One of the most enjoyable parts of watching the recording of an episode of Cosmic Queries on StarTalk Radio is watching astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson answer questions on the fly.

He really hasn’t ever seen the question before the comic co-host asks it. The comic co-host is scanning through page after page of questions that have been provided by you, our fans, to find ones he or she thinks Neil will like, or might not be able to answer, or might be fun. (Yes, it’s true, our co-hosts have been guilty of playing “Try and Stump the Astrophysicist” on occasion.)

In this Sunday’s episode, Leighann Lord asked Neil, “Is there a way to harness lightning energy to make an efficient lightning farm?”

To which Neil replied, “That’s the first I’ve heard of this, and I think it’s amazing, and I can even explain how it works, even though I only just learned of it.”

I don’t want to talk about the answer, which you can hear for yourself tomorrow night.

What I want to talk about is physics.

The other day, my daughter asked me what physics was, and I answered, “It’s the science of the way things work.” And then she asked me, “So then what is astrophysics?” And I said, “The way the universe works.” Now I know that was a bit of a throwaway answer, and that a real answer would be much more in-depth. But I’m practicing giving my eight-year-old daughter an answer she can use, and not boring her to death with an exhaustive treatise. (Or, to paraphrase my wife, when my daughter asks, “Where do babies come from” I shouldn’t launch into a discussion of DNA, ovums and spermatozoa.)

“The way things work.” I never appreciated science in school. I took all the required science courses, but physics wasn’t required, so I never took it. And I really think I missed out on something. Somehow, I never got the memo that if I studied physics, I’d understand how the world works around me. And even if I hadn’t ever encountered the problem before, I’d have the right tools to figure out an answer, or at least to come up with a pretty good hypothesis.

So it’s fun for me to watch Neil, my personal astrophysicist (don’t get jealous, he’s yours too!) figure something out on the fly. My all time favorite moment from a Cosmic Queries recording session came when someone asked Neil how much time would pass on Earth if one flew at the speed of light to the nearest black hole, stayed there for a year, and came home, or something to that effect. And Neil didn’t reach for his ever-present laptop to figure out the answer. He grabbed a yellow pad and a pen and started doing equations.

“The way things work.” It’s a heck of a concept. Imagine what life could be like if everyone in the world actually knew how the world around them worked?

By the way, you can watch the Cosmic Queries video below. It picks up after the break, after Neil finished his calculations, which he then explains, and which you can see on the yellow pad around 1:14 into the video. As for this week’s episode of StarTalk Radio: Cosmic Queries: Answers at the Speed of Light, that will be available on iTunes, Stitcher, and our website this Sunday night at 7:00 PM ET.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Jeffrey Simons

The supermoon of March 19, 2011 (right), compared to an average moon of December 20, 2010 (left). Note the size difference. Image Credit: Marco Langbroek, the Netherlands, via Wikimedia Commons.

Got ya, didn’t I? You thought, with Man of Steel opening this Friday, that I was going to write about the latest spectacular object to streak across our sky.

Well, I am, sort of, but only if I continue to torture this dying horse. (After all, the Moon hardly “streaks.”) But if you look up at the Moon on either June 22 or June 23, you’re in for a rare lunar treat.

Have you ever gazed at the Moon and thought, “Am I going crazy, or does the Moon look bigger than normal?” Well, if you have, and it happened to be the right time, then no, you’re not going crazy. (Of course, if it wasn’t the night of a Super Moon, all bets are off.)

Super Moons, or “perigee full moons” occur when the Moon’s orbit brings our satellite closest to the Earth at the same time that the Moon is fully illuminated by the sun.  Last month’s full moon, which blew out retinas on May 24-25, was also a super moon. Of course, perigee varies, and therefore so do supermoons. And June’s supermoon will be the closest to Earth for all of 2013.

This month, here in the US, the exact moment of the Super Moon is early June 23 at 7:32 a.m. EDT, 6:32 a.m. CDT, 5:32 a.m. MDT and 4:32 a.m. PDT.

By the way, if you want to know all about supermoons, including perigee distances, future dates, a map of lunar visibility and more, check out EarthSky.org’s “Most “super” supermoon of 2013 on June 22-23.”

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

Can we actually learn anything from thinking about a Zombie Apocalypse? The CDC thinks so.

What can we actually learn from thinking about a Zombie Apocalypse?

It turns out, more than you might think.

Because at first glimpse, it seems ludicrous that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would create the posters shown above. And it seems even more ridiculous that the US Naval War College would invite Max Brooks to lecture there.

Here’s why it’s not.

The CDC is using the concept of a zombie outbreak to get kids to pay attention to disaster preparedness. Talking about storing bottled water and food and blankets and flashlights to a kid in case of a natural disaster can be like talking to a wall, but throw in a few zombies and they’re all ears.

And the Naval War College asked Max Brooks, author of World War Z and The Zombie Survival Guide, to speak to them not about zombies, but about the fact that, sans zombies, his books represent credible, step-by-step scenarios of how society could unravel in a global crisis.

If instead of Max Brooks, the Naval War College invited Laurie Garret, Zombie Apocalypse Part 2’s other guest, they might not like what she has to say.

You see, Laurie Garrett is a science journalist who reports on outbreaks from the inside. She’s been on the ground during an outbreak of the Black Plague in India, inside China during the SARS outbreak, and in Zaire for an Ebola epidemic for which she won the Pulitzer Prize for Explanatory Journalism.

And according to Laurie, “Fear kills in an epidemic” and people, including governments, behave stupidly. In this episode, she tells host Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Eugene Mirman how the Chinese government’s cover up of the SARS outbreak cost people their lives around the world. (A story they apparently didn’t want her to tell: they tried arresting her when she was in China.)

She talks about how the CIA’s actions have inadvertently led to the murders of polio aid workers by Al Qaeda, Taliban and other Islamists around the world. And how Vladimir Putin and the Russians have not only never completely shut down their biological warfare apparatus, but also no outside inspectors have been allowed to see what they’re up to.

If you thought Dr. Ira Lipkin was scary in Zombie Apocalypse Part 1, then you’re in trouble with Laurie in Part 2. She tells us about XDR Tuberculosis, the extremely drug resistant strain of TB with a very low survival rate that’s spreading through the disenfranchised populations around the world. And how scientists are manipulating viruses that couldn’t previously spread between mammals to be able to jump species now. And what could possibly go wrong with that?

