Basement: Daniel Whiteson | CERN, Dark Matter, and the Aliens Next Door

Basement: Daniel Whiteson | CERN, Dark Matter, and the Aliens Next Door

From The Why Files: Operation Podcast by The Why Files: Operation Podcast

April 20, 2026 · 3h 24m

About this episode

Daniel Whiteson discusses his work at CERN and the mysteries of the universe.

The Why Files releases video episodes on Spotify every Monday and Friday. And when you become a Spotify Premium subscriber, you get fewer ads – that means more story, less interruption. Daniel Whiteson is a particle physicist at UC Irvine and an active researcher at CERN's Large Hadron Collider — the largest machine ever built — where 5,000 scientists are using high-energy collisions to read the universe's secret menu. He co-hosts the show Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe, co-created an award-winning science show for preschoolers, and recently wrote a book asking whether aliens would even recognize our physics at all. His work sits at the collision point of experimental science, philosophy, and the biggest unanswered questions in physics — what everything is made of, why gravity is so weak, and whether the universe has a bottom. DANIEL LINKS sites.uci.edu/daniel X - @DanielWhiteson Podcast - Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

People in this episode

Guest: Daniel Whiteson

Topics covered

  • particle physics
  • dark matter
  • aliens
  • CERN
  • universe
  • science

Keywords

  • CERN
  • dark matter
  • aliens
  • particle physics
  • universe
  • gravity

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: CERN, UC Irvine

Books & works: Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe

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