Cosmic Queries – Your God Is Too Small

Summary

StarTalk Radio

Episode: Cosmic Queries – Your God Is Too Small

Host: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Co-host: Chuck Nice
Air Date: February 17, 2026

---

Episode Overview

In this “Cosmic Queries – Your God Is Too Small” episode of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice tackle a wide-ranging listener "grab bag" of cosmic questions. The episode threads together inquisitive questions about optics, cosmic mysteries, relativity, black holes, the meaning of humanity's place in the universe, and speculative futures—always with Tyson's scientific rigor and Chuck's incisive humor. A highlight is the exploration of philosophical and scientific ramifications for concepts like the universe’s expansion and the possibility of other intelligent life, all culminating in a poignant reflection on human significance, humility, and hope.

---

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. How Light Moves Through Materials (Speed of Light & Optics)

• Question: How do photons interact with matter during phenomena like total internal reflection and evanescent waves? Are photons always “real”? [02:28]
• Neil deGrasse Tyson:
  • Light travels at the speed of light in a vacuum but slows down in a medium because it’s constantly being absorbed and re-emitted by molecules, causing delays ("bumping into tourists on a New York sidewalk" analogy).
  • The index of refraction explains how much light slows; e.g., in diamond, light moves at 40% of vacuum speed.
  • Not every surface is transparent: visible light can’t make it through a brick wall, but other wavelengths (like microwaves) can. Some walls act as Faraday cages, blocking electromagnetic waves (e.g., metal lathes in old plaster walls).
  • Notable Moment: Tyson and Nice riff on New Yorkers’ ability to anticipate movement, likening it to how photons “navigate” a medium. [08:02]

Quote:

“The combination of getting through the molecule plus the speed of light between molecules, on average, slows down propagation of light through the medium. This is called the index of refraction, and it’s a beautiful mathematical construct.”
– Neil deGrasse Tyson [10:26]

2. Unresolved Cosmic Mysteries

• Question: What big cosmic mysteries do you wish would be solved in your lifetime—ones possibly just out of reach? [17:38]
• Chuck Nice: Wonders about the cause of the universe’s accelerating expansion; speculates it's due to "pressure from outside the universe bleeding through."
• Neil deGrasse Tyson:
  • Unsure if we’ll discover intelligent life elsewhere in his lifetime, though evidence for simple life in the solar system (e.g., Europa) might appear soon.
  • Philosophically explores the implications if Earth proves to be the only life.

Quote:

“How profound it would be if we discovered intelligent life in the universe, but how more profound it would be if we discovered that we’re alone.”
– Neil deGrasse Tyson [20:10]

3. Your God Is Too Small: The Giordano Bruno Story

• Discussion: Tyson recounts the story of 16th-century monk Giordano Bruno, who was executed for proposing that stars are like our sun, with their own planets and possibly their own life—thus, the universe is not centered on humans.
• Memorable Last Words:
  • "Your God is too small."
• Philosophical Reflection: Chuck Nice rejects religious exclusivity: “A God that needs me to fight this battle for him is not a God I want to serve...” [26:58]

Quote:

“He says he had a few good last words. My favorite among them was, ‘Your God is too small.’”
– Neil deGrasse Tyson [25:17]
“Way to go out, man. Your God is too small.”
– Chuck Nice [25:28]

4. Time Capsules and Communicating with the Future

• Question: What would you put in a time capsule for future generations? [39:47]
• Tyson: Argues that time capsules are generally ignored by future generations—they quickly become obsolete and uninteresting.
• Chuck Nice: Jokes about putting transcripts of presidential speeches so future people will be bewildered.

Quote:

“There’s nothing less interesting to a subsequent generation than an earlier generation's time capsule. The evidence of this is nobody remembers where any of the time capsules were buried.”
– Neil deGrasse Tyson [40:17]

5. Detecting Gravitational Waves (LIGO)

• Question: How can LIGO detect gravitational waves if gravitational waves stretch space (and measuring rods) equally? [28:09]
• Tyson:
  • LIGO uses two lasers at right angles—when a wave passes, it stretches one arm differently from the other, allowing a measurable differential.
  • Notes Einstein predicted gravitational waves and provided groundwork for the laser; both converged a century later in LIGO’s discovery.

Quote:

“We got smart people designing this.”
– Neil deGrasse Tyson [30:30]

6. Quantum Entanglement & Black Holes

• Question: Could you transmit data from inside a black hole using quantum-entangled probes? [33:45]
• Tyson:
  • Theoretically enticing, but quantum entanglement can't transmit information faster than light; you can't manipulate one system to send new information after entanglement.
  • The practicality of using entanglement for communication is still unproven and likely less effective than hoped.

7. Relativistic Reference Frames

• Question: Two spacecraft approaching each other in a void—can they determine their "real" velocities? [36:20]
• Tyson:
  • All motion is relative. Each craft feels stationary and observes the other as moving; both see time dilation in the other, but there’s no absolute reference.
• Historical Anecdote: Early physicists joked at Einstein: "When does Grand Central Station arrive at the next train?" [37:39]

8. Speculative Future: Post-Human Earth

• Question: What species might inherit Earth if humans go extinct? [47:24]
• Tyson:
  • Refers to the book After Man, which imagines rodents, highly adaptable, growing enormous in the absence of humans.
  • Reflects on humanity’s fragility; rodents and bacteria are more evolutionarily robust.
  • Notes ecological movements should be about "saving yourself," not the Earth—nature will survive in some form.

Quote:

“There’s all this stuff, this green movement: Save Earth. No, Earth’s gonna be fine. Save your ass. That’s what you need to do.”
– Chuck Nice [52:28]

9. Hope and Human Spirit

• Final Reflection: Tyson shares his favorite song “Amazing Grace,” played on bagpipes, as a source of hope and humility, nodding to Scotland (the home of their last listener).
• Final Note: "We’re all wretches and we need saving. From each other." [53:46]

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments with Timestamps

• On Index of Refraction:
  “This is called the index of refraction, and it’s a beautiful mathematical construct.”
  — Neil deGrasse Tyson [10:26]

• On Cosmic Loneliness:
  “How more profound it would be if we discovered that we're alone.”
  — Neil deGrasse Tyson [20:10]

• On Bruno’s Martyrdom:
  “Your God is too small.”
  — Giordano Bruno (via Neil deGrasse Tyson) [25:17]

• On Black Holes and Entanglement:
  "There's still some jury that's out on how we will fully exploit quantum entanglement as a communication mechanism. It’s less favorable than you want to believe."
  — Neil deGrasse Tyson [35:12]

