StarTalk Radio

Are all galaxies redshifting away? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Negin Farsad tackle a grab bag of fan questions covering cosmic infrastructure, redshift, werewolves, gravitational waves, and the nature of time itself.

Transcribed - Published: 2 June 2026

Can we put the data centers in space? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly map out the future of human habitation, research, and industry in low Earth orbit with Ariel Ekblaw, founder and CEO of the Aurelia Institute.

Transcribed - Published: 29 May 2026

What would happen to Earth if Jupiter stopped rotating? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice answer a grab bag of fan questions about the challenges with space telescopes, the nature of AI, and whether aliens are funny.

Transcribed - Published: 26 May 2026

Can we influence the strong nuclear force? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Paul Mecurio answer grab bag questions about sci-fi laser guns, the Roche Limit, how we interact with the fundamental forces, and more!

Transcribed - Published: 19 May 2026

Is the internet too far gone or can we still fix it? Neil deGrasse Tyson, and co-hosts Negin Farsad and Gary O’Reilly, sit down with Jaron Lanier, Microsoft scientist, and father of virtual reality, to diagnose what went wrong with the web, how it’s changed with AI, and ideas for a new path back.

Transcribed - Published: 15 May 2026

How bright is the Earth from the moon? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice have fun with the sun’s reflectivity, discuss light pollution, and explore the electromagnetic light spectrum: how does sunscreen work?

Transcribed - Published: 12 May 2026

What is a starquake? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Matt Kirshen explore asteroseismology, the sun, and what’s happening on the insides of stars with astrophysicist Conny Aerts.

Transcribed - Published: 8 May 2026

What are the true limits of life, will we even recognize it when we see it? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice explore the beginnings of life on Earth and what they might tell us about life everywhere else with astrobiologist and bacteriologist, Betül Kaçar.

Transcribed - Published: 5 May 2026

Could you grow your own food on the moon? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly sit down with Kevin Espiritu, the gardening YouTuber behind Epic Gardening, to dig into backyard farming, the future of sustainable food, and what it would actually take to feed yourself on Earth or anywhere else.

Transcribed - Published: 1 May 2026

What would you actually do if an alien showed up and asked to be taken to your leader? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Paul Mecurio, and astrophysicist Charles Liu explore fan questions about physics of near-light-speed travel, Dark Forest Theory from The Three Body Problem, and whether the universe itself might be conscious.

Transcribed - Published: 28 April 2026

Are all the galaxies orbiting a superstructure in the middle of the universe? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice are reaching into the grab bag to cover questions from absolute zero to the nature of gravity, and much much more.

Transcribed - Published: 21 April 2026

Are seed oils really that bad? Are people getting enough protein? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Paul Mecurio, & Gary O’Reilly cut through the noise on health myths, food misinformation, and the forces making it harder than ever to eat well with nutrition scientist, Jessica Knurick, PhD.

Transcribed - Published: 17 April 2026

Could the ingredients for life have arrived on asteroids? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice unpack what the sample collected from asteroid Bennu is teaching us about the origins of life itself with Harold Connolly, geologist and mission scientist for OSIRIS-REx.

Transcribed - Published: 14 April 2026

How did the universe get to be this way? On this episode of StarTalk, Neil DeGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice sit down with theoretical cosmologist, Janna Levin, to help us break down the building blocks of the universe and how it started. Originally Aired March 8, 2021.

Transcribed - Published: 10 April 2026

What if a microscopic alien lifeform was slowly eating our sun? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice sit down with Andy Weir, the bestselling author of Project Hail Mary, for a deep dive into designing aliens, science fiction, and science behind the book (and the movie.)

Transcribed - Published: 7 April 2026

What happens when scientists are right and nobody wants to hear it? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly explore the frustrating history of brilliant minds who were ignored, mocked, and punished for telling the truth with science writer Matt Kaplan.

