Cosmic Queries – Scars in Spacetime

26:47And your eardrums will pop. Your lungs will collapse. and if you go deep enough, you just implode. It's like the water is the mafia and your body owes the water money and it's squeezing you. Is that the exact analogy to what I have to do? I think that works. You said earlier, you're Italian. I am, I'm talking from experience. And we were talking about heads in a duffel bag. I know a guy who knows a guy and I owe somebody money. So it's fun to watch this happen. Just take a bag, like a Ziploc bag, but leave it unzipped and just dip it into the water. Just watch all the air come out. It'll be snug onto what's in there.

27:27Then zip it up. It's how to get all the air out of it. Well, I get a Ziploc sandwich rag. I put something in it, and if I squeeze the air out, what it does is it forms, the bag forms pretty closely around that object. Correct. You can get water to do that for you for free, but you have to set it up to make that happen. Okay. Yeah. So that's water pressure getting the air out, But five inches into the water, that's not enough water pressure for you to feel that as the pressure on your body. Here's what'll happen. As you submerge, there's pressure on you. You have skin, right? So your skin is pretty good.

28:02But your eardrums, they are sensitive to pressure. Your capacity to breathe against pressure is, will be challenged. It's still fighting pressure. As you're fighting it, as you get lower and lower. So it's fast. So pressure is a fun, not fun, it's a fascinating feature. It's a little unsettling, but I'll keep it in mind. Lee Robertson, greetings gentle folk of the universe. Lee from Florida here. What is the determination for an object to be affected by the Roche limit? I know Saturn's rings were likely made by one of its former moons being destroyed by the planet's Roche limit. But how are we able to maintain orbit around Earth with our own Roche limit?

28:43The Roche limit matters for objects that are held together by the force of gravity. If you're just a solid object, the Roche limit is irrelevant to you. You're a solid object. You are not held together by the forces of gravity. Wait, if I push the bounds of the Roche limit, aren't I going to be pulled apart? You can just walk across the Roche limit and laugh in the face of gravity. Which I've wanted to do for a long time. Of objects that are gravitationally bound. you could just laugh as you walk by them. So why the distinction on solid objects versus non-solid? I'm going to tell you. So let's distinguish solid objects that are rigid and solid objects that are held together by gravity.

29:27We think of Earth as a solid object, but it's held together by gravity. All right. How do you know if something's held together by gravity? It's spherical. Always. Yes. Pretty much, yes. Why does it have to be spherical? Because that's what gravity does to something when it is in charge. I'm going to go back to this pen cap. Isn't this held together by gravity? No, it's held together by electromagnetic forces which swamp the effects of gravity. That's why that's not falling apart, even though we're within the Roche limit of Earth. You can walk around and not get torn apart. Because crossing the Roche limit, Earth is not really tearing you apart.

30:08It feels like, it looks like that's what's happening, That's not what's happening. I'm gonna tell you what's happening. You ready? Okay. The closer you get to an object, the stronger its tidal forces are. And tidal forces go up as the inverse cube of your distance. If you are one third the distance to an object that you used to be, what's the inverse of one third? Three. Three. Cubit, what do you get? Three times three times three. What do you get? 27. 27. The tidal forces are 27 times higher if you're one-third the distance than they used to be. If you're one-fifth the distance, it's 125 times higher.

30:47So these are tidal forces. All that means is it's pulling on one side, the side closest to the planet, way more than it is on the other side. So at the Roche limit, the tidal force simply exceeds the gravity. And what is that point? How do we measure that point? You calculate where that is. If it exceeds the gravity. But it's different for every object. If it exceeds the gravity of the object that's holding it together, then gravity loses. The tidal forces win. And so mountains just float up because they're not held down by gravity anymore. Rocks float up. And the whole thing just breaks apart.

31:34It doesn't break. It just lifts apart from itself. Because the Roche limit is kicking the ass. Disassembles is the better term than break apart. I like kicking the ass though. Because nothing breaks. A rock is still gonna be a rock, but if the rock was sitting on Earth, it's no longer attached to Earth. Because the rock is held together, not by gravity, but by electromagnetic forces. And you have this fetish about your pen. So your pen would survive a crossing of the Roche lobe intact. Hang on, I love your pen. Oh, I love you. Fetish is a little strong. I mean, really. So is it sort of like pulling bread apart, and at some point you're pulling it apart to the point where it becomes disconnected from itself, and then that's the way it's exceeded the Roche limit at that point?

