StarTalk Radio - Cosmic Queries: TV Sci-Fi with Bill Nye

Episode Date: August 25, 2017

Who better to answer fan-submitted questions about science fiction on TV and in the movies than Bill Nye? Bill and Chuck Nice flip channels between “Star Trek,” “Star Wars,” “Lost in Space,��� “Gilligan’s Island,” “Back to the Future,” and more. (Adult Language.)NOTE: StarTalk All-Access subscribers can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free. Find out more at https://www.startalkradio.net/startalk-all-access/ Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to new episodes ad-free and a whole week early.

Welcome to StarTalk Radio. I'm your host, Bill Nye, here with wide world citizen of the worldwide world, Chuck Nice. And this is your special all-star edition. Chuck, here's the interesting thing. I'm the all-star. I'm starring all-wise here. It's good. No, it's really fun. I really appreciate you guys including me. Now, this is a cosmic query. Yes, it is. I see you have stacks of querical queries.

Yes, I do. From all over the interwebs. That electric thing the kids use. They're electric machines. I hear that thing's catching on. Yeah. I don't know what's going on with that. This is cool. Thank you all for sending in questions.

Chuck, let's read one. Let's get right to it, okay? And this is from Dan Gomez. Dan says, what exactly is inside of a vacuum, if not matter, than some sort of cosmic energy, the fabric of reality? Well, there's energy passes through a vacuum. Right. So we love that.

We're talking about light, heat, all these exciting things. Then you ask a good question. People talk about space-time, using it as one word, space-time. And it's generally agreed that not only is the universe expanding, but space itself is expanding. So most of space has what we reckon is no matter, nothing in it. So perhaps any vacuum you have is also expanding along with space, if it's away from a gravity field or away from a local gravity field.

Okay. Maybe it's expanding and we just can't sense it. It's one of the rules. It's crazy. It's crazy. It's pretty wild. It is wild. It really is profound.

Yeah. All right. Actually, Dan, very good question. Enough to sound so surprised. He's a Star Trek listener. Star talk listener. Which brings me to this next thing. These questions are generally about science fiction, right?

Yes, that's right. Star Trek will probably come up. Star Trek is definitely going to come up because this is sci-fi and scientists on TV. These are what the inquiries are about. Let's go to Sam THFC. All right. I have no problem with that. I don't know what THFC means But he's coming to us from

Twitter I just made up a whole new social media Look for it Twitter coming to a Chuck Nice was the first Twitter Sweeter So give us a tweet from the Twitter Here's what he says

That didn't sound right I apologize Give us a tweet from the Twitter. What fictional scientist do you think would, if he or her and his or her science were real, would benefit mankind the most? Do you have somebody that you like as a fictional scientist that you believe, if they were real, they would actually be a huge benefit to mankind. The person, the man or woman, who invents a way to filter salt water

and make it into fresh water. Oh, wow. And that person may exist right now, but this is a hypothetical thing. Wow. And it may not be one person. Maybe a corporation who continually dinks around with materials to make this possible.

But that would be great if you could make seawater economically into freshwater. So now what is the big deal of, not big deal, what is the big obstacle for capturing freshwater from saltwater or desalinating it? Energy. It takes energy, right? You either have to boil

it, often in a partial vacuum, so called partial flash distillation, or you push it through an osmotic filter, a filter that filters molecules, and get the fresh water to come out the other side, but it takes a lot of pressure. That's what they do on cruise ships and submarines. Oh, really? Yeah.

So one can't help but wonder if there isn't some trick to make that easier. Right. One's hopeful. And is it going to be necessary one day? I mean, are we going to be in a position where we're out of fresh water? Well, yeah, people talk about it all the time, but it would enable so much. It would be so cool if you could take seawater and make it into fresh water along the coast. Most people in the world live along coastlines.

On the coastline, right. So it would be really a terrific thing if you could do it economically, especially for the developing world. Nice. I love it. So you, I mean, what's funny is that they were talking about a character,

but you went with an actual scientific thing. That some human is going to invent. That some human can actually do at some point. Yes. You know, love it. It could happen right now while we're talking star wise. There may be somebody out there doing it as we speak. All right, here we go.

Wow, this person. Nope. You stumped yourself. It's Kelly Clemenco. Kelly Clemenco. Kelly Clemenco wants to know this. Doc Brown and the DeLorean. Yes, Doc Brown.

The good, the bad, and what do you think a flux capacitor really is or could be? Let's start with the following thing. We just did, for those of you who watched our talk on the TV, we just did a time travel bit where I was in one of the DeLoreans that was used in the movie. There's a company in New Jersey that maintains these movie cars, Batmobiles and Green Hornet cars. Right. So I was in it, and I threw a switch, and it was funny and charming. So the flux capacitor, you may recall, is running on banana peels and stuff.

Right. And then then as far as we know you can't travel through time but science fiction writers love that yes and can you go back in time the big question is can you go back in time and change history would you just get the captain of the titanic to slow down man right gee whiz see the thing is he would slow down and somehow somehow the Titanic would still sink. Well, that's if your interpretation of time travel. But, you know, on what is generally regarded as the very best of the original Star Trek series,

City on the Edge of Forever, you go back in time, and somehow Hitler takes over the world because the passivism from Edith Keor keeps the United States from entering the wars. Because Kurt actually saves her from getting hit by a car. So you're familiar. And then they change. And then that changes the outcome of everything.

More modern viewers, young people, may wonder if you can send an emissary back in time to have sex with a waitress who then turns out to be your own mother. And you do that the way that we did in... That's the Terminator. That's the entire premise of the Terminator. But traveling in time is quite difficult unless, like Chuck and myself, you are happy with traveling just one way. Right. Forward. Forward. Older. Right with traveling just one way. Forward.

Forward. Older. Right. Closer to death. Yeah. And that's where we're going right now. I started off laughing and ended up crying. Chuck's an artist.

He's an artist. But it is a troubling thing. After you reach adulthood, your head is headed toward death. Yes. Very troubling, but nevertheless apparently true fact as opposed to a false fact. Well, this question took a decidedly morbid turn somehow. Well, either that or deal, okay? We're only going one way.

You can't go back in time. So play the hand you're dealt. All right? Let's get on with it. Quit pining for something that's not possible. Yes. You're never going back to win that big game at state. Okay? Take that as a learning experience for your next big game. That's right. And then also furthermore to continue, there is a very, which I say for comedic effect, there's a very reasonable theory in physics that you could build a time machine, but you could only go back to when the machine was built. Couldn't go any further.

No. And furthermore, further back in time more, you have to travel at relativistic speeds to get there, which would be akin to falling into a black hole, which would tear you apart from its own gravity. So it's just not that easy. So everybody, I don't mean to be dismissive of time travel, but don't count on it to solve your problems. Right. Let's say you live on a planet that is where a certain species is burning so much ancient fuel that they're accelerating the rate of warming by about a factor of a million.

Let's just say. Let's just say. You can't pine for the day. I can't even imagine what kind of planet this would be. You can't pine for the day when you could have done something about it at the turn of a couple centuries ago. You got to play the hand we're dealt right now and address climate change. Right.

Right. Which, you know, I'd like to believe is going to happen. Yes. But I also believe that people are stupid. And none of you listening. No. None, you know, I'd like to believe is going to happen. Yes. But I also believe that people are stupid. And none of you listening. No. None of you. No, no, no.

Hearing our voices right now. Other people. There are other people who are, quite frankly, stupid. And they don't believe anything you just said. As a matter of fact, one of them is a senator. His name is Inhofe. And he actually wrote a book called The Biggest Hoax Ever or something like that. Yes, yeah.

You're digressing a bit, Chuck, but I appreciate it. He's a senator, Bill. I know. He gets reelected all the time. He represents. There's only two of them for his state. I know. He represents half of a state.

I know. And he says it's a hoax. Guys like you who do this so they can get money. Because that's what happens when you say that the... Chuck, you're going kind of Bill Cosby on me there. Go to your speech pattern. I would like to invite you over for

some cappuccino, Bill. Thank you, Dr. Huxley. But this said, Chuck, your digression is worthy. It's just something to think about. You know, time travel is a cool idea in science fiction. But let's keep our eye on the prize. We almost certainly cannot travel through time.

We cannot go back in time and fix things. Right. So we've got to play the hand we're dealt. There you go. Lead on. There you go. Let's move on to another query and keep those very grave words in mind. Oh, they're also empowering.

They're also empowering. They are empowering. Constraints are empowering. Absolutely. You got to solve this problem. Let's go. Okay, here we go. Jonathan B. East, at Beckom East.

I like that. From Twitter says, if you could interview any fictional scientists. Fictional scientists. Fictional scientist. Fictional scientist. Somebody from the movies or a book or anything like that. Who would it be and why? And he's coming to us from Indiana. It's fictional.

