Oct 4, 2026 · 36 min · 13 segments
Listen to Amirita Mukherjee speak with Ian Woolf about how dark matter and the Universe form a cosmic onion. hosted and produced by Ian Woolf Support Diffusion by making a contribution Support…
Or what prospect do I see in this field? Because at the present, it sounds very saturated because, you know, dark matter search, there has been, nothing has been found, right? That's right.
But technically, this sounds very saturated from a very broad perspective.
And also, there is this often question that, you know, what good does it do
you are looking at something you it's just a very curious curiosity driven field
it sounds that it sounds like that but I have my own take on that maybe I can just share that absolutely you you can always tell me that even if you do do discover dark matter or even if you do know that neutrinos decay into something lighter that doesn't solve any of my problems that doesn't cure cancer or Let's say, I don't know, that doesn't do anything to the technology.
But I think, first of all, the methods you develop to understand any fundamental physics process is helpful.
As in, let's say, we know a lot about different numerical techniques that are being developed to understand a particular physics process.
So I think that is what this field has to offer to the branch of physics in general.
It might not solve your day-to-day problems, but it teaches you how to approach one.
So since it's fundamental physics, there are a lot of things that you don't know.
So you have to sit down, assume some model, do the math, think how things might work.
So, yeah, if it's a curiosity driven field, then it first of all, one teaches you how to think.
Now, if you know, if you know how to think, you can devise methods to calculate something.
Maybe you have done some new calculation, nothing novel perhaps, but some new calculation.
Or what prospect do I see in this field? Because at the present, it sounds very saturated because, you know, dark matter search, there has been, nothing has been found, right? That's right.
But technically, this sounds very saturated from a very broad perspective.
And also, there is this often question that, you know, what good does it do
you are looking at something you it's just a very curious curiosity driven field
it sounds that it sounds like that but I have my own take on that maybe I can just share that absolutely you you can always tell me that even if you do do discover dark matter or even if you do know that neutrinos decay into something lighter that doesn't solve any of my problems that doesn't cure cancer or Let's say, I don't know, that doesn't do anything to the technology.
But I think, first of all, the methods you develop to understand any fundamental physics process is helpful.
As in, let's say, we know a lot about different numerical techniques that are being developed to understand a particular physics process.
So I think that is what this field has to offer to the branch of physics in general.
It might not solve your day-to-day problems, but it teaches you how to approach one.
So since it's fundamental physics, there are a lot of things that you don't know.
So you have to sit down, assume some model, do the math, think how things might work.
So, yeah, if it's a curiosity driven field, then it first of all, one teaches you how to think.
Now, if you know, if you know how to think, you can devise methods to calculate something.
Maybe you have done some new calculation, nothing novel perhaps, but some new calculation.
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