Cosmos

[TomK]

Fox/KHON are repeating the 1st episode of Cosmos tonight (Weds) at 9pm for those interested.

[pahoated]

Tom, I know you are emotionally involved with UKIRT but the Keck discoveries have been much bigger than UKIRT and Cosmos is reflecting on the profound implications of these major discoveries. Of course, all the observatories are making major contributions.

Keck was the first to image an exoplanet. Even astronomers in the 80's doubted it would happen in their lifetimes. Now, Kepler recently discovered 715 more planets. With TMT, we are going to be able to image exoplanet atmospheres. It may be that many people on Earth will not be able to mentally handle what we may find.

http://www.keckobservatory.org/recent/en...anet_found
First Earth-Sized, Rocky Exoplanet Found

http://www.space.com/20234-keck-observat...eries.html
10 Amazing Space Discoveries by the Keck Observatory

http://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/featur...bservatory
The Keck Observatory's top five discoveries

"This island Hawaii on this island Earth"

[Chunkster]

I know they have to gear this series to typical Americans, but I hope the future episodes are more scientifically challenging than the first. It seemed like a rehash of some very basic material to me, but then maybe I'm a snob.

[Opihikaobob]

Bending Science:
How Special Interests Corrupt Public Health Research

http://filebox.vt.edu/users/jemille6/Phi...e.nyu1.pdf


Essentialy, this report which is about "Health Research", applies across the board to all sciences as regards the possibility of bending& hiding science to suit the needs economic or ideological at stake
in the ongoing legal, regulatory and policy debates.

[TomK]

Chunkster - I think the first episode was probably aimed at introducing some basic stuff. Lots of people don't know the basics. I hope it gets better and that you find some future stuff more interesting (I have no idea what's to come). I actually thought it was a pretty good start.

Bob - the thread isn't about healthcare or health research. Respectably, please rant and rave about your conspiracy stuff in another thread please.

[HereOnThePrimalEdge]

I read an article yesterday about the three large next generation telescopes planned, one on Mauna Kea, and two in Chile, and what they expect they may discover.
There's some background about the Keck telescope on Mauna Kea as well:
http://nautil.us/issue/11/light/the-bill...scope-race

[Delta9r]

NatGeoTV (Oceanic channel 73) has been replaying the first episode throughout last week.
As a fan of the original hosted by Carl Sagan I found the new show to be quite nicely done, especially the part where the new narrator, Neil deGrasse Tyson, detailed how cool Carl Sagan was to take the time to spark scientific interest in young minds.

Sagan was also a cannabis aficionado... No wonder I always loved his shows. <(;-)

"Life is labor, and all that is good in life comes from that labor..."

[Lee M-S]

I finally saw part of the first episode. Jeeze, I felt like I was back in grade school. Overly dramatic script and music, cheesy sets, AWFUL 1950s animation in the Bruno segment, and no depth of information at all.

I keep reading that most Americans don't know science from shinola, maybe this is aimed at them.

><(((*> ~~~~ ><(("> ~~~~ ><'> ~~~~ >(>

[ri3ck]

Chuckster I agree a little bit, that the show is maybe a little elementary to some of us, but after last nights episode, imo, maybe the point is not just to engage the 'new to science' crowd, but also to get some of us EXCITED about science and knowledge again.

[Chunkster]

@ ri3ck: I watched the second episode last night and find myself liking it more. Yes, it's still somewhat basic, but they had to start somewhere, right? I really like the way the used dogs, which most people can't help but like, to segue into evolution. The graphics used to explain DNA replication and mutation were good, IMHO. I'll keep watching.