We are entering a second golden age of space travel – with human missions to the Moon and Mars planned for the near future. In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast we explore two very different challenges facing the next generation of cosmic explorers.

First up, the radiation oncologist James Welsh chats with Physics World’s Tami Freeman about his new ebook about the biological effects of space radiation on astronauts. They talk about the types and origins of space radiation and how they impact human health. Despite the real dangers, Welsh explains that the human body appears to be more resilient to radiation than are the microelectronics used on spacecraft. Based at Loyola Medicine in the US, Welsh explains why damage to computers, rather than the health of astronauts, could be the limiting factor for space exploration.

Later in the episode I am in conversation with two physicists who have written a paper about how we could implement a universal time standard for the Moon. Based at the US’s National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), Biju Patla and Neil Ashby, explain how atomic clocks could be used to create a time system that would making coordinating lunar activities easier – and could operate as a GPS-like system to facilitate navigation. They also say that such a lunar system could be a prototype for a more ambitious system on Mars.

Further reading

Welsh’s ebook is called “Space Radiation: Astrophysical origins, radiobiological effects and implications for space travellers”. It is part of the IPEM–IOP Series in Physics and Engineering in Medicine and Biology.

Ashby and Patla’s paper is called “A Relativistic Framework to Estimate Clock Rates on the Moon” and it appears in The Astronomical Journal.

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast I explore routes to more sustainable solar energy. My guests are four researchers at the UK’s University of Oxford who have co-authored the “Roadmap on established and emerging photovoltaics for sustainable energy conversion”.

They are the chemist Robert Hoye; the physicists Nakita Noel and Pascal Kaienburg; and the materials scientist Sebastian Bonilla. We define what sustainability means in the context of photovoltaics and we look at the challenges and opportunities for making sustainable solar cells using silicon, perovskites, organic semiconductors and other materials.

This podcast is supported by Pfeiffer Vacuum+Fab Solutions.

Pfeiffer is part of the Busch Group, one of the world’s largest manufacturers of vacuum pumps, vacuum systems, blowers, compressors and gas abatement systems. Explore its products at the Pfeiffer website.

Physicists and others with STEM backgrounds are sought after in industry for their analytical skills. However, traditional training in STEM subjects is often lacking when it comes to nurturing the soft skills that are needed to succeed in managerial and leadership positions.

Our guest in this podcast is Peter Hirst, who is Senior Associate Dean, Executive Education at the MIT Sloan School of Management. He explains how MIT Sloan works with executives to ensure that they efficiently and effectively acquire the skills and knowledge needed to be effective leaders.

This podcast is sponsored by the MIT Sloan School of Management

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, features the physicist and engineer Julia Sutcliffe, who is chief scientific adviser to the UK government’s Department for Business and Trade.

In a wide-ranging conversation with Physics World’s Matin Durrani, Sutcliffe explains how she began her career as a PhD physicist before working in systems engineering at British Aerospace – where she worked on cutting-edge technologies including robotics, artificial intelligence, and autonomous systems. They also chat about Sutcliffe’s current role advising the UK government to ensure that policymaking is underpinned by the best evidence.

LIV.INNO, Liverpool Centre for Doctoral Training for Innovation in Data-Intensive Science, offers students fully-funded PhD studentships across a broad range of research projects from  medical physics to quantum computing. All students receive training in high-performance computing, data analysis, and machine learning and artificial intelligence. Students also receive career advice and training in project management, entrepreneurship and communication skills – preparing them for careers outside of academia.

This podcast features the accelerator physicist Carsten Welsch, who is head of the Accelerator Science Cluster at the University of Liverpool and director of LIV.INNO, and the computational astrophysicist Andreea Font  who is a deputy director of LIV.INNO.

They chat with Physics World’s Katherine Skipper about how LIV.INNO provides its students with a wide range of skills and experiences – including a six-month industrial placement.

This podcast is sponsored by LIV.INNO, the Liverpool Centre for Doctoral Training for Innovation in Data-Intensive Science.

It came as a bolt from the blue for many Nobel watchers. This year’s Nobel Prize for Physics went to John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton for their “foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning and artificial neural networks”.

In this podcast I explore the connections between artificial intelligence (AI) and physics with the author Anil Ananthaswamy – who has written the book Why Machines Learn: The Elegant Maths Behind Modern AI. We delve into the careers of Hinton and Hopfield and explain how they laid much of the groundwork for today’s AI systems.

We also look at why Hinton has spoken out about the dangers of AI and chat about the connection between this year’s physics and chemistry Nobel prizes.

