Speaker 1: The streets are talking about us.
Speaker 2: I really love Jordan Peele. You could just see how
Speaker 2: smart he is.
Speaker 1: Listen. I like horror, but not like no plot line.
Speaker 3: This has made my eyes are peeled, they're dry when
Speaker 3: I leave the movies because I know I need to
Speaker 3: look for every little clue.
Speaker 1: Like where is it that ambulance? It might mean something?
Speaker 2: Right, And everybody turns into researchers. Listen, everybody turns into
Speaker 2: a detective exactly everybody.
Speaker 3: Yes, people are saying did you see whatever was embroidered
Speaker 3: on the shirt? And I'm like, on the shirt, what
Speaker 3: was it?
Speaker 1: How did you see?
Speaker 2: People are turning into what's the name of that movie
Speaker 2: with Tom Hanks where he was running around da Vinci
Speaker 2: Code Yes, Code, da Vinci Code us Yes. And I
Speaker 2: love it because you could really see like people's scientific
Speaker 2: minds coming out and it's so beautiful. I'm like, look
Speaker 2: at Jordan Peele turned us all into PhDs.
Speaker 1: Listen, everybody got on a PhD is suspense Okay, I'm
Speaker 1: t T and I'm the key and.
Speaker 2: From Spotify Studios, this is Dope Labs.
Speaker 3: So everybody is going crazy about Jordan Peel's US. Yes,
Speaker 3: people are seeing it two, three, four times in a
Speaker 3: row at the theater, just trying to piece.
Speaker 1: All those clues together.
Speaker 3: But another reason why we really love it is because,
Speaker 3: just like with Get Out, Jordan Peel is making these
Speaker 3: blockbuster movies but with primarily black characters. Yes, right, And
Speaker 3: so I feel like every time something like this happens
Speaker 3: when we have these black and minority characters in these
Speaker 3: huge films, everybody goes crazy, like get Out us crazy
Speaker 3: rich Asians, like everybody's going wild for it. We have
Speaker 3: people talking on Twitter, Instagram, the memes get out of control,
Speaker 3: and I always feel, like he said, Ray, I'm like,
Speaker 3: I'm rooting for everybody, right, And the.
Speaker 1: Last time people were this excited, I feel like it.
Speaker 2: Had to be Black Panther. Yes, that was revolutionary.
Speaker 3: I feel like for us, Black Panther was doubly exciting
Speaker 3: exactly because not only was it, you know, these black
Speaker 3: superheroes which we had never seen before, well.
Speaker 1: We've seen them before, you know, but not like this,
Speaker 1: not like that.
Speaker 2: But then there was also this whole like science and
Speaker 2: tech aspect of Black Panther that we were just like, yes,
Speaker 2: because black people were at the forefront.
Speaker 1: Surrey, Surrey is listen when Surrey came on the screen,
Speaker 1: I was like, a TT girl, is that you girl?
Speaker 2: I was like, I totally identify with Surrey.
Speaker 1: Did Marble run you your check? Marvel? Were you following
Speaker 1: me around?
Speaker 4: Duke?
Speaker 3: Come on somebody?
Speaker 1: Because I was like, this is TT. I loved it.
Speaker 2: I love watching her create things, event things, modify things,
Speaker 2: and prove things, but then also just be super fun
Speaker 2: and dope and funny and all these things like that.
Speaker 1: So I really really loved it.
Speaker 3: So today we are talking about Wakanda, specifically vibranium, because
Speaker 3: that's really the star of that movie.
Speaker 1: Yes, okay, this makes me very happy. Yes, T is
Speaker 1: in our happy space.
Speaker 2: Yes, because for those of you who don't know, my
Speaker 2: parents are West African and I also am a material
Speaker 2: scientist and engineer. So Wakanda just encompasses all the things
Speaker 2: that I love, yes, Africa and science.
Speaker 1: So let's kick off the recitation, right.
Speaker 3: We want vibranium, and we want it now, but we
Speaker 3: also want to know a little bit more about it.
Speaker 2: Let's hear from you. Here are some of your thoughts
Speaker 2: on vibranium and its possibilities.
Speaker 1: Vibranium can do anything.
Speaker 4: Libranium is powerful, like it can.
Speaker 5: It can reverse time, it can stop bullets, it can
Speaker 5: heal you. It's amazing. It's already had a lot of
Speaker 5: applications weaponized for defense, military, civil.
