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Director of "Big Short" and new work "Don't Look Up"

Professor of the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory of the University of Arizona, lead researcher of the NEOWISE mission, and lead the NEO surveyor project

Chief Scientist of The Planetary Society/LightSail Project Manager

Planetary Radio Host and Producer of the Planetary Society

The plot of the great new movie "Don't Look Up" is driven by a huge comet flying towards the earth and scientists who want to transfer it. Adam McKay directed this black comedy. He and Amy Mainzer, a real-life planetary defense expert, and Mat Kaplan talk about science, scientists, and more. Then a group of colleagues from the Planetary Society shared their thoughts on the film. Fans of Dr. Seuss will find something special in this week's Bruce Betts update.

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Matt Kaplan: The director of "Don't Look Up" on Planetary Radio this week and an old friend. Welcome, I’m Mat Kaplan from the Planetary Society, and he will do more human adventures in and out of our solar system. Human adventures are often best reflected in art, including movies. Few movies have just right science, scientists, and their importance. This is just one of the reasons why "Don't Look Up" has become a classic. In any case, this is my opinion, and it is also the opinion of several of my Planetary Society colleagues, you will hear it.

Mat Kaplan: First of all, we welcome the film director Adam McKay. You will hear Adam give high praise to the film’s scientific adviser, Amy Mainzer. I am happy to say that Amy has also joined the conversation. Later, when Bruce Betts reveals the crater near our sun, we will get all the Seussical, which pays tribute to the beloved author of many classic children's stories. The free weekly newsletter of the Planetary Society on December 2 begins with one of the most beautiful photos taken on this red planet.

Mat Kaplan: It combines two panoramas captured by curiosity, and it still rolls on Mount Sharp. The image transitions smoothly from the morning of Mars to the evening with beautiful light. You can find it at planetary.org/downlink. Just below is another stunner. This one comes from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. This is a crater blown by the wind, with ripples that make it look like a living thing. Simply gorgeous. U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris hosted her first meeting of the National Space Council last week. The agenda includes the release of the first important space policy document by the Biden administration.

Mat Kaplan: The downlink also provides a link to your selection of the best space in 2021, including the best space imagery. This is one we are very proud of. I think you know what our Planetary Society thinks about planetary defense. I believe you also know that there are several movies that use the threat of shocking influences to advance their plots. Well, you have never seen a person like Don't Look Up. First of all, this is a hilarious comedy, albeit a dark and ironic comedy. Secondly, it features Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Ariana Grande, Taylor Perry, Cate Blanchett, Joe Featured by top stars such as Na Hill.

Mat Kaplan: Third, and the most important point for us, its central character may be the most credible scientist in the history of film, and this is true of almost all sciences depicted. As you have heard, director Adam McKay has made movies from "Anchor" to "Big Short", and he gave a high rating to one of our favorite guests. Amy Mainzer of the University of Arizona last joined us in July, when she provided an update on the NEO Surveyor project she led. NEO Surveyor is an infrared space telescope that will look for thousands of undiscovered near-Earth objects. A few days ago, Amy and Adam joined my online meeting.

Mat Kaplan: Adam McKay, Amy Mainzer, welcome to Planet Radio. Adam, I want to congratulate you. I didn't see this movie until late one night, and I couldn't wait. I had to watch it. Then I slept very little because my brain was on fire. As I have told you, I think you have created the greatest, dark, satirical comedy since Dr. Strangelove, except for not raising your head and having more hearts. Your Strangelove is a tech billionaire named Isherwell, who has just been portrayed as creepy by Mark Rylance. So thank you for making such a great movie.

Adam McKay: Well, this is a very high compliment, Matt. Thank you for letting me go.

Mat Kaplan: Let me add that every colleague of mine who was able to participate in one of the early screenings said the same thing. It not only became one of their favorite science fiction movies, but also one of their favorite movies. From the moment I saw the observatory and the laser, the adaptive optics laser shot into the sky, I knew I had encountered some great things.

Mat Kaplan: I often laugh out loud, but I have to admit that a lot of laughter is painful. Many of the things you show us in this interesting mirror reflect the 21st century America, cut to the bone, I think this is also the idea.

Adam McKay: Yes. By the way, I must provide Dr. Mainzer with props for telescopes, lasers, and mathematics. Boy oh boy, her advice, guidance. Also, the culture of scientists is also [cross talk 00:05:01]-

Adam McKay: Instrumental music. So this is very important, especially for the beginning of the movie. I would also like to thank Amy for playing the small role of Carl Sagan in the movie. She suggested that I like it. What a beautiful detail. But yes, the idea of ​​this movie is that we live in an era of turbulence, change and earthquakes. We are clearly in a period of change. Some changes have taken place. Some of them are so large that we cannot fully understand them, and they are confusing, scary, and harsh.

