WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.140 Okay, let's unpack this. If I simply say the 00:00:02.140 --> 00:00:04.419 name Bill and I follow it with the name Nye, 00:00:04.599 --> 00:00:07.459 your brain does something automatic, doesn't 00:00:07.459 --> 00:00:09.619 it? Oh, absolutely. It's almost Pavlovian. It 00:00:09.619 --> 00:00:13.240 is. You hear the chant. Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! 00:00:13.419 --> 00:00:15.919 Exactly. It's like a reflex for, what, two or 00:00:15.919 --> 00:00:19.780 three generations now? At least. It's hardwired 00:00:19.780 --> 00:00:21.780 into the cultural neural network at this point. 00:00:21.899 --> 00:00:24.539 It really is. You instantly picture the bow tie. 00:00:24.780 --> 00:00:27.219 You see the powder blue lab coat. And you hear 00:00:27.219 --> 00:00:30.339 the sound effects. The wacky guitar riffs. Science 00:00:30.339 --> 00:00:33.460 rules. But here is where it gets really, really 00:00:33.460 --> 00:00:36.000 interesting for our deep dive today. We are sitting 00:00:36.000 --> 00:00:39.840 here. It's January 24th, 2026. Right. And if 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:41.840 you look at the headlines from just the last, 00:00:41.859 --> 00:00:44.700 say, 12 to 18 months, the picture of this man 00:00:44.700 --> 00:00:48.140 has changed so dramatically. The 90s nostalgia. 00:00:48.200 --> 00:00:50.219 It almost feels like it belongs to a different 00:00:50.219 --> 00:00:52.520 person entirely. We aren't just talking about 00:00:52.520 --> 00:00:54.659 a children's show host anymore. No, not at all. 00:00:54.840 --> 00:00:57.600 We are looking at a figure who has undergone 00:00:57.600 --> 00:01:01.679 this. This profound evolution. In fact, if we 00:01:01.679 --> 00:01:04.799 rewind just about a year to January 4th, 2025, 00:01:05.140 --> 00:01:08.519 we find Bill Nye in the East Room of the White 00:01:08.519 --> 00:01:10.900 House. A slightly different setting than Nye 00:01:10.900 --> 00:01:14.159 Labs. Just a bit. He is standing there while 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:16.920 President Biden awards him the Presidential Medal 00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:19.359 of Freedom. Which is the nation's highest civilian 00:01:19.359 --> 00:01:21.299 honor. I mean, that's not something they just 00:01:21.299 --> 00:01:25.579 hand out. No, this is the same. award given to 00:01:25.579 --> 00:01:29.060 civil rights icons, to world changing politicians, 00:01:29.359 --> 00:01:32.799 to people who have, you know, fundamentally altered 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:35.239 the fabric of American life. And that came right 00:01:35.239 --> 00:01:37.359 after he finally got a star on the Hollywood 00:01:37.359 --> 00:01:40.140 Walk of Fame in 2024. Right on the heels of it. 00:01:40.200 --> 00:01:43.599 So you have this one -two punch of major cultural 00:01:43.599 --> 00:01:46.120 and political recognition. It's wild when you 00:01:46.120 --> 00:01:47.840 really stop and think about it. He's standing 00:01:47.840 --> 00:01:50.180 there with the president accepting an honor usually 00:01:50.180 --> 00:01:53.180 reserved for the heavies of history. And yet. 00:01:53.469 --> 00:01:56.409 This is the same guy who used to dip marshmallows 00:01:56.409 --> 00:01:59.189 in liquid nitrogen and parody Nirvana songs to 00:01:59.189 --> 00:02:02.290 explain air pressure. It is remarkable trajectory. 00:02:02.810 --> 00:02:06.109 But I think to really understand why he received 00:02:06.109 --> 00:02:08.650 that medal and why he's still such a fixture 00:02:08.650 --> 00:02:11.509 in the conversation in 2026, we have to look 00:02:11.509 --> 00:02:13.550 past the caricature. We have to. We have to look 00:02:13.550 --> 00:02:15.770 at the resume that most people completely ignore 00:02:15.770 --> 00:02:18.659 or just don't know exists. The resume is actually 00:02:18.659 --> 00:02:21.060 insane. I mean, we're talking about a mechanical 00:02:21.060 --> 00:02:23.740 engineer for Boeing. We're talking about a stand 00:02:23.740 --> 00:02:27.159 -up comedian, a patent holder for, and I am not 00:02:27.159 --> 00:02:28.699 making this up, we will get into this later, 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:32.860 ballet shoes. The ballet shoes. Yes. And in recent 00:02:32.860 --> 00:02:35.719 years, a guy who stood on a national stage and 00:02:35.719 --> 00:02:38.080 told the world the planet was on effing fire. 00:02:38.379 --> 00:02:40.139 That was a pivotal moment. That was the shift 00:02:40.139 --> 00:02:42.740 from the science guy to the science advocate, 00:02:42.819 --> 00:02:45.879 or perhaps even the science warrior. So what 00:02:45.879 --> 00:02:48.419 does this all mean? Our mission for this deep 00:02:48.419 --> 00:02:51.560 dive is to figure out how a guy who started out 00:02:51.560 --> 00:02:54.699 winning a Steve Martin lookalike contest became 00:02:54.699 --> 00:02:57.280 one of the most influential and at times controversial 00:02:57.280 --> 00:03:00.159 voices in American science history. How do you 00:03:00.159 --> 00:03:02.560 bridge that gap? The gap between, say, Mr. Wizard 00:03:02.560 --> 00:03:05.860 and modern climate advocacy. Exactly. And to 00:03:05.860 --> 00:03:08.240 do that, we have combed through extensive biographical 00:03:08.240 --> 00:03:11.080 records, career retrospectives, patent filings, 00:03:11.080 --> 00:03:13.599 and all the details of his recent accolades right 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:15.819 up through 2025. So we are going to strip away 00:03:15.819 --> 00:03:18.159 the sound effects and look at the man. So buckle 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:21.120 up. We are going way beyond the theme song. I 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:22.879 think we should start where all good stories 00:03:22.879 --> 00:03:27.340 start. The origin. And in Bill Nye's case. The 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:29.740 apple didn't fall far from the tree. It actually 00:03:29.740 --> 00:03:32.960 fell right into a high -stakes, top -secret government 00:03:32.960 --> 00:03:35.219 facility. This is honestly one of my favorite 00:03:35.219 --> 00:03:37.000 parts of the research. You think of Bill Nye 00:03:37.000 --> 00:03:39.680 as this nerdy kid from D .C. born in November 00:03:39.680 --> 00:03:42.860 1955. You imagine him playing with chemistry 00:03:42.860 --> 00:03:45.280 sets, but his parents... His parents were like 00:03:45.280 --> 00:03:47.080 characters out of a spy novel. They really were. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:49.379 Let's start with his mom, Jacqueline Jenkins 00:03:49.379 --> 00:03:52.659 Nye. Jacqueline was a force of nature. She wasn't 00:03:52.659 --> 00:03:56.060 just a mom in the 1950s sense. She was a goucher 00:03:56.060 --> 00:03:58.629 girl. A Goucher girl. That sounds like a squad 00:03:58.629 --> 00:04:01.250 name. In a way, it was. She was an alumna of 00:04:01.250 --> 00:04:04.330 Goucher College. Now, during World War II, the 00:04:04.330 --> 00:04:06.930 U .S. Navy had a very specific problem. They 00:04:06.930 --> 00:04:08.789 needed codebreakers. They needed codebreakers. 00:04:08.789 --> 00:04:11.629 Badly. They needed people who were highly educated, 00:04:12.009 --> 00:04:15.069 disciplined, and capable of intense pattern recognition 00:04:15.069 --> 00:04:18.509 to crack German and Japanese military ciphers. 00:04:18.509 --> 00:04:20.889 And they went to Goucher. They specifically recruited 00:04:20.889 --> 00:04:23.209 women from Goucher College because of the school's 00:04:23.209 --> 00:04:26.160 reputation for academic rigor. They were looking 00:04:26.160 --> 00:04:28.939 for the best and brightest. So while other moms 00:04:28.939 --> 00:04:31.319 might have been, I don't know, baking casseroles, 00:04:31.319 --> 00:04:34.420 which I'm sure she did too, Bill Nye's mom was 00:04:34.420 --> 00:04:37.439 literally cracking enemy codes. Essentially, 00:04:37.480 --> 00:04:40.139 yes. She was working on the codes that determined 00:04:40.139 --> 00:04:42.139 the movement of fleets and the outcome of battles. 00:04:42.399 --> 00:04:45.060 Bill Nye has this great line about her. He says 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:47.680 she wasn't Rosie the Riveter. She was Rosie the 00:04:47.680 --> 00:04:50.639 Top Secret Code Breaker. Exactly, which is so 00:04:50.639 --> 00:04:53.209 much cooler. And that secrecy wasn't just a job 00:04:53.209 --> 00:04:55.610 requirement. It became a personality trait, right? 00:04:55.709 --> 00:04:58.290 It kind of defined her. It permeated the household. 00:04:58.730 --> 00:05:01.230 Now I recall asking her about the war when he 00:05:01.230 --> 00:05:04.290 was growing up. Most veterans eventually, you 00:05:04.290 --> 00:05:07.389 know, they might share a story or two. But Jacqueline. 00:05:07.449 --> 00:05:09.170 What would she say? She would just laugh and 00:05:09.170 --> 00:05:12.319 say, I can't talk about it. Wow. That creates 00:05:12.319 --> 00:05:14.660 a very specific environment for a child to grow 00:05:14.660 --> 00:05:16.879 up in. It does. It creates an environment where 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:20.600 intelligence is valued, but also where knowledge 00:05:20.600 --> 00:05:23.620 is serious business. It teaches you that there 00:05:23.620 --> 00:05:25.720 are secrets in the world, there are puzzles to 00:05:25.720 --> 00:05:28.680 be solved, and sometimes the stakes are life 00:05:28.680 --> 00:05:30.759 and death. It's not just trivia. Not at all. 00:05:30.839 --> 00:05:34.579 And then there's his dad, Edwin, Ned Nye, also 00:05:34.579 --> 00:05:37.180 a World War II vet, but his experience was... 00:05:37.769 --> 00:05:39.990 Well, it was much darker. Much darker. Ned Nye 00:05:39.990 --> 00:05:42.110 was a contractor. He was on Wake Island in the 00:05:42.110 --> 00:05:44.709 Pacific building an airstrip when the war broke 00:05:44.709 --> 00:05:46.610 out. And Wake Island was one of the first places 00:05:46.610 --> 00:05:49.069 to be attacked? It was overrun by Japanese forces 00:05:49.069 --> 00:05:51.490 almost immediately. Ned was captured. And he 00:05:51.490 --> 00:05:53.310 wasn't just held for a few weeks. This wasn't 00:05:53.310 --> 00:05:55.910 a short -term thing. No. He spent four years 00:05:55.910 --> 00:05:58.889 in a Japanese prisoner of war camp. Four years. 00:05:58.990 --> 00:06:02.370 That is... It's unfathomable. And this brings 00:06:02.370 --> 00:06:04.709 us to a crucial detail that I think explains 00:06:04.709 --> 00:06:07.850 so much about Bill Nye's later obsessions. Yes. 00:06:14.430 --> 00:06:18.449 No way to tell time. Right. Imagine that. You 00:06:18.449 --> 00:06:21.189 are in a camp, starving, unsure if you will ever 00:06:21.189 --> 00:06:23.290 leave, and you have no way to measure the passage 00:06:23.290 --> 00:06:25.870 of time. Time is the only thing you have. And 00:06:25.870 --> 00:06:27.949 yet you can't measure it. That loss of orientation 00:06:27.949 --> 00:06:30.329 must have been maddening. It could break a person's 00:06:30.329 --> 00:06:33.329 mind. It could. So how do you keep a grip on 00:06:33.329 --> 00:06:35.509 reality? How do you know if it's noon or 2 p 00:06:35.509 --> 00:06:39.829 .m.? You use science. You use science. Ned and 00:06:39.829 --> 00:06:42.889 I learned to tell time using the shadow of a 00:06:42.889 --> 00:06:46.050 shovel handle. That is incredible. Just sheer 00:06:46.050 --> 00:06:49.449 ingenuity born of desperation. Is survival through 00:06:49.449 --> 00:06:52.129 observation. He didn't have a Rolex, but he had 00:06:52.129 --> 00:06:54.399 the sun. He had the physics of the solar system. 00:06:54.459 --> 00:06:56.459 He learned to read the length and angle of the 00:06:56.459 --> 00:06:58.660 shadow to know the time of day. And it gave him 00:06:58.660 --> 00:07:01.060 a sense of control. In a situation where he had 00:07:01.060 --> 00:07:04.279 absolutely none. And that trauma, or perhaps 00:07:04.279 --> 00:07:07.060 that coping mechanism, sparked a lifelong obsession, 00:07:07.300 --> 00:07:10.459 didn't it? It did. After the war, Ned and I became 00:07:10.459 --> 00:07:13.019 obsessed with sundials. Totally obsessed. He 00:07:13.019 --> 00:07:14.800 wrote a book about them. He dragged young Bill 00:07:14.800 --> 00:07:17.360 around to look at them. He passed that fascination 00:07:17.360 --> 00:07:19.660 directly to his son. Which feels like a quirky 00:07:19.660 --> 00:07:22.279 dad hobby until you realize that decades later, 00:07:22.379 --> 00:07:24.879 Bill Nye ends up working with NASA on the Mars 00:07:24.879 --> 00:07:27.699 rovers to put a sundial on Mars. We are getting 00:07:27.699 --> 00:07:29.560 ahead of ourselves, but you are so right. It 00:07:29.560 --> 00:07:31.199 all connects, but you can see the foundation 00:07:31.199 --> 00:07:34.420 right there. The codebreaker mom who values logic 00:07:34.420 --> 00:07:37.839 and patterns. The survivor dad who values observation 00:07:37.839 --> 00:07:41.300 and mechanics. That is the DNA of curiosity that 00:07:41.300 --> 00:07:44.459 built Bill Nye. So you've got this kid with high 00:07:44.459 --> 00:07:47.620 -powered genetics. He goes to Sidwell Friends 00:07:47.620 --> 00:07:49.980 School on a scholarship, which is a big deal 00:07:49.980 --> 00:07:52.720 in D .C., and then heads to Cornell University 00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:55.959 to study mechanical engineering. He graduates 00:07:55.959 --> 00:07:59.199 in 1977. And this is where the Sagan connection 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:03.360 happens. Yes. The Carl Sagan. The man, the myth, 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:07.040 the turtleneck. The icon. Yeah. So Nye took an 00:08:07.040 --> 00:08:10.189 astronomy class with Carl Sagan at Cornell. Now, 00:08:10.209 --> 00:08:12.290 for those listening who might be younger or who 00:08:12.290 --> 00:08:15.110 might not appreciate the context, in the 1970s 00:08:15.110 --> 00:08:17.589 and 80s, Carl Sagan was the voice of science. 