Transcribed - Published: 3 April 2026

Is our universe an inevitable outcome of the laws of physics? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice sit down with theoretical physicist Brian Greene to discuss the Many-Worlds Interpretation, the structure of the multiverse, levels of infinity, and respond to cosmic queries Neil couldn’t answer.

Transcribed - Published: 31 March 2026

Where does the wind come from? What is a sonic boom? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice explain things you thought you knew about sonic booms, daily temperatures, and how wind works.

Transcribed - Published: 24 March 2026

Are we living inside a computer simulation? Is artificial intelligence truly conscious? And what happens to us when we die? Neil deGrasse Tyson and cohost’s Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly tackle more questions from inside the StarTalk team.

Transcribed - Published: 20 March 2026

What are the main candidates for dark matter? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice sit down with theoretical physicist Katherine Freese to tackle fan questions about dark matter, dark energy, and the dark universe at large.

Transcribed - Published: 17 March 2026

How can you get away with murder? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice explore forensic pathology, autopsies, and crime scene science with medical examiner and author Jonathan Hayes, featuring an interview with crime writer and author of Autopsy, Patricia Cornwell. Originally aired January 11, 2022.

Transcribed - Published: 13 March 2026

What if we took Earth… and pushed it somewhere else? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice answer grab bag fan questions about gravitons, hyperspeed, saving the sun, and more!

Transcribed - Published: 10 March 2026

Does the universe need observers to exist? Neil deGrasse Tyson and co-hosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly explore questions about entropy, spontaneous symmetry breaking, spectroscopy and more with astrophysicist Charles Liu.

Transcribed - Published: 6 March 2026

How much energy would it take to make a warp drive? Neil deGrasse Tyson joined by Sasheer Zamata & Pete Holmes explore the science in TV shows from antimatter annihilation to tachyons to warp bubbles with astrophysicist & science advisor for Star Trek, Erin Macdonald, and particle physicist & advisor for The Big Bang Theory and Oppenheimer, David Saltzberg.

Transcribed - Published: 3 March 2026

Do we need new math to explain dark matter? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Paul Mecurio explore unsolved problems in math, simulation theory, base systems and more with mathematician Terence Tao.

Transcribed - Published: 24 February 2026

How did we go from digital computers to AI seemingly everywhere? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, & Gary O’Reilly dive into the mechanics of thinking, how AI got its start, and what deep learning really means with cognitive and computer scientist, Nobel Laureate, and one of the architects of AI, Geoffrey Hinton.

Transcribed - Published: 20 February 2026

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.

Transcribed - Published: 17 February 2026

Is your consciousness a quantum phenomenon? Is the universe one predetermined block? Neil deGrasse Tyson and cohosts Chuck Nice and Gary O’Reilly answer grab bag questions about quantum theory, the cosmological constant, and retrocausality with astrophysicist Charles Liu.

Transcribed - Published: 13 February 2026

How small is a molecule? What is the color of light? How can quantum physics spoil food? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice visualize a molecule’s actual size, break down the different colors of light, and the physics of what’s going on in your fridge.

Transcribed - Published: 10 February 2026

What is infinity? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Negin Farsad explore whether we are in a finite universe, the issues with infinity, string theory, and more with theoretical physicist Stephon Alexander.

Transcribed - Published: 6 February 2026

Is there life in the Venusian Clouds? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice are joined by planetary astrobiologist David Grinspoon to discuss NASA’s return to Venus, our space future, and whether we’ll find life in our solar system.

Transcribed - Published: 3 February 2026

What do astrophysicists mean when they talk about “information”? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice dive into questions about the black hole information paradox, moon moons, wormholes between black hole universes, and more!

Transcribed - Published: 27 January 2026

What happens when everyone knows what everyone knows? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice dive into human psychology and how recursive common knowledge is the invisible glue holding civilization together with cognitive scientist and author, Steven Pinker.

Transcribed - Published: 23 January 2026

What does Hawking radiation look like falling into a black hole? Will we ever find a theory of everything? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice answer questions about invisible fields, many worlds, entropy, the theory of everything, and more with theoretical physicist and philosopher Sean Carroll.