Adam McKay: We really want to make something that makes us have a sense of distance, to make us laugh, and to share our feelings for it, because in the past five, ten, fifteen, twenty years , We have been hit by it, this is the slide that we have been slow and progressive. The idea is like, man, if we can get together in the cinema, this might not happen like we hope for COVID. But even if we can get together with family and friends, or even alone, and laugh together, I think this distance and perception of these times has real power and value.

Mat Kaplan: I certainly hope you are right. I hope this movie can contribute and push us towards that goal. Amy, I am not surprised to hear your influence on this movie, including the description of scientists.

Matt Kaplan: Especially in the role of Jennifer Lawrence to make this discovery, and then her colleagues (including the astronomer played by Leonardo DiCaprio) joined the opening scene. It sounds like you listen a lot more to featured products than a typical scientific consultant.

Amy Mainzer: Well, I have to say, Adam is great. He is a huge, huge science nerd. Sorry, Adam, but you are.

Matt Kaplan: This is a compliment.

Amy Mainzer: Working with artists and creators is really great. They are really interested in science. As I like to think, ideally, you want to work with artists who are interested in capturing the feelings of scientists, because what we learn is sometimes good news. Other times this is not good news. So for me, science tells us about this world.

Amy Mainzer: But art, movies, music, music in movies, all of these are part of capturing our feelings about the news we are learning, and part of the visual effects? How do we view these facts, how do we interpret them? How do we deal with this information? I think this is one of the things I really enjoy working with Adam and other members of the film team is that they really help humanize science and show scientists as people, trying to deal with some very difficult news.

Mat Kaplan: We are also trying to do something in this show. I also want to know the choice of a comet to promote this story, this may be a near-Earth object at the end of the world. Adam, why is it a comet?

Adam McKay: Initially, it was not a comet, but an asteroid. It's actually an asteroid 32 kilometers wide, and I talked to Amy. I was introduced to Amy, and she started to give me some scientific parameters to illustrate what this might actually be. So we discussed the difference between asteroids and comets. She told me that now, if it is 32 kilometers wide, there is nothing we can do. So this is very interesting.

Adam McKay: We bargained back and forth between fiction and science until we came up with a comet about the size of the Chicxulub object that killed the dinosaurs. This is great because, again, I can't emphasize how important it is that the first five or ten minutes of this film is a place of rationality, science and proportion, because they will take the log sink into the crazy ball pit in the later stage of the film. This is Amy, why it is a comet. I will let her answer that part of the question.

Mat Kaplan: Amy, are comets more threatening and more capable of attacking us than asteroids?

Amy Mainzer: It really fits the needs of this particular story, because you have an astronomer who is not really looking for comets. She is using a large-aperture telescope, one of the largest telescopes in the world, Subaru, and she is looking for something else. Designing a comet is quite simple. It was actually loosely modeled after the comet NEOWISE we discovered last year. We discovered this comet with the NEOWISE telescope in about late March, but it approached the sun and the earth in early July.

Amy Mainzer: In other words, these Oort cloud comets can move inward at an absolutely amazing speed relative to the earth. So in other words, it does not exceed the scope of possibility. The good news is that the space is really big, so even if these things enter at a huge speed, the chance of actually hitting the earth is really very, very small. But in this case, we will see what happens if we find one heading in our direction.

Mat Kaplan: I'm sorry to let you on the spot. What do you think of the spectacular CGI depiction of the comet? This is just part of the amazing visual effects in the movie.

Amy Mainzer: Yes. We had a lot of wonderful conversations with the visual effects team, they are the most talented people in the industry. I sent them many different photos of comets. We observed the comet 67P photographed by Rosetta.

Amy Mainzer: We saw a lot of different photos of comets. We saw the photo of Comet NEOWISE, they really, they took it and ran away. There is a line in the movie that the comet is both beautiful and terrifying.

Matt Kaplan: Yes. One of my favorite lines in the movie.

Adam McKay: Yes, this is great. I have never had this experience. My financial adviser Adam Davidson and I did a little short. But Amy really came forward because Amy talked directly with our VFX supervisor Raymond and Dion. A few times Ray and Dion would call me and say, "Well, what do you think?" I would just say, "Call Amy."

Adam McKay: There are a few shots in the movie directly from Amy, because we saw the Cryo interstellar spacecraft. Wait, I don't want to leak anything here, let me think about it.

Adam McKay: I would say that, I haven't revealed anything yet. We saw some interstellar space travel somewhere in the movie, and I have some thoughts about the lens. Then I said, "Well, ask Dr. Mainzer what she wants to see." Directly, she helped design their lens.

Amy Mainzer: They succeeded. They are beautiful.

Matt Kaplan: They really are. How did you two connect? How did you get into this movie, Amy?

Amy Mainzer: Well, my goodness, time has almost been lost at this point, because this is time before COVID. So Adam, I think we talked for the first time, and I want to say, my goodness, it's been two years.