00:08:17.870 --> 00:08:20.389 He wasn't. He was the guy. He hosted Cosmos. 00:08:20.389 --> 00:08:22.810 He made the universe feel poetic and accessible. 00:08:23.189 --> 00:08:25.670 He wasn't just a researcher. He was a master 00:08:25.670 --> 00:08:28.389 communicator. And Nye was just a face in the 00:08:28.389 --> 00:08:30.889 lecture hall. At first, yes. But years later, 00:08:31.029 --> 00:08:34.570 in 1987, Nye went to his 10 -year reunion. he 00:08:34.570 --> 00:08:36.389 managed to get a meeting with Sagan. That must 00:08:36.389 --> 00:08:38.289 have been nerve -wracking. I'm sure. At this 00:08:38.289 --> 00:08:40.330 point, Nye is living in Seattle, tinkering with 00:08:40.330 --> 00:08:42.450 comedy, thinking about doing a TV show. His pitch 00:08:42.450 --> 00:08:45.409 to Sagan was very engineering -focused. What 00:08:45.409 --> 00:08:47.909 was the idea? He told Sagan, I want to do a show 00:08:47.909 --> 00:08:49.710 about bridges and bicycles. I want to do a show 00:08:49.710 --> 00:08:51.889 about technology. Because that's what Nye was, 00:08:52.169 --> 00:08:54.669 an engineer. He looked at the world in terms 00:08:54.669 --> 00:08:56.909 of gears and trusses. And Sagan stopped him. 00:08:57.070 --> 00:09:00.190 He did. And this is the moment that changed the 00:09:00.190 --> 00:09:04.049 trajectory of educational TV. Sagan said, And 00:09:04.049 --> 00:09:06.750 this is a near direct quote. Focus on pure science. 00:09:07.450 --> 00:09:10.769 Kids resonate to pure science rather than technology. 00:09:11.070 --> 00:09:13.389 That is such a subtle distinction, but it feels 00:09:13.389 --> 00:09:15.850 profound. What did he really mean by that? Well, 00:09:15.870 --> 00:09:18.470 think about it. Technology changes. A show about 00:09:18.470 --> 00:09:21.269 how a fax machine works is boring in 1990 and 00:09:21.269 --> 00:09:23.850 obsolete by 2000. Right. Technology is the application. 00:09:24.210 --> 00:09:27.210 But science, science is the fundamental truth. 00:09:27.669 --> 00:09:30.649 Gravity is gravity. Photosynthesis is photosynthesis. 00:09:30.970 --> 00:09:33.309 The laws of thermodynamics don't go out of style. 00:09:33.690 --> 00:09:36.129 So Sagan was saying, don't show them the gadget. 00:09:36.230 --> 00:09:38.470 Show them the rule that makes the gadget possible. 00:09:38.730 --> 00:09:41.610 Exactly. He realized that to capture a child's 00:09:41.610 --> 00:09:43.950 imagination or anyone's imagination, really, 00:09:44.029 --> 00:09:46.809 you don't explain how a gear works. You explain 00:09:46.809 --> 00:09:49.990 why the gear turns. You explain the forces of 00:09:49.990 --> 00:09:53.269 the universe. And that advice is the core philosophy 00:09:53.269 --> 00:09:56.110 of Bill Nye the Science Guy. That's the whole 00:09:56.110 --> 00:09:58.190 show right there. It's the whole formula. But 00:09:58.190 --> 00:10:00.210 before he could become the science guy, he had 00:10:00.210 --> 00:10:03.250 to be the Boeing guy. That's right. Post Cornell, 00:10:03.470 --> 00:10:06.309 he's in Seattle. He's working for Boeing and 00:10:06.309 --> 00:10:08.590 Sunstrand Data Control. And I think people gloss 00:10:08.590 --> 00:10:10.549 over this. They think, oh, he was an engineer, 00:10:10.610 --> 00:10:13.309 like he sat at a desk and did math. But he was 00:10:13.309 --> 00:10:16.470 working on actual heavy hardware. Very heavy. 00:10:16.549 --> 00:10:19.350 He invented something called a hydraulic resonance 00:10:19.350 --> 00:10:23.470 suppressor tube for the Boeing 747. Which is 00:10:23.470 --> 00:10:26.129 a very fancy string of words. It sounds like 00:10:26.129 --> 00:10:27.950 something you'd ask Scotty to fix on the Enterprise. 00:10:28.210 --> 00:10:30.710 The resonance suppressors are offline, Captain. 00:10:31.090 --> 00:10:34.889 It does. But it's a critical piece of safety 00:10:34.889 --> 00:10:38.490 equipment. Basically, the horizontal stabilizer, 00:10:38.509 --> 00:10:40.889 the little wing at the back of the plane, had 00:10:40.889 --> 00:10:43.929 a tendency to vibrate. If that vibration matches 00:10:43.929 --> 00:10:45.950 the natural frequency of the material, you get 00:10:45.950 --> 00:10:48.250 resonance. And resonance can shake a structure 00:10:48.250 --> 00:10:50.870 apart. Like an opera singer shattering a wine 00:10:50.870 --> 00:10:53.730 glass. But the wine glass is a jumbo jet full 00:10:53.730 --> 00:10:56.379 of people. Precisely. That is the perfect analogy. 00:10:56.860 --> 00:10:59.559 Nye figured out a way to route hydraulic fluid 00:10:59.559 --> 00:11:04.039 through a tube to dampen that vibration. He wasn't 00:11:04.039 --> 00:11:06.480 playing a scientist on TV yet. He was literally 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:09.419 fixing resonance issues on 747s. That's high 00:11:09.419 --> 00:11:11.340 -stakes engineering. It also creates a lot of 00:11:11.340 --> 00:11:13.419 credibility. He isn't an actor who learned to 00:11:13.419 --> 00:11:15.019 read a teleprompter. He understands the math. 00:11:15.279 --> 00:11:18.080 He really does. And yet, despite that success, 00:11:18.460 --> 00:11:21.100 he had a different dream. He wanted to be an 00:11:21.100 --> 00:11:23.779 astronaut. Ah, the dream of every science -minded 00:11:23.779 --> 00:11:26.370 kid. He applied to NASA's astronaut training 00:11:26.370 --> 00:11:30.590 program four times. Rejected. Every single time. 00:11:30.690 --> 00:11:33.529 Ouch. That has to be a humbling reality check. 00:11:33.710 --> 00:11:35.509 You're smart enough to fix the plane, but they 00:11:35.509 --> 00:11:38.230 won't let you fly it into space. It is. But that 00:11:38.230 --> 00:11:40.789 rejection kept him on Earth. It kept him in Seattle. 00:11:41.009 --> 00:11:43.529 And while he was engineering by day, something 00:11:43.529 --> 00:11:46.129 else was bubbling up in the evenings. The comedy. 