January 2, 2017 8:55 pm

Tomorrow, Bill Nye and Chuck Nice celebrate invention, innovation and discovery

Whether you celebrate Sir Isaac Newton’s birthday on January 4^th, per the Gregorian Calendar, or on December 25^th, per the Julian calendar still used in England in 1643 when he was born, (i.e., Newtonmas, as Bill Nye calls it), one thing we can all agree with is that Newton was an inventor (Calculus), an innovator (he added reflecting mirrors to build the first reflecting telescope), and a scientist whose discoveries (the law of universal gravitation, the three laws of motion) changed our understanding of the world around us and the universe in which we live.

So it is entirely fitting that in honor of Newton’s birthday, engineer and StarTalk All-Stars host Bill Nye answers your questions about inventions, innovations, and discoveries, previously gathered on our social media channels and selected by co-host Chuck Nice.

Chuck has picked an interesting batch of questions, whose answers span the gamut from artificial intelligence and driverless cars, to CRISPR gene splicing technology and designer babies. You’ll hear about climate change and renewable energy, using inflatable habitats for exploring Mars, patent trolls, and the importance of sewers to the advance of human civilization.

This is the last new All-Stars episode of our first season. Next week, thanks in part to those of you who voted in our Fan Favorites poll, we’ll post our StarTalk All-Stars Season 1 Time Capsule. Then it’s on to Season 2.

Thank you all for helping us make StarTalk All-Stars the successful show that it has become. And stay tuned for more: in a few weeks, we’ll be announcing a second StarTalk podcast spinoff which will premier early this year.

Happy New Year! It’s going to be a busy one.

That’s it for now. Keep Looking Up!
– Jeffrey Simons