Into the Impossible With Brian Keating

Big Bang Productions Inc.

Think like a physicist. Wonder like a human. Into the Impossible is where Cosmic Conversations happen — uniting Nobel Prize winners, iconoclasts, authors, and technologists to explore reality’s deepest questions. From AI to aliens, from biophysics to the brain, from the cosmos to the multiverse, Brian Keating, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego covers it all. If you’ve ever asked What’s out there? or What’s next?, this is where curiosity meets clarity. Learn to think like this. 🎙 Full episodes, notes & more: briankeating.com/podcast

  1. Will this NEW Scientific Breakthrough Make Us Immune to Everything? | George Church

    1 HR AGO

    Will this NEW Scientific Breakthrough Make Us Immune to Everything? | George Church

    Get started with 1 month free of Superhuman today, using my link: https://try.sprh.mn/briankeating Today's guest made bacteria immune to every virus that exists. This breakthrough could revolutionize medicine by creating virus proof cell therapies and potentially extending this protection to human cells. Also demonstrating that we can fundamentally rewrite the language of life itself, something that was previously thought impossible. George Church is a Harvard Medical School genetics professor and pioneer of synthetic biology. He's an entrepreneur who's found in multiple biotech companies and is known for pushing the boundaries between science fiction and reality. His team just did something that sounds like pure science fiction. They made living cells completely immune to every virus on Earth. That resistant immune, every single virus that tries to infect your cells just fails. The viruses can't evolve around it. Here's the wild part. They didn't add anything new. They just removed a few letter from the genetic alphabet. But George isn't stopping there. He wants to do this to human cells. He's talking about engineering astronauts for Mars missions, bringing back wooly mammoths, and maybe even, just maybe, making humans virus proof to the implications are staggering. The ethics are murky. And the timeline. Well, if church's track record tells us anything is happening far faster than we think. KEY TAKEAWAYS 00:00:00 – Church’s team made cells virus-proof, a major medical breakthrough 00:02:34 – Radiation resistance may come from DNA repair linked to desiccation 00:04:43 – A few genes can boost bacteria’s radiation resistance 00:07:16 – Panspermia is unlikely due to harsh space conditions 00:10:50 – Space travel may need biological, not just physical, changes 00:14:19 – Regenesis explores synthetic biology's potential 00:18:19 – Height involves many genes, but single ones can have big effects 00:20:57 – Once sci-fi, genome sequencing and pig organs are now real 00:23:20 – Church and Venter are more collaborators than rivals 00:27:17 – Rewriting genes can create virus-proof organisms 00:35:36 – DNA can store data, but reading/writing is slow 00:41:06 – Gattaca and Jurassic Park portray genetics well with small flaws 00:44:03 – Gene therapies can be affordable for all 00:46:44 – Stem cells can create any body cell for therapy 00:49:15 – “Mirror humans” are possible but avoided ethically 00:53:59 – Genomic privacy isn’t an issue since we shed DNA constantly 00:56:09 – Gene editing helps endangered species adapt, not revive extinct ones 01:00:30 – Virus-proof humans are possible, but tough to deliver to all cells 01:02:59 – Gene therapies could reverse aging at the cellular level 01:04:18 – Church avoids saying “impossible,” but admits to timeline optimism - Get My NEW Book: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FN8DH6SX?ref_=pe_93986420_775043100 Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 - Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join Get a copy of my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog 🎙️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 13m
  2. 4 DAYS AGO

    Does Avi Loeb Have PROOF of Alien Technology?

    ➡️ WIN A METEORITE:https://briankeating.com/list — Once again, I had the pleasure of speaking to one of the most famous and perhaps the most controversial astrophysicists in the world – Avi Loeb! For those of you who don't know him, Avi is a professor of science at Harvard University, theoretical physicist, astrophysicist, and cosmologist. He is also a bestselling author and a dear friend of mine. By the time you see this, Avi will have published his new book, Interstellar: The Search for Extraterrestrial Life and Our Future in the Stars. In it, he explains why we need to become an interstellar species to ensure our survival and lays out a plan for how we can settle among the stars. As usual, we take some time to judge a book by its cover and discuss what went into the making of this book. We also dig into the recent Galileo Project expedition to the Pacific Ocean to retrieve spherules of the first recognized interstellar meteor, IM1, which was led by Avi, and discuss whether they found evidence of alien life. Judging a book by its cover: Interstellar (00:44) On extraordinary evidence (08:13) Does Avi have proof of alien life?! (13:55) On David Grusch and government obligations (28:01) Internet hate, constructive criticism, and the scientific method (42:01) More on Interstellar and what it means to become an interstellar species (1:10:56) Elon Musk’s plan to make humankind interplanetary (1:15:12) On space archaeology (1:21:08) Rapid fire audience questions (1:39:20) Outro (1:50:57) — Additional resources: 📚 Interstellar by Avi Loeb: https://a.co/d/gN18ylO 📺 Watch my most popular videos: Neil Turok    • Neil Turok Believes Physics Is In Crisis (...   Frank Wilczek    • Nobel Prizewinner Frank Wilczek: Beautiful...   Eric Weinstein vs. Stephen Wolfram    • Stephen Wolfram vs. Eric Weinstein: Mathem...   Sir Roger Penrose:    • Nobel Prize in Physics, Black Holes and Wo...   Sabine Hossenfelder:    • “I Don’t Care About Your Theory of Everyth...   Avi Loeb:    • UFOs & UAPs: The Situation Has Changed! Av...   ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter:   / drbriankeating   🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeatin... 📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/mailing_list ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/blog.php 🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode! #intotheimpossible #briankeating #aviloeb Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 2m
  3. Brian Keating on Humility, Chutzpah, and the Arrow of Time | The James Altucher Show