00:11:46.210 --> 00:11:47.950 And this is the part that always cracks me up. 00:11:48.009 --> 00:11:50.730 The catalyst for his comedy career wasn't a burning 00:11:50.730 --> 00:11:53.389 desire to tell jokes. No. It was a Steve Martin 00:11:53.389 --> 00:11:57.090 lookalike contest. It was 1978. And if you look 00:11:57.090 --> 00:11:59.509 at photos of Bill Nye from that era, the gray 00:11:59.509 --> 00:12:02.129 suit, the hair, the prominent nose, the sort 00:12:02.129 --> 00:12:04.909 of wild eyed expression, he really does look 00:12:04.909 --> 00:12:07.009 like Steve Martin. A dead ringer. And he won 00:12:07.009 --> 00:12:08.909 the contest, right? He did. And that victory 00:12:08.909 --> 00:12:10.750 gave him a taste of the spotlight. He started 00:12:10.750 --> 00:12:12.909 doing impressions at parties. He realized, hey, 00:12:13.029 --> 00:12:15.330 I like making people laugh. I like the energy 00:12:15.330 --> 00:12:17.629 of a room. So he starts living this double life. 00:12:17.850 --> 00:12:19.950 A total double life. Paint the picture for us. 00:12:20.049 --> 00:12:23.190 Okay. It's a rainy Tuesday in Seattle. By day, 00:12:23.370 --> 00:12:26.929 he is at Sunstrand Data Control working on laser 00:12:26.929 --> 00:12:29.330 gyroscope systems, which, by the way, are used 00:12:29.330 --> 00:12:31.970 for navigation in missiles and planes. Very serious. 00:12:32.009 --> 00:12:35.049 Very precise work. Exactly. Then the whistle 00:12:35.049 --> 00:12:38.690 blows. He goes home, takes a nap, wakes up, drives 00:12:38.690 --> 00:12:40.830 to a comedy club and does stand up. That combination 00:12:40.830 --> 00:12:44.049 laser gyroscopes and hecklers is rare. It's incredibly 00:12:44.049 --> 00:12:46.570 rare. Usually you have people who are very analytical 00:12:46.570 --> 00:12:48.210 or you have people who are very performative. 00:12:48.470 --> 00:12:51.330 It's left brain versus right brain. And Nye was 00:12:51.330 --> 00:12:53.490 bridging that gap in his own life before he ever 00:12:53.490 --> 00:12:56.149 did it on screen. He was learning how to take 00:12:56.149 --> 00:12:58.870 complex thoughts and make them punchy. Finally, 00:12:58.929 --> 00:13:02.990 in October 1986, he hits a breaking point. He 00:13:02.990 --> 00:13:05.960 quits Boeing. He takes the leap. He decides to 00:13:05.960 --> 00:13:08.679 go full time into entertainment. And he lands 00:13:08.679 --> 00:13:11.279 on this local Seattle sketch show called Almost 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:13.279 Live. Now, for our listeners who aren't from 00:13:13.279 --> 00:13:15.539 the Pacific Northwest, we need to explain Almost 00:13:15.539 --> 00:13:18.200 Live. This wasn't just public access. It was 00:13:18.200 --> 00:13:21.259 a cultural institution in Seattle. It was. It 00:13:21.259 --> 00:13:24.080 was like a gritty local Saturday Night Live. 00:13:24.220 --> 00:13:26.980 It was the training ground for a lot of talent, 00:13:27.100 --> 00:13:29.340 including Joel McHale later on. And this is where 00:13:29.340 --> 00:13:32.250 the science guy persona was actually born. Almost 00:13:32.250 --> 00:13:35.110 by accident. It's a great story. Nye is on the 00:13:35.110 --> 00:13:37.950 show and he corrects the host, John Keister, 00:13:38.169 --> 00:13:40.850 on a pronunciation. Right. Keister is talking 00:13:40.850 --> 00:13:44.210 about gigawatts and he pronounces it gigawatt. 00:13:44.490 --> 00:13:47.049 Which, to be fair, is Doc Brown's fault. Back 00:13:47.049 --> 00:13:49.110 to the Future ruined that word for a whole generation. 00:13:49.409 --> 00:13:52.529 It absolutely did. So Nye, being the pedantic 00:13:52.529 --> 00:13:55.169 engineer that he is, he interrupts and corrects 00:13:55.169 --> 00:13:57.230 him. It's gigawatt. And Keister gets annoyed. 00:13:57.679 --> 00:13:59.620 He does, but he's playing it up for the camera. 00:13:59.700 --> 00:14:02.419 He snaps back. Who do you think you are? Bill 00:14:02.419 --> 00:14:05.159 Nye, the science guy. And there it is. And just 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:08.480 like that, the branding was done. The audience 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:11.480 laughed. The producers realized they had something. 00:14:11.620 --> 00:14:14.200 They let him start doing these six -minute science 00:14:14.200 --> 00:14:17.159 segments. But he didn't just do science. We have 00:14:17.159 --> 00:14:19.360 to talk about his other characters, specifically 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:22.840 Speedwalker. Oh, Speedwalker. This is peak physical 00:14:22.840 --> 00:14:24.779 comedy. Describe him for someone who's never 00:14:24.779 --> 00:14:27.759 seen it. Okay, imagine a superhero. He wears 00:14:27.759 --> 00:14:30.740 a spandex unitard and a helmet. He fights crime. 00:14:30.960 --> 00:14:35.100 But he has a fatal flaw, or perhaps a code of 00:14:35.100 --> 00:14:37.799 honor. Which is? He must strictly adhere to the 00:14:37.799 --> 00:14:40.240 regulations of the International Speedwalking 00:14:40.240 --> 00:14:43.019 Association. So he's chasing a bank robber, but 00:14:43.019 --> 00:14:45.039 he has to keep one foot on the ground at all 00:14:45.039 --> 00:14:47.379 times and keep his legs straight. Exactly. He 00:14:47.379 --> 00:14:49.720 is aggressively waddling after criminals. It 00:14:49.720 --> 00:14:52.360 is absurd. It is silly, but it shows his willingness 00:14:52.360 --> 00:14:55.240 to commit to the bit. And that commitment is 00:14:55.240 --> 00:14:57.320 what sold the Science Guy show later. He wasn't 00:14:57.320 --> 00:14:59.240 afraid to look silly if it got the point across. 00:14:59.399 --> 00:15:02.879 Absolutely. So fast forward to 1993. The sketch 00:15:02.879 --> 00:15:05.980 bits are working. He teams up with James McKenna, 00:15:06.100 --> 00:15:08.460 Aaron Gottlieb, and Elizabeth Brock. They develop 00:15:08.460 --> 00:15:11.200 the pitch for a full show. And the pitch is brilliant. 00:15:11.340 --> 00:15:14.779 Just four words. Mr. Wizard meets Pee -wee's 00:15:14.779 --> 00:15:18.279 Playhouse. Think about that juxtaposition. Mr. 00:15:18.419 --> 00:15:20.740 Wizard was the gold standard of the 1950s and 00:15:20.740 --> 00:15:24.980 60s. He was calm, deliberate, fatherly. Very 00:15:24.980 --> 00:15:28.399 serious. Stood at a table and slowly poured chemicals. 00:15:28.539 --> 00:15:31.080 Exactly. Pee -wee's Playhouse was the exact opposite. 00:15:31.320 --> 00:15:34.879 It was chaotic, colorful, loud, fast, and surreal. 00:15:35.289 --> 00:15:37.289 Merging those two sounds like a recipe for a 00:15:37.289 --> 00:15:39.909 headache, but it created a completely new genre. 00:15:40.289 --> 00:15:42.889 It did. It took the rigor of Mr. Wizard and applied 00:15:42.889 --> 00:15:45.570 the pacing of Pee Wee. But there is a business 00:15:45.570 --> 00:15:48.129 side to this that is fascinating. The funding 00:15:48.129 --> 00:15:50.889 model was unique. How so? They secured underwriting 00:15:50.889 --> 00:15:52.710 from the National Science Foundation and the 00:15:52.710 --> 00:15:54.889 U .S. Department of Energy. So this was a government 00:15:54.889 --> 00:15:57.309 -backed initiative. It was. This wasn't just 00:15:57.309 --> 00:15:59.669 a commercial venture. And because of that funding, 00:15:59.809 --> 00:16:02.570 the show had a legal mandate to actually educate. 