Carl Sagan's Cosmos: Then & Now

10/31/2026

November 9th is Carl Sagan Day. Any plans?

10/31/2026

Patrick Stewart had absolutely no idea who Professor X was when he was first approached about playing the character in X-Men, and his reaction to seeing the comic book was absolutely priceless! 😂❤️

The hilarious encounter happened in 1997, when Stewart was invited to meet Hollywood producer Lauren Shuler Donner about a potential role in an upcoming superhero movie.

There was just one rather significant problem!

Despite already being famous around the world for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in Star Trek, Stewart knew almost nothing about the X-Men or their legendary leader, Professor Charles Xavier.

But when he arrived at the producer's office, something extraordinary happened!

Donner showed him an image of Professor X, the bald, distinguished character who led the famous team of mutants.

And Stewart couldn't believe what he was seeing!

Looking at the illustration, he reportedly exclaimed, "What am I doing on the front of that comic book?"

The resemblance between the actor and the fictional character was so striking that it seemed almost as though Professor X had been designed specifically for him!

And Donner's response was equally brilliant.

"Exactly."

But despite the uncanny resemblance, Stewart wasn't immediately convinced!

Having already spent years playing Captain Picard, he was reluctant to commit to another major science-fiction franchise.

However, director Bryan Singer eventually persuaded him to take the role, and Stewart made his debut as Professor X in the first X-Men movie in 2000.

The decision launched one of Hollywood's most iconic superhero performances, with Stewart continuing to portray the beloved character for more than two decades.

And to think it all began with an actor staring at a comic-book character and wondering why someone had drawn his face on it!

Sometimes, the perfect casting decision is literally staring you in the face! 😂❤️

07/09/2026

07/08/2026

07/08/2026

07/08/2026

Fastened to each Voyager spacecraft is a message intended for a future that humanity may never see.

The Golden Record is a 12-inch gold-plated copper disc carrying a carefully assembled portrait of Earth. It holds images of people, landscapes, science, and daily life, along with the sounds of waves, wind, rain, birds, and whales. Its music spans cultures and centuries, from classical European compositions to traditional instruments and songs from around the world. It also carries greetings in 55 languages, a human heartbeat, and the voice of a mother speaking to her newborn child.

Its protective cover contains symbolic instructions showing how the record can be played and clues to the location of its origin. The message was designed using mathematics and physics in the hope that any technologically capable finder might understand it.

The odds of either record ever being discovered are almost unimaginably small. Voyager is traveling through an enormous and mostly empty galaxy, where encounters between objects are rare.

But that was never the entire point.

The Golden Record is humanity leaving a trace of itself behind: not a warning, not a claim of ownership, but an introduction. A small collection of sights and sounds saying that, for a brief time, there was life on Earth that could think, create music, speak to one another, and wonder who else might be listening.

One day, Voyager’s instruments will stop transmitting.

The spacecraft will continue into the darkness.

And the message will remain.

06/26/2026

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05/31/2026

05/01/2026

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04/26/2026