and so too does my guest today, arguably america's most famous scientist, neil degrasse tyson. his special subject is astrophysics, but his mission goes much wider, to get us all to respect scientific fact. so how's that going? neil degrasse tyson, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. your dayjob is being an astrophysicist, but you are also one of america's leading champions for science. so you tell me why there appears to be such a strain of scepticism among so many americans toward the basics of scientific knowledge. i don't have a good answer for that and i poked around in the ether for what could be behind it and i'm going to give what sounds like an easy sort of cop out answer, and it has to do with how science is taught in the schools. it's currently taught as a body of information, a satchel of facts that are imparted upon you and then you regurgitate that for an exam. that's an aspect of science, but it's not the most important part of science. the most important part of science is knowing how to question things and knowing when an answer has emerged that represents, sort of,

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neil degrasse tyson, really appreciate it.>> san francisco giants are baseball. by the way. >> yes, thank you. i appreciate it. >>> just ahead, new york -- extraordinary day in new york. look at this scene. new york and the nation remember fall upon police officer jason rivera, next. (wife) hi, honey! (man) like what? (burke) well, you'd get a discount for insuring your jet skis... and boat...rv...life... ...home and more. you could save up to forty-five percent. (man) that's a whole lot of discounts. (burke) well, we offer coverage for a whole lot of things, and you could save a whole lot of something with farmers policy perks. (kid) sup, dad! (burke) seventeen-car garage you got there? ♪we are farmers♪ ♪bum-pa-dum, bum-bum-bum-bum♪ i always dreamed of having kids of my own. ♪ ♪ now i'm ready for someone to call me mom. at northwestern mutual, our version of financial planning helps you live your dreams today. your record label is taking off. but so is your sound engineer. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. indee

and so too does my guest today, arguably america's most famous scientist, neil degrasse tyson.ntific fact. so how's that going?