‘Science Friday’ touches down in Orlando
The public radio show “Science Friday” is very picky about where it travels four times a year, host Ira Flatow says. But he sounds exhilarated by a stop next week in Orlando.
“Orlando has a lot of stuff going for it,” Flatow said, citing the ocean, the space community, robotics and Walt Disney World.
The Tuesday program at Bob Carr Theater will feature robots and interactive demonstrations as well as an aerospace engineer and a neuroscientist from the University of Central Florida.
“Science Friday” is in its 26th year. Flatow, who hosted “Newton’s Apple” on TV, has appeared twice as himself on “The Big Bang Theory.” He’s a fan of the CBS sitcom.
“It does what I like to do in my own career — that is make science a topic of discussion among your friends and relatives,” he said. “Sometimes scientists don’t like the caricature of the nerdy folks, but they’re not being made fun of. They’re just showing it’s OK to be a nerdy, geeky person. It makes it safe for all the geeks to come out.”
Flatow, 68, just passed 50 years in the business.
“I stay young because of what I do. Every day I go to the office and I learn something new,” he said. “I’m like a science yenta. I have an audience that I can talk to about the fantastic and exciting things we’ve discovered . ... Bill Nye and I talk about this a lot, about the joy of science and discovery. Look how young he looks.” (Nye is 61.)
In person “Science Friday” offers more than the radio show can. “We will do a 90-minute, live, interactive, fun, educational, nerdy show,” Flatow said. “It’s made just for the audience coming to watch it in Orlando.”
Flatow hopes to draw 2,000 people, and more than 1,000 tickets have been sold. The show’s theme is “Engineering the Future.”
“That’s where we’re all living,” Flatow said. “Our show is one of the few places where people can talk to real scientists.”
Flatow is visiting as President Donald Trump has proposed eliminating all funding for public broadcasting.
“Public broadcasting is such a valuable resource,” Flatow said. “I’ve got to believe there’s going to be pushback from people when they hear the government wants to do away with the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.”
Flatow urges fans to call their elected officials and let them know they appreciate public broadcasting.
“There’s a great mythology that people do not like science, that they hate science topics,” he said. “The evidence doesn’t bear it out.” He cited “The Big Bang Theory,” movies (“The Theory of Everything,” “Hidden Figures”) and commercials (one with Stephen Hawking).
Science reporting is more important than ever because global warming is the greatest challenge the Earth is facing, Flatow said.
“We are borrowing from our grandchildren. If we don’t take care of it, our grandchildren won’t have it,” he said. “I wonder how many people who want to defund the EPA or let go of environmental rules have any grandchildren.”
But Flatow dismisses the notion that he’s an evangelist. “The Earth is speaking for itself. You have these record hot days, these record cold days,” he said. “I don’t have to be an evangelist. The Earth is speaking for itself.”