Speaker 1: I mean, it's kind of like hopeful, right. Vibranium, I
Speaker 1: think is like just wronger armor.
Speaker 5: So if you get hit, obviously it absorbs the force
Speaker 5: and gives it back.
Speaker 2: Do you think that there's anything out there in our
Speaker 2: world that is like vibranium.
Speaker 5: The closest thing I could think of is carbon fiber.
Speaker 5: If you could treat it or reinforce it, it's a
Speaker 5: pretty durable material.
Speaker 1: I would say CBD is closer to vibranium.
Speaker 5: At least it heals.
Speaker 1: What about absorbing impact, well, depends what kind of impact
Speaker 1: we're talking about. Come on something.
Speaker 5: Mental impact, anxiety, Okay, stress.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think that's possible. I don't know if we
Speaker 4: found it or not, but I mean, I'm sure y'all
Speaker 4: gonna tell us.
Speaker 3: So here's my thing about vibranium, and it's part of
Speaker 3: why I wanted to do this episode.
Speaker 1: Today.
Speaker 3: I was a little sad because I had all that
Speaker 3: joy from Black Panther, but then the way Avengers Infinity
Speaker 3: War ended was to Chialla turned into toast crunk, Like, hey.
Speaker 1: B what happened to the vibranium? I was devastated.
Speaker 2: Oh don't know how vibranium works, right, I was like,
Speaker 2: excuse me, hello, Marvel, Like, we saw a lot of
Speaker 2: stuff happen in Black Panther, and he was not supposed
Speaker 2: to die.
Speaker 1: He shouldn't be able to die.
Speaker 2: He should have just absorbed all of that and then
Speaker 2: been bounced it back exactly and killed Thanos. And so
Speaker 2: I'm trying to get all the clues I can about
Speaker 2: what might happen next without reading the spoiler blogs, right,
Speaker 2: But the only way I can know what happens next
Speaker 2: is by knowing, like what happened so far?
Speaker 3: And what are the like? Tell me more about VIBRAINI.
Speaker 3: I want to know all about it. And that's why
Speaker 3: I'm so lucky to have you here to explain it,
Speaker 3: because it's totally your wheelhouse. You are everything physical sciences, materials, engineering,
Speaker 3: physics equals MC square. That's you, that's your arena. Those
Speaker 3: are all my favorite things. And I'm always like, huh,
Speaker 3: so I have questions is it possible?
Speaker 1: Word did y'all to come back?
Speaker 3: Because the new Avengeance movie is coming out Endgame Avengers
Speaker 3: and Game.
Speaker 1: But I really want to know, like what happened? Is
Speaker 1: it over for? Is it over for Wakanda or is
Speaker 1: it Wakanda forever? It's Wakanda forever, I think.
Speaker 3: And then I want to know is any of this
Speaker 3: stuff possible? Because science fiction is sometimes a whole lot
Speaker 3: of science and only a little bit of fiction.
Speaker 2: So I think that a lot of the stuff that's
Speaker 2: in Black Panther could be possible. There are parts of
Speaker 2: it where you kind of have to stretch a little
Speaker 2: bit of reality, but all of it falls in line
Speaker 2: with some type of physics and chemistry that we already know.
Speaker 1: That you already know.
Speaker 3: Because that some folks know that that's a special group
Speaker 3: of people and I'm not in that group.
Speaker 2: So yeah, I feel like I understand a lot of
Speaker 2: the physics and a lot of the chemistry and a
Speaker 2: lot of the materials science, and so for me, I
Speaker 2: want to know how these things are being played out
Speaker 2: in the lab, Like what are scientists doing now to
Speaker 2: push us towards Wakanda?
Speaker 3: And it feels like it's more real, like it's more
Speaker 3: of a possibility in these kind of fields. Absolutely like
Speaker 3: that movie felt like this stuff is around the corner, like.
Speaker 2: Those Kimoio beads that are on their wrist. That reminds
Speaker 2: me of an Apple Watch.
Speaker 3: That's an Apple Watch. Come on Apple Watch five with
Speaker 3: a hologram. I want to see it. Is that gonna
Speaker 3: be in the next update?
Speaker 2: Imagine Uncle Curtis's hologram popping up right in front of you,
Speaker 2: right man.
