result, which is that the fabric of space itself should be stretching or contracting. The universe couldnt be static. And that cut against the philosophical perspective of the time, including einstein. So einstein changed the equations to ensure that result wouldnt come out, that the universe could be unchanging on the largest of scales. Then fast forward to 1929 when edwin hubbolt turns powerful telescope to the sky and sees that the galaxies are rushing away einstein smacks himself in the forehead and says why did i change the equations when i could have have predicted this amazing fact about the universe from my own mathematics. Yeah, calls it his biggest blunder. Then they walk the cat backwards. Had to evolve in this single point. Thats right. You basically in the hands of a belgium priest was the person to articulate this most precisely. He used einsteins math, the face value math, not the math that einstein mangled to meet his own philosophical prejudice. He called it the primortial atom. I think it was fred holly who was a critic of this theory and was talking about on the radio and said, oh, the big bang. Its our best understanding of how things started. You mention they get to it by walking the mathematical equations. In some ways mathematics is now your guide post to figuring out this is how physical reality is. For reasons that we cant fully yet understand, math seems to be the right language for describing phenomena in the universe. Math is the shining light that can illuminate the dark corners of reality that weve not been able to access directly. Dont we need evidence from physical reality . No. And the evidence comes from so many places. First, einsteins mathematics makes predictions about things we can directly access like the bending of starlight by the sun which was tested in 1919 during a Solar Eclipse 6789 einstein gets a telegram alerting him that his ideas had been confirmed through the observation. And somebody asked him, what would you say if the data showed that theory was not confirm ed and he said i would file sorry baa the theory is correct. How much residual heat should be left over from the big bang today at the socalled cosmic radiation. And we can make predictions on how the temperature of that heat should vary from one location in space to another. And the measurements agree with the theoretical positions to fantastic accuracy. And that is a breathtaking confirmation that this mathematics is not just speculation. Give me an example. They go to the north pole or south pole . You can access it through satellite born intelligence. The Background Radiation probe which has done a fantastic job at measuring the microwave Background Radiation. But the more recent one is the one youre referring to, the experiment down at the south pole where for three years a team of astronomers pointed this telescope at a patch of the polar sky and extracted information about the microwave Background Radiation that, again, bears out a yet more subtle prediction of the theory. And this is radiation that actually emanated from the bang. Yes. So in the beginning, it was hot, right . Really hot and as the universe expanded, the heat diluted and it cooled down and you can calculate how could it should be today. Thats the temperature. But you can go one step further. How the temperature should vary from place to place, and the math shows it should vary on the order of 1 100,000th of a degree. And you can do these precise measurements and, indeed see the temperature variation and the patterns that the mathematics predicts. What do you mean when you call something the fabric of the cosmos . Its a hard question is space really a thing . Or is it just a useful concept in order to organize our perceptions of reality. Youre over there, youre further away in space. The table is yet further. Is space merely the vocabulary that allows me to articulate locations . Or is space really a thing . And nobody fully knows the answer to that. But in einsteins general relativity and different people interpret it differently, i see space as a thing in einsteins theory. Space, meaning the fabric of space and time together. Space and time are stitched together. And they would exist even if nothing else existed . Thats right. Thats right. And theres been a lot of debate about this. If you were to remove everything from space, the moon, the sun, earth, everything, what would be left . Would you have an empty universe with space and time . Or would you have nothing . If you take an alphabet, right . And start to remove the letters. Z and x and a and b. And when you remove the last letter, whats left . Like an empty alphabet . Its like nothing. Comes into existence with the letters that make it up. Is that true of the universe . Does it come into existence when theres stuff populating it . Or can there be an empty stage called space time that would exist in the absence of matter . I think its the latter. Theres a wonderful thought experiment, which you deal with in i think your first book. Newtons bucket. Yes. Explain how that helps you think there is a fabric of space. Yes, this is a thought experiment that isaac newton came up with when he was trying to understand basically if space was a thing. And he imagined taking a bucket and filling it with water. And he noted that as you spin the bucket, the water climbs up the sides of the bucket. I think, you know, even kids do this at the beach, right . You spin it around and