March 1, 2013 9:41 pm

Make Time for this Sunday’s Podcast: Cosmic Queries Time-Keeping

Time is trippy. I’m not trying to be cute. I’m serious. Trying to wrap your brain around time – what it is, how it works and more – is enough to blow your mind.

Which is exactly what happens to Chuck Nice in this episode of StarTalk Radio when Neil explains how, for photons, which are light particles, time does not exist, and once emitted, they end up at their destination at the same moment as they start their journey.

And before you can catch your breath, Neil launches into a discussion of tachyons, the theoretical particles which, if we ever find them, travel backwards in time because they travel faster than the speed of light.

And that’s just about 5 minutes of this episode. In Cosmic Queries: Time-Keeping, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson answers your questions and weaves together topics like the French Revolution and the decimalization of time, Cherenkov radiation, sonic booms, and why a diamond sparkles. You’ll find out why there are time zones on the International Space Station, and how the inhabitants of Galaxy M100, if they have a big enough telescope, are seeing the extinction of the dinosaurs on Earth.

Don’t settle down just yet. In rapid succession, Neil and Chuck discuss whether time is infinite, do life forms with shorter lifespans see time differently, could Superman actually have turned back time the way he did in the movies, can time be broken into little bits, what happens to time in a black hole, how long is half of infinity, and many more timely questions, ensuring that for just under an hour, your time will be well spent.

Cosmic Queries: Time-Keeping will be available on our website and iTunes this Sunday, March 3rd, at 7:00pm ET.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons