E35: Alex Kaplan on the LK-99 Superconductor: the Drama, Democratization of Science, and Future Implications

"Moment of Zen"

Alex Kaplan shot to fame on Twitter last week for his thread on the LK-99 superconductor, and why it has the potential to be the most important physics discovery of our lifetime. Today he joins Dan Romero and Erik Torenberg to dig deeper into the LK-99 saga and its broader implications: why the material is so hard to replicate, the citizen journalist aspect and the democratization of science, condensed matter physics, a call for scientific ambition, and more. We're proudly sponsored by Vanta. Get $1000 off Vanta with https://www.vanta.com/zen

TIMESTAMPS:

(00:00) Episode Preview

(01:13) Introduction to Alex Kaplan, and how his superconductor tweet took over the internet

(03:32) Why is the LK-99 compound so difficult to replicate?

(06:52) The breakdown of superconductor properties (diamagnetism vs. superconductivity)

(10:44) How does one even go and invent a new material?

(13:53) Tracing the drama of how Lee, Kim, and Kwon published their papers

(15:06) Sponsor: NetSuite

(16:15) Cont. story of Lee, Kim, and Kwon

(19:25) Andrew and Iris live-tweeting their replication efforts

(22:08) The citizen journalist aspect

(24:21) The democratization of science

(25:41) Condensed matter physics

(29:38) What’s most exciting about the LK-99 discovery

(32:08) Observing the tangible impacts of virality on Twitter

(34:23) The (im)precise process of creating the LK-99 compound

(35:57) What are the implications, if LK-99 is a real superconductor?

(42:06) What if superconductors made more efficient quantum computers?

(44:03) A potential Kardashev scale civilization

(45:23) The most interesting thing about the LK-99 saga for Alex

(46:49) Comparable physics discoveries to the LK-99

(49:18) Alex's request for scientific ambition: where should we be looking?

LINKS:

Alex’s viral X / Twitter Thread: https://twitter.com/alexkaplan0/status/1684044616528453633

LK-99 Paper (submitted by Kwon): https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12008

LK-99 Paper (submitted by Lee and Kim): ​​https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.12037

X / TWITTER:

@alexkaplan0 (Alex)

@dwr (Dan)

@eriktorenberg (Erik)

@moz_podcast

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