I share the gut-fluttering awe for big-R Reality that Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson excel at passing on. My theme song is A Glorious Dawn.

It’s so important to rescue science from the desert the media has banished it to, ignored, demeaned, drained of passion. In the last few years, groups like the Secret Science Club have done an amazing job with events that are awesomely cool, avoiding the twin threats of being boring or dumbing down the science.

I feel lucky to have the opportunity to work with a new player, the Empiricist League. The League hosts events in NYC watering holes, bringing together diverse science thinkers on topics like “Darwin Vs. Robot” and “The Science of Impending Doom.” It is the brainchild of David “Lefty” Leibowitz, author of Invisible Frontier, about another subject dear to me: urban spelunking.

The League’s next event is August 22nd, “Beyond Thunderdome—The Science of Apocalypse and Impending Doom,” with a great line up. Check it out here.