​On a recent episode of the Joe Rogan Experience (ep. #1347) Astrophysicist, Neil deGrasse Tyson, spoke as one of the many famous figures who are gravitating towards Tesla automotive engineering and the technology behind these futuristic vehicles.

"What kind of car you driving?" Joe asks.

"I now have a Tesla X," Tyson replies.

He comments on how the vehicle has, "very high acceleration," a characteristic of the car that is as infamous as its auto driving features.

"There's no maintenance on it, no oil change...the only moving part is what your turning the wheels with. No pistons. Nothing."


"Cars really should have been this a hundred years ago," Tyson continued, "and then we would have had a hundred years of clever engineering to perfect that."

Rogan then went on to ask if Tyson had seen the documentary, Who Killed the Electric Car.

Tyson, who reported he had heard of the documentary, reported he was only familiar with the history of the content matter in the documentary. "Electricity was all the rage a hundred years ago," Tyson explained. "'Let's electrify the cities!' There's Edison, there's Tesla...everybody wants to do everything electric, and the car had just come out. They said, 'let's do it electric.'"

"So this was not a new concept and it's unfortunate that more innovative thinkers hadn't been brought to task on how to perfect the electric car."


Joe Rogan, a huge car enthusiast and recent Tesla owner himself after a nearly three hour podcast conversation with Tesla creator Elon Musk, has since stated many times on his show that the vehicle is the best car he has ever owned and often mocks all other cars as "stupid" in comparison to the Tesla's efficiency, performance, and technological sophistication.

In his podcast with Brian Redban (ep. #1238), Redban asks his thoughts on Rogan's Tesla.

"It's preposterous," Rogan replied. "It's a fucking space ship. It's the weirdest thing I've ever driven in my life. It doesn't even make sense. There's not a single car that I've ever driven that's even close to as fast. Nothing. It seems like it's punching its way through a wormhole using alien technology. Like something Bob Lazar snuck out of Area 51."

"Do you like all the tech in it?" Redban asks.

"It's insane." Rogan replies. "That fucking car is the future. Tesla is the future."

More and more Tesla cars are making headway in popular culture, blowing the doors off what was conventionally thought was possible with a daily commuter. From autopilot capability, zero gas emission, almost no typical maintenance associated with traditional vehicles (excluding wheels), zero gas and fossil fuel emission, continues software and technology updates to keep the system current...everything points to this type of vehicle being the future of what cars could, and should, be. The two biggest questions that remain are, one, is Tesla sustainable as a automotive company, and two, how will the company effect other automotive giants who capture the bulk of the consumers in this space, especially in the coming age of electric cars as the standard. Time will tell.

-Stefan

What are your thoughts on Tesla? Have you driven one or own a Tesla yourself? Leave a comment below.

     A few months ago, I stumbled on a podcast that Radiolab was doing that centered around a live show they were putting on called Radiolab Live: In the Dark, a show they were performing around the country at the time with the help of Demetri Martin. The show moved through three acts, with the last phase, "Dark Side of the Earth", being a recorded audio interview with astronaut Dave Wolf, who tells a story about being 200 miles above space and how every 45 minutes his crew would experience complete darkness followed by blazing light as the sun screamed into view. Tethered to the outside of a their spacecraft, traveling 5 miles per second, disaster strikes as they our faced with the inability to regain entry into their craft.  

     The show also explores the tranquility of space, as Dave spends several minutes floating outside the ship, staring into the emptiness of the universe. During this segment of the live show, every member of the audience has white light laser pointers that they shoot to the ceiling to replicate stars as ambient music plays in the theater.  

