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Carl Sagan brought the cosmos to our T.V. screens. Stephen Hawking wrote a bestseller. And last week, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson assumed the host chair in his own late night talk show. They might not have the public profile of actors or rock stars, but in his new book The New Celebrity Scientists, communications researcher Declan Fahy argues that some scientists have cracked the fame code—which is a good thing for science. Fahy talks with Ira about how superstar scientists from Hawking to Tyson have used their celebrity to influence society, and science.

The Rise of the Celebrity Scientist

Ryan Rykaczewski describes one of the most massive migrations on the planet, driven by the sun. Image by Tintinnidguy (Own work) [CC BY-SA 4.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)], via Wikimedia Commons 

#ExplainTheSun  - The Largest Migration on The Planet

Once, there was the ordinary incandescent light bulb. It shone brightly, but wasted much of the energy put into it as heat. Then came the compact fluorescent. And as costs have dropped, consumers have increasingly been switching to light-emitting diode (LED) technology for many lighting applications, in an ongoing search for a more efficient bulb. Now, in work published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, researchers report that nanophotonic devices may be able to breathe new life into old incandescent technology. Marin Soljačić and Ognjen Ilic, two authors of the study, explain how they’ve been able to “recycle” some of the incandescent bulb’s wasted heat and re-emit it as visible light, boosting efficiency.

For the Lowly Incandescent Bulb, a Ray of Hope

Science, technology, and other cool stuff from public radio's Science Friday. It's brain fun, for curious people. From WNYC Studios.

The Rise of the Celebrity Scientist

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