32:22If the stretchy part of the bread is what we're thinking of as gravity, then there's a point where your force exceeds the gravity, and the bread just pulls apart. So the Roche limit is like the ultimate relationship boundary, where you're getting closer and closer. It doesn't mean anything because you just want to turn your relationship into confetti. Well, up until that point, you're both independent, strong entities. Within the Roche Lobe, you get torn apart. No, I use a different word. You get disassembled. Everything you once were is now in pieces. So it's like you're in a bar. Things start to happen.

33:00There's a guy. You get a little close. Roche limit's like, let's take it outside. I'm going to dismember you. Only if you're talking to his woman does that happen. Exactly. It doesn't just happen. No, I'm in my Speedo in the bar. There you go. And she's checking me out. I'm not asking for trouble. And the Roche limit kicks in and we have to go outside. So the Roche limit sort of exceeds gravity, power, or strength. Exactly. And so it's a very natural place where that would happen. But anything that's held together electromagnetically is intact. Rocks, boulders, no problem. Your pan cap, you, and the electromagnetic force is 40 orders of magnitude, 40 powers of 10, stronger than gravity.

33:44Therefore, Roche-Lumet has no... Effect on something that's held together by electromagnetic forces, like rocks. Right. But if you're a rubble pile that's all held together by gravity and you come near the Roche-Lumet, it'll totally... The rocks themselves within the rubble will stay. Will stay. But they'll break apart. So another two rocks here. We don't know whether some asteroids are just rubble piles or whether they're solid, which matters if we're going to deflect them en route to hitting us. Oh. Because you're going to push it out of the way. You're going to need like 20 Ben Affleck's. Ben Affleck?

34:19Yeah. Is that the right? He was part of that. Was he? Yeah. He goes on the thing with - No, but he's with Bruce Willis. It was Bruce Willis. Come on. Bruce Willis is the old salty guy, and then Ben is loose, but then Ben ends up being the guy. And then Liv Tyler, she helped out too. Oh my God. You need something to come back to. Yes. Exactly. I don't know if you know, but we recently did an explainer on the Roche Limit. Oh, perfect. So anyone who was confused by what I just said, or by what you said. Well, the reason this question got asked after your explainer is the buzz on social media is your explainer was, eh.

34:56it was it was it was broche limit bad so you just catch it in our archives okay we do i think we do well on our explainers you do well on everything are you kidding all right when you care bev happy galactic gumbo to you dr dyson if you could delete one overused sci-fi movie trope what would it be thank you for keeping the educational eternal flame strong bev a one-syllable name from alabama I've given up on this, so I'm going to mention it, but not that I think it'll ever happen. You should stop hearing explosions in space. It would be completely silent. Because? There's no air in space to propagate the sound.

35:35The sound. From wherever it is to where you are. Completely silent. So it makes for much less drama if they're just... Okay, that's all good and technical. Can I have one now? Yeah, what's yours? Can we delete the speech where they save humanity? Have you met humanity? It's annoying. We don't need to save it. Well, how about the one where the astronaut is like, are they lost in space? Are they gonna save somebody or not save somebody? And there's always the video of the kid that was just born and the touch on the video screen back on Earth. You know, really? Come on, can we move on from that, please?

36:10Exactly. And anybody who has like a nine month old kid, keep him on Earth. You don't send him into space. No, and he doesn't need to be on a video at nine. is going to be doing that the rest of his life. How about the fact that when they show up, the aliens, they immediately speak perfect English, okay? Meanwhile, you can't understand the guy from Glasgow, Scotland right now, all right? And suddenly, right now, seriously, like you've got an octopus alien. No, the aliens studied. No, the aliens studied. Well, no, it doesn't wash for me. They're smart. They can learn, they're smart. Why are we always assuming that we're dumb and they're smart?

36:44Because they - That's another trope. Because they arrived here. And we cheer on people who ascend 100 kilometers above Earth's surface, which is the equivalent of two dimes above a schoolroom globe. They go up and come back, and we celebrate them as astronauts. We have an alien coming from across the galaxy. How do you know it took them a long time to figure it out? Why do we give them credit? I'm just saying, they come across the galaxy. I'm thinking they're smarter than us. I'm thinking they have higher technology. I'm thinking they could read a dictionary and be fluent right after they read it.

37:26But they could read the dictionary and just say, this is a really stupid race and it's not worth it. They could do that too. In fact, they likely will. Exactly. So those are your tropes. You have any others that come to mind? So those with the touching the screen of the newborn infant from your spouse at home. And the sound of space. What about somewhere that's floating in space? Where the astronauts are floating in space? That's fine, that's fine, that's fine. But then they're, but go ahead. All right, so there's another one. They have these sort of laser weapons, okay? And again, they're making noise.

38:01Chum, chum, chum. Yeah, that's why I said I'm giving up. I let them make the chum, chum, chum noise. So you see, and you see. Don't knock my noise. And you see the laser going from the ship to the target. No. The laser is headed to the target. If you can see the laser, that means it's sending light sideways to you. Right. It means there's something there reflecting the light. It would be like the kid went like this with the chalkboard erasers. Okay, now do the laser so we can see the laser beam. That's not how empty space works. But wait, the laser beam has an end point that it hits the object.

38:37Yeah, you'll see it explode on the other side. But you're not seeing the beam. You won't see the beam at all. Because it's light. It's light, and unless you can reflect it out of the beam to your eyes. How do you know that there's not something happening in space, in time, that is doing that that you don't understand yet? You have to be in the middle of a big gas cloud to make that happen. And then you'd have particles reflecting. Because that's sort of the chalk in the thing. Yeah, that's the equivalent of the chalk. All right. I don't think we need to save humanity. That's all I know. Okay. Kurt Guy.

39:06Hey, Neil and Paul. Paul, on your show, Permission to Speak, you spent years pulling the extraordinary out of ordinary people. From a cosmic perspective, Neil always says we're all made of stardust. After hearing so many different life stories, what's the atomic common thread you found that proves we're all part of the same human constellation? I love that. And so that reminds me that your stage show is not just you on stage. a fundamental part is you interacting with the audience. Yeah, just born out of my stand-up and liking to talk to audiences and getting these amazing stories. So people caught on and now they leave the front rows empty?

39:46Yes, it's like going to a Gallagher show where he's smashing fruit. Gallagher for those who are over 50. My job is to open people up. You act like you're young. You're 78. You have a swollen prostate. I know, I talked to you, Doc. Leave my prostate out of this. So what you do only works if, because you never met these people before. No. You can. Although I do get asked if it's pre-planned, if they've been scripted or anything. I know you're talented. You don't need that. I get that. So you read the audience by whatever metrics and you know what thread will work through them so that you have a meaningful exchange of content and humor.

40:28Yes. And so is this because you know human nature so well? Because I have my counterpart to that just as an educator, but I want to hear, because the comedian is way closer than the educator is. I think that people want to be heard, and I think people want to be heard in a context where they feel safe. I define safe as like not worrying about political correctness and what you can say, and also that they're not going to be made fun of. That would mean emotionally safe, not physically safe. Yes, and then although we do this over an alligator pit, so there's a physical safety issue. And lava, too.

41:00You need the lava. Of course. Hello? So for me, what I've been told, and I can't speak to this, I do have this natural curiosity. I'm not just asking the questions as part of an act. And when you get to that second, third, and fourth question, you get these amazing stories. And I think the reason that it works is because there's something that I call, we all have beautiful imperfection. And what I say in my show is we're imperfect and we should embrace that. In other words, we want to think that life comes in nice, neat boxes and everything's black and white, but life would be boring. But in the imperfection, that's what's interesting.

41:37That's where you get crazy stories, funny stories, how far stories, because we're all making imperfect decisions all the time, but that's okay. And I think what happens is, and a connection happens with people in the audience that night because they're sitting there going, consciously or subconsciously, oh, this guy's as imperfect as I am and I feel pretty good about that. Maybe we should redefine those imperfections as perfections if they're fundamental to what it is to be alive. Oh, wow. That's a lot deeper than I thought of it. No, it's in the same vein of that. If everyone is special, then no one is special.

