{"podcast":{"title":"Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas","slug":"sean-carroll-s-mindscape-science-society-philosophy-culture-arts-and-ideas-444522","podcast_index_feed_id":444522,"rss_url":"https://rss.libsyn.com/shows/604590/destinations/5264190.xml","website_url":"https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/b/0/6/d/b06d098337897af116c3140a3186d450/21d641ef836c48dff270cbede4360d187bdd6c56cb126be7d6f51078db34d4675527fa72e13c86bb573ec42c5d4fc493e18e7d95fec734ec77168fc379baefcf.jpeg","author":"Sean Carroll","episode_count":436,"summary":"Ever wanted to know how music affects your brain, what quantum mechanics really is, or how black holes work? Do you wonder why you get emotional each time you see a certain movie, or how on earth video games are designed? Then you've come to the right place. Each week, Sean Carroll will host conversations with some of the most interesting thinkers in the world. From neuroscientists and engineers to authors and television producers, Sean and his guests talk about the biggest ideas in science, philosophy, culture and much more.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-21T04:17:06.610110+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sean-carroll-s-mindscape-science-society-philosophy-culture-arts-and-ideas-444522"},"episode":{"title":"359 | Solo: Theories of Dark Energy","slug":"359-solo-theories-of-dark-energy","published_at":"2026-06-29T11:05:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sean-carroll-s-mindscape-science-society-philosophy-culture-arts-and-ideas-444522/359-solo-theories-of-dark-energy","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sean-carroll-s-mindscape-science-society-philosophy-culture-arts-and-ideas-444522","url":"https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/29/359-solo-theories-of-dark-energy/","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/1d1ac211-8392-45fe-82db-99fa7f77076e/solo-DE-2.mp3?dest-id=5264190","summary":"The cosmological constant, as discussed last episode, provides a perfectly good (thus far) explanation for why we observe the universe to be accelerating. But it might not be the right explanation, and demonstrating that would be yet another foundational discovery. In this episode I discuss what is required to invent a plausible theory of dynamical dark energy , This includes considerations from particle physics, possible experimental tests, and the option that we should modify gravity rather than adding a new source of energy to the equations. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/29/359-solo-theories-of-dark-energy/ Support Mindscape on Patreon .","meta_description":"The cosmological constant, as discussed last episode, provides a perfectly good (thus far) explanation for why we observe the universe to be accelerating.…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":6971,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/sean-carroll-s-mindscape-science-society-philosophy-culture-arts-and-ideas-444522/episodes/359-solo-theories-of-dark-energy/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/sean-carroll-s-mindscape-science-society-philosophy-culture-arts-and-ideas-444522/359-solo-theories-of-dark-energy.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}