Cosmic Queries – The Deep Part II

Time to get even deeper! Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice answer fan-submitted questions on the multiverse, the Big Bang, time travel, dark matter, sunlight, and more in Part II of Cosmic Queries – The Deep.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Welcome to StarTalk. Your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. This is StarTalk. Neil deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist, reporting to you live from my office. At the Hayden Planetarium. Chuck Nice.

• 0:27Chuck Nice?

  That's right, sir. What's happening?

• 0:28Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We've got Cosmic Queries. And so, what's today's topic?

• 0:33Chuck Nice?

  Well, you know, we did Cosmic Queries, "The Deep."

• 0:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  What does that mean?

• 0:36Chuck Nice?

  You know, we went deep on some, on some, some issues. Like, you know, we got a little more in-depth than we normally do.

• 0:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, it was multiple topics, we just got deep?

• 0:43Chuck Nice?

  We just got deep, and now we're going "The Deep," Part II. Because there were so many questions.

• 0:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  "The Deep," the sequel.

• 0:49Chuck Nice?

  Oh, look at that. This time, it's personal.

• 0:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You know, the movie "The Deep," I think, had an astrophysicist in it.

• 0:57Chuck Nice?

  Okay, wait, now.

• 0:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And it was directed by, by...

• 1:00Chuck Nice?

  Is that Ed Harris, the Deep?

• 1:01Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes!

• 1:02Chuck Nice?

  That is Ed Harris. And so, there were, there were creatures from outer space.

• 1:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 1:06Chuck Nice?

  But yet, they resided in the ocean.

• 1:08Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 1:09Chuck Nice?

  Right, yeah, not bad. And it was love, of course, at the end, that redeemed us as, as a species, and caused them to say, "You know what? We're not gonna destroy you." You know? "All right, cool." Yeah. Well, this is, of course, uh...

• 1:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Aliens are so not gonna be like that.

• 1:22Chuck Nice?

  And no, they're not. By the way, probably, they'd be like, "You do realize love is nothing but a biological function that you guys experience in your brains, and we have no idea what it really is, and, uh, yep, you're food."

• 1:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Food to us, yeah.

• 1:35Chuck Nice?

  You're food to us.

• 1:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It's a cookbook! All right, go.

• 1:39Chuck Nice?

  All right, we always start with a Patreon.

• 1:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And I don't always know the answers.

• 1:42Chuck Nice?

  No, you don't know, well, you don't know the questions, so, you know.

• 1:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, I don't have...

• 1:47Chuck Nice?

  How would you know if you wouldn't know the answers? But you do always have an answer. You may not know the answer, but you have an answer. That's for sure.

• 1:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I don't know if that was a compliment or an insult. I have to think that through.

• 1:57Chuck Nice?

  Well, not, not, neither. That was just an observation. That was, you know, uh, no, you, you normally do have the answer, which I find fascinating, you know, to be honest. Uh, um, and whatever, what else would I be?

• 2:09Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Just to be clear, the goal of Cosmic Queries is not to try to stump you.

• 2:13Chuck Nice?

  Try to stump you, no.

• 2:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's not the point of this.

• 2:14Chuck Nice?

  No, it's people ask questions.

• 2:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  PG got questions, and I have the answer, I'll share it.

• 2:18Chuck Nice?

  There you go, there you go. Uh, this is John Donahue, and he says, "How is there anything at all?"

• 2:27Chuck Nice?

  Which came first? Space? Or the Big Bang?

• 2:35Chuck Nice?

  Chicken and egg with the universe?

• 2:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  First of all, the chicken and egg has been solved. So stop mentioning chicken and egg.

• 2:41Chuck Nice?

  Really?

• 2:42Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, egg came first.

• 2:43Chuck Nice?

  Alright, thanks for that.

• 2:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, are we done there?

• 2:46Chuck Nice?

  Where did the egg come from?

• 2:47Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  From a bird that was not a chicken.

• 2:49Chuck Nice?

  Oh snap. Okay, that is just crazy.

• 2:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  How's that? That's just evolution by natural selection.

• 2:56Chuck Nice?

  That's natural selection.

• 2:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  At some point, the bird that lays the egg that you're calling a chicken is some other bird that you're not calling a chicken.

• 3:03Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 3:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Obviously, it's probably several generations for the-

• 3:06Chuck Nice?

  It took some time.

• 3:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Philosophically, this is what's happening.

• 3:09Chuck Nice?

  But it would-

• 3:09Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Right, so the egg came first. We're done there.

• 3:12Chuck Nice?

  We're done. The egg came first. There you go.

• 3:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Alright, so now, I can tell you what our thinking is,

• 3:17Chuck Nice?

  Mm-hmm.

• 3:18Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  but there's not some measurement of this to verify it. Our thinking-

• 3:22Chuck Nice?

  That makes sense.

• 3:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Is that the Big Bang exploded into existence space, matter, matter and energy,

• 3:33Chuck Nice?

  Mm-hmm.

• 3:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  as well as the arrow of time itself.

• 3:36Chuck Nice?

  So time, space, and matter?

• 3:39Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So to even ask what was around before the Big Bang,

• 3:42Chuck Nice?

  Mm-hmm.

• 3:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  we'd be like asking, what is north of the North Pole?

• 3:47Chuck Nice?

  Oh. I got you. Uh, what is north of the North Pole?

• 3:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The question has no meaning.

• 3:53Chuck Nice?

  There you go. Got you.

• 3:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  See?

• 3:56Chuck Nice?

  Hmm.

• 3:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Just because you can put nouns and verbs in the right sequence-

• 3:59Chuck Nice?

  Doesn't mean that they have actual meaning.

• 4:01Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Don't mean jack. Right.

• 4:03Chuck Nice?

  Okay, so let me get this straight.

• 4:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 4:05Chuck Nice?

  This singularity happens, boom, a second later, everything else that is, is-

• 4:10Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 4:10Chuck Nice?

  Inside of that.

• 4:12Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 4:12Chuck Nice?

  So time and space and all the matter-

• 4:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Energy and matter.

• 4:17Chuck Nice?