Speaker 3: First of all, that is my dad, and I'd have
Speaker 3: to turn that feature off because he'd be like, what
Speaker 3: y'all talking about it?
Speaker 1: That makes me so happy?
Speaker 3: So I want to know is it possible and what
Speaker 3: needs to happen to make it possible? And if you
Speaker 3: have vibranium, because you're talking real casual about it, if
Speaker 3: you have something that's close to it, or are those
Speaker 3: little heart shaped herbs?
Speaker 1: I want to know about it.
Speaker 2: And just like you've been doing in all the previous episodes,
Speaker 2: for me, I will hold your hand through this.
Speaker 3: Take me slow, Take me slow, okay. So that brings
Speaker 3: us to the dissection.
Speaker 1: And to help us, we've called on doctor James Cacalius.
Speaker 4: I'm a professor in the School of Physics and Astronomy
Speaker 4: at the University of Minnesota and the author of the
Speaker 4: Physics of Superheroes.
Speaker 2: So full disclaimer, we know that the stuff that's going
Speaker 2: on in Black Panther is science fiction emphasis on the fiction,
Speaker 2: but it's still.
Speaker 3: A lot of fun to like really stretch your scientific
Speaker 3: muscle and ask, like what if?
Speaker 2: Yeah, and theorizing about some of this stuff using actual
Speaker 2: science is also just a great way to sharpen up
Speaker 2: some of your scientific skills, like critical thinking.
Speaker 3: And doctor Kacalius tells us that one of the fun
Speaker 3: things about the science of Superheroes is that it forces
Speaker 3: you to ask, Okay, is this possible? And then what
Speaker 3: do I have to change about the laws of physics
Speaker 3: to get this to work? And specifically, what is the
Speaker 3: minimum thing that has to change to get this to work?
Speaker 3: As opposed to waving your hands and saying everything can
Speaker 3: be different.
Speaker 4: And that's how we advance our knowledge and understanding. So
Speaker 4: to some extent, talking about the science of superheroes is
Speaker 4: kind of like weight training for our brain.
Speaker 2: So what we're going to be doing with this episode
Speaker 2: is talking about the science inside of Black Panther to
Speaker 2: try and understand how far away we are from Wakanda. Yeah,
Speaker 2: that is it a little gap. Is it like mind
Speaker 2: the Gap or is.
Speaker 1: It like the.
Speaker 3: How far away are we from some of this technology? Yeah,
Speaker 3: so let's start with the basics. Let's set the scene
Speaker 3: for the land of Wakanda. Thousands of years ago, a
Speaker 3: meteor approaches the earth. Once it lands, that meteorite has
Speaker 3: vibranium in it, and there are five tribes arguing over
Speaker 3: the vibranium that's now been deposited by this meteorite.
Speaker 2: Eventually, four of the five tribes reconciled and the Kingdom
Speaker 2: of Waconda was formed. And with vibranium, they were able
Speaker 2: to develop technology that was more advanced than any other country,
Speaker 2: but they were able to keep it all under wraps. So,
Speaker 2: like you remember, from the outside looking in, it looked
Speaker 2: like just an open plane, right, But then once you
Speaker 2: got past that force field, it was the jetsons.
Speaker 3: And so then my question is are there places like
Speaker 3: that right now where they're just holding up a sheet
Speaker 3: that looks like.
Speaker 1: There's nothing here? Move along, look behind the curtain. Yeah,
Speaker 1: is a place like this possible?
Speaker 2: Yes?
Speaker 4: And no? So what are the things that leads to
Speaker 4: a advanced city advanced country? Is access to unique, valuable
Speaker 4: natural resources? And Wakanda having access to the meteor that
Speaker 4: contain vibranium certainly fits the bill there. The question is
Speaker 4: do they have all of the natural resources that they
Speaker 4: might need to develop advanced.
Speaker 2: Technologies, resources like silicon, phosphorus, boron, aluminum, gallium, all of
Speaker 2: these things that are kind of like found in the earth.
Speaker 2: But they also help with advancing our technology, so they
Speaker 2: help make circuits that are put into our cell phones
Speaker 2: and things like that, and help with all types of
Speaker 2: technological advances.
