Cosmic Queries – Renaming Time

Summary

StarTalk Radio: Cosmic Queries – Renaming Time
Host: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Co-Host: Chuck Nice
Release Date: June 10, 2025

Science, pop culture, and comedy collide in this engaging episode of StarTalk Radio, where Neil deGrasse Tyson and his co-host Chuck Nice delve into a series of listener-submitted questions. Titled "Renaming Time," this episode explores complex scientific concepts with humor and clarity, making intricate topics accessible to all listeners.

---

1. The Relationship Between Time and Motion

[02:13] Listener Eric44 poses the philosophical question: "All motion requires time, but does all time include motion?"

Chuck Nice responds thoughtfully:

"I would say the measurement of time requires not only motion, but something that repeats periodically. Have you ever measured time with something that did not repeat periodically? The answer is no."
— Chuck Nice [02:35]

Discussion Highlights:

• Repeatability as a Measure of Time: Chuck emphasizes that our ability to measure time hinges on periodic events (e.g., seconds, days), suggesting that without repetitive motion, time lacks a coherent measure.
• Relativity of Event Sequence: They touch upon how, in different reference frames, the sequence of events can vary, aligning with Einstein’s theory of relativity.
• Space Without Time: The conversation briefly explores the notion that space can exist independently of time, illustrating this with humorous banter about personal presence.

---

2. Recommended Reading for Young Minds

[04:21] Listener Maurice Backer (Eljada) from the Netherlands asks: "What is the one book that every 12-year-old should read?"

Chuck Nice recommends his own works:

"My book 'Astrophysics for People in a Hurry' has a young people's version called 'Astrophysics for Young People in a Hurry.' And for pure fun, there's 'Merlin's Tour of the Universe,' a Q&A illustrated by my brother."
— Chuck Nice [06:07]

Discussion Highlights:

• Astrophysics for Young People: Tailored for ages 8 to 12, this book combines scientific insight with relatable experiences, aiming to inspire the "tween" generation.
• Merlin's Tour of the Universe: A creative, illustrated Q&A format that makes learning about the cosmos enjoyable.
• Humorous Interaction: Neil and Chuck engage in light-hearted conversation about pronunciation and the maturity of young listeners, adding a personable touch to the recommendation.

---

3. Visualizing the Expanding Universe

[08:19] Listener Andrew Bowen questions: "What does it look like when I'm facing back at us versus facing outward ahead in the expanding universe?"

Chuck Nice provides an insightful explanation:

"It looks just like it does here and now. We are at the horizon of anybody who’s at our horizon."
— Chuck Nice [09:17]

Discussion Highlights:

• Consistent Appearance from Any Horizon: The universe appears uniform from any point at the event horizon, similar to being at the center of an infinite ocean.
• Cosmic Microwave Background: They discuss the implications of the cosmic microwave background disappearing, leading to a theoretical edge of the universe devoid of matter.
• Future Implications: The conversation explores the eventual expansion of the universe beyond observable galaxies, pondering the infinite nature of the cosmos.

---

4. Black Hole Singularities and the Limits of General Relativity

[19:00] Listener James H. English from Greenland/Odessa inquires: "What does it mean to say singularities at the heart of a black hole may just be mathematical artifacts?"

Chuck Nice delves into the complexities:

"When we talk about the size of a black hole, functionally we're talking about the size of the event horizon. Inside the event horizon, all bets are off... The general theory of relativity has limits to its applicability."
— Chuck Nice [19:25]

Discussion Highlights:

• Singularities as Mathematical Concepts: They discuss how singularities represent points where our current understanding of physics breaks down, indicating the need for a unified theory that reconciles general relativity with quantum mechanics.
• Quantum Physics Frontier: The conversation touches on ongoing efforts by physicists and string theorists to address these limitations and better understand the true nature of singularities.
• Humorous Analogies: Chuck humorously references algebraic errors ("dividing by zero") to illustrate the undefined nature of singularities.

---

5. The Science of Transparency and Light

[21:52] Listener Michael Trilling asks: "How can light travel through some materials but not others? What makes something transparent at an atomic level?"

Chuck Nice offers a concise explanation:

"Transparent media have nothing to change the pathway of the light through the medium, so it maintains a straight direction... In contrast, translucent materials like frosted glass disperse the light, preventing a coherent image."
— Chuck Nice [22:13]

Discussion Highlights:

• Transparency vs. Translucency: The duo explains how the atomic structure of materials affects light transmission, differentiating between materials that are fully transparent and those that scatter light.
• Role of Lenses and Refraction: They discuss how lenses manipulate photon pathways to reconstruct images, highlighting the physics behind everyday optics.
• Diamonds and Light Refraction: Chuck elaborates on why diamonds are prized for their ability to refract light, creating their characteristic sparkle.

---

6. Mining the Moon and Gravitational Effects

[23:57] Listener Alex Romillion from Northeast England raises concerns: "Wouldn't mining the moon and transferring its mass to Earth weaken the tides over time?"

Chuck Nice reassures listeners:

"If you mined 100% of the moon and brought it back to Earth, Earth would weigh only slightly more—about 1% more mass. This change is negligible compared to daily fluctuations like going to the bathroom."
— Chuck Nice [25:36]

Discussion Highlights:

• Mass Transfer Impact: They examine the relative mass of the Moon compared to Earth, concluding that even significant mass transfer would have minimal effects on Earth's tides.
• Practical Implications: The conversation humorously downplays the concern by comparing it to everyday weight fluctuations, emphasizing the impracticality of altering the Moon’s mass substantially.

