Showing results by author "Neil deGrasse Tyson" in All Categories

Mark Twain said, "Get your facts first, then you can distort them as you please." Pseudoscience adherents to this adage, but are their distortions deliberate, the result of scientific ignorance, or due to a deep desire for extraordinary possibilities? In our quest to understand the universe, how can we be sure our conclusions are correct? Human beings have evolved to find meaningful patterns in nature, but sometimes the patterns we see are just figments of our imagination - or perhaps the result of wishful thinking.

Starry starry nights, stormy and sun-filled days. Long summer days of picnics and ballgames are played out under a vast and gorgeous canvas of astronomical and meteorological curiosities. From the stories of the stars told by the ancients, to a recent mammatus cloud over CitiField in New York, learn about the phenomena in the summer skies that keep us looking up.

What price do we put on knowledge? How does it profit a man if he learns about the universe, but goes to bed hungry? When the economy takes a downturn, should we still go up into space? NASA missions aren't cheap - sending astronauts into low Earth orbit or to the Moon, sending robotic spacecraft to explore the planets, and launching telescopes into space can cost millions or even billions of dollars. Lou Friedman, director of the Planetary Society, argues that even when the dollar is dear, the quest to explore our universe is priceless.

What's so funny about space and science? Our season finale features the incomparable comedian Joan Rivers. In this episode, she provides color commentary for a Red Carpet parade of previous show topics, including space tourism, the anniversary of Apollo 11, and the search for alien life (both in space and in Hollywood).

The Star Trek TV and movie series imagine a bright future for humans in space, one in which we explore alien worlds with the aid of advanced technology. Because the writers tried to include as much realistic science as possible within the fictional framework, the stories have been an inspiration for students, scientists, inventors, and anyone interested in pondering our destiny on Earth and beyond.

Geometry, physics, and the other sciences describe the world we live in, and artists often play with these properties in their own imaginative investigations. From the drawings of Leonardo Da Vinci to high-tech computer graphics, Neil and Lynne paint a picture of how science has inspired art through the ages.

Space is now big business. Technology originally developed for the space program sometimes ends up in products for use on Earth, often in surprising ways. The 40,000 certified "Space Products" range from mattresses to medical devices, and have turned space into a multi-billion-dollar industry. Inspired by our excursions into the Final Frontier, entrepreneurs and inventors are turning stardust into gold.

Scientists have been searching for aliens in our solar system and beyond, but have not yet found evidence that life exists beyond Earth. SETI, the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence, has been scanning the stars for alien radio beacons for 50 years. Radio and TV broadcasts have been leaking from Earth's atmosphere for over a century, and these traveling time capsules could eventually reach a broader audience than ever imagined.

Neues vom Bestsellerautor von Das Universum für Eilige: Wie schaut der Kosmos auf die menschliche Zivilisation? In einer Zeit der gesellschaftlichen Spaltung blickt der Star-Astrophysiker Neil deGrasse Tyson mit der kosmischen Brille auf die Menschheit und zeigt auf, was uns auf der Erde politisch und kulturell zusammenschweißt. Gleichzeitg liefert er ein leidenschaftliches Plädoyer für wissenschaftliches und rationales Denken ab.