So...Pluto And Back...FOUR Times...

In the 1970s, the BBC produced a show that has been making waves ever since.  You could say, it's connected to today.

The show?  

Connections

 

Ah, that leisure suit.  He actually burned it, years later.

 

James Burke leisure suits his way through history, connecting the discovery of the "touchstone" or chert, which is used to test the purity of gold, and similar ancient, seemingly minor discoveries and inventions, through several dozen fascinating steps (Connections - get it?) to the Space Shuttle.

 

We watched it in high school in the 80s and I have since watched it a half a dozen times over the years.  He made two more "Connections" series as well.  A terrific way to learn about stuff you'll never need to know and very, very entertaining.  At the end of it all, you'll have a much deeper appreciation for how human history and innovation unfolds and affects your life every day.

Some of the best television ever produced in my opinion.

He's back, just recently.

2023 saw the release of "Connections with James Burke" and I missed it, somehow.

I'm catching up now.  He just dropped this little bit of "holy shit, that's amazing!" on me:

"Okay, now the amazing bit.  There's about two yards of DNA in almost every cell of the human body.  With the body consisting of about 37 trillion cells, that works out to about 46 billion miles of DNA.  More than enough to stretch all the way to Pluto and back, four times."

If that isn't interesting enough to get you to look up James Burke and check out his previous work on the original "Connections" I cannot help you.  The man and his work are priceless treasures.  For me, Burke is right up there with Attenborough and Sagan.  

 

And it's all done without a leisure suit in sight.