Scariest takeaway: that scientists (and others) can make microorganisms by sequencing their genes on a computer, email the code to a 3-D printer, and then print them out using nucleotide “ink.” (And if you’re not scared by that, then you must know something the CIA, FBI, NSC, CDC and WHO don’t… because they are.)

Listen to Zombie Apocalypse Part 2 tomorrow night at 7:00 pm ET with Neil deGrasse Tyson, Eugene Mirman, Max Brooks and Laurie Garrett.

And then be afraid. Be very afraid. Just not of zombies.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
–Jeffrey Simons

From The Tonight Show in 1980: Johnny Carson impersonating Carl Sagan, while Ed McMahon plays it straight.

Want a laugh? Good, because it’s time for some new Cosmic Quips and Clips from our comedy contributor, @DanJPerlman. For those of you who don’t know, the videos in our Cosmic Quips and Clips playlist are our favorite videos we’ve discovered on YouTube where comedy collides with science and pop culture.

We’ll start with a clip from Johnny Carson doing Carl Sagan on The Tonight Show. (For you youngins out there, once upon a time, a long, long time ago, before Jay Leno, a many named Johnny Carson hosted The Tonight Show for a few, well, let’s say 30, years. And the guy with him in the video is Ed McMahon, perhaps the greatest “second banana” ever.)

Following “The King of Late-Night” is Pete Kern talking about moon landing conspiracy theorists, and his funny take on what it would mean if they were right.

Next up, two clips from Ricky Gervais and company. In each of them Karl Pilkington shows off his scientific “knowledge.” Karl may remind you of those friends you have that claim to be “seriously into science” but, as you’ve no doubt realized, the way they define science and the way you define science are completely different things. (The first clip takes about 10 seconds to start, so hang in there.)

Finally, the last bit is from Abby Harrison, who talks about Pluto, and the scientists behind its demotion. (I wonder who she’s talking about?)

We hope you enjoyed this latest installment of “Cosmic Quips and Clips.” For more, check out all our Cosmic Quips and Clips on our YouTube Channel, as well as plenty of our own “Behind the Scenes” video segments.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

The birth of the modern Zombie Apocalypse: George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead” from 1968.

Times have changed in the zombieverse, especially when it comes to pondering the causes of a zombie apocalypse. These days, nobody buys the George Romero, radiation-from-a-satellite-causes-the-dead-to-rise type of zombie apocalypse. And zombies created as a result of a voodoo curse seem so old-fashioned, even quaint. But a 28-Days-Later-Walking-Dead-zombie-virus/pathogen type of apocalypse? Somehow, that seems a bit more… plausible.

Because viruses are scary. Viruses like the ones in Outbreak or Contagion are scary enough. But viruses that turn people into zombies, like Rage does in 28 Days Later? That’s sleep-with-all-the-lights-on scary.

Not that I, myself, believe in the possibility of a Zombie Apocalypse, any more than I believe in super powered mutants like the X-Men or aliens like Superman. But that doesn’t mean I don’t love me some brain-munching entertainment whenever I can get it.

So I couldn’t wait to listen to Zombie Apocalypse Part 1, this Sunday’s podcast, in which Neil deGrasse Tyson interviews Max Brooks.

Max Brooks is to zombies what his dad, Mel, is to comedy: a master of the genre. His books, The Zombie Survival Guide and World War Z, may be the most “realistic” treatments of zombies ever written. Certainly that I’ve ever read. (Props to the Walking Dead comic books, but I have never read a more vividly haunting zombie scene than the one in the church in Topeka, Kansas in World War Z.)

If you’re a fan, you won’t be disappointed. In Part 1, Max talks about where he got his ideas for his zombie virus, the differences between fast and slow zombies from a storyteller’s perspective, and more. He even describes some of the most recent developments in “zombie science” – research papers, mathematical models of viral spread, and a book written by a Harvard doctor comparing the brain patterns of zombies to those of crocodiles.

But to be honest, nothing Max said was very scary. After all, he is just a writer, and however realistic his zombies, they are still science fiction.

No, what was truly terrifying about this episode came from Neil’s other guest: Dr. Ian Lipkin. Not only is Dr. Lipkin the Director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University, but he is also a Professor of Epidemiology, as well as Neurology and Pathology. And he’s the Director of the Northeast Biodefense Center. (Just the fact that we have one of these (and need one) is scary in and of itself.)

Dr. Lipkin talked about Ebola, and Cholera, and SARS, and West Nile, and Rabies. And those weren’t even the worst. When he said his top 3 viruses, in order, were HIV, Influenza and “the one he doesn’t know about yet,” that’s when I started to get really worried.

Because the “one” he doesn’t know about turned out to be an understatement. There are actually between 500,000 and 1,000,000 undiscovered viruses out there just waiting to liquefy my internal organs and send blood pouring out of my eyeballs.

I don’t know about you, but given the choice between dodging a mindless, ravening horde of nonexistent zombies or outrunning an actual, mindless airborne pathogen whose only purpose is to use my body as a disposable breeding ground, I’ll take the zombies every time.

Listen to Zombie Apocalypse Part 1 tomorrow night at 7:00 pm ET, featuring Neil deGrasse Tyson, Eugene Mirman, Max Brooks and Dr. Ian Lipkin. Whether you’re worried about a fictional zombie apocalypse or a real viral outbreak, you’ll find plenty to keep you up at night.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

As some of you may have noticed, we’re in the early stages of building the StarTalk Radio Cosmic Community of academic and scientific organizations, programming groups, schools and astronomy clubs that will promote excitement and interest in STEM education.

One way we’ll be helping our community members is spreading the word about the exciting events they’re planning by posting them here on the blog, in our newsletter, and via social media. In this post, we’ve got upcoming events from the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York and Cincinnati Observatory.

Amateur Astronomers Association of New York

By Jaclyn Avidon, Instructor, Amateur Astronomers Association of New York

The Amateur Astronomers Association of New York has a very busy summer ahead! Our Summer Astronomy Class, entitled “Cosmology: It All Started With A Bang” kicks off in July and runs for 6 weeks (I’ll be teaching it).