Adam McKay: It's been more than two years since we met in the parking lot of Taco Bell, and Amy came out. we do not have. It is my producer, Kevin Messick. I think his name is JPL or Caltech. Your name will appear soon. Then right away, when I talked to Amy, I was like, "Oh yes, we found our man," because Amy admires stories and movies very much. Obviously, she herself is a great scientist, so this is a perfect combination. Most importantly, she immediately got what we wanted to do with this movie.

Adam McKay: When you talk about their balance between reality, it is a very difficult job for a consultant to find that pocket. Then again, I didn’t give up anything, but there is one thing in the movie that we are more inclined to science fiction, it is NextGen technology, and Amy also knows how to filter it, some scientists don’t always... they will stick to it now known. Amy got what we wanted to do. And Amy is cool and funny, she is very humble, so she will play down her role, but she and our actors have a long conversation about the culture of scientists.

Adam McKay: What is it like to be a scientist. She talked to Jen Lawrence about what it's like to be a female astronomer. This really goes far beyond the normal advisory role.

Mat Kaplan: A lot of things happened here. I think one of the things this movie shows is the importance of scientists, not only being able to do science, but also being able to spread science, share science, and their passion for science. Amy, I hope they can all take your class. Of course you did a great job, but we do have some scientists in this movie, and they are a little hard to understand.

Adam McKay: Amy realized from the beginning that this is a big deal, a struggle between observation, science and communication.

Amy Mainzer: It's really difficult, especially when the news is bad, how do you convey the news to the public, stakeholders, and people who have the ability to influence change in a way they are willing to listen, even if the news is not what they want to hear Arrived? I think this is a movie that deals with the concept of scientific denialism very much.

Amy Mainzer: It just really solves the problem of scientific denialism and the notion that people will not hear what they don't want to hear. Hope it makes people smile a little at the weaknesses that we all face, because humans try to listen to each other, try to listen, and try to endure the sometimes bad news.

Adam McKay: We are trying to show the two sides of denialism, because people tend to think that it is this extremism that says no to science, but there is also a middle ground, that is where people want to be entertained. They don’t want to focus on the truth, which may be closer to someone like me. Of course I like to be entertained. I like to watch a wonderful NBA game. I like partitions, which are also an important part of the movie.

Adam McKay: When they were on our fictional show The Daily Rip, it was not a show for extremists who deny science. For those who may not want to solve the truth completely, this is a show. I think this is also a region, we won't talk about it too much, of course when it applies to the climate crisis. Some of my friends participated in a program that was far from the right. They would tell you that they didn't cover the climate crisis too much because it didn't get ratings.

Matt Kaplan: Yes. By the way, I am ready to participate in any charity concert hosted by Ariana Grande. I will not give up too much there. There is one more thing, a science-related thing, which is a science and space science program. I suspect that you made the first feature film that publicly praises peer review. I can't think of another movie that even mentions it, guys.

Adam McKay: This seems to be the key, the key, and it is also very interesting. Talking with my daughters, one of them is in high school. In many of our cores, education systems, or institutions, they don’t really talk about it, but as I have talked with Amy, and I have talked with other scientists and climate scientists over the years, this is the key phrase.

Adam McKay: This may be the highest burden of proof for human existence, but you hardly hear it mentions too much, what this process is, and what this process means. Yes, we are very happy to put it in. This is also what DiCaprio promoted. Amy is very encouraged by this.

Amy Mainzer: Sometimes we jokingly refer to peer review as the worst and best system we have. It's messy.

Amy Mainzer: Yes, exactly. It is messy, but at the same time, it does make our calculations, all our work subject to scrutiny by others, and the idea that experiments should be reproducible. Other people should be able to get the same information and get the same results, this is how it works. I think one of the advantages of science is that we do learn. There is a long discussion about what uncertainty means in science. This is a beautiful event.

Amy Mainzer: For scientists, this has a very precise mathematical definition, but in daily life, it is not in daily use. This means different things. If you say something is uncertain, it means you don't know. This is not what the scientist meant. For a scientist, he just accurately quantified your confidence in your role in this particular measurement. So, in other words, we use words in ways that non-scientists may not necessarily understand, and it's up to us to explain.

Matt Kaplan: I’m going to repeat another line of my favorite in the movie, which comes from the role of Meryl Streep, the President of the United States. They were sitting in the Oval Office. The scientists told her that I had forgotten their ending. I explained, “If we don’t take measures, the probability of a comet impact is 99.97%.” She said, “Well, we will Choose 70%."

Adam McKay: That exchange is a key exchange. Once again, Amy really helped a lot because we hope he will succeed in trying and communicating it, but the truth is that there is no such thing as 100%. So at the moment he said, Rob Morgan played the role of Dr. Virgil Thorpe from the planet [crosstalk00:18:50]-

Mat Kaplan: By the way, who is great.

Adam McKay: He is great. From the actual planetary defense center, is my name correct?

Mat Kaplan: Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

Adam McKay: Thank you, sir. thank you. He said, "Well, scientists have never had the luck to say 100%." ​​This is another line that I am very happy to appear in the movie because we want to know something about it. Even the gravity of fixed science is not 100%. There are still breakthroughs in gravity.

