As some of you know (or may not be getting to know), I’m big on science education.  I consider science literacy to be of paramount importance to be a citizen of this planet in the 21st century.  But science education – especially in America – is sorely ineffectual and science and intellectual prowess has an unfortunate stereotype of not being sexy or cool.  I think the fault lies with policy makers and the media, but it also has a lot to do with those of us who are in the sciences – we haven’t done a very good job of conveying its coolness.  That’s why I think folks like Neil deGrasse Tyson is important, and important for parents (especially Dads) to know about.

He is the director of the Hayden Planetarium in NYC, at least that’s his day job.  But on the side (and a big side it is), he is an author, TV personality, talk show host, actor, and speaker who’s had essentially one role and one message – to convey the coolness of space and science.  He’s got a zillion books and articles about space written for the layperson to his credit, been on a million PBS and  History and Discovery Channel (amongst others) shows, and in general has contributed to making science cool.  They don’t call him the new Carl Sagan for nothing.

And don’t take my word for it.  Take a look at this article by Carl Zimmer.  It’s a profile by Zimmer on Tyson.

I write these posts because I think to be a good dad these days, amongst the many things we have to do for our kids is to be their intellectual and inspirational guide.  Knowing or knowing of folks like Dr.Tyson helps with this.  Take a look at his really eloquent response to why the things NASA does is good for America:

Stuff like this makes me wish that I was a kid again.  OK, so maybe it appeals to me because I’m just a big geek, but really, this is cool.  It’s a company called Modular Robotics, which is a spin off from Carnegie Mellon University, that sells a product called Cubelets.  It’s a bunch of, well, cubes, that are electronic and electromechanical components that can interconnect and interact and form larger systems that act like robots.  And no programming required.  You just plug them together and let them interact and respond to their environment.  Any kid can use this to create some very cool robots.  Below is a Youtube video that showcases the product.

Now it looks like the company is new and the products are in pre-order, but still, I’m thinking about how much more mature and cooler these things will be when Nathan is old enough to play with them.

You know, this reminds me of Capselas and Erector sets from when I was a kid.  Remember those?