Ask the Author: Neil deGrasse Tyson
Answered Questions (25)
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Live teachers in a classroom or lecture hall are not nearly as inspiring as they should be. This empirical fact tells me that in-person lectures are over-rated and could easily be replaced with guided, on-line educational tools. The success of the Kahn Academy, the zillions of views garnered by Ted Talks, the value of reading and learning from good books all argues in support of on-line education.
But it requires a dose of self-driven initiative which not everyone has. You can always tell yourself that you "have to" go to class. So maybe on-line learning is not for everyone.
-NDTyson
But it requires a dose of self-driven initiative which not everyone has. You can always tell yourself that you "have to" go to class. So maybe on-line learning is not for everyone.
-NDTyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson
All disaster movies begin with authorities ignoring scientists who warn of impending doom. Reality appears to be no different. -NDTyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson
My latest book didn't have any main characters. Are we talking about the same book? -NDTyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson
There's a difference between what we normally think of as "scientific discoveries" and what appears in academic research journals. Academic research journals report the bleeding edge of research, much of which may ultimately be shown to be wrong. Actual discoveries are research that have been verified at least once, preferably multiple times by independent researchers. Also, such papers are often arcane, readable only by others who are fluent in the sub-field.
I strongly recommend a news digest, such as Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org or Scientific American. From there you can dig out the relevant links to research papers that fed their reporting. That's a vastly more efficient exercise.
I don't know of good books about science communication. But I've found a subscription to the Skeptical Inquirer https://skepticalinquirer.org of immense value to my background in addressing so many topics that matter to so many people, especially the pseudoscience traps that people fall into.
I strongly recommend a news digest, such as Science News. https://www.sciencenews.org or Scientific American. From there you can dig out the relevant links to research papers that fed their reporting. That's a vastly more efficient exercise.
I don't know of good books about science communication. But I've found a subscription to the Skeptical Inquirer https://skepticalinquirer.org of immense value to my background in addressing so many topics that matter to so many people, especially the pseudoscience traps that people fall into.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
None that I know of yet -- in space. The future of fast travel may simply be filling stations strategically located around the solar system. if you could refill a fuel tank multiple times, you could get to Mars in a matter of days -- always accelerating, never coasting.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Depends on how many asteroids occupy the zone. If there's enough, they will reflect enough sunlight to be rendered as a visible ring. But orbits between Earth and the Moon don't tend to be stable over long periods of time. So you'd have to enjoy it while it lasted. -NDTyson
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Take the hardest classes you can possibly tolerate. Even if you earn a slightly lower grade for doing so. While everyone else takes easy classes to boost their grades, you'll be taking classes to boost your mind.
Math is the language of the universe. Make sure there's no shortage of that in your lineup.
Enjoy the learning. There is no destination. There is no arrival. There is only the journey of discovery. If you do not like the journey, having been duped by the press into thinking that science is all about eureka discoveries they report in their headlines, then you're in for a big disappointment.
The greater the struggle, the greater the reward -- emotional and intellectual -- when you succeed.
Good luck. We all need a little bit of that too.
Math is the language of the universe. Make sure there's no shortage of that in your lineup.
Enjoy the learning. There is no destination. There is no arrival. There is only the journey of discovery. If you do not like the journey, having been duped by the press into thinking that science is all about eureka discoveries they report in their headlines, then you're in for a big disappointment.
The greater the struggle, the greater the reward -- emotional and intellectual -- when you succeed.
Good luck. We all need a little bit of that too.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Because there is no rule that prevents space itself from expanding faster than light, which the early universe surely did. Einstein's special theory of relativity restricts speeds to below the speed of light only for objects moving within space itself. So all is well in the universe.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
I agree entirely, and attempt to make that point whenever I can -- or whenever I can do it without coming across as being obnoxious.
And don't forget Miss Universe. Aliens would surely object.
Dropping a level, what about American baseball's "World Series". That's gotta change too -- even thought it likely derives from the name of a sponsoring newspaper, the implication is still there that the best in the USA is automatically the best in the World.
And don't forget Miss Universe. Aliens would surely object.
