Scientific Martyrs, Life Beyond Our Planet & More! | Cosmic Queries #106

🔒 Get 20% off DeleteMe by going to https://joindeleteme.com/StarTalk and use code StarTalk to protect your privacy! 🙌 What’s more terrifying: finding alien life or finding out we are alone in the universe? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice dive into fan questions about optics, religion, communicating with entanglement, and life on Earth after humans. Neil explains why the speed of light doesn’t always go as fast as the speed of light. You’ll learn about evanescent waves, the index of refraction, and why light behaves like a focused New Yorker navigating a sidewalk full of tourists when passing through molecules. We explore how anti-reflective coatings work, how total internal reflection keeps photons trapped, and why visible light can’t get through a brick wall while other wavelengths pass through with ease. Chuck shares his theory on whether the expansion of the universe is caused by pressure bleeding in from the outside, while Neil discusses the upcoming Europa Clipper mission and our search for life in the solar system. What if there’s life elsewhere in the universe? What if we’re alone? We reflect on Chuck’s experience with religion and Giordano Bruno, the 16th-century monk who was martyred for suggesting the stars were suns with their own planets, and how religion often requires the world to be smaller. How do you detect a gravitational wave if the instrument you’re using to measure also warps with the spacetime? Neil explains how LIGO was designed to fix this issue. Learn about the possibility of using quantum entanglement to communicate from inside a black hole, and why special relativity means that to a passenger on a train, it's actually Grand Central Station that is moving. Does Neil care about time capsules? We take a look at a post-human Earth. Finally, find out why Neil believes the only cure for the existential blues is the sound of bagpipes playing "Amazing Grace." Thanks to our Patrons Jules, Kelton Falls, Danielhero 11, Zaubergarden, Danilo Vieira Battistini, Brian Lacroix, Charles Baker, Matthew Krug, Chris A, Sandra Leduc, Rodney Schneider, Sir Sucknoramus, Dominik Zwahlen, Malachi Vanderpuye, Zac, Will Johnson, John DeGrey, ClumsyVirtuose, Holly Sweet, Chuck Montana, Jeffrey Holt, Stephen, Extronox, Jon, Ben Grund, Jona Smith, Christopher Zalenski, Wile E Coyote, Stephen Patterson, Amber Johnson, Cameron Clark, D. L. Brown, Maitreya Save, Samuel, John Blankenship, BridgesNotBurned, Nicholas, Katie Hoen, Mometc, Henry, Rajeev Patel, Neufin, Philip Olafsen, Kiara Barbosa, Justin Lodge, Ayaku, Rodney Long, Feeneydactyl, Holman Coates, John, Stephen Crotts, Scherzmeister, Cengiz Ozmen, Julie Cunningham, Ian, Chris Cutshall, Michael Taylor, Rahul, Ben Cruickshank, Jonathan Schneider, Masego Jacobs, Luis T. Guzmán, Ylian Arien, Kage, Doug Wilson, Kevin Talbot, Kevin Dillane, E. Hughes, BruceWayne, Paul Lopez, Aldo, Michael Sullivan, Gary Seighman, Bill M, Rajah, ScrubGhost, Trung N, Carl Kangas, Andres S., Emrys Roberts, Carson Grover, Marshall McCarty, Aaron Bailey, Allison Wilsmann, Callan Richardson, Elijah Rogers, Ismail Hamzaoui, Barrie Corp, Cezary Rzempoluch, Aaron Rodriquez, Tango66, CPhase595, LilB YT, M Hays, Keith, Rodriguez Rafael, Mary Howe, McGheezer, John Judkins, Jon Hicken, FiapoDM, and Manny for supporting us this week. Timestamps: 00:00 - Introduction: Grab Bag 00:55 - Total Internal Reflection From Particle Physics Standpoint 08:30 - Index of Refraction 14:55 - Mysteries We Are Close to Solving 20:12 - Giodarno Bruno’s Last Words 24:40 - Measuring Gravitational Waves If Measurement Device Stretches Too? 29:54 - Using Entanglement to Communicate Inside a Black Hole 32:20 - Relative to What? 35:14 - What Are You Putting in a Time Capsule 38:55 - Matter Falling into the Black Hole of the Universe 41:30 - The Next Dominant Species on Earth 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 deGrasse Tyson, his comic co-hosts, guest celebrities & scientists discuss astronomy, physics, and everything else about life in the universe. Keep Looking Up! #StarTalk #NeildeGrasseTyson