Sometimes, we just end up watching too much Big Bang Theory.
Portia: When we go to Switzerland, can we go and see the Hadron Super Collider?
Ian: Why not? Though I don’t know what I’m going to do with it.
P: I said see it not play with it.
Pause.
P: Can I put you inside the Hadron Super Collider?
I: You want to vaporize me?
P: …
I: I will move in the speed of light and I will get vaporised.
P: Superman moves faster than the speed of light.
I: I’m not a super hero. I’m human.
P: I thought you were a Green Lantern.
I: I’m still human. I will still get vaporised.
Another pause.
P: So theoretically, we can go back in time. We’ve found a way to move in the speed of light, we just need to move a bit faster than that, then we can go back in time.
I: Only if you can find a material that won’t get vaporised while moving in the speed of light. And create a container out of that material that can maintain the air pressure while moving at that speed. Trains can go faster than they do but they limit the speed to the capacity of humans.
P: We can get materials from the planet Superman is from, his clothes don’t get vaporised…
I: What planet is that?
P: Hmm… KRYPTON! Planet krypton! What if we can make a container out of metal from planet krypton that humans can ride faster than the speed of light to go back in time?
I: Is there a guarantee that moving faster than the speed of light will actually bring you back in time? We don’t even know it yet. Whose theory is that again? Einstein?
P: Is it part of the Theory of Relativity? I’ll have to look it up.
Long pause. Preparing to go out.
P: What are they trying to do with the Hadron Super Collider anyway?
I: They’re trying to find the god particle.
P: How?
I: They’re colliding two atoms at the speed of light to find the god particle.
P: Are they relying on the law of big numbers to find the god particle?
I: I suppose so. There are billions of possibilities. So they keep on colliding two atoms at the speed of light to eventually find the god particle.
Pause.
P: Let’s go check out Cat Café?
I: Why not?
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Our whole universe was in a hot dense state,
Then nearly fourteen billion years ago expansion started. Wait…
The Earth began to cool,
The autotrophs began to drool,
Neanderthals developed tools,
We built a wall (we built the pyramids),
Math, science, history, unraveling the mystery,
That all started with the big bang (Bang)!
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I can’t remember a conversation that I’ve heard recently, as I keep on having the conversation with people around me. Maybe I’m the one people are actually overhearing. I’m not exactly sure. But when the prompt said “conversation”, this is the conversation that immediately popped inside my head. I wish I can tell you that this conversation was fiction, but it’s really not. This happens when you watch too much Big Bang Theory.
I’m more of an art and humanities person rather than a science person but I do love talking science from time to time. And as I’ve recently introduced my partner to the nerdy, geeky, and dorky world of Big Bang Theory, we’re having more of this type of conversation than usual. It is very enjoyable.
I decided to present this as a dialogue because that was how it happened. And its different from what I usually do. Now imagine this occurring in an apartment while eating Chinese food. That’s how I wished it happened at least.
Portia Placino 
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