  Energy and matter, which we're gonna call the same thing, you know, one turns it to the other. All of that is inside of this thing that now is in existence.

• 4:24Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 4:26Chuck Nice?

  Dude, that's crazy what you just said.

• 4:27Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's, that's our current understanding.

• 4:29Chuck Nice?

  Dude, that's amazing.

• 4:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, that would mean that if space is nothing.

• 4:34Chuck Nice?

  Oh, my head is hurting right now because I'm trying to think about what is.

• 4:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  If you want space to be nothing.

• 4:38Chuck Nice?

  Yes.

• 4:39Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Where there's no, then what would you, you need a word.

• 4:42Chuck Nice?

  How do you, how do you make the nothing? Because nothing is space.

• 4:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You need a word to describe where there is no space.

• 4:49Chuck Nice?

  Wow, dude. Oh, my God, that's crazy.

• 4:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Where there is no nothing.

• 4:53Chuck Nice?

  That's right. So now, so, so here's what I'm trying.

• 4:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We don't really have a word for that.

• 4:57Chuck Nice?

  No, you don't.

• 4:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Right.

• 4:58Chuck Nice?

  Ah.

• 4:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Now, in fact.

• 4:59Chuck Nice?

  Let's call it something. No, we should, we should call that nothing. And we should call what we have something.

• 5:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Like it's something that's nothing?

• 5:08Chuck Nice?

  Yes.

• 5:08Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Ooh, Chuck invents a word.

• 5:10Chuck Nice?

  There you go, because, because really, nothing is what we're talking about.

• 5:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's really what we're talking about.

• 5:14Chuck Nice?

  That's really what we're talking about is nothing.

• 5:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But now we want to talk about something that is nothing.

• 5:18Chuck Nice?

  That is nothing. That should be something.

• 5:20Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Ooh, Chuck.

• 5:21Chuck Nice?

  Nice.

• 5:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Chuck fucking for the OED.

• 5:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Tomorrow morning, you get the phone, hello, this is the Oxford English Dictionary. Did you invent a word yesterday?

• 5:32Chuck Nice?

  Oh, man. So that, so now what I'm trying to envision is what is around that singularity? And the.

• 5:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It'd be a higher, it's embedded in a higher dimension.

• 5:42Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 5:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It's like if you're an ant crawling inside this sheet of paper, and that's your world, you have no concept of what's above or below it, even though we do, because we're higher.

• 5:51Chuck Nice?

  Because you can lift the paper up and see underneath the paper.

• 5:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I can see what's on.

• 5:54Chuck Nice?

  While the ant is still on the paper.

• 5:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Still on, inside of it.

• 5:56Chuck Nice?

  But that ant can never see underneath that paper.

• 5:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, he can't see, no, no, the ant is in the paper.

• 5:59Chuck Nice?

  Right, that's what I'm saying.

• 6:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, it's in the paper.

• 6:01Chuck Nice?

  In the paper. He can't never see above or below.

• 6:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Correct.

• 6:04Chuck Nice?

  He can never see what's underneath it.

• 6:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Correct.

• 6:06Chuck Nice?

  That's crazy.

• 6:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's, that's dimensionality.

• 6:09Chuck Nice?

  So that's it. So basically, what we're talking about, this nothing, is really only resident in a higher dimension at the time when the singularity.

• 6:18Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Now, the higher dimension people might say it's embedded in this thing that they call something.

• 6:22Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 6:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Even though if it's nothing to us.

• 6:25Chuck Nice?

  Wow.

• 6:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 6:26Chuck Nice?

  Wow. That is great. That was, dude, what's his name? John? John, thank you for that.

• 6:33Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Is that John Donahue?

• 6:33Chuck Nice?

  John Donahue.

• 6:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All right.

• 6:34Chuck Nice?

  Nice. That was excellent. Oh, I need a second. I'm sorry.

• 6:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You need a cigarette?

• 6:41Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, I was gonna say, we should smoke a cigarette.

• 6:44Chuck Nice?

  That was really good, man.

• 6:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All right.

• 6:45Chuck Nice?

  All right, let's move to the next one. Um, this is from Facebook. This is, uh, Chris.

• 6:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  These are Patreons?

• 6:53Chuck Nice?

  No, this is Facebook. That was Patreon.

• 6:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The first one. You led off with the Patreon.

• 6:56Chuck Nice?

  I did. Um, because of course Patreon patrons actually support us financially, okay? So, you know.

• 7:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's cool. That's like saying, unlike the rest of y'all.

• 7:06Chuck Nice?

  No, I'm just saying that they're special because they support us financially. You know what I mean?

• 7:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Anyone who listens to the ads that fund this program are also supporting us.

• 7:18Chuck Nice?

  If you're listening. So the people I really have a problem with are the people who don't listen to the ads.

• 7:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Right. Especially since you're the voice on a lot of the ads.

• 7:24Chuck Nice?

  I pretty much am.

• 7:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You're dissing Chuck.

• 7:27Chuck Nice?

  Thank you. So, listen to our ads.

• 7:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Alright.

• 7:29Chuck Nice?

  Or support us on Patreon and skip the middleman and give us a direct infusion of cash. Alright, here we go. Enough of that. I'm sorry. I can't help it.

• 7:39Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Don't buy the Campbell soup so that they buy the ad. Just walk right up.

• 7:42Chuck Nice?

  Just right. Just go get it.

• 7:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Knock on the door.

• 7:44Chuck Nice?

  Knock on the door and give Mr. Campbell five dollars.

• 7:48Chuck Nice?

  Alright, here we go. This is Chris Coghlan who wants to know this. I'd love to hear your take of the multiverse theory. Do you believe that every choice ever made by everyone has resulted in other realities such as a crossroads example for options left, right, straight on, and turn around? The theory would have you make all four choices and only be aware of the one along a linear timeline, which would be your linear timeline. Uh, interesting.

• 8:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So let's back that up.

• 8:20Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, let's back that up.

• 8:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Let's back up.

• 8:21Chuck Nice?

  Cause he's packed a lot of stuff.

• 8:22Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Here's where the multiverse concept comes from.

