Charting the Architecture of the Universe & Human Life | Dr. Brian Keating

**Andrew Huberman** (0:00)
Welcome to the Huberman Lab Podcast, where we discuss science and science-based tools for everyday life.
I'm Andrew Huberman, and I'm a professor of neurobiology and ophthalmology at Stanford School of Medicine. My guest today is Dr. Brian Keating. Dr. Brian Keating is a professor of cosmology at the University of California, San Diego. Today's discussion is perhaps the most zoomed out discussion that we've ever had on this podcast. What I mean by that is today we talk about the origins of the universe. We talk about the earth's relationship to the sun and to the other planets. We talk a lot about optics. So not just the neuroscience of vision and our ability to see things up close and far away, but to see things very, very far away or very, very close up using telescopes or microscopes respectively. So today's discussion is a far reaching one, literally and figuratively. And one that I know everyone will appreciate because it really will teach you how the scientific process is carried out. It will also help you understand that science is indeed a human endeavor and that much of what we understand about ourselves and about the world around us and indeed the entire universe is filtered through that humanness. But I want to be very clear that today's discussion is not abstract. You're going to learn a lot of concrete facts about the universe, about humanity and about the process of discovery. In fact, much of what we talk about today is about the process of humans discovering things about themselves and about the world. Dr. Keating has an incredible perspective and approach to science, having built, for instance, giant telescopes down at the South Pole and having taken on many other truly ambitious builds in service to this thing we call discovery. Before we begin, I'd like to emphasize that this podcast is separate from my teaching and research roles at Stanford. It is, however, part of my desire and effort to bring zero-cost to consumer information about science and science-related tools to the general public. In keeping with that theme, this podcast episode does include sponsors. And now for my discussion with Dr. Brian Keating. Dr. Brian Keating, welcome.

**Brian Keating** (2:10)
Dr. Andrew Huberman, it's great to meet you in person finally. I thought you were a legend.

**Andrew Huberman** (2:15)
I exist in real life and you do as well. And I'm delighted that we're going to talk today because I have a long-standing adoration. There's no other appropriate word for eyes, vision, optics, the stars, the moon, the sun. I mean, animals, humans. What's more interesting than how we got here and how we see things and what we see and why?

**Brian Keating** (2:38)
That's right.

**Andrew Huberman** (2:39)
You're a physicist. You're a cosmologist, not a cosmetologist.

**Brian Keating** (2:43)
That's right. I do do hair and makeup if you're interested.

**Andrew Huberman** (2:46)
Please orient us in the galaxy.

**Brian Keating** (2:50)
So, I get to study the entire universe, basically. And it's not really such a stretch that cosmetology and cosmology share this prefix because the prefix cosmos is what relates those two words together that seem to be completely unrelated to each other, right? But it turns out the word cosmos, in Greek, the etymology of it, is beautiful or appearance. So, we have a beautiful appearance.
We look a certain way. We are attracted to certain things. But it kind of reflects the fact that the night sky is also beautiful, attractive, and evokes something dissimilarly in us. We humans are born with two refracting telescopes in our skulls, embedded in our skulls. And as you point out, you know, the retinas outside the cranial vault, right? I'll never forget you saying that. That means we have astronomical detection tools built into us. We don't have tools to detect the Higgs boson built into us or to look at a microscopic virus or something like that. So astronomy is not only the oldest of all sciences, it's the most visceral one, so connects us. And of the sciences, of that branch of science, of astronomical sciences, cosmology is really the most overarching. It really includes everything, all physical processes that were involved in the formation of matter, of energy, maybe of time itself. And it speaks to a universal urge, I think, to know what came before us. Like, I always ask people, I'll ask you, I know what the answer is, probably, but what's your favorite day on the calendar?

**Andrew Huberman** (4:22)
Favorite day on the calendar? I love New Year's Day.

**Brian Keating** (4:25)
New Year's Day, exactly. What is that? It's a beginning. It's a new year. Some people say their birthday, their kid's birthday, if they're smart, their anniversary, right? You know, you don't want to get too out of control with the misses. What are those? Those are beginnings. What's the only event that no entity could even bear witness to? The origin of the universe.