Adam McKay: We still don't understand every part of gravitational dynamics. I also like to make movies, where I can also learn things. As a filmmaker, this is what I really need to learn when making this film.

Mat Kaplan: Amy, I hope Lindley Johnson, when he sees this movie, the person who really leads the PDCO, I hope he likes what he sees. I must share a little bit of trivia, Adam, I bet you don't know. The PDCO patch appeared twice in the film and was designed by a friend of mine, Michael Okuda. Mike and Rick Sternbach were responsible for the design of several Star Trek series starting from "Star Trek: The Next Generation", and that's it.

Adam McKay: You must be joking. I like that your friend designed the patch, because there has never been a government or organization logo that appeared in a movie more than the patch in this movie.

Mat Kaplan: When it appears for the second time, we will not discuss how it happened. I want to go back to what Amy mentioned, when the character of Leonard DiCaprio (Leonard DiCaprio) looked up at the sky, the comet was just seen by the naked eye. He said I don't know if this is terrible or what I think is terrible. "It's scary and beautiful at the same time." To me, most of the film can be described like this.

Adam McKay: This is an interesting thing because I think some people tend to think that religion and science are mutually exclusive. But one thing I really appreciate about scientists is that all you do is observation. If you want to say that you are observing God's creation, you can say so. You can say that you respect the reality created by God, or you can say that you are observing reality.

Adam McKay: You can say this as you want, but I think that at the moment of Dr. Mindy played by Leonardo DiCaprio, I think it’s a kind of humility and a plea for science, to me Said, the posture of summarizing science is really very beautiful. Although you work long hours and do meticulous work, I dare say that there are some things that are almost religious.

Amy Mainzer: Well, in essence, science is an appreciation of nature, right?

Amy Mainzer: We are part of the universe. When you discover something related to humans, whether it is good or bad, we are part of it. This is a very awesome thing, I think,'Sometimes, even if the news is bad. I don't know, the conclusion I have drawn from all this is to look at the rock that is not breathable all day long. OK. This means that when you look at the earth, the earth looks really good in comparison.

Mat Kaplan: As my boss, Bill Nye said, “Everyone I know lives here.” We are about to end our era. We only have a few minutes left, and then I have one minute to throw it to you, Adam. But before I do that, Amy, you know that we are all following the development of NEO Surveyor, the space telescope, which will save us from such objects. I'm just half serious. I'm just kidding, I should say. What is a sentence, a status report on how it fits together?

Amy Mainzer: So many projects, my goodness. It's incredible to watch the team come together. So yes, decide, build, build, build. We are very, very busy bees now, which is great. We are very grateful to be able to do this.

Mat Kaplan: You will return to the show, and I hope to talk more about this as it progresses. Adam, did not reveal the ending of the movie. When I said that although this is a wonderful satire, I really mean it, but it is more thoughtful than most other large satires.

Mat Kaplan: It ends with many qualities that we all desire. Faith, family, friendship, courage, love, and even some justice. Although it is a lovely and lovely ending.

Adam McKay: Yes. I think this is a very good description. This is what we want to do with this movie. We want to feel many different feelings. We want to get some good, self-deprecating ones. We want to return to the core elements that make us people, communities, family, and friends, as you said, faith and humility. Then at the end a good, big, huge laugh. Finally, I also hope that people will walk out of the theater or turn off the TV after watching it.

Adam McKay: Remember, when it comes to the climate crisis, when it comes to the problems we face, we can do this. We have science, and this technology can be used for renewable energy, carbon capture, and carbon removal. We just need to do this with sincere and incredible intentions, and we have not done so yet. But in general, I am hopeful. We have Excalibur, which is a science, and it can do a lot of amazing things. So yes, in the end some people will say that it is a bit dark, but I really think that the movie as a whole is a very promising movie.

Mat Kaplan: Amy, what are your final thoughts? You have seen it several times, I bet.

Amy Mainzer: Totally agree. I think what happens next depends on us. This is the message that the movie really wants to convey. So let us make things have a better ending, the best possible ending. It depends on us. We can do it.

Mat Kaplan: Thank you both. Amy Mainzer, the scientific consultant of "Don't Look Up", I can't wait to see you again on the big screen, I can't recommend it to everyone who listens to the show. I think you will probably like it. Of course, Amy is also a professor of planetary science at the University of Arizona, leading the development of NEO Surveyor, and is still the principal investigator of NEOWISE.

Matt Kaplan: Adam McKay, screenwriter, director of "Don't Look Up", in the past few years, he has also produced a lot of my favorite movies. Thank you guys. I hope it succeeds as you hope. I want to give the audience one last piece of advice. Keep through credits.

Adam McKay: Mat, thank you for inviting us to participate.

Amy Mainzer: Again, thank you very much, Mat.