---

7. The Feasibility of Creating Wormholes

[29:03] Listener Zach from Moonsville, New York is curious: "What is keeping us from taking the mathematics of wormholes from paper and applying them to the physical world?"

Chuck Nice explains the scientific barriers:

"We need matter with negative gravity to create and stabilize wormholes, something we currently don’t have. While dark energy presents a form of negative pressure, harnessing it for wormholes remains speculative."
— Chuck Nice [30:36]

Discussion Highlights:

• Negative Matter Requirement: The necessity of negative gravity substances for wormhole creation is emphasized, highlighting a significant hurdle in making theoretical constructs a reality.
• Role of Dark Energy: They explore the potential of dark energy as a candidate but acknowledge the lack of understanding and technology to utilize it effectively.
• Imagining Practical Applications: The conversation takes a creative turn as they humorously envision everyday uses of wormholes, such as instant grocery restocking.

---

8. How Massless Photons Carry Information

[33:30] Listener James Liggett from Midland, Texas questions: "Since photons have no mass, how do they carry the image of their source to a telescope or an eyeball?"

Chuck Nice provides a detailed response:

"A single photon contains no image information, but an ensemble of photons can reconstruct an image through lenses that focus light from different points of the source onto a detector."
— Chuck Nice [34:54]

Discussion Highlights:

• Photon Ensembles vs. Individual Photons: They clarify that while single photons carry energy, it’s the collective behavior of many photons that forms a coherent image.
• Optical Mechanics: The role of lenses in directing photons to specific areas of the retina or sensors is explained, illustrating the physical process behind vision and imaging.
• Educational Insight: This segment offers listeners a deeper understanding of how our eyes and telescopes translate massless particles into the rich images we perceive.

---

9. The Universe Inside a Black Hole

[36:35] Listener Alan from Italy muses: "If our universe is located inside a black hole, where is the singularity? Why don't we see other black holes taking over our universe?"

Chuck Nice tackles the intriguing hypothesis:

"Our universe may share some equations with black holes, such as having an event horizon, but each black hole contains a separate universe through higher dimensions, preventing overlap."
— Chuck Nice [37:55]

Discussion Highlights:

• Analogous Equations: The conversation explores how certain mathematical similarities between black holes and the universe suggest a possible connection, yet distinct differences prevent direct comparison.
• Higher Dimensions: They discuss the role of higher dimensions in accommodating multiple universes within black holes without physical interference.
• Holographic Principle: The idea that our universe might reside within a black hole's holographic information is touched upon, sparking ambition for future theoretical explorations.

---

Conclusion

Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice wrap up the episode with reflections on the diverse and thought-provoking questions. Their blend of scientific rigor and playful interaction ensures that listeners not only gain a deeper understanding of complex topics but also enjoy the journey through cosmic queries.

---

Notable Quotes:

• Chuck Nice on Time and Motion:

  "All you'd be able to do in your own reference frame is sequence events. This came before that. Before that."
  — Chuck Nice [03:14]

• Neil deGrasse Tyson on Wormholes:

  "You just walk through a portal and you're there. That’s so cool."
  — Neil deGrasse Tyson [32:14]

• Chuck Nice on Transparency:

  "Light travels slowest in a diamond, which helps it internally reflect so that when light comes in from one direction, it pops out a different direction."
  — Chuck Nice [23:08]

---

Key Takeaways:

1. Time and Motion: Time measurement relies on periodic motion, making the concept of time intrinsically linked to repetitive events.
2. Youth Education: Accessible and engaging scientific literature can inspire young minds, fostering a lifelong interest in the cosmos.
3. Universal Symmetry: The universe appears consistent from any vantage point at the event horizon, reflecting its infinite and expanding nature.
4. Black Hole Mysteries: Singularities challenge our current understanding, highlighting the need for advanced theories that bridge general relativity and quantum mechanics.
5. Optics and Light: The atomic structure of materials determines their transparency, with practical applications in lenses and modern technology.
6. Moon Mining Realities: Mass transfer from the Moon to Earth would have negligible effects on tidal forces, mitigating concerns over such large-scale endeavors.
7. Wormhole Potential: Theoretical physics outlines the possibilities of wormholes, but practical implementation remains elusive without understanding negative gravity.
8. Photon Imaging: While individual photons lack image information, their collective behavior underpins the visual information processed by our eyes and instruments.
9. Universe as a Black Hole: Speculative theories suggest our universe might reside within a black hole's event horizon, though higher dimensions offer explanations for coexistence with other universes.

Join Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice in future episodes as they continue to unravel the mysteries of the universe with curiosity, humor, and scientific insight.

Transcript

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

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[Chuck Nice]

Oy, if you love a good mystery. And who doesn't? Check out the new season of the Secret of Skinwalker Ranch. Only on the History Channel. It's America's most mysterious location, known for strange lights, radiation spikes, tech malfunctions, and even UAP sightings. Now, the team's investigation has led them to uncover real physical evidence of something unnatural buried inside the mesa. Can they uncover the truth once and for all? Don't miss a new episode of the Secret of Skinwalker ranch tonight at 8, 7 Central on the History Channel.

Chuck, we just did a grab bag, and people ask questions from all over the world.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And finally, we know if you wear boxers or briefs.