    10 OCT

    Brian Keating on Humility, Chutzpah, and the Arrow of Time | The James Altucher Show

    Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Brian Keating and James Altucher have an unfiltered talk on humility, arrogance, and the strange mix of traits needed to achieve great things. From the wisdom of the Talmud to the Dunning–Kruger effect, they explore why even Nobel Prize winners wrestle with imposter syndrome. James shares how writing books requires a mix of blind confidence and humility, while Brian connects scientific resilience to obsession, quests, and flow states. The two also talk candidly about the challenges of writing and publishing science books in today’s world—and Brian previews his bold new project exploring Jim Simons, “Chern–Simons Theory,” and the very arrow of time itself. What You’ll Learn Why success requires balancing humility with courage—and sometimes arrogance with ignorance How Nobel Prize winners secretly struggle with imposter syndrome Why writing books demands both blind confidence and ruthless editing The difference between obsession and quest when pursuing success What “Chern–Simons Theory” reveals about time, space, and the structure of the universe Timestamped Chapters 00:00 Humility and Chutzpah in Science 06:35 "Feel Good Productivity Insights" 08:08 Considering Career Change for Fulfillment 10:36 "The Genius of Science" 13:54 Topology Links Time and Dimensions — ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter:⁠ ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating⁠  🔔 YouTube:⁠ https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1⁠  📝 Join my mailing list:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/list⁠  ✍️ Check out my blog:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/⁠  🎙️ Follow my podcast:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/podcast⁠  — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    17 min
  4. Chris Hadfield’s Final Orbit! The Moon Landing Hoax, UAPs, China & the New Space Race

    9 OCT

    Chris Hadfield’s Final Orbit! The Moon Landing Hoax, UAPs, China & the New Space Race

    Boost your productivity 🧠 Start your 30-day free trial of Todoist today: https://get.todoist.io/q8k9tr 📝 Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Astronaut and bestselling author Chris Hadfield joins me to discuss his new Cold War thriller Final Orbit and the real history behind it—UAPs, Operation Paperclip, and the exiled genius who built China’s rocket program. Along the way, we debate the moon landing hoax, the cost of the ISS, and why humans—not robots—must carry our story into the stars. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Intro  03:06 The Cold War and space exploration  05:40 Conspiracy theories, UAPs, and whistleblowers 10:38 Checklists as a survival tool 16:06 Moon landing denial  21:26 Judging a book by its cover  26:38 Apollo-Soyuz collaboration  30:59 The legacy of Wernehr von Braun 34:20 McCarthyism and the future of space exploration  38:24 Chinese space program and rivalry  44:19 Is it reckless to send humans to space?  48:54 Outro Additional resources:  ➡️ Follow Chris Hadfield: ✖️ Twitter: https://x.com/cmdr_hadfield?lang=en 📚 Explore Chris Hadfield’s books: https://chrishadfield.ca/books/ ➡️ My new book: 📖 Into the Impossible Volume 2: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: Lessons from Laureates to Concentrate Your Creativity and Ignite Your Career: ⁠https://a.co/d/hi50U9U⁠  ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter:⁠ ⁠⁠https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating⁠  🔔 YouTube:⁠ https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1⁠  📝 Join my mailing list:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/list⁠  ✍️ Check out my blog:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/⁠  🎙️ Follow my podcast:⁠ ⁠⁠https://briankeating.com/podcast⁠  — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    50 min
  5. From Pipe Bombs to Viagra: Nobel Prize Winner’s Secrets Revealed

