Bill Nye launches experimental satellite that runs on solar power, sails around space

Wikipedia / LightSail2

Sometimes the most advanced forms of technology are also the simplest. The LightSail 2, a satellite conceived by Bill Nye's non-profit Planetary Society, has proven that a satellite can orbit the Earth fueled completely by the sun. The concept, dreamed up 400 years ago by Johannes Kepler, has finally become a reality.

The LightSail 2 doesn't run on solar panels but instead solar sailing – an entirely different concept. It's kind of like a sailboat, but instead of using wind to make it move, it's powered by photon particles from the sun that bounce off of a sail made from a large reflective surface. The photon particles give it a "tiny push no stronger than the weight of a paperclip," Nye told CNN.

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Planet

Bill Nye's new show is opinionated, unapologetic, and exactly what we need.

Bill Nye’s new Netflix show promises to save the world. It’s kind of great.

Image from "Bill Nye Saves the World"/Netflix.

The show, with the delightfully boastful name "Bill Nye Saves the World," isn’t a continuation of his popular 1990s kid’s show. The new show is aimed at now-grown millennials and mixes the original show’s enthusiasm, humor, and wonky green-fluid-in-a-beaker experiments with "Daily Show"-style field pieces and "Penn and Teller: Bullshit!"-style takedowns of, well, bullshit.

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Heroes

Let these bits of good news and hilarious GIFs take you to your happy place.

Hey, you know what's awesome?

Cute animals. People doing nice things for each other. Scientific breakthroughs. And hilarious nonsense that has no real value except to make us laugh.

We need stories like these, now more than ever.

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Environmental anguish getting you down? Bill Nye and Arnold Schwarzenegger have some advice.

'Deniers, quit denying — and we can all get to work and change the world.'

Bill Nye is a very sad Science Guy.

Our climate is changing, and the planet is in danger. The science that lends Bill Nye his nickname — the thing he's dedicated his life to — is the only thing that can save us.

Unfortunately, there's a small but incredibly vocal minority who refuse to yield to facts — and whose stubborn resistance has already done massive damage to the planet we call home.

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Heroes
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The Wilderness Society