Mat Kaplan: Don't Look Up will be shown in limited theaters on December 10th, and we will air it on Netflix on December 24th. I missed the opportunity to watch the movie preview with some colleagues from the Planetary Society. Just the day before this episode of our show was published, we gathered online for a group review. After our CEO sends out this message, you will hear that lively conversation immediately.

Bill Nye: Hello everyone, this is Bill. 2021 has brought so many exciting developments to space exploration. Because of you, the Planetary Society has had a significant impact on key missions, such as Perseverance Landing on Mars, including the microphones we have been advocating for many years. Our expanded LightSail 2 mission is to help NASA prepare three of its own solar sail projects. Now is the time to make 2022 more successful. We have attracted the attention of the whole world, but there is still a lot of work to be done.

Bill Nye: When you invest in the Planetary Fund today, thanks to a generous member, your donation will be as high as $100,000. When we explore the world inside and outside the solar system, protect the earth from asteroids or comets, and find life outside of the earth by making search a priority for space exploration, every dollar you pay will cost twice as much. Will you help us start the new year? Please donate today. Visit planetary.org/planetaryfund. Thank you for your generous support.

Mat Kaplan: Sarah Al-Ahmed is our digital community manager at the Planetary Society, but she is also an astrophysicist. Sarah, you come up first. What really moved you in this movie? You are a big fan, aren't you?

Sarah Ahmed: Oh yes. Before we knew we were going to show it, I was looking forward to this movie. This subject matter is what I have always expected and judged, no matter whether a scientific film is accurate enough to pass my scientific test. This is always fun for me, but this movie almost immediately won me with the first scene.

Sarah Ahmed: I spent many nights observing on the dome of the telescope. To make it accurate, you need to do something. First, you need pictures or toys like Carl Sagan nearby, so you're done. Second, you need some good music. So immediately, I felt that I knew these characters, and this just laid the foundation. marvelous.

Mat Kaplan: It also made me stand out from the first scene. Merc Boyan, you are our visual storyteller, so you may be the most qualified person among us to judge this movie, but what do you think? You like it too, right?

Merc Boyan: I like this movie very much. It quickly became my favorite space-themed movie. I think it is great. Like Sarah said, the role is perfect. I spent a lot of time interviewing people like this, and they really just came out of the park. This is what they look like. I believe many people are listening to them now: "No, no, I am not like this," but you are.

Mat Kaplan: Danielle Gunn, Chief Communications Officer of the Planetary Society. You attended that screening with some other people. Did you see some stars?

Danielle Gunn: I am there, Sarah and Merc are with me, our colleagues Andrew and Leo are there, our new BFF round, Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep, Adam McKay. It was really great to watch this movie with other people in that room. I like Adam McKay's movie. What I like about this movie is the humor. This is a really effective tool for getting people to pay attention to pressing issues. Doom and depression are effective, but eventually people will begin to alienate because it is too painful.

Danielle Gunn: Humor is a really effective way to get people to pay attention to urgent issues, such as saving the earth from asteroids or climate change, which is exactly what he is trying to do here. In the communication team of the Planetary Society, we discussed how to inject a sense of humor into our work, especially in planetary defense, just to get people to pay attention and feel welcome when discussing a serious issue. What we can do , But don’t be too frustrated.

Danielle Gunn: So through humor, you can make everyone in the room pay attention and hear what people are trying to tell you.

Mat Kaplan: Of course it works for me. Rae Paoletta is the last colleague we will hear today. You are a bit different because you have to see it in New York, but still on the big screen. Since I watched it on TV at home, I have envied all of you, but Ray, are you as impressed as these people?

Ray Pauletta: Yes. First of all, I know it's great to go back to the cinema. I recently saw sand dunes in IMAX and had a very different experience in movies, but I am very happy to be able to return to the theater. It's interesting. Hearing Danielle’s speech, I almost like this movie for the exact opposite reason, that is, it feels like one of the most anxious and fascinating experiences of my life in the cinema.

Rae Paoletta: Since I saw "Depression" in 2021, I have not been so anxious. One of the planets has actually collided with the Earth, and no one can do anything about it. So yes, that one is really popular for me, no pun intended. I just think the way art makes you feel uncomfortable when proving or serving a greater purpose is really interesting. I think this is what Adam McKay did to us in this movie.

Mat Kaplan: There is a wide range of reactions to this movie. It must laugh more than Dune, and I will give it almost infinitely. Let's open it. Do you have any other ideas? Anyone can jump here.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: I think the accuracy of working in this field is very important. In fact, we are all encouraging each other because Carl Sagan mentioned, "Oh, we have been doing this", of course, the Planetary Society.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: They even used an image in the beginning, and we also used it in one of our ad campaigns. We think their taste is the same as ours. So they know the situation in this industry very well.

Matt Kaplan: Yes. You haven't heard my conversation with Adam McKay and Amy Mainzer, but this is our concern. Amy obviously had a great influence on this.

Sarah Ahmed: Not surprised. Yes.