• 8:24Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 8:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  When, when you take Einstein's general theory of relativity, the modern theory of gravity.

• 8:30Chuck Nice?

  Correct.

• 8:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Gives us our understanding of the curvature of space and time.

• 8:34Chuck Nice?

  Alright.

• 8:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's how we get the, our understanding of the Big Bang and all this. All the modern cosmology has that as its foundation.

• 8:43Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 8:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Then you have quantum physics.

• 8:45Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 8:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Which came out, interestingly, ten years after general relativity. This is now in the 1920s. Quantum physics is all about molecules and atoms and nuclei and particles.

• 8:57Chuck Nice?

  Mm-hmm.

• 8:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay. Those two theories do not play nicely with each other in the sandbox.

• 9:05Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 9:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  They each work in their own regimes, but you try to bring them together, they are inconsistent with each other.

• 9:11Chuck Nice?

  Worlds colliding, Jerry.

• 9:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It is figuratively that.

• 9:15Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 9:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Alright, so now.

• 9:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  What happens at the beginning of the universe when the entire universe was the size of an atom? Whose rules are in charge? Whoa. You have a shotgun wedding. There you go. Between quantum physics and general relativity. Oh my god. And all of us are pretty sure that quantum physics wins. And in so doing, quantum physics where it pops particles in and out of existence. It could pop universes in and out of existence. Whole universes, if the universe is the size of a particle. Absolutely. So, the point is, let's go back in time when the whole universe was the size of a particle. What are the rules of quantum physics telling us? They're telling us that multiple universes could be popping in and out of existence.

• 10:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And we are just one of them. Gotcha. Each one with a slightly different law of physics. Okay. So, let's start there. So now, there's no limit on how many of these universes there could be. Let's say there's infinite. Okay. If there's an infinite, that means there's every possible combination of all particles there ever were. Right. Including combinations of particles with you on another universe on a podcast where you have an evil mustache. Well, you already have a mustache. I already have an evil mustache. Evil goatee. I already have an evil goatee, yeah. Okay, there's the nice Chuck. Right, I was gonna say. Clean shaven Chuck. Nice Chuck in the other universe. And he's still a virgin, by the way. So, so they, it's been hypothesized that every version of you exists.

• 10:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Virgin, virgin nice Chuck? Every version. Every version. So, you only happen to be in the one version that you are in. Right. So here's what I would say. Go ahead. People like thinking about this as a means of immortality. True. However, why would this Chuck with all your atoms in this way have any consciousness overlap with the Chuck in the other universe? None, there would be. There's no reason to be. For me to think so because... That Chuck's living his own best life. Living his own best life. You don't have overlapping consciousness with your twin. And they're in the same damn universe as you. And, and, and if they're identical, they came from the exact same single cell. Single cell. Right. So, if you don't share consciousness Right.

• 11:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  with your twin, I'm not giving reason to think you would share consciousness with somebody else who has the same molecular... DNA construct as you but in another

• 11:40Chuck Nice?

  But in another year, right.

• 11:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There you go.

• 11:42Chuck Nice?

  So there you have it. So yeah, I mean, that makes perfect sense.

• 11:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 11:45Chuck Nice?

  You know, that makes perfect sense. Hey, nice question there.

• 11:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Got time for one more, I think, before we break?

• 11:50Chuck Nice?

  Before we break. Okay, here we go. Let's go with Claudio Ramirez.

• 11:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Claudio.

• 11:55Chuck Nice?

  Claudio, coming from

• 11:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Ramirez.

• 11:57Chuck Nice?

  Ramirez, from Instagram, says this, "If all matter is spaghettified at the event horizon of a black hole into what is light spaghettified." Whoa, smaller pieces, photons? Or is it that since the photon is actually energy, it is absorbed by the mass of the black hole? So the light that goes into a black hole, how is that spaghettified as a wave and a particle at the same time?

• 12:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Are you ready?

• 12:32Chuck Nice?

  Oh, yeah.

• 12:32Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Are you, can you, but you can't handle the truth.

• 12:36Chuck Nice?

  I don't know if I can handle it.

• 12:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Do you want the truth?

• 12:38Chuck Nice?

  I do want the truth.

• 12:39Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You can't handle the truth.

• 12:42Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All right. So first of all, it's not the event horizon where the action is.

• 12:47Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 12:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The action is someplace closer to the center of the black hole, where the tidal forces do rip you apart.

• 12:53Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 12:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay? I imagine there could be some black holes where the tidal forces are strong enough at the event horizon for this to happen to you. But if you're falling, you will fall through the event horizon. You won't know any different.

• 13:04Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 13:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Before, during, or after.

• 13:06Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 13:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There'll be a point before you reach the singularity where you are ripped to shreds.

• 13:10Chuck Nice?

  Gotcha.

• 13:10Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, spaghettified. Now, how about light? Light is in a way spaghettified.

• 13:16Chuck Nice?

  Already?

• 13:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It, no, in a way.

• 13:18Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 13:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Light also gets spaghettified.

• 13:20Chuck Nice?

  Okay, also gets spaghettified.

• 13:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So let's take a wavelength of light.

• 13:23Chuck Nice?

  Uh huh.

• 13:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Let's call it blue light, and it has a wavelength this big.

• 13:26Chuck Nice?

  All right.

• 13:27Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Actually, it's

• 13:27Chuck Nice?

  It's a small.

• 13:28Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But just, okay, let's be literal. Here's a wavelength of microwaves, a couple of centimeters across.

• 13:34Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 13:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, you can see that wavelength. All right. As this falls into the black hole?

• 13:40Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 13:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay? If you're watching that fall into a black hole?

• 13:44Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 13:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It stretches. The wavelength stretches. Yes. Wow. It becomes, as we say, red-shifted, which simply means it becomes a bigger. A bigger wavelength. We said red because we talked about visible light shifting to the red side of that spectrum. Got you. But I'm using microwaves, which is already redder than the red, but we kept the term. It's getting bigger. And it would then become sort of infinitely red-shifted as it goes down to the, to the, to the bottom of the horizon. Wow. Yeah. So it really does. Actually. Piggybacking some sun. You can't fit the photon of longer wavelength than the size of the black hole itself into the black hole. So there's a limit to how big is the, uh, how, how, how big is the wavelength it fits in. Got you. Okay.

