Q&A 24: Are Aliens Testing Us and More...

In this week’s Q&A, Fraser talks about how aliens might be testing our morality, traveling faster than light to go back in time, and alternatives to the Big Bang Theory.
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[@Tehom1]

9:30 "You get everything higher than iron in that moment" Therein lies an interesting bit of astrophysics. The thing is, not all heavier elements that we see can be made by that process. More exactly, not all isotopes of them that we see can be made by applying that process just once. So basically in a supernova, you have a huge flux of neutrons boosting iron-56 and other low-energy isotopes up to heavier neutron-rich nuclei. That's called the fast process, and it accounts for many isotopes that we see. But we see other isotopes that can only be made from isotopes that are not on the iron-56 chain et al no matter how many neutrons a supernova pumps into them. So how do those isotopes get made? The accepted idea is that they are made from isotopes that the first ones decay into. That is, the isotopes from the fast process decay in time to isotopes that *can* be boosted into all the isotopes that we see by a heavy enough neutron flux. This is called the slow process, and it requires not one but two supernovae. The reason it has to be two is that the decay takes a long time. Often millions of years, but in any case much longer than a supernova's lifetime. So this is why astronomers say that our elements - the solar system's elements - have been thru not one but two supernovae.

[@frasercain]

Right, great point. You can't get those secondary elements until the supernova created the first elements that then decayed. It really baffles the mind when you consider the series of events that happened to put a piece of gold in your hand.

[@legojay14]

Tehom Wait. Does that mean new elements would be created if the products of two supernovas went through a third supernova. Obviously if so we can't test that yet. But is that possible or do we know something that prevents that from working

[@Tehom1]

Jared Something about the way you asked it makes me wonder if you are talking about elements that don't naturally occur on Earth, like elements past uranium. So I'm going to break this into two answers. First, would we see heavy trans-uranic elements on Earth if we had gone thru three supernovas, not just two? No, because they all decay too fast. Even elements in the so-called "stable island" are likely to have half-lives on the order of days at best. It's plausible they are made in supernovas, even the first time around, but they just decay so fast that they're all gone by now. Second question, could we in principle tell whether we had been thru 3 supernovas, by what isotopes we see in nature? Yes, in principle. I don't know which isotopes, if any, are good candidates for that. They'd have to be stable or long-lived isotopes that only occur on very specific isotope chains.

[@pineapplepenumbra]

Interestingly, there is a star that has trans-uranic elements in its corona, and no one is really sure how they got there.

[@Tehom1]

Yes, John Michael Godier did a video about that star. That is an odd one.

[@theCodyReeder]

On hacking the ISS: I once tuned in to their frequency using my dads ham radio and I could hear them just fine while they where overhead; I could have even keyed up and talked back to them but I was afraid of getting into a lot of trouble.

[@frasercain]

+Cody'sLab great point, the astronauts are often ham radio geeks, you can talk to them when they're overhead

[@RuizandSons]

Cody's Lab watches Fraser as well!! That's awesome, you guys make learning new things fun :)

[@frasercain]

In fact, we're scheming on a collaboration or two. :-)

[@pyroslavx7922]

Hack what? Crash the laptops/tablets they use to skype, watch pirated movies and youtube on??? I guess that is the most you could do... and likely there is at least one geek up there with copies of windows/linux/macos/android on cd/dvd/usbs and drivers for each and every computer up there, that would solve the problem in few hours, on most relatively new comps you can disable bios flash in bios, which should(???) prevent hacker corrupting bios from within running OS, while ground control would have to solve much bigger problem, since they let the hacker/malware get through first... I guess messing up firmware of ethernet/WiFi routers/switches would be a nasty one, requiring most of running...floating? around with one laptop you managed to get online and firmwares beamed up from Earth, sticking wires stripped by teeth into serial port on laptop and on ethernet switch, since you do not have the original connecting cable up there... ;-) Hah i just checked, it is pins, not holes on old serial on computer side... MOFO to get connection without some proper cables...

[@mouseclick92]

Finally an answer on why fusion in stars stop at iron. It has always confused me a bit why we can't have iron stars!

[@frasercain]

Great, glad that helped!

[@coolchucho271]

Fraser Cain would you take the leap to another planet with water not knowing what lies beneith. Would you take the risk if you could.

[@cassgraham7058]

Related question, that I have never understood about the binding energies of lighter elements: what's up with Lithium? Li7 can actually produce energy from fission, and takes energy to fuse. If you look at the graph of binding energies, it stands out like a sore thumb. How was this not a major hurdle towards higher-weight elements?