[Chuck Nice]

Not coming up on StarTalk. Cosmic queries. Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk be begins right now. Star Talk Cosmic Queries. Oh, yeah. Chuck. Hey, you gonna help me out here?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Of course, yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Is there a theme today?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Nope. This is a grab bag.

[Chuck Nice]

Just random.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Whatever they want.

[Chuck Nice]

Ask me anything.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Let the people speak and ask.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, let's get right into it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Inquiry minds wanna know. Here we go.

[Chuck Nice]

Let's get right into it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, Eric 44, says, hey, legends. Eric here, exercise physiologist and space flight physiology researcher from New York City.

[Chuck Nice]

Love it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Look at that.

[Chuck Nice]

Love it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

He says, my question is, all motion requires time, but does all time include motion?

[Chuck Nice]

I would say the measurement of time requires not only motion, but something that repeats. Okay, think about it, right? Have you ever measured time with something that did not repeat periodically? The answer is no.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, you can't.

[Chuck Nice]

A day repeats every day. Seconds, repeats, everything repeats. Months repeat, years repeat. So where there is no repeated motion, there can be no coherent measure of time. All you'd be able to do in your own reference frame is Sequence events. This came before that. Before that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right, I remember. In the before four times.

[Chuck Nice]

No, the before four. Four, four times.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm older than you. Before. So now the sequence of events can be different depending on your reference frame. Relativistically, you could be moving in a different direction and you'll experience those events in a different sequence than I will, but in my reference frame. Like I said, if nothing repeats, time cannot be measured with any meaning or repeatability. So that's a great. It's a fun, interesting philosophical question.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

But space can exist without a time. I would think space don't need time.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, it doesn't. I mean, it's like I'm here, you know, I'm not going anywhere.

[Chuck Nice]

You want to measure something, that's your business.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You. I don't care what you measure. I'm right here.

[Chuck Nice]

So there you go.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's very cool. Well, There you go, Eric. 44.

[Chuck Nice]

I answered that quickly.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That was a great one.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, we're in. We're off. We're off like a rocket. This is Maurice Backer says dear lord. Nice. Dear Dr. Tyson, I am Eljada from the Netherlands and I am 12. My question is, what is the one book that every 12 year old should read? And my name is pronounced Elijah. Okay, thanks for the phonetic there, Elijah.

[Chuck Nice]

He knew in advance.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I called you Elliotta and yada, yada, yada. Anyway, stop. No, no. Okay. Elida. And I didn't get it right. She said, asked I should read these before. Anyway, universal respect and greetings.

[Chuck Nice]

Delightful. What a mature 12 year old.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

What a very mature 12 year old.

[Chuck Nice]

That's clearly not written by an American cat.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Without a doubt. You know.

[Chuck Nice]

So I'm very biased here because I only write books that I think people should read to get them enlightened about the universe. Okay. And I find gaps in the publishing landscape.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Chuck Nice]

Scientific landscape. I said I'm gonna. I'm gonna bridge that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm gonna put something there.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm gonna put something there.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

So I can say at age 12, writing like that. And plus the Dutch, they. They're fluent in English.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, Well, I mean, yeah, without a doubt. Okay, so even though they're fried, some birds.

[Chuck Nice]

No, that's not. No, you're mixing that up with the Swedes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

With the Swedes. I know, but it's funnier when you.

[Chuck Nice]

Know.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Like Dutch is actually. That's actually Dutch. But it doesn't make for a funnier, you know, makes for a funny joke. But anyway, you're right.

[Chuck Nice]

My book Astrophysics for people in a hurry.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. Has a young people's version of it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh.

[Chuck Nice]

Called Astrophysics for young people in a Hurry. Now I keep thinking young people should never be in a hurry.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, well, they got to get back to them video games, you know what I mean? I gotta read this book quick. Cause Valorant is waiting. Halo ain't gonna play itself. Gotta get back to the video game. Let me see what Neil says before I get back to Roblox.

[Chuck Nice]

So that book was conceived for ages 8 to 12.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, wow.

[Chuck Nice]

Which collectively is called the Tweens.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right, right, right.

[Chuck Nice]

And its value is. Is. It's not just that. Is it dumbed down? No, it folds in a lot of my own background when I was that age. Cause I was a geek kid. And so you get to sort of live with me through your own years that you're reading the book.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's cool.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, so it might still have value to a precocious 12 year old.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

But if not, then just go right to Astrophysics for people in a hurry. It's not astrophysics. It's real astrophysics.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It's astrophysics.

[Chuck Nice]

It's astrophysics. But I have cherry picked it up for the coolest stuff in the whole universe.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

And that's what's there from Big Bang.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I call it the book you should read. When you don't really want to know the granular details, but you want to be able to have a cool conversation at a cocktail party that will totally.

[Chuck Nice]

Equip you to do so.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Exactly.

[Chuck Nice]

So there's that. But then if he just wants to have fun. Definitely the Merlin book.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Merlin's tour of the universe. It's a Q and A. He's asking question and answer right now. It's illustrated by my brother. It's just a fun. I think it's a fun book. So forgive me for recommending my own.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Book for shamelessly promoting myself. No, you're supposed to. That's great.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. It's not shameless. I'm doing it with kids.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, you're doing it with. Right, like I know what I'm doing. Ain't no shame attached here.