• On Time Capsules:
  “There’s nothing less interesting to a subsequent generation than an earlier generation's time capsule.”
  — Neil deGrasse Tyson [40:17]

• On Human Environmentalism:
  “No, Earth’s gonna be fine. Save your ass. That’s what you need to do.”
  — Chuck Nice [52:28]

• On Hope (bagpipes & Amazing Grace):
  “We should hear a chorus of bagpipes performing Amazing Grace… because we’re all wretches and we need saving.”
  — Neil deGrasse Tyson [53:46]

---

Timestamp Index for Key Segments

• Speed of light & optics – [02:28]–[15:22]
• Cosmic mysteries & intelligent life – [17:38]–[20:51]
• The "Your God Is Too Small" story / Giordano Bruno – [23:11]–[27:12]
• Time capsules & generational relevance – [39:47]–[43:02]
• LIGO and measuring space/time – [28:09]–[32:03]
• Quantum entanglement and black holes – [33:45]–[35:20]
• Relativity in isolated reference frames – [36:20]–[37:39]
• Who inherits Earth post-humanity? – [47:24]–[52:45]
• Final hopeful remarks & signoff – [52:45]–[54:04]

---

Tone & Style

The episode is conversational, humorous (often self-deprecating), and intellectually stimulating. Tyson provides approachable analogies, historical anecdotes, and scientific clarity, while Chuck Nice grounds the conversation with humor and accessible logic, often voicing the audience’s confusions and frustrations. The episode oscillates between serious philosophical insight and breezy banter, creating an engaging and memorable listening experience.

---

Summary prepared for those who want to contemplate the universe, humanity’s place in it, and what mysteries remain—without the ads and fluff. As always: Keep looking up.

Transcript

[Kaitlin Coleman]

Hi, I'm Kaitlin Coleman, winner of Target's HBCU design challenge. This challenge moved me closer to my dream of becoming a fashion designer. Through mentorship and support, you can find my design, along with creations from other black founders in Target's Black History Month collection.

[Chuck Nice]

Hey, did you know that there are neurological benefits to learning a new language? I wish I had time to go into it all. So go ahead and Google it for yourself. But it's a really good thing to do. There's something incredibly satisfying about learning something new and watching your progress build over time. And with Rosetta Stone, you start small, fit lessons into your day, and see real improvement faster than you might expect. Rosetta Stone has been the trusted leader in language learning for over 30 years. Their immersive, intuitive method helps you truly pick up your new language naturally. No memorizing random vocabulary list. No feeling lost. Rosetta Stone fits your lifestyle with flexible on the go learning access lessons from your desktop or mobile app, whether you have five minutes or an hour. With millions of users and languages to choose from, including Spanish, French, German, Japanese, and more, Rosetta Stone is the go to tool for real language growth. Don't wait. Jas la hora mi gente. Unlock your language learning potential now. StarTalk radio listeners can grab Rosetta Stone's lifetime membership for 50% off. That's unlimited access to 25 language courses for life. Visit RosettaStone.com StarTalk to get started and claim your off today. Go to rosetta stone.com startalk and start learning today. And don't forget to look up the neurological benefits of learning a new language. I'm serious about that. Rosettastone.com startalk Chuck, that might have been.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The best cosmic queries ever.

[Chuck Nice]

Yep, Grab bag. It was certainly entertaining. And if you want to know what happened, well, you're gonna have to listen. That's all there is to it. Not giving anything away.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's cold.

[Chuck Nice]

No, that's how good it was. It's worth a listen.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right, coming right up. Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now. This is StarTalk. Neil DeGrasse Tyson, your personal astrophysicist. Chuck, you're the grab bag man.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm the man with the bag. This is Yousef Kazwini, who says. Greetings, StarTalkers. Yousef from Damascus. Syria. Here.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Damascus.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Whoa.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right. Ancient, ancient city. Damascus. I found your podcast recently and I joined the Club. Welcome aboard, my friend. Here's my question. You often mention photons travel at the speed of light at all times.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yep.

[Chuck Nice]

Working as an optics engineer and dealing with tirh f microscopes, I wonder how evanescent waves during total internal reflection tir is thought of from a particle physics perspective. Are the photons moving at the speed of light but somehow without propagating? Or the photons don't exist at all? But then what is interacting with the sample on my microscope? Thank you. I Love your work. PSG, Chuck. You surely deserve an honorary PhD by now. My brother. Oh. Oh, look at that. My brother. My brother.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Optics is a huge field that does very important work on a lot of frontiers.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Optics is. What do you do with electromagnetic waves? Do you bend them? Do you reflect them? Do you trap them? Do you heat? With what do you do with them? An entire branch of physics and engineering addresses those questions. So I don't know how specific the example is that he's giving and how that would lend itself to my explanation.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. So what I will otherwise say is the speed of light is not just a good idea.

[Chuck Nice]

It's not just a good idea. It's the law.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's the law.

[Chuck Nice]

Thank you.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's a dated reference to 55 miles an hour speed limit when we wimped out and said we're not gonna go fast anymore. So that doesn't mean light always travels at that speed.

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It means it will never travel faster than that speed.

[Chuck Nice]

Right. Cause you can slow it down.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So let's. How you do that. Okay. It turns out you sort of can slow it down.

[Chuck Nice]

Right. I got you. So the medium itself can slow the travel.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

However, medium.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. But the way it slows it down is fascinating.

[Chuck Nice]

Interesting.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, okay. Okay. So I'm a beam of light just.

[Chuck Nice]

Going on about my business.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Going about my business.

[Chuck Nice]

Look at me. Traveling at the speed of light. Nothing can be fast.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Nothing can be fast. Then you hit the air, or you hit a piece of glass or a piece of water. This is for visible light going through what we would say are transparent object. If you're transparent, it means the light stays coherent as it goes through.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So that the waveform maintains its structure. If it does not maintain its structure, light can still get through. But we would not call it transparent.

[Chuck Nice]

Right? Yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You know the word we have for that?

[Chuck Nice]

Translucent. Translucent, yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And lucent means light in.

[Chuck Nice]

Latin. Latin, yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Loose is light.

[Chuck Nice]

Loose.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So the light comes up to the boundary. Some light will get reflected.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And optics people know and understand that. Okay. That happened. No matter. You can't do anything about that. You can try to minimize it by having what are called these coatings that will delete any attempt for the light to reflect back. Right?

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And, you know, it's fun the way they do that. So you have a coating that's half the wavelength of the light that you're using.