Danielle Gunn: I can say that Amy Mainzer must have had a great influence on this movie, because they did not use classic asteroids to hit the earth, you will see and say the end of the world. They went looking for something truly terrible, a comet from the Oort Cloud. The orbital period of these things is too long, and we really don't know to anticipate it.

Danielle Gunn: They come from far away places, and it's harder to find them. So you can really say that they talked to the scientists before making the story, because when I think about planetary defense against asteroids, that's why I'm scared at night. I think we have a good chance, but comets are more terrifying to me.

Merc Boyan: Danielle made a very good point. It's interesting. This is really a very funny movie. For such a tragic topic, this is a very important thing. Really, like Ray said, I have always been anxious. You want to know, "What are they going to do? What are they going to do? What will happen?" At the same time, this is indeed a mystery. Therefore, in order for Jonah Hill to make absolute and timely insults throughout the process, I don't want to spoil anything, but the constant jokes about the candy machine thing.

Merc Boyan: It's really very, very good. I am very satisfied with the editor, because I am an editor first. The editing inside is amazing. It has fast editing like other Adam McKay movies in the past. Big short, it has an atmosphere, especially at the beginning. It's very fast-paced, they just stand out in the story. Then what happens is when you get into those fast paces, when they take a moment to slow down and show these space photos. The earth is crazy, there are all these things, people are trying to figure out what is going on and what to believe.

Merc Boyan: Then it cut to this beautiful floating comet, it will kill everything. You almost cheer for the comet, because it is a beautiful, peaceful, and quiet thing, and everything on earth is chaotic. We don't do this in the real life of the Planetary Society, and you may not want to include that part. But just in the movie, it makes you feel more connected to space than the trivial and meaningless things on earth.

Matt Kaplan: I don't know. The beauty of the comet has left a deep impression on me, but I don't think I support it.

Merc Boyan: So maybe this is not the correct word.

Mat Kaplan: Does anyone want to join?

Rae Paoletta: I personally like the timing of this movie because the DART mission has just started recently. I especially like making film ties, and my distinguished colleague Sarah Armageddon has hinted at this before.

Rae Paoletta: So in the same film tradition, obviously the connection to the DART mission is so obvious. But apparently, Bill Nelson invited Bruce Willis to participate in the DART mission, but he did not go. That's just some real, deep Hollywood gossip I need...I need another podcast to solve this problem, never.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: I actually went to watch the DART mission. After watching that movie, it was a very interesting experience because I was driving to the Vandenberg Space Force base. I have a live broadcast from NASA. Adam McKay actually talked about movies and asteroids in the live broadcast. This is the first time a mission to redirect an asteroid is really cool.

Sarah Al-Ahmed: But at that moment, the juxtaposition of art and reality is very interesting. This shocked me. What if this were our attempt to really change the direction of an asteroid facing the earth? It would be terrible, and I am glad that we have enough time to really prepare for this kind of emergency.

Merc Boyan: Think about how many movies we have seen about the spread of the virus around the world before this pandemic? It's like, "Oh yes. This is a weird sci-fi future that will never really happen," and then it did happen, and now we are in it. Now we are beginning to see such movies. One day, hopefully it will not happen soon, and we will say, "Okay. Now, we have a problem to deal with."

Merc Boyan: All these science fiction and future movies are becoming reality. So I thought of it when I watched it, because it is a metaphor for climate change. This movie is also a metaphor for COVID things, but it will also be a very accurate truth about what happened on a certain day. Yes, are we ready? Are we ready? This is something we think about every day at work, hope we are.

Danielle Gunn: Yes. Scientific communication with the public is a huge theme of this film. So like Merc said, you can use this movie to replace any disaster that scientists know and need to warn the public about. I think this is very interesting. It didn't really reveal anything, but they did refer to the Planetary Defense Coordination Office. When I saw it, when we saw it, it was like, "Oh, yes, of course, yes." But then it said, a bit of an asterisk, yes, this is a real office.

Danielle Gunn: It really exists. Realizing that most people, if you interview them on the street, you won’t know that this is actually the same thing. So, as part of our mission, one of the things I like about the Planetary Society is to educate people on these topics. I hope we will get a lot of people searching for planetary defense, coordination office, various topics on Google. I am happy that our website and our resources are available for people to read and learn more about.

Mat Kaplan: We should end it, but I have one more question for you. I praised Adam McKay and Amy Mainzer at the end of the film. So I didn't spoil it, I just said that it brings us back to many of the humanity, family love, friendship, and even a touch of justice that we admire and desire. I just want to know what you think of the ending. Beware.

Merc Boyan: I was surprised by the many different moments in the whole ending, because this movie does take several turns. This really surprised me. I can't say that I expect it to happen the way it is, I like it and it is rare. You can find out the movie.

Merc Boyan: Now, there is a very popular formula, which breaks away from the formula in a very beautiful way. So I must be very satisfied with the ending. Just pay attention to Meryl Streep. Even if you don't like space, asteroids or anything, she is very good in this movie. It was so pleasant to watch her really fall into this role.

