August 9, 2018 10:21 pm

Friday, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Katy Perry Explore Their Cosmic Curiosity

“Secretly, I’ve loved science my whole life and I didn’t even know it,” says Katy Perry, one of the biggest pop stars in the world. That’s a part of our mission on StarTalk – to uncover the scientific curiosity that resides in all of us. (It’s certainly worked for me!)

On this week’s episode of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson sits down with pop icon Katy Perry and the Fireworks fly. In-studio, Neil is joined by comic co-host Sasheer Zamata (who has deep Star Trek origins in her first name, can you pinpoint how?) and one of my favorite members of the StarTalk family, astrophysicist and StarTalk All-Star Charles Liu.

You’ll hear about Katy’s upbringing and how she wasn’t interested in science or math while growing up, but now has a science crush on Isaac Newton. Neil explains how math is the language of the universe and we ponder if mathematics was discovered or invented. Katy and Neil also discuss Katy’s use of scientific terms in her song titles and her growing scientific curiosity. She also tells us what she would do if she was ever in contact with E.T.: would she talk, sing, or maybe, Roar?

Katy also reveals that she has a ticket for the Virgin Galactic commercial space flight (which just had another successful test launch late last month). Charles also tells us what it’s really like when you vomit in zero gravity and spoiler alert, it’s still gross. You definitely won’t be saying Bon Appétit.

We also answer some fan-submitted Cosmic Queries about the gravity of gas giants, Uranus, and the night sky. Sasheer leads us in a game of “What Don’t We Know,” and Katy has her own Cosmic Query for Neil. All that, plus, we discuss a simulation universe, the Fermi Paradox, and much more! So, tune in, you’ll want to Witness this!

Please join us tomorrow night for Katy Perry’s Cosmic Curiosity 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 listen to this episode ad-free at 7pm, too.

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