Notice to flat-Earthers in Earth's Eastern Hemisphere witnessing a Total Lunar Eclipse right now Once again, please alert the authorities if your eclipse tonight looks like this:

Dear Everyone in the Earth’s Eastern Hemisphere: If you can see the Moon at all, you are witnessing a total lunar eclipse over the next few hours. The Full Moon is passing into and out of Earth’s conical shadow in space. This event is long and boring and resembles the Moon going through phases.

In case anybody needs reminding... "Science in Health, Wealth, and War" A Social Media OpEd. [Video: 7m 30s] www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Gsf...

August 22, 2025; 4:00pm ET The Stock Market (DJIA) closed at a record high today for the first time in eight months. FYI: The long-term average for it to do that is sixteen times per year.

Early Riser, might you be? Want a spectacle for free? Before sunrise you will see Two bright stars — planets they be. The brightest one is Venus. Outshining Jupiter’s light. Catch both before they’re consumed By all of morning twilight.

Fires & Floods & Heat Waves? How I think about Climate Change. [Video. 9 mins. 45 sec. ] www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRA2...

July 4, 1776: Wondering whether the USA is the only country to celebrate its independence on the anniversary of simply declaring it, rather than on the anniversary of winning it. In our case, the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia: October 19, 1781. If so, that’s badass.

Nothing wrong with expecting people to pick themselves up by their bootstraps, until you realize that some people have no boots.

June 20, 2025 — Summer Solstice, Northern Hemisphere A few years ago, I took my StarTalk production crew to visit London, and Stonehenge -- a monument to the Summer Solstice. [Video: 13m] www.youtube.com/watch?v=UjZH...

Every machine in a Hospital that diagnoses your body without cutting you open is based on a principle of Physics, discovered by a Physicist who had no interest in Medicine. If you think the world doesn’t need Basic Science, or that somehow Science has failed you, think again.

What we value in CIVILIZATION: Agriculture, Architecture, the Arts, Transportation, Communication, Health, Wealth, Security. All pivot on enlightened investments in Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, & Mathematics. "STEAM". Without them, we descend into the Dark Ages.

** Evidence You Might Be In A Cult ** You follow one charismatic Leader. In your Leader’s mind, your Leader can do no wrong. In your mind, your Leader can do no wrong. Your Leader demonizes dissidents & outsiders. Loyalty's the ultimate measure of your devotion. You don't know you're in a Cult

My life’s wisdom. Inspired by & dedicated to the memory of my father, Cyril DeGrasse Tyson - Civil Rights era sociologist. It's what conflicts & disagreements among us look like when you’re scientifically literate — sprinkled with a dose of Cosmic Perspective. neildegrassetyson.com/books/2022-0...

Memorial Day 2025 Freedom isn’t free.

Since 1975 (the past fifty years) global vaccination efforts have saved the lives of 154 million people, especially reducing infant deaths — by 40%. That’s greater than the total population of France + Germany. #ScienceMatters

When a Government is scientifically illiterate, but doesn’t know it, then its actions (or inactions) can be a recipe for the dismantling of an informed and enlightened Democracy. #ScienceMatters

Unfamiliar with the role of science in America’s national defense, or the history of science innovation in the defense of sovereign nations? I invite you to start with, Accessory to War: The Unspoken Alliance Between Astrophysics & the Military. neildegrassetyson.com/books/2018-09-accessory-to-war/

Not that anyone asked, but during my tenure on the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Board, under part of Obama-2 and all of Trump-1, we visited Military Bases domestically & abroad. At no time did any member of the Armed Forces I met say to me: “America needs less science funding.”

If a foreign adversary snuck into our Federal budget and cut science research and education the way we’re cutting it ourselves — strategically undermining America’s long-term health, wealth, and security — we would likely consider it an act of war.

Dear Republicans, Cutting science budgets has not historically been a Republican thing. For example, Lincoln created the National Academy of Sciences. Eisenhower's term increased the science budget 366%. Gerald Ford, +15%; George H. W. Bush, +30%; George W. Bush, +54%. Just sayin’.

The 80-year recipe stoking America’s Prosperity: 1) Free-market capital investments in brilliant ideas… 2) enabled by Engineering Innovations… 3) based on Science Research in Universities… 4) funded by Grants from the US Government. It’s time more people understood this.

If Rational Arguments no longer work in US governance, it’s evidence of a deeper problem in our educational system, which favors what to know over how to think — how to critically analyze, process, & verify information. Seems like a bad time to reduce funding for Public Education.

John Mulaney on @Netflix “There’s a Horse in the Hospital” My sister, who owns horses, peed her pants when she saw this. [Video: 4 minutes] www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhkZ...

When Students cheat on Exams — using AI or by any other means — they do so because School Systems value Grades more than Students value Learning.

If curious — from the StarTalk Archives. A 2020 Mother’s day conversation with — my Mother (1928 - 2023) www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3Kk...

Happy Mother’s Day to all Moms out there. And Happy Mother‘s Day to all those who care for others as though you are their Mother.

