Cosmos

I've been watching FOX TV and National Geographic's updated version of Carl Sagan's iconic science series, Cosmos, with Neil deGrasse Tyson since it premiered last month. It's fantastic.

Produced by Family Guy's Seth McFarlane and Star Trek's Brannon Braga, the show uses modern computer graphics and animation to tell the story of the universe, from the Big Bang to its eventual heat death, through biology, cosmology, geology, to the history of science. Neil deGrasse Tyson has an easy, open style of explanation that translates the most complex scientific concepts. He's wonderful.

I especially like the use of animation and celebrity voices to portray the history of science and scientists, telling the stories of great scientific discoveries like the theory of gravity, and the laws of motion. These stories are so well told, they've even nearly brought me to tears a couple of times. We humans can do amazing things when we put our minds to it, and the show makes that beautifully clear.

Nearly every episode directly addresses some anti-science religious claim, not by directly calling the claims out, but by explaining why ideas like a 6000 year old universe or that the eye couldn't have evolved are wrong. The explanations are devastating to the religious interpretations without being heavy-handed. The show celebrates the wonder and awesomeness of the universe.

I never saw the original Cosmos when it aired. The writing credits list Carl Sagan, which means that at least some of the narration is lifted from the original show. I wonder how much.

The show airs on FOX station at 9PM Sunday nights, and on the National Geographic Channel on Monday nights at 9PM.

Cosmos Redux: This time with family

Last spring I had a great, even moving, experience watching Neil deGrasse Tyson's Cosmos. None of my family watched it with me, and I felt that seeing it would really benefit Ben (who's about to enter his senior year in high school). I bought the Blu-Rays when they came out, so a couple of weeks ago I "enticed" Ben to watch them.

Okay, I told him I'd give him $100 if he watched all 13 episodes.

We've watched four episodes so far, and he's not falling asleep or complaining. In fact, he's the one suggesting we watch an episode each night. He did say that he already knew most of the information in the evolution episode, and that actually made me pretty happy. Go Maryland schools!

I'm happy to be rewatching the show, hopeful that Ben will retain some of the science, and hopeful that he might be inspired by the wonderful tales of humanity. But mostly I'm happy to be spending time with Ben.

Cosmos Redux: Report

On Saturday, Ben and I finished watching Cosmos; me for the second time, him for the first. I offered to pay him $100 if he watched the whole mini-series and over a couple of weeks we watched all 13 episodes.

To my surprise, he seemed to enjoy parts of it, and spoke up when he knew something that was being presented. For example, he has a pretty good grasp of evolution and biology. He seemed mostly bored with the episodes about non-planetary astronomy. The episode, The Seven Sisters, was the only one he didn't make it all the way through without dozing off.

I don't know if he'll retain any of it, but I was happy to expose him to the idea of scientists throughout history, theorizing, experimenting, and very slowly adding to our knowledge. I found the series very inspirational and I hope he did too. And I enjoyed just being with him, watching it.

If you want to know how the Universe works, watch this show

I just want to put in one more word urging you to watch Neil deGrasse Tyson's COSMOS, airing Sunday nights at 9PM on FOX (yes, that FOX. Apparently they're not all assholes).

The show literally provides an excellent basic education in science, the scientific method, the history of science and covers not only astronomy, but also astrophysics, geology, biology, quantum mechanics, paleontology, meteorology and just about any other science you can name. Plus, it does so in an easy to understand and wonderfully entertaining manner. I'm fairly science literate, pretty educated in how the universe works and how science reveals those scientific truths, and I'm learning a lot. It's a wonderful show. It should be required to be watched by every human being.

If you've missed any episodes, you can find full episodes on-line here.  COSMOS.

Watch it. You'll learn many things and you won't regret it.