From Mother Jones
Neil deGrasse Tyson on "Cosmos," How Science Got Cool, and Why He Doesn't Debate Deniers
The host of the stunning new Fox series wants you to understand how science works.
—By Chris Mooney | Fri Mar. 14, 2014
Last Sunday's debut of Cosmos, the rebooted series from Fox and National Geographic, made television history. According to National Geographic, it was the largest global rollout of a TV series ever, appearing on 220 channels in 181 countries and 45 languages. And, yes, this is a science show we're talking about. You will have to actively resist the force of gravity in order to lift up your dropped jaw and restore a sense of calm to your stunned face.
At the center of the show is the "heir apparent" to legendary science popularizer and original Cosmos host Carl Sagan: the impassioned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who appeared on this week's episode of the Inquiring Minds podcast to talk about what it's like to fill Sagan's shoes (stream below). On the podcast, Tyson discussed topics ranging from what we know now about the cosmos that Sagan didn't (top three answers: dark matter and dark energy, the profusion of discovered exoplanets, and the concept of parallel universes, or the "multiverse") to why science seems to have gotten so supercool again. After all, not only has Cosmos garnered such a reach, but The Big Bang Theory is currently the No. 1 comedy on TV.
"I wake up every morning saying, 'How did I get 1.7 million Twitter followers?'" Tyson joked while discussing science's newfound popularity. "Should I remind them that I'm an astrophysicist? Maybe I should tell them, 'Folks, I'm an astrophysicist. All right? Escape now.'"
Thanks in part to Cosmos, Tyson is arguably the single most visible public face of science in America today. And as such, he may have to walk a difficult line. Many science defenders want Cosmos to do nothing less than restore our national sanity by smiting all science denial, especially when it comes to the issues of evolution and global warming. It's an impossible task, but the theme was nonetheless quite apparent at a November Library of Congress gala dedicating Carl Sagan's papers, where Cosmos producer Seth MacFarlane denounced science's "politicization on steroids," and Cosmos writer Steven Soter remarked that Sagan would have been "appalled" by today's attacks on climate scientists.
Read more from Mother Jones >>
Neil deGrasse Tyson on "Cosmos," How Science Got Cool, and Why He Doesn't Debate Deniers
The host of the stunning new Fox series wants you to understand how science works.
—By Chris Mooney | Fri Mar. 14, 2014
Last Sunday's debut of Cosmos, the rebooted series from Fox and National Geographic, made television history. According to National Geographic, it was the largest global rollout of a TV series ever, appearing on 220 channels in 181 countries and 45 languages. And, yes, this is a science show we're talking about. You will have to actively resist the force of gravity in order to lift up your dropped jaw and restore a sense of calm to your stunned face.
At the center of the show is the "heir apparent" to legendary science popularizer and original Cosmos host Carl Sagan: the impassioned astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who appeared on this week's episode of the Inquiring Minds podcast to talk about what it's like to fill Sagan's shoes (stream below). On the podcast, Tyson discussed topics ranging from what we know now about the cosmos that Sagan didn't (top three answers: dark matter and dark energy, the profusion of discovered exoplanets, and the concept of parallel universes, or the "multiverse") to why science seems to have gotten so supercool again. After all, not only has Cosmos garnered such a reach, but The Big Bang Theory is currently the No. 1 comedy on TV.
"I wake up every morning saying, 'How did I get 1.7 million Twitter followers?'" Tyson joked while discussing science's newfound popularity. "Should I remind them that I'm an astrophysicist? Maybe I should tell them, 'Folks, I'm an astrophysicist. All right? Escape now.'"
Thanks in part to Cosmos, Tyson is arguably the single most visible public face of science in America today. And as such, he may have to walk a difficult line. Many science defenders want Cosmos to do nothing less than restore our national sanity by smiting all science denial, especially when it comes to the issues of evolution and global warming. It's an impossible task, but the theme was nonetheless quite apparent at a November Library of Congress gala dedicating Carl Sagan's papers, where Cosmos producer Seth MacFarlane denounced science's "politicization on steroids," and Cosmos writer Steven Soter remarked that Sagan would have been "appalled" by today's attacks on climate scientists.
Read more from Mother Jones >>
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