Don’t actually own a NASA Mars prototype ATV, but if I did, that's where I would park it on Broadway. And that’s how I would lean on it.

Been thinking a lot lately about the morals of Jesus of Nazareth. Wondering what his rifle of choice would be if he moved to America. An AR-15 or an AK-47?

Not that anybody asked, but my wife, growing up in Alaska, was on her school’s rifle team, and a student member of the NRA. Though she hadn’t fired a gun in 47 years, she didn’t lose her touch recently at a Las Vegas shooting range. [ CZ Shadow 2 “Black & Blue” at 21 ft ]

At NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, Manhattan, they specialize in planetary climates — especially Earth's. The White House decided not to renew their building lease — where they’ve been for 64 years. NASA’s total funding is 0.3% of the Federal Budget. Just saying.

Climate Change archives… In 2005, I served on Pres. Bush's NSF panel to recommend who he'd award the National Medal of Science. One winner was Lonnie Thompson. Studied ice cores from tropical mountain glaciers, revealing forces of climate variability on Earth, past & present.

Weather and climate research funds are being “chainsawed” from NOAA's budget. Last I checked, Louisiana & Florida, which are maximally susceptible to Hurricanes, voted Red in the last General Election. Wondering if residents there knew in advance this would happen.

In space, Venus flanks Earth on the left, with a hellfire greenhouse effect. Mars on the right, which long ago had running water. Today, it's bone dry. Something bad happened on each planet. Seems like the wrong time to limit the Nation’s capacity to conduct climate research.

The plots of disaster movies that portray the end of civilization often begin with high-level Government Officials ignoring the warnings of Scientists. One of several lesson learned from the 2.5 hour @Netflix Documentary — Don’t Look Up (2021).

While visiting Meteor Crater, I couldn’t resist the occasion — 20 miles away as the Eagle flies — to take it easy, and to be a-standin’ on the corner in Winslow, Arizona.

Visited Meteor Crater a few years ago. Best preserved in the world. Crafted some 50,000 years ago by a 50-yard meteor moving 10 miles/sec. Can sink a 60-story building. Reminder that Earth orbits the Sun in a shooting gallery. Luckily, the crater rim juuuuust missed the visitor's center!

Votes are in, from a 48-hour “X” poll. While we can surely agree we want to Make America Great Again. To achieve that goal, looks like we need to Make America Smart. But first, we need to Make Lying Wrong Again.

Decisions, Decisions. Which hat to wear today?

Current US unemployment (4.2%) is as low as, or lower than 13 of the 16 years spanning 1950-1965. Also lower than every year of Reagan's Presidency. And rivals the lowest levels of the past 20 years. What exactly are the glory days of working in factories that people long for?

Speaking of Ostriches, of my dozen or so pairs of boots, these are my only Ostrich Skin. Yet to wear them, though they fit me perfectly. I mostly just admire them in my office. But they’re available for an emergency. [Gifted by Michael Dell after a private event in Austin, Texas.]

Once Dremeled open an Ostrich Egg -- nearly five inches across. Poured out its contents: the equivalent of 21 large chicken eggs, which checks out, if you do the math on their relative volumes. Made fluffy Omelettes for everybody. Two Quiches. And baked the best Pound Cake ever.

A desire both Elon Musk and I have in common.

In 2004 I would be appointed (once again) by President Bush to serve on a Commission to advise the Congress & White House on the future of NASA, which led to this report: neildegrassetyson.com/media/pdf/MoonToMarsFinalReport.pdf At no time was basic science seen as a luxury in need of a chainsaw.

Rush Limbaugh, awarded a 2020 Presidential Medal of Freedom during Trump-1, had gone deaf in 2002. Would receive a cochlear implant, developed & patented by a @NASA engineer, restoring his ability to hear. He was grateful 'til the end for science's role in his later life.

Since 1945, American Universities have been envied worldwide for their Government-funded research. Hard to justify via corporate R&D, frontier science is vital to our long-term health, wealth, & security. To withhold University funding is to amputate the engines that Make America Great.

Appointed in 2001 by President Bush to serve on a Commission to advise him & Congress on the Future of the US Aerospace Industry, leading to this report: neildegrassetyson.com/media/pdf/AeroCommissionFinalReport.pdf At no time was basic science viewed as an expensive luxury in need of a chainsaw.

When I served on the Pentagon's Defense Innovation Board (under part of Obama-2 and all of Trump-1), what impressed me most about the commitment of Military Officers was their sworn allegiance — not to a leader or commander or a king, but to the US Constitution.

New evidence for the possibility of alien life thriving in a nearby exoplanet's biosphere. Seems like a bad time to eviscerate science funding to NASA. Or we just cede leadership to countries that value science more than we do. www.fox26houston.com/news/k2-18b-exoplanet-alien-cambridge-study-2025

On the creation of NOAA and the EPA under his signature: “Congress, the Administration and the public all share a profound commitment to the rescue of our natural environment, and the preservation of the Earth as a place both habitable by and hospitable to man.” —Richard Nixon 1970