Breaking the Universe: From Quantum Quirks to Cosmic Ripples

In the strange quantum world, many particles strongly interacting together can give rise to entirely new emergent particles, with exotic properties impossible for any single particle in isolation.

Gravitational wave astronomy is one of the newest branches of science, having come into being on 14th September 2015. I will give a brief overview of the conceptual workings of GW detectors - and explain why they need to be so big.

In the 19th century, physicist James Clerk Maxwell imagined a tiny “demon” that could sort fast and slow gas particles into separate rooms, making one room warmer than the other without using any energy. In this talk, we explore how the paradox of Maxwell’s demon is resolved in a simple way, and what it teaches us about the link between information, energy, and computation. Along the way, we see that even the act of forgetting has a physical cost built into the laws of nature.

Around Jupiter, moons interact with a powerful magnetic environment. Their atmospheres are too thin to see directly, but they still disturb space around them. By tracking magnetic fields and particles, we uncover hidden oceans, volcanic activity, and even what lies beneath their surfaces.