42:16Right. It's the same kind of thing. Yeah. If everyone has imperfections, then that's what the perfection is. Right, but Kurt asked about common thread. And I think the common thread is that people want to be connected, especially now. Now things are divisive and they seem to only be getting worse, but it's not a political show. But I think people want to be connected and they get connected through these stories. And I think the other thing that happens is, I think it gets us out of our silos to be aware that there are other people out there different from us in a way that's good to know. You don't have to agree with it, like it, or understand it.

42:47But you have to know in advance that they're going to like that. They're not going to get up and walk out of the show. They do. Okay. I mean, I've had stories where you're like, oh my God. I mean, I've had two heroin addicts on stage, one recovering and one didn't want to recover. You bring them up on stage? Oh yeah, they come on stage. Oh, okay. I bring them up in groups, like four, six people at a time, and then we just start. That's brave. I've seen you do that at the beginning of Colbert. Yeah. Yeah. And then what ends up happening - When you're warming up the audience. Yes, and what ends up happening is, it really turns into like we're hanging out in somebody's big basement, having drinks and telling stories for people who have never met before, because then people from the audience will start to yell out questions, which is fine with me.

43:23And then the beautiful thing for me is they don't leave right after the show's over. They come over to somebody and they'll say, oh, you're from Portland, I'm from Portland. And they'll start to connect to each other. Because they learned that about them. Yeah, and they were drawn in by the conversation. So I think it's the common thread of sort of, we're all imperfect and we're all figuring it out. So we need to send you to the Middle East. Whoa, bring peace to the world. Oh, yes, okay, I'm the one. You know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna go in my Speedo. That'll make people throw up. They'll stop all action.

43:52Exactly. Exactly. Nobody can fight because they're all throwing up. But thank you for asking that question. It gives me a chance to explain the show a little bit. It's pretty awesome. So my version of that, I don't know if I got asked it as well. Yeah, I think it's for both. I rely on an assumption that everyone is fundamentally curious at some level. And if they forgot how to be curious, there are embers that just need to be fanned that can then reignite in their adulthood, embers that were there as children. And there's nothing more satisfying to an educator than to watch an adult have a resurfaced feeling of wonder about the world that kids have every day because every day in a kid's life is new.

44:40So here's what you do. We talked about emotional safety in my show. What you do is what I'll call intellectual safety. Like I never feel stupid and I don't think anybody does. Really? I've been trying to make you feel stupid. I've been failing at that. Let me go back and try again. You really suck at that. No, you give intellectual safety and enthusiasm. I've never thought about it that way. And those two things together, you can draw people in emotionally with enthusiasm and not being pedantic and talking down to them. And you never make somebody feel. They don't fear displaying their ignorance.

45:14Exactly. Yeah, okay. And so when, look, I mean, we've all - But I will attack you. I will attack you if you don't know that you're ignorant and are coming out - Right. Out of the gate strong. Yeah, right, exactly. Because then you're in this place where - Listen, you - You know enough to think you're right. Right. And you don't know enough to know you're wrong. And then you're aggressive. I don't, you know - That, yeah. Everybody watching, everybody listening, and you and I have had a moment where you go - That'd be you and me. I don't want to ask that question. I'm going to feel, it's going to sound stupid.

45:45It's gotta be you and me, like you and I. Okay, you see, this is why people don't socialize with you. This is why you're alone a lot. Sitting there pulling bread apart, doing the Roche limit thing. I'm just saying. So I think that that's a common thing, especially when you're younger. It's like, I wanna ask this question and I feel stupid to ask it. Then you ask it and the person goes, it's great you asked that because five other people had the same question. You never create an environment where you feel like you could ask a stupid question and you have enthusiasm. So you give what I'll call intellectual safety in that way.

46:18Thank you for thinking about it that way. And I think it's really important. All right. Yeah. Okay, good. Yeah. Done with our mutual appreciation society. This is great. I'm still not hanging out with you all today. Time for a couple more questions. Sure, absolutely.