[Chuck Nice]

So I think he will enjoy those. I'm certain of it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Because they're written with that in mind, that's all.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Now, is Elida a boy's name or a girl's name? I don't know.

[Chuck Nice]

I don't know. He or she. Elida.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Elida. Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, let's neutral. Let's degenderize it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. We'll Call them they.

[Chuck Nice]

They. So, Elida, sorry to misgender you. If in fact that's what I did. But those. I think any of those three books will. As Chuck said, you can get some good reading in between video game playing. Halo ain't gonna play itself.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

There you go. All right, here's Andrew Bowen. I'm riding at the edge of our universe since the Big Bang and moving with the expansion. What does it look like when I'm facing back at us? And what does it look like when I'm facing outward ahead?

[Chuck Nice]

It looks just like it does here and now. Ooh. We are at the horizon of anybody who's at our horizon.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Exactly.

[Chuck Nice]

And anybody at our horizon just sees the universe all around them like anybody else does.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

There you go.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yep, that's right.

[Chuck Nice]

So what would happen is if you, in this. Imagine this instant, go to our horizon. In this instant, light from us emitted 13.8 billion years ago is only now just reaching you. You will see all of us as galaxies being born.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

So this would be your horizon.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's what, that's what it is, how that works. So, yeah, that's. That's so cool.

[Chuck Nice]

We are all equally as far away from the origin of the universe as each other.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It's like being in the middle of the ocean.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes, yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

You go to your horizon, you're still in the ocean. Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's so cool. Wow. Great question, Andrew. I love it.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, by the way, we don't know how far the universe extends beyond our horizon.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

Just where you. There might be no point where land shows up.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

No matter how big the ocean is.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

So there might be a point where you run out of galaxies in the universe and stuff. Right, Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

But we don't know that because.

[Chuck Nice]

Because every direction we look, we see galaxies being born.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Exactly.

[Chuck Nice]

So we are deep within a space time continuum that's much larger than our own bubble. Yeah. But you know what happened if, if, if, if one day.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

The cosmic microwave background disappears.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh.

[Chuck Nice]

And that would mean that our horizon, which is expanding at what rate?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, it's got to be. Well supposed, isn't it? Faster than the speed of light.

[Chuck Nice]

No, no, no, no. Just visual horizon expanding at one light year per year.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

So in a billion years, we'll be 14.8 billion years to our visual horizon. All right. So the point is if the cosmic microwave background disappear.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

And then you just see galaxies up to that edge. That means our horizon is washing over a part of the universe where there is no matter. There are no galaxies, and we would have reached the edge of any material substance in the universe.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right. Because we're. Now, wait, is that because we're traveling?

[Chuck Nice]

No, no, no, no. Our horizon is continuing to move because it's moving out. It's moving.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It's moving out.

[Chuck Nice]

So it will always find a galaxy being born.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, that's. Until it does.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I gotcha. And so. Right. Once we get past that, that means nothing's there.

[Chuck Nice]

Nothing's there.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, correct.

[Chuck Nice]

Now that's like. That's finally getting beyond the ocean and land.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right?

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right. Wow, that was cool.

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[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm Jasmine Wilson and I support StarTalk on Patreon. This is StarTalk with Neil DeGrasse Tyson. So let's go to Young Han. Young Han. Spell young Y O U N G. Okay, Young han. Who says? Mr. Tyson, I love your work and your show. Can you talk about the Silurian hypothesis and how it impacts how we should view our own species, civilizations, and specialness or lack thereof here on Earth? If advanced civilization is so fleeting and difficult to detect in our own fossil record, is it going to be easier or harder to detect in space? Hmm.

[Chuck Nice]

Wouldn't it be fun if we were just the nth intelligent civilization to rise up on planet Earth? Or even the nth civilization of humans that had rose up and destroyed themselves and rose up again multiple times?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

So you'd think. I think we would see a record of this somewhere. Somewhere in the fossils.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

You'd think, right, there'd be a Statue of Liberty sticking out of the ground.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Damn you.

[Chuck Nice]

Damn you, all the you apes. I mean, that's an example of a Silurian. Silurian civilization. They predated the Planet of the Apes because that was Earth.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. It seems to me we would find a record of it. If we find bones, we find other fossilized artifacts of dinosaurs from 65 million years ago. Right then. And by the way, the biggest mammals of the day were these tiny little rodents running underfoot trying to not get eaten by T. Rex as hors d' oeuvres.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, so you can't presume that there were big brain mammals before that. Cause that was the origin of the mammals on Earth around that time.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Around that time. Right. Is there a possibility that the civilization before us were not mammalian?

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, so I haven't seen any like dinosaur casinos or anything left over. I mean, just. You would see things.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

We're not that we're not ignorant of the history of what happened in Earth's crust. Here's where you'd have a problem. Go ahead, you can ask the question. What is the time scale for all of Earth's crust to get subducted back down and come out in a volcano? Oh, because that would destroy all that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right. All the, all the evidence would be gone because it become molten completely. And then it would spew out again and cover the Earth completely gone. Right.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. So different parts of the Earth are younger than other parts. Right. The middle of Iceland is brand new.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

Like made yesterday.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All of the big island of Hawaii.

[Chuck Nice]

Iceland is on the mid Atlantic Ridge that is spewing out. I visited there recently.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. It's this. This is a whole new land between where I was standing and another ledge on the other side. And I did the math because continents drift about the rate your fingernails grow.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, wow.

