StarTalk Radio - Cosmic Queries: Monsters with Bill Nye

Episode Date: October 30, 2015

With Halloween just around the corner, guest host Bill Nye and co-host Chuck Nice apply a little science and rationality to fan questions about zombies, ghosts, vampires, dragons, Frankenstein’s monster, and Bill’s old boss. 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. Greetings, greetings, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, kids of all ages. Welcome to Star Talk Radio. I'm Bill Nye, hosting this week for our beloved Neil deGrasse Tyson, and I am joined once again by the brilliant, the insightful, the nominally handsome Chuck Nice. And this week on Cosmic Queries, with the Hallowed Ene coming up, the eve of All Saints Day, we're going to do monsters. Cosmic Queries monsters.

Monsters. And I, of course, am thoroughly charmed by the great many questions that have come in regarding monsters. Well, monsters are such interesting people. They are. Now, right there, we put in a joke about politicians. There you go. Yeah, okay. But before we do that,

or as we do that, this is really fun. The Halloween in my neighborhood has become such a celebration of something. Kids just love it. People love to get dressed up. There's the candy thing

that's been associated with it. But apparently, it goes way back to Celtic celebrations having to do with how they reckoned the calendar. So this would be the harvest is harvesting, being harvested. Right. Winter is upon us. Right. And so November 1st was the new year.

Oh, really? Apparently. It was the New Year. Oh, really? Apparently. Then, as is so often the case, the churches of Europe overran these guys, the Romans and then the Catholic Church, and absorbed the holiday and made it their All Martyrs Day, their All Saints Day, became the day after the Hallowed Eve. All Hallowed Eves, right. All Souls Day. day became the day after the hallowed eve all hallowed eves right so it's quite a thing but i know the kids that i uh in my neighborhood just go wild for i mean i enjoy it of course but it is ultimately about monsters about adrenaline and being scared and don't forget

it's also about uh taking any profession no matter what it is, and turning it into a sexy outfit for someone to wear. I don't know if I've ever noticed that. Yeah, just let me think about it. Every single costume. Chuck, I think about it all the time. Let's take a cosmic query regarding monsters. Read on. All right.

This is Mario Bevilacqua coming to us from Facebook. Do you believe physics could explain the existence of ghosts and spirits? It reminds me of Carl Sagan's illustration about the fourth dimension with the analogy of geometric forms living in a two-dimensional world and having contact with three-dimensional creatures do you believe in another level or a dimension or another level of existence no and so as far as physics goes uh we have we love to say this all science is either physics or stamp collecting all science is either physics or just collecting facts and the other expression we love is uh they say um everything happens for a reason and that reason really is usually physics so okay if you consider the human consciousness to

be a chemical reactions biochemical the thing that humans struggle with, and I hang out with the occasional neuroscientist, and that is this nature of consciousness. You know, I've spoken to dogs about this. Right. I've spoken to my pet mice, occasional hamster about this. But they don't seem to be troubled by the finite nature of life the way you and I are. No, they're not. They don't seem to be.

They don't get paralyzed by self-doubt. But humans do because we can see that we're not going to live forever. it seems to be easy for us to take an unexplained phenomenon and attribute it to something beyond ourselves because we can't we have trouble imagining it all coming to a close correct and i think that's where ghosts come from and it's so easy to scare and as i say what do you want to be afraid of lions and tigers and bears oh my there are hardly any trouble at all no they're not the thing to be especially here in in Manhattan. That's right. Very few. The occasional superintendent of a building, perhaps.

But the thing to be afraid of is another human. Another human that you can't see. Another human that's able to make noises in an old house. Right. Another human that makes spooky sounds. house right another human that makes spooky sounds and so humans create ghosts to explain the unexplained but can you do your ghost again all that said i don't think that is a ghost i want to meet, by the way. That's a ghost. I want to meet that ghost. Well, you want to meet her if she's hot.

But in general, I don't think there's anything beyond. People have looked and looked. And Houdini gave his mom a secret word. Yeah. Said, if you go to a seance, mom, just listen for the secret word. And you'll know. If you hear it, you'll know that i'm back there i'm out there but there's a famous account that he was uh at a seance and i believe the medium called him a name that his mother never would never call him she only called him by his true name his his given birth name and the medium called him

whatever oh and saying claiming it was his mom right claiming that it was his mother checking in but called him like harry and she would never do that because that wasn't his given birth name she only called him one and he knew right then and there that it was a fake yeah so if you everybody next time you're in new york new york the town's so nice they named it twice, you can go to the Houdini Museum and see this extraordinary setup or set of props that he had to simulate seances. Okay. So Houdini created seances, and people believed it.