Fictional. So, like, is there any fictional character that you admire, whatever they embody, the character embodies certain values? Your first cut is you'd say Mr. Spark, right? Would you like to chat it up with Mr. Spock? I have to tell you that I've often fantasized about that. But then, fictional scientist, the guy who invents the time machine in

the H.G. Wells' The Time Machine. Right. That might be, how did you do that? Yeah, that's a pretty, yeah, especially, how did you do it out of bubble gum and a pinwheel? Because basically, that's a pretty yeah especially how did you do it out of bubble gum and a pinwheel yeah whatever basically that's it was a big fan on it he oils something and he's able to try yeah that would be a good couple of questions all right but i will say uh as charming as all that is there's some real people i'd love to know i was about to go there yeah yeah i mean i was about to say yeah as i wouldn't like to talk to uh

would you now would you rather speak to rosalind franklin or franklin or albert einstein oh man yeah buddy i'd like to talk to rosalind because you don't hear that much about her okay people write books now but i would like to know what her life was like sweet sweet she had to play she had a tough road to hoe there. She was the only woman on the thing. I was going to say, when you're a female, I mean. Back in the 1950s. It's not going to be. Those of you who are down, not hip, not down.

She took the picture that enabled Watson and Crick to envision DNA. Right. The spiral, the double helix. But did she envision it first? Because she looked at the picture and then the men took credit? Right. Arguments have ensued. Aha.

There have been whole radio shows devoted to this argument. I can't resolve it right now, but it is intriguing. And clearly still having ramifications to this day. We are probably one of the most important discoveries ever. Yeah. By the way, Darwin and Russell discovered evolution without any knowledge of DNA. That's amazing. That is amazing.

It is amazing. Yes. Talk about discipline, scientific method. Very cool. Just straight observation. Observing and thinking. Exactly. Sweet.

Also, don't forget, if you ever read Origin of Species, Darwin did all kinds of very diligent naturalist experiments. He's a really impressive guy. I mean, I know everybody says that, but he really was quite the experimentalist as well as the observationalist naturalist. Right. All right, cool. Lead on. So there you go, there you go, there you go. Good question.

I like that. All right, let me move on to another query this is denard springle coming to me i like that name coming to us from google plus he says how much more interesting would lost in space have been if they'd elaborated more on dr maureen robinson's biochemical background instead of having her be the typical housewife in space, preparing meals, tending to the garden, et cetera, et cetera.

Well, it sounds like from your point of view, Mr. and Ms. Springle, it would be a lot better. And notice that compare and contrast the contemporary show Lost in Space with Star Trek. Right.

Star Trek, the women were empowered. Yes, there was a lot of legs. Yes, there were a lot of- Mini skirts. A lot of nice uniforms. Mm-hmm. But ultimately- Green women.

Green women who were strangely hot. Yes. But ultimately, right there in the middle of the whole thing was Lieutenant Uhura. Yes. Who was an empowered woman. Yes, he was. Who ran things. And then you'd come across your woman Romulan,

who was in charge of a ship and so on. Right. And then you go forward into the Star Trek series. Oh, I'm sorry. No, Chuck, take it. Of course, there's Captain Janeway. Right there, running the whole freaking starship. Running the whole starship, who became Admiral Janeway.

That's right. And notice, but that shows that the woman's movement, at least here in the United States, was reflected in science fiction. Right. You know what I mean? You know what I mean? So, if there... I can't hear you. I don't know why I would say such a thing, but you see that the evolution right there.

And by the way, Nichelle Nichols came to the 35th anniversary of the Planetary Society, October 2015. And she told the story again, Chuck. She's told the story countless times. She was very gracious about it. About what? Martin Luther King called her. Yes. Apparently on the phone.

I have a dream. Yeah, and he said, you can't quit this job. She was going to quit. She wanted to go back to Broadway or whatever she was as a big-time actress, not pretending to be in the 23rd century. Right. And he said, you can't quit this job. As he saw the value in her being on the bridge of a starship in the future.

As a ranking officer, a lieutenant. Who was responsible for all kinds of important things. Right. And so it was really a moving moment. Wow. officer a lieutenant who who was responsible for all kinds of important things right and so uh it was a really a moving moment for me wow you know what's funny about lieutenant ahura is a lot of people said well she was the she was none but an operator you know she was the and the truth of the matter was she was the first contact for anyone that's right she was capcom that's right but really capcom's a big job it goes so no She was a big deal, and she made decisions, and she had to remain calm in some pretty stressful situations, albeit fictional ones.

Right. But it was to the point where Martin Luther King himself says, my friend, Ms. Nichols, you can't quit this gig because you're a role model for uh african-american people and women especially i do believe you are future it was really it was well it makes sense a story that she told i gotta say i was completely unaware of that story and that's a great yeah but she's told it a lot of times but she was very nice about it yeah it's very cool that's very cool then it kind of goes to show you the importance of science. Television. Science fiction. Science fiction. And by the way, the thing about Star Trek, as a Trekkie, it's an optimistic view of the future through science.

It is not an apocalyptic view of the future. It is not science is bad and leads to disaster. It's science is good and leads to all material needs being taken care of. leaves to all material needs being taken care of. And any conflict we have is when we encounter new cultures who are not totally hip to. Right. They don't get it the way we do. Well, they haven't had a chance yet.