00:16:02.850 --> 00:16:05.009 They couldn't just fill 22 minutes with slime 00:16:05.009 --> 00:16:07.669 and explosions. They had to teach specific curriculum 00:16:07.669 --> 00:16:10.669 standards. But then the distribution was pure 00:16:10.669 --> 00:16:13.669 Hollywood. It was. It was distributed by Disney's 00:16:13.669 --> 00:16:16.070 Buena Vista Television. This was unprecedented. 00:16:16.470 --> 00:16:18.450 It was the first program to run concurrently 00:16:18.450 --> 00:16:21.350 on public television, PBS, and commercial syndicated 00:16:21.350 --> 00:16:24.019 stations. That explains why it felt like he was 00:16:24.019 --> 00:16:25.879 everywhere. You could watch him on PBS in the 00:16:25.879 --> 00:16:28.320 morning before school and then catch a rerun 00:16:28.320 --> 00:16:30.299 on the local Fox affiliate in the afternoon. 00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:33.679 He blanketed the market. And the style, the so 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:36.779 -called MTV style, was the key hook. Rapid fire 00:16:36.779 --> 00:16:40.980 cuts, weird camera angles, sound effects everywhere. 00:16:41.519 --> 00:16:43.419 They recognized that the audience's attention 00:16:43.419 --> 00:16:46.220 span was changing. Kids were watching music videos. 00:16:46.340 --> 00:16:48.639 They're used to visual density, so the show mimicked 00:16:48.639 --> 00:16:51.750 that. And the set, Nye Labs, it looked like a 00:16:51.750 --> 00:16:53.850 converted warehouse. Because it was a converted 00:16:53.850 --> 00:16:56.710 clothing warehouse in Seattle. It felt gritty 00:16:56.710 --> 00:16:59.490 and cool. It didn't look like a classroom. So 00:16:59.490 --> 00:17:01.889 the results, did it actually work as an educational 00:17:01.889 --> 00:17:04.450 tool or was it just entertaining? It absolutely 00:17:04.450 --> 00:17:08.289 worked. The show ran from 1993 to 1998. It won 00:17:08.289 --> 00:17:11.410 19 Emmy Awards out of 23 nominations. Nye himself 00:17:11.410 --> 00:17:14.049 won Outstanding Performer in Children's Programming. 00:17:14.069 --> 00:17:16.539 That's huge. But more importantly, the National 00:17:16.539 --> 00:17:19.039 Science Foundation conducted studies. They found 00:17:19.039 --> 00:17:21.079 that regular viewers were significantly better 00:17:21.079 --> 00:17:24.680 at explaining scientific ideas, like how a phase 00:17:24.680 --> 00:17:27.640 change works or what a food web is, than non 00:17:27.640 --> 00:17:29.980 -viewers. So the wacky sound effects didn't distract 00:17:29.980 --> 00:17:32.359 from the lesson, they cemented it. Precisely. 00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:35.279 And it attracted a significant adult audience, 00:17:35.400 --> 00:17:37.599 too. I remember parents watching it and actually 00:17:37.599 --> 00:17:40.000 laughing at the jokes. That cross -generational 00:17:40.000 --> 00:17:42.380 appeal is what gave Nye his staying power. He 00:17:42.380 --> 00:17:44.900 wasn't just that guy for kids. He was that guy 00:17:44.900 --> 00:17:48.000 who was funny and smart. For sure. But, as with 00:17:48.000 --> 00:17:49.740 all things in show business, the ride eventually 00:17:49.740 --> 00:17:52.960 stopped, the show wrapped in 98, and the years 00:17:52.960 --> 00:17:55.579 immediately following were, let's call them the 00:17:55.579 --> 00:17:58.480 wilderness years. They were. It's difficult to 00:17:58.480 --> 00:18:02.299 transition from a beloved character to, well... 00:18:02.640 --> 00:18:04.980 to just being a guy he tried to come back in 00:18:04.980 --> 00:18:07.279 2005 with the eyes of nigh this was supposed 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:09.720 to be the evolution the premise was solid a show 00:18:09.720 --> 00:18:11.559 for the kids who grew up watching science guy 00:18:11.559 --> 00:18:14.140 but now they are adults so let's tackle adult 00:18:14.140 --> 00:18:18.059 topics like what gmos race nuclear energy global 00:18:18.059 --> 00:18:22.420 warming the heavy stuff but it flopped why what 00:18:22.420 --> 00:18:25.440 went wrong a perfect storm of issues really There 00:18:25.440 --> 00:18:27.339 were production delays and budget cuts at the 00:18:27.339 --> 00:18:30.420 local station, KCTS. There was executive infighting. 00:18:30.500 --> 00:18:32.440 But I think the biggest issue was a branding 00:18:32.440 --> 00:18:35.839 mistake. The tie. The tie. Nye tried to ditch 00:18:35.839 --> 00:18:37.799 the bow tie. He wore a straight tie. He looked 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:39.819 like an accountant. He did. He wore a suit and 00:18:39.819 --> 00:18:42.480 a long tie. He looked like a banker. He later 00:18:42.480 --> 00:18:46.480 admitted, it wasn't me. The audience had a cognitive 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:48.880 dissonance. They wanted the manic energy and 00:18:48.880 --> 00:18:51.480 the quirkiness. Instead, they got a somewhat 00:18:51.480 --> 00:18:54.619 dry. Talk show host. So it only lasted one season. 00:18:54.819 --> 00:18:56.259 Just one. And then he went through this phase 00:18:56.259 --> 00:19:01.480 of just popping up. Cameos, reality TV. He was 00:19:01.480 --> 00:19:04.099 on Dancing with the Stars in 2013. Which was 00:19:04.099 --> 00:19:06.119 a bit of a disaster. Oh yeah, he got hurt. He 00:19:06.119 --> 00:19:08.759 tore his quadriceps tendon. He literally tripped 00:19:08.759 --> 00:19:11.299 over his own feet. It was painful to watch. Yikes. 00:19:11.519 --> 00:19:13.440 But again, he kept going. He appeared on The 00:19:13.440 --> 00:19:16.230 Big Bang Theory. That was a fun arc. He played 00:19:16.230 --> 00:19:18.849 himself in a rivalry with Professor Proton, played 00:19:18.849 --> 00:19:21.829 by the legendary Bob Newhart. There was a plotline 00:19:21.829 --> 00:19:24.690 involving a restraining order. It showed that 00:19:24.690 --> 00:19:27.170 Nye was willing to poke fun at his own celebrity 00:19:27.170 --> 00:19:30.250 status. He knew he was an icon, and he played 00:19:30.250 --> 00:19:32.819 into it. But during this period, he wasn't really 00:19:32.819 --> 00:19:35.700 leading the conversation. He was a mascot. That's 00:19:35.700 --> 00:19:37.440 a good way to put it. He was a mascot for science. 00:19:37.740 --> 00:19:41.200 Until the streaming era hit. Yes. Netflix gave 00:19:41.200 --> 00:19:43.640 him a massive platform with Bill Nye Saves the 00:19:43.640 --> 00:19:46.720 World in 2017. And then Peacock with The End 00:19:46.720 --> 00:19:49.440 is Nigh in 2022. The End is Nigh was interesting 00:19:49.440 --> 00:19:52.920 because he teamed up with Seth MacFarlane. Of 00:19:52.920 --> 00:19:55.579 all people. And the tone, it wasn't science is 00:19:55.579 --> 00:19:59.140 fun anymore. The theme was disasters are coming, 00:19:59.299 --> 00:20:02.109 natural and unnatural. Here is how we survive. 