StarTalk Radio - Cosmic Queries: Galactic Grab Bag

Episode Date: May 20, 2016

First time comic co-host Iliza Shlesinger reaches into our Galactic Grab Bag to ask host Neil Tyson questions from our fans about light sails and laser beams, black holes, the search for life in the universe, antimatter, and intelligent dinosaurs. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to new episodes ad-free and a whole week early.

Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. I'm your host, Neil deGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist. And this is StarTalk. As our longtime fans know, Cosmic Queries is when we bring in an in-house co-host, comedian, who reads questions from the universe, of the universe, drawn from our fan base. And I've not seen the questions. Right.

And we just have fun with it and if i don't know the answer i'm going to tell you well if i don't know the answer i want to ask you if you know the answer i absolutely know the answer both of us don't know the answer then we're we move on you know how long i've spent staring at the cosmos wondering where my uber is i've spent a lot of time in space that brings to mind if mind, if space travel becomes a thing, we would need Uber spacecraft. Yeah. That would be interesting. College kids all over the place would be like, I got a great way to make

some money. Yep. And there's no collisions. Yeah, actually, it's much harder to collide if you're moving in three dimensions than if you're only moving in two. I say this all the time. I say this all the time. It's a profound fact. So, think about traffic jams You're in a traffic jam

Because you're on a road And you can't go over Or On a single plane Not only on your single plane On a road You're on a one dimensional path Right

Typically there's more Than one lane though Regardless If you're stuck in traffic All you have to do Is go above or below Introduce another dimension You can pass all the traffic

Like this And that's why we need Space cars Space cars In the future They always have them Going through buildings. I know. That was my future that we tried to come up with and failed. So the fifth element was your idea. All those cabs. Flying cars. We've been dreaming of flying cars since the 1950s. I know. And it will be a thing, and it's going to be terrible. But a flying car is no different from having a lot of bridges and

tunnels. Right. It allows you to go above and below. It's a lot different in that there's nothing holding you to where you are. You've got a bridge. You have to stay on that bridge. A flying car is just like, let's just be. However, if the engine breaks of a flying car, you are a falling brick. True. That's the difference between being on a bridge or in a tunnel.

Right. Okay. So there's pros and cons. We'll say there's pros and cons. In fact, I think we do have flying cars that are called helicopters. Yeah. But the helicopter is so expensive. That's how I got here.

I've actually had that thought. I'm like, is there a way to get a helicopter? And I feel like these statistics for helicopters, I feel like they crash a lot. Well, because when the motor goes out, in a plane, if the engines die, it's a glider. And a helicopter, if the engines die, it goes straight down. It shouldn't be an option that the engines die. That It shouldn't be an option that the engines die That just shouldn't be an option Shit happens

So we're going to have to have like Meteoroid insurance or like asteroid insurance If you're flying through space And you get hit by one Like farmers, you better cover that I hadn't thought about that You could be hit by a micrometeorite going 5 miles per second That would ruin your day

Debris from our last space shuttles. That happens too. It's an engine part. It's a daisy. Okay, fair enough. So what do you have? Okay, so do I do the Patreon page? That's your first time doing this.

I hope it's not your last time. I hope it's not my last as well. Okay, we'll judge that. We'll be the judge of that. That's why I gave you the doe eyes trying to flirt my way which has not gotten me far. Okay. So go for it. These first?

Yeah. So what happens is we have our Patreon supporters. Yes. One of the guarantees they get is if they ask a question

for Cosmic Queries then we get to ask their questions first. Okay. So I'm going to ask this one because there was so I'm going to read it with the emphasis

and the enthusiasm and the fervor that I feel they wrote this with. Good. Go for it. Feel them. Yeah. Also I'm thinking this person's also a fellow jew you're not jewish i am okay here we go uh from michael cohen in augusta georgia which is weird that there's a jew there hello dr tyson this question burns in my mind i asked nasa and wasn't satisfied with their answer if light can't escape a hole, then doesn't that mean that the escape velocity of a black hole beyond the event horizon exceeds the speed of light itself? Could black holes be the exception to the speed of light as we know it?

Thank you, at Cosmic Cohen. Wow, that was beautiful. Thank you. That was totally, you embodied whoever that Cohen person is. I omitted the fact that you misused than instead of than. No big deal. Did I say than? No, he did.

Oh, okay. Pointing out the one part that I understand, which is literature. He's the one Jew in Augusta, Georgia. And represent. Okay, that was the question about. So, yeah, so the question is stated accurately. There are two ways to think about the black hole. One of them is that beyond, inside the event horizon, the escape velocity is greater than the speed of light.

That's kind of a classical way to think about it. But what has actually happened is the space-time curvature has basically closed in on itself. There is no path out of the black hole that you can take no matter what. And so not even a beam of light can get out. So that is all true. You can't get out. By the way, just because the speed of light required, just because to get out of a black hole

requires you travel faster than light, doesn't mean that you are. And so Einstein- Doesn't mean you can't. Oh, it doesn't mean you can. Right, right, right. So we're all cool. Relativity is fine.

