
Basement: Daniel Whiteson | CERN, Dark Matter, and the Aliens Next Door
From The Why Files: Operation Podcast by The Why Files
April 20, 2026 · 3h 18m
About this episode
Daniel Whiteson discusses his work at CERN and explores the mysteries of dark matter and the universe.
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
- CERN
- dark matter
- aliens
- universe
- high-energy collisions
Keywords
- CERN
- dark matter
- particle physics
- aliens
- universe
- gravity
- Large Hadron Collider
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: CERN, UC Irvine
Books & works: Daniel and Kelly's Extraordinary Universe
More episodes of The Why Files: Operation Podcast
- The Basement: Joshua Cutchin | Fairies, Bigfoot, and the Connection Nobody Saw Coming · June 8, 2026 · 2h 39m
- Parallel Universes Are Real — And People Fall Into Them · June 6, 2026 · 42 min
- The Basement: Joseph Matheny | The Man Who Hacked Reality Before the Internet Existed · June 1, 2026 · 2h 44m
- The Forbidden Theory of Morphic Resonance · May 29, 2026 · 40 min
- The Basement: Luke Caverns | LIDAR Is Revealing Ancient Cities the Amazon Was Hiding · May 27, 2026 · 4h 38m
- The Basement: Rizwan Virk | The Simulation Hypothesis, Quantum Physics & Mysticism · May 18, 2026 · 2h 56m
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the The Why Files: Operation Podcast podcast page.