What are the Northern Lights?

#158 Rebroadcast Gemstones come in all sorts of colors, but how do they get them? Are different stones super different at the molecular level? How do these different colors happen naturally? And how can those colors be replicated in lab-made gemstones? Let's get into it. Referenc ...  Show more

Why does a pencil work so perfectly? Why does graphite leave marks on paper instead of just crumbling apart? And what do pancakes, honeycombs, geckos, and intermolecular forces have to do with any of it? This week we follow a simple pencil all the way down to carbon atoms, graphe ...  Show more

What is the Sun’s ecliptic? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice break down the things you thought you knew about spheres in the universe, navigating the sky, and taking spacecraft out of orbit. 

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial ...

How do particles get mass? Neil deGrasse Tyson and comedian Chuck Nice discover squarks, sneutrinos, the Higgs boson, and whether dark matter has a particle with theoretical physicist Brian Greene. 

NOTE: StarTalk+ Patrons can listen to this entire episode commercial-fre ...

🌏 Get Our Exclusive NordVPN deal here ➼ https://nordvpn.com/stuartgary or use the checkout code STUARTGARY. It’s risk-free with Nord’s 30-day money-back guarantee! ✌

The Space Ne ...  Show more

Why is it so hard to get a picture of the Milky Way? How much of our galaxy have we mapped? What the heck is a "barred spiral" and what does that have to do with our core? I discuss these questions and more in today's Ask a Spaceman!