It's really hypothetical because you physically can't do it. Correct. So it's all in theory. There is no known law of physics or observation that would enable you to escape a black hole. Even if you take the subway. Correct. Yeah. I'm disappointed that they couldn't get a good answer from NASA. I wonder

where they asked. I feel like NASA was like, please stop tweeting at us. The Russians are hot on our tail. We've got bigger things to deal with. Please stop. Here's a mug and a hat how did you know that the russians because they're always hot on our tail haven't you been to the movies okay would you like a real question uh anything yeah give me whatever you got okay um this one's is the martian based on a true story i'm just kidding uh okay this one's a good one i'm not authorized to answer that question i saw that that movie and I was like, I guarantee if I tweet this, people will be like, oh my God, I thought so.

I read the book. All right. This is from Jeff Jurchin, at Jeff Jurchin. Does space smell? Ooh. Yeah. So I once tweeted an answer to that question. So somebody is not a follower.

So you know what? Go back and look it up. Because you're lazy and there's no lazy in space. There's no lays in space. So here's what happens. Smell is a chemical phenomenon and it involves molecules interacting with your olfactory glands. And in the vacuum of space where there's insufficient molecules to trigger that, no, you're not smelling a damn thing. So it has to do with the molecules outside and inside. It's not just all. Molecules are outside.

They come inside. And then you have to smell what was outside, right? You're inhaling. So now here's a way to smell something. If you face the sun and the sun starts singeing your skin on your face, then it'll burn. And then you'll smell the burning flesh. How long are you facing

the sun, though? How close? Are you saying you have to be... If you're close enough and you make the... Yeah, you'll get singed and you'll smell

the singed outer skin layers. That's horrific. I'm just saying you want to smell something in space. That's how you smell something. You want to smell

something in space? I got something. Wait, is that why we sneeze when we stare at the sun? Because it's slowly singeing our nose hairs? I have never, that's never happened to me. Who told you that? I do it. If I get a sneeze, or sometimes

any light source, even artificial, and you go like that, and they sneeze, stare right at the sun if you get a sneeze. Really? If you're on the verge of sneezing and you feel you're going to lose it, if you're going to lose your nasal orgasm, stare right at the sun. Lose your nasal orgasm? It sneezes. A nasal orgasm?

Sure. I had not heard that. How great do you feel after a sneeze? And then like a little guilty. It's good. No, no. But you have to watch out because there are things you feel good after only because the act of leading up to it made you feel bad.

That's interesting. Yeah. Okay. Like you have to pee real bad and then your peeing feels good? Well, it only feels good because you felt miserable right up to that moment. So anything feels better. You're just getting back to homeostasis. Exactly.

So I'd have a lot of syllables in that word. I know a lot. That's good. That's why I was asked here. I begged NASA. We did our homework on you. You did me after this guy. So you need air molecules, some kind of gaseous molecules to and so that always had

me wondering in space suits if they're not properly ventilated you could just smell yourself while you're in this in a space well provided it doesn't swap out your co2 right yeah yeah smell enough farts yeah yeah yeah you could if you farted i don't i don't know if the space i should i'd ask one of our astronauts we have have some. We won't answer you back at NASA. No, no. Just ask if like below your waist effluences mix with above your waist effluences. Like do burps and farts mix? If that's the case, you'll smell all of your body effluences. But I bet they have. As long as it's mine, I don't care.

As long as it's yours. Somebody else. Yeah. Okay. I'm just trying to get on. It's true. People have a much higher tolerance of their own gaseous effluences than that of others. Sure.

Someone needs to look into that. I think I know why. Why? Okay. All theories, all hypotheses entertained. Go. Yeah. So, okay, here's what I think.

All hypotheses considered, except for just mine. So when you smell something, like we're trained to, if you smell like a fart or poop, like you know that it smells bad, like in our brains, because it's telling us that it's dead and it's not something that we should eat. Yeah, you shouldn't eat it. Yes. I think if it's coming out of yourself somehow, like there's a disconnect where it, because it's from you, maybe kind of like if your own baby is ugly, you don't see it as ugly.

Okay. I think when it comes from us, we're not as grossed out. So we're psychologically predisposed. Narcissist. And that. To not completely reject. Right? Okay. Alright. That's gotta be somewhere on the spectrum, right? We got top people we can

put on this. Okay, I haven't seen any so far. Two produce ones eating a lunch in there. There's my managers over here. Alright. Okay, here we go. Your dog is on the floor there looking for learningly at you. She's looking for answers. Yes. From you. Aren't we all looking for answers? That's why I came here.

Smartest person in a 12-block radius. Okay, I'm just going to read you a long one. Go. Sarah Wynn Belgeny from Facebook says, Do you think that spacecraft using photon propulsion is a reality? I read several news articles stating we can use a laser. She wrote, Laser to propel spacecraft to Alpha

Centauri in just 15 years and to Mars in just days. Is this the same concept as a light sail? It is precisely the same concept. Great, next question. Next question. Yeah, so you have your sail and you have lasers on Earth. Well, so here's what happens. So your sail can work with the sun, with sunlight, and it can move you to greater and greater orbits, and you can move to Mars or wherever else. And it's a constant source of acceleration. So this works. And if you keep accelerating, the speed that you measure for yourself is constantly growing.

