Interview: Black Holes and Quantum Weirdness with Janna Levin | Particles of Thought

Black holes aren’t just cosmic monsters — they’re simply misunderstood.

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.

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.

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Chapters
00:00:00 Introduction
00:04:21 Black holes get a bad rap
00:09:16 Gravity and free fall
00:12:12 Black Holes 101
00:14:56 Warping space time
00:21:33 Is the universe a black hole?
00:23:41 This is the century for black hole discoveries
00:26:01 LIGO & Gravitational Waves
00:40:02 Black Holes are hairless
00:47:47 2 truths & a lie, black hole edition
00:52:32 Hawking Radiation
00:58:26 black holes can be bigger on the inside than the outside
01:00:38 Holography and black hole information paradox
01:04:20 Quantum Entanglement
01:11:52 Black holes helping to understand fundamental laws of the universe
01:15:50 Extra dimensions

"Particles of Thought" is hosted by Hakeem Oluseyi, an astrophysicist, author, STEM educator, multi-patented inventor, science journalist, TV personality, science communicator, and inspirational speaker. His research is based on "hacking stars" to understand our universe better and develop innovative new technologies. Oluseyi's work has resulted in 11 patents and more than 100 publications covering contributions to astrophysics, cosmology, and plasma physics and the development of space missions, observatories, focal plane instruments, detectors, semiconductor manufacturing, and ion propulsion.

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