    6 OCT

    From Pipe Bombs to Viagra: Nobel Prize Winner’s Secrets Revealed

    Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Lou Ignarro went from building pipe bombs as a curious teen to winning the Nobel Prize for discovering how a gas—nitric oxide—regulates blood flow, fuels Viagra, and revolutionized cardiovascular medicine. In this explosive conversation, we trace how one molecule transformed sex, science, and the story of human health. Key Takeaways: 00:00 Intro  00:55 The molecule that saves and kills  04:00 The invention of the X-ray 05:44 Nitroglycerin: explosive or life-saving drug?  11:07 Fine-tuning and Lou’s religious beliefs  14:38 Judging a book by its cover  16:56 The importance of curiosity  20:00 Thoughts on the Nobel Prize 24:58 What does Viagra do and how does it work?  32:10 The importance of collaboration in scientific research  35:15 Achieving the breakthrough discovery  41:02 What happens if a woman takes viagra? 42:55 Other applications of nitric oxide  47:57 Lou’s heart-healthy diet  52:41 Outro Additional resources:  ➡️ Follow Lou Ignarro:  ✖️ Twitter: https://x.com/drignarro  📚 Dr. NO by Lou Ignarro: https://a.co/d/gSarIKX  ➡️ My new book: 📖 Into the Impossible Volume 2: Focus Like a Nobel Prize Winner: Lessons from Laureates to Concentrate Your Creativity and Ignite Your Career: https://a.co/d/hi50U9U  ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating  🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1  📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list  ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/  🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast  — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    54 min
  6. EXCLUSIVE: Avi Loeb Reveals: What HiRISE Just Saw on Mars!

    4 OCT

    EXCLUSIVE: Avi Loeb Reveals: What HiRISE Just Saw on Mars!

    Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb joins Brian Keating to discuss a groundbreaking observation: the HiRISE camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has imaged 3I/ATLAS, a rare interstellar visitor, from the vantage point of Mars. In this episode, we explore: • What HiRISE detected and why it matters for planetary science. • How interstellar objects like ʻOumuamua and 3I/ATLAS challenge our theories. • Why Mars may become an ideal outpost for detecting future interstellar visitors. • The implications for astrobiology, planetary defense, and our search for extraterrestrial technology. ✨ Just as the 1977 “Wow! Signal” jolted radio astronomers with a one-time unexplained burst, 3I/ATLAS may be its optical cousin—an anomalous, fleeting, but potentially transformative messenger. Loeb even calculated that 3I/ATLAS’s trajectory passed within about one degree of the Wow! Signal’s sky position, making the connection more than metaphorical. Ignoring such rare alignments risks repeating history: anomalies slip through our fingers while orthodoxy insists nothing unusual happened. The Wow! Signal warned us of the danger of complacency; 3I/ATLAS reminds us that cosmic surprises often lurk at the margins of expectation, carrying lessons we may miss if we force every mystery into old categories. - 🚀 EXCLUSIVE: Avi Loeb Reveals What HiRISE Just Saw on Mars! 🌌 Harvard astrophysicist Avi Loeb joins me to discuss the latest revelations about interstellar object 3I/ATLAS as it makes its closest approach to Mars. From HiRISE images to unusual chemistry, polarization anomalies, and even a potential link to the Wow! Signal, this conversation explores whether 3I/ATLAS is a natural comet—or a possible technological artifact. Along the way, we cover censorship from Galileo to today’s UAP debates, the “Sputnik moment” of interstellar objects, and what a global response might look like. ⏱️ Timestamps 0:00 – Introduction & why this day is special 1:29 – 3I/ATLAS closest approach to Mars: HiRISE imaging 2:50 – Mass, size, and what it means for its trajectory 5:06 – Global spacecraft observing 3I/ATLAS (NASA, ESA, UAE, China) 7:21 – Explaining the anomalies: jets, chemical makeup, negative polarization 13:06 – Alignment with the plane of planets (0.2% likelihood) 14:31 – Coincidence with the Wow! Signal and radio SETI opportunities 18:52 – White paper to the UN: global response to interstellar visitors 24:21 – Perseverance rover possible detection of ATLAS 29:47 – Nickel–iron anomaly and unusual chemistry 36:44 – Science inefficiency & missed discoveries (Hot Jupiters analogy) 43:29 – Why critics are wrong about “just a comet” 55:04 – Galileo, Pinker, and common knowledge parallels to UAP debates 1:01:20 – Peer review, censorship, and suppression in modern science 1:03:59 – Anti-science, conspiracy theories, and science communication 1:11:55 – Risk vs. safety in research; why scientists avoid anomalies 1:23:28 – China, Mars samples, and the race for extraterrestrial life 1:37:32 – JWST chemistry results: carbon dioxide vs water 1:41:42 – Should we send signals to 3I/ATLAS? 1:44:12 – Wake-up call for humanity & final reflections ️ The INTO THE IMPOSSIBLE Podcast has featured 22 Nobel Prize winners, Fields Medalist Terence Tao, and legendary mathematician Jim Simons. Subscribe to join the conversation at the frontiers of science, math, and technology. 👉 What do YOU think HiRISE really saw? Could 3I/ATLAS change how we understand our place in the cosmos? Drop your thoughts in the comments below! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 57m
  7. Is AI Our PARTNER or Our ENEMY? Google CTO Blaise Agüera y Arcas