Is the sail like a solar panel? No, not a solar panel. A solar panel takes the sun's energy, sunlight, and turns it into energy you use for something else. This is simply a sail. You hold up the sail, sunlight hits the sail, it bounces off, and the recoil, the momentum transferred to the sail pushes you forward. That's all it is. But now what happens if you're so far away from the sun that the sun's energy, they're

not strong enough? So you take Mondo lasers from Earth, aim it at the sail, and continue to push it along its way. And lasers can go very, very deep into space. Yes. But not into a... Well, you can go into a black hole, but not come out. Not come out.

Right, exactly. That's the right answer. Okay, here's one, because I recognize these words from science class. Okay. Pulsars, quasars, magnetars, neutron stars, white dwarfs, black holes. Are all of them simply dying stars?

Yes. Next question. I'm going to look through these. No, they're all different. Wait, wait, go backfs, black holes. Are all of them simply dying stars? Yes. Next question. I'm going to look through these. No, they're all different. Wait, wait, go back. Okay, give me the list again. So is white dwarfs on that list? She is on the list. Okay, the sun when it dies. Say white little people.

Oh, is that really? Yeah, okay. And we don't say black holes, we say African American. Oh yeah, you're right. I'm just trying to make it easy. Yeah, that's right. So. I'm going to get you a better question. Everyone knows they're dying stars. Wait, did you hear about the greeting card that talked about black holes?

And someone thought they were talking about black hoes. And like the NAACP got all enraged by this. No one do the research? No, no. No one looked at the card and was like, what the hell? If black hole and other physics concepts are not in your vocabulary,

you have no other way to think about black hole other than black hoe. I mean, that's... I'm just saying, I try to jump in and say this is an education problem,

not a racist problem. It is a huge, which sometimes they go on and... It's a non... Huge education problem. But so all huge which sometimes they go on and It's a non education problem. But so all of these are the dying states

of stars. Stars of different mass and we our sun will die as a white dwarf which is an object the size of the earth and all the rest

of the mass of the sun will be will escape into space and make a beautiful nebula which we call a well they're actually called planetary nebulae. They're misnamed, but they're beautiful, spherically shaped nebulae.

And you look, if you Google planetary, you know, that's a galaxy. But planetary nebulae are just gorgeous, stunning displays. Those are the ones that look like cotton candy almost. Yeah, yeah. Crab nebula, that's one. No, no, crab nebula was the death of a supernova which leaves a neutron star, a pulsar, in its core. So the Crab Nebula has a... You go down to the center of the Crab Nebula, there is a rapidly rotating neutron star pulsing radio waves.

And when these puppies were first discovered, we thought they were so perfectly timed that people thought that maybe there was an intelligent civilization sending us signals. You probably can't close to it because if it's a radio wave. Well, if it's too intense, it's bad for you. But we're at good enough distance, so our radio telescopes detected it. But no, they were not LGMs, little green men, which is how they were first written. LGM? Yeah, someone says, is this an LGM

or not? I like how they're labeled green before we even saw them. Plus, we want them to be small so that we can dominate them. Well, yeah. How do you think we're going to progress? Question. No one ever imagines BGMs, you know, big green men. Yeah, they're probably not big.

I would imagine aliens might be taller than us, but not heavier. As they were in Avatar. They were nine feet tall. Yeah, which is a Bible. That's a rhetoric. That's perfect. That's how it's going to be. That's what's going to go. For sure but that's here you gotta that's how it's gonna be that's what that's what's gonna go for sure okay movies are always right eventually blue people

they could be blue you know what pissed me off about that movie what okay they're all connected where they got this usb ponytail the way they can connect to their to their flying horses and all of nature is one when it was time for them to fight yeah uh the best that could happen was the the rhinoceroses came and that was it i'm thinking if you could summon all the power of all the living creatures on your planet oh my gosh okay but if like every tree would come and swat you oh my if you had the if you could talk to them through your ponytail right uh excuse me they should have totally kicked ass. They're about like intercranial Bluetooth capabilities.

I can't even get my phone to connect to my Civic. I'm just saying. I can't harness any other armies. I'm just saying they had way more power that they could have tapped given the premise of that story than they actually did. Maybe the message is like when it comes time to war, maybe less is more. And they're up there praying and stuff. And I'm thinking you have the power is when it comes time to war, maybe less is more. And they're up there praying and stuff, and I'm thinking,

you have the power over nature. Put nature to work here. Right. What can nature do for you? Yes. But when you run for president... What have you done for me lately? What have you done for me lately, nature?

Thanks for all the shade, jerks. This is a question. What would be on... Because you said our son's going to die. Yeah, yeah. Our son is totally going to die. What would be on our you said Our son's going to die Yeah yeah Our son is totally going to die What would be on Our son's tombstone Um I burned

I burned the candle At both ends Oh I like that Yeah how about that You're listening To Star Talk Stay tuned For another segment.

Welcome back to StarTalk. Here's more of this week's episode. Before we left off, you challenged me to come up with an epitaph for the dead sun. Yes. And I said, I burn my candles at both ends. And that was a little lame, I think. And I want another chance. Okay. Do you have one?

I have one. Okay, ready? Okay, what? The epitaph on the sun's tombstone should be, sick burn, bro. Ooh. Ooh. Everyone hates me? All right.