They wanted to believe in ghosts so badly. They wanted to contact people who have come and gone so badly that they were easily duped. Now, why don't we connect with people who aren't born yet? Why don't we connect with people way out there in the future who can give us some decent advice? It doesn't happen. It doesn't happen. It's always somebody. We can't imagine it, so it doesn't happen. It's always somebody with unresolved issues. Yes. And boy, the place, the world is lousy with them let me tell you lead on okay so now wait it's just a just a quick follow-up to that when you talk about different

dimensions and you talk about a multiverse so there you say you this is a cosmic query person regarding the monster show yes okay he or she said so is it possible on any level that one multiverse could bleed into another multiverse? Multiverses are bleeding in and out all the time. Totally. And they're merging. Yeah. And that's why I didn't finish my homework. Okay, it could be.

But it's so far out of everyday experience there is so far no evidence no evidence bring it on though okay if there are ghosts bring it on come get let's take a meeting all right so there you go mario bevilacqua no ghosts so sorry you and the kids you and the kids in the mystery machine are just gonna have to keep driving around eating those Scooby Snacks. Okay. Juan Diego Lopez from Facebook wants to know this. He says, hi, it's Juan Diego Lopez from Columbia. What are the odds of a mind-controlling fungus or zombie fungus could evolve to use human beings as its host i don't know chuck your words are strange to me uh so apparently the zombie thing comes from some or one very reasonable rumor is that it comes from a drug that was created that made people spacey, thoughtless,

dumb, weird. And so this led to the myth of zombies. And there are certain diseases that make people have trouble completing sentences, completing sentences. And so this is where I think these myths got started. sentences. And so this is where I think these myths got started. I don't think, it's also very reasonable that a fungus can evolve to have hosts. And there's all kinds of things living in us, all sorts of microbes. Yeah, we are already the host for a heck of a lot. More microbes in your tummy than there are people on earth.

Oh, wow. It is a crazy thing. But the thing that did it, that lives in us, is not a fungus. There are other systems, biological entities we call generally bacteria. But there are successful funguses that use us to get around. I think of athlete's foot. Absolutely. Athlete's foot makes its living off human toes. Which is why I always wear shower shoes, even in my own shower.

TMI, too much information, Chuck. I just don't want to give myself. I can't hear you. Okay. No, but I know what you're saying. So I got to say it's reasonable that funguses do it, but in general, the funguses that succeed with humans live on the outside of our bodies. But bacteria, huh, we're lousy with them.

Right, right. Okay, that's pretty cool. I think it has to do with hyphae. They're delicate hyphae. So there is some basis to this zombie belief. Apparently having to do with a natural drug or drug that locals in the Caribbean were able to isolate. Right. And make you a little zombie-ish. There you go. carry on okay okay this is zach king from facebook um since we're talking about zombies

zach has a great little question i'd like what is with the zombie thing anymore but let's get hit me with the question zach is a this is a great question i want to i want to get your take on this man zach wants to know bill out vampires, and ghosts, which do you believe is the most plausible and why? See, I love this question because I know you don't believe in any of them. Well, but vampires. It's obviously vampires. Why? Because they're vampire bats and they're mosquitoes.

They make their living sucking your blood. Now, vampire bats suck cow blood. Yeah, they lap up cow blood. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but they're good at it. And so that's sort of those three. If I got to pick those three, it's definitely vampires. Well, because they exist. Vampiric animals exist.

Obviously. Look, you guys, you can't see him. It's radio, but he is into it right now. Bill, Bill, Bill. I know, because you're making it too scientific. Of course they exist. But we're talking about the plausibility of the undead versus the plausibility of a being who is possessed by an eternal demon that gives it a bloodlust in order to sustain itself.

Wow. Quite the authority. demon that gives it a blood lust in order to sustain itself. Wow, quite the authority. And then of course the plausibility of the imprint of a human being still resonating after that person ceases to exist in their earthly body. So of the three of those,

which of those would make more sense? I'll say again, sucking somebody else's blood for nutrition is the most reasonable of those three. Because you watch people, look, it's sad. Right. I will be there myself. But as people get older and lose, many of us lose our faculties, it just doesn't seem like that young go-get-em spirit lives on in some ghostly entity. It just seems like you wind down and you die, which sucks. I mean, first to admit, it sucks.

Then that's the ghost thing. And then the zombie thing, well, if you ever met my old boss. No, but people taking drugs to act stupid, there's a lot of that. Unable to form sentences, there's a lot of that. Unable to form sentences, there's a lot of that. I was about to say, now when you look at drug use, there's some zombies out there. That's what I'm saying. There's some real zombies out there. But there are animals that make a living sucking other animals as is blood.

Right. Because it's full of all the nutrients you would ever need, animal-wise. Yes, and you know, I've got to say, I once had an iron-poor diet, and you know. I can't hear you. Lead on, Chuck. Next monster-based cosmic query. Oh, God, this is so much fun. I love it.

All right, here we go. This is Rob Akins coming to us from Facebook. All right, this is another zombie question, okay? But once again. No, but this is a good one. Yeah, I was going to say. But once again, this is a different take on the zombie. And I'm sorry, not too sorry.

I'm delighted that I'm here, but Neil and his daughter are just really into zombies. Oh, really? Oh, God, yeah. I mean, I've heard Neil talk about the zombie thing, but I didn't know that he was that into it. Well, I mean, I think by familial leadership. Right. Lead on there. Okay, cool.

Have you ever watched any of these zombie crazies? Yeah, sure. But the zombies, they were a big hit when I was a kid. And now they've made a comeback. That's true. I mean, when I was a kid, Night of the Living Dead was the big rage. That's all it is. It was the big rage.

And the big thing is, you know, could you be undead? And there used to be a series, Dark Shadows, which people watched every day to find out what these vampire guys and gals were doing that's right people long before there was twilight there were middle-aged unattractive vampires no but the vampires were generally young and hot yeah that's true long before there was uh robert pattinson yeah all, so here's what Rob wants to know. And Bill Nye. Yeah. Go ahead. Here's what Rob Atkins wants to know. And zombie again.

Have you ever considered that zombie-type virus, so he's talking from a virulent standpoint, might actually be beneficial to long space flights? Let me tell you something. This is a pretty cool question. Okay, yeah, but you'd get suspended animation from a zombie virus. Or a zombie drug. So with that, yeah.

There's something to be learned, perhaps, from the zombies. I mean, what do you think about that? It's very reasonable that you could have an infection, something that would affect your genes, that would allow you to live a long time or allow you to doze off, but you'd want to undo it. You'd want an antidote. Okay. And he specifically used the word virus.

Yes, he did. He said a zombie virus. Antiviral drugs are trouble. They don't work as effectively in the same way that antibiotic drugs work. But I follow you. But you'd want to be able to undo it, and you'd want to count on your crewmates to undo it for you. But you'd want to be able to undo it, and you'd want to count on your crewmates to undo it for you. Or maybe you understand it so well that this virus infects you, and you go to sleep at lunch.

Right. And then your body takes years to overcome the virus, and then you wake up ready to play. So it's kind of like a— Could be. What do they call that? An induced coma. Yes. A viral induced coma. A. A viral induced coma.

A space travel virus coma thing. And then everybody's got to, the people who get the gig as astronauts have to respond to it in the proper way. I'm not saying it's very reasonable, but that's a cool premise for science fiction. It is a cool premise for science. Hey, Rob, man, write your book, buddy. Better done. Write your book. Don't forget, act two is the hard part.

All right, here we go. Okay, I don't want another zombie question. No, Chuck's zombied out. Okay. See, you'll notice there are no mirrors in the studio. Yes, that's right. Because then I could see that Chuck's not really here. That's right.

Take it. I don't know if you people are familiar with Blackula, but he's here, baby. Okay, here we go. This is Steve Fleming. Steve Fleming wants to know this. Hey, Bill, I want to know if you know anything about sleep paralysis. Now, that's all he asks. Well, I've definitely routinely woken up and I can't move for a moment.

Oh, my God. That's happened to you, too. Yeah. Okay. For me, it's been longer than a moment, though. I mean, I've been fully. Are you awake now? No.

Many question that. There's a lot looked into this. A lot of people look into this. Okay. My speculation, it has to do with your cerebellum all right the part of your brain that helps you walk the part of your brain at the at the base between your spinal cord and your cerebrum okay where you do your thinking and so it's very reasonable the sleep paralysis is more pronounced in some people than others okay but so far it is

not genetically lethal like people have this sleep paralysis they're they're paralyzed for a few moments when they awaken but look chuck you got three kids right yes and some of them are probably going to show up with the same nice syndrome this is true where they're yeah just i hope they don't get the mean spirited syndrome but this is very reasonable and this if you have an interest uh querierist query person steve look into it become a medical doctor and uh understand the cerebellum and dare i say it change the world this is cosmic queries this week it's monsters with chuck nice and i'm your host bill nye and we'll be back on StarTalk right after this. Welcome back to StarTalk Radio.

