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Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe

Daniel and Kelly’s Extraordinary Universe

Scientists Daniel and Kelly cannot stop talking about our amazing, wonderful, weird Universe! Each episode is a fun, easy-to-understand, and in-depth explanation of topics in science, from particles to black holes to moon colonies to ecosystems to parasites and everything else in the Universe!

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Episodes

Listener questions #53

Daniel and Kelly talk about how particles are detected, the heavy proton discovery, and de Sitter space.

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2026-10-15
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How did syphilis get to Europe?

Daniel and Kelly dive into the history of medicine. Syphilis arrived with a bang in Europe in 1493, but where did it come from?

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2026-10-13
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What if dark matter is more complicated?

Daniel and Kelly talk about a particularly quirky theory of dark matter that Daniel is searching for.

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2026-10-08
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Listener Questions #52

Daniel and Kelly answer listener questions about how AI is impacting math and physics, what we really know about the wood wide web, and what happens when matter annihilates.

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2026-10-06
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What is creativity? (featuring Dr. Moiya McTier)

Daniel and Kelly interview Dr. Moiya McTier about how we define and measure creativity, and the impacts of the modern world on creative pursuits. Check out her new book, Mothers of Invention.

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2026-10-01
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Supervoids

Daniel and Kelly explore the structure of the Universe and examine its emptiest places, making no effort to spare the scatological humor.

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2026-09-29
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Listener Questions #51

Daniel and Kelly answer listener questions about special relativity, organisms that eat plastic, and whether the future is already determined.

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2026-09-24
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Do Animals Make Mistakes? (featuring Dr. Andy Sih)

Daniel and Kelly chat with Dr. Andy Sih about the kinds of mistakes wild animals make, and why they make them.

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2026-09-22
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Did we just discover dark matter?

Daniel and Kelly talk about the recent observation of a dark matter candidate

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2026-09-17
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Listener Questions #50

Daniel and Kelly answer listener questions about scent dialects, drilling through the ice above the oceans of Enceladus, and why some animals have penises.

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2026-09-15
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Addiction (featuring Dr. Marcelo Wood)

Daniel and Kelly interview Dr. Marcelo Wood about what addiction does to our brains, why some of us become addicted to drugs while others don't, what drugs do to our brains in the long term, and more.

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2026-09-10
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Is dark energy a fudge factor?

Daniel and Kelly talk about whether physicists are trying to understand the expansion of the Universe, or pull the cosmic wool over everyone's eyes. Also, horse milk comes up.

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2026-09-08
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Listener Questions #49

Daniel and Kelly answer questions about alternatives to the Big Bang, scurvy, and supercontinents.

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2026-09-03
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Rewilding

Daniel and Kelly talk about the differences between conservation and rewilding, and discuss some of the successes, failures, and wild ideas that have come from the rewilding movement so far.

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2026-09-01
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Can we simulate the Universe?

Daniel and Kelly talk about what a recent simulation project can tell us about how the Universe got so clumpy.

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2026-08-27
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Listener Questions #48

Daniel and Kelly answer questions about crackpots, hearing meteors, and the age of everything.

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2026-08-25
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Origins of life (featuring Dr. Katrine Whiteson)

Daniel, Kelly, and Katrine take on the origins of life. They discuss competing definitions for "life", whether it's even helpful to have a definition, the oldest evidence we have for life, and how we think life got started.

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2026-08-20
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Should the government be hiding aliens?

Daniel and Kelly review the recent movie 'Disclosure Day' and discuss some tough questions about knowledge and secrecy.

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2026-08-18
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Listener Questions #47 - Plant Questions (featuring Dr. Manuel Lerdau)

Daniel and Kelly are joined by Dr. Manuel Lerdau to answer listener questions about toxic plants, seed germination, and micropropagation.

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2026-08-13
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How far can we go with chemical rockets?

Daniel and Kelly explain the limitations of chemical rockets and how physics can propel humans to the outer reaches of the solar system.

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2026-08-11
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Cyclospora (and other diarrhea-inducing parasites)

It's July 2026, and the United States is dealing with an outbreak of cyclospora. Diarrhea makes people think of Kelly, so today we're dealing with the many questions Kelly has gotten about parasites in our food supplies.

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2026-08-06
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Listener Questions #46

Daniel and Kelly answer listener questions about tick-induced meat allergies, experiencing quantum effects, and fibroids.

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2026-08-04
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Sound (featuring audio wizard Mat Keselman)

Daniel and Kelly chat with DKEU's audio engineer, Mat Keselman, about the physics of sound and give a behind the scenes look at how Mat works his magic.

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2026-07-30
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What is a space-time interval?

Daniel and Kelly break space, twist time, and then put it back together to explain the most important concept in relativity you've never heard of.

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2026-07-28
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Listener Questions #45

Daniel and Kelly wonder how many Extraordinaries are planning on becoming supervillains as they discuss how to make Jupiter explode, the changing colors of children's hair, and whether or not aliens could discover electromagnetism without iron.