One of our board members, Jason Kendall, will be giving two talks at the Inwood Branch of the New York Public Library — one talk entitled “Life in the Universe” is on July 13th, and the other “The Big Bang: Latest Results from Planck” is on August 10th.

We also have many observing events. Every Tuesday night we observe at the High Line in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan. On June 1st and 2nd we’re partnering with the World Science Festival to host observing events in Brooklyn and Manhattan, and we have many other observing sessions planned throughout the summer at various locations in NYC.

On June 1 we will be observing at Brooklyn Bridge Park from 8pm-10pm. We’ll be looking at the beautiful vista Jupiter, Mercury, and Venus will provide and there will be astronomers and live music.

On June 2 we will be in Washington Square Park all day with a few telescopes set up. There’s a big science street fair going on. Both of these events are for the World Science Festival. The links to both events are below:

http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/events/dance_of_the_planets

http://worldsciencefestival.com/events/ultimate_science_street_fair2013

For more information about these and other events from the Amateur Astronomers Association of New York, visit http://www.aaa.org/.

The Cincinnati Observatory Center

By Dean Regas, Astronomer, Cincinnati Observatory and Co-host of Star Gazers on PBS

Sun-day Sunday Sundae

Sunday June 9 and July 14, from 1-4pm

The Sun is the star attraction on this Sunday and you can learn all about our nearest stellar neighbor. Sun-day Sunday Sundae includes hourly programs about the Sun, tours of our historic buildings, and safe viewing of sunspots and solar flares out of our 1843 telescope (weather permitting). As a special treat we will also have free sundaes for those in attendance.

No reservations needed.  Drop on in. All ages welcome.

Cost: $7 per person.

Supermoon 2013

Saturday June 22, 8-10pm

Not all Full Moons are created equal. Some are closer to the Earth than others and every 14 months we get a slightly larger Full Moon. These Supermoons make the Moon appear 14% bigger in the sky.

Join us at the Observatory to watch the Supermoon rise above the eastern horizon at 8:20pm and see if you can tell the difference. Supermoon includes tours of the two Observatory buildings and viewing through the historic telescopes of Venus and Saturn (weather permitting).

No reservations needed.

Cost: $5 per person

The Cincinnati Observatory Center is located at 3489 Observatory Place, Cincinnati, OH 45208. For more information about these and other events from The Cincinnati, please visit www.cincinnatiobservatory.org or call 513-321-5186.

If you’re in the New York or Cincinnati areas this June or July, you may want to add these events to your calendar.

And if you are a member of an organization that you think would make a perfect member of our Cosmic Community, fill out this very short contact form now  and we’ll be in touch. And if you have any news, please email it to our Social Media coordinator, Stacey Severn at Stacey@startalkradio.net.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

From this summer’s Man of Steel. TM & © 2013 WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. TM & © DC COMICS (From DC Entertainment)

It’s shaping up to be an awesome summer for superhero fans. The season kicked off with a blockbuster Iron Man 3… much better than the average third installment of most super hero sagas. And we’ve still got the Superman reboot, Man of Steel, which looks incredible, the next movie in the X-Men franchise, The Wolverine, and the sequel to Kick-Ass.

Which makes it the perfect time to revisit a classic episode of StarTalk Radio, The Physics of Superheroes. After all, if you are into super heroes, you’ve participated in more than your share of discussions about who’s stronger, who’s faster, who’s smarter, who’s… you get the point. And injecting a healthy dose of scientific fact into those discussions may not be a bad thing.

And by scientific fact, I don’t mean something like Sheldon’s classic line from The Big Bang Theory: “Your argument is lacking in all scientific merit. It is well established Superman cleans his uniform by flying into Earth’s yellow sun, which incinerates any contaminate matter and leaves the invulnerable Kryptonian fabric unharmed and daisy fresh.”

No, I’m talking about the kind of science and physics you get from listening to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and his guest, physicist and author James Kakalios discuss whether science could actually give us Superman’s X-ray vision, Spider-Man’s web shooters, Wonder Woman’s bullet-stopping bracers, The Flash’s super speed, or Batman’s “wonderful toys.” Or Princeton University molecular biologist Lee Silver talking about actual abilities that exist in the animal kingdom that could be manipulated and added to human biology to create real “super powers.” (And we’re not talking about shrinking – take that, Ant-Man!)

In fact, if you’re interested in a little science with your super heroes, don’t stop with just Part 1. In The Physics of Superheroes, the Sequel the conversation with Neil and James continues. This time, though, theoretical physicist Michio Kaku is along for the ride, which delves into the realm of quantum mechanics and nanotechnology to explore the possibility of super powers. The discussion includes Green Lantern, Phoenix, Doctor Manhattan, Dr. Solar, Professor X and more.

Each episode is co-hosted by a different kind of comic super hero: Eugene Mirman wonders what it would be like to leap tall buildings in a single bound in the first, while Chuck Nice wants to make the world “Kneel before Zod” in the sequel.

Make sure your super hero arguments aren’t “lacking in all scientific merit” – listen now:  The Physics of Superheroes & The Physics of Superheroes, the Sequel

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

Mercury, Venus, Jupiter and more, 45 minutes past sunset on May 24th.
© 2013, Sky & Telescope

The tightest alignment of Mercury, Venus and Jupiter that we can see with our own eyes until 2026! The return of Manhattanhenge! This weekend and next week could be an excellent time for looking up… if the weather cooperates.

Mercury, Venus and Jupiter

When it comes to the planetary alignment, Sky & Telescope magazine  has an excellent article and timetable here, which I encourage everyone to check out. They have viewing instructions and images showing what you’ll see every night about 45 minutes after sunset, from May 24 through May 31.

According to S&T, the three planets will appear so close together that you can cover them with your thumb, and view all three at the same time using a pair of binoculars. Of course, when it comes to space, appearances are deceiving. To quote Sky & Telescope, “Although the three planets may look close together, they’re not. During the last week of May, Mercury is about 9 light-minutes from Earth (105 million miles), Venus is farther at 14 light-minutes (150 million miles), and Jupiter is 51 light-minutes from us (565 million miles). The fainter star Elnath or Beta (β) Tauri, which appears with them in the scene, is more than a million times farther in the background at a distance of 130 light-years.”