00:20:02.390 --> 00:20:05.529 It explored super volcanoes, comets, climate 00:20:05.529 --> 00:20:07.750 collapse. Which brings us to the most significant 00:20:07.750 --> 00:20:11.190 evolution in Nye's career, the advocate. This 00:20:11.190 --> 00:20:13.650 is where things get spicy. Because the science 00:20:13.650 --> 00:20:16.549 guy was universally loved, he was safe. But the 00:20:16.549 --> 00:20:18.890 science advocate started stepping on toes. While 00:20:18.890 --> 00:20:21.069 science unfortunately interacts with politics 00:20:21.069 --> 00:20:23.670 and belief systems, you cannot talk about genetics 00:20:23.670 --> 00:20:25.849 or climate without entering the political arena. 00:20:26.190 --> 00:20:27.990 And Nye decided he couldn't just stay in the 00:20:27.990 --> 00:20:30.750 lab mixing vinegar and baking soda. He had to 00:20:30.750 --> 00:20:32.990 engage with the public debate. The big moment, 00:20:33.109 --> 00:20:35.450 the bellwether for this shift, was the debate 00:20:35.450 --> 00:20:38.450 with Ken Ham in 2014. Ken Ham is a prominent 00:20:38.450 --> 00:20:40.289 creationist and the founder of the Creation Museum 00:20:40.289 --> 00:20:43.529 in Kentucky. He advocates for a literal interpretation 00:20:43.529 --> 00:20:46.400 of the Book of Genesis. Young Earth, dinosaurs 00:20:46.400 --> 00:20:49.039 on the ark, the whole nine yards. The whole thing. 00:20:49.200 --> 00:20:52.500 Now, in 2012, Nye had made a viral video claiming 00:20:52.500 --> 00:20:55.160 that teaching creationism to children was a threat 00:20:55.160 --> 00:20:57.599 to the future of U .S. science education. He 00:20:57.599 --> 00:21:00.180 basically said, if we raise a generation that 00:21:00.180 --> 00:21:02.539 can't distinguish between faith and thee, we 00:21:02.539 --> 00:21:05.240 lose our edge. And Ham challenged him to a debate. 00:21:05.400 --> 00:21:07.220 Now, the standard advice from the scientific 00:21:07.220 --> 00:21:10.720 community was, don't go. Why? Why not debate? 00:21:11.000 --> 00:21:13.619 Because it creates a false equivalency. If a 00:21:13.619 --> 00:21:15.940 scientist debates a non -scientist on a stage, 00:21:16.160 --> 00:21:18.680 it makes it look like there are two valid, equal 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:20.920 sides to the argument. It elevates the fringe 00:21:20.920 --> 00:21:23.359 view. But Nye went anyway. He went to the Creation 00:21:23.359 --> 00:21:26.019 Museum. He stood on their stage. And for hours, 00:21:26.160 --> 00:21:28.420 they debated whether creation is a viable model 00:21:28.420 --> 00:21:30.799 of origins. I remember watching clips of that. 00:21:30.980 --> 00:21:33.359 Nye's strategy was interesting. He didn't mock. 00:21:33.599 --> 00:21:35.799 He didn't get angry. No, he just kept asking 00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:38.680 for evidence. He kept citing rock layers, ice 00:21:38.680 --> 00:21:41.619 cores, tree rings, starlight. And at one point, 00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:43.880 the moderator asked, What would change your mind? 00:21:44.140 --> 00:21:48.859 And Ham said, nothing. Nye said, evidence. That 00:21:48.859 --> 00:21:51.539 moment crystallized his position. He later wrote 00:21:51.539 --> 00:21:54.460 a book about it, Undeniable, Evolution and the 00:21:54.460 --> 00:21:57.519 Science of Creation. He even toured the Ark Encounter 00:21:57.519 --> 00:22:00.480 with Ham later in 2016. It showed he was willing 00:22:00.480 --> 00:22:02.980 to enter the lion's den. He was. But here's the 00:22:02.980 --> 00:22:05.940 thing about Nye. He's not dogmatic about everything. 00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:08.500 I found the GMO pivot really fascinating. This 00:22:08.500 --> 00:22:11.019 is a great example of intellectual honesty. Originally, 00:22:11.099 --> 00:22:13.299 Nye was very critical of genetically modified 00:22:13.299 --> 00:22:16.200 organisms. He was. He voiced concerns about what 00:22:16.200 --> 00:22:18.579 they might do to ecosystems or allergies. He 00:22:18.579 --> 00:22:21.480 was on the anti -side. And then in 2015, he flip 00:22:21.480 --> 00:22:23.700 -flopped. He did. He announced he had changed 00:22:23.700 --> 00:22:26.559 his mind. He now supports GMOs. Why the change 00:22:26.559 --> 00:22:29.089 of heart? He looked at the data. He visited the 00:22:29.089 --> 00:22:31.549 labs at Monsanto. He realized that the science 00:22:31.549 --> 00:22:33.750 showed no difference in allergy rates between 00:22:33.750 --> 00:22:37.089 GMO and non -GMO eaters. He realized his fears 00:22:37.089 --> 00:22:38.970 were not supported by evidence. And he actually 00:22:38.970 --> 00:22:40.710 went back and rewrote a chapter in his book. 00:22:40.890 --> 00:22:44.329 He did. He revised Undeniable to reflect his 00:22:44.329 --> 00:22:47.490 new understanding. That is significant. It demonstrates 00:22:47.490 --> 00:22:50.869 that he isn't just fighting for a team. He is 00:22:50.869 --> 00:22:53.210 fighting for what the data says. If the data 00:22:53.210 --> 00:22:56.069 changes, he changes. Which is the definition 00:22:56.069 --> 00:22:59.630 of a scientist. But the topic where he's really 00:22:59.630 --> 00:23:02.069 taken the gloves off, or as he would say, the 00:23:02.069 --> 00:23:04.869 safety glasses off, is climate change. This is 00:23:04.869 --> 00:23:07.849 the definitive shift of his late career. He went 00:23:07.849 --> 00:23:11.410 from the gentle educator to the urgent, sometimes 00:23:11.410 --> 00:23:13.549 angry activist. We have to talk about the John 00:23:13.549 --> 00:23:16.089 Oliver appearance in 2019. This clip went everywhere. 00:23:16.390 --> 00:23:19.089 He appeared on Last Week Tonight. He was discussing 00:23:19.089 --> 00:23:21.430 the Green New Deal and carbon pricing. He stood 00:23:21.430 --> 00:23:23.289 next to a globe. And to illustrate the rising 00:23:23.289 --> 00:23:25.470 temperatures. He took a blowtorch to the globe. 