Transcribed - Published: 20 January 2026

Terraforming mars? How do black holes die? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice answer questions about the moon, periodic table of elements, light photons, black holes and more! Originally Aired August 3, 2021

Transcribed - Published: 16 January 2026

Is time dilation just the data loading in a cosmic simulation? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice answer grab bag questions about saving the Sun, generation spaceships, bubble universes, and more!

Transcribed - Published: 13 January 2026

Is time fundamental to the universe or a human construct? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, and Gary O’Reilly explore our brain’s relationship with time, how we remember the past, and project the future with Dean Buonomano, Professor of Neurobiology and Psychology at UCLA.

Transcribed - Published: 9 January 2026

Can quantum tunneling occur at macroscopic scales? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice sit down with John Martinis, UCSB physicist and 2025 Nobel Prize winner in Physics, to explore superconductivity, quantum tunnelling, and what this means for the future of quantum computing.

Transcribed - Published: 6 January 2026

What’s the true color of the sun? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice discuss things you thought you knew about the color of the Sun, the sound of weather, and why friction is our friend.

Transcribed - Published: 30 December 2025

What’s the deal with the strong nuclear force? Neil deGrasse Tyson answers the burning questions Chuck Nice, Gary O’Reilly, and the StarTalk Team have been saving all year about gravity as a force, cosmic rays, free will, emergence, and how physicists decide which equations to apply.

Transcribed - Published: 26 December 2025

What’s a supervolcano? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Matt Kirshen discover all types of volcanoes in the solar system with cosmochemist and author of Fire and Ice: The Volcanoes of the Solar System, Natalie Starkey. Is there such a thing as an ice volcano? Originally Aired October 5, 2021.

Transcribed - Published: 23 December 2025

Are we in a simulation? On this episode, Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice take a deep dive into simulation theory, consciousness, and free will with Oxford theorist Nick Bostrom. Is this The Matrix? Originally Aired December 21, 2021.

Transcribed - Published: 19 December 2025

How did scientists discover evidence for dark energy? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Paul Mecurio explore dark energy, Hubble tension, and the beginning and end of the universe with astrophysicist and Nobel laureate, Adam Riess.

Transcribed - Published: 16 December 2025

Are our parts replaceable? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, & Gary O’Reilly sit down with bestselling author Mary Roach, who discusses her newest book, Replaceable You, and the quest to grow organs, build parts, and engineer the human body.

Transcribed - Published: 12 December 2025

What if our universe is the inside of a black hole… inside another black hole? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Paul Mecurio answer a grab bag of fan questions about black hole mergers, the misconception about gravity assists, and if there’s such a thing as laws of physics.

Transcribed - Published: 9 December 2025

What is truly foundational to the universe? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice welcome particle physicist Brian Cox for a discussion about emergence, particles, consciousness, and the very fabric of spacetime.

Transcribed - Published: 2 December 2025

Are we making science fiction a reality? Is that a good thing? Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, & Gary O’Reilly and guest Adam Becker, science communicator and author of More Everything Forever, discuss sci-fi dreams, tech-bro promises, and the real science shaping our tomorrow.

Transcribed - Published: 28 November 2025

Can you listen to a picture of the universe? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice welcome back Chandra X-ray Observatory data-sonification expert Kim Arcand of the to explore how translating cosmic data into sound lets us sense the universe in entirely new ways.

Transcribed - Published: 25 November 2025

Albert Einstein was, well, Albert Einstein. But was he right? Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice investigate what it took to prove Einstein right, with theoretical physicist Dr. Jim Gates. Originally Aired October 19, 2020.

Transcribed - Published: 21 November 2025

Do you feel the need… the need for speed?! Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice break down things you thought you knew about force vs. pressure, heat vs. temperature, and speed vs. acceleration.

Transcribed - Published: 18 November 2025