In themodern world, a certain level of scientific literacy is important forunderstanding the latest discoveries in climate change, genetics, informationtechnology, and other fields that have a direct bearing upon the lives ofmillions of people. However, there are many people within the United States whoare effectively unable to grasp the concepts involved in scientific discovery.According to study published in the MITTechnology Review, only 28 percent of Americans arescientifically literate.Theability to understand scientific concepts is important for the overall vitalityand well-being of a civilization. The Islamic world was an early leader inscience during the Golden Age of Arabic beginning around the year 800. After several hundred yearsof producing wondrous scientific achievements, such as charting the stars andinventing mechanical water clocks, a growing climate of religious intolerancetowards the scientific enterprise doomed much of the Muslim world to becoming atechnological backwater. Similarly, the fall of Rome caused many discoveries tobe lost for nearly a thousand years and precipitated what is known today as theDark Ages in Europe: a time of superstition and low standards of living.Likelydue, in part, to prevent a similar fate from befalling us, several publicfigures have come forth. These individuals attempt to make the often-dry andtechnical aspects of science accessible to the general public. Moderntechniques used for communicating science to the masses include television programs,interviews, podcasts and popular social media channels.CarlSagan, perhaps the most charismatic astrophysicist who ever lived, was one ofthe early leaders in this type of science communication. Sagan was not only aneffective communicator but also a top-rate scientist with more than 600published scientific papers to his name. In 1980, his Cosmos televisionseries was broadcast and captured the imagination of millions who wereentranced by the broad and beautiful vistas of the natural universe as portrayedby Sagan. He wrote many scientific books for lay audiences, including Pale Blue Dot and the novel Contact, which was later turned into amajor motion picture.It canbe said that the most notable present-day counterpart to Sagan is Neil deGrasseTyson, astronomer and cosmologist. He is the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York City and alsoworks for the American Museum of Natural History. For anyone who saw lastyears reboot of the Cosmosprogram, its clear that Sagans influence on the starry-eyed Tysonwent far beyond their one-time meeting on Cornells campus. Sagans personal beliefs inthe cultural power of space and space travel were also reflected in Tysons speech as the Keynote presenter atthe 2013 National Space Symposium. Commentingof the consequences of space exploration insofar as their effect on Americasintellectual health is concerned, he said:So whatare the current problems here in America? Not in other parts of the world. Oureconomy is in the toilet. Hardly anyone is interested in the STEM fields,meanwhile our best minds are going overseas. Politicians are pretty sure theyhave a solution to that, lets get better science teachers, how about our jobsgoing overseas, hows about moving some tariffs and contracts? People are notinnovating so we put money in innovative initiatives. There things are all bandaids people. They don't work. Proposinga doubling of NASAs budget, he continued, saying:Whateverthe motives, be they geopolitical, military, economic, space becomes thefrontier,