[Chuck Nice]

Interesting.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. So then the light goes through, and by the time it wants to reflect back, the light that's coming in is out of phase with it.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh. So it creates a disruption and it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Flattens out and it flattens the light.

[Chuck Nice]

Look at that. I never knew.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Isn't that brilliant?

[Chuck Nice]

God, people are smart.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. So a coated lens prevents the reflections off of surfaces.

[Chuck Nice]

Interesting.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. And cameras, especially zoom lenses and other big industrial cameras, they have many, many lenses in them.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes, they do.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You can't have light reflecting off of shiny surfaces at every time there's a surface.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

You just end up with a blob at the end.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Just a blob at the end. And all the light will be scattered everywhere. You got nothing. And when I say it reflects. Because light will reflect off of practically any surface whether or not it's a mirror. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

As a matter of fact, in photography, they have something called a bounce board. And it's just a stark, stark white. I forget the color of white.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So it diffuses the light that comes back to you. Otherwise, a flash can be very harsh.

[Chuck Nice]

Right, exactly. So you bounce it off of there and you get the light without the harshness.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Without the harshness. So now you took care of that. Now the light enters the medium between molecules.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Light is moving at the speed of light.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But it hits a molecule. I gotta deal with the monkey. I gotta go in and come out.

[Chuck Nice]

Damn it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Excuse me.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Pardon me. Pardon me. Excuse me.

[Chuck Nice]

Excuse me. I'm so sorry.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, now I'm speed of light again until I hit the next molecule.

[Chuck Nice]

Right. And it's. Oh, God, here we go.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

There we go again.

[Chuck Nice]

Right. It's like walking down New York City street behind tourists.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yes.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Tourists are just in the way. In the ways of New Yorkers. Or not.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And I figured. I analyzed that.

[Chuck Nice]

Go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I figured out why. Why, may I say, please? Go ahead. I'll try to relate it to light going through a medium.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Here's why New Yorkers anticipate each other's trajectories. Because we've done this with each other before.

[Chuck Nice]

It's a dance that we know.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yes, it's a dance we know. Whereas a tourist. They might step left unannounced. Nobody told you to step left because I'm about to pass you on the left.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. Who does that?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Who does that?

[Chuck Nice]

Who does that?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But a tour who Just ambling on, looking up, ambling. And so you can't predict what their next move is. But for other New Yorkers, you can.

[Chuck Nice]

It's true.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Not only that, there are people who are. I've walked perpendicular to people. They're on the sidewalk and I'm crossing the street. You time it so that you know exactly.

[Chuck Nice]

No, it's a dance.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's a dance.

[Chuck Nice]

You gotta live here to know the dance.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Whereas the tourists will stop.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Well, now they just messed up my timing.

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay? They'll look, they'll say, excuse me, pardon me. And you get people. I'm trying to get in the subway, okay? And a train just lets out. There are people. Tourists will wait for everyone to clear from the stair.

[Chuck Nice]

No, you don't. Do you make your path. You know you're coming down, they know you're coming down. They will move aside, come down, and you're going up.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right? Correct.

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Just because it's a Mansfield don't mean.

[Chuck Nice]

You just made me miss my train. You know that, right? That's what you did. Waiting in line to get on the damn stairs. The hell is wrong with you? I'm late for work. And by the way, stand back from the doggone platform. Not that I'm worried about you, concerned about your safety. I'm late for work. You fall on the damn tracks, guess what? Now I'm late. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Anyway, I'll give New Yorkers a bad name.

[Chuck Nice]

Anyway, so the light in the medium is bumping into the molecules.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The molecules of the medium in between, it is moving.

[Chuck Nice]

It's going back at the speed it's traveling at the speed of light.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Correct. So the combination of getting through the molecule plus the speed of light between molecules on average, slows down propagation of light through the medium.

[Chuck Nice]

Look at that.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

This is called the index of refraction, and it's a beautiful mathematical construct.

[Chuck Nice]

I love it. The index of refraction.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Yeah. So.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, I love it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And I'll tell you how it works. The index of refraction, you can use that in a formula to tell you how much the light will bend coming in or out of that medium. That's how you make a lens at all, okay? But the index of refraction, if you take the speed of light and divide by the index of refraction.

[Chuck Nice]

Go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's the speed of light in that medium. Ain't that something?

[Chuck Nice]

That is really cool.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so let's do the math. The index of refraction of diamond is 2.4. What is one divided by 2.4? One is like the speed of light divided by 2.4. What's the number? It's exactly 0.46. About 0.4.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So light in diamond is going 40% as fast as it goes in a vacuum.

[Chuck Nice]

In a vacuum. That's awesome, isn't it? Oh, I love it so much. Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. And so diamond is one of the hardest natural substances known. It's hard for light to get through as well.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes, it is. Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And even though it's transparent.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And before we get all emotional about light trying to get through the medium, visible light can't get through most mediums. Like a brick wall, Light just can't.

[Chuck Nice]

Get through it all. Yeah, it's just like. Damn it. That's light trying to get through a brick wall. Dammit.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

If light were given a voice. Right, let's try the brick. No, no, let's try the, you know, the steel.

[Chuck Nice]

No, no, Damn it. Damn it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But other wavelengths of light are transparent in these other substances, as you know. So your cell phone works in here because the walls are transparent to microwaves.

[Chuck Nice]

Microwaves, right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Microwaves come right on through.

[Chuck Nice]

No problem.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No problem.

[Chuck Nice]

They don't travel well through plaster, though.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

What are you talking about?

[Chuck Nice]

Because my house. The walls are plaster. My house was built in 1898.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I think there might be something else in your walls.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, you know what? You're right. You might have a metal lathe.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Metal.

[Chuck Nice]

Metal plus. So here's what it is. It's plaster, then it's wood, then it's lathe, then it's metal.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I bet there's a metal mesh. It's a mess. To hold up the plastic.

[Chuck Nice]

Hold up the plastic.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's. So you're in a Faraday cave, my son.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, my God.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Faraday cage.

[Chuck Nice]

That's what it is.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's right. If you are surrounded by a metallic.

[Chuck Nice]

Metallic, yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Then the electrons in the metal will conspire to prevent electromagnetic energy from entering.

[Chuck Nice]

That's why I can only hear the voices when I go outside.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So that's why don't blame the plaster.

[Chuck Nice]

Damn.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Plaster had nothing to do with this.

[Chuck Nice]

That's. Wow, look at that. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Back then they would put up the mesh.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. You put the mesh and they put.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The plaster and hold the plaster up because all of the little. The grid of the metal. So if you have multiple internal reflections, that's the light just going back and forth. Oh, by the way, by the way, check this out. Check this out. Are you ready?

