Cosmic Queries – Back to School Edition

About This Episode

What do you wish you had learned in school? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice go back to school to answer questions about simulation theory, time dilation, white holes, the sound of space, and more!

What happens after you die? Where does oil come from? We answer fan questions from the Internet about what they wish they had learned in school. Explore the carboniferous era, why trees need microbes, and what we know about death. Are we living in a simulation? 

What sound does space make? We explain the sound of silence, how old our sun is, and time dilation. We cover an essential question: do we live on Earth or do we live in Earth? Neil settles the debate once and for all. Could time travel exist? We go over different paradoxes and the trouble with doubling back on your own worldline. 

In a nutshell: what is quantum physics? Why is your reflection opposite in a mirror? How does nuclear energy work? Hear Neil explain it both quickly and well. What is a white hole? Are there stars that don’t have galaxies? Or planets that don’t have stars? Could it be possible that the Big Bang occurs on a regular basis? All that and more on another cosmic queries episode! 

Thanks to our Patrons Goat34, Mark Dent, Edwin J Roldan, Evan Moorhead, and Abby GIll for supporting us this week.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free.

About the prints that flank Neil in this video:

“Black Swan” & “White Swan” limited edition serigraph prints by Coast Salish artist Jane Kwatleematt Marston. For more information about this artist and her work, visit Inuit Gallery of Vancouver.