Science Friday Host Ira Flatow, Gideon Series Conclusion, Government Shutdown, Cow Tipping: Myth Or Reality?

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• Radio Host Ira Flatow Talks Making Science Sexy

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  Radio host Ira Flatow has a message: Science is sexy.

  He said science no longer contained to classrooms and laboratory. Science has officially gone mainstream, he said. Flatow, the host of NPR’s “Science Friday,” will deliver that message on Thursday night in a keynote address at the Wisconsin Science Festival.

  Flatow pointed to two of the most popular shows on television at the moment: “The Big Bang Theory” and “Breaking Bad.”

  “You have cable and you have standard network television programs with science themes in them,” Flatow said. “People are putting science in the media. When shows that have to make money … decide that they’ll make more money by putting science as a theme … to me, science is coming back.”

  Flatow said studies show that people aren’t learning their science in school anymore. “The majority of people learn their science through informal means,” he said. “Whether it’s on ‘Science Friday, or on these TV shows,’ or they go to the museum or the zoo or the science center, and they’re going there in droves. They cannot get enough science.”

  Flatow also credited the Internet for this increased interest in science, and the rise of the citizen scientist movement. He said citizen scientists are doing everything from going out and looking at leaves to discovering new species. He said the movement is in its infancy, but it’s here to stay, and he’s happy about that.

  Flatow will be speaking this evening at the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at 7p.m. He’ll also be hosting a live broadcast of “Science Friday” from the Institute as well.

• Will The Government Shut Down?

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  The threat of a federal government shutdown continues to loom over Washington days before the scheduled implementation of the Affordable Care Act. What led to this, and is the American public even taking government shutdown threats seriously anymore? Our guest explains.

• Cow Tipping: Myth Or Reality?

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  There’s a story that’s gone around for years: drunk youth go into cow pastures and tip the animals over. Central Time’s guest explores the story to see if it really happens–or if it’s just an urban legend, or maybe a rural legend.