Mission Statement
Hello fellow stargazers, question-askers, wonderers, learners, and curious cats!
One thing that never sits well with me is when people say, "I have a stupid question." I believe that is a knee-jerk statement because society makes us feel bad for not having all of the answers. You should never feel ashamed of being curious, and you should never have to fear asking questions. The universe is full of mysteries and science is about learning, so it doesn’t make sense to be embarrassed about not having all the answers. My mission is to promote learning and understanding by changing how people feel about asking questions.
I aim to make free and accessible astronomy content that entertains and inspires you to stay curious and keep learning. I try to make the live-streams interactive by encouraging guests to ask questions, which I’ll answer during the show. If I don't know the answer to a question, I'll research the topic afterwards and post the answer (along with references and resources) on our Facebook page, and on this site.
Check out the upcoming events so you can feed your curiosity at the next show!
James Sanders, The Fly Science Guy
Who is the Fly Science Guy?
My name is James Sanders, and I am an astrophysics graduate of Clarion University.
I have done content creation most of my life with the goal of making people smile and laugh.
During college I directed Clarion University’s Peirce Planetarium for four years and was a program presenter at a larger city planetarium in tandem for just as long. It was through those experiences that I discovered science communication and outreach was my calling.
Today, through custom live-streams, I marry the two and make engaging and understandable content for people of all ages.
Frequently Asked Questions
How did you get interested in science outreach/astronomy?
When I was a kid, there was a lot of hype on the internet, and among influential people in my life, saying that the world was going to end in 2012. For example, people said the earth would go through an interstellar cloud and poison us, or we'd get hit by planet Nibiru, or we'd be swallowed by a black hole. As a kid, this was horrifying to me. People who I trusted disseminated that information, and I thought, "If they're saying it's true, then there must be validity to it."
Growing up, some habits my mother tried to foster in me were critical thinking and not always grabbing onto the first thing you hear or the most convenient narrative. But this 2012 stuff was still hard for me to shake because SO many people were talking about it. A few years before 2012, I came across an independently run website of scientists who provided scientific evidence and reasoning (including resources, so I could verify the research for myself) that refuted these 2012 claims, whilst also having a function that allowed people to ask questions that the scientists would answer. Having these resources and opportunities to ask questions gave me comfort. That method of communicating science gave me peace from my anxieties, so I wanted to do the same for other people.
After discovering science communication, the idea of helping people learn and think critically resonated well with me. At the same time, I'd done content creation (show production) most of my life with the goal of making people smile and laugh. It wasn't until I got into college and found planetariums that I realized planetariums would be an excellent marriage of these two passions (content creation and science communication), making this line of work such a perfect fit for me.
What kind of questions do people ask you?
Such a range! Common questions range from simple, short-answer questions to questions about Einsteinian theories. And it's not age-dependent. Adults and children alike have asked questions all over the spectrum from simple to very complex. One of my favourite things is when people come up not to ask a question but just to tell me what they like most about space because they're so excited about it and they want to participate! It may seem contrary to what most people might think, but I don’t mind conspiracy theory questions, because I can present the scientific background that provides comfort -- just like science communicators did for me when I was a kid having anxiety about the 2012 conspiracy theories.
But if I had to give a concise answer to what kinds of questions do people ask? Good ones, because all questions are good questions.
How do you make learning fun and engaging?
I try to make it fun and relatable by connecting it with what people already know and understand. Society has this idea that science is hard and exclusive to "smart" people — that doesn’t have to be the case. Everyone learns differently, so I try my best to take challenging concepts and ask myself: how would I make someone with no background in this field appreciate it?
When I trained prospective presenters, I emphasized that it helps to think about these subjects emotionally, as well as logically. Sometimes people learn better when they can emotionally relate to the subject, so personalizing topics makes them easier for people to grasp. One of the ways I do that is with archeo-astronomy — explaining how our ancestors used the stars. Most early astronomy, done by our ancestors, simply used what most people outside the field of astronomy use today: their eyes and their curiosity. Putting people in the shoes of scholars of the past shows them that curiosity is not outside of their grasp.
What is your favourite constellation?
Ophiuchus, the serpent bearer. It's one of the few constellations that consists of other constellations. Serpens Cauda, the tail of the serpent, and Serpens Caput, the head of the serpent are both their own constellations on either side of Ophiuchus himself. Another thing about him: he's not technically a zodiacal constellation, but the sun, moon, and most of the planets appear to spend more time in Ophiuchus than they do in Scorpius, which is considered a zodiacal constellation.
Ophiuchus is my favourite because he breaks so many norms.