• 14:28Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The funny thing about the wavelength of these particles is you can trap them, you could do interesting things with them by creating boundaries smaller than the wavelength. Right. Like your microwave oven. Which has little holes in it. This is the size of the microwave. Right. How big are the holes on your microwave door? Um. Just say smaller. Yeah. Smaller. Right. Smaller than wavelength. Smaller than wavelength of microwave. So, yeah, so it doesn't come out. They better be. That's why you don't fry your eyeballs. Your eyeball looking in. Right. If they weren't. Are these burritos done? Oh my god.

• 14:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's a laugh. Okay. Yeah. That's funny. Yeah, that would be a badly designed microwave oven. Yeah. So that's how you can have a transparent door, microwave to light, visible light, but it's not transparent to microwaves. Sweet. Microwaves would reflect off because it's smaller. So that's what'll happen in a black hole to light. Nice. Gotta take a break. Okay. When we come back, more Cosmic Queries. The Deep. Down Deep, Part Two. When we return.

• 15:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We're back. StarTalk, Cosmic Queries. The Deep. The Deep. Oh, sure. The Deep. The Deep. The Deep. Nice. Have you, has your voice gotten deeper than mine yet? No. Uh. You still going through puberty? I'm, I was about to say, I am going through adult puberty, so I'm looking forward to it. The Deep. The Deep. No, you got that vibrato, that Scotch vibrato. That's what it is. Scotch. I don't drink Scotch. I love Scotch. Scotchy, Scotchy, Scotch. I, I drink wine, and wine doesn't do that to your voice. Matter of fact, you drink enough wine and then all of a sudden.

• 16:09Chuck Nice?

  Why do you become thirsty now?

• 16:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You become thirsty now?

• 16:12Chuck Nice?

  Oh god, is that a shot of new de pop?

• 16:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Why do you become thirsty now?

• 16:20Chuck Nice?

  It just works, it just works.

• 16:26Chuck Nice?

  Alright, back to our questions. We have the real JP from YouTube says this.

• 16:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That means he's famous, if he's the real JP.

• 16:37Chuck Nice?

  If he's again, that means somebody did it, right?

• 16:39Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Put the real before him, okay.

• 16:41Chuck Nice?

  How would you explain what weather was if we were in fact in a simulation?

• 16:51Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, no, they would just be simulating the weather.

• 16:53Chuck Nice?

  Yeah. It'd be the same, it's just a simulation of weather, right?

• 16:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Correct, and if they want to be convincing as simulators, they would simulate everything that you would otherwise experience, that they, that they experience in their world.

• 17:05Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 17:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So they would have particles that, you know, they wouldn't even have to be actual oxygen, nitrogen, until you make the measurement.

• 17:13Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 17:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Right, and then you quickly, that's the flag that goes up.

• 17:16Chuck Nice?

  That's the flag that goes up and it says like, yo, that's what it is.

• 17:18Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yep, yep, program in the oxygen, nitrogen molecules, and carbon dioxide unfortunately. Um, and so, so they wouldn't have to have everything be that, but you just program that in. But here's something about the air.

• 17:31Chuck Nice?

  Go ahead.

• 17:32Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Do you know the quote from, uh, was it Ogden Nash? Wind is caused by trees waving their branches.

• 17:41Chuck Nice?

  Oh, that's very, I like that.

• 17:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, isn't that beautiful?

• 17:43Chuck Nice?

  That's a lovely, lovely sentiment.

• 17:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 17:45Chuck Nice?

  Because of course, we see trees reacting to wind.

• 17:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, how do you know?

• 17:50Chuck Nice?

  Exactly, that's what I'm saying, so perhaps that reaction is the manifestation.

• 17:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  When you turn on the light, how do you know it just didn't suck all the dark out?

• 17:59Chuck Nice?

  Because I'm not five!

• 18:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So when I was in middle school, I had, I converted my bathroom into a darkroom. A darkroom where you develop.

• 18:12Chuck Nice?

  Film?

• 18:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, yeah, it had a little photography business.

• 18:15Chuck Nice?

  Look at you.

• 18:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  When I was in middle school.

• 18:16Chuck Nice?

  Jesus Christ.

• 18:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And so this is, we had an interior bathroom that didn't have a window. So that way I can make it completely dark. So I had a little sign I put outside and it said, don't open the door, otherwise the dark will leak out.

• 18:26Chuck Nice?

  That's funny.

• 18:27Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's what I had on.

• 18:28Chuck Nice?

  Nah, I had a sign.

• 18:28Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I might still have that sign too.

• 18:30Chuck Nice?

  I had a sign that said, don't open the door unless you want to be horrified. And I'm a teenage boy, damn it. Stuff is going on in here.

• 18:41Chuck Nice?

  Alright. By the way.

• 18:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  What?

• 18:43Chuck Nice?

  Um, what I find, um, really cool about what you just said is that is what we're doing. We create simulations right now to tell us about the weather and what it's going to do.

• 18:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, interesting.

• 18:55Chuck Nice?

  That's exactly what we do.

• 18:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 18:57Chuck Nice?

  And we do that based on, I say we like I'm a scientist.

• 19:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, look away.

• 19:01Chuck Nice?

  Look at me.

• 19:01Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I love the way.

• 19:02Chuck Nice?

  I've been hanging out with you guys too long.

• 19:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Keep going, keep going. Yeah, I'm loving it.

• 19:06Chuck Nice?

  But.

• 19:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So called climate models.

• 19:08Chuck Nice?

  Exactly. And those models are made, the way, the reason they know they work is because they're made, uh, and tested on data.

• 19:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  On actual.

• 19:16Chuck Nice?

  That's already happened.

• 19:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, that's correct.

• 19:17Chuck Nice?

  So it's so cool, like you, you know.

• 19:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There you go.

• 19:20Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 19:20Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Mm-hmm.

• 19:21Chuck Nice?

  So, alright. Nice, alright, alright.

• 19:24Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, by the way, one evidence when we don't really know what's going on.

