Cosmic Queries – Quantum Catastrophe with Brian Cox

About This Episode

What is the black hole information paradox? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice explore the Higgs Boson, quantum entanglement, and black holes with particle physicist Brian Cox. 

Is mass actually a property of matter? Find out about matter’s interactions with the Higgs Field, the ATLAS Experiment at CERN, and what would happen if the Higgs Field malfunctioned. Discover the quantum field: What would it look like in the early universe? What would happen if light had mass? 

If nothing can travel faster than the speed of light, how does the universe’s expansion travel faster? Or entangled particles? Learn about the speed of information and how quantum entanglement works. Could you send a signal across the universe using entanglement? Find out about wormholes, quantum computing, and using entanglement for encryption. 

We explore the black hole information paradox and the entanglement within a black hole. What happens when a black hole evaporates? Are there wormholes? We discuss the work behind finding fundamental problems in the universe and what physicists do when they’re wrong. How small is a Planck length? All that, plus, we learn that sometimes… Math is hard! 

Thanks to our Patrons Detlef Van de Wal, Devon Gogel, Jay Salmon, Jacek Kono, Jordan Hume, Brynjar, M J, and Yoni Liberman 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.