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  • Bill Nye 'The Science Guy' wants to reboot his classic show, but isn't sure it makes sense

    by 
    Ben Gilbert
    Ben Gilbert
    06.19.2014

    Bill Nye co-hosting The 2014 White House Science Fair livestream Bill Nye -- known to most as "The Science Guy" -- doesn't get paid for his regular appearances at The White House. "I have to pay my own way here!" he says. "I just support it. Generally, the kids are happy to see me and that's good!" Nye was one of the hundreds of guests attending the first White House Maker Faire yesterday morning; he's appeared previously at the annual White House Science Fair and other STEM (Science/Technology/Engineering/Mathematics) events. When we caught up with him, he was carefully framing a selfie with a young maker so that George Healy's portrait of Abraham Lincoln ended up in the shot. Having grown up with Nye's excellent show Bill Nye The Science Guy, we immediately asked what happened to the planned reboot he once teased: "People talk about it all the time; I'm going to a meeting tomorrow. We'll see if that works out."

  • Obama administration making the case for immigration reform with Nobel-winning STEM leaders

    by 
    Ben Gilbert
    Ben Gilbert
    06.16.2014

    Nobel-winning biochemist Thomas Südhof isn't necessarily a household name, but he is an incredibly accomplished gentleman with a delightful German accent. Südhof took up citizenship in the United States, he says in a video released by the White House (seen below), because he was "looking for opportunities to contribute." As such, he's banded together with a crew of other Nobel Prize winners from STEM fields -- Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics -- to support immigration reform. So, why are these Nobel Laureates working with the White House on immigration reform? Biologist Randy Schekman sums it up nicely at the top of the video: "close to one-third" of the membership of the National Academy of Sciences is made up of folks who came to the United States from abroad. In so many words, many of the US' top STEM leaders weren't born in the US, but later came to embrace US citizenship. These Nobel Prize winners -- and the White House -- believe the immigration reform bill that's waiting for the House of Representatives to vote on will entice even more STEM leaders to move to the US.