Also known as ‘The Bad Astronomer’, Phil Plait is a scientist, skeptic, author, blogger, and TV personality. He’s served as president of the James Randi Educational Foundation, written two books titled ‘Bad Astronomy’ (debunking abuses of science in general and astronomy in particular) and ‘Death from the Skies’ (detailing the various ways the universe might put an end to our little rock), And Hosted his own Discovery Documentary series called “Phil Plait’s Bad Universe”. He’s been featured in Episodes of Penn & Teller’s Bullshit!, he’s workd on the COBE and Hubble telescopes, and he travells regularly to speak at science and skepticism events around the globe. He is most commonly found dedicating his time to sharing discoveries and clearing up misunderstandings or misrepresentations of science on his Discover Magazine blog Bad Astronomy.
Phil will be calling in at 6:00PM, so make sure to be online, because this is a call that you won’t want to miss! If you have anything you’d like to ask Phil, please don’t hesitate to post it below.
Edit:
What is your stance on erotic Star Trek fan fiction?
Dear Doctor Phil, I’ve been having trouble with my girlfriend, can you help me?
Hi Phil. I was told to tell you Professor Pickett says Hi! How small are the exoplanets are we spotting these days?
Being a scientist, do you ever find it difficult to watch sci-fi TV shows or movies while keeping a straight face? Have you ever burst out laughing after hearing all of that technical jargon on Star Trek?
Team Edison or team Tesla
Oh, and Kirk or Picard?
Dear Doctor Phil, are you a space Mythbuster? If not, why not?
Also, what is your favorite “abuse of science” or common misconception?
Hello Dr. Plait. I’m a senior in Physics graduating in May with zero interest in grad school. What careers are available/what should be the next step for me?
What is you favourite way the world could end?
What is the craziest astronomy theory you’ve ever seen that you’ve had to debunk?
Also, Oliver Wendell Jones from Bloom County or Jason Fox from Foxtrot?
Do you think we will see the breaking of light speed by the end of our generation?
Go on and rave about how good Contact was.
Dear Dr. Plait:
What are your thoughts on the new upcoming Cosmos series with Neil DeGrasse Tyson?
Does bacon have a place in space?
Seems to me that bosons and non-bosons (hadrons and leptons) are very disparate creatures. When reading about the Standard Model, the difference between these two families of particules is always given in terms of quantum spin, where bosons have an integer spin number and non-bosons have a fractional spin number. My question is what is quantum spin and how does it give rise to such disparate families of particules? I have asked people this before, and have never gotten a completely satisfactory answer.
What do you think of schools teaching both intelligent design and evolution together in science class to our kids?
can you tell me why arn’t sending any more people to the moon?
Should I refer to you as Dr. Phil or Dr. Dr Phil?
Hey Phil, have you had any recent encounters with the types of pseudoscience you used to deal with pretty often?
So, how about about them neutrinos?
You may have heard of My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. If you have watched it (as you well should), who is your favorite pony? If you haven’t watched it. what do you think of the fandom?
Dear Dr. Professor Astronomer Extraordinaire, what do you think of the recent ‘supporting’ experiment for the faster than light neutrino?
Why do people put so much faith in astrology? And why can’t we have Ophiuchus in the Zodiac? Ophiuchus kicks major bus.
Actually, in reply to Carl (#17) are we losing anything by not mounting manned space missions these days? Or have telescopes and other remote visioning systems basically filled the role?
Favorite Pony?
Do you think this is the only universe in existence, or are there other universes?
As an astrophysics major, I’m interested in what your favorite weird/wonderous oddity in the universe?
what about getting place to place faster then the speed of light, without traveling faster then the speed of light? like wormholes?
If you could send a manned mission to anywhere in the universe (ignoring the feasibility of getting there in a reasonable amount of time), where would you send it?
Dear Dr. Plait, can you give me a brief opinion about the current Russian and Chinese Space Programs?
Who is the better astronaut, Buzz Aldrin or Buzz Lightyear?
For a better question, do you think commercial space travel will be feasible within the next 100 years?
What is your stance on mormon underwear?
What would it look like to be inside of a nebula?
Other than the hourglass you showed earlier, what’s your favorite astronomy photo taken so far? Fomalhaut? Deep Field?
Also, what are your comments on the James Webb Space Telescope being funded again? Excitement and glee!?
What is your opinion on the man who stole the moon rocks to have sex with his fiance on top of them and officially say he was the first man to have sex on the moon?
Dear Dr. Plait, what is the funniest example of bad science (besides the moon landing conspiracy) that you have ever heard?
Are you into the wonderful magic of ponies?
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