{"id":80,"date":"2014-03-13T22:21:33","date_gmt":"2014-03-13T21:21:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/?p=80"},"modified":"2015-04-21T13:49:21","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T11:49:21","slug":"standing-up-for-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/fascinating-america.com\/blog\/standing-up-for-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Standing up for science"},"content":{"rendered":"

The popular culture of today’s youth has focused on witches, wizards<\/span>, hobbits and comic-book superheroes long enough. It’s time for science to reclaim<\/span> its role as a source of inspiration. <\/p>\n

There are signs that this is starting to happen: not just the popularity of the film Gravity<\/i>, but the explosion in recent years of TV documentaries about science<\/a>, and space in particular. The long-awaited return of a popular documentary series this week aims to raise the bar<\/span> even further. <\/p>\n

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey<\/i> <\/b>is based on a 13-part series from 1980 called Cosmos: A Personal Voyage<\/i><\/b> (German title: Unser Kosmos<\/i>). Both series have the aim of explaining \u2014 to anyone \u2014 all the major areas of science, their origins and their importance. That’s a very tall order<\/span>, and one that only the best of presenters can pull off<\/span>.<\/p>\n

Carl Sagan<\/b>, host<\/span> of the original series, was personally involved in the major aspects of space exploration from the 1960s to the 1990s. His first book, Intelligent Life in the Universe<\/i>, discussed in a scientific way how alien<\/span> life could develop and how it might be contacted. Sagan played a major part in designing the spacecraft<\/span> that explored other planets, and evaluating<\/span> the data those spacecraft sent back. He knew what he was talking about, and he knew how to explain it. He understood that his job depended on funding<\/span> from public sources. He knew how to talk to senators and other informed, educated adults. <\/p>\n