I'm your host, Bill Nye, sitting here with Chuck Nice. That's right. It's the Cosmic Queries. And this week, what with the Hallowed Ean, the eve of All Saints Day coming up, we are doing monsters. Monsters. Because it's such a popular costume theme. And speaking of costume themes, my goodness, we went to Comic-Con. Wow.

That's right. It's a lot of costumes. You know, that's all there is. But some of them are very, very good. The ones that people purchase, I'm like, okay, fine. okay fine but chuck is like okay fine that's what he's like yeah but the homemade the homemade costumes you see the the diligence yes the time and effort and the passion that the people put into thought yeah i mean you know i mean everything from uh the collector to Mordecai and JC, from Cartoon Network to comic books. You know, the people with these homemade costumes, they really, really pour themselves into it.

And they have fun. It's awesome. I got to give it to them. I mean, I would never, you know, spend time doing that. What's this thing you're wearing now, though? Oh, I'm wearing my... I kid because I love. This is true.

I'm wearing kind of a costume. I'm wearing an Albert Einstein t-shirt that I picked up. It has a pipe, but it has an enormous flame coming out of it. Well, yeah, the flame is like, I don't know, it looks like a nebula or something coming out of this pipe. It's like a nebula coming out of this pipe. So with that said, we went to Comic-Con, and we got some cosmic queries with the monster theme.

Take it, Chuck. All right. Well, let's hear from our Comic-Con. Oh, it's a recording. It's a recording. Oh, yes. Play it. Hey, Bill.

Alex from Brooklyn here in New York City Comic-Con. Why is it that the dragon and the sea monster are so pervasive in so many cultures' mythos? Wow, that's a good question. Well, I think the sea monster thing is easily explained if you've ever been on the ocean and a big fish shows up yeah which they do right it is amazing and often frightening and i say big fish a big whale yeah it would be among those that would take you off guard man they're huge and they're moving around in the water. You can't see them, and they can be scary. And I cannot help but reflect on a classic Twilight Zone with the sand monster.

Do you remember the sand monster? No, I don't. Or she moved under the sand, eating astronauts. Very troublesome. Oh, my God. That sounds like the premise for the movie Tremors. Yes. Exactly. You can't exactly

you can't see them so i think that sea monsters are very easy to create in any culture because so much goes on below the surface that you can't see and there must be extraordinary forces at work to produce these extraordinary large animals as far as dragons go i I think, I mean, how bad would it be if alligators could fly? I mean, they've got big jaws. They bite you in half. And by the way, alligators are super trouble if you're in an African river or in Florida. Yeah. And you're just trying to walk through the marsh or the swamp or the wetland.

Or a golf course. Yes. Or a golf course. Very troublesome. Very troublesome. Take it up another notch where they're flying. No, wait, there's more. Or a golf course. Very troublesome. Very troublesome. Take it up another notch where they're flying. No, wait, there's more.

They can breathe fire. It just gets worse and worse. But I think it starts in the sea and the mystery below the surface. Gotcha. Well, that makes perfect sense because the sea is mysterious. It's easier to explore the surface of the moon than the bottom of the ocean. It's probably easier for me to say the word mysterious, apparently. Try it again.

Wichita. Mysterious. I can never say Wichita. Okay. Let's move on to Andy Bracken, Bill, wants to know this. I like this question, man. Is the Frankenstein monster even remotely possible and how? Did you ever meet my old boss? Okay, so this is the premise is you take a brain out of one person and put it in another.

Exactly. I would ask medical science, but there's a lot of nerves to connect. Plenty could go wrong. Plenty could go wrong. Plenty could go wrong. And while it seems reasonable, I think it's not going to happen. I know people that wear the bracelet to get their heads frozen. Yeah? So this would not be putting a brain in a guy.

This would be putting a head on somebody. Head in a jar. jar yeah i just don't think i think there's a lot more to it that's that people talk about in medical science they talk about your central nervous system your cns and i think the connection between your central nervous system and your brain is very complicated and if else, you've probably had a cut and your finger or that part of your arm went numb. Yes. But then as years went by, it got un-numb.

Have you ever had that feeling, that experience? Well, it hasn't gone un-numb yet. But yeah, I chopped off a piece of my finger and it's still numb there. Yeah, but has it gotten more sensitive? Yes, I have sensitivity, but it hasn't. So there's something going on. There's stuff that grows, stuff that doesn't grow or doesn't multiply, and stuff that does.

