Intellectually Curious

Intellectually Curious is a podcast by Mike Breault featuring over 1,200 AI-powered explorations across science, mathematics, philosophy, and personal growth. Each short-form episode is generated, refined, and published with the help of large language models—turning curiosity into an ongoing audio encyclopedia. Designed for anyone who loves learning, it offers quick dives into everything from combinatorics and cryptography to systems thinking and psychology.

Inspiration for this podcast:

“Muad'Dib learned rapidly because his first training was in how to learn. And the first lesson of all was the basic trust that he could learn. It's shocking to find how many people do not believe they can learn, and how many more believe learning to be difficult. Muad'Dib knew that every experience carries its lesson.”

― Frank Herbert, Dune

Note: These podcasts were made with NotebookLM. AI can make mistakes. Please double-check any critical information.

All Episodes

Intellectually Curious

The Doppler Dance: How Radial Velocity Reveals Exoplanets

September 05, 2025 • Mike Breault

A deep dive into how astronomers detect planets around other stars by watching tiny wobbles in starlight. We explain the Doppler shift, radial velocity measurements, and the quest from the first hot Jupiter 51 Pegasi b to the centimeter-per-second precision of HARPS. We'll cover the M sin I mass ambiguity, the challenge of stellar noise, and how combining radial velocity with transits unlocks true planet masses. Finally, we glimpse the future with Espresso and Codex and the race toward true Earth analogs in the habitable zone.

Note: This podcast was AI-generated, and sometimes AI can make mistakes. Please double-check any critical information.