NASA issued a statement today that a (bus-sized) satellite is expected to crash to Earth on Friday 9/23. But why…? How can…? I’ve got too many scientific questions with 0 educated answers. Apparently I’m not alone.
On WNPR there was an engaging discussion regarding the Scientific illiteracy in this country, involving Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Director of NY’s Hayden Planetarium, and NJ Representative Rush Holt (also a Princeton physicist). Unless we are on the road to becoming an engineer or a scientist, chances are that our level of science is sub par and even worse…this is a conscious decision on our part. Not only are we left to trust some unreliable information that’s being fed by some politician but we have little knowledge of how the world works around us.
While our world and our nation’s economy is so engrossed and dependent upon science and technology, why is it that the majority of us dismiss science and choose not to educate ourselves beyond the bear minimum to graduate undergrad? While knowledge is power, why is that not enough for most? The conversation also discusses the benefits of raising our kids to be budding scientists, with the thirst & desire to KNOW. Check out the talk from this a.m.’s WNPR segment of Where we Live and be careful out there!
[Also, see Angela’s interview with Neil DeGrasse Tyson on an earlier episode of The Parent Show]
