Extended Classic – Cosmic Queries: A Powerful Potpourri

About This Episode

This episode is now extended with Neil and Chuck answering more fan-submitted Cosmic Queries on aliens, Isaac Newton as a dinner guest, Panspermia, and the James Webb Space Telescope.

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice tackle an eclectic mix of your questions in this week’s episode. You’ll find out what happens to the energy of the universe as it expands, how loud the Sun would be if sound waves could travel through a vacuum, whether the speed of light ever varies, and if dark matter is an accumulation of all the souls of all the life forms in the cosmos. Closer to home, Neil and Chuck discuss what impact the Sun and Moon have on tides here on Earth, whether intelligent life could have evolved on Earth in the past and had all traces of its existence erased, and what happened to the actual meteors that formed Meteor Crater, Chesapeake Bay and Chicxulub off the Yucatan Peninsula. You’ll also learn what would happen if a micro black hole suddenly popped up next to you, what you’d know about Earth if you lived on the dark side of the moon, and whether you can prevent a hot cup of coffee from freezing in the vacuum of space.

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: Extended Classic – Cosmic Queries: A Powerful Potpourri.