Cosmos with Neil DeGrass Tyson

FOX Broadcasting Company | Full Episodes, Shows, Schedule#the new series, where Neil follows and takes up the reins passed to him by Carl SagenWorth watching.So what do the news outlets focus onBreaking News Stories from US and Around the World | MSN Newswhat it says about religion ... http://www.nbcnews.com/...at-discovery-could-be-yours-n48646Obama Launches 'Cosmos': 'The Next Great Discovery Could Be YoursThat's surely going to rile up the GOP anti-science crowd.Edited by RAZD, : added

This could easily turn into a unfocussed discussion of everything mentioned in the show. How to control that? Where do you want this put?

Due to the potential for wide ranging discussion, perhaps coffee house would be best

But it will be covering topics that are all not coffee house topics so I am pretty sure it doesn't belong there.Any other admin opinions?

Thread copied here from the Cosmos with Neil DeGrass Tyson thread in the Proposed New Topics forum.

...which is the TV show. Any issues raised in it will require spin off threads.

Ironically, the network responsible for this series is none other than Fox itself. So if the GOP get's their panties in a bunch regarding the content of the new Cosmos, are they going to boycott Fox? Wouldn't that be hilarious.

Indeed. Cosmos & the Creationists: Why Some People Hate Science on Television

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There have been shamefully few instances of real scientists presenting real science on American television, but the Cosmos series was an exception--a stark exception, groundbreaking in the depth and detail of its explanations of the state of knowledge about our universe and our history. This series became a McLuhanesque event, uniting a global village of those fascinated by science with those who practice science. What’s not to like about helping the curious learn more about the universe? What could be better than presenting serious scientific information in such an accessible way that everyone comes away better informed? Who doesn’t love Cosmos?

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Well, creationists for one. Many took deep umbrage at Cosmos’s existence and messages.

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Answers in Genesis, perhaps the most influential creationist organization in the United States, inveighed against Sagan’s series ...

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Creationists quickly seized on Sagan’s the cosmos is all that is quote as evidence that his PBS series was some dastardly and nefarious plot to expropriate taxpayer money in the service of promoting atheism. One such example of this line of reasoning came from the Discovery Institute ...

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It’s amazingand somewhat disturbingthat in 2014 we’re still hearing the same anti-science arguments bandied around after 1980. But this shouldn’t come as much of a surprise; creationists haven’t had many original claims to make since the 1925 Scopes trial.

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So we can expect a lot of sturm und drang without any real substance ... because some people happen to be outraged by the thought of people being free to think without blinders.

I can't put my finger on it, but I can't stand watching Tyson present science. It's like fingers on a chalkboard. Can't explain it. Can't stand Kaku most of the time, either. Maybe I'm getting too crotchety in my early middle ages.

Kaku I will give you. For all his smarts his presentation is all platitudes - dull, stale, overused.Tyson, though, is fresh. Get him in a room with a few nutcases and his tongue is as sharp as his mind. He has the personality to pull this off very well. What he lacks, however, is a prominent left nostril for the camera to zoom in to.

I've seen this show billed as a re-make of Carl Sagan's series. Can anyone confirm that?

It's more of a revival. Have you watched it yet? (link in Message 1)

I watched it with my 12 year old son. I thought it was very nicely done with great special effects and well presented science. My son loved it and watched transfixed for the entire hour. He hasn't done that EVER. He even made sure to set up the DVR to record them all.As a kid who was fascinated by science at an early age, my greatest inspirations were my father (who gave me science books every birthday and Christmas), Sagan's Cosmos, In Search Of, and Star Trek.And while NDT is no Carl Sagan, he did a fine job.Edited by roxrkool, : No reason given.

I just finished watching ten minutes ago and I enjoyed it. I particularly enjoyed the tale of Giordano Bruno. I've always thought of Bruno as more of a strange dude than a scientist and I think that was well depicted. Looking forward to the next episode.

In my country that series starts on a few channels at 19:30 on March 16. Then repeated a few times on other channels from 23:00 that same night. Looking forward to it.I've looked up who Neil DeGrassTyson is (only seen him briefly on one programme before), and he seems to be quite eloquent.Seeing that you guys are mostly American, have you ever watched programmes presented by physicist Brian Cox? (I'm not sure whether you have or not in the US).He's presented quite a few programmes aired on Nat Geo, Nat Geo Wild, etc. in this country.What a fantastic teacher. He explains things on cosmology, physics, etc., for lay persons like me, to actually be able to start understanding it. He makes it seem as if it is easy. He's a naturally born teacher.When he started presenting programmes with themes outside of his area of expertise, he got the experts to present with him. What an intelligent move he made. What a genius and a teacher.Have you US guys ever heard of Prof. Brian Cox or seen him in operation?Edited by Pressie, : No reason given.