Sunset looking down 34th Street. One of two days when the sunset is exactly aligned with the grid of streets in Manhattan.
Copyright © 2001, Neil deGrasse Tyson

Manhattanhenge

Next week, on May 28^th and 29^th, it’s off to Manhattan for the biannual solar event known as Manhattanhenge, a term coined by none other than our host, Neil deGrasse Tyson, who is also the director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

Twice a year, the setting Sun aligns precisely with the streets of Manhattan, as Neil describes it, “creating a radiant glow of light across Manhattan’s brick and steel canyons, simultaneously illuminating both the north and south sides of every cross street of the borough’s grid. A rare and beautiful sight.”

On Tuesday, May 28^th, you’ll get to see the half Sun on the street grid at 8:16 pm EDT. On Wednesday, May 29^th, you’ll see the full Sun, at 8:15 pm EDT. (By the way, Neil says he prefers the half Sun for photographs.) The process repeats in reverse in July, when the full Sun is visible on Friday, July 12 at 8:23 pm EDT and the half Sun the day after, on Saturday, July 13 at 8:24 pm EDT.

For a great description and the best cross streets to witness the event, head on over to the Manhattanhenge page on the American Museum of Natural History’s website.

So there you have it. Not only is it Memorial Day Weekend, which means many of you actually get a break from work, but if the weather plays along (and given its track record for recent celestial happenings, that’s a mighty big if), this could be a great week to keep looking up. Speaking of a break from work, for those of you who subscribe to the newsletter, just a heads up that there won’t be an issue tomorrow.

That’s it for now. Have a great Memorial Day Weekend! Keep Looking Up!

– Jeffrey Simons

Astronauts at work on the International Space Station. Credit: NASA

One of my earliest memories is sitting on my mother’s lap and watching the launch of the last Mercury flight, Gordon Cooper in Faith 7. I was so young that it’s just a sliver of a memory, but I think it was at that moment that I, like most boys of my generation, decided to become an astronaut.

Of course, like most boys of my generation, I never did.

But the space program remained a fixture in my life. I watched Gemini, I watched Apollo. I watched Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz and the Shuttles and the ISS. And I watched them through a childlike filter, not really thinking about the business of space exploration, budgets and politics and hidden agendas.

Like me, you may not think about the space program the same way after listening to Space Chronicles Parts 1 and 2.

In Part 2, which will be available this Sunday at 7 pm ET, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and Professor John Logsdon talk a lot about the ISS and the post-cold war space program. And these are two guys who know what they’re talking about. Neil served on both President George W. Bush’s Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry in 2001 and the President’s Commission on Implementation of United States Space Exploration Policy (the “Moon, Mars, and Beyond” commission) in 2004. And John is a current member of the NASA Advisory Council, and was a member of the Columbia space shuttle Accident Investigation Board, as well as holding the first Chair in Space History at the National Air and Space Museum and founding the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.

So when they talk about the real reason the Russians were invited to participate in the International Space Station, it’s not with the starry-eyed wonder of a kid who believes that it was just the first step towards a United Earth on the path to the eventual United Federation of Planets.

When Neil and John discuss the value of the experimentation on the ISS, it’s with this question in mind: if you offered the scientific community $3 billion for experiments, would they choose to spend it out in space, or here on Earth? ($3 billion is the annual cost of the ISS.)

And when Neil gets around to discussing President Obama’s 2011 State of the Union speech, AKA America’s “Sputnik Moment,” the little boy that remembered that flight wanted to curl up in a ball.

Listening to these two reminded me that it is sometimes nice not to be an insider, to not know how things really work. To be able to watch Chris Hadfield sing David Bowie and not think about the politics of the space program, or the money, just what it would be like to be an astronaut.

But of course, that is naïve. We are all StarTalk Radio fans because we want to know how things work. We want to know the science, not the superstition. We want to base our worldview on facts, not fiction.

Listen to Space Chronicles Part 2 tomorrow night at 7:00 pm ET and you’ll get plenty of facts and a healthy dose of reality.

But one suggestion: If you have a 3-year-old who wants to be an astronaut when he or she grows up, listen to this episode without them. Leave them their childhood for a little longer.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up.
–Jeffrey Simons

In this case, the era ending was Commander Chris Hadfield’s two expeditions on the International Space Station, first as a crew member of Expedition 34, and then as Commander of the ISS for Expedition 35.

The song, of course, was Hadfield’s cover of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity,” which as of the writing of this post had gotten over 11,270,600 views on YouTube in the three days since it was posted. (Now I’m not a big fan of cover versions, but I have to give Chris credit for infusing Bowie’s tune with new meaning and an unfathomable depth of emotion.)

As StarTalk Radio’s Social Media Director, I have watched Chris take the Twitterverse by storm, tweeting @Cmdr_Hadfield and amassing over 947,900 followers in a short period of time. His tweet-exchange with William Shatner, and eventually George Takei (on Facebook), Leonard Nimoy, and Wil Wheaton, is now famous. And while I didn’t catch Chris’s AMA on Reddit, I hear it’s one of the best ever. According to Reddit, “I Am Astronaut Chris Hadfield, currently orbiting planet Earth” is the #8 AMA of all time. (A small part of me remains proud that Neil’s AMA is still #3 all time, behind Barak Obama and Bill Gates.)

Tweet exchange between Chris Hadfield, commander of the ISS, and William Shatner, who played James T Kirk, captain of the Enterprise on Star Trek.

Chris wasn’t the first astronaut to tweet, mind you. That honor belongs to friend of the show @Astro_Mike Massimino (1,261,799 followers) who sent the first tweet from space at 4:30 pm ET Tuesday, May 12, 2009: “From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!”

And he may not have sent the most famous tweet from space, which most likely belongs to NASA’s Mars Curiosity Rover (1,348,569 followers), which tweeted from the planet Mars: “I’m safely on the surface of Mars. GALE CRATER I AM IN YOU!!! #MSL” and received 70,583 retweets.

But what Chris Hadfield did was extraordinary. To a greater extent than anyone else before him, Chris took all of us up with him to the International Space Station, and he let us see what he saw as he saw it.

I have often wondered if David Bowie’s song inspired anyone to become an astronaut. But as I watch Chris Hadfield sing it, strumming a guitar and floating through the ISS as he prepared to say farewell to space, I have no doubt in my mind that somewhere, out there, there is more than one future astronaut thinking, “Someday, that’s going to be me up there.”

