Lately I’ve really been a nut about Carl Sagan. I’m reading his books, listening to his interviews, and re-watching his PBS series Cosmos.

I think it should be a requirement for everyone to watch Cosmos. Everything you need to know about science, essentially, is in those 13 episodes. Sure it’s dated (check out the jacket and the hair) but, to me, that’s part of the late 70s charm.

Carl fought the good fight for science by bringing it down to the level of the people, something most scientists didn’t like doing at the time. He was also one of the first to look at Venus and calculate what greenhouse gases would do here on Earth, something that fell on the deaf ears of the Reagan administration (not that I don’t appreciate Reagan for all of his good qualities). Sagan was also one of the five scientists who coined the term “nuclear winter” and calculated that it would only take a few nuclear bombs to wipe out mankind, yet the US and Soviet Union were making tens of thousands.

Anyway, enough science for now. This piece was inspired by Toppi, one of my top two favorite artsist (Zaffino being the other). Toppi has a great way of handling tech and design and it seemed to lend itself to Sagan and the Viking missions to Mars.