January 26, 2017 8:39 pm

Friday, Neil Tyson Contemplates Cosmic Phenomena with Godfrey.

This week StarTalk Radio welcomes comedian Godfrey as a co-host for the first time. He’s here to ask Neil Tyson fan-submitted Cosmic Queries about Cosmic Phenomena.

Comedy and cosmic mysteries…what more could you want?

Fans of StarTalk know we’ve been doing science for a long time. However, when comedian Godfrey joins Neil as first time co-host to ask Cosmic Queries, he wasn’t prepared for how much, as he put it, his brain would hurt.

Photo of Neil deGrasse Tyson and Godfrey in the StarTalk studio.

The hurt begins when Neil and Godfrey discuss tachyons, the hypothetical subatomic mass-less particles that can travel at the speed of light, how they live backwards in time, the possibility of “tachyon-based” text messaging, and why using tachyon texting to stop events from happening might be the very thing that causes them to happen.

Godfrey’s science whirlwind continues when a fan asks how much space might be inside of a black hole triggering the discussion to explore event horizons, Hawking radiation, what the Earth would look like if the moon were blown to bits, why alien civilizations would see Earth at different times in the past depending on where they are, how humans might be a pathway for the universe to understand itself, and why some asteroids are just retired comets.

Just when he thinks he might get a break, Godfrey get “big-banged” by Neil’s insight on the naming process behind stars, planets, asteroids, comets, and moons. Plus, and he’s not alone with this one, did you know there was once a Planet George?

The sky is the limit during the Lightning Round where fans ask questions ranging from “How can life come from non-life?” to “If the universe is finite, what happens when we hit the edge?”

All this, plus Godfrey gets a chance to ask Neil about his relationship with Carl Sagan. Most important among them, “Why didn’t Neil copy Carl’s impeccable sense of fashion?”

How did Godfrey do, tackling the great mysteries of the cosmos with Neil deGrasse Tyson? You’ll have to decide for yourself, of course, but we think he did an awesome job, and we hope to see him back again often.

If you want to explore some cosmic phenomena, then please join us tomorrow night, January 27, for Cosmic Queries on Cosmic Phenomena, at 7pm EST right here on our website, as well as on iTunes Podcasts, Google Play Music, SoundCloud, Stitcher, and TuneIn.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
– Ian Mullen

 

 

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