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

The Bumper V-2 was the first missile launched at Cape Canaveral on July 24, 1950. Image Credit: NASA

By the time NASA cancelled the Apollo program, most of America had stopped caring anyway. So it’s easy to assume that the reason they stopped was public indifference and a lack of support for funding.

But what if that wasn’t the reason?

When the Soviet Union launched Sputnik into orbit, ushering in the “Space Race,” it is logical to think that the reason Eisenhower started NASA was to put a man in space, and on the moon, before the Russians, to establish US technological and military supremacy.

But what if the former supreme commander of the allied forces in WWII, a military man who’d watched his nation caught by surprise when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, had different concerns than national pride?

When you listen to StarTalk Radio: Space Chronicles Part 1 (available Sunday, 5/12/13 at 7pm ET), the answers may surprise you, or they may not. But one thing is for sure: listening to Prof. John Logsdon, who founded the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, was a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board, and is currently a member of the NASA Advisory Council, and astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who runs the Hayden Planetarium, and has served on two presidential commissions, you get the distinct sense that the public wasn’t always on the same page as the government when it comes to the exploration – and exploitation – of space.

Take Operation Paperclip. It was the secret program that brought Nazi German scientists to the United States after World War II. At a time when the world was prosecuting war criminals, and in spite of President Truman’s orders that Paperclip should not recruit former Nazis, the forerunner of the CIA created false records for the scientists and snuck them into the US. Among the Paperclip scientists: Wernher von Braun, the technical director of the German rocket facility at Peenemunde, where his team developed the V-2. Can you guess what the first rocket to ever take off at Cape Canaveral was? Von Braun went on to become the first director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center and develop the Saturn V, which took the US to the Moon.

This is just Part 1. I can’t wait to hear Part 2, and find out what else I thought I knew about the exploration of space.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

Members of the Boothe Memorial Astronomical Society at a star party last year in Savoy, MA. — with Elliot Severn, Stacey David Severn, Jim Cortina, Eric Baumgartner and Katherine Baumgartner at Shady Pines Campground.

As many of you know, our Social Media Coordinator, Stacey David Severn, is an amateur astronomer. She’s also spearheading our StarTalk Radio Cosmic Community outreach to academic and scientific organizations, programming groups, schools and astronomy clubs that will help promote excitement and interest in STEM education. Here’s her guest blog post about local astronomy clubs in the Northeast, including her club, the Boothe Memorial Astronomical Society, which is a charter member of our nascent Cosmic Community. (For more about the Cosmic Community, or to sign up your own group, click here.)

Astronomy clubs in our area came into their heyday in the 1950s, when Sputnik was all the rage and sending people into space to discover what surrounds the earth became humankind’s passion. In 1953, the Boothe Memorial Astronomical Society in Stratford, CT completed their construction of the “Big Eye,” an enormous telescope housed under the observatory dome in Boothe Memorial Park. That same year, the Astronomical Society of New Haven, in existence since 1937, became incorporated.

The public was quickly swept up in wonder, and fueling a growing thirst to know more about what lay beyond our Earth’s horizon, the clubs quickly gained popularity. Area astronomy groups continued to thrive through the Mercury, Gemini, and early Apollo programs, but by the time the Shuttle program came around, space travel was taken for granted, and the skies were largely ignored by people outside the scientific community.

Enter John Dobson, a former monk and founder of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers. In the 1960s, John designed an inexpensive, easy-to-build telescope mount that revolutionized amateur astronomy. He began a movement to bring telescopes out into the public, to street corners, National parks – anywhere there were people – and show them the heavens. Dobson, now 97, has regularly made visits to Connecticut and spent time with members of local clubs teaching, building telescopes, taking them out to the streets, and has been a fixture at the Connecticut Star Party (sponsored by ASNH) for many years.

At a time when science education is really missing the mark, members of our local astronomy groups follow John Dobson’s lead, spending a great deal of time doing public educational outreach. This involves regular observing at area parks and beaches, along with meetings and observing nights at our local observatories.

In June, Venus crossed in front of the sun (Venus Transit), an event that won’t occur again for over 100 years. Club members brought their telescopes to various public locales for people to view this special event, while my son and I chased clear skies all the way to the shore of Lake Ontario, where we set up two telescopes equipped for solar viewing in a school parking lot. In no time, much of the small town of Kendall, NY joined us to view this amazing celestial event, including a theater troupe and 3 vans of Cub Scouts.

This fall, members of both clubs joined together and set up telescopes at the annual PumpkinFest and at two local schools, where over 1000 sets of eyes were treated to views of both the sun and the night sky.

After many years associated with our astronomy club as publicist and event coordinator, it was my first time flying solo, running a telescope all by myself. I arrived with a car filled with a big blue 126-lb. telescope, some eyepieces, a chair, a smile, and crossed fingers. Since there were a lot of members with telescopes, I decided to make it my mission to find the moon and keep it in clear view all night. This is probably not a great feat for most, but for me it’s like making contact to the ball with a bat. (If you’ve seen my level of athletic prowess, you’ll understand!) I sat there proudly trained on the moon until it went down, as my friends surveyed the sky, showing our guests a variety of different celestial objects.

Just a few nights ago, our club hosted an open house to view Saturn, Jupiter, and various deep sky objects. In one night, through our combined efforts, guests were able to view many more objects than someone with a single telescope might ever see on their own.

If you want a treat, visit your local astronomy club and take in the night sky. And if you’re thinking of getting your own telescope, talk to the members before making an investment. If you decide to pursue astronomy with your own equipment, their knowledge and guidance can help match you up with the setup that is right for you; one that will yield maximum enjoyment.

At John Dobson’s 90th birthday celebration, a friend said something like, “The value of a telescope is not determined by what you paid for it. Its value comes from how many people have looked through it.” I’m feeling pretty rich right now.

Artist’s concept illustrating a dead star, or “white dwarf,” surrounded by the bits and pieces of a disintegrating asteroid. Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Back on February 15^th, we put up a blog post called “Asteroids, Meteors, Meteorites…What’s the Difference?” in response to the sometimes confusing media coverage a few days earlier of the twin events of a meteor exploding over Russia on the same day that asteroid 2012 DA14 flew past Earth.

