Smash Notes
WE'RE ALL SCIENCE PEOPLE
In a world of fake news and real warming, Bill Nye is back to assure you science is for everyone! Along with his co-host Corey S. Powell and Ologies host, humorist and science correspondent Alie Ward, Bill takes your questions about everything from declining insect populations to how to be a dad who combats climate change. This episode is sponsored by…
People
Notes
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On Science Rules with Bill Nye, Alie Ward says her mission is to elevate scientists until they are treated like rock stars. Bill Nye introduces her as an award-winning science correspondent whose comedic podcast, Ologies, is meant to be both fun and informative. Ward's complaint is that we know a famous Instagram influencer's nail-polish color and almost nothing about the person next to us at Trader Joe's who might be studying wood frogs with antifreeze for blood. She wants that scientist to be the person people recognize.
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Science does not stop when you graduate high-school. Science is everywhere and it is incredible. It’s in whiskey, it’s in ice cream, it’s in who you fall in love with. Letting people get more familiar with science in their adult lives will not only change lives, but will give people context around their lives.
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We all really science people. If you’ve ever ridden in a car, seen a doctor, or eaten something that’s cooked, you’re a science person. The biggest misconception seems to be that in order to love science, you have to already understand science, but that's not true. Science is all about being curios and asking questions. You don't have to know anything to start, just be curious.
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Be curious and ask smart people stupid questions.
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No, turtle shells are fused to their bodies and they cannot take the shell off.
Fun fact - that is one of the most frequent questions that a testudinologist gets. A testudinologist is a scientist who studies turtles.
You can learn more about Turtles on Alie's podcast - Ologies.
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There aren’t any good hard global statistics of insects, but it has been suggested that bees, for example, are dying because of inbreeding. We got so carried away using honey bees to pollinate crops, we basically ruined them in the process.
Did you know some cultures eat insects? One thing we could do is to cultivate insects as a food source, thus protecting the native population of those tasties. Also, a lobster is basically a big cricket, maybe we should eat more crickets?
Humans have to accept that we are running the show and are in charge of the planet. We need to start getting people involved and engaged in the world.
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On Science Rules, Bill Nye tells a caller he became a mechanical engineer because he thought bicycles and airplanes were the coolest things. His picture of that coolness is the Blue Angels flight demonstration team coming through the center of an airshow and rolling from right side up to upside down. The line comes just before he takes a question from Randy Houston in Maine about the electricity a gaming PC uses.
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Caller Randy Houston, in Maine, asks Science Rules with Bill Nye how to offset the electricity of a powerful gaming PC. Nye separates that from mining selenium, gallium, and germanium for chips, and notes there is no shortage of silicon because sand is everywhere. Randy already has solar panels and, from spring almost to the holidays, makes more electricity than he uses. Nye's advice is to install solar if you can, or buy green electricity from wind and solar. Maine's wind, Randy says, comes off the Katahdin range. Nye also floats tidal power and geothermal. Randy's city-building games, set in 2070, run those cities on solar panels.
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Clean water, reliable renewable energy, and education for everyone.
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Get kids really excited about learning science. Ask them to pick their favorite thing and then write out all the aspects of science that makes it exist. For example, if they love coffee, think about the beans, the agriculture, the roasting. Dive into each one of those aspects, figure out all the details..etc.
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Vote! Get everyone to vote. The U.S. influences the world culturally. What we do in the U.S. is critical to what goes on in the world. Electrify all ground transportation, solve the problem of using fossil fuels in air transportation. The power of voting is critical.
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Ferroequinology, which is the study of trains.
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Eschatology, it’s the study of the apocalypse.
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Our molecules will eventually disintegrate.
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