[Chuck Nice]

What?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so if I have two media, okay. Two media with different indices of refraction. Okay. So I have light coming up from one, it crosses the border and it bends. Anytime you go between two media, the.

[Chuck Nice]

Half of the light bends.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It will bend. Okay?

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's why sunset happened five minutes ago.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Because the light bends going from that vacuum of space to our atmosphere. And it gave us an extra 5 minutes of sunlight because it refracted around your horizon.

[Chuck Nice]

Nice.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, so it will bend. Okay, now watch this. It comes up and it bends, right?

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Suppose I take the angle of the light and make it steeper like this. Then that will keep this come further and further down. There is an angle at which the light never enters the next medium.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Because this bend now takes it backwards into the medium itself. And it's called total internal reflection.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, wow. That's something I avoid at all costs. That's why I can't sleep at night.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So that's that angle. It's still in the other medium. Bam. Now it's total internal reflection.

[Chuck Nice]

That's pretty cool, man.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's very cool.

[Chuck Nice]

I love that.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And you can know exactly what that angle is, what the. How to do that. And so if you have an optical system where the light is just bouncing back and forth, it is within the parameters of. Or you can have just a reflective surface as well.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Just a mirror would do that. Right. But anyhow, what you do inside your medium is your business. And what that then does to a beam of light. But yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Interesting.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

There it is. That's all I can. That's the. All I can do to illuminate. See what I did there to illuminate that question. There may be other places to go in the physics of optics that I would not have known to touch.

[Chuck Nice]

Very cool, man. What a great question. And thanks, Youssef and welcome to the. T Mobile 5G Home Internet has some big news you should know about. They now have the fastest 5G home Internet according to the experts at Ookla speed test. All right, so let's unpack that. It means photo backups happen faster. Streaming a documentary does install halfway through. What's really notable is that the jump in speed doesn't come with added complexity. Setup is simple. Plug it in and you're online in less than 15 minutes. And the value side of the equation holds too with a plan price that's backed by a five year price guarantee. So if you want the fastest 5G home Internet with a simple setup and savings that stick, get t mobile 5G home Internet. And if you don't want that, wait a minute, why wouldn't you want that? Just visit t-mobile.com homeinternet to check availability today. Price guarantee exclusions like taxes and fees apply. Fastest based on OOKLA Speed test intelligence data second half 2025 all rights reserved.

[Peloton Instructor (Kaelyn/Kaelyn)]

Welcome to your peloton Pilates era. Built on precision, backed by results and trusted by over 2 million members. Experienced instructors with true Pilates expertise, offering classes for every level from foundational to powerfully challenging. Choose from 10 to 45 minute sessions with little to no equipment, anytime, anywhere. And with the cross training swivel screen, you can move seamlessly from cardio to mat press. Pilates. Small moves, big impact. Find out [e-mail] Pilates hi, I'm Kaelyn.

[Kaitlin Coleman]

Coleman, winner of Target's HBCU design challenge. This challenge moved me closer to my dream of becoming a fashion designer through mentorship and support. You can find my design along with creations from other black founders in Target's Black History Month collection.

[Chuck Nice]

Hello, I'm Finky Baruch Allen and I support Startalk on patreon. This is StarTalk with Neil Grass Tyson. All right. This is Big G. He says, hey there Lord. Nice. Dr. Tyson, big G here from California with a question for each of you. Are there any cosmic mysteries that you are most looking forward to knowing their resolutions but sadly may not be resolved in our lifetimes? Bonus points if you can name mysteries that we are so close to resolving, but it's probably just beyond our reach.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, you go first.

[Chuck Nice]

See, mine is the easiest because I just want to know what exactly is causing the acceleration, the expansion of the.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Universe, like everybody else wants to know.

[Chuck Nice]

Because that's everybody else. But the reason is because I believe that it's a pressure from outside of our universe that bleeds through. That's what I think it is. And I just.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You think there's a puppet master?

[Chuck Nice]

No. Well, I don't. I'm not going to call it a puppet master. I think there's a bleeding. That's what I'll call it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

An injured puppet.

[Chuck Nice]

An injured puppet master.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Leakage. Leakage of pressure.

[Chuck Nice]

Because what that if we were to find that out now we have to explore the leak. And that means we're looking at a whole other universe and to me. That's fascinating.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's interesting.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You have to then explore the leak.

[Chuck Nice]

You gotta explore the leak now. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I can't top that.

[Chuck Nice]

That's good.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No, I would say I don't think we're gonna know for sure if there's life in the universe in my lifetime. Whoa. Intelligent life.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, then you. You. You win the bonus points because that is something we are very, very close to. But it's very possible we may not find in our life.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, I don't think in my lifetime. Yeah, we will know that. What we will know in our lifetime is if there's any life at all.

[Chuck Nice]

Outside?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No, in our own sources.

[Chuck Nice]

In our own.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, because we're looking at Europa. Right. We went to jpl, Jet Propulsion Labs.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

NASA in Pasadena.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Talk to the Europa Clipper people talking about what are they gonna do, what. How they're gonna measure it, what's beneath the ice. So we will know whether or not there has ever been or is currently life in our solar system other than on Earth. Yes, I think that will happen. But it would be sad if there is no life other than life on Earth. You know what has been said? How profound it would be if we discovered intelligent life in the universe, but how more profound it would be if we discovered that we're alone.

[Chuck Nice]

Listen, the second one is far scarier.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's a little scarier at first because that means you kind of want neighbors, don't you?

[Chuck Nice]

All of this was a mistake.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No. It would feed many religious thinking that the whole universe is just for us.

[Chuck Nice]

That. What kind of place was that?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Some branches of Christianity and perhaps other religions as well, require that life on Earth be the sole object of. Of God's creation.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, I'm just going to say it, and please don't judge me here. I'm being logical and I'm thinking like God. All right? That's the dumbest crap I ever heard, and here's why it's stupid. I don't need to do all this, okay? I don't need to do God.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You're God.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm God right now. I don't need to do all this to show you that you're the only thing necessary and good and my central and crowning creation. As a matter of fact, all I really need is the sun and the Earth, because that's our. That's the energy system that makes all of this happen.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Nothing else matters.

[Chuck Nice]

Nothing else matters. So if the sun, like a hydrogen atom, had just the Earth going around it, then I would say there is a God, and he made this just for us. But when you look at the vastness of the universe and the trillions of galaxies, all of which containing stars, billions and billions of stars in each galaxy, to a place where we can't even fathom, fathom the number of celestial bodies that are out there, then what you're saying to me is I'm stupid and I like to waste my time. I like to waste my time. That's what I'm doing.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So God is an inefficient manufacturer and that's it.