A few of you read that post expecting it to explain the differences between the three, and were annoyed that we didn’t. Some of you even let us know. (Which, by the way, is one of the great things about you, our audience. You let us know what you’re thinking… sometimes in colorful detail. Can you say Bill Maher? Or Janeane Garofalo? But I digress…)

When it comes to this Sunday’s episode,” Cosmic Queries: Asteroids, Comets and Meteor Storms,” astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson leaves no extraterrestrial stone unturned. Not only does he explain the difference between comets, asteroids, meteoroids, meteors and meteorites, but he also throws in planets, dwarf planets and rogue planets for good measure. In answering questions provided by you, he travels from the Asteroid Belt to the Kuiper Belt, and beyond, to the furthest reaches of our solar system. He goes back in time to the formation of our Moon, and even earlier, to before our Sun was born, to discuss presolar grains found in asteroids that have impacted with other asteroids from outside our solar system.

This being Cosmic Queries, Neil also tackles a few of your most unusual questions. “Would it be possible to use an asteroid as an interplanetary bus service?” “Why would the government tell us if an extinction-level asteroid impact was imminent?” “What amount of trajectory modification can be achieved by painting an asteroid white?” “Would you rather be a pirate or a ninja?” Is it possible to have a planet made of THC (tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana), and, therefore, an asteroid?”

As comic co-host Chuck Nice says, “Where else but Cosmic Queries can you connect Able Lincoln with meteor showers?” (Oh yeah, there’s a story about Abe Lincoln, the Leonid Meteor Storm of 1833, and a doom-predicting preacher that you’re going to love.)

“Cosmic Queries: Asteroids, Comets and Meteor Storms” will be on our website and on iTunes Sunday night, May 5^th, at 7:00 PM ET.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

Did you get a haircut? Grow a beard? I know what it is: you got new glasses. No, that’s not it. There’s something different about you, though. I know there is.

The fact is, our audience has grown so much in the last few months, we don’t know who most of you are. Some of you were sent to us by IFLS on Facebook. Some of you found us on iTunes. Some of you have come from Google+. There are the multitudes that have come our way from @neiltyson on Twitter. I’ll bet a few of you even came over from Pinterest.

Please take our StarTalk Radio Listener Survey. It should take no more than 10 minutes. (That’s all it took me, and I filled in everything!) It’s administered by Podtrac (the people who serve our podcasts) so don’t worry when you see their name. They’re friendly, and not out to steal your personally identifiable information.

Click here to take the survey now.

Thank you for taking the time to help us better understand our community.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

Simulation of Planetary Planetary Resources capturing an asteroid in preparation for mining operations. © Copyright 2013 Planetary Resources.

I never got to listen to Andrew Carnegie or John D. Rockefeller describing their visions for the future of America. They were way before my time. But it’s hard not to get excited listening to Peter Diamandis explain exactly how Planetary Resources is going to find and mine near-earth approaching asteroids. His vision for a future where precious metals and technology-enabling minerals are abundant, where the scarcity of natural resources is no longer a factor in causing wars here on Earth, seems right out of a Gene Rodenberry future.

Except that, when you hear Diamandis describe the Arkyd-100 spacecraft which will find ideal candidates, and the Arkyd-200s which will approach them and determine the presence of Platinum Group Minerals (PGM) – ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum – it doesn’t feel like science fiction anymore.

It’s really going to happen… soon… now.

Another thing that helps me believe that this is real is listening to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson asking the questions. This isn’t some color commentator on a 24-hour cable news network gushing over the hot space story of the week. And one look at the Planetary Resources website’s “Team” page tells you that the people behind this operation are serious: Larry Page, Eric E. Schmidt and Sergey Brin of Google, Charles Simonyi (a 2-time space traveler and the Microsoft superstar responsible for Word and Excel), James Cameron… the list of people who achieve what they put their minds to goes on and on and on.

I’ve replayed this episode twice now, because, even though I’m a big science fiction fan, I get much more excited about our real forays into the final frontier.

You can listen to Neil, comic co-host Chuck Nice, and Peter Diamandis yourself on “Eureka! Asteroid Mining” this Sunday, April 28th at 7:00 PM EDT, here on our website and iTunes.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

A picture of the Moon taken with a home-built telescope by StarTalk Radio fan Carlucho Paris. (For a video of him grinding his mirror, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBuWG32Py1A)

This weekend I was at the Northeast Astronomy Forum, along with our Social Media Coordinator Stacey Severn and another StarTalk Volunteer, Susan Ranis.

This was my first NEAF, so I didn’t know what to expect. But many of the attendees who’d been there before, some of them year after year for many years, remarked that the show had fewer attendees, and many of those were older. (Note: I have since been told that the Sunday attendance was the highest attended day since the inception of the show, and vendor sales on Saturday equaled both days last year. See Dom’s comment below.)

I did notice that the vast majority of visitors and exhibitors were men, and older, rather than younger. Yes, there were couples, and families, but not as many as I would have liked to see.

It reminded me of the model railroading shows I attended in the past. Each year, the average age of the attendees got older, and their numbers grew smaller.

Sad for a hobby. Scary for something as important as astronomy.

All is not lost, however. I met Jupiter Joe, a sidewalk astronomer from the Bronx. He’s one of the current crop of stargazers in the grand tradition of Sidewalk Astronomers like John Dobson (founder of the San Francisco Sidewalk Astronomers and designer of the inexpensive Dobsonian telescope mount that revolutionized amateur astronomy).

He talked about how much fun he has when he sets up his telescope on a rooftop in the Bronx (not a borough known for it’s stargazing) and draws a crowd, eager to look up and see Jupiter with their own eyes or to get a close-up tour of the moon. He talked about the “aha moment” when the person looks into the eyepiece, then looks up, then back into the eyepiece, and something clicks in their brain.

The gleam in Jupiter Joe’s eyes as he described this was similar to the one I saw in Mark Rosengarten’s eyes. He’s a storm chasing, self-described “crazy chemistry teacher” at Washingtonville High School in Washingtonville, NY. Mark’s got to be something of an expert at delivering aha moments to kids, too, whether it’s through his classic chemistry songs like “Rock Me Avogadro” and “Schrodinger’s Cat Strikes Back” or his YouTube videos, which have over 4 million views.

