In preparation for Cosmos... I found this

Adamantium

Ann Druyan about her husband Carl Sagan.

One of the most tear inducing, beautiful meditations on love and humanity/human experience i've ever read.
I can hear Vangelis in the background

http://i.imgur.com/C8bDq.png

“When my husband died, because he was so famous and known for not being a believer, many people would come up to me-it still sometimes happens-and ask me if Carl changed at the end and converted to a belief in an afterlife. They also frequently ask me if I think I will see him again. Carl faced his death with unflagging courage and never sought refuge in illusions. The tragedy was that we knew we would never see each other again. I don't ever expect to be reunited with Carl. But, the great thing is that when we were together, for nearly twenty years, we lived with a vivid appreciation of how brief and precious life is. We never trivialized the meaning of death by pretending it was anything other than a final parting. Every single moment that we were alive and we were together was miraculous-not miraculous in the sense of inexplicable or supernatural. We knew we were beneficiaries of chance. . . . That pure chance could be so generous and so kind. . . . That we could find each other, as Carl wrote so beautifully in Cosmos, you know, in the vastness of space and the immensity of time. . . . That we could be together for twenty years. That is something which sustains me and it’s much more meaningful. . . . The way he treated me and the way I treated him, the way we took care of each other and our family, while he lived. That is so much more important than the idea I will see him someday. I don't think I'll ever see Carl again. But I saw him. We saw each other. We found each other in the cosmos, and that was wonderful.”

Duggy747

The ingredients should be right for this new series with her involvement, Alan Silvestri scoring the music (he composed the score for Contact), and Neil DeGrasse Tyson being an apt choice for presenting it.

Reviews for the 1st episode have been very positive so I'm hoping it delivers the goods.

Turtwig

Whatever about the television series a new edition of the book should be written every 30 years or so. Science has advanced immensely since. In the 1980s when Cosmos was written, Cosmology was regarded as aesthetic science. In the 90s that changed into a precision science.

I'm generally not a fan of television science series. Mainly because it takes 1 hour to watch 10-15 minutes of reading content and when it comes to science getting a decent approximation for stuff takes an hour or so of several re-reads and writing. 10-15 minutes of tv nearly always gives a fanciful analogous treatment that doesn't really reflect the intricate reality where the beauty of stuff really lies. It's slower but if you set aside the time and make the investment it's truly worth it.

IamtheWalrus

Just watched episode 1. Excellent.

Listrydude

WOW is all I can say after watching episode 1! Nice reference to Carl Sagan by De Grase-Tyson (spelling?) Special effects are outstanding. Bodes well for the new Star Wars with McFarlane at the helm!

IamtheWalrus

Listrydude wrote: »

WOW is all I can say after watching episode 1! Nice reference to Carl Sagan by De Grase-Tyson (spelling?) Special effects are outstanding. Bodes well for the new Star Wars with McFarlane at the helm!

I watched episode 2 last night. Again, excellent.

Adamantium

Patrick Stewart (and others :pac:) are to be narrating some parts of this series

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/turkey-gets-ready-for-cosmos-trip-narrated-by-actor-haluk-bilginer.aspx?pageID=238&nID=63280&NewsCatID=374

Hotblack Desiato

sponsoredwalk

Cosmos is pretty good, if only I'd be able to see the coming billion year light-show! Why did fish ever leave the sea if their eyesight was so good in the water and so bad on land?

sponsoredwalk

Did he really just say that just understanding photosynthesis properly would be a solution to global warming / climate change?

Turtwig

I can kind of see the spirit of his point. Haven't seen the show but the carbon cycle on Earth is a huge thing. If you understand photosynthesis then the rest of the cycle particularly the degassing of CO2 is easily conceptually understood. Or at least most people can be given a very nice accurate conceptual image of what's going on. If they don't understand photosynthesis it's far far harder to explain the carbon cycle.

That would be my guess as to what a science communicator would mean. As I said, haven't seen the show so he may have meant something entirely different but it's what would mean sense to me.

goose2005