• 19:27Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 19:27Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  When they say 50% chance of rain.

• 19:32Chuck Nice?

  That's pretty funny, man.

• 19:33Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That is the best evidence when that model does not work.

• 19:36Chuck Nice?

  Flip a coin, right.

• 19:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It does not work.

• 19:38Chuck Nice?

  That's funny. We got nothing is really what they're saying.

• 19:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So in the future, you want weather forecast to be 100% of this or 0% of that.

• 19:44Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 19:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Then you know you've got the right model.

• 19:46Chuck Nice?

  That's true, because you're really just covering your ass.

• 19:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You are C, Y frickin' A.

• 19:51Chuck Nice?

  50%. Oh my God.

• 19:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 19:53Chuck Nice?

  You dirty little weatherman.

• 19:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You didn't notice?

• 19:56Chuck Nice?

  You dirty cheating weatherman.

• 19:57Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Every time they give a statistic, they covering their ass.

• 19:59Chuck Nice?

  50% chance of rain, that just means we don't know what's gonna happen. Oh my gosh.

• 20:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yep.

• 20:05Chuck Nice?

  Alright, Sam Champion, we're coming for you.

• 20:08Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Mm-hmm.

• 20:09Chuck Nice?

  Alright, okay. Alright, here we go. Uh, this is Waryum Sidhu. Waryum Sidhu.

• 20:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Mm-hmm.

• 20:16Chuck Nice?

  From YouTube says, why is everything spherical and curvy in the universe? Spherical and curvy.

• 20:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I wrote a whole essay on this. Did you? Called On Being Round. Nice. I think it was one of my better top 10 essays. On Being Round. On Being Round. Mm-hmm. And so I'm almost not even gonna try to... Actually, I... That essay appears in my Death by Black Hole book. Oh, really? Produced there. Oh, sweet. And I don't think I put it in my... So it's out there. Okay. So should I spend time on that here and now? Or should you just go buy the book? Wyrim? Wyrim? See doo? Here's your answer. Death by Black Hole, Amazon.

• 21:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There's a whole chapter there on Being Round. On Being Round. And it's... I'll say in simple terms. Okay. Multiple laws of physics conspire to make things round when you might want them some other shape. And that goes for soap bubbles. It goes... There's no cubic soap bubbles. It goes for forming planets. It goes for forming stars. It goes for, um... What else? It goes for beads of water that ball up on your freshly waxed car after it rains. Absolutely. It even goes for, um, vegetables. Things that have come out of the ground. Like carrots? Well, carrots, they're curvy. No, carrots. We're talking about spherical round things. That's all I'm saying.

• 21:50Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Like, anything that hangs, like, from a vine? Hangs will be round. Anything that hangs from a vine. Generally round, okay? So the laws of physics conspire to make this happen, and that essay is an entire exposition on that. And you can just Google... You are such a tease, because you did not tell this guy why. I think it's... I think you can get the essay without having to buy the book. Okay. Just Google Mike... Neil deGrasse Tyson? Neil deGrasse. Just that takes out Mike Tyson, in case he wrote anything. That's right.

• 22:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Let me tell you something. First of all, I'm just saying this. So, so Google the grass and on being round and that should go straight to it. I have a book called On Being on the Ground. It's where I bite your ear off and I knock you out. On Being on the Ground.

• 22:35Chuck Nice?

  Okay, anyway. All right, there you go.

• 22:39Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  By the way, when I do an internet search, Ryan Tyson, I have to subtract out chicken.

• 22:45Chuck Nice?

  That's true.

• 22:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And I subtract out boxing and that tightens up the search.

• 22:49Chuck Nice?

  And that tightens up the search. All right, so On Being Round, and that'll give you a more in-depth because we don't have time to go into it.

• 22:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, it's a lot. It's a lot there.

• 22:56Chuck Nice?

  All right, here we go. Wesley, uh, uh, yes, Wesley Sang wants to know this. Hey there, my name is Wesley and I'm from Jersey. Since we are in the universe, made conscious and the universe as we know it so far started at the Big Bang, do you think it is possible that life was created by the Big Bang itself? That shortly after the Big Bang happened, the cosmos awakened. Thank you for all of the knowledge that you have given and that I have gleaned from StarTalk.

• 23:32Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Wow.

• 23:33Chuck Nice?

  Hmm.

• 23:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's a higher literate thing right there.

• 23:35Chuck Nice?

  Yes.

• 23:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Just compositionally and everything.

• 23:37Chuck Nice?

  Exactly, he went there.

• 23:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  He, he, man.

• 23:40Chuck Nice?

  Somebody has Grammarly.

• 23:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Somebody speaks good.

• 23:45Chuck Nice?

  Somebody speak good.

• 23:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You speak good.

• 23:50Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, uh, the answer is no.

• 23:53Chuck Nice?

  Oh, right, there you go.

• 23:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, here's why. Here's why.

• 23:57Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 23:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Life is made of what we call organic ingredients.

• 24:02Chuck Nice?

  Correct.

• 24:02Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So.

• 24:03Chuck Nice?

  Our life is.

• 24:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 24:06Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 24:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, so we've got oxygen, nitrogen, carbon. These are organic molecules, organic elements. Okay, organic chemistry is all about what those elements do, plus when they attach something else to it.

• 24:18Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 24:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All life on Earth has those elements in it.

• 24:21Chuck Nice?

  Exactly.

• 24:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Those elements weren't around at the Big Bang.

• 24:23Chuck Nice?

  Ooh. There you go.

• 24:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  They were manufactured in the cores of stars.

• 24:29Chuck Nice?

  Nice.

• 24:30Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Of a kind of star that happens to then re-release it out into space.

• 24:33Chuck Nice?

  Sweet.

• 24:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So you have to stockpile generations of these supernova explosions that have made these elements and enriched the galaxy. You have to stockpile generations of them so that a later gas cloud.

• 24:46Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 24:47Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Doesn't only have the hydrogen and helium it was endowed with at the Big Bang. It's got these extra contaminant enrichments. And out of those enrichments, the next generation of star systems will have the ingredients that can make planets and people.