And I think the connection between those is very hard to establish. If I were you, I would live for now and not freeze your brain. Although there's a few people I wouldn't mind putting in a jar. Next question, cosmic queries of monsters. Monsters. All right. Here we go. Amy Kolev.

Amy, take it. Amy says this. We often talk about life as we know it and as it exists in our universe outside of Earth. Less often, we talk about life as we don't know it and what other kind of life there could be, how to define it and further detect it. What are some possibilities of other life that we don't know? Now, it's very difficult for you to tell us the life that we don't know because we don't know it. Well, this is what you should do, Amy. You should go to school

and study astrobiology no seriously this is where people sit and think deeply that some of them stand i'm sure and think deeply about what it would take to be a living thing with a different chemical system than we know okay so everybody shooting from the hip if you're not an electrovore as carl sagan specular you there's some pure energy field and you just absorb electricity if you're not that right you're gonna have to have a solid form and you're gonna have to have a solvent a liquid a liquid that can move chemicals around this is what people speculate so if you have liquid can move chemicals around. This is what people speculate. So if you have liquid that move chemicals around, what liquid would that be? Ammonia. Okay.

That's a stinky race of people. Maybe a gaseous thing. Chlorine. Chlorine. Something that reacts strongly. Maybe. So probably would not be a noble gas. There's probably nobody made of helium running around.

Or xenon. Even though the people who are made of helium would sound awesome. It would be unusual. With that said, everybody loves water because we've studied all these things. So if you look at, imagine

a pair of Mickey Mouse ears fastened to the skull cap as they so often are. Right. If you look at it right side up, it looks one way. If you let it flop down upside down, it looks another way. But if you look at it edge on, like across the person's shoulders, they're symmetrical. It looks like a fin.

So these wonderful properties where it's polar, as it's called, has polarity, has a north and south pole one way and not the other way, give water these wonderful chemical properties that we all embrace. So this is why astrobiologists currently are so kooky for water and why it was such a big deal, such a big story a couple weeks ago when scientists showed that there are seasonal flows of water on Mars. That is to say, every Martian year, super salty water seems to flow on the surface. If we found super salty water, very reasonable that we will find some super salty water-loving

Mars probe. Mars probe. This could change the course of human history, as I so often say. They wouldn't be monsters. They'd be Mars probes. There you go. All right, Amy, there's your answer. Everybody loves water.

The universe's most popular sitcom. Okay, let's go to Amanda Wiseman. Hydro and his wife, Aqua. Yes. This is Amanda Wiseman. Amandaro and his wife, Aqua. Yes. This is Amanda Wiseman. Amanda would like to know this. What do you think is the origin of- It's very easy for you to say.

It is. Of the lincanthropy myth or werewolves. The lincanthropy myth. Well, I have known some guys that are hair suit. Oh, hair suit? You mean they look like they're wearing a hair suit? Well, they're known some guys that are hair suit. Oh, hair suit? You mean they look like they're wearing a hair suit? Well, they're hairy. Yeah.

And so a wolf is hairy. Wolf has, like some dogs, have clean jowls, unshaven jowls. They don't need to shave their jowls. Right. So wolves are scary. Yes, they are. You're alone in the woods. That's what you're afraid of is a pack of wolves.

They're packs of wolves. You're alone in the woods. That's what you're afraid of is a pack of wolves. They're packs of wolves. They're scary. And there's also these extraordinary claims that people do act weird during full moons. And I think that there's no statistical evidence of it in the modern world. Full moon, not full moon. People act the same number of trips to the emergency room. Hospitals have the same business. But back in the day, by the way, Chuck, where's the phase of the moon right now?

Do you know? I do not. You don't need to because we've got electric lights everywhere. So true. So we no longer need to know the phase of the moon. But if you were a bad guy and you were going to work a problem getting through the woods at night to do nefarious things, you do it during a full moon. Of course, because you want the illumination of the... That's when people were out.

That's when people did their full moonical business. And that myth is still with us as to where it exactly came from. I'm not an authority, but I think wolves are scary. People at night during full moons are scary, and they converged. There you go. You know, that makes perfect sense. I love it. There you go, Amanda. An extremely salient answer offered by

none other than Bill Nye. Okay, let's go to Susan Minobe or Minobe, I'm not sure. Susan wants to know this. Have you encountered a monster or something that was downright weird or inexplicable in your science life?

Not so far. Oh, really? No. I've been scared out of my mind by flashlights. I've been scared. Wait a minute. Yeah, yeah. Well, well, well, Bill, you just can't gloss over I've been scared out of my mind by flashlights.