All right. All right. Okay, let's. Okay, I got one. Okay. Everyone hates me Alright Okay I got one This is spoken to earthlings Who long went extinct I tried Aww that's so sad What about I couldn't take the heat

Oh That's good This skill applies literally to no other avenue in my life Oh, that's right Yes, celestial Instal of the sun, okay You had one question that I felt I could answer in one answer Really? Okay, go, go

That gives me one fewer that I gotta answer, go Corey Moon, at sfmoon Someone named Moon Yeah I love it, what phase is he? Full Good Okay

I don't know any other moons a blood moon a harvest moon harvest moon blood moon what kind of sicko came up with that one maybe he's uh amber and he's a honeymoon is that a thing yeah yeah honeymoon is the honeymoon sorry june full moon i'm so focused on not sounding like an idiot that i'm like a honeymoon great it's the celestial reference the june full moon is the honeymoon okay so you're not many people don't know it but it is and that's how you get honeymoon one that most men try to avoid possibly but but i wonder if if june was not the traditional marriage month and then what would the vacation you take after wedding be called if you

named it after those moons yeah we'd have very different sets of names. That's why it's got the word honey in it. There's a wolf moon. There's a snow moon. There's a snow moon. Snow moon. Well, it's a winter moon. There are a lot of cultural references to moons. The honeymoon is so named because its arc across the sky remains very low.

Interesting. And it retains the colors of sunset its entire path, which is a deep amber. And so it has an amber color even at its brightest. And so it's a honeymoon. As opposed to the harvest moon? By far, correct. Okay. Correct.

So what do you have? Take me there. Cosmic queries. He asks, has a nuclear bomb ever been tested in space? If so, what happened? Please visit Utah. And my answer is, yeah, that's Utah. That's how we got Utah.

Terrible. All right. So, so we have never tested a nuclear bomb. Chinese and the Russians. No, but the sun is a nuclear bomb. Therefore, it is being tested in space continually. As we speak. By all stars throughout the galaxy and the universe.

Maybe his epitaph, the sun's epitaph will be testing one, two, and then nothing else. What happens if I put these molecules, these atoms together? What does one of these two wires do? So the difference is when we,

when we create thermonuclear fusion, it is uncontrolled and it's a bomb. When the sun creates thermonuclear fusion, it's controlled and it it's a bomb. When the sun creates thermonuclear fusion, it's controlled and it's a star. So that's the difference. We don't know how to control it. How come when you do it, it's a star, but when I do it, it's a bomb? It sounds like an argument. Yeah. Sounds like a teenage galaxy arguing with the sun. How come when you do it? That would be the sun's, that would be a badass argument. Sun of the sun.

Sun could invoke that argument. Now, the two times nuclear weapons have ever been used in warfare, they were detonated in the air, not on the ground. Really? Yes. I didn't know that. Yes, and that is the birth of the concept of ground zero. It is the spot on the ground beneath the location of the explosion. Okay, well, that is the closest point. And there are people who calculate this.

How do you maximize the blast radius to kill and damage the most people? Do you know exactly how much the radius is? So you figure out what is the rate that this would grow, how much damage will it have, how much energy does it have, therefore what is the altitude? It was about a kilometer up.

So that was detonated in the air. Then there were nuclear test ban treaties that came out. And one of them said you can't do it on Earth's surface. So then they did it underground. What can you do on Earth's surface? Well, then they would scatter radioactive materials. Right. So if you do it underground, then all the radioactive stays underground.

In the soil? In the soil in that one spot. So you pick a spot where nobody lives and you do it there. Then they were banned entirely. And so. There's got to be like half-lives or something. It can't just be like contained. Like there's for sure. But it's hard. It's very hard for radioactivity to penetrate through soil. It's very hard. No.

It's porous at best. Yeah, but there are a lot of really really empty places on Earth. Utah. At home of the new, of NASA's proud new i know nasa doesn't do radioactive nuclear testing but but maybe one day back to the question utah all right um what else you have this is this by the way this is cosmic queries grab bag so whatever you know cosmic queries grab bag okay lou nukem at lou nukem nukem as an n-u-k-e-m n-e-w-U-K-E-M N-E-W-C-O-M-B We were just talking about nukes

I'm sorry, I have nukes on the brain So it's apropos Is active, it's not SETI, it's S-E-T-I SETI, you can pronounce it, yeah We say the acronyms here Is active SETI a good idea? Do you agree with Dr. Hawking That it could be risky?

Yes, well, so I don't, okay. So SETI, we're searching for life in the universe. Fine. That's the acronym? Search for extraterrestrial intelligence. Okay. Yeah, yeah, okay. You didn't know what that stood for?

Nope. Everybody knew it was one of the- No way. Makeup artist, PR person, manager, dog on the floor? SETI, dog, Blanche, right? Blanche? Did you know SETI? Yeah, she knew it.

Yeah, she- I don't know. Why does itI? Yeah, she knew it. Yeah, she. I don't know. Why does it have to have an acronym? Just. Yeah, well, because it's easier. So here's the thing. Okay. So we are looking for life.

Now, the two ways of engaging SETI, one of them is. Looking for life in all the wrong places. We turn our telescopes and aim it at places and just see if anyone's trying to talk to us. All right. That's one way we're looking for life. That's actually pretty safe. Because if we find life, they have no idea where we are. Unless we send signals.