Mat Kaplan: They are all great. I think this is just a great cast. other people?

Ray Pauletta: Yes. Mat, as someone who has written seven film reviews on Letterboxd, I have been waiting for you to ask my opinion, my professional opinion on this film. I will give the ending individual 10 points (out of 10 points), no comments. I thought it was delivered. I think it makes...I won't say what I just wanted to say.

Matt Kaplan: Can I guess it?

Rae Paoletta: Yes, as you can guess, we can talk about it later, but absolutely, my God, I can’t use the word either. It's really hard, Matt, not to think about trivial or spoiled words. I would say that the ending will definitely stay with me for a while.

Danielle Gunn: Rae mentioned "Melancholia" earlier, that movie, the ending of that movie, if you want to turn into the moment when something really very bad is about to happen, just like what we are trying to ensure It won't happen, this is one of the scenarios where you can re-examine it and get that sense of fear again.

Danielle Gunn: This movie, try not to give it, but there are several different endings, you can call it the ending. It does something similar, you can re-examine it and it feels very real. Then there are other endings that feel less real, but very interesting.

Mat Kaplan: It's really interesting. Sarah, do you want to jump in?

Sarah Ahmed: I am very satisfied with the ending, because I really want to know that at the end of the film, the science behind what they are trying to express has been confirmed and improved. I think in the end, if I were someone who had never heard of planetary defense and watched this movie, I would suddenly want to start paying attention.

Sarah Ahmed: Because we really want to save the world and the people in the movie who we really make these efforts, so they act like superheroes. This really resonated with me. I think about the ending of that movie over and over again. When it airs on Netflix, I am looking forward to watching it again.

Mat Kaplan: If you have just watched this movie, or if you have heard all of them now, you want to watch this movie, then remember one thing. When you want to learn more, as Sarah just said, please visit planetary.org because we take this matter very seriously, but I feel a little humorous, just like this movie, don’t look up.

Mat Kaplan: Thank you everyone, friends and colleagues for helping us end our discussion of a great movie. I hope this movie will be very popular. When is it? On planetary radio. This is Bruce Betts, the chief scientist of the Planetary Society. Ben Owens has a question for you about Australia. When are you going to interview Bruce's dog? I think this is actually my problem.

Bruce Bates: Yes, technically two dogs. Technically, there are two dogs.

Bruce Bates: Yes. You can interview them at any time. Max, the 200-pound Cane Corso is talkative, and Gracie, the bulldog's purpose is to please.

Mat Kaplan: We will put it on the calendar. Stay tuned, Ben. We are now ready to understand the night sky, including the dog stars.

Bruce Bates: To see Sirius, Dog Star, you must wake up before dawn in the east and south. Sorry, that one is not on the cuff, but it is there. In addition, it was there before dawn but it was very difficult, with red Mars in the lower part, but it will start to rise in a few weeks. Now, of course, two things to focus on are the planetary lineups in the evening west, with the lowest and farthest west being the super bright Venus. Then there is the yellow Saturn, and then the very, very bright Jupiter, they are all lined up in a row, and they hang out together.

Bruce Betts: Soon they will start to decline, so we can easily play with them for the rest of December. So be sure to check it out. In addition, on the 13th and 14th, the Geminid meteor shower reached its peak. They are usually the best meteor showers of the year, with more than 100 meteors per hour, but they only come from dark places, not where we live. This year, the gibbous moon will wash out faint meteors. Nevertheless, this is the best shower this year. Okay, this week in space history. It was 1962, and two spacecraft became the first to fly over another planet or at least fly over and obtain data, and that was Venus.

Bruce Bates: Then 10 years later, the last group of humans walked on the moon and left the moon, this week in 1972, Apollo 17. On and away from the moon. We continue to random space.

Bruce Betts: For reference, this is a brief background. The density of ice, water, and ice, at normal pressure, is about 1, about the same gram per cubic centimeter, just like water. Again, we are currently planetary scientists, so we are just approaching and there is nothing precise. Among these units, rock is about three.

Bruce Bates: Only three moons in the solar system have an average density of more than three, which shows that they are very rocky, namely IO Moon and Europa. In addition to these three, there is one or even more than two, and only more than two. That is Neptune's moon Triton. Everything else is below this value and shows the icy nature of these satellites, at least mediocre or porous.

Mat Kaplan: A bunch of lightweight products in our solar system.

Bruce Bates: Yes. Well, not a lot of Rocky, just a lot of Bullwinkle.

Matt Kaplan: Okay. We held a grand game here.

Bruce Bates: Oh yes, we have to get there. Oh, sorry. I ask you where in the solar system other than the earth is there any feature named after Dr. Seuss? I noticed that it may not be a real doctor, but a hell of a person. How did we do it? Great, it sounds like it.

Mat Kaplan: We did it. I bet that you expect more rhymes or poems than we usually get. We got them, and we have more entries than usual, because who doesn’t love Dr. Seuss? If he is the winner, it will be the first time in three and a half years. He was a winner in the past, but it has been so long.