[Chuck Nice]

So I did a fast and I calculate how many millions of years that would have taken. But still it's new land compared to other places. You go to places where it's not regenerated that rapidly and you don't find other evidence. Okay, so.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So yeah, yeah, it's very unlikely. Is. Which is. Yeah. Unless the dinosaurs were like the ABC TV show that used to be called Dinosaurs, where you never saw that? No, I just remember it was a little dinosaur.

[Chuck Nice]

And when I just remember the cartoon Land Before Time. I remember that one.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh yeah. A Land Before Time. Do I know that one?

[Chuck Nice]

It was a cartoon movie.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I Don't think I know that one. But, yeah, dinosaurs.

[Chuck Nice]

It was like, oh, they were just living.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

They were just living like regular human beings. They had jobs. They had. And everybody worked for one corporation called the we say so Corporation. And how did I miss this? Yeah. And then there was one little baby dinosaur, and every time his father would come in the room, he would jump on his head and hit him with a pot and go, not the mama. Not the mama. In other words, like, I don't want you. Get me, Mom.

[Chuck Nice]

So this is. So this is like the Flintstones, except they're dinosaurs.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, that's it.

[Chuck Nice]

There's a whole world that they.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

A whole world just like the Flintstones were all run by dinosaurs.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It was a pretty. Pretty wild little show back in the day.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. There's the thing about, like, the size of their brains. You know, there's an issue there.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Just the higher levels of thought.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The higher levels of thought might not be resident. Happening in a dinosaur whose brain is.

[Chuck Nice]

It's an intriguing idea.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

And I don't. But I don't. I think we would see evidence of it and we don't.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Gotcha.

[Chuck Nice]

And so in that case, the absence of evidence is evidence of absence.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, I love it.

[Chuck Nice]

Which is not always.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Not always the case.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, here we go. All right. This is James H. English who says hello, Dr. Tyson. Lord. Nice. It's James from Denmark, by the way. James, we apologize. We're so sorry. And, you know, all this talk.

[Chuck Nice]

Greenland.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Of Greenland. We have nothing to do with it. Okay? We're just letting you know. All right? It's like, you know, it's like our uncle got into the liquor cabinet while he was on his meds, and now he's just sitting in a chair going, I know. We should buy Greenland. That's what I think.

[Advertiser]

So.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'm sorry. So here's what James says. I heard on a previous episode that what we think of as singularities at the heart of a black hole may not actually exist. But I'm not sure I understood. We know black holes exist, but what does it mean to say the singularities may just be mathematical artifacts?

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, Good question. I love these.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Pretty wild.

[Chuck Nice]

So if you just follow general relativity math, Right. The object collapses under its own weight. As it collapses, the gravity on its surface continues to rise. It reaches a point where the gravity on the surface has an escape velocity greater than the speed of light. At that point, light does not escape, but it continues to collapse. When we talk about the size of a black hole, functionally we're talking about the size of the event horizon.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Mm.

[Chuck Nice]

But inside the event horizon, all bets are off. So the matter keeps shrinking. According to the general theory of relativity, the gravity is so severe that nothing can stop it. And it shrinks to zero volume.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Right. And. Wow. That.

[Chuck Nice]

And that's just crazy. What does that even mean?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, what does it mean?

[Chuck Nice]

So we all presume that there's some other law of physics that's gonna prevent that. But that calculation is at the limits of the applicability of the general theory of relativity.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Gotcha.

[Chuck Nice]

So that's why we know in advance that the general theory of relativity has limits.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

Limits to its applicability.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

There you go.

[Chuck Nice]

Right. Whereas quantum physics have yet to find a limit. And we got smart people on that frontier, string theorists who are trying to send the math into that singularity to try to resolve that problem.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And it's because if you do, then you reconcile. You reconcile general relativity with quantum physics.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes, you will.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. That's pretty wild.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. And more playfully, this fact that it goes to zero.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

Some people say that's where God divides by zero.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Remember, you're not supposed to.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

You can't do that, or you're not supposed to do that. I still don't know why. I'm just like, you know, have you tried it? Cause zero divided by zero is I got nothing.

[Chuck Nice]

No, that's undefined. Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's my point. But I can't define it. I started with nothing. I divided nothing.

[Chuck Nice]

I got nothing from nothing.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Leave nothing. There you go. That's a good song. Okay. Billy Preston Leaves Nothing.

[Chuck Nice]

When I first heard that song, I said, really? Is that the best math you can give me in this disco era? I was in high school when that came out.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Everybody was high on cocaine. They weren't trying to do math.

[Chuck Nice]

It's like, who you trying to impress with this math here? Certainly I could hook you up with some good formulas.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, that's so funny. Okay. Okay, here we go. This is Michael Trilling. He says, I'm an artist, and I have been working in stained glass recently.

[Chuck Nice]

Ooh.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It had me thinking, how can light travel through some materials but not others? What makes something transparent at an atomic level?

