It’s the end of everything! Welcome back to Part 2 of our season finale featuring Dr. Charles Liu, co-host Allen Liu, and our guest archaeology expert and author, Hannah Liu, MEd. (If you haven’t caught up to Part 1, we highly recommend you do before embarking on the next leg of this journey! Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts!) We pick right up where we left off, with the next question from our audience. Daniela asks, “If a black hole hits the Sun, will Earth be destroyed?” Chuck exp...
Jun 21, 2025•24 min•Season 4Ep. 18
As our fourth season draws to a close, we’ve got an apocalyptic, 2-part ending lined up. That’s right, we’re talking Armageddon, and we don’t mean the 1998 Bruce Willis blockbuster. And of course, if we’re going to delve into the end of everything, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu are going to need the help of our ever popular archaeology expert and author, Hannah Liu, MEd. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the failed Soviet-era Kosmos 482 lander tha...
Jun 08, 2025•27 min•Season 4Ep. 17
Who are the “Redshift Wranglers” and what can they tell us about the evolution of our universe? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back astrophysics PhD candidate Sadie Coffin from the Rochester Institute of Technology whose focus is galactic evolution, and in particular, the spectroscopy of galaxies and their lights. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the Lucy spacecraft fly-by of asteroid 52246 Donaldjohanson, which was named afte...
May 24, 2025•46 min•Season 4Ep. 16
If a black hole shreds a star and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Professor Yvette Cendes, (aka u/Andromeda321 on Reddit), a Radio Astronomer studying transient radio signals from space. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, a report by the Dark Energy Survey that seems to show that the amount of dark energy originally described as the cosmological constant by Albert Einstein might ...
May 10, 2025•48 min•Season 4Ep. 15
Why is it so difficult to study the evolution of early galaxies? Are metallic D&D dice better than plastic ones? And can you have too many Pokémon tattoos? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Justin Cole, who is currently a grad student at Texas A&M studying the evolution of distant galaxies in pursuit of his PhD in Astronomy and Astrophysics. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing – the recent – and remarkable – discovery of four...
Apr 26, 2025•38 min•Season 4Ep. 14
What’s it like to stand at the edge of human knowledge, where we don’t know what leap forward in understanding the next technological innovation will herald? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Dr. Melodie Kao, resident radio astronomer at the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ, where Clyde Tombaugh discovered Pluto back in 1930. (And if you’re scratching your heads saying, “What’s a radio astronomer doing at an optical observatory?” you’re not alone. Short answer: Melodi...
Apr 05, 2025•44 min•Season 4Ep. 13
What will well-dressed astronauts be wearing on the Artemis III mission? Will AI destroy creativity? Can we actually make leather clothing out of mushrooms? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome engineer and futurist Alexia Stylianou, who is designing wearable biometric platforms that can measure human biomechanics to a resolution and degree far beyond what’s accessible to everyday people. Before we get to introducing our guest this episode, though, Charles whets our appetit...
Mar 22, 2025•47 min•Season 4Ep. 12
What is a transiting brown dwarf, why are they so rare, and how do you find them? Equally important, how do you make a good French macaron? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome astronomer and astrophysicist Dr. Theron Carmichael. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: a recent paper in the Astrophysical Journal possibly linking a supernova that took place millions of years ago and bombarded Earth with cosmic rays and radioactive iron with...
Mar 08, 2025•37 min•Season 4Ep. 11
What can the history of science tell us about the world we live in today and where we might be headed tomorrow? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome historian of science Rebecca Charbonneau, PhD from the American Institute of Physics and the National Radio Astronomy Observatory with expertise in radio astronomy and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). This episode kicks off with Allen and Chuck talking about January’s Lunar Occultation of Mars. You can see a...
Feb 22, 2025•41 min•Season 4Ep. 10
What’s the difference between a maser and a megamaser? How does uncertainty lead science to its newest discoveries? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back radio astronomer Dr. Jackie Villadsen, a professor at Bucknell University currently researching star/planet magnetic interaction in exoplanet systems. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing. In November 2024 a group of researchers announced that they’d found a series of megamasers aro...
