Neil deGrasse Tyson has a new book out, and is doing the press junket thing for it. I just saw him on the Daily Show, where he knocked it the hell out of the park (when the video is available, I’ll post it). Earlier he was on NPR, where he said:
“I could stand in front of eighth-graders and say, ‘Who wants to be an aerospace engineer so you can design an airplane 20 percent more fuel-efficient than the one your parents flew?’ That doesn’t usually work. But if I say, ‘Who wants to be an aerospace engineer to design the airplane that will navigate the rarefied atmosphere of Mars?’ because that’s where we’re going next, I’m getting the best students in the class. I’m looking for life on Mars? I’m getting the best biologist. I want to study the rocks on Mars? I’m getting the best geologists.”
Damn skippy, Neil!