Dark Energy is a Cosmic Marketing Scam! Says a Cosmologist—And She Might Just Be Right.

🎙 Guest: Guadalupe Cañas Herrera, Theoretical Cosmologist and Euclid Consortium Member

The Cosmic Scoop:

What’s driving the universe’s wild expansion? Dark energy and dark matter make up 95% of the cosmos—but we barely understand them. Enter Euclid, launched in July 2023 to map a 3D universe and crack these mysteries. Guadalupe Cañas Herrera, a key player in the mission, takes us 10 billion light-years into the past, challenging Einstein’s gravity and rethinking the “dark” labels we’ve slapped on the unknown. Bonus: she also brings Zumba energy to cosmology.

Quotable Insights:

💡 "We completely messed up in terms of assigning 'dark' to dark energy and dark matter—like, it was a fraud in terms of marketing."

 💡 "I prefer to believe that mathematically we’re still not there yet—so we must revisit Einstein’s equations rather than assume some hidden fuel."

 💡 "Statistically, it’s so unlikely that we’re alone—we’re on an average planet, in an average galaxy, in an average universe."

Cosmic Timestamps:

⏳ [00:01:45] The dream for Euclid: challenging the standard model
⏳ [00:03:15] Modified gravity vs. dark energy
⏳ [00:05:00] Why “dark” was a branding blunder
⏳ [00:08:45] How dark energy pushes the universe apart
⏳ [00:12:20] Teaching relativity with a Nobel-worthy twist
⏳ [00:15:09] Euclid’s place in cosmology’s big picture
⏳ [00:19:28] Mapping 1.5 billion galaxies from Lagrange Point 2
⏳ [00:23:57] Measuring distance with redshift and spectra
⏳ [01:08:17] Is the universe homogeneous?
⏳ [01:12:17] Are we alone? Guadalupe says, “Definitely not!”
⏳ [01:18:38] Zumba vibes: her cosmic playlist pick
⏳ [01:20:56] Inspiration tip: Write down wild ideas—you’ll come back to them

To Explore:

🔗 Euclid Mission
🔗 First Images from Euclid
🔗 ESA on Dark Energy
🔗 Send us a voice message
🔗 Zumba Track – "Zumba - Merengue Mix"

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