Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up!
Also pulls from https://www.youtube.com/@StarTalkPlus
From StarTalk. How does a gravity assist work? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice explain the slingshot effect and the spacecraft that we’ve sent out of the solar system with it (like Pioneer and Voyager missions). Is Pluto secretly the savior of humanity due to blunder on Pioneer 10 & 11’s gold plaques? We break…
From StarTalk. In this discussion, Neil deGrasse Tyson is joined by co-host Chuck Nice and guest John Martinis, physicist and Nobel Prize laureate, to demystify quantum computing. Martinis explains what a qubit is, how quantum superposition enables massive parallel computation, why quantum computers are powerful yet difficult to harness, and how advances in quantum computing…
From StarTalk. Neil deGrasse Tyson, joined by co-host Chuck Nice, speaks with physicist and Nobel Prize laureate John Martinis about how quantum tunneling can occur in macroscopic electrical circuits. The conversation explains how superconducting circuits obey quantum mechanics, why this discovery mattered enough to earn a Nobel Prize decades later, and how it ultimately enabled…
From StarTalk. What do astrophysicists mean when they talk about “information”? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice dive into questions about the black hole information paradox, moon moons, wormholes between black hole universes, and more! Why do astrophysicists worry about lost information, and what actually happens when a molecule meets a singularity? If…
From StarTalk. Neil deGrasse Tyson, joined by co-host Chuck Nice, talks with physicist and Nobel Prize laureate John Martinis about how quantum mechanics can govern macroscopic electrical circuits, not just microscopic particles. The discussion explores Martinis’ Nobel-winning discovery of quantum behavior in superconducting circuits, clarifying how large-scale systems can obey quantum laws without invoking mysticism…
From StarTalk. Why do we need to know that other people know we know? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice dive into human psychology and how common knowledge is the invisible glue holding civilization together with cognitive scientist and author of When Everyone Knows What Everyone Knows, Steven Pinker. How do we know…
From StarTalk. In this discussion, Neil deGrasse Tyson, joined by co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly, explores whether free will can be understood as an emergent property of consciousness, similar to how fluid dynamics describes gases without tracking individual particles. Using analogies from physics, neuroscience, and science fiction, they debate whether human choices can be…
From StarTalk. Why don’t we make scientific laws anymore? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice break down how we went from laws to theories, what the term means in contemporary science, and how there will always be limits to our knowledge of the universe. Timestamps: 00:00 – Newton’s Laws 03:25 – Breaking the Law 06:25…
From StarTalk. In this discussion, Neil deGrasse Tyson, joined by co-host Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly, explains how physicists decide which equations to use when tackling complex problems. Neil emphasizes that physics is not about memorizing formulas, but about building a conceptual “toolbox” of physical principles—from Newtonian motion to relativity and quantum mechanics—and recognizing which…
From StarTalk. What does Hawking radiation look like falling into a black hole? Will we ever find a theory of everything? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice answer questions about invisible fields, many worlds, entropy, the theory of everything, and more with theoretical physicist and philosopher Sean Carroll. What is a field, and why…
From StarTalk. In this conversation, Neil deGrasse Tyson, joined by co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly, explains the strong nuclear force in intuitive, everyday terms, using analogies like rubber bands and springs to clarify why protons and quarks bind together despite electromagnetic repulsion. Neil deGrasse Tyson walks through how quarks, gluons, and force carriers work,…
From StarTalk. In this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Chuck Nice use humor and curiosity to explore space-themed snacks by tasting and ranking products inspired by astronomy and sci-fi culture. As they react to items like Milky Way and Mars bars, astronaut ice cream, cosmic Oreos, and space-branded drinks, the conversation blends genuine food…
From StarTalk. Right now, you can try Bitdefender Premium Security FREE for 90 days.Get your Bitdefender Premium Security plan for FREE today at bitdefend.me/StarTalk Did life on Earth come from elsewhere in the universe? Neil deGrasse Tyson breaks down the discovery of mold in the ISS and what it means for panspermia theory. Are we…
From StarTalk. In this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson, joined by co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly, explores whether gravity should be understood as a traditional force or as the curvature of space and time. Using thought experiments, everyday analogies, and Einstein’s equivalence principle, Neil explains why gravity and acceleration are experimentally indistinguishable and why the…
From StarTalk. Is time dilation just the data loading in a cosmic simulation? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice answer grab bag questions about saving the Sun, generation spaceships, black hole slingshots, and more! We explore what it would be like to get extremely close to our Sun. When the core of the Sun runs…
From StarTalk. In this conversation, Neil deGrasse Tyson, joined by co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly, speaks with science writer Adam Becker about why science fiction so often dominates public imagination compared to real science. The discussion argues that the real problem is not science or sci-fi, but weak critical reading skills and the dangerous…
From StarTalk. Is time fundamental to the universe or a human construct? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly explore our brain’s relationship with time, how we remember the past, and project the future with Dean Buonomano, Professor of Neurobiology and Psychology at UCLA. Why do we measure time more accurately than any other…
From StarTalk. In this conversation, Neil deGrasse Tyson speaks with Adam Becker, alongside co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly, about the myth of endless technological acceleration and the dangers of Silicon Valley’s belief in exponential growth, AGI, and the technological “singularity.” Becker argues that exponential trends like Moore’s Law are not laws of nature, that…