Speaker 3: So what you're gonna need is vibranium and all these
Speaker 3: other materials all in the same place, specifically if you're
Speaker 3: not gonna interact with the outside world and keep all
Speaker 3: of this under wraps. Yes, I think there are two
Speaker 3: major things that really shine for me in Black Panther,
Speaker 3: aside from Surrey our queen. It is the vibranium and
Speaker 3: then that heart shaped orb which is basically cilantro.
Speaker 1: So I love cilantro. Cilantro tastes like soap. Mm hmm,
Speaker 1: that's you have a mutation. I need to tell you?
Speaker 1: Did you just tell me?
Speaker 2: I have a teenage view Ninja turtle not quite like that,
Speaker 2: but close all the taste buds so I do like pizza.
Speaker 1: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3: So there's vibranium and then there's that herb, right, and
Speaker 3: so for me, I always thought of vibranium is like
Speaker 3: this special purple element.
Speaker 2: So in chemistry, things are classified by how they are
Speaker 2: put together. So for the purpose of this episode, we're
Speaker 2: gonna focus on three categories, atom, element, and molecule. If
Speaker 2: you think about them like legos, one single lego is
Speaker 2: an atom is the building block of all things, and
Speaker 2: then an element is basically what color that lego is,
Speaker 2: So blue lego, so blue would be the element. And
Speaker 2: then when you start to stack those legos, that's when
Speaker 2: you get molecules. So like if you take water, for example,
Speaker 2: water is a molecule, so that's three legos together, So
Speaker 2: you have two hydrogen legos and one oxygen lego put
Speaker 2: together to make a molecule. So if we're talking about
Speaker 2: vibranium and what it could possibly be in relation to
Speaker 2: these things, it would probably be something closer to a
Speaker 2: molecule and not an element.
Speaker 4: Because if it's an element, it's an element that behaves
Speaker 4: in a way that no other element ever has.
Speaker 3: Okay, So the reason it might be a molecule is
Speaker 3: because of its behavior, so like what it can do?
Speaker 1: That's right.
Speaker 2: So you know how the periodic table of elements is
Speaker 2: set up, and it's not set up randomly. It's this
Speaker 2: big grid of letters and everything on it that we
Speaker 2: all saw in high school. But they are arranged in
Speaker 2: very specific ways, and that arrangement is dependent on each
Speaker 2: element's properties. And the way that vibranium is, it would
Speaker 2: fall way outside of the periodic table.
Speaker 1: It feels an element.
Speaker 3: So what are some of the properties of vibranium that
Speaker 3: make it so amazing? In black panther like, what are
Speaker 3: some of the properties? We see them kind of exploiting.
Speaker 3: Can you walk us through that?
Speaker 2: So one of the main things about vibranium, which is
Speaker 2: how I think it got its name, is that it
Speaker 2: has this ability to absorb vibrations.
Speaker 4: It's like super absorbent for any kind of vibration, any
Speaker 4: kind of oscillation, any kind of sound.
Speaker 2: And vibrations can come in different forms. So when we
Speaker 2: whittle it all down to one word, it's energy. And
Speaker 2: so you can get vibrations from heat, you can get
Speaker 2: vibrations from sound. Yes, you can get vibrations from physical contact,
Speaker 2: which we see in black panther. And what vibranium is
Speaker 2: able to do is take all of those vibrations and
Speaker 2: store it and hold on to it in a way
Speaker 2: that most molecules can't.
Speaker 3: Y'all, but open your mind, see, okay, because CT is
Speaker 3: dropping some gems. I thought you could only get vibration
Speaker 3: from sound.
Speaker 2: No, So if you think about a piece of glass,
Speaker 2: if you were to take a if you were to
Speaker 2: take a glass and you were to pour hot water
Speaker 2: into it, eventually the entire glass will be hot.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 2: That heat is actually vibrations in the hot water that
Speaker 2: are being transferred to the glass, and that glass those
Speaker 2: molecules that make up the glass start to vibrate as well.
Speaker 1: Is that how water is boiling.
Speaker 2: It's erupting mm hmm, it spawns being broken, and that's
Speaker 2: how water turns into steam.
Speaker 3: When they said good vibrations, they didn't just mean sound.
Speaker 3: They meant physical, okay.
Speaker 2: And the other really cool thing about energy is that
Speaker 2: it can't be creator or destroyed. It has to be
Speaker 2: coming from somewhere and going somewhere.
Speaker 4: So presumably that energy has to show up in some
Speaker 4: other place.
