Hey Zoners! I’m back from the wonderful evening at Montclair Kimberley Academy with my head full of science and a big smile on my face. It was so delightful to see these two men who obviously like and respect each other have a real discussion about science and its importance in our lives, and at the same time keep themselves and the audience entertained. For the full report, click past the jump.


They started off their discussion in a very relaxed manner, just chatting a bit as they got settled. Dr. Tyson stated, as he’s done before, that going on the Report is one of the hardest interviews for him to do because he has to be up on his pop culture references as well as his science if he wants to keep up with Stephen. And Stephen stated that, whenever he’s asked during the pre-taping Q&A who his favorite guest is, he names Dr. Tyson because he’s just as good at rolling with Stephen’s humor as he is at discussing science.

The general theme of the evening was science literacy and education, starting with the importance of “knowing” versus “not knowing.” At one point, Dr. Tyson spoke about how the rejection of science (I believe he cited evolution as an example) comes from ignorance, from “not knowing.” And he said the way to remedy that was to examine the science by taking it apart, learning more about it. He spoke very passionately about this — he spoke very passionately about everything — and made a very good argument in favor of “knowing.” Knowledge is better than ignorance.

I don’t recall all of the questions that Stephen asked, but my favorite was “What is the most beautiful thing in science?” And the answer was “E=mc2.” (Sorry, I know that’s not the way to type it, but I can’t do the superscript thing here.) It’s because the equation is elegantly simple, but it explains a profoundly complex concept. Another example he cited is pi, and he and Stephen had the audience try to recite it. I’m embarrassed to admit that I only got as far as 3.14, but in my defense it’s been a couple of decades since I had a math class. Much of that kind of information in my head has been replaced by the Dewey Decimal System. But I digress…

Stephen asked a question about the latest big scientific discoveries, and Dr. Tyson cited two of them: the discovery of water on the moon, and the discovery of methane on Mars. He gave a good scientific explanation of the significance of this particular discovery, to which Stephen replied something I can’t remember except for the fact that it included the phrase “Mars farts.” And I really wish I could remember what he said, because it’s not quite as funny without the context.

Stephen asked if science fiction annoyed him, and the answer was no, not as long as they get the basic scientific concepts correct. As an example, he cited the “red matter” that was such an important factor in the last Star Trek movie. He didn’t have a problem with it, but he pointed out that if this red matter could create a black hole in the core of a planet, wouldn’t it do the same thing on the surface? Stephen helpfully pointed out to him that without the big drill they used to get the red matter into the planet’s core, there wouldn’t have been anywhere for Kirk and Sulu to fight the bad guys. (If you haven’t seen last year’s Star Trek movie, this won’t make any sense to you. I just saw it a couple of weeks ago, otherwise the whole story would’ve gone right over my head.)

Then Dr. Tyson told a really great story about one scientific fact that did bug him in a movie. James Cameron claimed that Titanic was completely accurate because he’d done all this research at the site of the wreckage. But during the scene when Rose was floating on that drifting piece of wood in the ocean, after the ship went down, the night sky was all wrong. As Dr. Tyson pointed out, they know exactly when and where Titanic sank, and there could be only one possible night sky above, and they got it wrong. Not only that, but the left side of the sky was the exact mirror image of the right side, so they were lazy as well as wrong. Several different times, Dr. Tyson said he had the opportunity to talk to Cameron and point out the error, and each time Cameron essentially dismissed the criticism — “It happened in post-production…” “Well, the movie made a billion dollars…” (And right there I could hear Stephen’s voice in my head saying “the market has spoken.”) After the comment about how much money the film pulled in, Stephen pointed out that one day all that money would be gone, but Dr. Tyson would still be right. Finally, around the time Cameron was preparing a tenth anniversary edition of Titanic, Tyson got a phone call from one of Cameron’s production assistants, who told him about the new edition of the movie, explained that they’re adding new footage, and said, “I understand you have a sky for me?” And let me just say here that Dr. Tyson’s little victory dance at this part of the story was hilarious. I can’t even describe it, you just had to be there. He’s an excellent storyteller, and I’m not doing justice to this the way he told it.

One of my favorite stories from the evening was Dr. Tyson’s description of how he got interested in astrophysics. When he was a kid growing up in the Bronx, his parents would often take him and his siblings into Manhattan to take advantage of the cultural and educational opportunities there. When they took him to the Hayden Planetarium, he wasn’t impressed. The night sky he saw there didn’t correlate at all to the night sky he saw at home, because of course in urban areas the night sky is difficult to see. But then he went on a field trip out to Pennsylvania, to a less built-up area where he could finally get a good look at the real night sky. That got him interested in the subject, and from then on he wanted to be an astrophysicist. But the funny part was that he was drawn to the night sky in Pennsylvania not because it was so awe-inspiring, but because it reminded him of the Hayden Planetarium.

There was a Q&A session that went on for quite a while. The questions were all good and reflected a knowledge of astronomy that I just don’t have. There were questions about a brown dwarf star that’s supposedly going to destroy the Earth (no, it doesn’t exist), dark energy, and the asteroid Apophis, which could impact Earth on April 13, 2036, and cause massive tsunamis that would destroy the west coast of North America. Maybe. And of course someone asked about the demotion of Pluto. One of the questions asked how future policy should support science, and Dr. Tyson spoke at length about the need for good science education, and how scientific inquiry is important in building a strong society.

I haven’t said much about Stephen, but for the most part he let Dr. Tyson do the talking. He couldn’t resist the opportunity to contribute a joke now and then, and both men were quite funny at times, which made the whole experience very enjoyable. Dr. Tyson is incredibly passionate about his field and an engaging speaker. While I loved the humor, the thoughtful answers to Stephen’s equally thoughtful questions made it a truly educational evening.

Stephen finished off the event with one final question: “Why is there something rather than nothing? And answer in ten words or less.” I can’t recall exactly what Dr. Tyson said, but it was ten words and made sense. That’s more than I would’ve been able to manage!

I know there are details I’ve left out, but I’m hoping they’ll come back to me after a good night’s sleep. Or even better, maybe some other Zoner who was present will help fill in the gaps and give us another perspective. If you were there, jump right in and tell us about it in the comments!

Update: Hahahaha! From Dr. Tyson’s Twitter feed this morning: “Brain needs day off after sparring with @stephenathome Colbert last night. ‘Why something and not nothing?’ he asks. Answer is…”

For even more detail from on last night’s event from someone with a better memory than mine (or maybe she was just less tired!), check out Jessie’s write-up in the comments for my earlier post from yesterday afternoon!

Update, part deux: You can read yet another write-up in this blog post by my friend Brigid, who accompanied me to the event last night. I think between the two of us, and Jessie’s comments that I linked to above, we’ve got just about all the details covered!

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