Well, this guy in the Boy Scouts was really good with this. He could move his flashlight so that a shadow would come towards you really fast. A shadow would be out there, and then it would come at you really fast. And he was just good with manipulating his flashlight. I was scared. Cool. But I'm satisfied that, B, he did not have superpowers. Right.

And, A, it was anything but a flashlight. So I've been scared, but I've never really been scared. And I've been scared by other people. A guy tried to rob me. I've had a guy pull a gun on me. That's being scary, but it's not the same as a supernatural ghost, zombie, monster guy. Okay. So let me follow up to Susan's question here just along that vein.

Have you encountered anything scientifically that makes you want to poop your pants on any level? Something that just goes, holy crap, there's no way we should be. We're not ready for this. Or as humankind, we're not ready for this. Or as humankind, we're too irresponsible for this or infantile or anything along those lines. Is there

a power or something out there scientifically that you look at and go, that is seriously scary? No. No? No. Really? I'm scared of people. That's what I'm scared of. The science is fine. It's the hands.

It's whose hands the science is in. No, so really, I am not afraid of any power of the universe akin to, let's say, the first nuclear weapons that were set up. People were terrified of them. Yeah, I'm still terrified. I have respect for nuclear weapons, but I'm not scared of them on their own. I'm scared of the people that might wield them. And I'm also scared once in a while of politicians who,

for example, there was this kid, Adolf Hitler. That kid. Who was big trouble for humankind. Oh, Adolf, you again. No, but he was big trouble for humankind. Oh, Adolf, you again. No, but he was huge trouble for humankind. Yes, he was. And it was people who did not recognize how scary he was, or they went along with him for whatever reason.

And you worry about that not at that same scale in the Middle East or in other parts of the world where people wield enormous amounts of power and do great harm to others. It's not because of science that I'm afraid. It's because of the cold war and nuclear weapons where this enormous powers could be held could be wielded by one guy with the red

button let's say but that is the people that you're afraid of not the instrument okay there you go science not scary people yes oh Oh, very cool. Very cool. All right, here we go. We don't have a lot of time here, so let's go. But let's just make a good answer for a change, Bill. Take it, Chuck. That is not what I was saying. That's what I heard.

No, come on now. James Clayton from Facebook. James wants to know like this. From Facebook, James wants to know like this, is there any way a person could live on blood like a vampire? So biologically, could you sustain yourself on blood? I don't think so because it's too salty. Really? Yeah, you think you have to have water too. And then the nutrients that are in blood, there's a lot you'll miss i think uh just

from the blood gotcha i'm shooting from the hip here but everything every cell is nourished by blood right so all the nutrients are in there but i think there's all sorts of mechanisms that control how much of each one is in your blood at any one time gotcha and so you'd have a temporal problem like you'd have to be sucking the blood full-time or having it circulating through you full time wait we do have blood circulating through us full time we're we are all monsters we're all vampiric or this is this is the most frightening show ever on the eve of All Saints Day on the Hallowed Ene Chuck

you've led me down this road you've created a monster and we'll be back on StarTalk Radio with Chuck Nice and Bill Nye right after this thanks for listening welcome back to StarTalk Radio. It's Cosmic Queries.

This week, because of Halloween, it's monsters. Yes. Which is including some other stuff. Some zombies and vampires and ghosts. And other living things on other worlds in the cosmos yeah anyway i'm here it's bill nye your guest host this week sitting in for our beloved neil degrasse tyson with the brains of the outfit chuck nice chuck you've got a whole stack of cosmic queries there yes i do which one appeals to you on this uh this scary week of autumn yes i think we're going to go with a question from one

of our patreon patrons and this is sergio the patreon is where someone's a patron and a support a patron and a supporter of start talk and you're saying they get precedence yes they do we take buying their way onto the air absolutely just like an election. Wait a minute. That's a cosmic perspective. Yes, they are. But Sergio Rizzuto from Colts Neck, New Jersey, wants to know this, and specifically for you, Bill. What is the worst outcome we can expect from a GMO-resistant monster bug? I like that. resistant monster bug.

I like that. I don't know. When you say monster bug, you may be conflating a couple things. Conflating is a modern word. Mixing together a couple ideas. Genetically modified organisms are almost entirely plants. Okay.

And they are modified in order to be resistant to viruses or bacteria and other parasites. And so what does happen, though, in the example of pigweed. Pigweed. Pigweed. There's an Oranthus. It's a very large genus of plant. Okay.

The Oranthus weed family. They have some amplified genes. They have many, many repeats of the same gene, and they are resistant to, for example, glyphosate, the popular brand name being Roundup. Which is a weed killer. Weed killer. It inhibits the shikimic acid pathway, shikimate acid pathway.

