A journey through the evolutionary history of animals, beginning with the split of the metazoans from protists about 760 million years ago and ending with the rise of the amniotes about 340 million years ago. The focus is the development of key morphological traits necessary for more complex animal forms, including the origin of true tissues, bilaterial symmetry, the complete gut, the coelom, internal skeletons, and limbs. We conclude with an analysis of key adaptions that allowed amniotes to life in a wider range of terrestrial habitats. Recommended pre-listening is Episode 155: Embryology and Development and Episode 157: The Geologic Time Scale.

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Continuing from quantum electrodynamics part 1, here we explore the mathematical machinery used to compute interactions between particles, including propagators, Feynman diagrams, cross sections. We then walk through a simple example calculation to illustrate how these tools are applied. I conclude with an introduction to the problem of divergent loop integrals and how these can be resolved using renormalisation. Recommended pre-listening is Episode 158: Quantum Electrodynamics Part 1.

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A detailed look into the physics and mathematics of quantum electrodynamics, the theory of how light and matter interact. We discuss the generalisation of the Schrodinger equation to the Klein-Gordon and Dirac equations, and howw these describe the propogation of light and fermions respectively. We then consider the process of computing transition probabilities between quantum states, including the S matrix and perturbation theory, and Wick's theorem. Recommended pre-listening is Episode 85: Introduction to Quantum Field Theory.

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