[@EvolBob1]

Fredrik Jensen He missed the main point. As fusion occurs in the star ashes form as the elements fuse. Hydrogen is the primer, and that makes mostly Helium because it starts at the lowest temperature. As there is so much of it chance collisions can make heavier elements, these mostly fall to the center. As we use up hydrogen (never all of it), the fusion shell around the stars center gets bigger, and so to burn more the temperature increases (the stars internal collapse generates this increase), allowing Helium to fuse into heavier elements. Once this starts the process accelerates for each new element fusion shell. But it is not this simple as for the other elements must be built up from scratch, with hydrogen>helium>lithium>etc to all the others with atomic weights less than Iron. This Proton + Proton reaction proceeds up the periodic table and the temperature also increases rapidly and the star now expands dramatically into its Red Giant stage - where it is making Iron ashes - and that element falls in to the stars center. Here's the main point: If the star still has enough lighter elements it can keep fusion going on, but Iron is the goal for all elements as it is STABLE, it has the most desired state for matter to exist in. (or so I heard a scientist say) It is the only reason fusion into higher elements is possible because they are all trying to be Iron and are happy to give up energy doing so. When that fails, when there is no more fusion possible to prevent the stars collapse, temperatures go up sky high and the outer layers fall in. The starts center OTOH detonates outward as pressures get astronomical. These two meet and we get a supernova (from the infall of material slaming into the outward explosion), this release of the stars total gravity potential energy is sufficient to convert some of the Iron into the other heavier elements...write up to and pass the exotic ones we can make in a nuclear reactor like Plutonium. There is a theory that some supernovae are more powerful and could make super-heavy elements that could be stable - Fraser?

[@HenrikBoAndersen]

As always learning and enjoyable to watch!

[@IAMSOUND99]

Fraser thank you for keeping this channel active and all the supporters on patreon as well, i wish i could help too. Great content.

[@1000dots]

Easily my favourite channel I've discovered in a while, keep it up man, love your stuff

[@frasercain]

Thanks a lot!

[@biomutarist6832]

This has been very educational, thank you!

[@wilkil973]

As always loving your vids, Fraser

[@ioresult]

"Whatever plans you have, you're gonna have to move 'em up." With a straight face! Impressive!

[@IlicSorrentino]

It's always a pleasure to listen to your Q&A mr. Cain. Salutations from Italy

[@cedrickguillet3447]

Your show is awesome, KZbin stoped remembering me for some time and then I realized I haven't been waching it for some weeks and I finaly realized what really missed to really be happy.

[@b1aflatoxin]

These are great questions!!! :D Awesome answers BTW.

[@hdy8792]

Ahhh that was awesome!! and great answer Fraser, thanks for taking my question.

[@phoule76]

wow, I never realized the reason for the lesser extreme seasons in the northern hemisphere as opposed to the southern hemisphere, great explanation!

[@jonowack]

Fraser, listening to your show sometimes feels as though I'm listening to my own thoughts. It's rare to find someone who I agree with almost 100% of the time. In fact, we have a lot of similarities; it's uncanny. We are both computer engineers, we are both into space, we both like video games, we are both Canadians, we are both family guys and we are both balding. Keep up the good work!

[@younessofri5920]

Please keep 60fps. It looks good.

[@Strideo1]

Younes Sofri But the frame rate of the CGI forest needs improvement.

[@dustinsmith8341]

Its a real forest, just green screened.

[@frasercain]

And now we're up to 4K. Simulating the forest in 4K has been so much more difficult.

[@SyntaxScout]

Great channel,love it.

[@faheyplayer]

I think a relevant hypothesis, responding to Fermi's paradox, could be: Cloaking technology would seem fairly straightforward for a people who have the ability and means to traverse the gulf between stars. That would give alien observers/visitors maximum ability to observe us, while to us they would be of course, invisible and largely undetected. We would expect them to be able to hide any infrared heat signatures, interrupt any type of EM field, manipulate light, and it could even be possible for "a people" to have command over local time and space. That would allow easy access to human - or any organism - without them even knowing. This gives us a possible answer to the Fermi Paradox: They are here likely already here. So my question is why aren't we actively looking for them - right here. We would expect to see patterns of evasion or stealth, as is in fact the case in a great many reports. It stands to reason that sightings of unexplained aerial vehicles -given their flight dynamics, and assuming they are of ET origin - are as rare as they are.

[@sleeknub]

It would be great if, when you reference one of your previous videos in a video like this, you would link to that video in the notes below (or possibly with an annotation in the video - although those can be annoying).

[@frasercain]

Sometimes I can find the reference point and I'll use one of those cards.

[@joefarah06]

Love the forest setting

[@HardKore5250]

The future is going to be amazing!

[@Tabaraka562]

Hello I would like to ask you a question about the two pioneer probes sent outer space. I understand that both had plutonium batteries in their bowels. What if one exploded while still in earth's orbit? Would the charge harm us? Thanks

[@FirstPassOfficial]

Question: Assuming a civilization could feed a black hole, be it super massive or stellar mass (whichever works better), constantly to produce a controlled quasar, would there be a habital zone around the quasar that could host a planet with Earth like life?

[@monashclayton]

Hi Fraser can you please explain what you mean by flat universe? Everything we observe in the universe has some shape but not flat. Also when any spacecraft reach outside earth do they travel only on X axis or they go on y axis too thanks

[@frasercain]

Here's a video we did about it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/qV6zYnWifpmdd9k

[@IraqWarVet03]

question, in the future if we have a large enough telescope (say the size of our solar system or larger) and powerful enough computer, we should theoretically be able to use gravitational (black holes or galaxies) lensing (slingshot effect photons) as a mirror and see or solar system from our past shouldn't we? would that theoretically work?

