The Science of Lookmaxxing with Dr. Noc

Gary O'Reilly (0:00)

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Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:19)

Loved me some Dr. Noc.

Gary O'Reilly (1:21)

He's great, isn't he?

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:21)

Oh man, and he told us how to not look old.

Chuck Nice (1:24)

Yeah, looks maximum, baby, not that I need it. You may need creatine, now that I might need it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (1:29)

All right, coming up, Dr. Noc on everything that you think is wrong with you but might not be, on StarTalk Special Edition. Welcome to StarTalk, your place in the universe where science and pop culture collide. StarTalk begins right now.

This is StarTalk Special Edition. We're thinking today about what everybody does to look different, although they would think to look better. Neil deGrasse Tyson here. You're a personal astrophysicist. It's Special Edition. That means...

Gary O'Reilly (2:06)

Me.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:08)

Hey, how you doing, man?

Gary O'Reilly (2:09)

I'm good. All good now.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:10)

All right. All very good. Gary O'Reilly from the UK.

Gary O'Reilly (2:14)

Yes.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:14)

But you're ours now.

Chuck Nice (2:16)

Yes.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:16)

Good.

Gary O'Reilly (2:16)

And we got Chuck Nice.

Chuck Nice (2:17)

That's right.

Gary O'Reilly (2:18)

Chuck and Baby.

Chuck Nice (2:19)

How's it going, guys?

SPEAKER_4 (2:20)

I'm good, man.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:21)

So we're talking about looks maxing.

SPEAKER_4 (2:22)

Ooh.

Chuck Nice (2:23)

You mean you guys are discussing me?

Gary O'Reilly (2:25)

What?

SPEAKER_6 (2:27)

Looks maxing.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (2:29)

Let's figure out what this is all about. So Gary, get us buried here.

Gary O'Reilly (2:32)

All right. We've all thought it. What if I looked better, seemed younger, shaved off a few pounds? Couldn't hurt, could it? No, not really. From, as you said, looks maxing to biohacking, your biological age. So to perfecting your body composition, modern science has offered us a whole new litany of quick fixes.

Or so it would seem. But are people doing more damage than good in the pursuit of perfection? What are the facts? What is the fiction? And most importantly, is there something you can prescribe me to get back to my glory day so I can get back out on the field? So, Neil, please introduce our guest.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:09)

I will. Making a second appearance on StarTalk.

Chuck Nice (3:14)

The returning champion.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:16)

An undefeated champion, the one and only, Morgan McSweeney, Dr. Noc.

Chuck Nice (3:21)

Yes.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:21)

Morgan, welcome back to StarTalk.

Morgan McSweeney (3:23)

Whoa, I'm surprised I got invited back, but I'm happy to be here.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:26)

Yeah, we had, took some debate on our side. It was fine.

Chuck Nice (3:30)

Yeah, man.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:31)

You have an academic background in pharmacology and immunology.

Morgan McSweeney (3:35)

That's right, pharmaceutical sciences and immunology.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:37)

This is a thing that matters now to everybody.

Chuck Nice (3:40)

It does.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (3:41)

It is.

Chuck Nice (3:41)

And especially since we're all going to die in another pandemic because everybody has abandoned the safety precautions from the last one because, you know, you won't tell me what to do anyway.

Gary O'Reilly (3:54)

Feel better? Get that off your chest.

Neil deGrasse Tyson (4:00)

You are a, the term I think is, med influencer. You're online, combating all the misinformation that were flooded in and the big challenge is how does someone know that you are not the misinformation and the misinformation itself isn't real.

Morgan McSweeney (4:18)

People accuse me even further of being totally AI generated sometimes, so your job is to vouch for the fact that I'm sitting here.