Episode notes
You can’t copy a qubit. So how do quantum computers remember anything? In this episode, we sit down with Mikhail Lukin, Harvard physicist and co-director of the Harvard Quantum Initiative, whose lab is building quantum computers from arrays of individually trapped atoms. Lukin explains the paradox of quantum error correction—how you can safeguard quantum information even though it can’t be copied or measured directly—and why this breakthrough may be the key to making large-scale quantum computers possible. We dive into the strange logic of superposition, entanglement, and “small cat states,”…
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632nm
Misha Shalaginov, Michael Dubrovsky, Xinghui Yin · Tech & Science · English
Technical interviews with the greatest scientists in the world.
More from 632nm All episodes →
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E45 · 6 Jan 2026 · 2 hr 47 min
Graphene, Nanotubes, and Quantum Hall Physics | Philip Kim
How do electrons behave when they’re confined to a single layer, and why do entirely new laws of physics emerge when dimensions shrink? Papers discussed in this episode: Experimental observation of the quantum Hall effect and Berry's phase in graphene: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature04235 Tunable Fractional Quantum Hall Phases in Bilayer Graphene: https://arxiv.org/abs/1403.2112 Room-Temperature Quantum Hall Effect in Graphene: https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0702408 In this episode, we speak with Philip Kim, Harvard physicist and a leading experimentalist in low-dimensional quantum…
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E44 · 23 Dec 2025 · 2 hr 35 min
Quantum Matter, Super-conductors, and Black Holes | Subir Sachdev on the SYK Model
What makes high-temperature superconductors and “strange metals” some of the most perplexing systems in modern physics? In this episode, we speak with Dr. Subir Sachdev: Harvard physicist and one of the leading architects of today’s understanding of quantum matter. Sachdev explains why strange metals refuse to behave like ordinary conductors, how quantum entanglement reshapes the landscape of many-body physics, and why the quest to understand cuprate superconductors continues to push both theory and experiment to their limits. We explore the physics of the cuprate phase diagram, the collapse…
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E43 · 9 Dec 2025 · 1 hr 50 min
How to Build Fault-Tolerant Quantum Computers | Austin Fowler on Surface Codes + TQEC
Would we get a quantum computer sooner if everything was open source? In this episode, we speak with Austin Fowler, one of the architects of quantum error correction and a pioneer of the surface code used in today’s leading quantum computers. Fowler helped lay the groundwork for scalable, fault-tolerant computation at Google Quantum AI, before leaving to advocate for a more open and collaborative model of research. He explains why building a useful quantum computer will require millions of reliable qubits, why no known algorithm yet clearly outperforms classical computation, and why the…
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E42 · 26 Nov 2025 · 2 hr 4 min
Why Syncing Atomic Clocks is Virtually Impossible | Judah Levine on UTC
Why is syncing atomic clocks still one of the hardest problems in physics and engineering? In this episode, we speak with Judah Levine—legendary NIST physicist and one of the key architects of modern timekeeping—about the invisible systems that hold the digital world together. Levine explains why synchronizing atomic clocks across the planet is far more complex than the clocks themselves, and why seemingly simple ideas like “round-trip delay” break down in real-world media such as fiber optics and the internet. We explore how UTC is built from hundreds of atomic clocks, the difference…
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E41 · 4 Nov 2025 · 1 hr 18 min
Can We Predict History Like the Weather? | Peter Turchin on Cliodynamics
Why do civilizations rise, prosper, and then collapse? Here's what the math tells us. In this episode, we sit down with Peter Turchin, complexity scientist and founder of the field of cliodynamics, which uses data and mathematical models to study the long-term cycles of history. Turchin explains his theory of elite overproduction, how societies generate too many ambitious, educated elites competing for too few positions, and why this dynamic reliably leads to polarization, inequality, and political turmoil. We explore how his structural-demographic theory maps the recurring “boom and bust”…
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E39 · 9 Oct 2025 · 1 hr 6 min
We Interviewed the Winners of the Ig Nobel Prize | Ig Nobel 2025
The scientific stories behind this year's research that made people LAUGH, then THINK. Watch the 2025 Ig Nobel Ceremony here: https://youtu.be/z1cP4xKd_L4 In this episode, we bring together three of this year’s Ig Nobel winners whose research spans psychology, food science and human biology. You’ll hear how a team of psychologists devised a counter-intuitive way to boost a narcissist’s self-confidence; how two physicists uncovered the “mozzarella phase” of pecorino cheese while perfecting cacio e pepe; and how a group studying lactation discovered that garlic changes breast-milk’s aroma and…
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E38 · 7 Oct 2025 · 1 hr 41 min
What Science can Learn from Startups | Adam Marblestone on Focused Research Organizations
Science has stalled. And Adam Marblestone thinks he knows why. Check out the Research Gap Map here: https://www.gap-map.org/?sort=rank In this episode, we sit down with Adam Marblestone, neuroscientist, nanotechnologist, and founder of Convergent Research, to explore how new “Focused Research Organizations” (FROs) could reignite scientific progress. From DNA “ticker-tape” neural recording to optical connectomics and Neuralink, Marblestone explains how emerging neurotechnologies reveal both the brilliance and the bottlenecks of today’s research system. We discuss why traditional funding often…
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E34 · 23 Sep 2025 · 1 hr 53 min
What Optical Atomic Clocks Tell Us About Space-Time | Jun Ye
Times have changed. And cesium clocks can't keep up. In this episode, we sit down with Jun Ye, Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) Fellow and pioneer of optical lattice clocks, whose work has pushed timekeeping far beyond traditional cesium atomic clocks. Ye explains how combining ultra-stable lasers, frequency combs, and ultra-cold atoms produces clocks more than 100× more precise than today’s standards: so sensitive they can detect gravitational time dilation across the width of a human hair. We explore how this next generation of atomic clocks may open windows onto…
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E33 · 9 Sep 2025 · 2 hr 24 min
Laser Cooling and Quantum Timekeeping | Bill Phillips
How did cooling atoms with lasers revolutionize our understanding of time? In this episode, we speak with Bill Phillips, Nobel Laureate in Physics, about his groundbreaking work on laser cooling and trapping of atoms: research that not only won him the Nobel Prize but also transformed modern timekeeping and technology. Phillips explains why breaking the Doppler cooling limit changed physics forever and what it means that today’s clocks can measure time differences caused by moving a device just a few millimeters in Earth’s gravity. We discuss the history of timekeeping from sundials to…
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E32 · 26 Aug 2025 · 2 hr 38 min
Inside the Battle for Psychedelic Therapy | Rick Doblin
What does it take to turn a banned psychedelic into an FDA-approved medicine? Visit MAPS to read about the latest progress is psychedelic research: https://maps.org/ In this episode, we speak with Rick Doblin, founder of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), about the decades-long mission to make MDMA-assisted therapy a legal treatment for PTSD and other mental health conditions. Rick received his PhD from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government in public policy focusing on the regulation of medical use of psychedelics in 2001. Rick shares the science behind MDMA’s…
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