    30 SEPT

    Is AI Our PARTNER or Our ENEMY? Google CTO Blaise Agüera y Arcas

    Get started with 1 month free of Superhuman today, using my link:  https://try.sprh.mn/briankeating Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/list to win a meteorite 💥 Is AI our partner in evolution, or is it a harbinger of our downfall? In this episode of Into the Impossible, I sit down with two brilliant minds to explore the current and future relationship between artificial intelligence, human evolution, and creativity. Blaise Agüera y Arcas, a leading AI researcher, and Benjamin Bratton, philosopher and theorist, bring their unique insights to this conversation. Together, we discuss how AI is not here to replace us but to reshape what it means to be human, through symbiosis rather than competition.  We explore the concept of the hardware lottery, the role of randomness and creativity in both human brains and machines, and how AI can help us rethink the concept of evolution itself. From quantum computing to AI’s future in medicine and education, this conversation explores the big questions shaping tomorrow’s world. — Key Takeaways:  00:00:00 Einstein's happiest thought and the hardware lottery  00:11:13 Co-evolution and human-AI interaction  00:12:44 Is AI training us? 00:15:43 The limitations of AI  00:23:19 Ethical considerations of AI use 00:26:42 The path to a new physics  00:30:32 Blaise’s books explained 00:40:23 It takes a computer to know a computer  00:44:30 The role of improvisation  00:47:19 The role of predictability  00:52:48 Where are we now?  00:57:01 AI, education, and daily use cases 01:02:27 Judging a book by its cover 01:11:29 Outro  — Additional resources:  📚 Who Are We Now? by Blaise Aguera y Arcas: https://a.co/d/aG81gqL  ➡️ Follow me on your fav platforms: ✖️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating  🔔 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1  📝 Join my mailing list: https://briankeating.com/list  ✍️ Check out my blog: https://briankeating.com/cosmic-musings/  🎙️ Follow my podcast: https://briankeating.com/podcast  — Into the Impossible with Brian Keating is a podcast dedicated to all those who want to explore the universe within and beyond the known. Make sure to follow/subscribe so you never miss an episode! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    1h 13m
  8. The Scientists: Lord Kelvin’s Dangerous Idea (Absolute Zero)

    28 SEPT

    The Scientists: Lord Kelvin’s Dangerous Idea (Absolute Zero)

    Please join my mailing list here 👉 https://briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite 💥 Dive into the fascinating world of Lord Kelvin, a pivotal figure in the scientific revolution! In this video, we explore his groundbreaking contributions, including the concept of absolute zero and the Kelvin temperature scale. oin my mailing list here 👉 briankeating.com/yt to win a meteorite! 💥 Timestamps: 00:00- Introduction to Lord Kelvin 02:15- The significance of absolute zero 05:30- Kelvin's early academic achievements 08:45- The cosmic microwave background explained 12:00- The evolution of physics from natural philosophy 15:30- The enduring legacy of Kelvin's work 17:00- Conclusion and reflections - Join this channel to get access to perks like monthly Office Hours: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmXH_moPhfkqCk6S3b9RWuw/join 📚 Get a copy of my books: Think Like a Nobel Prize Winner, with life changing interviews with 9 Nobel Prizewinners: https://a.co/d/03ezQFu My tell-all cosmic memoir Losing the Nobel Prize: http://amzn.to/2sa5UpA The first-ever audiobook from Galileo: Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican https://a.co/d/iZPi9Un - Follow me to ask questions of my guests: 🏄🏄‍♂️ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DrBrianKeating 🔔 Subscribe https://www.youtube.com/DrBrianKeating?sub_confirmation=1 📝 Join my mailing list; just click here http://briankeating.com/list ✍️ Detailed Blog posts here: https://briankeating.com/blog ️ Listen on audio-only platforms: https://briankeating.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    21 min

Ratings & Reviews

4.3
out of 5
6 Ratings

About

Think like a physicist. Wonder like a human. Into the Impossible is where Cosmic Conversations happen — uniting Nobel Prize winners, iconoclasts, authors, and technologists to explore reality’s deepest questions. From AI to aliens, from biophysics to the brain, from the cosmos to the multiverse, Brian Keating, Chancellor’s Distinguished Professor of Physics at UC San Diego covers it all. If you’ve ever asked What’s out there? or What’s next?, this is where curiosity meets clarity. Learn to think like this. 🎙 Full episodes, notes & more: briankeating.com/podcast

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