Extended Classic: Time Lords: The Science of Keeping Time with Chris Hardwick

About This Episode

Now extended with 12 extra minutes of Neil, Bill Nye and Steven Soter talking about climate change in the “Cosmic Crib!”

Take a trip back in time to our classic Season 2 episode when Neil deGrasse Tyson welcomed co-hosts Chris Hardwick of The Nerdist and his trusty sidekick Matt Mira for a mind-bending journey into the science of time. You’ll hear about time-telling oysters and discover why Pope Gregory replaced the Julian calendar with his own. Chris and Matt drop a few Dr. Who references, along with some timely humor about clocks, calendars, and leaps in time. Anthony Aveni, professor of astronomy and anthropology at Colgate University, reveals whether the Mayan calendar was actually predicting the end of the world in 2012, and provides insight into how early clocks and calendars were based not only on the Moon and Sun, but also on Earth’s biology. Frank Reed, instructor of celestial navigation at Mystic Seaport, and Robert Seaman, computer programmer for the National Optical Astronomy Observatories, talk about why leap seconds are added to our fast-paced modern lives, and contemplate the future of time synchronization. From keeping Universal Time, to neutrinos that may travel faster than light, to geo-engineering the Earth into a global clock, take some time to consider how science sets the tempo of our past, present and future.

NOTE: All-Access subscribers can listen to this entire episode commercial-free here: Extended Classic: Time Lords: The Science of Keeping Time with Chris Hardwick.