The Cover of Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin.
The Cover of Black Hole Survival Guide by Janna Levin.

Cosmic Queries – Black Hole Survival Guide

Photo Credit: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group/Penguin Random House
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About This Episode

You’ve fallen into a black hole! Quick, what do you do? On this episode of StarTalk Radio, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice investigate black holes with Janna Levin, PhD, astrophysicist and author of the new book Black Hole Survival Guide. 

Janna starts off by telling us about how her new book Black Hole Survival Guide is “dispelling misconceptions about black holes.” You’ll get a quick refresher from Neil and Janna about “spaghettification” and if there’s any way to prevent that from happening to you if you were to fall into a black hole. Janna gives us a detailed description of what happens when you fall into a black hole and why it’s “safer” to fall into a bigger black hole.

Find out why you create a “storm” when you head into a black hole. Discover what it would be like to watch someone cross the event horizon from a distance. We discuss “time dilation.” You’ll learn what happens when there’s a “ring down” between two black holes. 

If the multiverse is true, can super massive black holes enter other universes? Can we jet between the multiverse using black hole portals? Can you stitch together a black hole and a white hole? You’ll find out what black holes have in common with Doctor Who’s TARDIS. We explore the Black hole information paradox, Hawking radiation, and whether black holes are actually an illusion made by quantum-entangled wormholes. 

Lastly, we discuss why we might have to look beyond general relativity to understand the singularity. We reflect on the Eddington experiment. All that, plus, we end by pondering the Big Rip.

Thanks to our Patrons Ryan Bariteau, Dan Snider, Shelia Hutson, Austin Cope, Zachary Keirstead, Chris Goshorn, Cory Flanagin, Jacob Lackeym, Adam Albilya, and Russell Konicki for supporting us this week.

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can watch or listen to this entire episode commercial-free.

In This Episode

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