May 24, 2018 9:51 pm

Friday, Investigate the Science Around Us with Bill Nye and Chuck Nice

This week on StarTalk Radio, Bill Nye the Science Guy is back to host alongside comic co-host Chuck Nice as they answer your fan-submitted Cosmic Queries about the science that surrounds us.

First, Bill gives some history about The Planetary Society and how he got started all those years ago. He also explains what The Planetary Society does and some of the feasible actions they have in place to act out their mission statement of “know[ing] the cosmos and our place within it.”

We’ll also explore the political climate and how that impacts the current functions of the Environmental Protection Agency and NASA. You’ll hear about climate change and the development of solar panels. Also, find out more about the competitive nature of scientists and how competition works alongside global collaboration.

We then turn take a turn left and hear what Bill would ask an extraterrestrial if he had three questions. I will say, one of the questions is not what I was expecting. You’ll discover more about the history of the modern calendar and the creation of leap years. You’ll also learn about standard measurements, absolute zero, and the Rankine scale.

Finally, we turn our gaze outwards. You’ll explore how to bring water on long-term space missions, or how to make it when we get where we’re going. We ponder dark matter and whether it could be remnants of another universe that collapsed in on itself. All that, plus, we discuss if humans will ever be able to photosynthesize light like plants.

Please join us tomorrow night for Cosmic Queries – The Science Around Us at 7pm ET right here on our website, as well as on Apple Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn. If you’re an All-Access subscriber, you can watch or listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Ian Mullen