My good friend Monika Brooks alerted me to this wonderful PBS post that challenges scientists to explain concepts to a group of 11 year olds. The topic, as shown in the video below, is "What Is a Flame?"

The contest is appropriately named after one of my heroes - Carl Sagan. He was an astronomer with an uncanny ability to explain complex terms in a normal way.

Hey Carl!

This was best exemplified in his book and TV series Cosmos, which defined space exploration for many folks in the 80s. I didn't discover Cosmos until 2002, and I immediately fell in love with it. Check out the Cosmos intro below: