Podcast: Science in a Nutshell, Part 2 of our interview with “The Bad Astronomer,” Dr. Phil Plait

• By Maggie Masetti
• December 4, 2012
• Comments Off on Podcast: Science in a Nutshell, Part 2 of our interview with “The Bad Astronomer,” Dr. Phil Plait

Click to listen! (6.5MB MP3, right-click to save)
Transcript (Text, PDF)

As science educators, encouraging critical thinking and skepticism is something we think is really important. We interviewed the “Bad Astronomer,” Dr. Phil Plait, to get his thoughts on the subject. He is a trained scientist who used to work at NASA Goddard… but now he works full-time as a science writer and a public advocate for good science.

In Part 1 of our interview with Phil, we learned why he started blogging about hoaxes and misconceptions, about the importance of asking “why,” and ended with the start of an intriguing discussion about how the trend today in entertainment is for scientists to actually be the heroes and the good guys. This podcast is Part 2 of our interview (with two more to come), in which Phil shares his experiences with the TV shows The Big Bang Theory and Mythbusters, and tells us why he gets such joy out of teaching people about how great science is.

Image courtesy of Phil Plait

• Phil’s original Bad Astronomy website
• Phil’s archived blog at Discover magazine
• Phil’s current blog at Slate