46:59We'll be right back. chocolate chip cookies. Remember to pack the cooler with probiotic sodas, sparkling waters, and more. Summer savings await you at Whole Foods Market. Eczema is unpredictable, but you can flare less with Epglyss, a once-monthly treatment for moderate to severe eczema. After an initial four-month or longer dosing phase, about four in ten people taking Epglyss achieved itch relief and clear or almost clear skin at 16 weeks. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. EBCLIS, LibriKizumab, LBKZ, a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema.

47:39Also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. EBCLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids. Don't use if you're allergic to EBCLIS. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with EPCLIS. Before starting EPCLIS, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about EPCLIS and visit ePCLIS.lily.com or call 1-800-LILY-RX or 1-800-545-5979.

48:08Prime Day is June 23rd through the 26th. These deals are so appealing like portable steamers for steaming. Whoa, did I just sing soprano? I think I'm breaking into song. Epic deals on air fryers, I can't stop saying Shop Epic Deals this Prime Day, June 23rd through the 26th I think that's it. Nope, there's more! Luggage! Smart glasses! I'm Ali Khan Hemraj, and I support StarTalk on Patreon. This is StarTalk with Neil deGrasse Tyson.

48:58Hi, Dr. Tyson. If space itself is expanding faster than light, what's really stopping us from ever outrunning the universe and is the limit physics or just our current understanding of it? Alan Ray are here, an Indian turning in from Vilmius, Lithuania. Oh, okay. So if I understand that question, if space is expanding and the fastest you can travel in the space is the speed of light and space is expanding faster than the speed of light which is 7 miles per 7 no that's the escape velocity from Earth the speed of light is 186 ,282 miles per second if the space is expanding faster than light and within space the fastest you can move is the speed of light you're not outrunning the universe is it ever possible?

49:48no, you're not outrunning the universe that's not happening. And is it, do we know that or do we just think that there's science out there that we don't understand? We're not outrunning the universe. If the universe re-collapsed and is not then stretching at faster than the speed of light, then yeah, you can get wherever you want. Every place you see, you can get there at the speed of light or less. But right now we live in a universe where there's a distance at which it's receding from us faster than the speed of light. And it's not a problem because that's Einstein's general theory of relativity, which places no speed limits.

50:24What is causing it to recede at faster than the speed of light? Do we know? The two things. The original energy of expansion was greater than the escape velocity of the universe itself. That's another way to think about that. It'll expand forever. But we also found dark energy, which is this negative pressure that's forcing the expansion to accelerate. And so that puts it out of reach. Negative pressure. I thought you were talking about your personality. Okay. All right, we're going to do another one. So you're not outrunning the universe. So just chill out on that one. We want to get a couple more in here as we finish.

50:59Diego Calderon. Hello, Dr. Tyson. I'm Diego Calderon from the world's longest and narrowest country, home to some of the world's most advanced telescopes. I'm a new Patreon member and someone deeply curious about the universe. Our telescopes can detect parts of reality we are completely blind to. radio waves, infrared, X-rays, and gamma rays, but they always translate them into forms our senses can understand. If humans could develop one extra sense to better discover the universe, what sense would you choose greetings from? Chile! There you go, Santiago. And if he's Chilean, then it's not Calderon, it's Calderon.

51:41Diego Calderon. I feel like you're hitting on me right now. Oh, we had a tango? The Andes mountain range goes practically the full length of Chile. And so all the great telescopes in South America landed in Chile for that reason. There's also very good atmospheric stability because the mountains are right on the ocean shore. And so the way the air comes in and interacts with the mountain range, it creates a very stable observing environment. Because the range is so tall. It's relative to that, and the air is cool off the ocean. So it all combines. It's the same advantages they get in Hawaii, the big observatories there.

52:19We should go on a vacation there together to the Andes. You and me? Yeah, you know, bring the wives. I don't know if they're going to want to come. Leave your speed over. So, yeah, if humans could develop one extra sense. So if there was one sense, you know what it'd be? Better discover what we need. Yeah, I know what it'd be. You ready? Common sense. Yes. Come here. Give me that right there. Mine was, know what you're talking about. Common sense. We don't need, I mean, I feel a little privileged here as a scientist because scientists have dozens of senses, just like Diego commented. We can see infrared, ultraviolet, x-rays, gamma rays, radio waves without our physiology enabling that because we have detectors.