So Hawking is concerned that if we start sending signals, announcing where we are in the location and what we're saying, In the position. Out of location. And what we're saying, then maybe we would be prime candidates for being enslaved or taken over or whatever. So he's worried that it's a bad idea to announce our presence. But in fact, there's not a damn thing we can do about it because we already have. And for the past 80 years, our radio signals and our television signals have been leaking out from our atmosphere. When they talk about being on the air, the air

has nothing to do with it. Radio signals move through the dead of space like it's nobody's business. And soil. They go through soil. A certain depth of soil. The radio waves can go through a certain depth of soil. At Home Depot, they have a special... Well, they penetrate through walls and buildings. That's why... It's going out anyway.

It's going out anyway. So the earliest signs of life on Earth have already been established. And they're traveling through space. At the speed of light. At the speed of light. At the speed of light. They're billions of light years away at this point. No, no, no.

Only... Nope, it's billions. 80 light years. Okay. Ready to disagree? Put your hand on mine? They've gone so far. I will agree to say you're wrong. Right. Okay, Free to disagree? Put your hand on mine? They've gone so far. I will agree to say you're wrong.

Right. Okay, that's not what I asked. So 80 years ago is when they began, so how far away can they possibly be by now? You tell me. 80 light years. Oh, 80 light years. Yeah, because they're traveling the speed of light. Okay, but 80 light years in regular years is how many years?

80 years. That's it? Why label it a light year if it's the same thing? No, no, no, because it's been going for 80 years to travel it? Why label it a light year If it's the same thing? No, no, no Because it's been going for 80 years To travel 80 light years Now if you want to say billions So 80 times 5.8 trillion That's how many miles away

I meant miles There you go I said years So 80 times 5.8 trillion So that's 8 times 6 So that's 5 400 Yeah, yeah I'm going to let you figure it out I'm going to let you say it I don't want to embarrass you 8 trillion. So that's 8 times 6 is 48. So that's 5. 400.

Yeah, yeah. I'm going to let you figure it out. I'm going to let you say it. I don't want to embarrass you. Yeah, so it'll be 400 trillion. I was close with the 4. Yeah, 400 trillion miles. Because 8 times 5 is 40.

Very good. Thank you. So. I'll get science at my high school. It's far. But the point is it's going out. When we couldn't control it. All I'm saying is it has washed over exoplanets that may have some kind of life, possibly intelligent life. And if they have the tools to detect our signals, they will infer what our culture was like.

And I've said this many times before on the show. And we just have to suck it up that their first encounters will be things like the honeymooners. Totally. And they'll learn how- The moon, Alice! We know where the moon is! Or they'll learn how men and women treat one another from seeing the honeymooners. Everyone's, all the men are fat and all the women stay at home.

Right, and the men threaten bodily harm. Harm to their wives. Right, right. Bang zoom to the moon, Alice! Isn't that funny that it's- And why I oughta, you know. Well, I think it's also where there's so many variables to that.

We're assuming that if it's intelligent life, it's more intelligent than us and it's understanding. Like, there's so many... It's such a small equation that would be they're smarter than us

and know what we're doing and are warmongering people. Right. So, the reason why... We're looking for us. The reason why I don't agree with Hawking because that's what started this.

I don't agree. Hawking feels they might have evil motives. Right. motives and i claim and by the way if they come visit us in response to our signal they are far more advanced than we are because we're still just driving around the block uh boldly going where hundreds have gone before in low earth orbit so we haven't even been anywhere in 40 years and it'll look like we're going anywhere anytime soon so if they come here they're more advanced than us so he's worried that a more advanced civilization coming upon earth might then enslave us and i'm saying that while that may be true his fear derives not from scientific evidence he is his fear comes from what he thinks aliens will do,

but he's basing that on what he knows humans will do. Sure. What else could you base it off of? Her own behavior. So he's assuming

that aliens are as evil and as warmongering as humans. He also read Guardians of the Galaxy before it became a movie. But yeah, it's an assumption. Maybe aliens are better than us in every way that matters.

My theory that I said during the break was that aliens are an advanced form of humans visiting us from the future. Oh, okay. Their brains are bigger. Their eyes are bigger, which are things you would need. You don't have to use a nice eyeliner. Okay, all right. They don't have, which are things you would need. You don't have to use a nice eyeliner. Okay. All right. All right.

Yeah. They don't have hair. We don't really need hair. They don't have sex organs presented, which is kind of an animalistic thing. Okay. And they seem to be very smart. How do they mate? I mean, how do they know who to mate?

E.T. Like that. Okay. I don't know. I don't know. I'm not the person. You're coming up with a thing. I'm listening to your ideas.

You can still have sex organs. Like, fish don't have boobs. Not that you noticed, but I bet to fish, I don't know. You're coming up with a thing. I'm listening to your ideas. You can still have sex organs. Like, fish don't have boobs. Not that you noticed, but I bet to fish, it's totally happening. If she dressed nice for me once in a while, I would pay attention to her. They have sex like aliens do. Remember the company? Animals have no problems finding out who to mate. All right?

Okay. So the aliens, it'll just be. Even though we need a lesson on which is the male snake and which is the female snake. They don't have any problems. So neither do the aliens. So put your elbow to mine. They don't have any problems. So neither do the aliens. So put your elbow to mine. I don't know what they do. Something gross that involves probes, obviously.