And so the worst that's happening is you get weeds that the herbicides don't work on. That's the worst so far. But I could easily imagine back in the day, you genetically modify a plant and then it would mess up an ecosystem. But now we can assay genes at such extraordinary speed and with such accuracy, that doesn't look like that's really going to be the problem. The problem is still, any problem we have is still these very successful herbicides and crop plants that have stacked genes where they're resistant to a variety of pathogens or parasites or trouble. Anyway, they're planted in huge cultures, so-called monoculture. And that is the problem. The biggest problem seems to be the knock-on effect of just planting too many of the same

plant in too big an area. And then the ecosystem of the farm doesn't work as well as it could. And the classic example being bees have apparently lost their genetic diversity. And this has led to getting any kind of parasite has wiped out entire hives or caused huge trouble for entire hives. Because there's a lack of genetic diversity within the bee colony?

Yeah. Okay. Result of the lack of genetic diversity of the plants, the farm field. Right, right. And so this is a solvable problem, everybody, but it's tricky. It's complicated.

Cool. But in science, we love complicated. Yes. Yeah, man, I was so hoping that that answer would end up being the worst monster bug you could get from a GMO-resistant plant would be like a plant with a black accent and teeth that lives in a little shop in the village,

just like Seymour. Let the record show that Chuck Nice created that little bit of comedy. Yeah, that's true. You never liked that play, man. Come on. I liked it, but I couldn't pull it off. I mean, I can't pull it off.

I would be within my career even faster. Where are you going, Seymour? Okay. All right. It's a good question. Yeah. Okay, let's move on. Kind of unresolved, really.

Yeah, it really is. Let's move on. Let's go to Juan Herrera from Rhode Island. Coming to us through Facebook. Ron wants to know this. Hey, I wanted to know if gene splicing is real, and if so, would it ever be possible to use it to create

a real-life wolf man? Well, we'll see. Yeah, gene splicing seems to be real. This is where you put a virus in somebody and it carries a gene that gets inserted in that person's or that entity's or that organism's DNA.

And so then to make a wolf person, what makes a wolf person? He has exacerbated incisors. Right. So fangs. His canine teeth are fangy. Right. And then he's got a big beard and nails, long nails. And when there's a full moon, he goes a little wild.

Right. That's the sort of guy I used to a little wild right okay sort of uh guy used to work with he's sort of that guy so uh i guess it's possible guy at boeing he was real good at removing paint so anyway uh anyway yeah it's possible uh and the discoveries that are being made recently Is genes go across species in nature This is quite a discovery This is quite a discovery And shown several times Where especially viruses carry genes

From one plant to another Okay, so you're saying that we could use a virus As a delivery system to embed genes From another species into a human being That may end up carrying the traits of that species and attributing those traits to that human being? Yeah. Wow. And apparently this has happened in ancient times.

All these bacteria have this issue and it happens enough in nature. And it happens enough in nature. Wow. But we are all here in shape. We have the size and shape that we have because it has generally settled down. I mean, this guy wants to make a wolf person. Right. Wolfman.

Yeah, that's going to take a few minutes. I could make a wolfman right now. Yeah, exactly. Right now. All right, here we go. That's right. It's me, Wolfman. Okay, enough of that. Monsters all over the studio.

Green onions. Let the midnight special shine its ever-loving light on you. Okay. And now another cut from the Beach Boys. But with that said, the thing about Halloween costumes is you can take them off. Wow. When you get the jeans in there, it's a little trickier. And by the way, if you put the genes in the wolf guy, if you wolf guy-ify his genes or her genes, and that prohibits or disables his or her ability to have offspring, that modification will disappear.

Wow. Right? That is correct. And you know what? Where did I read that there's an ancestor that we have that is no longer here because of that reason? Oh, forget it. Well, we used to, apparently humans, what we think of as humans, used to have sex with Neanderthals. Neanderthal, right.

But we out-competed them. They got diluted, and here we are. Right. There you go. And then, of course, insert another old boss joke right here. I think he was a bit of a caveman. Cosmic queries, lead on. There we go.

Fantastic. I love it. All right, let's go to Alex Dye. Alex is coming to us from Facebook, and Alex wants to know this, or he says this first. I'm very skeptical about ghosts, but given the complex way in which light energy behaves.

