While I enjoyed the episode, it seemed to jump around quite a bit more than other episodes. From photosynthesis to carbon atoms to neutrinos to supernovas to the early Greeks.
I know there was a theme here, but it didn't seem like it segued between the individual topics very smoothly.
I had never really thought about how the different chemicals are formed by fusion in stars. Somehow I always thought it was just hydrogen fusion in all stars. Cool to think that there is some star out there fusing together gold and platinum that will eventually spit that all into space when it explodes.
I appreciate the information they are conveying every week. However, I picked tonight to get my room-mate excited about it and she started watching then switched to her facebook games about 10 mins in... She asked, "It's probably not as important with this show, as it is with others, to watch in sequence." I think I was wrong. There is a progression, but each episode is theme based. It wasn't as entertaining as the last 3.
This was my favourite episode so far. I loved the go small though I would have rearranged the content a bit and put the electron jumps into this one and put the biology somewhere else.
Wow that was a really neat episode. I vaguely remember gas going unleaded when I was a little kid. Didn't really understand the impact lead gas had on the environment before. Clearly Patterson is a hero, and I'm glad they spent time talking about him this episode.
For people who missed it, I noticed that Shaw is keeping the last 3 episodes on Global's video-on-demand section.
Unfortunately I missed tonight's episode. I hope he has stopped giving the corresponding imperial units everytime he would mention something in metric. He seemed to do that a lot on some previous episodes.
The neutrino segment along with the last show on Clair Patterson reminded me of one of Bill Bryson's books, "A Short History of Nearly Everything". He covers both subjects within a few chapters.
I first got into Bryson from his travel writing but this is my absolute favorite, think I have read it 3 times since picking it up years ago. Easy to read and Bryson keeps it interesting. Well worth checking out if you have not read it already.
The focus on lead contamination in the environment was a not so subtle shot at global warming denialists. I wonder if Cosmos will take that subject head on.
Cosmos: 'The Clean Room,' featuring the voice of Richard Gere.
Wow that was a really neat episode. I vaguely remember gas going unleaded when I was a little kid. Didn't really understand the impact lead gas had on the environment before. Clearly Patterson is a hero, and I'm glad they spent time talking about him this episode.
Lead in the environment is one of the leading theories behind the reduction in crime across the board we have seen since the early 90's. Essentially lead was damaging brains across all groups of people pushing otherwise stable people into crime.
I loved this episode but thought they didn't discuss one assumption in dating the earth and why it is valid. Using meteorites to date the earch assumes that the meteorite is the same age as the earth. Other than covering that a little more the episode was perfect.
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The focus on lead contamination in the environment was a not so subtle shot at global warming denialists. I wonder if Cosmos will take that subject head on.
I wondered the same.
This is off-topic because it has not been touched on in COSMOS (yet) but another good example of how human industry has affected the environment is the use of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs).
American chemist Sherwood Rowland shared the 1995 Nobel prize in Chemistry for his discovery that CFCs were contributing to Ozone depletion.
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"And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should."
I can see the reason now for having this aired on Fox. Any other station would probably be preaching to the choir, but on Fox this has impact, one hopes.
OT, but watching the stuff on Venus reminded me of a good documentary I saw a couple weeks ago on Youtube regarding manned exploration of Mars. Talked about the potential to pump greenhouse gases into Mars' atmosphere to terraform it.
I can see the reason now for having this aired on Fox. Any other station would probably be preaching to the choir, but on Fox this has impact, one hopes.
Remember that the main Fox network is not the same as Fox News. This is, after all, the same network that brought us shows like Married with Children, The Simpsons, and (of particular relevance to this discussion) Family Guy. I don't know how much of an overlap there is between the people who watch Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity and those who watch American Dad, a show that routinely lampoons stereotypical Republicans.
AFAIK, the reason this is airing on Fox is as simple as Seth MacFarlane having a previous working relationship with the execs there thanks to his various animated comedies.
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The interesting thing is some of those arguments are trying to argue that NDT isn't a climatologist, so he shouldn't be listened to, despite the fact that most wouldn't even care if that same information had been relayed to to them by a climatologist. It's really like talking to a brick wall. They'll do anything to bury their heads in the sand. "That guy is a journalist, what does he know about the stuff he's reporting" is pretty much the attitude I see here.
The interesting thing is some of those arguments are trying to argue that NDT isn't a climatologist, so he shouldn't be listened to, despite the fact that most wouldn't even care if that same information had been relayed to to them by a climatologist. It's really like talking to a brick wall. They'll do anything to bury their heads in the sand. "That guy is a journalist, what does he know about the stuff he's reporting" is pretty much the attitude I see here.
For some reason, I take comfort in the fact that severe climate change would likely kill us off long before the Earth has a change to fully destabilize.