Mat Kaplan: I am Elijah Marshall from Australia. He said: "Seuss is a crater on the surface of Mercury, named in honor of Theodore Geisel. Since Dr. Seuss is his pen name, the International Astronomical Union named it in 2012." He said: " Thank you for the rabbit hole, Dr. Bates. This is interesting."

Bruce Bates: This is what I tried. A crater on Mercury, they named the crater after artists, writers, etc.

Mat Kaplan: Elijah, congratulations. We are going to tell MIT, the Space Exploration Program, to send you a great book by Into the Anthropocosmos, Ariel Ekblaw. Thank you everyone, they were happy about your interview with Ariel a few weeks ago. Me too. Into the human universe, it is not surprising that the complete space catalog of the MIT Space Exploration Program comes from the MIT Press. I still have a lot of things here. I think you will like it. First of all, we do have an image, a picture of the crater.

Mat Kaplan: It is provided by Keith Landa, Connecticut, and its link. Thank you, Keith. We will post the link on planetary.org/radio on the show page this week. This is a Messenger image. British Edwin King said that there is no astronomical feature named after the physicist Hans Seuss or Seuss, but its spelling is SUESS. Although there are craters on the moon and Mars named after his grandfather Edward, there is also an asteroid named after his father Franz Edward. Let's get into the rhythm.

Mat Kaplan: First, Robin Stewart from Washington sent a very long article. We don't have time to read all of it, but it is a good tribute to Theodor Geisel, Dr. Seuss. Nevertheless, he ended it in this way, "Thanks to Dr. Bruce, I discovered the crater called Seuss."

Bruce Bates: The best rhyme ever.

Mat Kaplan: I think you might like that. Bo Garner from Virginia, "I am eagerly awaiting the sequel of "Green Eggs and Ham", in which Sam-I-am tried to eat freeze-dried ice cream in this crater and said that there is nothing better than this, even No mashed potatoes." For those who don’t know the nickname of potatoes. Well, Jean Lewin of Washington, "The crater on Mercury is named after an artist in history. The person who created Cindy-Lou Who was named by IAU. There you will find a crater named after Seuss Man, answered this question from the doctor. Bruce."

Bruce Bates: This is a theme.

Matt Kaplan: Kent Murray is in Washington. There is no time to do all of this, but here is the last answer, again. "A crater found on Mercury at the last minute should be rated as the best crater for mankind. A doctor, an artist, and a rhythmist, all three of them are drawing the curved hut, winning for Seuss A trophy." This is true.

Mat Kaplan: The cabin part is a bit vague, but it is true. If you read enough books, you will know what they are talking about here. Chris Mills from Virginia. "A rock hit the earth violently and ejected in gold and black. But sightseeing there is not easy because it is hot during the day and cold at night."

Bruce Bates: This is a technical term. They are freezing.

Matt Kaplan: A style that Dr. Shoe may have used. It comes from Kansas poet Laureate De Fairchild (Laureate De Fairchild). "Do you want a feature Sousse? IAU requires it. I don't like it in the stars. I don't like it on Mars. I don't like it here or there. I won't like it anywhere. Okay. Okay. Right. I think I can agree that there is a crater on Mercury."

Mat Kaplan: I hope you have some Green Eggs and Ham fans.

Bruce Betts: Some very talented listeners.

Mat Kaplan: Yes, isn't it? thank you all. Whether I can read it or not, we are grateful for all the outstanding efforts. Hope you will enjoy Bruce's next game.

Bruce Bates: I'm racking my brains to write it as a Seussical poem, but it's too difficult, so I'll give it to you directly. Therefore, the famous Galileo discovered four, which were later named Galileo satellites, or Jupiter's large moons around 1610. They were later named Galileo satellites or Galileo satellites. When was the next moon of Jupiter discovered, and what kind of moon is it? Go to planetary.org/radio competition.

Matt Kaplan: Cool. Until the 15th, which is at 8 am Pacific time, December 15th, we can find the answer to this question, and may win ourselves a Planetary Association kick asteroid, rubber asteroid, because we have 1 million. Well, actually we don't. We will run out at some point, but for now, you still have a chance.

Bruce Bates: I'm leaving now, I'm not wearing a hat. I saw a doe and I want to say goodbye to Matt. Everyone went out, looked up at the night sky, and thought about how bad it would be to create Seuss rhyme on the spot. Thanks, good night. Bad, bad.

Mat Kaplan: I just want to say that it might be a good thing that your children's science books don't rhyme. He is Bruce Bates, the chief scientist of the Planetary Society. He has written great books for children, and he joins us here every week to see what happened? Planetary Radio is produced by the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California, and its members have been following.

Mat Kaplan: Planetary.org/join is the place to be one of us. Mark Hilverda and Jason Davis are our co-producers. Josh Doyle composed our theme song, arranged and performed by Pieter Schlosser. Astra ads.

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