53:06That's what science is, is how to probe the world beyond the capacity of our physiology to accomplish that. So because I can do it with my tools, I'm not thinking that I'm deficient. Right. He's talking about not through tools, but just a natural. I know. I'm just saying I don't feel the deficiency that he's asking. Right. Because I have my science. And I think common sense is something humans lack. Common sense. Which means it's not common. I just picked the ability to detect when someone actually knows what they're talking about or is just a bag of hot air. How about that sense? That's science literacy, which empowers you to know when someone else is full of shit.

53:54Look, I don't need a sense of dark matter. I need a sense that tells me where the hell my phone is so I don't tear my house apart like I'm a rabid dinosaur looking for some meat. I don't know. I'm getting angry now. I don't make sense when I get angry. So you lose your phone in your own home. Yes, you haven't done that? Says anybody over... No, here we go. Here we go. So common sense is actually a good one. Yeah, because I'm content with the senses that my methods and tools of science otherwise bring to me. This is where we were talking about before when we talked about intellectual safety. It's sort of the person you don't like, and I agree, is the one that will just come in, you know, pull in a china shop, like I know everything and doesn't want to hear anything.

54:34And I don't mind someone doing that if they actually knew everything. But generally when you do know everything, you're not that aggressive no exactly yeah because you're comfortable yeah you're not overcompensating you're not overcompensating that's the way you do i mean wait what uh uh well that was a great question yeah really good um i think a couple more time for a couple more yeah slip another one all right here we go hello dr tyson in popular fiction we experience time travel from one perspective either a single person traveling through time or multiple people traveling to a specific time in a single event we rarely if ever hear of multiple people traveling from multiple perspectives.

55:09How would the universe handle these separate events? Thanks from Austintown, Ohio, Bob W. The universe can't handle the truth. Well, it's conflicting cause and effect. No, no, if one person goes to one place and that's what the story is about, fine. But you can make another story about somebody going somewhere else and let there be a hundred stories about people going throughout. So maybe the question is, if someone is about to disrupt a timeline of events, it gets highly complicated if somebody else is in a different part of that timeline with similar capacity to influence the timeline of events yeah and then you then it gets very chaotic but wait the universe would have to either force all of those perspectives into one consistent story split them into separate realities or prevent the situation entirely it would just become one story.

56:03We wouldn't have to force anything. Okay, so then if time travel were possible, would multiple travelers from different points in time necessarily converge into contradictions? They would wreak havoc on the timeline we have come to know and love. They would turn it into a new timeline that had them as part of that timeline to begin with. Yeah, but that's not science fiction. That's like the universe opening up too many tabs and everything crashing. It's a universe with too many tabs. I like that. Yeah? That's a perfect analogy. Because I did my thesis in Chile over that. It's so weird. When were you there?

56:40It seems contradictory to me. No, I'm just, I think the issue is how much of a maelstrom would unfold if more than one person were meddling in the timeline simultaneously. Can multiple conflicting paths be all true at the same time, or no? Not in the same universe, no. Okay, but they can be through time travelings. But we have to ask, what does conflict mean? So you can't have a universe where Hitler rises to power and in that same universe, Hitler doesn't rise to power. Pick one. And so this is why people are thinking that timeline splits, you actually split universes. This allows them to - So contradictory things can exist in two different universes.

57:19That's the only way to get out of that - Conundrum. That's conundrum, right. And there are plenty of people who want to think that way about universes. that the timeline splits into two universes. I would time travel with you. You would? Yeah. If you didn't talk. As long as you leave your Speedos behind, we can go anywhere. There you go. I think we did a nice job here. We got through a lot of questions. One quick one, and I'll answer it quick. A quick one. Okay, let me find it quick. Patrick here, Dr. Tyson. Patrick, just another science nerd from Southeast Texas. What if space-time behaves like a super solid, meaning it has both fluid-like flow and crystal-like structure, could black holes actually be long-lived topological defects in that medium rather than singularities?

58:04And if so, instead of destroying information, might they encode it in stable patterns or scars in space-time itself, potentially releasing it later as structured gravitational wave echoes or even retro-casual signals? This is a really basic question, and I wish this guy would be a little smarter. Wow. That's a great question. That question is so trivial, I'll let you take it. Well, you know, I'm a big fan of Crystal Light. It's like a lemonade, but it doesn't have all the calories. Is that what we're talking about here? So I like the notion that something we think of as just empty space is reinterpreted as a medium within which you can embed information.

