Time and the Universe, with Charles Liu

About This Episode

“There is no such thing as time, there is only life.” It’s a phrase Chuck’s dad used to tell him and it still rings true today. On this episode of StarTalk All-Stars, astrophysicist and host Charles Liu is back in the hosting hot seat alongside comic co-host Chuck Nice to explore our understanding of time and how it relates to the universe. 

To start, we hear Chuck’s thoughts on time and how he’s viewed it through a philosophical lens for most of his life. Find out why Chuck thinks Einstein’s thought experiments on time are mind-blowing. Science and pop culture truly collide as Charles and Chuck sing Super Silly Space Songs including “Time is a Dimension,” “I Like Big Bang and I Cannot Lie,” “Black Holes Don’t Suck,” and, “End of Time.” You’ll also hear Chuck’s comedian origin story, and we talk about the future of comedy and science existing together. 

You’ll learn if it’s possible to find the origin point of the Big Bang and we reexamine our definition of an “explosion.” Explore the stages of time during the Big Bang. Find out more about the inflation that happened in the seconds after the Big Bang that allowed for the birth of gravity in the early universe. You’ll hear if the Big Bang would have been different if only half the amount of matter was involved during the process. We discuss black holes and gravitational lensing. Charles also tells us more about black holes and their properties. Discover if a star must have a certain mass to end in supernova. Dive into the cosmological principle and the Copernican principle, which helps us predict and understand the whole universe without knowing most of it. Investigate the expansion rate of the universe and join us as we try and visualize the calm, cool death of the universe. All that, plus, we ask, “Can time die?” 

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