Speaker 3: I think one of the coolest things we saw was
Speaker 3: sure in the lab and that suit made of vibran
Speaker 3: new how is he kicking the suit and falling backwards.
Speaker 2: Weapons is that when t'chala goes to kick the suit
Speaker 2: and once it hits the suit, the vibranium has this
Speaker 2: unique ability to store that energy. When he goes to
Speaker 2: kick the suit the second time, the suit is able
Speaker 2: to give off that energy that he first put into
Speaker 2: the suit.
Speaker 4: So that's why when T'Challa kicks the suit on the
Speaker 4: mannequin the first time, it goes flies across the room,
Speaker 4: and then he kicks it at the same spot the
Speaker 4: second time, and then he gets kicked across the room
Speaker 4: because it stored that energy and then gave it back
Speaker 4: to him as a recoil the next time.
Speaker 3: And so it's just transferring. It's transferring from him to
Speaker 3: the suit, and then the suit is storing it to
Speaker 3: go right back out right to him. It's almost like
Speaker 3: the scientific version of my haters make me stronger, right,
Speaker 3: So if you think about it, somebody's insulting you or
Speaker 3: injuring or punching at you, it just builds up and
Speaker 3: then you're able to take those hits and push them
Speaker 3: right back out.
Speaker 2: Next thing you know, you Barack Obama.
Speaker 3: Soh Now I'm getting a better understanding of how this works,
Speaker 3: and then I'm also starting to think about some of
Speaker 3: its limitations. Now I feel like you and doctor Kacallius
Speaker 3: and the rest of your physical sciences crew have been
Speaker 3: holding out. Are there any other materials that we should
Speaker 3: know about that have some really cool features?
Speaker 2: So there's nothing exactly like vibranium, but there are some
Speaker 2: things out there that have similar qualities, And one of
Speaker 2: my favorites is something called a piezo electric. It's a
Speaker 2: material that when you apply stressed to it, so it
Speaker 2: could be in the form of pressure, it changes the
Speaker 2: materials properties slightly so that it then generates electricity. The
Speaker 2: way it's kind of like vibranium is that it's taking
Speaker 2: one form of energy and its output is a different
Speaker 2: form of energy. But it's not like vibranium because it's
Speaker 2: not storing that energy to give it back out. Yes,
Speaker 2: and then there are also materials that are called sono luminescent,
Speaker 2: which means that they take in sound sono and then
Speaker 2: they are able to put out light loomy exactly.
Speaker 4: This can be seen in actually in something as simple
Speaker 4: as water where you can develop a bubble and you
Speaker 4: pound it with sound waves and the bubble actually glows
Speaker 4: and gives off light.
Speaker 2: My favorite material right now is the strongest material known
Speaker 2: to man.
Speaker 1: What is it graphene?
Speaker 2: And it's basically a single layer of carbon that's arranged
Speaker 2: in a very specific way.
Speaker 1: It is only made of carbon, so only carbon, one
Speaker 1: gray lego.
Speaker 2: So it's basically six gray legos arranged in a hexagon.
Speaker 4: Scientists have actually studied how bulletproof graphene is. It's stronger
Speaker 4: than steel, it's stronger than lead, it's stronger than kevlo.
Speaker 2: A thin layer of it that's about the thickness of
Speaker 2: saran wrap. It would take an elephant balancing on a
Speaker 2: pencil to break it.
Speaker 3: So you have to concentrate that weight, yes, and it
Speaker 3: would have to be a lot two tons. A ton
Speaker 3: is about two thousand pounds, so we're talking about four.
Speaker 1: Thousand pounds on a pencil.
Speaker 3: This is what's crazy to me, though tt Like you
Speaker 3: just told me how awesome vibranium is. It can store energy.
Speaker 3: When Thano snapped his fingers, that's vibrational energy. I don't know,
Speaker 3: I don't know what kind of vibration is it's something.
Speaker 3: Why didn't that suit save t Challa.
Speaker 2: That is a very good question, because up until this point,
Speaker 2: vibranium is the answer to all of our problems. Yeah,
Speaker 2: but the Infinity Gauntlet seems to have some type of
Speaker 2: cheat code work around that does not work on vibranium.
Speaker 4: Once he has all six Infinity Stones Thanos, including of course,
Speaker 4: remember the Reality Stone, he has the power of basically
Speaker 4: a god, and at that point the laws of physics
Speaker 4: are subject to change with the snap of a finger.
