I can say a lot of scientists aren’t exactly skilled at explaining complex scientific ideas to the broader non-scientific populace. Many of my colleagues are incredibly smart, but if you ask them to distill their project or area of study down to 2-3 sentences, they’ll give you 2-3 pages (aside: get me out of here, why did i choose a career in the sciences, these people are smart but no fun). So even though Tyson may not have a plethora of publications behind him, he’s got the education and the ability to take what the researchers are saying and translate it into plain conversational English.

In my childhood and early teens, the only “scientists” that were appearing on TV were Bill Nye and Beakman’s World. Fun shows, but I doubt they made science appealing to anyone who didn’t already have a prior disposition toward studying it. Tyson, with his combination of smarts and social skills, is a nice change of pace. What we need is someone like Tyson to use those skills to take our lawmakers to task on enacting legislation that protects our environment and personal health.

DAVE HOLMES.

Nathan For You is such a good show, but possibly one of the most cringe-inducing, painful things to watch. So I’m glad it’s coming back.

You know what’s also good? The Ben Show. I’ve never heard of Ben Hoffman before the show aired, but he seems like a fun guy. The humor is incredibly juvenile, but it’s mostly at the host’s expense, so I don’t mind laughing at it.

Jeez, guys. Play a real sport, like Crossfit or something.

Oh no! Star Wars 1313 was supposed to be their first good Star Wars game since Dark Forces!!! Whatever.

My boyfriend loves this Australian show on Hulu called The Librarians, which is basically if someone made a Parks and Rec spinoff about the Pawnee library and set it in Australia. It’s quite funny and dark, but I don’t watch it because authentic Australian accents are super annoying to my ears. But you might like it!

I’m making a fresh batch of ginger beer tonight but it won’t be done fermenting until after the weekend. I didn’t think this through, guys.

Quvenzhané Wallis is our generation’s Willow Smith.

Second week at a new job! Today has been a day of re-learning really basic stoichiometry (chemistry math used to make solutions and buffers), things that I haven’t had to do in a long time as we followed pretty foolproof recipes during grad school. Suddenly I have to navigate seldom-used, overgrown paths in my brain. Yeesh.

My boyfriend and I have been doing The Artist’s Way, a book/program to help you reclaim creative drive, for a week-and-a-half now. It’s great (especially the daily writing), but finding time to do it is a challenge given my day job. Have any of you done this program?

Whichever wedding, I’m still not going to choose the fish option.

I love this.

Hey father time, I listened to your album when you screened it for the How Was Everyone’s Year thread a couple months ago. I really enjoy your band’s album, and I think in your case all the business BS is worth it if more people get to hear your guys’ music! As a fellow San Jose resident (and molecular biologist), it’s pleasing to me that exciting music is coming from this sprawling town.