Now, listen, man. He's on a whole other wavelength. Light energy is behaving. Light energy behaves. Could ghosts merely be some form of leftover residual energy? Or could the brain, in fact, generate the image itself of a person? Well, cha. You have dreams where people show up you don't expect

or don't look like anybody you know or are amalgams of people you met so human brains generate all kinds of human-like images for sure so true but is it a space light continuum situation um maybe but then why aren't why are the ghosts always people we know? Why do they always look like actors that we're familiar with? If it's going to be a ghost, I want this person to show up really taking me. And why is it somebody from the future? Why do we have all these past ghosts who only show up with special effects? I mean, really, everybody, I appreciate that we all, nobody wants to die.

I mean, there's a few people you'd just as soon hurry up and do so, but that's different. It's, we seem to fade out, not turn into ghosts. And where do they get the clothes, those ghosts? And why do they need clothes that's right but if they are if they are pure energy manifestation in our brains you'd think they'd be a little more easily documented right okay okay well there you go well chuck we're we're getting toward the end of this segment yes we are my which is i won't say the most exciting part of any radio show on earth ever in history but it is pretty exciting i refer of course to the star talk cosmic queries lightning round yes hit me all right this is where we'll

just try to get through as many questions as possible and you'll answer as quickly as you feel need be all right yes joe go sorry jody. Wolf from Facebook wants to know this. If zombies are the living dead, could they survive the cold, harsh realm of outer space? Whoa! Zombies seem to breathe air. Can you suffocate a zombie? I don't think so. No, that's a good question.

I guess they'd be fine in outer space. Let's send zombies. Zombies to Mars. Mars trip zombies. Zombies to Mars. Mars trip solved. Zombies. Okay. Here's Mark J.P. Gonzalez wants to know this. Why do you think the stories about monsters reverberate around the world?

And what could be the explanation for the variation? So, for instance, it seems as though the same monster's stories come up around the world, but just in slightly different variations. Well, let us keep in mind that all humans have a common ancestor. Oh. Right? We are all from East Africa. Okay.

We are all humans. We pass on the same stories. We're all afraid of the same stuff. We're all more alike than we are different. So we have the same or similar myths. Bang. And by the way, let me just say this.

Mark ended saying, thank you and have a nigh, nice day. I get it. There you go. Chuck Nice, Bill Nye.

There you go. I get it. There you go. All right. So Guy, Degatta, wants to know this. And Guy is coming to us from Nagoya, Japan.

He says, Godzilla, that's so out of the ordinary for a guy from Japan. Godzilla was conceived as a metaphor for nuclear weapons, thought to be the greatest threat to humankind at the time. What kind of monster would you create to represent today's greatest threat to humankind at the time. What kind of monster would you create to represent today's greatest threat, Bill Nye? First of all, let me just say, Guy, that was a brilliant, brilliant question. I'm not sure Godzilla is just from nuclear weapons.

I think the Japanese culture has had a lot of sea monsters. He comes out of the ocean. He does come out of the ocean. He's a lot of trouble. So the scariest thing right now is all these people. We have the most serious problem facing humankind is climate change. Okay. And that is a result in the biggest of pictures that our atmosphere is barely 100 kilometers thick, 60 miles thick.

And there are 7.3 billion of us breathing and burning it. Holy crap. And so the scariest thing is all these people having uh relentless people making without dying so is that a single monster no the monster is us oh my god we're all monsters so what we want to do is raise the standard of living of women and girls that they have fewer wanted children for a better tomorrow for all humankind clean water for everyone electricity electrical storage transmission and a top-down successful regulatory scheme that puts a fee on carbon dioxide and methane production boom there you go guy the calls are coming from inside the house

okay let's go to pavel karpisky who wants to know, greetings from Ireland dear Mr. Nye, what do you think about an idea of reviving dead people? Okay, like dead. It's happened though, right? People have been clinically dead and come back to life. Yeah, but if you're doing it within 30 seconds, it's one thing than if you're doing it, you know, for like

Abe Lincoln or somebody. So, you know, for example George Washington drank water from like Abe Lincoln or somebody. So, you know, for example, George Washington drank water from the Commonwealth of Virginia. And look, he's dead. So, no, I think it's really hard to bring people back to life. It's hard to keep people

from losing their faculties as their age, let alone bringing them back when everything shuts down. I think there's a lot of post-mortem chemical reactions that are very, very difficult to reverse because of that traumatic reality of nature. Okay.

The second law of thermodynamics. This has been StarTalk Radio, the exciting lightning round, cosmic queries having to do with monsters, Halloween, and stuff we're afraid of. And the thing to be afraid of, my friends, is fellow people. So let's all get along.

It's been Chuck Nice. Hey. Co-hosting with me, Bill Nye. And I encourage us all to keep looking up.