Speaker 3: So this is a case where there's only a little
Speaker 3: bit of science and a lot of fiction because we
Speaker 3: know no one is napping their fingers and eliminating the
Speaker 3: laws of physics. But this makes me hopeful, right, This
Speaker 3: makes me feel like anything could happen in the sequel.
Speaker 2: Like people could come back from the bottom of the toaster.
Speaker 1: Yes, and just reassemble whole slice of bread. I'm ready.
Speaker 3: So when we get back, we're going to dive into
Speaker 3: some other Marvel characters that we have questions about, like
Speaker 3: Thor that's a fine man and Iron Man Tony Stark
Speaker 3: has all the tech, but sure he may have them.
Speaker 1: Be stay tuned.
Speaker 2: So we're back and all this talk about superheroes made
Speaker 2: us wonder if you could have any superpower, what would
Speaker 2: it be.
Speaker 1: Here's what y'all said.
Speaker 4: Teleportation the ability to like leave one situation a one
Speaker 4: time sp place and appear in another.
Speaker 5: My superpower would be to like convey emotions, like and
Speaker 5: receive emotions. It's kind of cheesy, but I think one
Speaker 5: of the biggest impasses we have with solving social issues
Speaker 5: is like a lack of empathy. And I think if
Speaker 5: you could literally put yourself in someone's position and understand,
Speaker 5: like where they're coming from and how the world is
Speaker 5: affecting them, we could make a lot of progress and
Speaker 5: solve a lot of issues.
Speaker 2: So, like a new age Captain Planet met Heart, my
Speaker 2: tea was the most powerful all along.
Speaker 1: I like you.
Speaker 4: I would say time travel too.
Speaker 3: The same dimission, different dimension different So you want to
Speaker 3: be able to go back and forth and lift.
Speaker 1: And right all of it. I want to hop around.
Speaker 1: I want to go back in time, fix some stuff.
Speaker 1: Go ahead, pick some stuff up. Butterfly fat, I saw
Speaker 1: to the future too too. That's the one. That's the one.
Speaker 2: Everything with vibranium kind of makes sense to me. But
Speaker 2: then there are some parts of the marble world that
Speaker 2: I just can't wrap my mind around you and me both.
Speaker 2: One of them is Thor's hammer. And the way that
Speaker 2: Thor's Hammer came to be was that Odin whispered into
Speaker 2: this hammer and said, whoever's worthy can pick it up,
Speaker 2: whoever's not can't pick it up, right. But I wanted
Speaker 2: to know if that is a physical property. Is there
Speaker 2: some chemistry associated with that.
Speaker 4: The hammer is made of, as you know, uru metal,
Speaker 4: presumably in the handle of the hammer, there is some
Speaker 4: biosensors of some sort that can quickly scan whoever's trying
Speaker 4: to lift the hammer, and using criteria that Odin only knows,
Speaker 4: they can determine whether you meet the worthiness threshold or not.
Speaker 3: Like something that scans your eyeball is a biosensor, and
Speaker 3: so you're so something like that that's scanning your hand
Speaker 3: when you go to pick it up detects who you are.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So that's one scientific theory that might explain Thorst's hammer,
Speaker 2: and the other has to do with how it can
Speaker 2: manipulate its weight. If Thort's hammer were just heavy, the
Speaker 2: hulks should be able to pick it up somehow, right,
Speaker 2: And and he isn't and we would also see it
Speaker 2: falling through tables and anything that it was placed on
Speaker 2: top of, which we don't see.
Speaker 4: Right, So somehow it's got to be able to change
Speaker 4: its heaviness at will. And so presumably URU metal, when
Speaker 4: sufficiently triggered, when the handles it determines that someone's trying
Speaker 4: to lift it who's not worthy, Uru metal will emit gravitons.
Speaker 1: What are gravitons?
Speaker 2: The idea of gravitans is a theory, and it's this
Speaker 2: theory that says that the way that we are all
Speaker 2: weighted down so with gravity, is actually particles that are
Speaker 2: emitted from all things.
Speaker 3: So all things have these particles associated with them, yes,
Speaker 3: and what are those particles gravitons?
Speaker 1: So how does that play into the hammer? Though?