There you go. All right. Super cool. All right. Here we go. This is Corey Killabitch. Oh, heavens. Chuck, you got to edit before you read. We've only got 30 seconds left in this segment.

You're coughing to death. This person sent you a joke name. I know. Sucked you right in. Sucked me right in with the joke name. We're going to get to this. Cosmic Queries with a science fiction bent. Here we go.

How far are we? Let's get the question. We'll tease it. Come back after the break, Brilliant. What's the question? Here's the question. How far are we. Come back after the break, Brilliant. What's the question? Here's the question. How far are we from force fields and inertial dampers? That's the question from Corey Kilovich.

Okay. We're not too far from either one. And Chuck and I will tell you all about it when Star Talk returns right after this. Welcome back. I'm your host, Bill Nye. Welcome back to StarTalk. That's my colleague, citizen of the wide world, Chuck Nice, who is rendering his own acapella version of the original Star Trek theme song.

And the reason he's doing that is because this cosmic query segment is generally on a science fiction theme. Yes, it is. Now, we had a query about force fields. Yes, we did. Who came to us from a joke name that I didn't catch. Inertial damping.

And it was a corey kilovich who said on instagram how far are we from force fields and inertial dampers so let me just say in the in the biggest picture you live in a force field gravity is a force field and it can be thought of as a field and recently it was proven that it also apparently travels in waves gravity does right and so this was predicted or very reasonable to physicists and now we had an instrument that measured that but i think i know what at which you drive and plus we also have dampers inertial dampers uh the old the british term was dampener but in american english the middle syllable got dropped and this is a shock absorber

in a car and a damper generally means something that goes at the rate the faster you move the car axle the more damping you get the more damping restart retarding force you get right it's a little bit out of your mathematical experience for most people but but it is out of your everyday experience. And you know this when you try to bounce a car up and down, which you can do. You can make the cars in park, everybody perfectly safe, push it up and down. You'll find the faster you try to make it go,

the more difficult it is. Now, with that said. Or just flip your switch on your lowrider. That's all. Oh, yeah. For our lowr rider listeners, the many StarTalk low rider listeners that are out there. I'm sure there are a few

of you. Thank you for your good work. But I think what she's driving at is a tractor beam. You know it. In fact, I heard a pundit, I believe on Meet the Press use the term tractor beam talking about the presidential election.

Yeah? A tractor beam is so far not a real thing. Of course. Wouldn't it be great, instead of a tugboat having to throw a line out to the barge it's towing, you could just do it with some sort of electromagnetic beam

with the accompanying sound effect that would bring the barge up the river or through deep space easily. So it's a cool idea. I don't know. I think we're pretty far away from that. Okay. So I think we're pretty far away.

Pretty far away. We do have force fields. We do have force fields. We're living in one. You may rub your hair on a balloon and feel your hair stand on end on your forearm. And then you also get a beam of light that pushes the spacecraft through space. Ah, I wonder.

From the Planetary Society, for example. Hmm. Yeah. Sounds vaguely familiar to me. Planetary.org, consider joining. Yes. So you were saying. Light sailing.

Give me another query. What a novel idea, light sailing. No, it is cool. It was really cool. Nice. Cool. All right, man. Well, good luck. Light sailing. Give me another query. What a novel idea. Light sailing. It is cool. It was really cool. Alright, man. Well, good luck. Good luck for the next flight. Here we go. Walter Vinci wants to know this. In sci-fi, if one were to have a laser gun capable of producing a visible shot, what would the effects on the shooter, the target, and those in the vicinity be?

So he's basically talking about a phaser or... Well, there are laser weapons. Okay. We had a laser weapon flying around on a 747. and the idea is the momentum which you're talking like the recoil from a conventional uh bullet type gun shotgun whatever is very small with a laser because all you're doing is reacting the photon pressure but what the deal is is you're sending heat at the target and so the heat can damage the target in a new way that's not momentum. It's not recoil. It's burning stuff up.

It's burning stuff up. And then if you tune it, you can have a maser, a microwave beam that messes up the enemy's radar. Right. That's not that anybody would spend tax dollars doing that in our peaceful way of life. But I've heard of it. And would it make the pew sound? I mean, would it? I hope so.

Do you know how we produced that pew sound? No. They got a guy wire, you know what I mean, a real long wire that holds up an antenna. Right. And tapped it. Okay, and that's the pew going in, right? So it's a conventional mechanical resonance,

just like a violin or guitar string. Right, exactly. It has a certain tightness. Very cool. Nice. All right. We all know that's the sound of blasters. That's a blaster.

Gotta say, saw the new Star Wars movie? Speaking of... Yeah, the Stormtrooper armor? Yes. It's not very good. No, it isn't. People burn right through it. Well, yeah.