• 25:03Chuck Nice?

  That is really very.

• 25:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And life in general.

• 25:06Chuck Nice?

  I wish that that was common knowledge, that what you just said right there is so important in terms of an origin story.

• 25:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes.

• 25:14Chuck Nice?

  It's so important.

• 25:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It's our origin story.

• 25:15Chuck Nice?

  It's our origin story.

• 25:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Origin story of life.

• 25:17Chuck Nice?

  Yeah. Wow. Hey, man, that's a great question.

• 25:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's why if you're looking at very, very old stars in the galaxy.

• 25:24Chuck Nice?

  Uh huh.

• 25:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It's pointless to try to find planets with life on them. We, we think.

• 25:28Chuck Nice?

  Right. That makes sense.

• 25:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 25:30Chuck Nice?

  Yeah. Yeah, it was like, you know, it's, it, it, it, it's kind of like looking at cookie dough and thinking that you're gonna one day just see a cookie. No, it's like that dough has to go through.

• 25:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Are you hungry now?

• 25:40Chuck Nice?

  I am so hungry. How did you know?

• 25:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You went from the friggin' Big Bang to cookie dough.

• 25:47Chuck Nice?

  You know why I am hungry?

• 25:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's the best you can do for me?

• 25:49Chuck Nice?

  I could have done so much better.

• 25:50Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I know. I'm so disappointed.

• 25:53Chuck Nice?

  I'm starving.

• 25:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Cookie dough and it's chocolate chip cookies and chocolate chip for the galaxy.

• 25:56Chuck Nice?

  Right, there you go.

• 25:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And it expands the galaxies received.

• 26:00Chuck Nice?

  Ah, that, no, that's a really great point, though. That, that's our origin story. That's very cool.

• 26:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So you might ask, five billion years from now, where even more generations of stars have enriched. Could those star systems have so much organic material? That they'd be teeming.

• 26:16Chuck Nice?

  Teeming with life.

• 26:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Life on Earth has only one genesis, as far as we know.

• 26:19Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 26:20Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Maybe there are planets with multiple genesis, genesises of life.

• 26:22Chuck Nice?

  Like, like they can't, like, they're just tripping over life.

• 26:25Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Tripping over life.

• 26:25Chuck Nice?

  Cause there's so much, so much material there to make life.

• 26:27Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So much material to make life, yeah.

• 26:29Chuck Nice?

  Wow. Dude, that's. God, I wish everybody knew that. Okay.

• 26:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Alright, time for one more question.

• 26:35Chuck Nice?

  Alright, we've got time for one more.

• 26:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Before this segment.

• 26:36Chuck Nice?

  Okay, okay, okay, okay. Here we go. This is from Keep Looking Up on Instagram.

• 26:42Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But somebody's gotta keep looking up.

• 26:43Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, that's their title, right?

• 26:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Really?

• 26:45Chuck Nice?

  Keep looking up on Instagram. "Oh my God, what if backwards time travel is possible, but it's only possible at the same pace as we move forwards? And we will also be forgetting our memories as it moves, so it's kind of a pointless in the end, because, you know, you'd just be reversing the clock."

• 27:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, no one thinks that when they're thinking of time travel. Nobody. Nobody's saying, "I wanna go backwards in time, and then just start living backwards."

• 27:18Chuck Nice?

  The Benjamin Button version of time travel. Right.

• 27:22Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's not really time travel.

• 27:23Chuck Nice?

  No, it isn't.

• 27:24Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's moving forward in time, while your sorry ass is moving backwards in time.

• 27:29Chuck Nice?

  That's basically what it is, yeah.

• 27:30Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I, I, yeah, that's Benjamin Button.

• 27:32Chuck Nice?

  That's the Benjamin Button.

• 27:33Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, famous author wrote that.

• 27:34Chuck Nice?

  Who?

• 27:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  F. Scott Fitzgerald.

• 27:36Chuck Nice?

  That's pretty famous.

• 27:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's pretty famous.

• 27:37Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 27:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  In fact, he has one of the most brilliant sentences I've ever read in my life.

• 27:42Chuck Nice?

  Alrighty.

• 27:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It was the sentence I read that convinced me I will never be a novelist.

• 27:48Chuck Nice?

  Oh, wow.

• 27:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Because I said, "I can't write that."

• 27:50Chuck Nice?

  That, that, alright, like, damn, this guy just did it. Like, it can't be.

• 27:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Can I tell you the sentence?

• 27:55Chuck Nice?

  Go ahead.

• 27:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You ready?

• 27:56Chuck Nice?

  Go ahead.

• 27:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay. It's from The Great Gatsby.

• 27:58Chuck Nice?

  Alright.

• 27:59Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay, remember, it's a big party, there's a lot of, like, you know, sex, drugs, and rock and roll.

• 28:03Chuck Nice?

  Oh, yeah.

• 28:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay?

• 28:04Chuck Nice?

  Roaring twenties, baby.

• 28:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Roaring twenties, right, alright, here it goes.

• 28:10Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  "In his blue gardens, men and girls came and went like moths amid the champagne, the whispers, and the stars."

• 28:24Chuck Nice?

  That's a great line. Oh, my.

• 28:27Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I'm done. I can't, that is, it is not possible for that sentence to come out of me.

• 28:32Chuck Nice?

  That's an excellent, that's, that's really well done. God, that says so much.

• 28:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It says so much?

• 28:36Chuck Nice?

  So much, yeah. No, that's it.

• 28:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay.

• 28:38Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 28:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  F. Scott Fitzgerald.

• 28:39Chuck Nice?

  Dude, that's it.

• 28:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Alright. Chuck, we gotta take a break?

• 28:42Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 28:42Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Come back, third segment?

• 28:43Chuck Nice?

  Alright.

• 28:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Be there. StarTalk.

• 28:54Chuck Nice?

  Hey, we'd like to give a Patreon shout out to the following Patreon patrons, Mark Medina and Ryan McNeil. Thanks, guys, for helping us make our way through the cosmos because without you, we couldn't do it. And for any of you who'd like your very own Patreon shout out, make sure you go to patreon.com/startalkradio and support us.