[Chuck Nice]

Right? It doesn't make any sense. So either there's a lot more of us out there, not meaning us, but life all over the place.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

This was Giordano Bruno's argument.

[Chuck Nice]

Who was that?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You don't know Giordano Bruno? I never.

[Chuck Nice]

We never talked about Bruno.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Bruno.

[Chuck Nice]

Who's Bruno?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

He's a monk.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm sorry, that just sounds funny, but go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

16Th century monk.

[Chuck Nice]

No, we're in Italy. Yeah, yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

He had just read Copernicus book, De Revolutionibus, which puts the sun back in the. I say back. Cause the Greeks knew this, but it got lost in the Dark Ages. But the sun, back in the middle of the known universe.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

He religious man, God fearing man, said, hmm. If the sun is in the middle and not Earth, that means Earth is a planet going around the sun, like Jupiter and Mercury and Mars and Venus. If the sun has planets and we're life on a planet, maybe these stars in the night sky are just like our sun. And if they are, maybe they have planets. And if they have planets, maybe they have life.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Heretical.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, they killed him.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Because that meant Earth was not the object of God's creation.

[Chuck Nice]

There you go.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So they put him on trial, sentenced him to death.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, my God.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Burned him upside down, naked in the Campo di Fioro, the piazza in Rome. And I think that's in Rome, not Florence. They drove a stake into his mouth.

[Chuck Nice]

To shut his ass up so that.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Even in the afterlife he would not preach heresies.

[Chuck Nice]

We don't. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

We do not deserve to be a species running for us. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You know, one of his last words were.

[Chuck Nice]

Let me guess.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, before that.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. What was his last word?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

He says he had a few good last words. My favorite among them was, your God is too small.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes. Way to go out.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Way to go out.

[Chuck Nice]

Way to go out, man. Your God is too small.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Too small. Your God just Earth and the sun.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes, yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

So anyhow, oh, my God. Okay, first of all, I'm gonna read up on this guy. Bruno is his name, huh?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Giordano Bruno.

[Chuck Nice]

So check this out. You know, some people know my background, but one of my last words before I left my other life, my religious life, was over. This whole idea of homosexuality, I never understood it. I still don't understand it. Like, why people have a problem with it. And why would God have a problem with it? I couldn't get around it as I'm studying to become a minister, but I.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Thought it's because it's in Leviticus.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, but Leviticus is full of shit anyway. I mean, honestly, you know, how many people have read Leviticus, me being one. Okay. So, anyway, so one of my last.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You know what someone told me, a Jewish person told me leviticus are just suggestions, kind of. Because if they were important enough, they would have been a commandment.

[Chuck Nice]

They would have been a commandment, right. No, seriously, the Levitical law. And by the way, it's a Levitical law for the priests. Okay. Anyway. Anyway, I said, a God that needs me to fight this battle for him is not a God I want to serve. If God needs me to fight this battle, Homosexuality.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, right.

[Chuck Nice]

If that's the battle that I got to fight.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Interesting.

[Chuck Nice]

I got to be worried about two dudes doing it. Like, that's what my God is all about. Two consenting dudes doing it. Like, that's what I gotta worry about. I. I can't serve that. I gotta be out anyway, so I love this Bruno dude. And I'm gonna.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, check him out.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm gonna check him out.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Chuck Nice]

Awesome.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Oh, by the way, there's a. There's a memorial to him in the square.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm sorry.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Looking very little late. Sorry. He's there. He's. He's got his monk robe on, and he's very solemn there.

[Chuck Nice]

Giordano Bruno.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, I can't hear.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I think it was 1601. Something like that. Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

That's amazing.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Wow.

[Chuck Nice]

What a great, great story. I love it. Okay, this is Keith Cohensberg. Konigsberg. Konigsberg. Yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

It's okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Keith says hello. Team, start talk. This is Keith here, writing from New York, New York, big city of dreams. Here's a question I've been wrestling.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's like the first one we've gotten from New York, New York.

[Chuck Nice]

That's so true. We don't get a lot of New York, New York people.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We're right here in my office in the Hayden Plantarium. And. And we, we're getting from Syria, from.

[Chuck Nice]

Pakistan, from all kinds of Chile.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's cool.

[Chuck Nice]

He says this LIGO has used light waves to detect the shrinking and expanding of space caused by passing gravitational waves. But wouldn't the waves be in and out of the material of space? If space expands, don't your light waves stretch along with it and any other measuring rod, as Einstein would say, and cancel out the change?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So, yes.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes. Okay. Explain to me what the hell he was saying. He's really asking because I'm confused.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

What he's saying is we have a laser that bounces back and forth, Right? Okay. We measure the trip of that laser with very high precision.

[Chuck Nice]

Very high precision.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

What he's asking is if a gravitational wave washes over the measuring device, how's the measuring device going to know if everything about it moves with it?

[Chuck Nice]

I got you. I got you.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Okay. So if I'm measuring your height, how tall are you?

[Chuck Nice]

I'm five ten.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You lying. Moment.

[Chuck Nice]

No, I'm fucked.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

In. Okay, I'll give you five. I'm gonna give you five nine. That's it. Okay, so you're five nine, and I have a five nine tape measure. And you look at it, it says five nine, Right? Okay. Then we stretch both you and the tape Measure, you're still 5 9.

[Chuck Nice]

True.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Unless you have some other way to measure what just happened.

[Chuck Nice]

They're called Ron DeSantis Heels. Anyway, sorry, go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. That's like a news item from the.

[Chuck Nice]

Eight years ago, last year. But.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Feels like eight years.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, it does, doesn't it?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So you're absolutely right. If I stretch you and the tape measure, you're still five nine.

[Chuck Nice]

Right. But we're talking about something washing over the measurements.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's fine. So now watch. It's because of that fact that LIGO Laser Interferometer Gravitational Wave Observatory has two lasers. Ah. right angles to each other.

[Chuck Nice]

Ooh.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So if one of them stretched, moving that way, it's not stretching the other one, and it's those two path lengths that we compare with each other.

[Chuck Nice]

Gotcha.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's how we know if a gravitational wave washed over us. We got smart people designing this.

[Chuck Nice]

That first of all is a brilliant question. And secondly, those people, they deserve the money.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

What money?

[Chuck Nice]

Whatever money. We gave them the Mick ligo.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Oh, the funding.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. The funding was National Science foundation. And they deserve that because that, first of all, what a simple, simple little answer to what could be, you know, altered results.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right, right, right.