[@frasercain]

That's a really interesting idea, actually, I think there are two techniques you're pushing together here. One is that you could see the light echoes from photons emitted by Earth. They could orbit around a black hole and then return to our telescopes. We'd see photons that left the Earth for however long the journey takes. Say, 50,000 years for a trip around the central black hole. Reflected gravitational waves are still totally theoretical, but you could do the same thing. See the movements of things that happened in the past by how the gravitational waves reflect back. Really great idea, but it would take capabilities we can scarcely comprehend.

[@ecolight4022]

Question. Let's say we actually do find life on say Jupiter's moon Europa, such as fish, maybe similar to what we have here on Earth or completely different, do you think humans here would be interested, perhaps gain a new perspective on life? Or will it blow over and we just get on with our lives?

[@jesseback3536]

ECO LIGHT Are you kidding? Despite zero evidence of life being anywhere else in the universe ( in fact, the evidence we do have implies it to be preposterously unlikely, statistically equal to zero) people are OBSESSED with it. Cults would form and people would worship the superfish of greatness.

[@doncarlodivargas5497]

Jesse Back - people will ask the fish what is the meaning of life

[@AndreasStom]

It would not blow over, it would be the biggest discovery man ever made. But human life would be pretty much the same, business as usual. I mean, would you stop going to work if we found alien life?

[@davecarsley8773]

ECO LIGHT Jesse may be right about cults and such, but truly, if us being the *only* living things in the entire universe (as the only hard _evidence_ we currently have indicates, regardless of the _probability_ of it being true) doesn't make us stop killing each other and destroying our planet, then why would having the knowledge that even if we destroyed all life on earth, life would still go on in the universe change us? Would it be the single greatest discovery in the history of mankind? Of course. Would NASA immediately get more funding to go study it? Probably. Would it trend on Facebook and Twitter, have a million articles written about it, be on the cover of every magazine, and give thousands of documentary producers guaranteed work for the next decade? Sure.... But at the end of the day, the day after the announcement is made, people will get up and go to work- just like they did the day before. It may change the internal perspective of great thinkers the world over, but most of them already believe it's out there anyway. Unfortunately, I wouldn't count on it changing the bad parts of what makes us "human" at all.

[@-kxvin-5239]

A better question is would we call these life forms *EUROPEANS*??

[@daffidavit]

The 1951 movie " The Day the Earth Stood Still" with Michael Rene as Klaatu I believe first brought the Fermi Paradox to light. Klaatu was an ambassador from an Earth-like planet who landed his saucer in a baseball field in Washington D.C. His "Federation" had no qualms about "Earth's petty squabbles" until we started developing missiles and H bombs. The remake of the movie a few years ago doesn't come close to the original, despite all the CGI in the new version. The original was in high def black and white film. I saw it for the first time as a kid and it had a lasting impression on me all my life. You can still see it on Netflix if you hurry. They sometimes remove good movies after a while, so if you haven't seen it yet, get it while you can. It's one of my favorite si-fi movies of the era, along with Forbidden Planet, which was the inspiration for Gene Roddenberry to create Star Trek, TOS.

[@user-earthandfire]

Hi Fraser. I have a hypothetical in relation to terraforming both Venus and Mars. It seems they both have the complete opposite problem, V to much atmosphere, M to little. If it were possible to create a worm hole from one to the other, would we be able to pump atmosphere from V to M (would a pump even be needed with Venus having such a dense atmosphere and Mars having little could the two atmospheres meet an equilibrium ?)

[@UpcycleElectronics]

4:17 Brought on a question Could the less understood enormous gravity wells of both galaxies and galaxy clusters distort light and cause everything more distant to appear more redshifted in every direction? Has this been disproved?

[@biomutarist6832]

There's also the phenomenon of gravitational lensing, not sure how it can redshift light though if it's possible at all...

[@Corvaire]

I call this "Dark Lensing" and I personally believe it does exist. An analogy I use is a cars side mirror, but the opposite. Things in our universe are much closer (across voids) then they appear. ;O)-

[@biomutarist6832]

If your idea turns out to be true, then things might get exciting very fast 0.0

[@Corvaire]

A lot of numbers will have to be re-crunched, for sure. ;O)-

[@yogsothoth7594]

What if the earth was simply deep within an alien civilisation's territory. If they maintained a kind of blockade around earth to prevent either foreign or private parties from interfering it would explain why we haven't be contacted.

[@frasercain]

Sure, but if there are individuals within that empire, there'd always be a single rogue Captain Kirk who wants to break the Prime Directive.

[@cyboot214]

and even if one might have failed, earth was here for billions of years with its atmosphere containing oxygen and methane for a long time and it's watery surface. So one should have succeeded by now...

[@kurtreber9813]

Théodore Sarno unless time is somehow slower for those beings

[@dustinsmith8341]

Kurt Reber If it were slower to them then it would mean that they are moving faster. And for it to be a difference of any appreciable matter then the beings would have to be moving ALOT faster. This doesn't seem likely given evolution. A being develops characteristics based on how it benefits them. A creature that inherently is faster requires quite a bit more energy on a regular basis to function.

[@yogsothoth7594]

Assuming they are using slower than light travel then it wouldn't exactly something someone would casually do on a weekend. And may I point out that throughout the majority of both human history and that of life on earth if aliens turned up and had a look around with trying to colonies the place we would have no way of knowing. Especially if they came to an area where they kept few written records.