• 29:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We're back, StarTalk Cosmic Ferries. Yes, the deep. These are your deepest questions that otherwise defy category, I think.

• 29:25Chuck Nice?

  Right, yeah.

• 29:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Is that right, Chuck?

• 29:26Chuck Nice?

  I just kind of like, yeah, we don't care where they come from as long as they invoke thought.

• 29:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  As long as they're deep thought. Right. I think the ones we've read so far are exactly that.

• 29:35Chuck Nice?

  Pretty good.

• 29:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 29:36Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, I've enjoyed it so far, you know. Nice job, people. All right, here we go. Let's do another Patreon patron, all right? And this is Jensen Smart.

• 29:47Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay.

• 29:47Chuck Nice?

  What an apropos name for this show, Jensen.

• 29:51Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  What's a name like Jensen?

• 29:52Chuck Nice?

  Jensen, that's a cool name, too, you know. "How do we know dark energy is not caused by black holes?" I hope Chuck is there on this one. I don't know why he said that.

• 30:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Because we love you, Chuck.

• 30:04Chuck Nice?

  Oh, that's so nice.

• 30:05Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We love you, Chuck.

• 30:06Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, so there we go. How do we know that?

• 30:08Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  He's not comfortable enough in his masculinity to say that, but I'll say that. We love you, Chuck.

• 30:11Chuck Nice?

  Aw, thanks. I love you, too. This is weird.

• 30:19Chuck Nice?

  But go ahead.

• 30:20Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, here's why.

• 30:22Chuck Nice?

  All right.

• 30:22Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, dark energy, I think he's being a little swayed by the word "dark."

• 30:30Chuck Nice?

  Mm-hmm.

• 30:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It is some pressure in the vacuum of space forcing the universe to accelerate.

• 30:39Chuck Nice?

  In its expansion.

• 30:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And a black hole don't play that.

• 30:43Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 30:44Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Black hole is the opposite of that.

• 30:46Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 30:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It wants to pull things in. Now, let's ask, maybe could that same question be put forth in reference to dark matter?

• 30:54Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 30:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Is dark matter black holes?

• 30:57Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 30:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Not likely. In fact, almost certainly not. Because we can account for the matter that is occupied by black holes.

• 31:07Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 31:08Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  As well as stars and planets and all the normal matter we're accustomed to. That's made of the elements you find on the periodic table. Dark energy is made of none of that.

• 31:16Chuck Nice?

  Ooh.

• 31:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It behaves completely differently.

• 31:19Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 31:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Not gravitationally, but it does not interact with light. It does not, the things that everything else does to light, that dark energy does not.

• 31:28Chuck Nice?

  Wow.

• 31:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So we don't understand it.

• 31:31Chuck Nice?

  Interesting. So dark energy is truly a mystery?

• 31:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yes. Sorry. Yes. Sorry. Oh, why yes. It's the longest unsolved problem in, in modern astrophysics. It's been with us since nineteen thirty-six.

• 31:46Chuck Nice?

  Right. Yeah. So, so, oh man.

• 31:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It was originally called missing matter, the missing matter problem.

• 31:53Chuck Nice?

  Interesting.

• 31:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You had this gravity, but where's the matter?

• 31:55Chuck Nice?

  Right. Cause what would be, what would be this gravitational effect, basically? What, what's causing this?

• 32:00Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, something's causing this gravity.

• 32:01Chuck Nice?

  It's gotta be causing that, so it's not there.

• 32:03Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 32:03Chuck Nice?

  Gotcha. Wow. So dark really is just unknown?

• 32:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Unknown, and it, I've made a case, I think a strong case, that dark matter should be renamed dark gravity.

• 32:13Chuck Nice?

  Yes.

• 32:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Cause that's what it actually is.

• 32:16Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 32:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We don't know what has made it matter or anything.

• 32:18Chuck Nice?

  Hmm. See now, if you call, if you call it dark gravity, now we've actually given it a thing. And we'll, we should call it black gravity. Okay? Cause then they will find out what it is.

• 32:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The cops will be all over that.

• 32:35Chuck Nice?

  No, cops. They will find out. Can't have this black gravity.

• 32:41Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Tugging on a universe.

• 32:42Chuck Nice?

  We don't know what this black gravity is doing to the universe.

• 32:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Tugging every which way on the universe.

• 32:47Chuck Nice?

  We gotta, we gotta find out what is happening.

• 32:50Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Sheriff.

• 32:53Chuck Nice?

  Alright.

• 32:54Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Go round up some men.

• 32:55Chuck Nice?

  There you go.

• 32:59Chuck Nice?

  We gonna get to the bottom of this black gravity, I'm telling you that right now. Gonna find out.

• 33:09Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 33:09Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Alright.

• 33:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Who was it the joke, a friend of mine, I think you, one of, one of y'all did. Um, it's how do you outlaw guns in the United States overnight?

• 33:20Chuck Nice?

  No. Who? How?

• 33:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You, you create. The Black Gun Owners Association.

• 33:25Chuck Nice?

  There you go. Instead of the NRA.

• 33:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The B R A.

• 33:30Chuck Nice?

  B R A. We gotta do something with this. We got it right.

• 33:33Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Right. So every black person has a gun. They pass laws.

• 33:35Chuck Nice?

  Right. That's hilarious. You're right. I forget.

• 33:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, they did it in California. When the Black Panthers walked around with the rifles. It was completely legal to do that. And after that, they made it illegal.

• 33:46Chuck Nice?

  No more. There you have it. We solved the problem. There you go.

• 33:49Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Look up the laws. It's California. It's the concealed weapon law. At the time, you.

• 33:55Chuck Nice?

  There was no law.

• 33:55Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There was no law. Yeah.

• 33:57Chuck Nice?

  There you go. There you go. Gun control in America. We found it. Give a brother a gun day. All right, here we go.

• 34:06Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And what's that other one? There was, speaking of guns, what's the one? There's the law. The stand your ground.

• 34:12Chuck Nice?

  Stand your ground. That's Florida.

• 34:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Florida?

• 34:14Chuck Nice?

  I mean, 20 something states now.

• 34:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So if you kill someone when they're trying to encroach on your space.