Elbow sex. Elbow sex. All right, here's another one. All right, what else you got? Okay. Tim Wall. At Tim Wall 2016. So we just got that handle.

If an astronaut jumped... Or he was just born this year. People tend to put their... Then you know what? People tend to put their birth year in their handles. Go on. If an astronaut jumped on a diving board on the moon, would he bounce higher or lower than on Earth?

I know the answer to this. Yeah, yeah. So the diving... Oh, you know the answer. Well, let's hear it. He's not going to bounce. There's no gravity. On the moon?

He's going to go high. He's going to go so high. Yeah, yeah. There is gravity on the moon. Otherwise's no gravity. On the moon? He's going to go high. He's going to go so high. Yeah, yeah. There is gravity on the moon. Otherwise, the astronauts would just have been floating there rather than walking. They were walking. Yep, there's gravity on the moon. Yeah, yeah.

Just think that. You can go higher. Yeah, you can go higher. Because I knew that. Yeah, yeah. So, well, no, no. So, just to be clear. So, one of them is you're trying to set mass into motion okay and your mass is your

mass no matter where you are but for a given amount of recoil that same recoil will then send something farther on the moon than it would otherwise here on earth so that's why on the moon when they hopped they hopped very far than they did here on Earth. That's great. Even though they had 200 pounds worth of, or more of life support. Because 200 pounds, they weigh one-sixth. So 200 pounds would weigh only how much? Half of one-sixth, would you say? No, so on the moon, it's one-sixth gravity.

I was trying to suck my chin in and look like I was understanding. That's good. So on moon is one-sixth gravity. So the 200 pound thing on Earth would weigh one-sixth. That's six of that on the moon. Six of that. So on moon is one sixth gravity. So if 200 pound thing on earth would weigh one sixth, that's six of that on six of that. Yeah. So I can't do that.

I have, I have put you on the spot. I put you on the spot. So you make up for the fact that you said it had no gravity at all. That was your way to, that was just me getting nervous about interplanetary discussions with a renowned astrophysicist. So,

so, so it's less gravity and you can do a lot of fun things. You can like baseball games would be really interesting. And you can do a lot of fun things. You can like, baseball games would be really interesting and you couldn't throw a curveball because you need air to move it against.

Here's what I do know. You know. If you go into space and you jumped, if you were out of an orbit and you jumped in outer space off a diving board, you would just continue to,

you wouldn't even correct. Because objects in motion tend to stay in motion. Sir Isaac Newton. Yes. Give it up for Elisa. Like, in your head you were like, Because objects in motion tend to stay in motion Sir Isaac Newton Yes Give it up for Elisa In your head you were like please don't say her name wrong

Right Yes very good So you had physics When did you take physics Long ago enough That I could have forgotten it But I have a profound respect for physics Good as we all should Because these are not just good ideas They are the laws Long ago enough that I could have forgotten it. But I have a profound respect for physics.

Good. As we all should. Because these are not just good ideas. They're the laws. Yeah. They're the laws. Sometimes at home, I have a very small counter. And I drop my things off my makeup counter.

Yeah. Every time something falls, I yell, gravity! Yes! Angry. Okay. What's next? Please stop and just read the questions. Bobby Tenderflake. That is the cutest the questions. Bobby Tenderflake.

That is the cutest last name. Bobby Tenderflake. That is the funniest. It sounds like a southern, like, come here, little Tenderflake. Okay. Bobby Tenderflake, which is either a porn name or you're very close to nature. You know, let me tell you my porn name. Absolutely.

It's Tuffy Arlington. Why? Yeah Is it like the street you grew up on? Yeah, yeah, yeah And your first cat Yeah, yeah Tuffy Arlington I think it's got to be more cosmos related

What can I do? I didn't choose what street I grew up on It's just Tuffy Arlington No, but you can take it to another level But then I have to invent one I'll tell you how to do it I'll tell you the formula It's your favorite nebula

And your favorite subatomic particle. Okay, that would be the crab boson. There you go. Sounds like a disease. We'll move on. Okay. Mine would be... You've got crab bosons, huh? I would have to say crab because it's the only nebula I know. There's an ointment

for that. The crab boson. There's an ointment for that. Bobby Tenderflake. At heavy sweating. Well, there that. Bobby Tenderflake at heavy sweating. Well, there's your porn name right there. All right. All right. At heavy sweating. We got like 20 seconds in this segment. Go. If I went to pee on Pluto, would the pee freeze before it hit the ground? Yes, it would. Great. It would. You'd make a pee arc. Yes. And then you would die because there's no air for you to breathe. And you would freeze too. Yeah. You just got your d*** out. Yeah. And by the way,

you don't have to do that. There are plenty of other places in the solar system you can pee and have it freeze in midstream. It's a man question. I'm going to mark my territory like an American.

And I can do that on Pluto. Can I still do it? Can I make a peace beer? It would arc. You're saying it would arc? Well, because that's just the trajectory of a... It wouldn't freeze before

it got to that trajectory? It wouldn't matter. It would still follow the arc. You're listening to StarTalk Radio. Stay tuned. More up next. Welcome back. Here's more of star talk okay so give it to me question for you is how many we can fit in go um more emily care boss at emily care i don't understand what that being so it's at emily care okay which is an old age

home for only women named emily what are the what are the frontiers of research in astrophysics right now oh right now we're looking for dark matter we don't know what is causing 85 of the gravity of the universe we don't know what is making the yeah yeah i'm not even done right and there's a pressure in the vacuum of space making the universe accelerate in its expansion against the wishes of all the galaxies that it contains. If you add up dark matter and dark energy, it is 96% of all that is driving the universe, and we haven't a clue what they are. Dark side is winning. It's Star Wars. The dark side is definitely winning.

