Zeno's Paradox & The Quantum Zeno Effect

A moving arrow is at rest.” Zeno, a Greek philosopher famous for his metaphysical trolling, devised a paradox whose conclusion is just this. If we’re talking about a quantum arrow, there may be a way to freeze its motion simply by looking at it, through the aptly named quantum Zeno effect. The Quantum Zeno effect predicts that certain quantum events can be frozen through this act of observation.

Season 7 Episode 12 Length 12:48 Premiere: 03/23/21

Recent Episodes

Is the LHC Creating Dark Matter?

S11 E23 Length 18:18 Premiere Date 03/05/26

Dark Energy Is Driving the Universe Apart. We May Finally Know Why.

S11 E22 Length 19:02 Premiere Date 02/19/26

Our Only Chance To Finally Unlock The Gravity Particle

S11 E21 Length 16:26 Premiere Date 02/05/26

The Particle We’ve Been Chasing for 30 Years Might Not Exist

S11 E20 Length 18:33 Premiere Date 01/22/26

The Universe Itself Might Be Hiding the Gravity Particle From Us

S11 E19 Length 18:42 Premiere Date 01/13/26

Heisenberg Made a Discovery in 1925. We Still Can't Explain It

S11 E18 Length 25:02 Premiere Date 12/11/25

Specials

Black Holes. Explained. For 1.5 Hours.

Length 1:38:18 Premiere Date 12/18/25

Strange Stars

Length 09:58 Premiere Date 03/01/17

Did Dark Energy Just Disappear?

Length 12:22 Premiere Date 02/16/17

The Many Worlds of the Quantum Multiverse

Length 12:52 Premiere Date 02/09/17

The First Humans on Mars

Length 07:51 Premiere Date 02/02/17

Life on Europa?

Length 09:37 Premiere Date 01/18/17

Self-Replicating Robots and Galactic Domination

Length 09:57 Premiere Date 12/25/16

Season 7 Episodes

Show Episodes

Show Clips & Previews

Are Black Holes Actually Fuzzballs?

S7 E36 Length 14:07 Premiere Date 11/17/21

What If Our Understanding of Gravity Is Wrong?

S7 E35 Length 14:28 Premiere Date 11/10/21

Is Action The Most Fundamental Property in Physics?

S7 E34 Length 14:28 Premiere Date 11/02/21

Will Constructor Theory Rewrite Physics?

S7 E33 Length 11:41 Premiere Date 10/20/21

New Results in Quantum Tunneling vs. The Speed of Light

S7 E32 Length 13:00 Premiere Date 10/13/21

Why Magnetic Monopoles Should Exist

S7 E31 Length 14:15 Premiere Date 10/05/21

How Electron Spin Makes Matter Possible

S7 E30 Length 15:10 Premiere Date 09/21/21

Neutron Stars: The Most Extreme Objects in the Universe

S7 E29 Length 14:14 Premiere Date 09/15/21

First Detection of Light from Behind a Black Hole

S7 E28 Length 12:21 Premiere Date 09/07/21

How Vacuum Decay Would Destroy The Universe

S7 E27 Length 13:01 Premiere Date 08/18/21

How to Communicate Across the Quantum Multiverse

S7 E26 Length 13:43 Premiere Date 08/10/21

How An Extreme New Star Could Change All Cosmology

S7 E25 Length 14:30 Premiere Date 08/03/21

How Magnetism Shapes The Universe

S7 E24 Length 13:26 Premiere Date 07/21/21

Where Are The Worlds In Many Worlds?

S7 E23 Length 12:50 Premiere Date 07/13/21

Electrons Do Not Spin

S7 E22 Length 14:05 Premiere Date 07/07/21

How Quantum Entanglement Creates Entropy

S7 E21 Length 14:01 Premiere Date 06/23/21

Can Space Be Infinitely Divided?

S7 E20 Length 12:22 Premiere Date 06/16/21

Are We Running Out of Space Above Earth?

S7 E19 Length 13:44 Premiere Date 06/09/21

What If Tiny Black Holes Are Everywhere?

S7 E18 Length 11:34 Premiere Date 05/25/21

Breaking The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle

S7 E17 Length 10:48 Premiere Date 05/19/21

How To Know If It's Aliens

S7 E16 Length 14:08 Premiere Date 05/11/21

The New Warp Drive Possibilities

S7 E15 Length 13:11 Premiere Date 04/21/21

What If Dark Matter Is Just Black Holes?

S7 E14 Length 12:35 Premiere Date 04/13/21

Why the Muon g-2 Results Are So Exciting!

S7 E13 Length 12:35 Premiere Date 04/07/21