You know, I don't know why they... You would think it would be somewhat protective, but every stormtrooper that gets hit by a blaster goes down, and goes down pretty easily, too. Yeah. Yeah, it's bad. All right, here we go. Another fiction problem that I can't really...

No one... I wasn't consulted. Okay, do you think okay this is from uh au t au au tkd do you think something such as the death of the planet krypton could ever happen to earth no right other questions? Just exploding planets. That doesn't happen. With that said, the Earth's moon apparently was created by a pretty big thing hitting the proto-Earth. The Earth in its early days. Earth wasn't fully formed the way it is right now.

So it did destroy a planet, but maybe it formed a new planet and a moon. But that's not the same as the way it's depicted in Superman where stuff just blows up. Yes. It just blows.

And that's it. And completely falls apart. Yeah, so I don't see any way for that to happen. Stars, they do that. They supernova. They do both, right?

Supernovae. They blow up and they implode, right? Yeah, they do all that. But we're talking about a planet. If you like to worry about things, I wouldn't put that up high. I'd put climate change way up higher. Way up higher than Krypton like death.

Yes. Yes. Okay, gotcha. So no need to put any kids inside of a little escape pod. Probably not. Send them off to a much better galaxy to improve the the the environment we have much better so make an incluso pod there you go so i guess it's an incluso pod rather than in this yeah pardon me stay on earth pod

yeah uh which is called earth yes we should probably take care of this place. We should. Here we go. Yes, this is Scott. That's his title? That's pretty good. Yes, this is Scott. Yes, this is Scott.

What's your query? Here's what Yes, This is Scott wants to know. Thoughts on our country's education system, particularly as it pertains to the scientific ignorance of the average U.S. citizen? Could I have some of that from you, Mr. Nye? Well, we have a big concern. So, for example, I was at the Science Teacher Convention. Okay. And one of the fights that the Science Teachers Association fights

is this current opposition to Common Core standards. Yes, I hear that's a big, big deal. You wouldn't think it would be. Common core standards. Yes. I hear that's a big, big deal. A common core. You wouldn't think it would be. Why not have a set of ideas that we agree everybody should know? Everybody should learn the alphabet, for example. Right. It'd be hard to read and conduct your life without memorizing the order of the letters. Kind of.

Yeah. Yeah. So along that line, there's some other things we want people to know about certain plays and certain poems and certain pieces of art. Right. We also want people to know certain facts and discoveries in the process of science and the process of science. But right now, so the educators around the U.S. got together and came up with this Common Core of Standards, C-O-R-E of Standards.

But then it came to be opposed by certain states who don't want to teach evolution. That's what went down. Okay, now see This is being This Common Core is being opposed In the name of states' rights Okay But it's being opposed, really, by People who are not aware Of the fundamental idea in all of biology See, I have to tell you that

They're quite insidious The way they make their argument Because they never let you know That there's an actual opposition To something so specific as evolution. It states rights. It states rights. They never broached the issue of evolution in the fight for Common Core.

The fight against. The fight against Common Core. And I've always wondered, why is it that it's just one particular group of people who are always decrying common core. And then I thought... First, everybody thought it was a great idea. Yes. Conservatives and progressives. Right.

But then when people realized that if you had science teachers, including the basic idea in all of life science, evolution, they started to like totally freak. And so there's a basic idea in geology, play tectonics. Right. Right? There's a basic idea in physics. Energy can either be created or destroyed. Right.

Okay. And so we love that. So there's a basic idea in life science that things change as they reproduce, which we call the process of evolution. Right. My goodness, people. Wow. You know what? This is why I love co-hosting these shows.

Because certain things just pop up on these shows. Oh, yes. And never realize. This is my little business. This is it, man. This is why we answer these queries. Exactly. And this is super cool because that's the real deal.

The real deal is it's evolution. They don't want it. The big problem is evolution. Because they're the real deal. The real deal is it's evolution. They don't want it. The big problem is evolution. Because they're afraid of it. There are some people who are empowered. Neil, Tyson, myself, you, I presume. Yes. Are excited and empowered by the idea that we don't have all the answers.

Exactly. Other people are deeply troubled. Never understood. All the answers, everything spelled out. Right now we want to know everything there is to know about the universe right now. And when you challenge that, they get unsettled. Yeah. And I consider that entirely my fault as a science educator.

I'm getting people excited about it. They just grow up afraid of it. Don't blame yourself. That's wow. So there you have it. Hey, listen. Yes, this is Scott. Thank you for that question. That was quite

enlightening. It's really good. Yeah. All right. Let's move on. Let's get to Spenny46. Spenny. Spenny! Spenny wants to know this. In order to achieve warp speed like in Star Trek. The way you do. Yeah, you know the way you do in Star Trek, right?