SmarAct proudly supports Physics World‘s Nobel Prize coverage, advancing breakthroughs in science and technology through high-precision positioning, metrology and automation. Discover how SmarAct shapes the future of innovation at smaract.com.

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast, our very own Matin Durrani and Hamish Johnston explain why they think that this year’s Nobel Prize for Physics could be awarded for work in condensed-matter physics – and who could be in the running. They also reminisce about some of the many Nobel laureates that they have met over the years and the excitement that comes every October when the winners are announced.

SmarAct proudly supports Physics World‘s Nobel Prize coverage, advancing breakthroughs in science and technology through high-precision positioning, metrology and automation. Discover how SmarAct shapes the future of innovation at smaract.com.

It is Peer Review Week and celebrations are well under way at IOP Publishing (IOPP), which brings you the Physics World Weekly podcast.

Reviewer feedback to authors plays a crucial role in the peer-review process, boosting the quality of published papers to the benefit of authors and the wider scientific community. But sometimes authors receive very unhelpful or outright rude feedback about their work. These inappropriate comments can shake the confidence of early career researchers, and even dissuade them from pursuing careers in science.

Our guest in this episode is Laura Feetham-Walker, who is reviewer engagement manager at IOPP. She explains how the publisher is raising awareness of the importance of constructive and respectful peer review feedback and how innovations can help to create a positive peer review culture.

As part of the campaign, IOPP asked some leading physicists to recount the worst reviewer comments that they have received – and Feetham-Walker shares some real shockers in the podcast.

• The interview refers to a paper in PeerJ by Nyssa Silbiger​​ and Amber Stubler: “Unprofessional peer reviews disproportionately harm underrepresented groups in STEM“

IOPP has created a video called “Unprofessional peer reviews can harm science” in which leading scientists share inappropriate reviews that they have received.

The publisher also offers a  Peer Review Excellence  training and certification programme, which equips early-career researchers in the physical sciences with the skills to provide constructive feedback.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast features two medical physicists working at the heart of the UK’s National Health Service (NHS). They are Mark Knight, who is chief healthcare scientist at the NHS Kent and Medway Integrated Care Board, and Fiammetta Fedele, who is head of non-ionizing radiation at Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust in London.

They explain how medical physicists keep people safe during healthcare procedures – while innovating new technologies and treatments. They also discuss the role that artificial intelligence could play in medical physics and take a look forward to the future of healthcare.

• This episode was created in collaboration with IPEM, the Institute of Physics and Engineering in Medicine. IPEM owns the journal Physics in Medicine & Biology.

This episode is supported by RaySearch Laboratories.

RaySearch Laboratories unifies industry solutions, empowering healthcare providers to deliver precise and effective radiotherapy treatment. RaySearch products transform scattered technologies into clarity, elevating the radiotherapy industry.

In this episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast we explore two related areas of physics, statistical physics and thermodynamics.

First up we have two leading lights in statistical physics who explain how researchers in the field are studying phenomena as diverse as active matter and artificial intelligence.

They are Leticia Cugliandolo who is at Sorbonne University in Paris and Marc Mézard at Bocconi University in Italy.

Cugliandolo is also chief scientific director of Journal of Statistical Mechanics, Theory, and Experiment (JSTAT) and Mézard has just stepped down from that role. They both talk about how the journal and statistical physics have evolved over the past two decades and what the future could bring.

The second segment of this episode explores how intense storms can affect your cup of tea. Our guests are the meteorologists Caleb Miller and Giles Harrison, who measured the boiling point of water as storm Ciarán passed through the University of Reading in 2023. They explain the thermodynamics of what they found, and how the storm could have affected the quality of the millions of cups of tea brewed that day.

• The Journal of Statistical Mechanics, Theory, and Experiment is a multi-disciplinary, peer-reviewed international journal created by the International School for Advanced Studies (SISSA) and IOP Publishing, which also brings you Physics World.

This episode of the Physics World Weekly podcast looks at quantum computing from two different perspectives.

Our first guest is Elena Blokhina, who is chief scientific officer at Equal1 – an award-winning company that is developing hybrid quantum–classical computing chips. She explains why Equal1 is using quantum dots as qubits in its silicon-based quantum processor unit.

Next up is Brandon Grinkemeyer, who is a PhD student at Harvard University working in several cutting-edge areas of quantum research. He is a member of Misha Lukin’s research group, which is active in the fields of quantum optics and atomic physics and is at the forefront of developing  quantum processors that use arrays of trapped atoms as qubits.