Secrets of the Universe: What Happened Before The Big Bang, Life Across the Galaxy, Surviving a Black Hole & How We’re All Made of Stars | Astrophysicist Janna Levin

Mayim Bialik's Breakdown

Mayim Bialik

Mental Health, Health & Fitness, Comedy

4.8 • 5.9K Ratings

🗓️ 14 October 2025

⏱️ 62 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

BLACK HOLES, THE BIG BANG & ALIEN LIFE: Astrophysicist Janna Levin Breaks Down the Universe Ever wondered what existed before the Big Bang? Or why all planets are different, and why Earth is so perfectly suited for life? In this mind-expanding episode of Mayim Bialik's Breakdown, renowned astrophysicist and author of Black Hole Survival Guide, Janna Levin (Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University), takes us on a cosmic journey through the deepest mysteries of the universe, and how they reflect back on what it means to be human. From the terrifying truth about black holes to the surprising science behind moons, planets, and even nuclear weapons, we're answering space questions you didn’t even know you had. Janna Levin breaks down: - Everything You’ve Ever Wondered About the Big Bang: What came before it, myths, how it created space and time - What is Time and how do black holes bend it? - Why planets are round - What moons really are (and the wild origin of our Moon) - How stars give birth to planets - What black holes are, what happens inside, and their role in the fundamentals of physics - Why some stars become black holes and others don’t - How Einstein and Oppenheimer cracked the code on black holes and how we observe them today - What would happen if our Sun became a black hole and could we actually fall into one? - Spooky effects of black holes on time & space (Could they teach us to age slower?) - Why there’s likely a black hole at the center of every galaxy - Why Janna Levin believes we’ll discover alien life within 50 years & what it could look like (it will likely be on moons, not planets!) - Will our tragic reliance on tech destroy us, or save us? - Can we make tech more compatible with nature? - Why advancing tech increases the generational gap - Why Janna doesn’t believe AI will ever become truly conscious - Why the universe is considered left-handed - What would happen if the Sun were knocked out of our system - Nuclear weapons & how they were invented through studying the Sun - Parallels between nature and cosmic phenomena across the universe This episode of MBB is really all about the growing hunger in society to understand the cosmos, and therefore, ourselves. Don’t miss this mind-blowing journey into the heart of space, time, existence, and our place in it all! Janna Levin’s Substack, Janna Levin's Extra Dimensions: https://jannalevin.substack.com/ Follow us on Substack for Exclusive Bonus Content: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://bialikbreakdown.substack.com/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠BialikBreakdown.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube.com/mayimbialik⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	We have not begun to imagine what we could possibly be encountering.
0:04.5	The most common misconception about the Big Bang is that it was an explosion in space.
0:09.0	But it's so much more interesting than that.
0:12.0	Our elements are literally made in the cores of stars.
0:15.0	Wow.
0:16.0	This is why we're star dust.
0:17.0	We are just a tiny bit of residue left over from the Big Bang, a little bit that sparkles in a sea of darkness.
0:23.6	Tell me why I should believe we're the only ones that are intelligent in this galaxy.
0:30.6	I wouldn't say that you should believe that.
0:33.6	Dr. Jenna Levin is an astrophysicist and professor at Barnard College. She specializes in black
0:40.0	holes, chaos theory, and quantum and theoretical physics. Jana's going to explain why so many
0:46.2	people have a hunger to understand our place in the universe. The supernova is one of the most important
0:51.8	things that happens in the universe because it expels all its material.
0:55.0	And that material has carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, and out of that you can make a rocky planet.
1:00.0	We see hundreds of billions of galaxies, and they all seem to have supermassive black holes.
1:07.0	What we've discovered is that most stars have multiple planets like we do.
1:11.6	So if you think about the vastness of the stars and the numbers that we talk about, there are more planets than that.
1:18.6	So now our search for life becomes very interesting.
1:21.6	There's two very different divergent paths.
1:25.6	One is that we will kill ourselves, or we fundamentally change as a species.
1:30.3	It's the only possible future for us if we're going to survive.
1:35.3	Are we all going to fall into a black hole?
	...

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