Radiolab: "Quantum Refuge" (Nov 14, 2025)

Main Theme/Overview

In "Quantum Refuge," Radiolab hosts Lulu Miller and Latif Nasser intimately explore the harrowing reality of life in Gaza through the eyes of Qasem Walid, a 28-year-old Palestinian physicist. By weaving the science of quantum mechanics into testimonies of daily survival, loss, and existential uncertainty, the episode probes how the confusing foundations of reality in physics can become both metaphor and refuge amidst chaos and violence.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Many Worlds Interpretation & Qasem’s Reality

• Opening Question: Lulu asks Qasem about the idea of parallel universes as comfort or science.
  • Qasem: "For a person who lives this madness in Gaza, imagining that there is another world ... where I have another version of me living peacefully is very intriguing, but scientifically speaking, I don't actually believe in it so much." [02:35]
  • Qasem rejects escapism, remains rooted in his own reality.

2. Surviving Day-to-Day in Gaza

• Qasem describes search for food, constant bombardment, and daily risks.
  • "Every place here ... whenever I go out from my tent, I pray for myself ... there is no shelter. The only shelter you can take is the guy in front of you." [05:17]

3. Origins—A Physicist’s Childhood

• Childhood fascination: Stargazing on polluted Gaza rooftops, seeing “pearls” in the sky after rain; first curiosity about the Orion Belt. [07:06]
• Father’s influence: An engineer who gave free math and physics lectures, romanticizing science for neighbors.
  • "He would compare the electric current for love ... between spouses." [09:49]
• Father’s political caution and self-censorship due to occupation.
  • "He was like writing diaries and stuff and keeping it for himself, not publishing it." [10:29]
• Parental Loss: Father dies when Qasem is 19; quantum physics, especially, becomes a way to honor and connect with his father’s passion. [10:54]
  • "Maybe in another universe where my dad is alive, I could be still learning from him." [10:59]

4. University Life & Meeting Dr. Sufyan Taya

• University as refuge: The library represents freedom; classes under trees in a campus Qasem considers “the most beautiful place in the whole Gaza Strip.” [11:58]
• Dr. Taya: A poetic, elegant physicist president, described as "a walking book that smells nice." [13:29–14:19]
• Embracing Quantum Mechanics:
  • Dr. Taya demystifies superposition: "You can't fight it." [15:06]
  • Qasem captivated, particularly by quantum tunneling—where particles seemingly pass barriers they “shouldn’t” be able to cross.
    • "We can make our own version of tunneling ... How about to imagine ourselves as electrons and go to the moon? Emotionally, spiritually ... because nothing is free in Gaza." [17:23–18:32]

5. Aspirations Interrupted by War

• Qasem dreams of scholarships, NASA, telescopes.
  • “I wanted to visit NASA, SpaceX, to see the rockets ... not just from the screen ... This is a life I imagine myself.” [19:10]
• Dreams dashed by war:
  • Interrupted by the hum of generators and waning phone battery—a real-time illustration of disrupted life. [19:58–20:30]

6. War's Encroachment—From October 7th On

• Recounts first moments of war: Mistaking the sound of rockets for thunder; “stripes of smoke” across the sky. [24:54–25:27]
• Devastation:
  • University destroyed, family displacement, living in a tent camp. “A new world of tents ... it’s my world now.” [27:47–28:31]
  • Death of his mentor, Dr. Taya, in an Israeli airstrike. [28:42–29:30]
  • "[Dr. Taya] decided to go even further in the north ... that is where he was killed." [29:05]

7. Writing as Survival—Science as Metaphor and Shelter

• Qasem turns private essays and social media into documentation, poetry, and protest.

  • On his aunt’s death: "To speak up, to speak loud, and to scream at the wall to take action." [30:29]
  • Quantum principles permeate his writing—using physics to express both suffering and hope.
  • "My movement is similar to the quantum harmonic oscillator ... It is the water ... that creates the ability to move from a lower energy state to a higher energy state, from more thirsty to less thirsty." [31:19]

• Why physics metaphors?