[Chuck Nice]

Interesting. I love it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So 1915, right? Albert Einstein puts forth the general theory of relativity.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

A year later, he uses the general theory of relativity to predict the existence of gravitational waves, Right? But he doesn't think we'll ever detect them, of course, because the energy level's so low.

[Chuck Nice]

And how, how would you detect.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

This is 1916, for goodness sake. Okay? That same year, he publishes a paper on the stimulated emission of radiation, which is the foundation for the laser.

[Chuck Nice]

Right?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

100 years later, in 2016, or was it 20, 15? 99 or 100 years later, we discover gravitational waves using lasers.

[Chuck Nice]

Damn, bro. Einstein was gangster.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Gangster.

[Chuck Nice]

He was gangster.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Gangster.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Gangster.

[Chuck Nice]

That's like a chicken laying an egg so you can discover an egg.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, I, I. You made it way less profound than it started out. Normally you would digest it into something more profound.

[Chuck Nice]

I know. And poetic, but that was worse than all counts. It probably is. Yeah. That's Einstein. He was gangster.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Gangster.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, yeah, that's. That's dope. All right. That's really. God, if you. See, this is. You don't love science. Don't get angry with people. Don't make. You love science. I swear I'm gonna go kick your ass. You know what? You should go. You should get a, Like a, A dumbass poker. Bang right up. That's what it's a big poker. That's brands. Anyway. God help me. So good. That is so good. Okay, Scott Jarbo says this. Hello, dynamic duo. My name is Scott Jarbo from Seattle, Washington. And you mentioned, I believe recently that we cannot gather data from sending a probe into a black hole, as we would have no way to transmit any data collected because it could not escape the gravity of the black hole. Okay, so my question is, understanding we can't at this time. If we quantum entangled the instrumentation of the probe with a twin probe that was kept external, could we not record that data that way? And in fact, in general, would that not be a feasible mechanism for interstellar communication? In faster than light speed, the state of each should instantaneously mirror. Is that correct? Quantum entangled.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I'm not a black hole entangled expert. Okay, so it feels plausible that you should be able to entangle particles even though you lose one of them into the black hole.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It feels like you should be able to.

[Chuck Nice]

They should know what the other particle is doing even though it's inside of a black hole.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It should, but. And so someone interacts with the particle that just went into the black hole, which then triggers the measurement of your. The one outside the black hole particle.

[Chuck Nice]

Outside of the black hole.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And that way you knew something happened in the black hole, right? I don't see why that wouldn't be possible. I don't know what to say.

[Chuck Nice]

You know, I don't know what to say. You don't know what to say?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I don't see why not. Okay, now, but they wanted to talk about faster than light communication. The problem is you're not. Your thing has the information already built into it, right? You can't, after the fact, change that information.

[Chuck Nice]

Change that information that we know.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So normally, communication happens where, oh, turn left instead of right. All right? And if it's already built in, I can't do that. And so there's still some jury that's out on how we will fully exploit quantum entanglement as a communication mechanism going forward. And from what I have read, it's less favorable than you want to believe it is.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

For these reasons.

[Chuck Nice]

All right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

All right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right.

[Chuck Nice]

This is James Peterson. Hello to my personal astrophysicist and personal science comedian. My name is James Peterson from Lacey, Washington. Here are my scenarios and related questions. Two manned spacecraft are approaching each other at a constant rate within a huge cosmic void. Neither one is accelerating or decelerating. They are. There are no other visible or detectable objects within this cosmic void. Just the blackness of the vacuum of space. Neither of them knows if they are moving or stationary. They only know that they are approaching each other at roughly 20% the speed of light. What would be the reference point for each of them to determine their individual velocities? Assuming that they could compare rates of time on their clocks as they pass, could the relative speed of their clocks be used to determine their individual velocities? And individual velocities relative to what? Everything is relative, you know.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Do all these people have jobs to have the time to come up with questions like this?

[Chuck Nice]

I know, it's just like this guy. Weren't you satisfied with two trains leave the station at the same time? One in Chicago, one in D.C. he didn't stop there. He didn't stop there.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So what? He's not getting right in the question. The simple point is each of them does not know if they're moving. As far as they're concerned, they're stationary.

[Peloton Instructor (Kaelyn/Kaelyn)]

Right?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So he's saying, well, they approach each other. I don't know that. As far as I'm concerned, I am still in a void. And I see this other craft coming towards me. There it is.

[Chuck Nice]

That's only the only thing that matters.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's it. That's it. And So I will measure how fast he's moving. There'll be time dilation relative to me as a function of how fast it's going. It's not more complicated than that.

[Chuck Nice]

That's it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We don't have to do a double calculation.

[Chuck Nice]

Nothing or anything.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We will each measure exactly the same.

[Chuck Nice]

Thing about each other because it's relative to the observer.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's relative to the observer.

[Chuck Nice]

Correct. And so each one of us will see the other ship coming. We will measure that and we will.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Think we are not moving on.

[Chuck Nice]

And we're gonna still stay stationary as far as we're concerned.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Correct.

[Chuck Nice]

And when the ship goes by, it's like, whoa, did you see that? And that's gonna be the end of it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That's the beginning and end of it. And there were jokes back in 1905 when Einstein came out with this for the first time. Special relativity. They try to egg them on. Say, hey, Einstein, when does Grand Central Station arrive at the next train?

[Chuck Nice]

That's actually kind. Damn. Boy. Haters. No matter. I know there's haters no matter what. I know. Even Einstein had haters. Look at that. With their mustache. A taco in one hand and ordering a ride in the other means you're stacking cash back. Nice. Get up to 5% cash back with Venmo stash on your favorite brands when you pay with your Venmo debit card. From takeout to ride shares, entertainment and more, pick a bundle with your go tos and start earning cash back at those brands. Earn more cash when you do more with Stash. Venmo stash terms and exclusions apply. Max $100 cash back per month. See terms at Venmo Me Stashtime.

[Peloton Instructor (Kaelyn/Kaelyn)]

Welcome to your peloton Pilates era. Built on precision, backed by results and trusted by over 2 million members. Experienced instructors with true Pilates expertise, offering classes for every level from foundational to powerfully challenging. Choose from 10 to 45 minute sessions with little to no equipment, anytime, anywhere. And with the cross training swivel screen, you can move seamlessly from cardio to mat press. Pilates. Small moves, big impact. Find out [e-mail] Pilates hi, I'm Kaelyn.