climbs up the sides. What we would call inertia. Thats right. The water has intrinsic quality that causes it to resist that motion and when it resists, gets pushed out, goes up the sides. He imagined doing that in a completely empty universe. Theres issues about that. Gravity is part of what makes a shape. We actually now imagine taking two stones, same idea, connecting them by a rope and spinning them around. Would the rope pull taut . And to newton it was obvious it would pull taut. And therefore he said, what is the rope and rock spinning with respect to theres nothing there. No earth, no sun. Therefore, the rope and the rocks must be spinning, something called space. Space itself must be setting the benchmark, the reference with respect to which that motion is happening. Others came along and said, no, we disagree, you remove everything from the universe and take your spiny rock and ropey thing and its not going to pull taut. Itll just kind of stay completely limp. And its still an issue that people debate. Is there any evidence we could find one way or the other . Its very hard to remove everything from the universe, right . Thats kind of what youd like to do. So what you do is you try to find alternate implications of one perspective or another. And i would say today most people havent done a survey, but i suspect most people say would pull taut. Sets the reference frame for a certain kind of motion, accelerated motion, but there are others who are holdouts and disagree with that. What have we learned from the super collider . We learned a lot. We learned how to build the biggest experiment that our species has embarked upon. These are really, you know, the fantastic temples of the 20th, 21st century. They are our pyramids in a sense. But in terms of the science that we have extracted, the most important thing is the discovery of the particle. I think most people have probably heard something. So there was this particle that was predicted mathematically in 1964 by peter higs and many others who really deserve equal credit for it. But it was just a mathematical idea that was a solution to a puzzle. How do particles get mass . How do they resist being pushed when you want to speed them up or slow them down . And the idea was space was filled with a kind of molasses kind of substance. They experience a resistance type drag force. What is the relationship of the higgs field to the fabric of space time . Well, if the higgs idea is correct, thered be virtually no distinction between them. This substance would fill every nook and cranny of space. And in a sense, it would be unremovable unless somehow you could recreate maybe the temperatures of the very early universe. The analogy that i think captures that idea is if i dont know, do you have any tattoos . Okay. Well, good. I dont know where you were looking and im not going to ask. But imagine that you start to have more and more tattoos and ultimately if you cover your entire body, then the distinction between the skin and the tattoo becomes kind of meaningless. You are the illustrated man at that point. Youre completely covered with tattoos. Similarly, space is completely filled with this higgs stuff. And if you cant remove it, theres almost no distinction between space and the stuff that fills it. What if they hadnt found it and found there is no higgs field . Does the entire standard model of quantum theory go out the window . Well, that would have been far more exciting for a theorist. Less exciting, you know, for peter higgs and others. Would we have lost mass . And lost weight . Well, i dont think the universe cares much about our understanding of the universe. It would have shrugged it off and, you know. But the wonderful thing is the theorist, we would have been sent back to the black board to answer these deep puzzles. Where does the heft of the fundamental constituents come from . That would have been tremendously exciting for an idea we thought was the answer to be proved wrong. We are not, theres sometimes a missed perception that physicists or scientists more generally get stuck on an idea theyll hold on to it in the face of evidence that suggest the contrary. No, its completely the opposite, we love it when ideas we cherish are proven wrong. To come up the next idea that will take place. This example, it was a wonderful triumph of mathematics and experiment where the idea was confirmed. Mathematics has led you to superstrength theory of which youre very associated. Explain why the math led you there. Well, since the 1960s and 70s, people have tried to put together ieinsteins theory of gravity with another theory, the theory of Quantum Mechanics. And turns out einstein, on his death bed, he was doing that. Well, sort of, einstein was trying to put gravity together with electromagnetic theory to build a unified theory thinking that he could do an end run around the uncomfortable features around Quantum Mechanics he didnt like so much. He was hoping in some sense to go this way and then like do that to Quantum Mechanics. That seemed to not work out. So we are trying the more straightforward approach and the standard model of physics, hugely successful is unable to put gravity and Quantum Mechanics together. That leads us to the new approach on paper does put gravity and Quantum Mechanics together. Is there anything in the next five or ten years that you say would help give you a physical test of what youre doing there. No. I wish the answer, i