Well we’ve made it. It’s been a good run, but I have officially reached my 10th post here on this blog. I have quite enjoyed watching and commenting on these episodes of “The Cosmos” and in some ways I will miss it. That’s not to say that I won’t continue to watch the rest of the season, I mean I did purchase it on Amazon so I might as well watch it all and should any subject happen to interest me enough to write about it I will do so here, as I now have a space meant for that exact purpose! That being said, it is rather poetic to end these posts on an episode that focuses so heavily on extinctions and vast changes. Now, the situation we are going through with this pandemic is certainly no extinction level cataclysm, but there is a lot of change happening here on earth nowadays. These changes, as with all things will eventually come to a new stasis for a while and we can be content to say we have survived, but this experience has been one hell of a trip. I have found of course that my studies are no one’s obligation but my own, and I have surprisingly grown to enjoy this brand of self-led learning. I will be looking forward to returning to school in the fall assuming nothing changes over summer (who knows) and I wish that I had been able to take on the class in the lecture form that it was initially structured as, but I do think I have grown as a student in these trying times. One of my friends and I have been commenting on all of the rain recently and about how green the grass is on campus, a vibrant reminder of one of the sentiments of Mr. Tyson. What is bad for one form of life may be just what another needed. We will all return to society having faced change firsthand, but I believe that this global tragedy will inspire further growth in the years to come. I didn’t spend much time talking about the episode this time around, but that’s ok with me. As always, I’m looking forward to seeing what the WORLD has in store for us next. What new things are we yet to learn in our little slice of the cosmos…

Today I learned that there is such a thing as a hypernova and let me tell you, it was a shock. I had never heard that word and it blew little 12 year old Chris’ mind. I’m sure to a well learned astronomer there are far cooler things out there, but I’m content to learn little new things all the time. That was just a bit of a bonus to this episode though, as the main purpose was to highlight the contributions made to astronomy by women like Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt, and Cecelia Payne. It finally clicked when our dear narrator Neil deGrasse Tyson said the name of the episode in context and like the stargazers and storytellers of the ancient world imagining constellations, I too began to connect the dots (I’m very proud of that analogy). It was mentioned in the episode that “you’ve probably never heard of them” and that’s a real shame. It can be disappointing to hear about just how little we are taught about the women who have changed the way we see the stars. On this subject, I am reminded of the movie that I recall briefly discussing in class, “Hidden Figures” which I have yet to see, but after this episode I might just do that with my night. The final point I would like to touch on is how much this episode clarified information I already knew. Having written this post the night after homework and a quiz about the stars and their composition I had a lot of that information fresh on my mind and I knew a lot of what Neil was going to say before he finished his sentences, but the beautiful visuals and straightforward description of what causes novas in a binary star system really helped my brain! That’s one of the main things I’ve been enjoying about watching this show. Even when I already know the information it’s a good way to reinforce or add to that knowledge. Let’s see what’s next!

Oddly enough I thought this was one of the most well structured episodes yet, having set up a seemingly high stakes mystery at the beginning and slowly working through the clues and history behind it. In a similar vein to some of the subjects I’ve discusses previously in this blog, the effects lead has on the body and mind has been a matter of interest for me. Believe it or not, I have done a surprising amount of research about lead poisoning and its consequences because of church mission trips to fix old houses and even more strangely, Dungeons and Dragons. Now, I can reveal just how much of a nerd I am by going into the proposed “anti-magical” properties of lead that some ancient cultures subscribed to, but to sum it up, lead has had a long history as a “blocker” of sorts. The people of the middle ages who believed this were surely not aware of its powers as an agonist, blocking the transmission of signals between neurotransmitters, but clearly as discussed in the episode itself there has been a long held belief that connects lead to sluggishness and the like. As a bit of a creative thought experiment of my own I began to ponder what the long term effects of using lead to restrain those with magical ability within a fantasy world and it lead (no pun intended) me down a pretty scary rabbit hole! As soon as the episode started I knew it would be discussing lead, but the way it was framed as a cataclysmic event and provided TONS of information about the history of the subject really had me hooked all the way through. I’m very much enjoying the various different subjects that this show is covering and as always I’m excited to see what’s next.

Having just made the last post minutes before watching this episode, I was pleased to learn more about a similar subject to that I had been musing about. The way our olfactory systems work to unlock memories has always been something that has fascinated me and it makes me wonder if light in our eyes could potentially work in a similar way. Even if not, the subject is still very interesting to me because I have often had experiences with the flood of memories that scents can evoke. Walking into a new home and smelling freshly cleaned carpets bring back memories of my first home, smells like those of clay or wet rocks can transport me back to slipping and sliding down shale riverbanks on hot summer days. This was merely one of the subjects touched on in the episode, but the science of the human mind and the way it interacts to different stimuli is one of my favorite subjects. If I hadn’t found such a home in theatre I may have turned my interests towards psychology to answer some of those questions, but for now I am content to merely contribute to those curious stimuli that we all face every day. The grandeur of the cosmos is certainly fascinating, but I personally find myself taken more by the more intimate aspects of thee science this show offers, and I can’t wait to see what catches my imagination next.

