Why can't stars fuse Iron?

Daniel and Kelly explain how triplets of particles can be entangled, and how it allows for a smoking-gun proof of quantum mechanics.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Daniel and Kelly answer listener questions about algal blooms in the Reflecting Pool, the difference between memory and consciousness, and banana slugs.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. 

Like most things in the universe, stars begin as particles floating around in massive clouds of dust and gas. But what forces these particles to coalesce and form a star? Tune in and learn more about the birth of stars in this podcast.

You are a star. Literally. You are a carbon-based life form and those atoms of carbon in the molecules that make up your cells were formed by a nuclear fusion reaction at the heart of long dead stars. That goes for the oxygen in your lungs too. And the red blood cells that c ...

The atoms in your heart once burned in the fires of a dead star. Does this constitute an almost-spiritual connection to the cosmos or is it mere chemistry? In this episode, Robert and Julie discuss the billion-year-old carbon inside us.