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StarTalk Radio · Neil deGrasse Tyson

Cosmic Queries – Quantum Consciousness with Charles Liu

February 13, 2026·1 hr 13 min·6 clips
Neil deGrasse Tyson and his co-hosts dive into quantum consciousness, a topic where no one understands either consciousness or quantum physics.
Quantum consciousness arrives like a dare. The cold open sets up Charles Liu as the geek-in-chief, with the hosts joking that his quantum book sent listeners straight into heavy territory. Nobody tiptoes in. Neil deGrasse Tyson opens the special edition with Gary O'Reilly and Chuck Nice, then lets the talk drift through weather, UK roots, soccer, and the World Cup before the science snaps back into place. The grab bag has a loose, live feel. Patreon questions give it shape, and the ending makes clear the pile was much bigger than the show could handle. Entanglement and dimensions get the serious airtime in the excerpt. Liu is careful about what can and cannot be claimed, especially around extra dimensions and whether they explain the strange behavior under discussion. Faster-than-light communication gets handled with similar caution. The group separates what appears to happen from what would actually count as moving faster than light. Then pop culture barges in, because of course it does. Star Trek's subspace and warp-bubble logic become a way to test how fiction tries to make its weirdness sound explainable. Star Wars gets the easier laugh. The room settles on Star Wars as space opera more than science argument, which keeps the joke friendly. Chuck stays useful as the pressure valve, cutting through the abstract physics with reactions and jokes before it turns into a sealed expert lecture. Cindy's question changes the charge. When she asks whether consciousness is the result of quantum physics, everyone reacts like she touched a live wire: laughs, delight, and instant recognition that the question is huge. The excerpt stops before the full answer. What it does show is StarTalk in its lane: a hard question, a generous expert, and hosts who keep pulling mystery back toward what they can honestly say. By the end, Neil thanks the Patreon group, mentions the 35 pages of submitted questions, and closes the grab bag as another special edition with Liu.

As heard by us

A funny quantum grab bag that keeps consciousness, entanglement, and science fiction tethered to what physics can actually say.

StarTalk turns quantum physics into a lively panel sport, with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Chuck Nice, Gary O'Reilly, and Charles Liu taking Patreon questions into the deep end.

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Why you'd press play

No one understands quantum physics and no one understands consciousness -- this episode uses that to its advantage.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →
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