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2026-07-23
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Rat lungworm (featuring Dr. Chelsea Wood)

Daniel and Kelly chat with Dr. Chelsea Wood about rat lungworm - a particularly unpleasant nematode parasite that is spreading way outside of its native range.

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2026-07-21
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Is dark matter a fudge factor?

Daniel and Kelly talk about what it means to be a physics fudge factor and whether DM is fudgy or solid science.

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2026-07-16
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Listener Questions #44 - How fast can animals go, and how fast can animals grow? (featuring Dr. John Hutchinson)

Dr. John Hutchinson is back to help Kelly and Daniel answer listener questions about how fast animals can grow, how fast animals can go, and whether animal size impacts average lifespans. Also, cheese.

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2026-07-14
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Of lice and men

Daniel and Kelly explore what lice can teach us about human evolution, and the role lice have played in some of humanity's most devastating wars.

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2026-07-09
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Did aliens put satellites into Earth's orbit pre-Sputnik?

Daniel and Kelly dissect the evidence presented in recent peer-reviewed science papers for pre-Sputnik artificial satellites in Earth orbit.

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2026-07-07
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Listener Questions #43

Daniel and Kelly marinate in ethanol and saltwater, and reflect on the symmetries of antiparticles.

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2026-07-02
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The science of bathing (featuring Dr. Katrine Whiteson)

Daniel, Kelly, and Katrine talk about what bathing does to your microbiome, and weigh up the pros and cons.

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2026-06-30
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What broke the grand unified force in the early universe?

Daniel and Kelly walk through the early history of the Universe to explain how forces can be unified, or broken.

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2026-06-25
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Listener Questions #42

Zach joins Daniel and Kelly for a segment on art and science communication. Then Daniel and Kelly explore the concept of absolute hot, and what makes some rocks glow.

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2026-06-23
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The curious lives of social amoeba

Daniel and Kelly talks about a species of social amoeba that will die to help others. Why the heck does it do that? And bonus: the amoeba are farmers!

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2026-06-18
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What are JWST's little red dots?

Daniel and Kelly talk about the James Webb Telescope and something mysterious it saw

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2026-06-16
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Listener Questions #41

Daniel and Kelly answer questions from listeners about earthworms, the origins of the galaxy, and snails!

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2026-06-11
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What is a species? (featuring Dr. Scott Egan)

Daniel and Kelly talk to Prof. Scott Egan about the meaning of species in modern biology.

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2026-06-09
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Could the Earth be at the center of the solar system?

Daniel and Kelly explain the bizarre Tychonic model of the solar system, which for centuries stood as a valid theory alongside the Copernican model.

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2026-06-04
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Listener Questions #40

Daniel and Kelly answer questions about relativistic paradoxes, parasitoid wasp viruses, and detector technologies.

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2026-06-02
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Are urban raccoons becoming domesticated?

A recent paper found tantalizing evidence that rural raccoons are showing evidence of domestication. So how long until we all have pet raccoons? And how well do we really understand the domestication process anyway?

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2026-05-28
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What is quantum contextuality?

Daniel and Kelly dig into the mysterious concept of quantum contexuality: how measurements depend on each other.

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2026-05-26
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Listener Questions #39

Daniel and Kelly answer questions about muscle memory, water-less showers, and why everyone can't be ambidextrous.

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2026-05-21
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The Deep Seabed (featuring Dr. Andrew Thaler)

Over 50% of Earth's surface is the deep seabed. Dr. Andrew Thaler joins Daniel and Kelly to talk about the amazing diversity of life on the deep seabed, the resources found here, and the rules that govern this region.

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2026-05-19
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How do signals get jammed?

Daniel and Kelly explain how signals get jammed, how to avoid being jammed, and whose music makes the best jam.

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2026-05-14
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Listener Questions #38

Daniel and Kelly answer questions about aliens watching Earth, about lone species, and about the size limits of intelligence.

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2026-05-12
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The discovery of parasite life cycles

Parasites can have amazingly complicated life cycles - moving through a series of host species, and looking quite different while residing within each type of host. Frankly, this stumped scientists for a long time. In today's episode, Daniel and Kelly take a stroll through the history of science to explore how we finally started to figure parasite life cycles out.

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2026-05-07
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Can we use zero point energy?

Daniel and Kelly explain the nature of the quantum vacuum, whether its real or philosophical, and if it's possible to use to make your toast.

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2026-05-05
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Listener Questions #37

Daniel and Kelly explain how cells in a fetus or in an adult know what they're supposed to do, and discuss whether opposable thumbs are necessary for the development of tools and technology.

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2026-04-30
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Story of Birds (featuring Dr. Steve Brusatte)

Daniel and Kelly talk to Dr. Steve Brusatte about his new book "The Story of Birds". We discuss if chickens are really dinosaurs, if we know what color dinosaur feathers were, and why birds survived the devastating asteroid collision with Earth while pterosaurs didn't.

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2026-04-28
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