From StarTalk. Neil explains more than you ever needed to know about the Big Dipper… Check out our second channel, @StarTalkPlus Get the NEW StarTalk book, ‘To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery’ on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PL0NFn Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/startalkradio FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to StarTalk: Twitter: http://twitter.com/startalkradio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StarTalk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startalk About…
From StarTalk. In this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson is joined by Adam Becker, with co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly, to critically examine the idea of technological immortality and the AI-driven “singularity.” Becker argues that popular singularity narratives—especially those promising consciousness uploading and eternal life—are rooted more in science fiction than in sound science, relying…
From StarTalk. New cadets. New era. Infinite possibilities. Catch a new episode of Star Trek: Starfleet Academy every Thursday starting Jan. 15th on Paramount+. Can quantum tunneling occur at macroscopic scales? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice sit down with John Martinis, UCSB physicist and 2025 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, to explore superconductivity,…
From StarTalk. In this conversation, Neil deGrasse Tyson speaks with Adam Becker, alongside co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly, about the realistic challenges of human missions to Mars, pushing back against optimistic claims of large-scale colonization by mid-century. The discussion focuses on radiation exposure, lack of atmospheric and magnetic shielding, communication delays, life-support logistics, toxic…
From StarTalk. In this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Chuck Nice speak with physicist Brian Cox about the fundamentally probabilistic nature of reality. The discussion explores why particles decay at random times, how quantum mechanics embeds probability into nature itself, how the weak nuclear force drives particle decay, and how relativity alters decay rates…
From StarTalk. What is the goal of an experiment? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice break down the scientific process and why unexpected results are what make science so fascinating. Timestamps: 00:00 – Introduction: Unexpected results 00:21 – The Scientific Process 02:30 – Designing an Experiment: Michelson–Morley 06:11 – Upending Expectations: Accelerating Universe & Number…
From StarTalk. In this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson, joined by co-host Chuck Nice, speaks with physicist Brian Cox about a provocative listener question: could tidal forces inside a black hole endlessly rip quarks apart, creating an explosive “quark catastrophe”? The discussion explores quark confinement, hadronization, energy conservation, and the strange nature of time inside a…
From StarTalk. In this conversation, Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-host Chuck Nice are joined by physicist Brian Cox to explore one of the deepest open questions in modern physics: whether space and time are fundamental—or emergent. The discussion spans emergent spacetime, quantum entanglement, black holes, wormholes, and the black hole information paradox, including ideas like…
From StarTalk. Neil deGrasse Tyson answers the burning questions Chuck Nice, Gary O’Reilly, and the StarTalk Team have been saving all year about gravity as a force, cosmic rays, free will, emergence, and how physicists decide which equations to apply. What was Neil’s favorite non-astrophysics topic from the past year? Chuck asks: Is gravity really…
From StarTalk. In this conversation, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice speak with physicist Brian Cox about how modern physics explains the nature of reality through quantum field theory and the Standard Model. Brian Cox explains that what we perceive as solid matter is actually made of excitations in underlying quantum fields, and that the…
From StarTalk. In this conversation, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Brian Cox, and co-host Chuck Nice explore a deep question at the intersection of physics, biology, neuroscience, and artificial intelligence: what does it really mean to be alive or conscious? They discuss whether life and consciousness are fundamentally biological—or whether they are emergent properties of information processing…
From StarTalk. Neil deGrasse Tyson, joined by astrophysicist Charles Liu, along with Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly, dive into the fundamentals of quantum mechanics—superposition, wave–particle duality, entanglement, qubits, and the collapse of the wavefunction—using pop-culture references like Doctor Manhattan from Watchmen to make these abstract ideas more accessible. The discussion builds toward a critical examination…
From StarTalk. In this conversation, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Charles Liu, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly explore the surprising reality that all matter is mostly empty space, drawing on Ernest Rutherford’s classic experiments to explain atomic structure. They discuss why, despite this emptiness, we don’t fall through objects—introducing electromagnetic force fields, quantum tunneling, and how these…
From StarTalk. Happy Holidays, StarTalkians 🎄 We’re reaching behind the paywall to bring you exclusive Patreon content; consider it our gift to you. In this edition of our monthly ‘Ask Me Anything’ series, Neil and Chuck tackle written questions from our Patrons before inviting a few dial-ins from the StarTalk VIP tier. Wanna participate in…
From StarTalk. In this special live episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson joins Chuck Nice on stage at a comedy club to do something different from a typical StarTalk conversation: Neil reacts in real time to stand-up comedy and explains the science behind the jokes. As comedians raise questions about the universe, atoms, race, religion, aliens, and…
From StarTalk. How did scientists discover evidence for dark energy? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Paul Mecurio explore dark energy, Hubble tension, and the beginning and end of the universe with astrophysicist and Nobel laureate, Adam Riess. Learn the story of how Adam helped discover dark energy, and how he wrote equations expecting to measure…
From StarTalk. Check out our second channel, @StarTalkPlus Get the NEW StarTalk book, ‘To Infinity and Beyond: A Journey of Cosmic Discovery’ on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3PL0NFn Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/startalkradio FOLLOW or SUBSCRIBE to StarTalk: Twitter: http://twitter.com/startalkradio Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StarTalk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startalk About StarTalk: Science meets pop culture on StarTalk! Astrophysicist & Hayden Planetarium director Neil…