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. So I don't have a good answer for that. I have an answer, but I know in advance it's not good. Correct. So I'm giving, like, a just so answer.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. So transparent media. There's nothing to change the pathway of the light through the medium, and so it maintains a straight direction.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. And so it comes out the other side. You see whatever was on the previous side of that material. If the structure of the lattice or the molecules or the atoms is such that the light is either absorbed or dispersed, because it can still be transparent to light, but you can't see through it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

What's the word for translucent?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Translucent.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. Light still gets through frosted glass. Frosted glass. But the path the light took was varied. And so there's no coherent image that comes through to the other side. But here's a little known fact, as this person surely knows. Light travels slower in a medium than it travels in a vacuum.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

It travels slowest in a diamond, which helps it internally reflect so that when light comes in from one direction, it pops out a different direction.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

When it's cut, when the facets are just right. So that's why diamonds have a certain radiance of their own when they're just really messing with the light that came in.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So Rihanna was wrong. It's not shine bright like a diamond. It's just reflect, refract light like a diamond.

[Chuck Nice]

What was that from Ocean's Eight?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No. She has a song, Shine bright like a diamond.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, sorry, I didn't know that. Shining. It's not shining.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, it's not shining at all.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Is that why they put her in Ocean's Eight?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Probably. Matt. And she's Rihanna.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Couple more. Go.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right, here we go. Alex, Romillion says this. Greetings Dr. Tyson and your ragtag team of lifelong learners. I'm Alex from Northeast England. My question, there's a lot of talk about mining the moon. Wouldn't that be a bad idea, considering if we're transferring mass from the Moon to Earth, we won't make the moon lighter because of the gravitational effects it has on Earth, that is the tides to weaken over time and eventually stop. What other effects could it have? Regards from a lifelong learner.

[Chuck Nice]

I love it and love lifelong learners.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

Thank you for checking in.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. Couple of things.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Couple things.

[Chuck Nice]

First, two things. So it is likely that whatever we mine on the moon will stay on the Moon or go to other places in the solar system where we're doing work.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

It's not likely that the Moon has something so valuable that we need to.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That we want to bring it back to Earth.

[Chuck Nice]

Especially since the Moon was carved out of our crust in a collision between a Mars sized protoplanet and Earth. It sideswipes up our crust, goes into orbit, coalesces to form the Moon.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

And so the moon is our crust.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's probably not too valuable.

[Chuck Nice]

No, it's not too valuable. Not too valuable to go there and then bring it back. So now. But suppose we did. Suppose we mined 100% of the moon.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Chuck Nice]

Brought the whole damn moon back piece by piece.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I love it.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. All right. We still have tides, right?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

From the sun.

[Chuck Nice]

The sun. Sun's tides are about a third as strong as the moon tides. Right. All right, so you still have tides. Not as big, not as bodacious, but you still have tides. How much heavier does Earth weigh? The moon is a little more than 1% the mass of the earth.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, that's nothing.

[Chuck Nice]

That's nothing.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I ain't doing that.

[Chuck Nice]

That ain't. That ain't doing that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's a mess.

[Chuck Nice]

Like, if.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So if you weigh a mosquito on an elephant.

[Chuck Nice]

So if you. Wait, so 100 pounds on Earth, you'd weigh 101 pounds and a little. And change.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, no, that's.

[Chuck Nice]

That's barely fluctuate that. Just not worth the trip between meals and between poop.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right?

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. You fluctuate.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, that happens to me every morning. Yeah. I mean, get up on the scale, like, damn. Go to the bathroom. All right.

[Chuck Nice]

So. Yeah, it's not. Don't worry about it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, it's.

[Chuck Nice]

It's. It's a big moon, but Earth is even bigger.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

There you go.

[Chuck Nice]

We good?

[Advertiser]

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When a cold has you down, it's the little comforts that lift you up. A warm blanket, a cup of tea, and a tissue that actually feels good on your skin, infused with aloe. Kleenex Cooling plus Aloe provides a hint of cooling freshness to help your skin feel restored. So whether your skin is feeling dry, chafed, or irritated, you're only one wipe away from helping it feel relieved. The next time you have a cold, get a hint of instant cooling relief with new Kleenex. Cooling plus aloe. For whatever happens next, grab Kleenex.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right, this is Bas Oosterveld and Bass says, Greetings, Dr. Tyson. Sir Chuck Bass from the Netherlands here. Something that's bothered me for a while is the term time. Ooh, why do we still call it that? Time isn't absolute. It's relative and experienced differently depending on our motion through space. Time. A photon doesn't experience time at all. Wouldn't it perhaps be better to rename time in a scientific context? Would something like observer related perception of reality not be a better representative of what we should call time? I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. Have a beautiful day. Okay, I don't have more time for this, mister.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, I have one answer.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So it's a cool, cool little thing that he's positing.

[Chuck Nice]

Time has one syllable.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Exactly.

[Chuck Nice]

And what he read there. Count the syllables. Count the syllables.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Observer relative perception of reality.

[Chuck Nice]

It's 14 syllables.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

14 syllables.

[Chuck Nice]

Time has one syllable, right, exactly. So take that word and make it mean what we want it to mean.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And by the way, and that's the.

[Chuck Nice]

Meaning of the word.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And you can't even say what time is it? With his. You would have to say, what is your observer related perception of reality right now?

[Chuck Nice]

And there's certain things that we do just because it's simple. For example, our words that describe the sun and the horizon are pre Copernican. I don't say to you, Chuck, at what time does Earth rotate such that our sight line to the horizon reveals the sun sitting out there in space?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I instead, I say, when's sunrise and when's sunset?