Speaker 2: So as soon as you touch the hammer, if it
Speaker 2: says you are not worthy, then it starts to emit
Speaker 2: gravitons that are equivalent to the force that you're applying,
Speaker 2: but in the opposite direction. So as you're pulling up,
Speaker 2: it is emitting gravitons down with that same amount of force.
Speaker 1: So even though it may be there's no net movement,
Speaker 1: there's no net movement.
Speaker 3: Is there vibranium in the hammer, because it feels like
Speaker 3: it is absorbing some of that.
Speaker 1: Like, that's crazy.
Speaker 4: So that's why when Tony Stark and Rody are trying
Speaker 4: to lift the hammer at the same time, they're applyotting
Speaker 4: this large upward force. But the weight of the hammer,
Speaker 4: it just emits more gravitons and the weight of the
Speaker 4: hammer increases, thus that there's no net force. If there's
Speaker 4: no net force, an object at rest remains at rest.
Speaker 2: And then as soon as you let go, the gravitons
Speaker 2: just stop emitting.
Speaker 3: So what about the big blue power source in oron
Speaker 3: man's chest.
Speaker 1: Right, that's a lot of power to holding your chest?
Speaker 1: Is that like heartburn? That's what that feels like to me.
Speaker 2: Sometimes, Shoot, I agree, man, we get old. We're talking
Speaker 2: about heartburning.
Speaker 1: Thought.
Speaker 4: It's called an arc reactor. It's about the size of
Speaker 4: a hockey puck and puts out the power of three
Speaker 4: nuclear power plants. And they don't say it directly, but
Speaker 4: they kind of imply at some point in the first
Speaker 4: movie that it is an essence a nuclear fusion reactor.
Speaker 3: Okay, so you already know my question nuclear fusion.
Speaker 2: So there's two different types of ways to generate these
Speaker 2: large amounts of energy. So one is fission and one
Speaker 2: is fusion. Fission is when you take a really large
Speaker 2: nucleus of an atom and you break it apart, and
Speaker 2: that process of breaking it apart generates a lot of energy.
Speaker 2: Fusion is when you take two smaller nuclei and put
Speaker 2: them together. In the act of pushing them together generates energy.
Speaker 4: So the take fission, where you take a big nucleus
Speaker 4: and split it apart, is the atomic bomb. Fusion, where
Speaker 4: you take to smaller nuclei and fuse them together is
Speaker 4: the hydrogen bomb.
Speaker 3: Fusion and fission are just two ways to generate the energy.
Speaker 3: That energy is stored in that hockey book in Tony
Speaker 3: Stark's chest, and that's what powers the Iron Man suit exactly.
Speaker 2: And the other crazy thing about Iron Man is that,
Speaker 2: you know how he's just shooting lasers and flying and
Speaker 2: he doesn't have to say fly or shoot hyperbeam or whatever.
Speaker 2: He just kind of thinks about it. Doctor Cacalius says
Speaker 2: that that is a real thing that is not fiction,
Speaker 2: is just science.
Speaker 4: Wait a minute, there are scientists who are working on
Speaker 4: cybernetic helmets and one of them, his name is Ben
Speaker 4: He first name Bin, second name he He, and if
Speaker 4: you google Bin He and helicopter, you will see students
Speaker 4: in his lab wearing a cybernetic helmet that are piloting
Speaker 4: a remote control helicopter through an obstacle course.
Speaker 2: He uses brain signals, So he puts this cap with
Speaker 2: all of these sensors on it, and he uses signals
Speaker 2: from people's brains to control how things move.
Speaker 4: Professor he is not trying to develop an Iron Man suit.
Speaker 4: What he's doing is trying to develop treatments for paralysis
Speaker 4: and improvements in prosthetic devices.
Speaker 2: So if you had were to have this attached to you,
Speaker 2: you could think, I want to raise my arm and
Speaker 2: be able to raise the arm.
Speaker 1: That's crazy.
Speaker 3: That's like Professor X that's Magneto, that's all of those people.
Speaker 1: Hey, we got to get X men. We've got to
Speaker 1: be X men. I'm ready. What's your na be an
Speaker 1: X man?