Sure. Number one, engage. That's how you achieve it, by the way, Spenny. Number one, engage. What would the ship have to be made out of? Well, they generally agreed that you'd start with some sort of unobtainium. And build out from there. Keep in mind, there is no evidence that you can actually travel at warp speed. It's a science fiction device to enable interactions

between people. You know, what makes any good story is what's happening between people. Yes, there can be Andorians and Romulans and Klingons. There can be Xenonians and so on. But really, any science fiction story has to do with us humans interacting. And yeah, there's some issues about what's possible technologically in the future or the past. But it's really about what people are doing to each other. So there's no evidence that there really is a warp drive, and I don't know what the ship would be made of. Yeah, okay. There you have it.

It would be really strong. It would be because you're warping space to travel through it, which means whatever it is is getting stretched out through space. Sure it is. And showing up someplace else. It has artificial gravity. Right. Everybody speaks English when you get there.

That's key big time that's awesome yes how did that happen here we are halfway across the galaxy but yet somehow these guys speak english it's crazy oh man unexpected uh yeah it's a remarkable example of hodkin's Laws of Parallel Planetary Development. Boy, I am an old geek. I love it. Take it. Take it, Chuck. I love it. Here we go. Here we go.

Oh, my God. Here we go. From Ethan Bottoms. Ethan says, Bill, what's your favorite sci-fi technology and what would be its real-life equivalent? Two things. Two things. First of all, I'd love to have a transporter. Oh, God, so would I.

But people have done analysis on the information theory involved in taking a few trillion cells and putting them back together. Reassembling them. It's a huge amount of energy required. But the other one that we'd all like is subspace radio. Right. Where no matter where the other person is, no matter how fast he or she is traveling, no matter what's going on, you can talk to him or her. Yes.

We've almost got it. For real. I mean, you take out your mobile phone, you can talk to pretty much anybody in the world. Once in a while. That's true. The transmission is not as good as it might be. Once in a while, it's breaking up. Once in a while. That's true. The transmission is not as good as it might be. Once in a while, it's breaking up. Once in a while, you have to move near the window.

Right. Once in a while, the phone goes down. Sometimes I'm roaming in my own apartment for no reason. Yes, yes. Your data costs more than your voice and so on. But we're getting close where you can talk to anybody, anywhere, anytime. Now, you can fly on planes six miles above the earth and be on the internet communicating, taking care of things. It's not going to be long before people will be able to

talk routinely. I'm sure there'll be phone booths on planes again. I don't know if you remember the radio phones that were 10 bucks a minute or something. No. On airplanes. But this will come back around. We'll have the equivalent of subspace radio. Right. Okay. So subspace radio. That's what I'd like.

Be nice. Yeah. Be nice like you, Chuck. Mm-hmm. Oh, I like that. I like that. I like what we did there. It was brilliant.

It was very cool. No one's ever thought of it before. All right, here we go. Getting nigh the end of this segment, by the way. We are nigh the end of the segment. I don't even think we're... Well, you know what? I'm going to go ahead and give you this one. Why are...

This is Hova Casanova. Why are fictional scientists usually portrayed as bad guys? Because you need enemies in stories, and you want the good guy to be like you. Gotcha. Man against the universe, man against himself, or man against man. That's how you run an English class. So you have the man be a bad guy from the future is fictional.

This is Star Talk with Chuck Nice, and I've been your host, Bill Nye. Turn it up loud and keep looking up. Welcome back to Star Talk Radio. I'm your host Bill Nye here with the worldwide citizen of the wide world Chuck Nice. That's right sir. And it's the Cosmic Queries Continued where we take your questions from the cosmos and your inquiries and do our best to respond. Chuck. Well, you're going to do your best to respond. You have a query.

Nobody wants to hear from me. Chuck, you provide great insight on this show. Oh, Bill, that's very nice of you to say. You are beyond kind, sir. Here, Kaylee. Who else could say Kaylee except you? Besides you. Who else could butcher the name Kaylee, uh, Kaylee. Who else could say Kaylee except you? Besides you. Who else could butcher the name Kaylee?

Yeah, take it. Better than you, Chuck. Here we go. Kaylee Bush wants to know this. In many science fiction movies, hypersleep is used by astronauts. Hypersleep. Hypersleep is used by astronauts on long voyages to make their trips seem shorter. Is hypersleep possible?

If so, would it be a valid method to keep future astronauts sane during long trips in space? A couple things about that. Okay. You may have met a bear or squirrels. These kids hibernate. They do a little something called hibernation.

Yeah, and so it's very reasonable. They're mammals. We're mammals. It's very reasonable that you could figure out how they do it. Right. And then you would enable astronauts to do that. It's not, I don't think it's to entertain, to keep astronauts from going crazy so much as to keep astronauts from aging too much, right? You go on these long trips, and then it seems reasonable to do that.