[Chuck Nice]

And when's sunset? Right, And I think we're okay with that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, because the sun didn't really rise at all.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, from your point of view. Right, but still, it's a simple two. Two syllable word. So. So I don't mind precision, but not at the expense of economy.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right, very cool. All right, here we go. This is Zach. Sweet. And Zach says hello. Dr. Tyson. Lord, nice. Zach here from Moonsville, New York, or Munnsville, New York. You've talked about knowing mathematically how to create a wormhole in previous cosmic queries and other explainers. I was wondering what is keeping us from. From taking the mathematics from paper and applying them to the physical world, going from script to screen, so to speak. Oh, I like that. Thanks in advance.

[Chuck Nice]

I like that. So the problem is we're missing an ingredient.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, really?

[Chuck Nice]

Yes. We need matter or some substance that has negative gravity. Uh, oh, okay, so matter has gravity, Right? So matter can make black holes where you're compressing things down into One place.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

And a wormhole requires you pry open the fabric of space time.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Gotcha.

[Chuck Nice]

So you'd be parking this negative matter, this negative gravity substance in a way that you pried open a tunnel through.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The fabric of space time itself. Wow.

[Chuck Nice]

So we would know how to configure it, how much of it we need.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

But we don't have it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Gotcha.

[Chuck Nice]

Now, there are people who say, well, what about dark energy? That's a negative gravity.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Negative gravity pressure in the vacuum of space.

[Chuck Nice]

Of space.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

Since we don't know what it is, I'm not saying let's set up a factory to make wormholes out of it. I'm not ready to do that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, Right.

[Chuck Nice]

If one day we know what it is, and then we can harness it and then package it and sell it. Yeah, yeah. And I'm all in for wormholes.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, my gosh, that'd be very cool.

[Chuck Nice]

I want wormholes everywhere.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Like in the back of your refrigerator connected to your grocer.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay, now you're going Homer Simpson on me.

[Chuck Nice]

No, I'm running low on milk.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

To check on you, I just reach into the refrigerator. I'm at the grocery store. Grab some milk.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, no, no, the grocer does that for you.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, oh, he'll have your package. Oh, he stocks your fridge from the wormhole.

[Chuck Nice]

Because they just open it up.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right, I'll take it back. That's dope.

[Chuck Nice]

That's totally dope.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, I love it. Yeah. Ye.

[Chuck Nice]

You're never low on any supply and they'll know the rate and you don't have to go travel.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

And. Oh, my gosh.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Wow. That is Fresh Direct.

[Chuck Nice]

Direct, that's the wormhole edition of Fresh Direct. So. And there's so many things that we just take for granted, require transportation systems that would just be rendered obsolete with wormholes, such as on Star Trek the Transporter.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right, Right. You don't need to deconstruct entire body molecularly. Put it into a pattern buffer and then beam it somewhere and recreate it.

[Chuck Nice]

Hoping you get the point that you.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Get the same pattern in the exact same sequence.

[Chuck Nice]

Neurosynthetic memories and everything.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. You just walk through a portal and you're there, there, you're there. Yeah, That's.

[Chuck Nice]

You're there. It would render that solution to travel obsolete.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. But it would just ruin, like the most awesome effect that Star Trek came up with, which is. It's very cool.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, Chuck, we got time for two more.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right. We got a lot done today.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right, here we go.

[Chuck Nice]

Am I getting better at giving short answers? Maybe.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I think the questions might be helping. No, I'm joking. Yes. Here we go. This is James Liggett. Hi, y' all, this is James from Midland, Texas.

[Chuck Nice]

Midland, Texas. I know Midland, Texas.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The place where baby Jessica fell down the well. James, let me explain something to you. James, let me just. Let me just help you out for a second. Stop. That is not a claim to fame that y' all let a little baby fall down a hole and that you couldn't get her out and that the whole country had to find about it.

[Chuck Nice]

The whole country learned about it.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

The whole country learned about it before you were able to get this child out of that hole.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, I know Midland. It's the twin cities there.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Midland, Odessa, Midland, and Odessa.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, Midland. Rich folk live in Midland.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Oh, okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, back when I was there, that was.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That was the deal.

[Chuck Nice]

That was a very clear, clearly understood divide. I gotcha in the landscape.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right, all right. Well, James says this. Since photons have no mass, how do they carry the image of their source to, say, a telescope or an eyeball? So what does it mean to say we see something because we process photons? There seems to be nothing there in a photon to process where. Love it. In the mass, in the massless energy of a photon is this information that we receive. This keeps bugging me, man. So please help.

[Chuck Nice]

Let me hook up my. My boy from.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

From Midland.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, now, Mid Midland, Texas.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Midland, Texas Midland.

[Chuck Nice]

So here you go.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Here we go.

[Chuck Nice]

If you took all the photons and just crammed them through the one little opening and didn't have a lens, right, then you would not have an image. You would just have light. That's what we do. When we take a spectrum of an object, we take all the light, funnel it down into what's called a slit, goes through the prism or equivalent device, and you see how much energy, how many photons of different wavelengths is coming from that source. It's not an image at all.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

It's not an image.