• 34:18Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 34:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It's just, okay, so ask yourself. Did that apply back to the Native Americans?

• 34:26Chuck Nice?

  Stand your, oh, man.

• 34:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  We passed a law after.

• 34:30Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 34:31Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  After the land got took.

• 34:32Chuck Nice?

  Exactly.

• 34:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  All right.

• 34:35Chuck Nice?

  All right, here we go. This is Jonas.

• 34:37Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You got more questions?

• 34:37Chuck Nice?

  Jonas Klippenstein wants to know this. How can sunlight, which transfers heat molecularly, spend eight full seconds in frozen space and still be warm? Why is moonlight not the same? Seeing how it is a reflection of sunlight. It's an interesting question. You don't feel warmth of the moon, but you damn sure feel the warmth of the sun 93 million miles away. Interesting.

• 35:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Well, the moon is not very bright compared to the sun.

• 35:17Chuck Nice?

  That is so true. Because we can look directly at the moon for as long as we want.

• 35:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And your eyes are not going to burn out. Okay? Nobody says shield your eyes at the full moon. That is not happening. That has never happened.

• 35:29Chuck Nice?

  You can stare the moon down.

• 35:30Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Let me tell you how dim the full moon is.

• 35:31Chuck Nice?

  How dim?

• 35:32Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay. Did you see the eclipse back in 2017?

• 35:34Chuck Nice?

  Yes, I did.

• 35:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Merck's eclipse?

• 35:36Chuck Nice?

  Merck.

• 35:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  If you eclipsed, if you didn't see the total eclipse, don't tell me you saw the eclipse. Okay?

• 35:42Chuck Nice?

  Oh, well, then I didn't see the eclipse.

• 35:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Fine. Okay?

• 35:44Chuck Nice?

  I'm not like you who gets invited to secret places in Tennessee.

• 35:48Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I was in a secret place. It was in Idaho.

• 35:51Chuck Nice?

  Oh, Idaho.

• 35:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So, here's the thing. Even worse. Here's why a partial eclipse is nothing like a total eclipse. Okay. It's not just a slightly lesser version of the full. You ready? Go ahead. When the sun is ninety-nine percent covered by the moon. Mm-hmm. With it just a thin little smidgen. Right. The amount of light that reaches Earth from that smidgen. From that little smidgen. Equals the light of ten thousand full moons.

• 36:21Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Holy crap. So that little sliver of light that is around the circumference of the moon blocking out the sun. That tiny little bit is brighter than ten thousand full moons. Correct. Wow. Alright, so, just put that in context. Damn, that's, that's. Alright, so don't cry about. That should be on a Snapple cap. Okay, so don't, so don't cry about that one. Right. Do you understand? Yeah, we're good, we're good. Moon, plus, the moon, you know how reflective the moon is? No. So the moon. Okay. Is only reflecting not much more than ten percent of the sunlight that hits it. The rest is getting absorbed. Right. So, the moon, don't turn to the moon and, and moon bathe. It ain't, ain't happening, okay? So, it's A.

• 37:07Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  B. Mm-hmm. The photon. Got you. Is a packet of energy and it doesn't make sense to think of it as having temperature. It's just energy moving through space. Got you. Okay? Interesting. Then, when you absorb it. Mm-hmm. It vibrates the molecules in that which absorbed it and that is measured as temperature. So the disruption of your molecular makeup is really what is the heat that you're experiencing? When the energy you absorb increases the vibration radio molecules, you experience that as heat. That's it. That's correct. So the, it's not the, it's not like a bunch of photons are laying on your body and making you warm. No, no. That's not it. You're absorbing them.

• 37:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Entirely. This, the disruption of your molecular makeup. It's not disruption, it's just. Well, it vibrates, that's why I say. By the way, there are photons that you don't absorb that way. Really? Yes. Okay, now what is that? Like ultraviolet photons. Oh my god, that's right! You absorb an ultraviolet photon, you don't feel the heat. That's right. What it does is it. breaks apart, rather than making you vibrate more, it breaks apart molecules That's right. in your body and leads to skin cancer. And now I know why you made me not use the word disruption, because that's a disruption. That's a disruption. Gotcha. See, I was using disruption as just a disturbance, but it's not. No. The disruption is an ultraviolet. You can break a molecule, you don't, that's why we don't experience ultraviolet as heat. Gotcha. We experience infrared as heat. That's right.

• 38:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yet it's simply both energy and in fact, an ultraviolet photon has more energy than an infrared photon. Right. You just don't receive them the same way. And, oh, that's so great. It's only when you absorb it and increase the vibrations do you then feel heat. I gotta tell you something, this show is good. It's a good show, people should listen to this. I think we have to end on that question, but I have one more point. People should listen to this show! But, I, we have to end on that question, but I have one more point. Okay. Okay, the photon has another view of the world. Alright. Okay, do you remember Einstein, the faster you go, slower time ticks for you? Correct. At the speed of light, time stops.

• 39:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Are you saying photons don't experience time at all? Holy crap. So, the instant the photon was created in what we call the photosphere of the sun, the outer surface. Okay. And then it went on its eight-minute and 20-second journey to Earth. If you're the photon, you are born and you land on someone's buttocks in the same moment. In the same moment. Oh, snap! Yes. Oh! Oh, that's amazing. You have no No concept of time at all. Of that time passing. Look at that. You were born and absorbed in the same instant. Dude, that's awesome!

• 39:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That, that's really cool. I'm just saying. There you go. I'm just saying. We got, we ran out of time. I know. Alright, Chuck. Yeah, man. It was good, man. This was good. It was good. Oh! What do we call the show again? Uh, I don't know, moonbathing. Moonbathing. StarTalk. No, StarTalk. StarTalk, Cosmic Queries, Deep Questions. I'm impressed we, we had a bit of these. Yeah, man. Uh, so, thanks for joining us, Chuck Nice tweeting at ChuckNiceComic. Thank you, sir. I've been Neil deGrasse Tyson. Many of you are watching this, some are listening. Mm-hmm. Uh, in either way you take us, we are StarTalk, and I bid you to keep looking up.