Speaker 3: Because I'm gonna be my own villain and I'm gonna
Speaker 3: have me a laugh. I'm gonna be less X men
Speaker 3: and more like what was that movie aon Flux where
Speaker 3: I want to be like Atomic Blonde. She had the
Speaker 3: best outfits, Okay, and I want to be able to
Speaker 3: have a lab on the back of a eighteen wheeler
Speaker 3: and I can just travel around with my lab and
Speaker 3: do science.
Speaker 1: So what did you think? See?
Speaker 3: So when we started this episode, we were just really
Speaker 3: focused on Black Panther and the science fiction and how
Speaker 3: could it be real? But now my eyes are open
Speaker 3: to all of these other things that are possible, and
Speaker 3: this is just what we know about, right this is
Speaker 3: public information for everyone, you know, like technology is moving.
Speaker 1: So fast and everything is advanced.
Speaker 3: Like I think something we talked with doctor Cacalius about
Speaker 3: was like people were thinking there will be hoverboards, but
Speaker 3: we got something even better an iPhone.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: So I mean when you start really figuring out, like
Speaker 3: who's going to be leading the next direction, what's going
Speaker 3: to be the next big push. I don't know what
Speaker 3: it's going to be, but I am feeling really optimistic
Speaker 3: that I'm going to have a hologram on the Apple
Speaker 3: Watch five like ha, and that graphing is gonna save me.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because I mean when you think about graphing and
Speaker 2: what it could do possibly, we're talking about like the
Speaker 2: military and making like things that are stronger than kevlar,
Speaker 2: so like bulletproofing, material is going to be on a
Speaker 2: thou Wow in just a few years. Yeah.
Speaker 3: I felt so inspired, and it made me kind of ask,
Speaker 3: is this like one of those art imitates life or
Speaker 3: life imitates art in this case?
Speaker 2: Right, because doctor Kakali has talked a lot about the
Speaker 2: science fiction, but then he also talked a lot about
Speaker 2: science that is actually going on that sounds very futuristic.
Speaker 1: So I think it can be both.
Speaker 2: I think we can inspire artists that make these movies
Speaker 2: to push the technology, but then we can also watch
Speaker 2: the movies and be inspired to create new things in
Speaker 2: the lab.
Speaker 3: You need the science and you need the art, and
Speaker 3: the art needs the science. Like I feel like it's
Speaker 3: just like a beautiful marriage.
Speaker 1: Right, and that's what we are. I think we are
Speaker 1: art and science.
Speaker 2: There we go and Marvel if you're listening, t T
Speaker 2: needs to be the Next Door. For more on today's episode,
Speaker 2: check out our cheat sheet and the show notes at
Speaker 2: Dope Labs podcast dot com. So we're gonna be doing
Speaker 2: an Instagram live on Thursday, April eighteenth, and we will
Speaker 2: reveal the theme for our next episode, So make sure you.
Speaker 3: Tune in and our phone lines are always open. You
Speaker 3: can always leave us a question or comment, or even
Speaker 3: text us. Our number is two zero two five six
Speaker 3: seven seven zero two eight. That's two zero two five
Speaker 3: six seven seven zero two eight.
Speaker 2: You can find us on Twitter and Instagram at Dope
Speaker 2: Last Podcast.
Speaker 3: TT is on Twitter and Instagram at Doctor Underscore t
Speaker 3: Sho and you.
Speaker 1: Can find Zakia at z said So, and if.
Speaker 3: You do love the show, don't forget to follow us
Speaker 3: on Spotify or wherever else you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 2: Special thanks today to our guest, doctor James Accalius. Check
Speaker 2: out his book The Physics of Superheroes at Kakalius dot com.
Speaker 1: That's k A k A l i o s dot com.
Speaker 3: Our producer is Jenny Rattle at MAAST. Mixing and sound
Speaker 3: design by Hannis Brown. Special thanks to Max Nester.
Speaker 2: Original theme music by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiuer. Additional
Speaker 2: music by Elijah Alex Harvey.
Speaker 3: Dope Labs is brought to you by three M and
Speaker 3: is a production of Spotify Studios and Mega Owned Media Group,
Speaker 3: and it is executive produced by us T. T.
Speaker 1: Shadia and Zakiah Wattley.
Speaker 2: Okay, so when we get back, we're gonna dive into
Speaker 2: some other Marvel characters that we have some questions about,
Speaker 2: like Thor and yes, and man, what that is? A
Speaker 2: fine man, let's be honest. Okay, you can bring that
Speaker 2: hammer to my house.