[@agingermonster5711]

Here's a question I have been wondering for a while, if Hawking radiation is the emission of high energy particles that allows a black hole to gradually dissipate, if we were to gather those particles, what would they look like, what are these particles made of and what do they make?

[@greghanc]

Hi Fraser! What do you think about the upcoming space science game oddysey by Neil Degrasse Tyson that is on kickstarter now? Since you have a backround in computer science ever wanted to dive into video game programming?

[@GeeeeezGamingIL]

Hey, Fraser! I'm a patron on your Patreon and I just noticed that I do not appear in the credits at the end. I went back to your previous video, and noticed I'm missing there too!

[@frasercain]

Hi Jonathan, can you send me a message over on Patreon? Maybe you didn't actually choose the right tier so we don't see you in the list that we download.

[@GeeeeezGamingIL]

Fraser Cain I only donate 1$, so yes, I'm not on the right tier. Though I wish I could donate more to you and other amazing channels. You've taught me alot basically for free, and I love your content. Don't you stop making it!

[@frasercain]

I really appreciate even the $1 donation, that makes a huge difference. :-)

[@colinp2238]

My problem with the first question and answer is that if we travel in a linear direction and look back we will not see the Solar System as it will not be physically there. The expansion of the Universe and the orbital movement of the Milky Way means that things are in constant motion so it's not the same as driving down your street and looking back to your house..

[@frasercain]

That's true, it all depends on the speed you're traveling.

[@KubaJurkowski]

Why are we so focused on developing fusion that is always 10 years away, when we could do fission right with molten salt thorium reactor that was mostly proven in the 70's? That would set us up for centuries.

[@dustinsmith8341]

Mostly proven since the 70s and yet still never actually proven where other methods have been created and proven since then. I think there's a reason thorium reactor's haven't advanced.

[@MegaHarko]

Why are we so focused on building faster computers, when the slide rule works perfectly?

[@KubaJurkowski]

And what reason would that be? Axcept for established light water lobby and stupid legislation in the US? Even if there is something wrong with thorium breader, you could still build a molten salt burner fueld with uranium that would run circles around this light water crap we are still building and you could fuel it with the waste that is curently pillng up.

[@KubaJurkowski]

Yea but molten salt breader is way better than the light water reactors we build. It's like 2 orders of magnitude more efficent, doesn;t produce waste, you don;t need to refine uranium and thanks to low operating pressure it's safe. It also operates in hight temps so you can use it for other purposes like amonia production, desalanization and would be great for nuclear thermal rockets. We could even scrub CO2 from the atmosphere and make diesel from it. Fusion is great but efficent fission would easlly fill the gap betwen now and when fussion is widely available, and that would be like 50 ears at least.

[@rlmillr]

This would be an interesting topic.

[@SCIENindustries]

1. What is the percentage of heavier than iron elements that will produced in the star, are they all equal amount or what affect that? 2. If I pull a string from one point to another along the star, is it then straight or also curved?

[@nikitakuznetsov8446]

According to time dilation you can go into the future if you travel fast enough so if I was to travel at the speed of light how long would I have to fly around to end up in the year 3000? Or am I not understanding this correctly?

[@christopher2573]

A question for you -- do you think it's likely that we'll create a probe that will outpace Voyager 1 into the void? I was reading up on the Oort Cloud and was just blown away at the vastness of space and how long Voyager will take to get even remotely close to it.

[@frasercain]

Eventually, I'm sure we will. :-) we did an episode on a mission that might make the trip to Alpha Centauri - kzbin.info/www/bejne/aXe6lHiqjcx-aMk

[@CountArtha]

_If aliens show up here to lecture us on not burning fossil fuels, that had better be followed five seconds later by them saying, "Oh yeah; we also brought you blueprints for these easy-to-build fusion power plants. Like the ones on our ship."_ *- Isaac Arthur*

[@DaggerAPM]

Gravity distorts spacetime in a way that straight lines are curved. Are objects following those straight lines experiencing centrifugal/pedal force? For example if my Spaceship would orbit really close & fast around a Blackhole would I (in my pilot seat) experience centrifugal force like in a car driving in a circle?

[@h.plovecat4307]

Have another question, got the idea for the iron fusing star question. Could there ever be a star that crushes material into quantum state while still creating fusion and without becoming a black hole?

[@KavanaghMythicalAdventure1]

I have another question Frasier if you can make the sun disappear in an instant fraction of a second would it take the eight minutes that it takes light to travel the 93 million miles between the Sun and the Earth would it still take the 8 minutes for the gravity to let us go so if the sun was to disappear it would be 8 minutes later before we was released from that gravity well just wondering

[@matthewoliver7559]

Hi Fraser, I'm following on from Iogan manko's question regarding travelling faster than the speed of light and looking back at the Earth to see it in the past. If you travelled at the speed of light for 100 years and looked back at the Earth would it look exactly the same as when you left? Like it hadn't aged at all while you have aged 100 years?

[@frasercain]

Well, that's ignoring time dilation effects for traveling that fast for 100 years. But yes, if you move at the same speed as the light, you'll always see the Earth at the same time.

[@matthewoliver7559]

Crazy! Thanks Fraser :)

[@adammathisson5119]

but if your traveling at the speed of light there wouldn't be any light catching up to you from behind, so you wouldn't see anything in that direction. to see something you need travel slower then the speed of light compare to the object your observing.