Winning this contest of knowledge. Something's out there just pulling. Yes, and we don't know what it is. But we can measure it. What does it have to do with... We don't know. I don't know. I can't even...

I don't even... We shouldn't even... I've said it. We shouldn't even call it dark matter, dark energy. That implies we know it's matter and energy. We don't even know

what the hell it is. It's evil, though. We know it's evil and it's out there and it's pulling. Because it's dark. Creating stretch marks on the universe.

Those are two... And we're looking for life in the universe. Life on Mars. Life in Europa. You're saying go for it and Hawking is like, no, no, no. This could be probably the universe. Those are two. And we're looking for life in the universe, life on Mars, life in Europa. You're saying go for it, and Hawking is like, no. This could be probably microbial. I don't think there's intelligent life lurking in caves on Mars. But life at all would be a boon to biology.

They find water bits on Mars? Yeah, but not intelligent life. That's different. Yeah. I think it's a little rude to call them intelligent. It's a jump. I think it's a little myopic. It's a jump to go from oozing water to intelligent life with civilizations.

Well, you haven't been to Hollywood, so your definition of intelligent is not the same as others. Yeah, so I would say that. Plus, on the biological side, which affects the search for life, we don't know how to turn organic molecules into self-replicating life. That transition, which Earth did, apparently without any issues. Without any help. Without any help. So we don't know how to do that yet. So that's an interesting frontier.

Once you figure that out, you can better decide what planet it might be happening on. Right. Yeah. Well, there's your answer. Bring it on. Care for only Emily's.

Okay. Mike Armenany at Armomo 15 which specific sci-fi movie would you like to see remade because the idea was fine but the execution was awful oh make some enemies right here today oh uh he made my least favorite genre so i gotta okay to, okay. They did The Day the Earth Stood Still a second time. And it was different, but I thought it could have been better, but it was good. Tell it to him. It was good. It was good.

The Day the Earth Stood Still, because that was first in what, the 50s or early 60s. And then the next one had Keanu Reeves. And so, and a few others Kathy Bates was in it so but didn't have for a remake well how many times are you gonna do it so so I would say

the blob I think they should remake the blob that's yeah so that's just okay I guess I think sci-fi I think he was looking for more of like a space movie. Oh, well, blob is an alien that sucks your blood. Yeah, but it's also a blob. And that was not an actor in a costume. What about Invasion of the Body Snatchers?

It wasn't done poorly in the first place. I'd like to see a remake. But it was remade. A remake of the remake. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, okay. No one talks about originals anymore. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Are you ready for another one?

Go for it. What type of music do you listen to the most? Are you inspired by music and or the arts? Deeply and always, and as long as I can remember, have been inspired by the arts. And my brother is an artist. He attended the High School of Music and Art in New York City. I attended the Bronx High School of Science. So very geeky, very nerdy.

It's everything you think it would be is what it was. You guys got both sides of the brain covered in that. Totally, totally covered. And I grew up with a kid artist who's now an adult artist so that kept me sensitized i think and so i value what role artists contribute to society and people say you know what value is art to the security of our nation you know they're like bankers well you get people who say that but the answer is you know the fact that we do art makes the country worth defending the fact that we're allowed to create art yes makes it worth yes yes and i listen to almost every genre of music that i can even think of i'd like creativity no matter how it manifests.

But if I were to pick one for the Desert Island disc, or I would say for the space mission, all right. You have a disc man on a desert island? So just my playlist for my space mission would be heavily represented in the blues. I'm deeply, yeah, I love the blues. If I'm driving a car at night And the blues comes on the radio Or whatever I'm listening to I gotta like slow down

Go to the right hand lane Just feel it Just feel it Just feel it Yeah the blues I think every white girl Secretly wishes she could sing Really

Sing like that Is that soul Yeah you wanna It's gotta mean something Coming out of you Like Janis Joplin Right okay so You're saying all

People say Oh wouldn't she Suppose she was more Suppose she wasn't so depressed And lived longer She'd be more productive Then she wouldn't have been Janis Joplin. Right, okay, so you're saying all... People say, oh, wouldn't she? Suppose she wasn't so depressed and lived longer. She'd be more productive. Then she wouldn't have been Janis Joplin. She would have been even more depressed. I can't believe this is still happening.

I've been saying about it forever. Wasn't she from Dallas or from Texas somewhere? I don't know. I don't think from Dallas. Otherwise, that would have been rammed down our throats in like year two of Texas history. All right. What else do you have?

Another one. What is antimatter? Do we have access to it? That question by Andrew Sinclair on Facebook. I wonder if these are people who have labs in their basement and they want to become like... How do I get access to it? You need to buy some Sudafed? What is antimatter? How do I get my hands on some? So as far as we have been able to measure, all particles of matter have an exact replica of those particles except they're made of what we call antimatter doppelganger which if they come together they

will completely annihilate and turn into pure energy and so the it's and it's not just we discovered it first it was not science science fiction does some stuff first we did this first right all right we came up with antimatter, predicted its existence, discovered it. How do you discover it? Oh, so it's the product of other reactions. So you have regular matter. You smash particles apart. And in the particle stream, you see antimatter.