[Kaitlin Coleman]

Coleman, winner of Target's HBCU Design Challenge. This challenge moved me closer to my dream of becoming a fashion designer. Through mentorship and support, you can find my design along with creations from other black founders in Target's Black History Month collection.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, so this is Bex Onar who says, Greetings, Dr. Tyson Vexonar. Vexar Vexonar who says, Greetings, Dr. TYSON AND LORD. Nice. What are you putting in your time capsule for the next generation to open?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Oh, so interesting. So.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I just got to say this. Okay. And there's a book written on this. I forgot the name of it. Forgive me. I don't remember the author. But there's nothing less interesting to a subsequent generation than an earlier generation's time capsule.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And the evidence of this is nobody remembers where any of the time capsules were buried. There's ceremony, and there's a mayor speaks. And then as things move on and culture advances and technology. Technology advances, no one cares what your sorry ass from 40 years ago was.

[Chuck Nice]

Modern, right? Exactly. Look at this. A phonograph.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I was in Flushing Meadow near the Unisphere. Tell everybody what the Unisphere is.

[Chuck Nice]

It's a thing outside of the old World's Fair stadium. It's a big, giant globe, right?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, it's the one that. It's what anyone thinks of when they think of the Flushing park. Okay. It's Earth. U.S. steel created this for the World Fair. And these three rings around it, evocative of John Glenn's three orbits around the Earth.

[Chuck Nice]

I did not know.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I'm just saying. I'm just saying. So there I am. This is maybe 15 years ago. I'm just sitting on a bench. I forgot why I was there. I don't remember. Forgive me. I don't remember why I was sitting on a bench in Flushing Meadow. Cause I don't live in Queens. I usually am just driving through Queens, but I'm sitting there, and I look down, and under the. Under the brush I parted for here is a time capsule from 1965. It was like a time capsule buried in that spot. No one cared.

[Chuck Nice]

And they just put a bench on the top of it.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No one cares.

[Chuck Nice]

Nobody gave a damn.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

There's no memorial around it, no ceremony, nothing. We have a time capsule for the row center here. And they asked me, what do I want to put in the time capsule. So I thought about. I said, okay, I'll tell you what I put in it. I put a Metro card in it.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, and guess what? That's a good thing to put in it, because they don't exist anymore. So you were ahead of your time.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So I put in a Metro card. I think I put in an ipod.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

Interesting.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

This was modern stuff at the time. We're all excited about it, but who cares, right?

[Chuck Nice]

Because both of Those things are non existent now.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

They're non existent. And no one wants one.

[Chuck Nice]

And nobody wants one.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

No one cares about them. No one wants one. We moved on. So for me, time capsules, though they mean well, I think are one of the greatest misplaced investment of our attempt to communicate with the future.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, that's very cool.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I don't want to be victim of that.

[Chuck Nice]

I don't. Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So no, I'm putting nothing in it.

[Chuck Nice]

I'm putting the transcript of every speech given by President Trump. Just the transcript. No audio and. No, just the transcript.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Just the words.

[Chuck Nice]

Just the words.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay.

[Chuck Nice]

So that they could read it and go, what? The what?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

The words of the most powerful person in the world.

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly. The most powerful man in the world said these words. Okay, let's see it. Thomas says this Dr. Tyson. Lord. Nice. Greetings from Hungary.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Hungary, yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Way to go. In an earlier episode, Dr. Tyson said that mathematically, the horizon of the universe has all the same properties as the event horizon of a black hole. That got me thinking, if our universe would be a black hole, knowing that gravity has no limits on range, could the continuous falling in of matter into our black hole universe explain accelerating expansion of our universe? And if that would be the case, is there any possible way to detect such matter since it would be at the edge of our known universe? Thank you for your work.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That would be true. Good question. That would be true if we were not expanding exponentially.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. So the fabric of the universe is expanding, and because of that there's nothing falling in.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's taking it with it out to the edges.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So but if we were not that way and we just had our horizon, an object moving could just kind of cross our horizon and show up. And it'll just show up. Okay. If it moves in that way, or you wait enough time, I should say that differently. Wait enough time, that horizon washes over the next set of galaxies that are sitting there waiting to be seen by you. Because right now the horizon is 14 billion light years away. Wait a billion years, then it's 15 billion. That's a whole extra universe that's in your horizon.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You know, the scariest day of them all will be right. You wait another billion years and there's no new galaxies to reveal themselves, it meant you reached the actual edge of the universe.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes. Not just the observable universe, but the.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Of the whole universe itself. That's a scary day right there.

[Chuck Nice]

That's kind of a cool day, though.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's kind of cool, yeah. But it also Means cosmology will evaporate because at that distance, we're seeing things that are that old getting born. But if there's nothing there, then the galaxies that a billion years ago were just born, they're now a billion years old.

[Chuck Nice]

Right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

In another billion years, they're 2 billion years old and there's nobody new coming in that's just being born. Gone is cosmology.

[Chuck Nice]

Look at that.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah.

[Chuck Nice]

Wow, that is a scary day.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I have it on my calendar.

[Chuck Nice]

All right, this is Bill.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

This might be the last question, I think.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, last question. Bill gets the last question. Bill says, hi, Dr. Tyson. Lord. Nice. This is Bill. I made it easy for Chuck to say, shut up, Bill.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

This is how you pronounce Bill?

[Chuck Nice]

He says, from Bannock. Bannock, Scotland. And he says, I need some cheering up considering the state of the earth in a few hundred years, maybe sooner, if he whose name we shall not mention gets his way from now, when humankind has finally turned Mother Earth against us, which species that exists just now, would you imagine we'll pick up the cloak of dominance that we humans held for a few thousand years? Will they have. Will they be land based, sky or sea based, or even amphibious? What is it about the species that leads you to that conclusion? Or do you see a bright future for us and what that future would look like in the event we are still here in 25? 25. Ooh, a question that is, I'll say, laced with hope, but yet very dark. Very dark and daunting.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yes, yes. It's both hopeful and dark. Full.

[Chuck Nice]

Yes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So I have some important replies to that.

[Chuck Nice]

Go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So first, there's a book written, forgive me, I don't remember the author. It's called After Man.

[Chuck Nice]

After Man.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Man. Something like that.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, okay. And is that like, what it does.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Is it renders humans extinct and it looks at other animals to see what would become of them.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, I thought it was a woman who left her husband for a lesbian relationship. After man, I am so much happier. I can't tell you how much better it is.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

With no man.

[Chuck Nice]

With no man, which, by the way, seems to be the consensus.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

By the way, apparently.

[Chuck Nice]

Anyway, so after man.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And so I looked it over. I didn't read every word, but it's highly illustrated. It's intriguing.

[Chuck Nice]

It is to think about.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay, now.