  • "When you study something, you just live by it ... That's me, a physicist, a student of physics, trying to live a genocide. My haven ... is the world of physics." [32:49]
  • Refuge is not physical, but mental: "If I can escape inside my head ... to the maze of physics ... well, so be it. ... I'm at least using something that I love as a safe zone." [33:42]

8. Collapse of the Box—Schrodinger’s Cat as Personal Metaphor

• Qasem applies thought experiment of Schrodinger’s Cat to his own entrapment.
  • “I have been stuck in this box since the beginning of Israel’s genocidal war ... So many people know I'm inside it, but none can tell if I'm alive or dead.” [35:24]
  • "I am the cat." [38:06]
  • “I am the one who is inside the box ... out of reach and out of resources ... It's your turn right now.” [41:47]
  • Plea to listeners/world: “Please open the box.” [42:16]

9. After the Ceasefire—The Box Remains

• Ceasefire brings little real change.

  • "It's the same box, but it gets only quieter ... I don't have a house, I don't have a job. I don't have a life." [44:25]
  • Continues to risk death: "We take the whole distance ... on foot and we were shot at by a quadcopter ... after the official ceasefire." [45:16]

• Wider metaphor: Genocide has “transformed to other shapes”; the persistent struggle for basic existence continues. [45:35]

10. The Stars—Returning to Wonder in Darkness

• Despite it all, stars still represent beauty and knowledge.
  • "There is nothing more beautiful than the stars ... that is when you can see stars all clear." [47:01]
  • “The more I know about them, the more I fell in love with them ... it actually makes me feel good even about myself.” [48:15]

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On quantum superposition as lived experience:

  • "Seemingly, my existence has now become identified by the superposition of the states of being simultaneously alive and dead. I'm alive in a lifeless life, and all the possible paths ahead lead to my death."
    – Qasem Walid [37:10]

• On the scientist becoming the subject:

  • “Here, it’s like you went from scientist to object of study.”
    – Lulu Miller [41:42]
  • “Exactly. I am the one who is inside the box ... It’s not up to me. I tried, I failed. And it’s your turn right now.”
    – Qasem Walid [41:47]

• A plea to the world:

  • "In Schrodinger's cat experiment, everyone asked whether the cat was alive or dead, but none actually opened the box to see ... We're not cats. Please open the box."
    – Qasem Walid [42:16]

• Stars as solace:

  • "The more I know about them, the more I fell in love with them ... it actually makes me feel good even about myself."
    – Qasem Walid [48:15]

Timestamps for Important Segments

• Many Worlds question, Qasem’s reality: [01:54–03:07]
• Life in Gaza: food scarcity, constant danger: [04:44–06:21]
• Childhood, stargazing, father’s influence: [07:06–11:21]
• University & Dr. Taya: [11:58–16:45]
• Quantum tunneling as metaphor for survival: [17:05–18:32]
• Aspirations interrupted: [19:10–20:30]
• October 7th & war’s effects: [24:54–28:31]
• Dr. Taya’s death: [28:42–29:30]
• Qasem starts writing, blending physics and survival: [30:29–33:42]
• Schrodinger's Cat metaphor—personal entrapment: [35:24–38:06; 41:42–42:16]
• Post-ceasefire—ongoing hardship: [44:25–45:35]
• Refuge in the stars: [47:01–48:15]

Episode Tone & Style

• Raw, poetic, precise. The fusion of trauma and scientific wonder is rendered in Qasem’s own gentle, sometimes playful, sometimes somber voice. Lulu affirms and gently challenges, while the episode honors the sensory moments—noisy cafes, distant bombs, the hush of darkness—grounding science in lived survival.

Additional Notes

• Qasem’s essays, including “I Am Stuck in a Box Like Schrodinger’s in Gaza,” are recommended for further reading.
• 2025 Nobel Prize awarded for work on quantum tunneling, connecting the quantum metaphor to the global scientific discourse and the episode’s central motif.

This episode is a searing account of individual and communal suffering—but also an illustration of how science, metaphor, and imagination can create new forms of resilience, witness, and hope.