[@aminbe3079]

I think the most reasonable solution to the Fermi paradox, is the fact that we humans are among the very first intelligent species in the universe

[@katorone1841]

Could the expansion of the universe/black matter be explained as a property of string theory? I'm probably off by a few dimensions, but I'm thinking how an egg white behaves in a vacuum. It expands yet forms a net. Maybe the strings moving away after the 'snap' has this same effect on the universe?

[@lukaslekavicius2204]

Hi. What is dark flow? Is it just a black hole or something completely different?

[@frasercain]

It's probably nothing more than a galaxy cluster that's attracting other parts with its gravity.

[@ToxisLT]

Heh, if the hypothetical alien would break the silent rule of the federation, I would expect it to be more the naked dude running on the football or tennis match, than captain Kirk =)

[@frasercain]

Well, exactly, all it takes is one crazy alien to reveal the truth of the galactic federation.

[@OldGamerNoob]

I understand the concept of a mass-less, constant speed photon just following a straight line through curved space and as such being bent by gravity. What I've always had a hard time getting my head around is how this works with orbital mechanics for more normal objects with variable velocities. How is it that going different speeds effects the course your orbit forms? Wouldn't the trajectory of any object in motion at any speed then just follow the same path as would a beam of light you shine in that same direction since both would just follow the same curved space?

[@gavinminton457]

Do we have any idea on why particles that have no mass (i.e. photons) are compelled to move the speed of light? If so, what insight does that give us about our universe?

[@Leonhavenify]

I'm planning on taking a trip to Venus this summer, what should i bring with me?

[@mansamusa1743]

Leon Haven plenty of water and sunscreen,you'd get pretty thirsty and sunburnt without em.

[@doncarlodivargas5497]

Leon Haven - take an umbrella, it is raining

[@Tehom1]

A tank of breathable air.

[@duckgoesquack4514]

i would use SPF 10 trillion sunscreen, and lots of it.

[@Strideo1]

Bring a blimp so you can float high in Venus's atmosphere where the pressure and temperatures aren't lethal.

[@mikrolaineahi]

Question: Is it possible to see if there are continents on exoplanets from the glint of the light reflected from the planet? Would detecting many continents on an exoplanet mean it's more likely that intelligent life develops there as more continents leads to development of larger number of species?

[@frasercain]

In theory yes, we should be able to detect the presence of continents by the way the light from the planets change over various orbits. But, that's still a long way off. :-)

[@Boomstickfan495]

If you had an advanced enough civilization, could you theoretically blend all the galaxies together, including Irr clouds and so forth, into one massive galaxy that would make up the universe, effectively turning the universe into one massive galaxy?

[@Mayordomo32]

Cai Howson if you had the capacity, distance no longer probably has any meaning. So trying to do that would be purely for the fun of it.

[@Boomstickfan495]

That, or the civilization that's doing it could consider themselves the guardians of the Universe, and be doing such a thing so that they can bring the universe together and keep it together, and make it much, much easier for future civilizations to expand out and even meet each other.

[@unapologeticallylivinwitho1312]

Cai Howson Probably not.

[@chrismiko4145]

Fraser! Can you talk about Milankovic cycles and how they affect Earth's climate? When are we due for another ice age, and will anthropogenic-caused global warming mess this up?

[@jeffmathers355]

Hi, Fraser. Regarding star cores fusing to iron triggering an almost instant collapse, I'm assuming your'e talking about some critical mass point between the appearance of that first drop of iron and 100% conversion, when the iron buildup interferes with the fusion process and causes it to sputter like a stalling engine? If that's the case, do astronomers try to calculate that critical mass point and predict when a star's collapse is imminent? Thanks! Jeff

[@frasercain]

It happens so quickly. It goes in the chain of elements in moments, compared to thousands of years for the lighter elements. They still can't give an accurate estimate. We know Betelgeuse is going to explode some time in the next 100,000 years or so.

[@jeffmathers355]

Cool, thanks. I wasn't aware that those last few few elements fuse so quickly.

[@XaveRave]

Hey Fraser! I was wondering how we could get my government (Australia) to invest more in space science and which space project we could invest in to boost national prestige and pride. ( similar to Canada's Mobile Servicing System (MSS) on the ISS).

[@Threedog1963]

13:04. Saw person walking back there on the green screen.

[@mblasko7203]

Hi Fraser, just a quick question, OK, so is intergalactic travel actually possible/achievable? If galaxies are surrounded by huge clouds of antimatter, wouldn't we be annihilated if we tried to travel through dark, undetectable antimatter? Thank you,

[@frasercain]

Where did you hear that there's antimatter out there? There's no evidence it's out there. In fact, if there was clouds of antimatter, we'd detect it: kzbin.info/www/bejne/g16sp3V6nKt6oJo

[@mblasko7203]

Ehmph, sorry for the confusion, galaxies are surrounded by dark matter (not antimatter) and that's what holds them together. Can we travel through dark matter?