[Chuck Nice]

You don't know what the hell the thing looks like, right? But you have this many that are red, this many blue. This has extra photons in a particular place because an atom is sending you energy extra in that zone, and you just look at the spectrum, and that is a no image measurement of the object. If you take the photons and have a lens, then there's a photon that came from your nose, a photon that came from your toe, a photon that came from the top of your head, it's a different color because your hair is black, your skin is brown, your shoes are red. And so this will be a red photon, this will be a black photon. And the lens reconstructs where they came from onto your detector. You focus it up. The photon lands exactly according to what the image was. So you're right. A photon alone contains no image information. You need the ensemble of photons to do so.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Wow, dude, that was a really good question.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. And I hope he feels good about that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. That you should be. That's. I. I learned something just then that. That's really damn cool, you know? All right, all right. Well, last question, as you said.

[Chuck Nice]

All right.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

This is Alan. Sure.

[Chuck Nice]

From the Netherlands to Midland. Odessa, to Denmark.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yep.

[Chuck Nice]

To northeast England.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, you're gonna love this one. This is Alan Short from Thailand.

[Chuck Nice]

Thailand.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

No, I'm joking. I'm lying. This is Alan Short from Italy.

[Chuck Nice]

Italy.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Italy. Buongiorno, Allen. He says with a profound admiration and the utmost awe of Professor Tyson and hrh. Chuck. Nice. I don't know what HRH means.

[Chuck Nice]

His Royal Highness.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

I'll take it.

[Chuck Nice]

When I was a kid, when, you know, we have juvenile sense of humor, we say his royal hyenie.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I was about to say that's because that's exactly. I was gonna say royal heim. Parts, but don't. Yeah, Royal heinie. Okay. According to one theory, our universe is located inside of a black hole. If this is the case, where is our universe's singularity? Likewise, seeing as we have proof that our universe is expanding, why are we not seeing other black holes, presumably themselves being self contained universes, expanding and taking over our universe with much love. Thank you, Alan.

[Chuck Nice]

Brian Greene would be better to answer that. So I'll give what I can.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

All right. So a couple of things.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Chuck Nice]

Some equations related to a black hole apply to our entire universe.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Such as we have an event horizon. We have a horizon, Right?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

We do.

[Chuck Nice]

It's analogous to event horizon of a black hole.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Correct.

[Chuck Nice]

If you look at the density of matter in the universe out to that event horizon, it is the density of matter you would need to make a black hole the size of our universe. But is it a black hole? Okay. And so if it is, then there ought to be a singularity somewhere. Somewhere we haven't seen because we don't know where it is.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And so unless we're just the information of the black hole.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

And so what we're seeing is the holographic information of the Black hole. The black hole is inside.

[Chuck Nice]

I want to be more than information. I want to be. I want to be a boy. And it's. That's Italian. That's a Pinocchio reference.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Pinocchio reference. We have done it, people. That is how you stick a land.

[Chuck Nice]

And.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Go to Italy and end up with Pinocchio.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, so that could be just where the analogy breaks between the universe and what a black hole is.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

So you have a couple similarities, but.

[Chuck Nice]

One last point, and we'll end on this.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Go ahead.

[Chuck Nice]

That the equations of a black hole. And there's a book here that I can dig out that will describe them. And our guy correctly noted that a whole new space time opens up inside the black hole. If you look back at us, the future history of the universe runs its course, and a whole other space time opens up. So each black hole would contain a universe.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

A universe.

[Chuck Nice]

But that universe is not sharing the space time of our universe.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

So they're worried. Will it fill up or bump in? No. In higher dimensions, you can fit everything, right?

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. It doesn't make a difference.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right. You can fit it all.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

That's so cool.

[Chuck Nice]

Just a quick thing. You have a sheet of paper that goes to infinity, Right. It's two dimensions. If I go into a third dimension, I can have another sheet of paper that goes to infinity.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Goes to infinity.

[Chuck Nice]

And it does not intersect the first.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Exactly.

[Chuck Nice]

In fact, I can have an infinite.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Number of sheets, one above the other.

[Chuck Nice]

Correct. So when you add higher dimensions, you don't have to think or worry about, you know, stepping on each other's toes. Cool. It can happen, right? It just. It's. It's not a thing.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Right.

[Chuck Nice]

All right. Yeah, I think we gotta call it quits there, Chuck.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Well, that was a good one.

[Chuck Nice]

That was very hodgepodgey.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I like it. I like it when they're all over the place. And all over the world.

[Chuck Nice]

All over the world. All right, very good. This has been a startalk. Cosmic queries Grab Bag Edition. Those are fun.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Love those, Chuck. Thanks for doing that.

[Neil DeGrasse Tyson]

Always a pleasure.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, Neil Degrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist, reporting from my office at the Hayden Planetarium. As always, keep looking up.

[Advertiser]

In the summer, all of Oregon is our playground, thanks to our incredible park system. That's why it's so cool that Oregon lottery gameplay, like video lottery or cash pop, helps support tons of parks projects statewide, like accessible trails at Silver Falls State park or upgrades to your favorite dog park in Newburgh. It's just one way a little lottery play for many Oregonians can add up to a lot of good the Oregon Lottery. Together, we do good things. Lottery games are based on chance and should be played for entertainment only. Must be 18 or older to play.

When a cold has you down, it's the little comforts that lift you up. A warm blanket, a cup of tea, and a tissue that actually feels good on your skin. Infused with aloe Kleenex Cooling plus Aloe provides a hint of cooling freshness to help your skin feel restored. So whether your skin is feeling dry, chafed or irritated, you're only one wipe away from helping it feel relieved. The next time you have a cold, get a hint of instant cooling relief with new Kleenex Cooling plus Aloe for whatever happens next, grab Kleenex.