00:23:25.609 --> 00:23:29.130 He just lit it up. On television. He torched 00:23:29.130 --> 00:23:31.410 it. And then he dropped the F -bomb. He said, 00:23:31.450 --> 00:23:34.250 the planet's on effing fire. I think my jaw hit 00:23:34.250 --> 00:23:36.869 the floor when I saw that. Bill Nye, the science 00:23:36.869 --> 00:23:39.410 guy, just cursed at me. And then he looked right 00:23:39.410 --> 00:23:41.450 into the camera, took off his glasses, and said, 00:23:41.549 --> 00:23:44.829 safety glasses off, motherfuckers. It was shocking, 00:23:44.950 --> 00:23:47.529 but it was also calculated, right? It was a deliberate 00:23:47.529 --> 00:23:50.099 move. Absolutely. He was talking to the kids 00:23:50.099 --> 00:23:52.559 who grew up watching him. He was saying, I used 00:23:52.559 --> 00:23:55.200 to protect you, I used to make it fun, but now 00:23:55.200 --> 00:23:57.579 you are adults and we are in a crisis. I'm not 00:23:57.579 --> 00:23:59.920 going to coddle you anymore. It was a rhetorical 00:23:59.920 --> 00:24:02.440 wake -up call. For sure. And he hasn't let up. 00:24:03.019 --> 00:24:05.940 Even as recently as October 2025, just a few 00:24:05.940 --> 00:24:08.420 months ago, he was at a protest in Washington, 00:24:08.599 --> 00:24:11.930 D .C. The No Kings protest. This was a response 00:24:11.930 --> 00:24:14.569 to political shifts regarding executive power. 00:24:14.890 --> 00:24:16.750 Right. And he was addressing the crowd, declaring 00:24:16.750 --> 00:24:19.710 no thrones, no crowns, no kings. Some people 00:24:19.710 --> 00:24:22.150 criticize that as being too political for a science 00:24:22.150 --> 00:24:25.809 communicator. Perhaps. But Nye argues that science 00:24:25.809 --> 00:24:29.470 requires democracy. You cannot have free scientific 00:24:29.470 --> 00:24:32.029 inquiry if you have an authoritarian system that 00:24:32.029 --> 00:24:35.329 dictates truth. So for him, defending the Constitution 00:24:35.329 --> 00:24:38.069 is part of defending the scientific method. It's 00:24:38.069 --> 00:24:40.150 a long way from Did you know that you can eat 00:24:40.150 --> 00:24:43.589 a marshmallow dipped in nitrogen? It is. But 00:24:43.589 --> 00:24:46.069 he's also kept a foot in the actual hard science 00:24:46.069 --> 00:24:49.089 of space exploration. We shouldn't overlook his 00:24:49.089 --> 00:24:51.250 role at the Planetary Society. He's the CEO. 00:24:51.390 --> 00:24:55.509 Executive director since 2010. And the Planetary 00:24:55.509 --> 00:24:57.930 Society was co -founded by Carl Sagan. So he's 00:24:57.930 --> 00:25:00.829 literally sitting in his mentor's chair. He is. 00:25:00.950 --> 00:25:03.450 And he advocates for space research and Mars 00:25:03.450 --> 00:25:06.269 exploration. And this brings us back to his dad. 00:25:06.910 --> 00:25:09.809 Remember this little shadow story? The sundial 00:25:09.809 --> 00:25:12.529 in the POW camp, of course. Nye helped develop 00:25:12.529 --> 00:25:15.990 the Mars dial. When NASA sent the Spirit and 00:25:15.990 --> 00:25:18.970 Opportunity rovers to Mars, they needed a calibration 00:25:18.970 --> 00:25:21.109 target for the cameras, something to help them 00:25:21.109 --> 00:25:23.390 adjust the color balance. And Nye suggested a 00:25:23.390 --> 00:25:25.710 sundial. He suggested a device that acts as a 00:25:25.710 --> 00:25:27.869 photometric standard, but also functions as a 00:25:27.869 --> 00:25:30.329 working sundial. It tracks the time on Mars. 00:25:30.829 --> 00:25:32.890 That's a direct tribute to his father's experience. 00:25:33.130 --> 00:25:34.970 A direct tribute. That gives me chills. From 00:25:34.970 --> 00:25:37.509 a POW camp without a watch to a sundial on the 00:25:37.509 --> 00:25:39.329 surface of another planet, that is a legacy. 00:25:39.569 --> 00:25:42.410 It connects the generations beautifully. It turns 00:25:42.410 --> 00:25:45.089 a trauma into a triumph of engineering. Now, 00:25:45.170 --> 00:25:47.009 we can't do a deep dive without getting into 00:25:47.009 --> 00:25:49.890 the personal stuff. And Bill Nye has had, well, 00:25:49.950 --> 00:25:52.130 colorful personal life. He's usually pretty private, 00:25:52.210 --> 00:25:54.250 but some things have made the tabloids. They 00:25:54.250 --> 00:25:56.410 have, yes. Let's talk about the marriage that 00:25:56.410 --> 00:25:59.630 wasn't. Blair Tyndall. This was back in 2006. 00:26:00.130 --> 00:26:01.970 He announced he was married to Blair Tyndall, 00:26:02.069 --> 00:26:04.750 a musician and the author of Mozart in the Jungle. 00:26:05.150 --> 00:26:07.490 It seemed like a match of intellectuals. But 00:26:07.490 --> 00:26:10.329 seven weeks later. It was annulled. Seven weeks. 00:26:10.470 --> 00:26:12.890 What happened? The marriage license was declared 00:26:12.890 --> 00:26:18.150 invalid. And then things got messy. How messy 00:26:18.150 --> 00:26:21.329 are we talking? In 2007, Nye obtained a restraining 00:26:21.329 --> 00:26:24.269 order. She allegedly broke into his house, stole 00:26:24.269 --> 00:26:27.160 his laptop and. this is the bizarre part, damaged 00:26:27.160 --> 00:26:29.039 his garden with herbicide. Wait, she attacked 00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:31.579 the science guy's garden with weed killer. That's 00:26:31.579 --> 00:26:35.200 poetic in a very dark way. That was a very difficult, 00:26:35.339 --> 00:26:37.720 very public episode. But he seems to have moved 00:26:37.720 --> 00:26:40.980 past it. In 2022, he married the journalist Liza 00:26:40.980 --> 00:26:43.079 Mundy. And there is a connection there, too, 00:26:43.200 --> 00:26:46.099 right, with her work? There is. Liza Mundy wrote 00:26:46.099 --> 00:26:48.700 a book called Code Girls, which is about the 00:26:48.700 --> 00:26:51.480 female codebreakers of World War II. No way. 00:26:51.539 --> 00:26:53.720 So she wrote about women just like his mother. 00:26:54.019 --> 00:26:56.839 Exactly. There is a deep thematic resonance there. 00:26:56.940 --> 00:26:59.400 They seem very happy. Now, one thing people often 00:26:59.400 --> 00:27:02.339 ask is, does he have kids? Is there a science 00:27:02.339 --> 00:27:05.680 kid? He does not. And the reason is rooted in 00:27:05.680 --> 00:27:08.900 biology and ethics. Nye has a family history 00:27:08.900 --> 00:27:11.769 of ataxia. What is that? It's a hereditary condition 00:27:11.769 --> 00:27:14.650 that affects balance and coordination. His father 00:27:14.650 --> 00:27:16.890 had it. His sister struggled with it. And Nye, 00:27:17.049 --> 00:27:19.930 does he have it? He says he dodged the genetic 00:27:19.930 --> 00:27:22.309 bullet. He has very minor symptoms, like the 00:27:22.309 --> 00:27:24.069 clumsiness we saw in Dancing with the Stars, 00:27:24.130 --> 00:27:26.849 but he isn't severely affected. However, he knew 00:27:26.849 --> 00:27:28.890 there was a high probability of passing it on. 00:27:29.049 --> 00:27:31.670 So he chose not to have children. He made a conscious 00:27:31.670 --> 00:27:35.089 choice not to. That is a profound decision. To 00:27:35.089 --> 00:27:37.089 look at your own DNA and say, the buck stops 00:27:37.089 --> 00:27:39.910 here. It's another example of him living by the 00:27:39.910 --> 00:27:42.269 data. He didn't want to bring a child into the 00:27:42.269 --> 00:27:44.490 world who might suffer from that condition. Okay, 00:27:44.529 --> 00:27:46.470 before we get to the awards, I have to ask about 00:27:46.470 --> 00:27:48.609 the