Beer, the final frontier

Young Einstein was right: e=mc2 is the formula for splitting beer atoms

I'm a big fan of space exploration. Whether it's because I truly believe that it's to the benefit of all mankind that we push the boundaries of exploration, or if it's just because it reminds me of Star Trek, I don't know. Probably the latter. Anyway, I'm a big fan of space exploration.

A lot of Americans used to be that way, too.

However, ever since the summer of 1969, space exploration hasn't seemed to have the country's attention like it used to. What happened in the summer of '69? The Apollo 11 landing. And the last first-run episode of Star Trek. Not sure which caused the drop in interest in space.

Science! has another way to blind us

We need something to get people's attention. And our good friend, Science!, has supplied it.

Beer.

In case you missed it -- and I did until I was it on History Channel's The Universe -- there are clouds of beer in space.

Okay, it's not exactly beer. But it's alcohol, similar in structure to the alcohol in beer.

Geoff Macdonald, who has a keen interest in such matters, calculated that there is enough for 300,000 pints of beer for every person on Earth every day for the next billion years

Space has beer for the taking. That ought to get people's attention. And it ought to increase the interest in space exploration.

Now, me? I don't drink beer. I don't drink any alcoholic beverages at all. I'm that much of a Baptist.

But you know what that means? When we all go to space after the space beer, I'm the designated driver.