"We discovered Earth"

Neil deGrasse Tyson makes an inspiring case for NASA in "We Stopped Dreaming"

If the United States was to have a scientist-in-chief, it would have to be Neil deGrasse Tyson. (Sorry, Bill Nye.) Tyson is an astrophysicist, director of the Hayden Planetarium, a research associate at the American Museum of Natural History and the host of PBS's NOVA ScienceNOW.

Tyson has long been an advocate for funding NASA and other science initiatives, and now he's partnered with Penny4NASA, a group dedicated to raising NASA's funding to one percent of the federal budget (right now it's about a half-percent).

"We need to look at NASA not as a handout, but as an investment," says Tyson.

The first "We Stopped Dreaming" video produced by Penny4NASA focused on the history of the program and how the Cold War propelled the drive to space as well as technological advances. But it's the second video of the series that's going viral with it's take on how space exploration changed the world we live in.

"We went to the moon, and we discovered Earth," says Tyson.

Tyson says the view of Earth from the moon changed the way people perceived the planet, "not as a place where nations war, but as a whole," inspiring everything from the Clean Water Act to Doctors Without Borders.

"We need to look at NASA not as a handout, but as an investment," says Tyson.

Thanks, Queen Bey

Pop icon Beyoncé donates $100,000 to University of Houston Law School

Beyonce Super Bowl

Photo by Erza Shaw Getty Images

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Pop megastar Beyoncé Knowles-Carter has donated $100,000 to the University of Houston Law Center Criminal Justice Clinic through her BeyGOOD Foundation. The gift will allow the clinic to hire fill-time faculty to head it, benefiting the students who study there.

“I am delighted that the BeyGOOD Foundation has made this very generous gift to the UH Law Center,” said Leonard Baynes, dean of the UH Law Center. “Not only will this funding help establish a full-time criminal justice clinic that provides pro bono legal services in our community, but it will also supercharge our already excellent criminal law and justice programming.”

The clinic is one of nine at UHLC. It helps students learn to navigate the criminal justice system, especially on behalf of clients that are underserved by skilled attorneys. People of color are affected disproportionately by a lack of good, ethical representation.

Beyoncé, the most decorated artist in Grammy history and easily the biggest musical star native to Houston, has a long history of advocating for criminal justice reform. She was a staunch supporter of the police reform following the deaths of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, asking law enforcement to “stop killing us” in a web post. In 2020, she penned an open letter to the Kentucky attorney general asking for justice in the death of Breonna Taylor.

Through her BeyGOOD Foundation, established in 2013, Beyoncé has focused mostly on expanding the prospects of Black-owned business and offering education opportunities to students. Forwarding the cause of legal representation in Texas while also helping out marginalized communities compliments her other philanthropic work.

“At UH Law, we envision a legal profession where ‘everyone has the opportunity to prosper,’ as BeyGOOD envisions, and we will achieve this vision by providing access to strong and effective legal representation in criminal proceedings,” Baynes said. “And together, through this gift, the BeyGOOD Foundation and UHLC will shepherd the next generation of criminal justice attorneys in the city of Houston, the state of Texas and the nation.”

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