[Chuck Nice]

Cause who would have bet on us?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Consider. What's the largest animal there ever was?

[Chuck Nice]

From what I understand, it is the blue whale.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And it is alive today.

[Chuck Nice]

It's alive today.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And what kind of animal is it?

[Chuck Nice]

It is a mammal. Mammal, yes. Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Do you know the size of the smallest mammal?

[Chuck Nice]

I don't, but I think it's pretty small.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It can fit inside of like a teacup. Yeah, it's like this big.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I think it's a marsupial.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah, it's like a little shrewd. Marsupials are mammals. I think marsupials are mammals.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Yeah, it's some little thing. Okay. This big. And the whale. So mammals have the capacity to not only occupy practically any size range, but practically any place on Earth. They can figure out how to live there.

[Chuck Nice]

And we are on every place on Earth, basically.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So are bacteria, but in terms of.

[Chuck Nice]

Animals, we're a different kind of bacteria. We're more like a virus. I'm talking human beings.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So unlike reptiles and other cold blooded creatures, they can't exist in cold climates. Right. Because they would just freeze and die. But we maintain our body temperature no matter where we are. All right, the reason why I'm saying this is, this book said, if that's the case, what's limiting the size of rats?

[Chuck Nice]

I don't know.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I will tell you. You ready?

[Chuck Nice]

Go ahead.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I could be wrong, but just put it out there. Cats the size of. Not New York rats.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. The size of a hole they will run into so that you don't harm them.

[Chuck Nice]

Really?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. Just think about that.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Look in the subway, you see rats. Yeah. They'll crawl and there's a hole they go into.

[Chuck Nice]

There always is.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

There always is.

[Chuck Nice]

No matter what rat you're talking about, there always is.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Right. There's a hole.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Okay. If humans aren't here, they don't need the hole.

[Chuck Nice]

Which is why you get some. They're not rats, but they are a part of rodentia. In certain parts of the world where they're as big as like.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Like a copy bar horse. Like a copy bar the biggest rodent is. Right, Right. I don't smell a horse. So rodents, which are one of the most successful branches in the tree of life.

[Chuck Nice]

Yeah.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

For how many they are and how many species there are. Okay. How many species are there in the branch called Homo?

[Chuck Nice]

I don't know. Not one. Homo sapiens.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Homo sapiens.

[Chuck Nice]

We're the only ones left left. Correct. When you say how many species? I was trying to think.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

We're the only ones left.

[Chuck Nice]

Denisovans.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That makes us Homo. Quite fragile on the tree of life. Rodents.

[Chuck Nice]

So many of them.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So many of them. Okay, so this book foresees that basically rodents take over and they become huge, like people Sized. Oh, like rats that are people sized.

[Chuck Nice]

That's scary.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And there's nothing that.

[Chuck Nice]

And nothing to stop them.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Nothing to stop them. Nothing to stop them.

[Chuck Nice]

You dirty rat.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And it talks about aquatic creatures, right? What is it? The penguin gets really large or something. The. So when you take away a predator, there's no longer a limit on the size of what it is. Okay, so Earth after humans. I picture a natural history museum with.

[Chuck Nice]

A bunch of giant rats walking through.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Walking through, looking at us.

[Chuck Nice]

I know.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And it's, oh, Mommy, Daddy, what's that? And there's, like, human skeletons there.

[Chuck Nice]

Oh, those were called dumbasses. They used to run the earth at one point, sweetie.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So I was talking about the dinosaurs. They ruled the Earth.

[Chuck Nice]

Ruled the Earth, Yeah. So these dumbasses, what they like to do was burn stuff. Dig it out of the ground and burn it, sweetie. And they would burn it and it would release something called carbon into the atmosphere. And then they all died. And now we run, and then they.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Kill each other for any reason at all.

[Chuck Nice]

And they also like to kill each.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Other, you know, so that's the future of Earth. Because Earth and other life forms are gonna survive us, Right? For sure, right?

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right, so there's all this stuff, this green movement. Save Earth.

[Chuck Nice]

No, Earth's gonna be fine. Save your ass. That's what you need to do. Earth gonna be fine. Save your ass. Your ass.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

That makes a lesser poster in March.

[Chuck Nice]

Exactly.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Save your ass.

[Chuck Nice]

Save your ass. Okay, so.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

But in terms of hope.

[Chuck Nice]

In terms of hope, here's the hope.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Our boy here is from Scotland.

[Chuck Nice]

That's right.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I gave a public talk a few nights ago. Someone asked me what was my favorite song ever.

[Chuck Nice]

Really?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And you know what I told him?

[Chuck Nice]

What?

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Amazing Grace.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

I think that's the song of the millennium. Amazing Grace.

[Chuck Nice]

It's a beautiful song.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

It's a beautiful song. And you know how it's most beautifulest?

[Chuck Nice]

Okay, no.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

In bagpipes.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay. I'm not a fan of bagpipes.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

You would be if you heard it. And play Amazing Grace, you know, that's all I'm saying.

[Chuck Nice]

Okay.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

And bagpipes, that's a Scottish thing.

[Chuck Nice]

It really is.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So what I'm saying is, when life and the world gets us down we should hear chorus of bagpipes performing Amazing Grace how sweet the sound let's save the wretch let's save the wretch like me because we're all wretches and we need saving.

[Chuck Nice]

It's true. From each other.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

So Scotland may be the savior of us all.

[Chuck Nice]

Well, look at that. We gotta go, right? That was fun. That was so much fun.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

All right. This has been yet another Cosmic Queries. What kind of edition this is?

[Chuck Nice]

Cosmic Queries. Grab bag.

[Neil deGrasse Tyson]

Grab Bag with Chuck. Nice. Of course. Neil Degrasse Tyson here, your personal astrophysicist. Always good to have you, Chuck. Always a pleasure as always. Keep looking up.

[Peloton Instructor (Kaelyn/Kaelyn)]

Welcome to your Peloton Pilates era. Built on precision, backed by results and trusted by over 2 million members. Experienced instructors with true Pilates expertise, offering classes for every level from foundational to powerfully challenging. Choose from 10 to 45 minute sessions with little to no equipment, anytime, anywhere. And with the cross training swivel screen, you can move seamlessly from cardio to match press Pilates. Small moves, big impact. Find out [e-mail] Pilates hi, I'm Kalyn.

[Kaitlin Coleman]

Coleman, winner of Target's HBCU Design Challenge. This challenge moved me closer to my dream of becoming a fashion designer through mentorship and support. You can find my design, along with creations from other black founders in Target's Black History Month collection.