I’m not going to get on a soapbox, and I’m not going to extrapolate the doom or salvation of our planet based on two days in an oversized gym in Suffern, NY.

But I am going to say something that I’m willing to bet most of you believe, if you’re a StarTalk Radio fan. (And why would you be reading this blog if you’re not?)

It is important for each and every one of us to do what we can to give the kids in our lives an “aha moment” when it comes to science, and to astronomy in particular. We’ve all heard Neil deGrasse Tyson’s passionate arguments that space exploration fuels education, discovery and achievement far beyond its narrowly defined parameters. But more than hearing Neil say it, we know it ourselves.

Looking up, looking out, looking beyond is not new. It was not born with the telescope and it will not end if shortsighted politicians choose to spend money on something else. It is an attribute of being human, and will remain so, as long as we pass it on to our children and teach them the joy and wonder of looking up.

What did I take away from NEAF? I bought a necklace made from a piece of the Sikhote-Alin meteorite that fell in Siberia in 1947. I also bought a couple of books filled with sky maps, beautiful drawings of the constellations along with their legends.

First I gave the books to my eight-year old daughter and she loved them. She went straight for Orion, which we had looked at countless times over the last few months.

Then I gave her the necklace. Her eyes went wide when I told her she was holding a piece of the universe that is thought to be 4.6 billion years old… maybe older than the Earth itself.

I could almost hear the click.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

Rapidly growing sunspots observed by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory Feb 19-20, 2013. Image Credit: NASA/SDO/AIA/HMI/Goddard Space Flight Center.

This Sunday, we’re revisiting a classic episode of StarTalk Radio, Revolving Around the Sun. And if you’ve never heard it before, you’re in for an illuminating episode about our favorite ball of plasma, Sol.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson and comic co-host Chuck Nice are joined in their solar sojourn by Steve Keil, director of the National Solar Observatory, and Judith Lean, a solar scientist in the Space Science Division of the Naval Research Laboratory. Bill Nye the Science Guy even drops by to discuss the shadow of the Sun and the work of the ancient astronomer Ptolemy.

You’ll dive into the core of the Sun to explore its magnetic fields, the causes of sunspots and solar storms, solar faculae and solar plage, solar maximums and solar minimums, and the movement of the Sun through the galaxy. You’ll learn about plasma, the fourth state of matter (and, as Chuck points out, an important part of many flat screen televisions). You’ll even look at the Sun from an entirely different perspective: ultra-violet.

Back on Earth, you’ll find out why the U.S. Navy is the biggest user of space, and why the Sun is the driver of their “extended operational environment.” From Stonehenge to Manhattanhenge, mini-ice ages to global warming, and sundials to geo-engineered solar umbrellas designed to block photons, it’s a journey of discovery into a subject that we see every day but are just beginning to really understand.

In fact, you don’t need to wait until Sunday night to satisfy your solar curiosity. You can listen right now.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

First American to Orbit the Earth: John Glenn at The Explorers Club, 3/16/13. Photo Credit: © 2013 Elliot Severn. All Rights Reserved.

The following blog post is written by StarTalk Radio’s Social Media Coordinator, Stacey David Severn.

I was recently lucky enough to attend The Explorers Club Annual Dinner weekend in New York City, which proved to be one surprise after another. Through the club’s “Exploring Legends” interview series, we were treated to an intimate first-hand history of the early space program through the eyes of John Glenn and Scott Carpenter, the last two remaining Mercury astronauts. This blog post will give you a front row seat to interviewer and adventurer Jim Clash’s insightful conversation with John Glenn, which took place in a packed ballroom at New York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel. Clash knows Glenn well; he interviewed the senator in his recent book, “The Right Stuff: Interviews with Icons of the 1960s.”

I first saw Senator Glenn and his wife, Annie, as they arrived outside the ballroom and stopped to chat with Mt. Everest climber Jim Whittaker (the subject of an “Exploring Legends” interview just two nights before). Then Senator and Mrs. Glenn entered the back of the ballroom for the program, stopping numerous times as they made their way to the front, posing for pictures, shaking hands, signing autographs, and smiling. The picture below is one I snapped of the Glenns when they first entered the room, where they stopped to greet Scott Carpenter and his wife Patty. It was great to see these lifelong friends together, and to witness beautiful moments between the two over the course of the day.

The Carpenters and the Glenns at The Explorers Club. Photo Credit: © 2013 Stacey David Severn. All rights reserved.

Senator Glenn had such a kindness about him, and his aura and carriage were, well, senatorial! He is warm, eloquent, younger at age 91 than many people I know who are half his age, and has a great sense of humor. He read us the following excerpt from a letter from a child who wrote a report about him, which left the audience laughing:

“I’m glad you’re still alive because a lot of my classmates’ biographical choices are already dead. I hope you write back.”

Glenn smiled and said, “That kid got the fastest reply ever.” The audience roared.

Clash’s interview questions and Senator Glenn’s responses gave us a good feel for the Mercury era, capturing the excitement and uncertainty of the time. Although Glenn wanted to fly other missions after becoming the first American to orbit the earth, he was never put back on rotation. Years later, a biography of President Kennedy revealed that Kennedy passed word to NASA that Glenn would not be used again. It’s been speculated that Kennedy did not want to risk the life of a national hero by sending Glenn back up into space. Senator Glenn ultimately realized his desire to return to space in 1998, as a member of the STS-95 crew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery.

Glenn’s pioneering orbital flight in the Mercury program came at a time when America’s rockets were still exploding on the launch pad. His quick-witted response to the question about how it feels when you’re getting ready to launch was, “How would you feel if you’re about to blast off sitting atop two million parts all built by the lowest bidder on a government contract?”

Asked about the differences between his Shuttle flight and his early Mercury mission, Glenn talked about how in the early 1960s we had no experience to fall back on; rocketry and space travel was all new territory. As we were learning, there were concerns about how the body would react to prolonged weightlessness. Would the eyes change shape? Would weightlessness affect the inner ear, and ultimately affect vision? There was actually a small eye chart on the control panel of the spacecraft, which Glenn had to read every 20 minutes. Concerns and unknowns included how the digestive tract would work in space, and Glenn related a story about how as kids he and his friends would try to swallow uphill. By the way, he told us it can’t be done!

