Phymaths podcast # 74 || Phil Halper and Dr. Niayesh Afshordi

DescriptionPhil Halper is a fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and a science communicator, well known for his YouTube channel (Skydivephil) featuring cosmology documentaries with prominent cosmologists and physicists.Dr. Niayesh Afshordi is a cosmologist at the University of Waterloo, with an associate faculty position at the Perimeter Institute. He works on black hole physics and quadratic gravity.Together, they have co-authored a book titled "Battle of the Big Bang," which compiles and discusses various cosmological theories.The link to their book and papers, and a list of Dr. Afshordi's works, is given belowSome links1) Their book: https://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo244963115.html2) Their Copenhagen survey: https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.157763) Their APS survey: https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.110584) Dr. Niayesh's works: https://inspirehep.net/authors/1023532?ui-citation-summary=true5) Link to the high-energy physics resources page on my website: https://hassaansaleem.com/graduate-level-theoretical-physics-resources-in-progress/Contact InfoMy website: hassaansaleem.comFollow on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hassaan.3142/Join the WhatsApp channel: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Va9DkjmAzNbs7IlGuv1XFollow on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Hassaan_PHYEmail Queries: [email protected]Time stamps(0:00) Intro of the guests(0:25) Their book and Phil's series(5:56) Singularity theorems(22:11) Inflation(34:36) BGV theorem(45:41) Cosmic natural selection(1:04:34) Cyclic universe(1:17:05) Variable speed of light(1:29:47) More surveys?