And the antimatter doesn't last very long. How do you see antimatter? Well, because then it annihilates. Yeah, you know, you see its path through, back then they had cloud chambers and things. You see the path that it had traveled. What about through soil? You're still worried. You want to store it. I'm very worried about the nuclear reactions going through soil. So, it

is real, and it would be matter, antimatter. Engines would be the most powerful engines, the most efficient engines we would ever know how to make, if you're traveling through space, because you start with matter, and then you have pure energy. And if, you know, your car that you that you drive you said a civic or you were joking about a civic What is it? it's like only 20 or 30 percent at most of the energy of the

Gas you put in the engine is going to move your car forward. The rest gets dissipated as heat That's why your car gets hot when you drive it Imagine if all that energy went in to propel your car. You'd be going 200 miles an hour. Harnessing energy. Harnessing energy is all about it. Harnessing expended energy. All about that. Exactly.

And if all of your matter becomes energy, you got it. There you go. Who do you think will win in the race to harnessing antimatter first, us or the Russians? Why do you have Russians on the front? It's like, don't make me talk about this. You want the Cold War to come back? What? Well, I don't think it ever left

We have more resources than the Ruskies do So maybe He said it Maybe it's us He said it Dasvidanya Alright, let's go to A lightning round

Okay Try to get as many questions as I can And I'm going to answer in sound bites Okay, are you ready? Go Do I say the name of the person? Just read fast Okay

What is complete stillness? Would you be slingshotted to the end of time? Would you be ripped completely from existence? If you were completely still? What is complete stillness? Complete stillness, as far as I know, would have nothing to do with you traveling through time or being cast out to the edge of existence. Also the name of a yoga studio. And in fact, nothing is completely still.

There are vibrations at all levels, even at all temperatures, including absolute zero. That's true. Matter vibrates. Next. If there... By the way, it just vibrates more if it's hotter. But even at absolute zero, quantum fluctuations create vibrations in matter. At the smallest level.

Exactly. Go. If there was no comet to wipe out the dinosaurs, how much harder would it be for mammals and eventually intelligent life to thrive? Could we maybe get intelligent dinosaurs? Okay. So great question. So here's the thing. Our mammal ancestors were running underfoot to T-Rex trying to avoid being consumed as hors d'oeuvres. So if the comet didn't come, the asteroid didn't come, it's not clear we would have evolved to anything unless we were on a completely separate continent right where the dinosaurs couldn't swim and then eat us then it's possible that we could evolve intelligence completely separately while there were major

dinosaurs existing on another continent and then when columbus sets across continents yeah he would have just gotten eaten that would have there with hats on like, welcome to dinner. Yeah. You ever seen the way an iguana looks at you? Yeah. Like it knows something. It's like, it could have been us. Next.

All right. All right. So could dinosaurs involve intelligence? Not likely. Their brain cavities didn't look like, yeah, too small. Okay, next. Bunch of jerks. Go.

Okay. Is Earth gaining mass from space dust and impact rocks or losing mass from evaporating gases and launching space probes? What effects would this have on GPS satellite? Excellent question. So we are gaining approximately anywhere between two and four hundred tons of meteor dust a day, which vastly exceeds spacecraft that we send out or lost evaporated particles in the atmosphere. So Earth is gaining mass daily. Consequences, that would be it is not any worse than an elephant collecting a gnat. Oh, wow.

It's that small. Yeah. Or it's less. It's less than that. These questions are more just me trying to, I have no idea what I said when I read it. I'm just trying to look like I know what's going on. I cannot process it. For 20 seconds.

Okay. Even if we somehow discovered the tech to travel at or faster than light, would passengers of the vehicle survive? So, it's not, the issue is not how fast you go,

it's what is your acceleration. Acceleration is what kills you. Deceleration is what kills you. Right? So, in a plane, you're going 600 miles an hour and you just find sipping tea.

That's not, speed doesn't kill you. Speed has never killed you. It's all about acceleration. And I actually wrote a little essay for a Motor Trend magazine on acceleration. Who doesn't get that? Who isn't subscribing to Motor Trend magazine? And I said, it's, it's, it's, uh, you know, it's not all about the speed. It's all about the acceleration because that's what you feel, and that's the feeling of going fast, whether or not you actually are. That's right. So, no, go as fast as you want and enjoy. Go as fast as you want from Neil deGrasse Tyson.

Don't wear a seatbelt and enjoy your life. That's not what I said. I'm pretty sure that's what you just said. Fist bump out of this. Eliza Schlesinger. Still an issue, huh? Yeah. We will look for you on Netflix and on TBS.

Please do. Coming to a... Galaxy near you. A galaxy near you. Pulsar. A stand-up galaxy near you. Avoid pulsars. They're bad for your health.

Mark Madder. Thanks for listening to StarTalk Radio. I hope you enjoyed this episode. Many thanks to our comedian, our guest, our experts, and I've been your host, Neil deGrasse Tyson. Until next time, I bid you to keep looking up.