September 09, 2025

Extended Interview: Black Holes and Quantum Weirdness with Janna Levin

1 hour 19 minutes

Black holes get a bad rap. They’ve been cast as the monsters of the cosmos — gobbling up stars and stretching anything that gets too close into cosmic spaghetti. But Black Hole expert Janna Levin has spent her career decoding these mysterious objects, and she thinks they’re just misunderstood. In this episode, she dives into the strange physics of black holes: what they are, what they sound like, what happens if you fall into one, and how there’s a lighter side to every black hole. Janna shares why black holes might not be the end of everything — but the beginning of something even weirder.

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Guest Bio:

Janna Levin is a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University, where she explores the profound mysteries of black holes, cosmology, and the nature of the universe. She is also the founding scientific director of Pioneer Works, a nonprofit cultural center in Brooklyn that fosters collaboration across science, art, and education. An award-winning author and renowned science communicator, Levin has written several acclaimed books, including Black Hole Blues and Other Songs from Outer Space, and has spent her career making the strange and beautiful realities of the cosmos accessible to a wide audience. She is host of NOVA’s two-part special Black Hole Apocalypse.

Timestamps

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:04:12) Black Holes Get a Bad Rap

(00:09:08) Gravity and Free Fall

(00:12:04) Black Holes 101

(00:14:48) Warping Space Time

(00:21:25) Is the Universe a Black Hole?

(00:23:33) This Is the Century for Black Hole Discoveries

(00:25:53) Ligo & Gravitational Waves

(00:39:55) Black Holes Are Hairless

(00:47:50) 2 Truths & a Lie, Black Hole Edition

(00:52:35) Hawking Radiation