As always, this episode was enjoyable to watch and educational enough, but I personally didn’t feel any connection to it. Despite not being my favorite, it is interesting to hear about all of the experiments that provided unexpected results that changed the world. Of all things in this episode, what I liked the most was the long building metaphor that showed up at the end. For some reason the words “seeing the world in only one kind of light is like listening to music in only one octave” really stuck with me, and it helped that the visuals of the different lights looking at New York were so pretty. I suppose that my own personal connection with music and art was what made that stick out to me. I also have a general understanding of the creative power of light that is used in the technical aspects of theatre. As an actor and occasionally director I rely on light to create certain tones within a piece. What is interesting to me is that different colors can create different feelings and emotions in people. Why is that? When all color is is the way our eyes perceive wavelengths reflected off of objects, what makes us connect the color blue with calm and cool while red is associated with energetic or urgent and warm? Perhaps I’ll do a bit more research on my own about the science behind it all. Until then, I look forward to seeing what’s next.

I would like to start off by saying that this is the coolest title yet and truly it did touch on one of the subjects that 13 year old me would have gone nuts for; black holes. Now I know that a lot of the science of what happens inside a black hole is just speculation and that it’ll take a lot more time to learn anything assuming we EVER do, but idea of each black hole being the other end of a big bang seems pretty crazy to me. Crazy enough, in fact, that it has me questioning everything (which is exactly what the show is intended to do, spark questions). Whether this is the truth or not, my main takeaway from this particular episode (and class) is that although there is so much left to learn, we have the tools we need to keep looking. The revelations of Herschel and Einstein and all of the great astronomers of their time truly are the stepping stones for the future. I can see why people still get so excited about space and as always I am looking forward to seeing what comes next in “The Cosmos”.

The History of Fish. That’s it. That’s all I have to say. After this episode I literally had to look up the book to know that it was true and I’m even more disappointed now that I know that it is. Despite this wild story of a book about fish being used to pay salaries, I quite enjoyed this episode. Initially it reminded me of just how many inventions and discoveries Robert Hooke was responsible for, but as the episode continued I learned just how influential Edmond Halley was during the scientific revolution of the 16th century. It really brought back memories of high school science classes, especially biology and physics to be reminded of this time period, as it was so important to the development of the modern sciences. I’m still a but taken aback by the fish thing, but I guess that’s why I haven’t heard of it before. It would’ve been far too distracting! I’m intrigued to see what subjects remain to be discussed in the next few episodes.

This was actually an extremely educational episode. I learned a lot that added to what I already knew about evolution. For example, taking the specificity of the optic mechanism as it developed from single celled organisms to what we know as the eye today was fascinating! Not only that, but I learned that there have been not one but FIVE mass extinctions since life began on earth. I mentioned in my last post that I would be looking for how this show relates to people and I have to say, exploring the very basis for life on earth fits that bill. The whole “tree of life” symbol feels a bit generic but it works as a way to visualize evolution. I don’t have much to say about any personal connections with the subject of this episode, but it was really cool and I was engaged the whole time, so I suppose that counts for something! I’m interested to see what comes next.

I have always been curious about this particular show, “The Cosmos” and now that it’s a part of my curriculum I have no excuse to not watch it. The thing that stood out to me most about this particular opening episode was the very ending. Sure all of the information about space and time was fascinating but I already knew all of that. What I didn’t know about was Neil deGrasse Tyson’s personal connection with Carl Sagan. I actually watched the first 15 minutes of the original Cosmos series before this one, so it was cool enough to see the location from the beginning of that one have such meaning in the newer series. Neil talking about the inspiration that Carl gave him meant a lot and I could relate to that aspect more than anything else. I have had my own fair share of mentors who have given me a nudge in the right direction towards things I am passionate about like my very first theatre teacher. She saw something in me that I didn’t know was there and helped me to shape my future around it. The only reason I’m even here at UNC today is because she believed in me and my ability to create art and tell stories. People are my connection to the world and I’ll be looking for more of how knowledge of what’s beyond our view effects people’s dreams and passions as I go forward with watching this series.

Hi there reader, this whole thing is very new, so bear with me. My name is Chris and I am an actor, a singer and a dancer (oh my!) but this blog isn’t about that, at least, not yet. As a kid I was always fascinated with the world. You know the way kids are, always asking why. I guess that was one of the reasons I spent most of my young life aspiring to become a scientist. At first it was animals, then dinosaurs (I really wanted to be a paleontologist for a while there), eventually I found a fascination with space. I wanted to be an astronaut until I realized that the vacuum of space is dark and scary, and that was where I left those dreams. Of course, as I grew older my aspirations took me in a different scientific direction, the world of math! I loved physics in high school, it was all about solving puzzles, using facts to answer questions that seemed to explain the very forces of daily life. Now this never rekindled my desire to become a scientist, but to this day I still have a huge appreciation for the work and thinking power that goes into things like astrophysics. I’m not entirely sure what to expect going forward with this blog, but what it boils down to is: this blog is going to be focused on the vast expanse of space and if I decide that I relate to something particularly strongly I may write about it! I’m not sure what else there really is to tell, but I hope you enjoy what is to come!