Friday fun. 10 GIFs that prove NdGT rules the Cosmos

[ddstory]

In Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Neil DeGrasse Tyson proves that not all TV CGI is inherently cheesy. Throughout the series' first five episodes, he acts as a modern-day Ms. Frizzle - zooming around the galaxy in his "Ship of Imagination," a WALL-E-inspired vehicle that has the magical properties of an upgraded Magic School Bus and serves as an

Comments

[dexeron]

I love me some NdGT.

[fizzyland]

Just watching that show makes me happier. The original inspired me to seek a science education and I've never regretted it.

[airiefairie]

[dexeron]

Ha! Perfect!

[htpcl]

Ha! Been going through the Big Bang Theory show these days, and I just came across this bit:

[ddstory]

BAZINGA!

[enders_shadow]

Sheldon is such a straw vulcan!

[peristaltor]

So far, the new Cosmos is pretty darned good. I've only found one assertion that could be questioned.

[ddstory]

Now that you've made us all curious, come on, spill it!

[peristaltor]

Oh, sorry, phone's been ringing off the hook all day.

On the episode that had the sound waves (IIRC), NdGT maintained that our sense of smell is the result of molecules activating receptors directly. Luca Turin has a theory called the Vibration theory of olfaction. It's a bit controversial, to say the least, but (since I heard about it about ten years ago) seems to be gaining support:

The vibration theory received possible support from a 2004 paper published in the journal Organic Biomolecular Chemistry by Takane and Mitchell, which shows that odor descriptions in the olfaction literature correlate more strongly with vibrational frequency than with molecular shape.

In the book The Emperor of Scent, the author noted that Turin's biggest challenge seemed to be the fact that he had to become versed in three different disciplines just to develop his theory. This was a huge problem when the paper was shopped out for peer review. Very few experts in, say, chemistry felt they had the necessary background in quantum mechanics or

[ddstory]

So you basically want the Controversy Be Taught(TM) some more in the series, is that it?

If they did that for most branches of science that they present in the episodes, I'm afraid they'd need to change their duration to 2 hours.

[musicpsych]

In Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, Neil DeGrasse Tyson proves that not all TV CGI is inherently cheesy.

Yeah, but those cartoons, on the other hand...