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Pleasure Studies

Century: The Cosmic Elastic Band

Season 1, Ep. 5

Why do some years of our lives seem to pass by in a flash, when the smallest of moments can feel infinitely frozen? In “Century,” two voices offer their radically different perspectives on the sensation of time: Centenarian Margaret Shein shares that time speeds by much faster after having lived for an entire century, while Joy Simmonds details a terrifying car accident where she felt suspended in time and found an odd sense of peace. Adding to the mystery of time’s physicality, geology professor Ulrich Wortmann speaks to certain instances in which the passing of millions of years has left no trace in nature. And in a mind-bending reflection on time and memory, physicist and time-travel researcher Ben Tippett breaks down the very real possibility of future time travel, and explains how the past lives on forever in the space-time continuum.

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