[@frasercain]

There's probably dark matter all around us right now, passing through our bodies. Don't worry about it. :-)

[@thelightone1467]

questio .... is it posible to use black wholes as a fule sorce or a tether or sorts to pull your ship useing hawking radiation to make shure u do not enter tje point of no return

[@frasercain]

In theory, you could use black holes as an energy source by dropping material and then catching the radiation that gets emitted as it gets consumed.

[@doncarlodivargas5497]

question: if I should fall into a black hole without any other stuff circling around it, I will be spagettifizied, that I get, but, when I, or what is left of me, hit the rotating black hole, will I be a thin line on the surface on the black hole, around "equator" or will I be covering the whole sphere due to the strong gravity? in that case little me could create a coating covering the whole sphere?

[@frasercain]

We just don't know what happens once you cross the even horizon. We sort of talk about this here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/fJuzaahqhJaoh7c

[@doncarlodivargas5497]

Fraser Cain - hehe! so annoying! but this I don't quite get, we have gravity, what does that tell us? and with mass we must have higgs field, there is magnetism from a black hole, all this is conventional physics, is it not? and even centrifugal forces, isent that a law of nature? we are told a black hole will evaporate, obviously it must have 'recognizable' matter which can escape the hole, I think, if law of nature does not exist in a black hole, how come there is gravity?

[@Andrew-ts2jj]

If black holes have spin then does conservation of angular momentum hold inside the event horizon? Why cant we also say the Pauli exclusion principle also holds inside a black hole, and that matter is not crushed to an infinitely small point. If the laws of physics break inside a black hole what makes conservation of angular momentum different? Anyone got ideas?

[@thiennhat7094]

Hey Fraser, is everything that between planet and planet or star and star are dark matter or dark energy? And if not then some space in the universe is empty? And if we somehow bring dark energy into earth will be earth super expand ?

[@frasercain]

Dark energy is actually a very weak force, it's just that the spaces between galaxy clusters are so big that it's so powerful.

[@daffidavit]

Space is never empty. For any square meter of space there are photons passing through it from the light of other stars. Except for some exceptions that I'm sure exist, but which I'm unaware of, there must be "billions and billions" of Quanta of energy passing through any block of space at any moment, including the left-over photos from the "Bing Bang". No?

[@doncarlodivargas5497]

if we should travel faster than light and look back to the earth, do we have to stop first? if we travel faster than the light from the earth and want to see it it dosent even keep pace with us? we must direct the telescope in the direction of the speed to see what is behind us?

[@LordBitememan]

Question: Are elements heavier than Uranium formed during supernovas and simply decay before they end up in other bodies we more easily observe?

[@sanders555]

Fraser! Why does Earth's axial tilt precession match its solar revolution time? Why is the ratio 1:1 and not 3:1 or 1:42?

[@shamusfarmer7057]

Hi, can you explain what MACHOs and WIMPs are?

[@NilsAlbertsson]

*Did anyone else freak out when the black bear appeared briefly in the background, before ducking out again!!!*

[@frasercain]

Wait... when? What timecode?

[@XaveRave]

G'day Fraser, if you had control of 1% of the world's GDP dedicated towards interstellar colonisation how would you spend it and in which order would you spend it e.g, fusion research, advanced propulsion, genetic modification for hibernation or radiation resistance...etc.

[@ajdaniels]

Hi Fraser! You've done several terraforming videos now. My question goes in a different direction: how, as humans, could we form a planet with perfect living conditions and put it into orbit around a star?

[@XxRepercussionxX]

To expand on the question in this video about stoping the expansion of the universe, what if we developed a dark energy black hole. or supermassive black hole then sent it out into the universe. would that eat up all the dark energy, thus allowing gravity to start pulling galaxies back together?

[@XxRepercussionxX]

@Alien of Sol 3 I understand that. My meaning behind the question wasn't if one. but say, many were released. Also, not in thinking that it would actually reverse the movement of the universe but it would have an effect on a smaller scale. So my question is what would that effect be? Finally my interpretation of this video type is to ask him a question and have him expand upon it with his own ideas of the subject. So though I know the idea isn't perfect, I asked the question because I wanted to know his thoughts on the answer, even if I generally already know what it is. I feel, much like anyone else who asks him a question for these videos.

[@christianskytte5507]

Q: Is the planets/moons in Star Wars realistic, when they only have one biome, aka a forest planet or a desert plant. Btw love your videos, keep up the good work

[@wankerplutonium6671]

What are the effects on antimatter when placed in a neutron enhancer cladding ? I think it would suck all types of radiation into it at once and stay contained . This would be very good way to clean a nuclear reactor melt down up.

[@silentbubble]

what would happen to the magnetic field lines of a bar magnet if one of its poles is inside the event horizon of a black hole and the other is outside?

[@onesunghero]

If we set a telescope out at pluto to watch our sun could we measure the wobble caused by venus/mercury to help pinpoint where any new planets might be found in the solar system? Like say those planets pull the sun further in 1 direction than another because a large body is pulling in the other direction.

[@PhilHug1]

Fraser, how would you enter or leave a rotating? We be like hopping on and off an escalator?

[@gregball6069]

Do supernova produce the heaviest elements like Gold though? Isn't it now thought that these are produced when 2 neutron stars merge?

[@filiusstellae849]

Let's suppose that there was no moon, but life on Earth and all of human history was the same up until 1957 (the year Sputnik 1 was launched). What do you think would be humanity's capacity for interplanetary travel today? Would we be better or worse off if we had a space race with no moon? Please speculate!

