Fall 2023

10/07/2023 | Life and Research on the International Space Station: What We Accomplished During Expedition 68 and What's Next -- Josh Cassada (NASA)

As a follow-up to January’s live event from the International Space Station (ISS), NASA Astronaut Josh Cassada will present an overview of his crew’s recent mission, including results from on-board experiments as well as technology demonstrations. Captain Cassada and the rest of NASA’s Crew-5 lived and worked aboard – and, at times, on the outside of – the ISS for 157 days between October 2022 and March 2023. This SMP event will also include a look toward future missions and time for a question-and-answer session.

10/21/2023 | The Many Worlds of Quantum Mechanics -- Sean Carroll (Johns Hopkins University)

One of the great intellectual achievements of the twentieth century was the theory of quantum mechanics, according to which observational results can only be predicted probabilistically rather than with certainty. Yet, after decades in which the theory has been successfully used on an everyday basis, most physicists would agree that we still don't truly understand what it means. I will talk about the source of this puzzlement and explain why an increasing number of physicists are led to an apparently astonishing conclusion: that the world we experience constantly branches into different versions, representing the different possible outcomes of quantum measurements. This could have important consequences for quantum gravity and the emergence of spacetime.

11/04/2023 | Making Music from Noise: The Physics of a Drum -- Nicholas Arnold (U-M Physics Demonstration Lab)

Sound is all around us and is an important tool we use to navigate our world. In this presentation, we will look at how instruments create notes and what differentiates those notes from noise. A drum may look like a simple instrument, but in reality, it is wonderfully complex. An exploration of the vibrations of a drum and how those vibrations change in time demonstrate how these sounds become music.

11/18/2023 | All About Light: A Family-Friendly Light and Laser Show -- Tim Chupp (U-M Physics), Conor Heaney, and Monika Wood (U-M Physics Demonstration Lab)

Light is what we see. But what is light and how do we use it? Come and take part in this special family-friendly presentation from the Saturday Morning Physics team, and learn what makes light, what it reveals, how we measure light, and how we see.

12/02/2023 | The Formation of Planetary Systems -- Fred Adams (U-M Physics)

The past two decades have witnessed the discovery of over 5,000 planets that orbit stars other than our Sun. This talk will provide an overview of these alien worlds and the types of planetary systems that they live within. Such planetary systems display an enormous variety, but they also have a number of universal features. Although the mechanisms that form these planets remain under study, this talk will present a progress report on our current understanding of the physical processes involved.