can go speculative here. Maybe speculation on speculation which is always an uncomfortable place to be. But just to say, we dont believe any of these ideas until they make predictions that we can test. So lets be real clear here. If you ask me, do i believe in theory . Absolutely no, i never have and never will until theres experimental data that supports it. Having said that, it is the most promising and, i have to tell you, mathematically compelling approach to putting gravity and Quantum Mechanics together. And thats an important puzzle to solve. That drives us to continue working on it. And the best of all worlds when they turn the collider back on in 2013, is it possible some of these ideas will make contact. Particles slam together, some of the debris can get knocked out of our dimensions according to the math. We would recognize that by loss of energy. Super symmetric particles that we havent yet seen. We could see microscopic black holes that would decay into a spray of other particles. All of these things are possible. I consider them long shots. When they dont come through it, i dont want it to be, hey, you guys predicted that was going to happen. And then it didnt. No. Its possible, but unlikely. Is it inevitable in strength theory that there are other universes . Its not inevitable. It is one of the very controversial developments over the last ten years. But you believe its true . Again, believe is a funny, funny word. So do i believe in other universes . Absolutely not. Do i find it a compelling possibility and can i see how the math naturally suggests it . And does that compel me to work on it . It does. But until theres observation or experimental support, i dont believe anything. And i guess einstein once said that one of the grand questions was did the good lord have a choice . Yeah. The way he invented the universe . Explain that and answer it for us or for einstein. So einstein asked a very important question, which is could the universe have been otherwise . Could the particles be different . Did god, did the lord have a choice . Or is somehow that dictated by logic and mathematics alone. And we dont know the answer. But if these ideas of other universes are correct, then its completely opposite. It may be that every possibility is played out in the grand landscape of reality. So rather than having one unique universe, it might be all possible universes. The truth is probably somewhere in between. Weve run out of time. Let me hit you with a couple of quick things. Why does this all matter . Well, if you ask my mom, it doesnt, right . She wanted you to be a doctor. Yeah, exactly, right. Gives her a headache and all that kind of stuff. But i think it helps many people get a sense of how we fit into the larger picture. How were part of this spectacular cosmos. And i dont consider it making us somehow small and insignificant, although we are. But take into account these tiny creatures Walking Around on the surface of the earth can figure out what happened a billionth after a billionth. That to me is an amazing story. That is the most exciting drama of discovery weve ever been engaged with. Thats why it matters. And for people who want to hear more, theres a world science festival that your wife is doing. Yes. And world science university. Give it a quick pitch. Yeah, world science u is a new Online Platform that we add the world science festival have developed to try to get these ideas out to the general public, but not just the level were talking about here, which is interesting and exciting, but the real math behind it in a highly visual way. If you like relativity or this kind of stuff, check it out, its a fun way to learn. Google world science u. Yep. And the festival is when . May 28 to june 1st. We have 50 events. Buy tickets, they went on sale. Although a few things are sold out. But 50 events around the city that will allow you to immerse yourself in science. Brian, thank you. Thank you. We are but specks in the universe, but two interesting ones. Two very interesting ones to come. Thank you, brian. Surprising came as a guest of a guest at dinner at my house and lo and behold, i had chabani yogurt in my refrigerator. He is the most interesting person who has revitalized whole section of new york with his wonderful product. He will be interviewed by Steve Clemens who, one of these days, youre going to open your closet and theres going to be Steve Clemens. The ubiquitous Steve Clemens. Thank you so much. And i want to thank everybody standing in the back, theres some seats open up here. Dont be shy, dont worry about the cameras. You know, aggressively ram yourself through those aisles and get a seat. Because its worth it for the lineup we have today. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. You were a guy, young man growing up in turkey, you came over here to study business and you said, a ha, feta cheese. Were not even at the yogurt story. But whats that you were going to make your fortune in feta. I just need to know why feta . Well, two things, one is i came to learn english. So i didnt know the word of english. And feta was a great english word. We dont call it feta, we call it white cheese. The reason i came one the idea is my father came to visit. Mmhmm. And the cheese, the white cheese is very big in our breakfast dishes. And when i brought the cheese i could find in the supermarkets, my father said, is this it . And i said, yes. Said, why dont you make some .