However, with that said, Mark Kelly just finished almost a year in space, 340 days in space, and he remarked, you know, you could go two years. I could go two years. Astronauts are anything but bored. They have, if anything, too much to do to keep the things going. One of the things he said is that there's so much to do, there's so many things all day long that he's doing that he doesn't think about it like that. He doesn't run out of mental stuff to do. So this is a great question, but very reasonable to enable astronauts to make this long journey without having to eat as much and process the waste as much,

having as much time, seriously, in sleep cycles, very reasonable to have people in suspended animation. And in science fiction movies, what you generally do is have the people in suspended animation kill each other or die. Or wait, one of the chambers malfunctions. That's right. And when they get to wherever they're going, it's a corpse. Yeah, yeah.

A dried up corpse. Yeah, and he didn't even know it, or she, because he or she was asleep during this traumatic time. But it's a fine idea in science fiction. But it goes way back because we observe bears who hibernate. Why couldn't we do that with the right hormones or berry and bark diet? Yes. It's a good question.

There you go. Good question. Way to go, Kaylee. Ethan, the cool guy, Smith. That's quite a claim. What a claim. Yes, he says, Why does it seem

that with every new generation, there is a new level of both scientific acceptance and scientific ignorance, which is a wonderful question, especially when you're thinking about science fiction. I mean, he's absolutely right. When you think back from the time of Galileo till now, Jesus, man, the leaps and bounds we've made. But yet when you look at where we are right now, you can't believe the people are such idiots that they believe some of the things they believe. For example.

Give me an example. Like, for example, that human activity may be creating climate change that is deleterious to the entire ecosystem of this planet upon which we live. And denying that. And denying that. Yes, in the face of evidence. Right. that is deleterious to the entire ecosystem of this planet upon which we live. And denying that. And denying that. Yes, in the face of evidence. Right.

Or denying that organisms change through the process of evolution. How about that? Yes. Even though we have clear, clear evidence. Fundamental idea in life science. So you're asking a great question. I think people, there's an expression, I think, in almost every culture, the good old days. Good old days.

People have a way, I think it's a survival mechanism. We have a way of suppressing the really traumatic times and embracing the happy times. Right. And these are the good old days. And so the ultimate manifestation of that is if only things were the way they were when I understood everything. Aha. if only things were the way they were when I understood everything. Now it gets away from me as these changes around us are happening in technology, culture, the speed of things. But you've got to get over it. It's back to this deal that I talk about all the time.

Some people are greatly troubled by change. Yes. Other people accept it as part of the excitement of being alive. Right. So this is a great question, but we are working very hard here at StarTalk to empower the world's citizens to know everything and pursue truth in nature, find out nature's rules so that we know where we fit in in the great scheme of things. Where did we come from? Are we alone?

These are deep questions, answers with science. Some people think it's cool, other people are troubled. And the troubled people are the ones living in the past. There you have it. So far. Hey, I have to say that that was a very cool question, Ethan Cool Guy Smith.

Thank you, Ethan Smith, the cool guy. Lead on. Here we go. BTU 0105. British Thermal Unit 0105. Yes. 105 wants to know this.

The professor on Gilligan's Island always seemed to be using seawater and coconuts to power gadgets like radios. First of all, is that feasible? Depends. If you have enough dissimilar metals, by the classics you might be familiar with are copper and zinc, then you can make a battery. But I don't know that you can power a coconut radio right i was gonna say but i remind you a lot of the coconut was there just for uh aesthetics give it the tropical island yeah exactly i remind you a lot of the stuff the professor did on gilligan's island was not real and so this enabled uh the enabled the plot to be advanced.

And you'll notice, generally in Gilligan's Island, he'd get it almost working. Yes. For a few seconds. A few seconds, and then. And then, doggone it. And so, with that said, changing the subject to a more recent, more desperate situation on Lost. Ah. What I say as a, I was a pretty good Boy Scout.

Right. Get off the island. Exactly. What's wrong with you people? Right, because all they cared about was what was happening on the island. That's just got to say, when I watched the, was it the Blair Witch Project? Yes. Get out of the woods.

What's wrong with you? We lost the map follow the stream you clowns there you go i had no sympathy for those people maybe somebody will kill them and we can move on yes oh bill bill you're so harsh i'm just telling you these are through the process of science you would find a way you would find a way way to get out of the woods, off the island. Especially, how long was that on? Five years? Yes.

Three and a half years? Yeah. Somebody would get something done, people. All right. There you have it, BTU. The professor was a fraud. Not a fraud. He was a fictional character.

He was a fictional character. I think he never had anything that worked because he was secretly doing something with Ginger. So I don't need to know, Chuck, but are you Ginger or Marianne? You know, I've got to tell the truth. I'm more of a Marianne person. I'm totally Marianne. I'm a Marianne guy. I'm sympathetic to the Ginger thing.