Feb 08, 2025•50 min•Season 4Ep. 9
Have you ever wondered how data from the telescopes that peer into our universe ends up in the hands of the astronomers who interpret it? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Robert Sparks, currently from the NSF’s NOIRLab, but previously Fermi Lab and the Sloan Sky Survey. The National Optical InfraRed Astronomy Research Lab is responsible for operating the National Science Foundation’s ground based, nighttime optical and near infrared astronomy for the United States. Robe...
Jan 26, 2025•40 min•Season 4Ep. 8
What were the coolest science and sci-fi events in the LIUniverse in 2024, and what’s in store for us in 2025? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome three members of our production team: Leslie Mullen, our Executive Producer making her first on air appearance, Jon Barnes, our Editor, and Stacey Severn, our Social Media/Patreon Community Director, both of whom are familiar to longtime fans. But first, as always, we start with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the latest d...
Jan 04, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Season 4Ep. 7
How far can following your passions take you in science? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome the multi-faceted Leah Voytovich, a software development engineer for Project Kuiper who planned on going to med school but instead ended up working on space lasers for Amazon’s satellite internet constellation. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the use of deuterium levels in the search for exoplanets with advanced civilizations. That’s beca...
Dec 22, 2024•46 min•Season 4Ep. 6
What was it like forging a career in physics as a woman in the 1970s? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome the “Dynamic Duo of Physics” – physicist Dr. Betty Jensen and astrophysicist Dr. Mary Lou West. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, a potential new revelation about Jupiter’s Great Red Spot. It seems that the current spot may be only 190 years old rather than 400 years old, and that the first spot described by Cassini in the 1600s...
Dec 07, 2024•39 min•Season 4Ep. 5
Why should people care about fundamental questions of existence or try to understand the principles of our universe? Because we may be the only sentient beings in existence who can! At least, that’s what returning guest Dr. Kelsey Johnson, past president of the AAS and the ASP, and author of “Into the Unknown – The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos, tells Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu as our interview resumes. And then we’re off and running! Kelsey explains where her passio...
Nov 23, 2024•29 min•Season 4Ep. 4
Why is star formation the workhorse of the universe? What is a flocculent galaxy? Which cosmic cataclysm creates new globular star clusters? And why are we currently seeing such amazing aurora in unusual places? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome astronomer Dr. Kelsey Johnson, past president of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) and of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP), and author of “Into the Unknown – The Quest to Understand the Mysteries of the Cosmos....
Nov 09, 2024•31 min•Season 4Ep. 3
Happy Halloween! In this special episode of The LIUniverse, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back archaeology expert Hannah Liu, MEd to bring a scientific eye to the holiday and some of its most familiar denizens: witches, werewolves, zombies, black cats and even the Great Galactic Ghoul! As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: Comet C/2023 A3 (Tsuchinshan-ATLAS). You’ll learn all about this visitor from the Oort Cloud, including how we know where ...
Oct 26, 2024•41 min•Season 4Ep. 2
Welcome to Season 4 of The LIUniverse and thank you for joining us on this journey. We’re kicking off the new season with another Chuck GPT episode devoted to answering your questions, and to do that, we’ve brought back archaeology expert Hannah Liu, MEd. She’s not alone: joining Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu is The LIUniverse’s Social Media Guru, Stacey Severn. As always, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, Earth’s temporary second moon 2024 PT5. Don’t get excited, t...
Oct 20, 2024•57 min•Season 4Ep. 1
How did the universe evolve, and more importantly, how might it end? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome theoretical cosmologist and astrophysicist, Dr. Katie Mack, author of the recently published book, “The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking).” In Part 2, we look at dark matter, Gravitational Memory Effect, and more. (You can listen to Part 1 here .) We dive right in with a question from David: “I was wondering if any physicists have looked into the idea that th...
Sep 07, 2024•25 min•Season 3Ep. 15
How did the universe evolve, and more importantly, how might it end? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome theoretical cosmologist and astrophysicist, Dr. Katie Mack, author of the recently published book, “The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking).” You’re going to need your thinking caps for this episode, because the trio get into some pretty intense and complex concepts in physics and astrophysics. We start off this episode hearing why Katie, who grew up under the ...