patents. You mentioned ballet shoes in the 00:27:48.609 --> 00:27:52.250 intro. Please explain. It is true. He holds three 00:27:52.250 --> 00:27:55.349 U .S. patents. One is for an educational magnifying 00:27:55.349 --> 00:27:58.269 glass, basically a water -filled plastic bag. 00:27:58.470 --> 00:28:00.849 Okay, that makes sense. One is for a device to 00:28:00.849 --> 00:28:03.569 help athletes throw a ball. But the most famous 00:28:03.569 --> 00:28:07.130 one is for ballet pointed shoes. Why is a mechanical 00:28:07.130 --> 00:28:10.269 engineer redesigning ballet shoes? He was watching 00:28:10.269 --> 00:28:12.529 ballet, and as an engineer, he looked at the 00:28:12.529 --> 00:28:15.890 shoes and thought, this design is terrible. The 00:28:15.890 --> 00:28:17.670 traditional pointe chest shoe causes immense 00:28:17.670 --> 00:28:21.269 pain and damage to the dancer's foot. It crushes 00:28:21.269 --> 00:28:23.950 the toes. So he just decided to fix it. He designed 00:28:23.950 --> 00:28:26.630 a shoe with a different internal support structure, 00:28:26.750 --> 00:28:29.670 a new toe box, that distributes the weight more 00:28:29.670 --> 00:28:32.269 evenly and provides better support. That is so 00:28:32.269 --> 00:28:34.910 Bill Nye. This toe box is inefficient and painful. 00:28:35.049 --> 00:28:37.509 I can fix this with physics. It highlights his 00:28:37.509 --> 00:28:39.769 fundamental nature. He looks at the world, whether 00:28:39.769 --> 00:28:42.809 it's a 747 tail fin or a ballerina's shoe, and 00:28:42.809 --> 00:28:45.470 asks, how can we make this work better? And he 00:28:45.470 --> 00:28:48.329 lives it too. His house in Studio City is solar 00:28:48.329 --> 00:28:50.990 powered. He feeds power back to the grid. And 00:28:50.990 --> 00:28:53.289 he has this friendly feud with his neighbor. 00:28:53.769 --> 00:28:56.690 Ed Begley Jr. The greenest neighbor competition. 00:28:57.049 --> 00:28:59.170 They are constantly trying to outdo each other 00:28:59.170 --> 00:29:01.450 on who has the lowest carbon footprint. It's 00:29:01.450 --> 00:29:03.809 wholesome, but it also normalizes green living. 00:29:04.130 --> 00:29:06.410 It shows that caring about the environment can 00:29:06.410 --> 00:29:08.910 be a part of everyday suburban life. Which brings 00:29:08.910 --> 00:29:11.869 us to the present day. Or, well, the recent past. 00:29:12.170 --> 00:29:14.309 The last two years have been a victory lap for 00:29:14.309 --> 00:29:16.990 him. It has been a season of recognition. In 00:29:16.990 --> 00:29:19.450 2024, he finally got his star on the Hollywood 00:29:19.450 --> 00:29:22.609 Walk of Fame. That cements his status as an entertainer. 00:29:22.859 --> 00:29:26.079 But the big one was January 4th, 2025, the Presidential 00:29:26.079 --> 00:29:28.819 Medal of Freedom. It is the capstone of his career. 00:29:29.500 --> 00:29:31.920 President Biden cited his ability to inspire 00:29:31.920 --> 00:29:34.940 generations of Americans to value science and 00:29:34.940 --> 00:29:38.660 truth. And I think that word truth is key. In 00:29:38.660 --> 00:29:41.220 an era of deep fakes and misinformation, Nye 00:29:41.220 --> 00:29:44.079 has positioned himself as a defender of objective 00:29:44.079 --> 00:29:46.500 reality. Exactly. He was the guest editor of 00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:48.819 Skeptical Inquirer just last year. He's doing 00:29:48.819 --> 00:29:51.279 vocals on Steve Aoki tracks. Wait, what? He's 00:29:51.279 --> 00:29:52.940 on an EDM track. He's on a track called Noble 00:29:52.940 --> 00:29:56.019 Gas. Of course he is. That's perfect. He's doing 00:29:56.019 --> 00:29:59.039 voiceovers for Disney rides. He is everywhere. 00:29:59.500 --> 00:30:02.359 He has become a cultural omnipresence representing 00:30:02.359 --> 00:30:05.099 the idea that facts matter. So let's wrap this 00:30:05.099 --> 00:30:07.539 up. We started by asking how he bridged the gap 00:30:07.539 --> 00:30:10.039 between Mr. Wizard and a climate fire brand. 00:30:10.559 --> 00:30:12.920 What's the verdict? I think Bill Nye's career 00:30:12.920 --> 00:30:16.059 proves that pure science, as Sagan called it, 00:30:16.099 --> 00:30:19.250 isn't static. In the 90s, pure science meant 00:30:19.250 --> 00:30:21.849 getting kids excited about gravity so they would 00:30:21.849 --> 00:30:24.289 pass their physics tests. Right. Keep it fun. 00:30:24.329 --> 00:30:27.569 Keep it simple. But in the 2020s, pure science 00:30:27.569 --> 00:30:30.289 meant defending the consensus on climate change 00:30:30.289 --> 00:30:33.109 against political opposition so we can survive 00:30:33.109 --> 00:30:36.049 as a species. So the science didn't change. The 00:30:36.049 --> 00:30:38.789 stakes did. Precisely. Now, he didn't really 00:30:38.789 --> 00:30:40.710 change who he was. He was always a guy who wanted 00:30:40.710 --> 00:30:43.089 to explain how the world works. But when the 00:30:43.089 --> 00:30:45.250 world started denying how it works, he had to 00:30:45.250 --> 00:30:46.829 get louder. He had to take the safety glasses 00:30:46.829 --> 00:30:49.569 off. He had to. He is a synthesis of his parents' 00:30:49.690 --> 00:30:52.490 resilience, his engineering brain, and that stand 00:30:52.490 --> 00:30:54.789 -up comic who just wants an audience to react. 00:30:55.049 --> 00:30:57.289 And he has succeeded. I mean, he has influenced 00:30:57.289 --> 00:30:59.549 the scientific literacy of millions. No question. 00:30:59.809 --> 00:31:02.529 So here is a final thought for you to chew on. 00:31:03.230 --> 00:31:05.869 Nye's career arc suggests that science isn't 00:31:05.869 --> 00:31:08.509 just about facts in a textbook. It's about how 00:31:08.509 --> 00:31:11.009 those facts are communicated. Right. The delivery 00:31:11.009 --> 00:31:13.660 is everything. So in a world of information overload 00:31:13.660 --> 00:31:16.339 where anyone can post anything, does the world 00:31:16.339 --> 00:31:19.759 need the gentle science guy of the 90s? Or do 00:31:19.759 --> 00:31:22.720 we need the angry planet is on fire activist 00:31:22.720 --> 00:31:25.480 of today? Can one person effectively be both? 00:31:25.660 --> 00:31:27.960 That is the question, isn't it? Which version 00:31:27.960 --> 00:31:30.440 is more effective now? Think about that and ask 00:31:30.440 --> 00:31:33.279 yourself, how has Bill Nye influenced your understanding 00:31:33.279 --> 00:31:35.660 of the world? Did you become an engineer because 00:31:35.660 --> 00:31:38.240 of him? Did you start recycling? Or did you just 00:31:38.240 --> 00:31:40.680 learn that science rules? Science does rule. 00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:43.519 It sure does. Thanks for listening to this Deep 00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:44.700 Dives. We'll catch you on the next one.