[@frasercain]

Interesting question. The Moon is such a close and easy place to get to compared to the rest of the Solar System. It's quite a gift, and there's no way we'd have gone as far as we have without it.

[@JohnGeorgeBauerBuis]

Well, there definitely would be way more unmanned missions to Mars and Venus.

[@thecatoa7647]

Filius Stellae worse off. Two words. Microchips

[@Hovado_Lesni]

so if no information can escape black hole how can rotation or magnetism?

[@geniegogo]

I have a question - I guess the rule is to place it anywhere. So I've been contemplating the world as a simulation, so that's great and all, but ... I need a clarification: I can see that there could be 4 ways of looking at this, the basis is "what does it feel like to be inside the simulation" and the answer is it should feel exactly like "this" what we see and perceive. So the first 2 ways of looking at this is from outside the simulation and from inside the simulation. Now my question is would the fundamental laws of physics etc and what we are discovering, are these then the rules of the program? For example the speed of light, the Planck length, quantum field theory, etc, all these things discoverable are the principles of the simulation? And the 4th thing is ... could it be easier to create a whole new universe using these rules versus simulating every-day-events inside a super-computer. This is to say is this simulation uncontrolled once set in motion? I guess maybe am I questioning the basis of the simulation hypothesis?

[@geniegogo]

I guess I'll restate it other than as a question. So if we are inside a simulation yet we are still individuals inside, meaning we are each sentient, that sort-of imply that what we discover is real because these are the rules of the universe that can create sentience. Even though "we could" have original bodies and we've just uploaded our minds into a simulation that is this universe and we've erased our memory... It seems like philosophically if this life is indistinguishable from reality then it's as good as reality and that it is not diminished, not any less by this ...and then this is just to say that the rules of this universe are also valid (in fact perfectly selected). So I guess maybe the question - is this a controlled on uncontrolled experiment/simulation?

[@frasercain]

At the end of the day, there's really no way we could find out if we're living in a simulation. It's kind of pointless to try and figure it out.

[@Lesesmo]

People always say that we see everything is moving away from everything else, and if rewind the universe they must all be at a single point. so, where is that point? can we calculate how far away are we from that "center of universe"?

[@victormendoza3295]

For god sakes niles, love your videos.

[@ItzAllMine360]

Are we absolutely certain that were not the centre? I know we're the centre of the observable but when we say everything is moving away from everything else, i take it theres a general flow to that in a certain direction at a non- local (galaxy) level? Also does that mean that there has to be a centre point of the universe? I get everything expands at once, but doesnt that mean that there has to be a point where all matter expands away from? The points at each end of the universe will be expanding away from each other faster than 2 local galaxies near the centre. Which leads me to me to my head knot question. What is stationary? If you found the centre of the acutal (not observable) universe, a point where not just space like everywhere else expands from, but all matter as well. If i was to stand there, what would be my experience of time? And what would an observer see? The logic im following is that my observation of the passage of time is determined by how fast im travelling through space. If i go faster time slows. So what if i wasnt travelling? What if I was in the only place i where i could be completely stationary? From the centres perspective would anything have even happened yet?

[@halilzelenka5813]

are there spatial dimensions that we cannot perceive? could we ever indirectly detect them?

[@dutch8856]

hey if i were to make a thumbnail overlay for you how would i get it to you?

[@frasercain]

Email it to [e-mail]

[@dutch8856]

ok thats good to know

[@brentonrawhoof1967]

When you said that you wouldn't have to wait forever for all of the matter to reconfigure itself into a singularity but you would have to wait an incomprehensible amount of time, couldn't you literally say until the end of time? The reason I say this is, from what I have read, time ceases to exist at a singularity. Am I correct in this statement?

[@frasercain]

Great point, although, we're looking at this process from sort of outside the spacetime of the Universe itself into multiple instances of the universe.

[@brentonrawhoof1967]

Thanks for the response, love your channel!

[@stewiescheenen8753]

if we can move the earth away as the sun gets hotter Will we be able to move it fast enough to keep up even when if expands in to it's red giant phase and go back when it's in it's white dorf phaze. how much will it affect the length of the year and growing seasons or migratory animals. also will the orbits of other planets or asteroids be affected.

[@RipplzMusic]

Hello I'm newer to your channel and question videos, so I don't know if you have covered the paper that claims there could be a 9th planet. arxiv.org/abs/1601.05438 is link to the paper. Im not into the 'mystical planet X' stuff, I just want to know if there is possible proof of another large planet. Any thoughts?

[@RipplzMusic]

Thanks!!

[@hgkrmz]

What do you think actual physical aliens might look like? We have all the principles of physics and evolution to play with, but every movie director wants aliens to be humanoid and speak English. I find it frustrating, and I am fascinated by the concept of what nature might have created somewhere.

[@mymohammad]

Q: Is the fact that we haven't been able to find any dyson sphere wrapped around any star in our universe (as far as we could possibly see), an indication that there probably isn't any type 2 and above aliens in our universe? Should we be only looking for max of type 1 civilizations?