Jim Clash interviews Mercury Astronaut John Glenn at The Explorers Club as part of the Exploring Legends series at The Explorers Club Annual Dinner weekend. Photo Credit: ©2013 Elliot Severn. All rights reserved.

Glenn talked about gazing back at the curvature of the earth from space, and how the colors of the spectrum looked during the frequent sunsets and sunrises. In space, for a few seconds when the sun is going down, the earth’s atmosphere breaks up the light spectacularly, revealing a “very different luminosity” than we see on earth, which Scott Carpenter described after his flight as “a campfire.” Glenn said the colors are something that can’t be described or captured – but something very special that has to be seen. He also talked about viewing the earth’s atmosphere from space, and how apparent it is that we (mankind) had better be careful, because that very fragile film of air is all we have protecting our planet.

There was also an odd sight outside the window during Glenn’s Mercury flight aboard Friendship 7. At the first sunrise, he glanced out and saw thousands of particles outside the spacecraft, with a glowing, luminous color reminiscent of fireflies. It was rather surprising, so he reported it. Scott Carpenter saw the same thing on the next flight as well. It was decided that these “fireflies” were moisture particles from the heat exchanger. Nobody ever figured out why the color was so luminous, and that part remains a mystery. By the way, if the Mercury spacecraft followed its original design, it would have had no window at all – and the fireflies, sunsets, and fragile atmosphere would not have been seen!

The Mercury astronauts used to joke that you didn’t ride in those early capsules, you wore them. Glenn made a point to mention how nice it was, on his Shuttle mission, to be able to move around and change clothes, and to participate in the wonderful science taking place in space. Much of Glenn’s role was related to the effects of space on the aging human body, and he had numerous experiments done to monitor him for the time he spent there.

Senator Glenn was very vocal about his dissatisfaction with the cancellation of the Shuttle program, and talked about the irony that the U.S. has to depend upon its cold war foes for transportation to the ISS. The focus of the space program has changed from the early Mercury days, shifting from the Cold War and competition to research, and he sees the research being done on the ISS as an immense value to all humankind.

The Glenns are passionate about education, and are actively involved in the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University. Their mission is to inspire citizenship and adult leadership, and to improve the level of education in the United States.

When his gracious manner was mentioned, Glenn said he doesn’t feel very humble. “I go along with Benjamin Franklin’s statement. ‘Humility is a great thing. If I was humble, I’d be so proud of it, I wouldn’t be humble anymore.’”

About exploration, Glenn said: “To explore is curiosity in action…If you’re a curious person, you’re curious not only about the geographic exploration (looking at the macro), but you’re also curious about the micro, which is laboratory, medicine, food, curing….exploration goes in both directions…the basis of the whole thing (exploration) is that you’re exercising curiosity about the world around us and what we can do about it.”

Just a few hours later, Glenn and Carpenter were introduced on- stage by parachute/balloon icon Col. Joe Kittinger, to receive The Explorers Club Legendary Explorer Medal from Explorers Club president Alan Nichols to thunderous applause by a capacity crowd. I thank them for their curiosity and courage, and feel so fortunate to have met these great men!

Scott Carpenter and John Glenn receiving their Legendary Explorer Medals from The Explorers Club president Alan Nichols. Photo Credit: © 2013 Elliot Severn. All rights reserved.

Anthony Bourdain

We all eat. Some of us even cook. And some of us think we know more about cooking than we really do because we watch way too much Food Channel.

But listening to Anthony Bourdain talk to Neil about food, I got the same sense I get when listening to Neil talk to anyone about astrophysics. There is an insight into what’s really important about the subject that cuts through expectation or supposition or pseudo-knowledge to real mastery forged from data and experience.

For instance, in the conclusion to A Seat at the Table with Anthony Bourdain, Neil asks Anthony about the secret to being a great chef. And I know I’ve heard plenty of chefs on TV talk about their secrets, their tricks that if we all could just learn from them, we’d all cook like top chefs in fancy restaurants. Do you know what Anthony Bourdain said? Professionals learn from getting it wrong, and getting it wrong, and getting it wrong until they get it right. He said there are no secrets, and that normal home chefs should approach cooking the same way.

It’s also interesting to hear Marion Nestle talk about it. She says the kitchen is one of the few places in real life where we can run experiments and take notes on what happens.

But as I noted in the blog post about Part 1, Marion and Anthony definitely come at food from two different directions. I don’t want to say that it’s the difference between science and art, because that would sell both of them short at the same time. But when Professor Nestle talks about food safety, she discusses misfolded proteins, bacteria and viruses. And when Anthony talks about it, he speaks from practical experience: “Do what the natives do… if they’re not drinking water from the tap in Russia, you shouldn’t either.” When they’re discussing the molecular food movement, Anthony describes technique and process where Marion sees “boys with chemistry sets.”

There’s a lot of fun in this episode, and I don’t want to ruin the surprises, so I will leave you with just two intriguing morsels from the show: “Live cobra blood” and “Don’t eat brains.”

If you want more, you’ll need to listen to the show. A Seat at the Table with Anthony Bourdain (Part 2) will be available here on our website and iTunes this Sunday, April 14th, at 7:00pm ET.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons

Great news!

Season 1 of StarTalk Radio hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson  is now available for digital downloading. We’ve taken it out of the vault, and, even better, it’s advertiser free. No more ads interrupting your science, comedy and popular culture.

To help keep new StarTalk episodes coming, we’re adopting the same model as many programs these days which air current programming for free but sell older episodes on CD, DVD, or on iTunes.

You can now download any Season 1 episode for $1.99. Even better, you can get all of Season 1 for only $17.95 – that’s over 30% off!

EXCLUSIVE OFFER FOR STARTALK RADIO FANS

To thank you for your patience, take an EXTRA 30% OFF the Season 1 boxed set. That’s the entire season for just $12.56, or under $1 per episode!

Use Promo Code: LAUNCH30 at checkout. Discount expires 11:59 PM ET April 16^th.

For the entire Season 1 collection as a Boxed Set, click here. For individual Season 1 episodes, just visit the specific episode page on the website, and click on the link to purchase.

We appreciate your understanding and support in keeping us able to produce educational and entertaining programs.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!

–Jeffrey Simons