58:51I like where he's going there. Okay. And we know how you make a black hole. So if you can make a black hole in this medium, then the black hole itself is not some blemish that's there. When we look at crystals, there are imperfections within crystals that make for some interesting properties. Some of those imperfections give them certain color hues because the light doesn't go through smoothly. Structure. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and so, but a black hole is a very natural phenomenon. So I can't think of it as an imperfection. I refuse to think of it as an imperfection. But if a black hole has the power to send out ripples into that medium that contain echoes of what happened inside, and that then somehow gets embedded in that medium, that's a cool idea.

59:41The question is what, so here's what you do. When you have an idea, however outlandish, you ask, how would we test it? is there some light echo left by a black hole in the middle of empty space that we should be looking for? Is there some scar or record within the fabric of space and time that would betray the existence of these black holes or other imperfections? And you'd have to pose the question in a way that our telescopes can answer. Otherwise, it's just fun science fiction. Well, what about his supposition? what if space-time behaves like a super solid, meaning that it's both fluid-like flow and crystal-like structure?

1:00:22Do we believe there is a super solid? Well, that's the what if, and then if it is, then it would somehow capture these echoes in its substance, if it is a thing, right? And it's probably not all it would capture. There'd be some other phenomena. When we say echo in this context, we mean sort of what happened, the after effects of a black hole being created? Yeah, just a black hole being a black hole. Does it vibrate? Does it trigger some pulse? Is there a gravitational wave that has information embedded within it? So, yeah, I don't have a problem thinking that way. But if you're going to do that, you want to come up with predictions.

1:01:03Do we have that ability to come up with predictions? No, it would be his job. Wow. Okay. If you don't want to sync up that question, I'm leaving it to him. When did you semi-retire from science. I'm tired. I'm tired. I'm damn tired. That's another trope in every movie. I'm tired. I can't do this. I'm too damn old for this. Well, that was a great question. All right. I think we've wrapped up. All right. We're good. We probably didn't get to them all. No, we did not. All right. Maybe next time. Yes. Paul. Great to see you. We'll find you. So what are your next cities? It's on my website, paulmccurio.com.

1:01:41We'll find you. I'm right there. You can't miss me. Homepage in my Speedo. And after May 21st, if you need your lawn mode. I'm the guy. Who wants mayonnaise on their sandwich? I'm the guy. I can do any of that. The last Colbert show. The last Colbert show. And yeah, kind of weird and strange, but it is weird. Weird and strange. All right, dude. Thanks for coming on. Yeah, great to see you. All right. This has been StarTalk Cosmic Queries. Grab bag. Fan favorite. Neil deGrasse Tyson here. as always bidding you to keep looking up.

1:02:44achieved itch relief and glare or almost-clear skin at 16 weeks. And most of those people maintain skin that's still more clear at one year with monthly dosing. EBCLIS, LibriKizumab, LBKZ, a 250 milligram per two milliliter injection, is a prescription medicine used to treat adults and children 12 years of age and older who weigh at least 88 pounds or 40 kilograms with moderate to severe eczema. Also called atopic dermatitis that is not well controlled with prescription therapies used on the skin or topicals or who cannot use topical therapies. EBCLIS can be used with or without topical corticosteroids.

1:03:11Don't use if you're allergic to EBCLIS. Allergic reactions can occur that can be severe. Eye problems can occur. Tell your doctor if you have new or worsening eye problems. You should not receive a live vaccine when treated with Epglyss. Before starting Epglyss, tell your doctor if you have a parasitic infection. Ask your doctor about Epglyss and visit epglyss.lily.com or call 1-800-LILY-RX or 1-800-545-5979. Prime Day is June 23rd through the 26th. These deals are so appealing, like portable steamers for steaming. Whoa, did I just sing soprano? I think I'm breaking into song. Epic deals on air fryers, vacuums, and skincare.

1:03:51I can't stop saying... Shop Epic Deals this Prime Day, June 23rd through the 26th. I think that's it. Nope, there's more. Luggage, smart glasses.