[@williamblack4006]

Or perhaps the Kardashev scale simply doesn't apply. I mean it is brilliant, but realize that it is only a guess as to what advanced civilizations might do. Realize that there are likely infinite other options for technological manifestation -- including things humans have never thought of.

[@luongmaihunggia]

Worthy = no religions, no war, no flat earth theories, etc...

[@DrewLSsix]

The faster than light thing always seems like the obvious solution in Star Trek whenever they would stumble upon some mysterious wreckage or discover one of their ships has been destroyed. Zip a way to say 8 light hours distance and just look at what happened right?

[@frasercain]

Hah, absolutely. Of course, you'd need a very powerful telescope. Actually, I'm surprised nobody has ever done that. This sounds like it would be a great episode.

[@videocomentaror322]

A black hole stores information on what falls in inside of it on its surface but does it stores what type of matter fell inside. Like does stores that a normal hydrogen fell or a antimater hydrogen or does electron or positron fell inside because if it doesnt than that means that it just deletes information from the face of the universe but this is impossible. So yes I didnt come up with explanation based on the information I was able to get so I am asking you.

[@ccbell1982]

Since we usually talk about the longevity of humanity in terms of the sun's life cycle, how close or how soon could an outside force (e.g. rogue black hole) affect the already slightly unstable orbits of the planets to eject a planet or change conditions in the solar system so that it was no longer compatible with human life? Other than outright ejecting a planet from the solar system or striking Earth, what other ways could an interstellar actor cause the solar system to become unsustainable for human life (e.g disrupting gravity, interfering with the sun, etc.)?

[@frasercain]

It hasn't happened in the 4.5 billion years that the Solar System has been here so far. It's apparently still possible for Jupiter to kick Mercury out of its orbit because of gravitational instability.

[@Chemson1989]

Q1:Are there really absolutely nothing in the void(eg: Boötes void)? Not even blackholes? Q2:Hotter supernova create heavier elements, right?

[@Puddin-Tamir]

What's the average speed galaxies are moving, relative to one another.

[@arlo1961]

Responding to the 2:13 question about traveling faster than light in order to be able to look back and see the past... I've thought about this a bit myself. Firstly, if you're traveling faster than the speed of light and you look back you'd see only darkness, because no light would be able to hit the backside of a ship traveling faster than the speed of light. But the light hitting the front of the ship would be double. Your front cameras would be capturing light traveling in all directions including the light coming from earth. If you filtered out all light except the light coming from earth then you'd have to manage to observe this light. A large telescope with a parabolic mirror might at first seem to be a logical choice... but tell me what happens when you rear end a photon with a mirror traveling faster than light? I can only guess it would be destructive for both involved. Rather I'd think you'd need a camera made out of a photosensitive cloth spanning... well, the larger the better. Now... sit back and watch the earths history in reverse. At least for the particular times when it wasn't directly behind or in front of the sun. Plot for a new 24 episode.... a terrorist built a world destroying fusion bomb in a bath tub and set it to go off unless it's disarmed with the right code. Then inexplicably writes that code on the top of a bus in very large letters (on an improbably clear day), then boom, blows up the bus too, thoroughly. Unfortunately nobody saw the code and no satellite snapped a photo just then... So, our only chance is for Jack Bauer construct a giant super fast spaceship to run down those hightailing photons and snap a photo of that bus... implausible you say? Really? Have you seen that show? Don't talk to me about time dilation!

[@magzire]

so what is space fabric? does it actually hold planets and stars?

[@AnonymousFreakYT]

One of my college friends was (after graduation) a programmer at the company that wrote the navigation/control software for ISS/Destiny. We always joked that if ISS fell on our college campus, we'd know why. They do have a direct link to NASA HQ, but on a system that has zero internet connection. I suppose someone could try to piggyback on that signal, as it doesn't have anything resembling modern encryption protecting it...

[@ustinov10]

we are definitely not alone in the universe because that simply challenges our own existence. if we are here then it must be someone there.

[@itzed]

Hi Fraser. Has anyone ever calculated what the odds were of life on earth developing here, and then evolving into what we are now? The more I learn about all the conditions that had to fall into place for this to happen, the more I think the odds must have been small for this even here on earth, and they must also get smaller on a daily basis as we continue to not find it elsewhere.

[@Khannea]

Question - if some trillionaire were to unilaterally break any world/UN treaties and went out of his way to "seed" every single moon, asteroid and planet in the solar system with a fine blend of simple terrestrial lifeforms (a) would this be "illegal" ? (b) would any terrestrial life seeded in specific solar system bodies survive and spread? (I am thinking algae, mosses, extremophiles)

[@frasercain]

This is a great thought experiment, super fun. If they were breaking treaties, then their country would be held accountable for their actions. That said, if they were entirely off world, how's anyone going to stop them? Life could survive. We did an episode on how ready life is for Mars, and it's surprisingly ready. But the oceans on Enceladus and Europa seem like the perfect environment for our bacteria. kzbin.info/www/bejne/e2akloujaa5jopo

[@Chemson1989]

The Belters....

[@joelmorningstar3645]

The funny thing is though Fraser...most of the trillionaires of earth are Exempt....Yes..Exempt from the laws (immunity), and are independent from the countries' land they reside on. Just look at the B.I.S. their employees all have immunity, and this is the Bank of Banks.