Aug 24, 2024•36 min•Season 3Ep. 14
How do you go from a small town in Colorado to being a scientist-astronaut candidate in Australia? And how can you make space accessible for disabled astronauts? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome scientist-astronaut candidate Celene Shimmen. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the new study using the James Webb Space Telescope that disproves the detection of tryptophan, a complex amino acid, in the interstellar cloud IC 348. Or, as ...
Aug 10, 2024•40 min•Season 3Ep. 13
We jump right back in where we left off in Part 1 of our interview with Dr. Cady Coleman, astronaut, chemist, engineer, flautist, and most recently, the author of “Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change.” (If you missed it, listen to Part 1 here .) Chuck asks Cady to tell us more about NASA’s decision to not include small and extra-large spacesuits to “save space.” She explains how, a few months later, they reinstated the extra-large suits, but not the small su...
Jul 20, 2024•27 min•Season 3Ep. 12
What is the overview effect? Why is slow fast when you’re spacewalking? And what would happen to Chuck and Allen’s hair in space? To get the answers to these and other questions, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome back astronaut, chemist, engineer, flautist, and most recently, the author of “Sharing Space: An Astronaut's Guide to Mission, Wonder, and Making Change,” Dr. Cady Coleman. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, a micrometeorite pit 2 micr...
Jul 06, 2024•30 min•Season 3Ep. 11
Does sound travel faster in space? Is the multiverse theory true? Can gravity escape a black hole? In our latest episode of our popular “Chuck GPT” series, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome our Social Media/Patreon Community Director Stacey Severn to answer fan questions collected from Patreon patrons, students, Facebook and YouTube. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the recently released Euclid space telescope image of galactic cluster Abell ...
Jun 15, 2024•47 min•Season 3Ep. 10
Is there really a music of the spheres? And why is space so inspirational for creativity? To ponder these cosmic questions, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome noted composer and pianist Bruce Lazarus. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, this time in honor of our guest: the fact that the movie “Oppenheimer” won the Academy Award for Best Original Score. Chuck mentions some other incredible musical scores, especially John William’s soundtrack to “S...
Jun 02, 2024•34 min•Season 3Ep. 9
Do gravitons exist? What are blazars? How did our universe begin? To grapple with questions on a cosmological scale, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Dr. Ron Gamble, a theoretical astrophysicist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the gravitational wave background. Luckily, we have the “cosmological - gravitational wave - black hole meister dude” Ron on board as our expert to unpack the concept. Ron’s ex...
May 18, 2024•38 min•Season 3Ep. 8
Volcanoes in space...supervolcanoes here on Earth... and lava lakes everywhere! To get an expert opinion on eruptions, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Dr. Sam Tramontano, a Post-Doctoral researcher in geology and Earth sciences at The American Museum of Natural History. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the Juno spacecraft’s two recent close passes (under 1000 miles) of Jupiter’s moon Io and the amazing images of volcanic activity and Io’s l...
May 04, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 7
How does the brain actually work? And is there anything we can do when it doesn’t? To find out, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome Dr. Nicki Driscoll, CTO and Co-Founder of NeuroBionics. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing, the recently announced discovery of Super-Earth TOI-715 b that is within its star’s habitable zone. It’s roughly 1.5x the diameter of Earth and orbits an M-4 Red Dwarf star in a zone where liquid water could exist and be stable...
Apr 21, 2024•41 min•Season 3Ep. 6
The total solar eclipse is almost here! In this special episode of The LIUniverse, Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu bring you both the basics and some more in-depth investigations of how eclipses work, how to see them, and what makes them so unique. This episode includes clips from Chuck’s recent public talk at the College of Staten Island to a packed house. So, if you hear some background chatter, it’s the audience getting as excited about the eclipse as we are. Today’s joyfully cool cosmi...
Apr 05, 2024•37 min•Season 3Ep. 5
What is the science behind the science fiction in Three Body Problem? In our second episode of “ChuckGPT” Dr. Charles Liu and co-host Allen Liu welcome two members of our production team: Jon Barnes, our Editor, and Stacey Severn, our Social Media/Patreon Community Director, to delve into the questions and answers posed by the award-winning novel and new series on Netflix. As always, though, we start off with the day’s joyfully cool cosmic thing: the recent discovery of an exoplanet by high scho...
Mar 30, 2024•37 min•Season 3Ep. 4