Dropping a level, what about American baseball's "World Series". That's gotta change too -- even thought it likely derives from the name of a sponsoring newspaper, the implication is still there that the best in the USA is automatically the best in the World.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
The hypothesized, Mars-sized impactor "Theia", from the early solar system, sideswiped Earth. The debris cast into orbit coalesced to become the Moon. There's nothing left of Theia, the object, now a mixed part of Earth's crust and the Moon itself.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Yup. Or harder still, figuring out what your mother looks like while still in her womb. This was a fascinating scientific challenge, spread over many decades in the 20th century.
By noticing that the "Milky Way" on the sky was a band of light, first implied that whatever were in, was flattened. Further, and only with the advent of radio telescope, we identified the locations of immense gas clouds as well as the direction on the sky where the intensity of radio waves peaks. That told us we are in a flattened, gaseous galaxy with a major source of radio waves in one direction and not others.
By analogy to other nearby galaxies in the universe we concluded that we live in a flattened, gas-rich spiral galaxy, actively making stars within one of its spiral arms. Quite the fun detective story. Hundreds of scientists, dozens of telescopes, thousands to research papers.
By noticing that the "Milky Way" on the sky was a band of light, first implied that whatever were in, was flattened. Further, and only with the advent of radio telescope, we identified the locations of immense gas clouds as well as the direction on the sky where the intensity of radio waves peaks. That told us we are in a flattened, gaseous galaxy with a major source of radio waves in one direction and not others.
By analogy to other nearby galaxies in the universe we concluded that we live in a flattened, gas-rich spiral galaxy, actively making stars within one of its spiral arms. Quite the fun detective story. Hundreds of scientists, dozens of telescopes, thousands to research papers.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
In the 1970s, when white holes reached mathematical maturity, we started onlooking for them. Could it the be the quasars that are so small, bright and distant? Might every Black Hole have a white hole connected on the other side, emerging in some other corner of the universe.
None of these ideas found data to support them. Also, the properties of a white hole are clear and present. The early universe does not look like them either. So for now, it's released to science fiction.
None of these ideas found data to support them. Also, the properties of a white hole are clear and present. The early universe does not look like them either. So for now, it's released to science fiction.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Excellent erudite question. You can calculate how much kinetic energy is manifested by the falling material now that there's nothing to hold it all up. When all that falling material reaches the center, something has to happen to the kinetic energy. It all gets converted to heat energy,-- spontaneously. something I'd like one day to witness.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
The speed limit of light -- it's not just a good idea, it's the law -- applies to anything moving through space and has no impact on the expansion of space itself. So all is well in the early universe.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Yes. The equations that give us black holes also predict an entire emergent space-time on the "other side" of a black hole's event horizon. But who's going to volunteer to check it?
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Hundreds of thousands of asteroids, likely millions orbit the Sun (including 13,123 Tyson ! ). The metallic ones are rarer, but with such huge numbers, they are not hard to find. So whether or not there's a race to the asteroid Psyche 16, there's plenty more where that came from.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
We will be the blithering idiots of the galaxy. Intelligent aliens that visit Earth will will wild technology far more advanced than anything we're capable of. They will see one species of life on Earth, that drew lines on the land, with rules that prevent people from crossing those lines. They will see one species of life that is prone to subjugate or kill other members of its own species simply for who they worship, who they sleep with, or what skin color they have. These are all signs of the absence of intelligent life on Earth.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Where do you live?
Neil deGrasse Tyson
That the world looks different, very different, when you see it through the lens of science literacy, and especially when graced with a cosmic perspective. So much of our behavior, so much of what divides us, so much of our seeds of conflict, arises from irrationally held postures that we think are entirely sensible.
Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization is an antidote to a post-truth world.
Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization is an antidote to a post-truth world.
Neil deGrasse Tyson
The greatest insult/compliment I can receive is when people read my social media and say, for example, "I love your posts. Do you actually write them?"
And anybody who has tried to penetrate the computer AI of a phone call, when all you want is to reach customer service, will know that AI is not ready for prime time.
Soooo, for the moment you're stuck with me. Even if a smarter, cleverer AI version of my self is waiting in the wings to replace me.
And anybody who has tried to penetrate the computer AI of a phone call, when all you want is to reach customer service, will know that AI is not ready for prime time.
Soooo, for the moment you're stuck with me. Even if a smarter, cleverer AI version of my self is waiting in the wings to replace me.
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Jan 25, 2023 08:21AM · flag
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