     Just listening to the podcast version in my car, I was amazed out how the show sounded, and wished I could have experienced the live show. Just recently, my interest was resparked in a similar fashion when I listened to another interview with astronaut Chris Hadfield, author of his newly released book, "An Astronauts Guide to Living on Earth". In the interview, he talks about the incredible changes the body goes through in space, which inspired me to look further into what exactly goes on, and how astronauts prepare for such rigorous travels. Without gravity, our bones, muscles, and cells do not work as hard, which causes a lot of interesting side effects, both short and long term. Here are a few bullet points on what happens when an astronaut goes into the great unknown:  
 
Loss of Muscle and Bone Mass: Astronauts must work out two hours everyday, seven days a week, in order to maintain a healthy level of bone and muscle density. Without exercise, the crew would have difficulty performing tasks in space and, if an emergency occurred, it could put the team in a very vulnerable position due to weakness. The loss of bone mass can also make it difficult to walk after returning to Earth. Physical therapy is undergone when the crew returns home to regain size, but getting back your bone mass can be difficult if a lot of it is lost. 
     Although it is not fully understood why, the human body excretes a large amount of calcium and phosphorus when the body becomes weightless, causing boss loss. Going from Mars to Earth would result in the same equivalent of half a lifetime on Earth for our skeletal system. Proper training at home after return can take months to fully restore the lost bone mass.  
 
Abnormal Blood Circulation: In a zero gravity environment, our blood flow is disrupted. Usually, our blood must work against the continues pull that we experience on Earth, but in space, this normality is removed. This results in a rush of blood to the upper body much faster than what humans are accustomed to, since blood does not pool as much in the legs.  All those yoga poses you see people do with their feet in the air with their head on the ground make a lot more sense now, right? All of this leads to an increased heart rate and raised blood pressure. Side effects include headaches, nasal congestion, and super skinny legs.  
 
Space Sickness: You think it's bad out at sea? Just wait till your floating hundreds of miles above the Earth's surface with no sense of balance. Vomiting, headaches, and general dizziness are the norm. In fact, almost half of all space travels experience these symptoms the first couple days of flight.  
 
Lack of Balance: Our sense of orientation relies heavily on inner ear and muscular sensors to find terrestrial clues about our environment. This system is rendered useless when in an anti-gravity situation, making astronauts feel disorientated or uncoordinated. Instead, the crew must use visual cues to establish the barrings, but even this can be difficult as the notions of what is "up" and what is "down" are completely irrelevant in space. No doubt, this is a big reason why the team can become so prone to motion sickness.  
 
Weaker Immune Systems: Scientists have been analyzing studies done in space that show lack of sleep and isolation may weaken an astronaut's immune system, making the susceptible to sickness and infection. This is caused from a weaker than normal T-lymphocyte system which could lead to allergy problems as well. Being an unfamiliar environment, astronauts will have to work harder to combat these changes in the bodies as scientists work to find new drugs to aid them.  
 
Disrupted Sleep: Think you get cranky when you don't get your full eight hours? Astronauts must deal with constant noise from the space shuttle and experience irregular shifting patterns of light and dark depending on where they are in space in relevance to the sun and the planets. Fatigue can easily set in, especially with the disruptions of the human's normal day/night cycle.  
 
You Stink: "Welcome to Space: Please Don't Use The Water". This could very well be the motto of most  space flights. In an environment so perilous, you can imagine the precautions astronauts must take to keep rations of water stable. This means strict regulation of water distribution. And when water is used, you can bet the first priority is going to be for drinking. As for cleaning yourself? Well, lets just say it would be best to imagine yourself on a long camping expedition. Astronauts are given a plentiful supply of moist towelettes to use for daily scrubbing, but showers are more of a luxury experience. Best keep your distance from your co-workers if you want to be polite.    
 
     
        As you can see, astronauts have their work cut out for them. Every new journey into space is another chance to experiment and improve the living conditions they must endure. Let's hope they smooth out the rough stuff before they begin taking volunteers for the flights to Mars. And, by the way, that's coming very, very soon.  

Sources: 
 
Click here to hear Radiolab Live: Dark Side of the Earth
      
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Your Body in Space: Use It or Lose It 

Known effects of long-term space flights on the human body
 
Gravity Hurts (So Good)
 
What if an astronaut went on a space walk without wearing a space suit?