I'm sympathetic to the Ginger thing, but that looked a little high maintenance. It did. A lot of work. Honestly, a lot of work going in there. Yeah. And it didn't look like it would be worth it, whereas Marianne. That's it. She's accessible.

Yeah. And also felt like when my pursuits were achieved that I may want to spend some time with Marianne. Yeah. So everybody, if you're not familiar with this these references a lot of the reason young men watch television is to look at women and if you look at the cover of any man i walk by here in new york you walk by newsstands continually all the time so many of the magazines feature women rather than the cover not no problem with. I gotta say, if it ain't broke. So on this show, Gilligan's Island, we can all

ask ourselves, which of these contrasting personalities would you prefer? And I think this is a good moment, Chuck, with that important digression resolved. Yes. To get at last to the lightning round. Ah, yes. And that is where we will speed things up and take

as many questions as we can in the remaining time. So let us move on and say from... Ooh. Um. Ooh. Seba Films wants to know this. Hi, Bill. Are you happy?

I'm happy because you're sending questions or queries to StarTalk. There you go. That was simple enough. We're off to a very good start. This is from AndresGamma07. AndresGamma07 wants to know this. In Star Trek, are you really, when you're teleported to another place, are you really being teleported or is it a copy of you?

Oh, no, you're really being teleported. Right. I've seen it. Easy enough. Jay Shipka wants to know this. Is it possible to convert sound waves into an energy source? Energy source. Yes.

It has to be really loud. Think about how little energy it takes to make a big cymbal crash. I mean, really compared to something else. You know, if you have stereo speakers, they might be 100 watts. Just think how loud that gets. So, yeah, we turn electrical energy

into sound all the time. Wow, there you go. I'm doing it right now. It's a radio podcast. Yes, there's your answer, Jay Shipka. It's happening right before you. You're soaking it. He wants to go the other way. He wants to take seven.

He wants to take seven. Like a sonic boom. Moderation. Okay, here we go. It's still ringing. Alphabetize wants to know this. What are the chances of humanity recovering after a catastrophic extinction event, the subject of many, many movies? They're pretty good.

Humans are said to be extinction-proof. That is to say, there's so many of us living on so many continents that even in a— There's going to be a remnant. Somebody will be around, and they'll be doing it. They'll be making more humans. I'm just saying, if you like to worry about things, I'd set that one aside. Okay, there you go. Benjamin and Luria.

Benjamin and Luria. He wants to know this. Could Rick's portal gun from Rick and Morty ever exist? In other words, could we ever have a means of creating a dimensional portal? Oh, yeah. It's easy enough. No! You think you feel better?

No. But it's good. It enables the plot. Okay. DJ Pure Logic wants to know this. Will humanity survive long enough to achieve a type 2 or 3 civilization? We'll see, won't we, if we can live on pure energy and become electrovores. It's not going to happen this weekend.

Right. Climate change is going to be a problem before then. These are great questions, maybe something worth achieving. But bear in mind that type 1, 2, and 3 civilizations are human constructs. Who knows if there are any of them and what they think of us. Very nice. Chris Showdrum. Last name.

Showdrum. Showdrum. Showdrum. Chris Showdrum wants to know this. What did you learn today, Bill? I learned how Chuck feels about climate change. He's concerned. He's got three kids. Yeah, I have to tell you,

I just, oh God, I'm not going to get back on my little thing here because, yeah, I'm very concerned. Adam Bomb Baby wants to know this. If you could show one thing, be it a photograph, a painting, or a piece of music, a book, or a movie, or something completely different to an intelligent species from somewhere outside of

our solar system, what would it be and why? That's a great question. That is a great question. And if it's one thing? If it's one thing that you could show them, would it be art? Would it be literature? Would it be a photograph?

Would it be, you know, a mathematical equation? I might show them a rocket. I might show them a spacecraft. Okay. But that's a tough one. That's a rocket. I might show him a spacecraft. Okay. But that's a tough one. That's a tough one. That's a tough one. I think I might show him.

I would just give him the internet and say, have at it. Have at it. One thing. Just one thing. It's the internet. Here you go. All right. So this is Davey Jones from San Bernardino, California.

He wants to know, what's your opinion on how science is overall depicted in Futurama? And Professor Farnsworth, a great scientist or the greatest scientist on TV? It's just fun, you guys. Just fun. Don't put too much veracious true facts. There aren't that many facts in Futurama. With that said, Chuck, we've come to the end of our show. Cosmic Queries on StarTalk.

It's been my worldwide citizen of the world, Chuck Nice. Yes, and I've been your host Bill Nye. Please keep looking up.