This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
From 1999 to 2015, Jon Stewart frequently took on science policy issues as host of The Daily Show. Search the show's web site for “science” and 529 clips come up. In honor of Stewart's last show August 6, 2015 we picked our ten favorite Daily Show science moments. Some got a lot of social media love, like this one, where Stewart put his hands over his ears and teased climate change deniers by putting his hands over his ears and chanting, “La, la, la climate change”:
Bye Bye Wordie & Reservoir Hogs (La La La Climate Change), March 25, 2015
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But that was only one of a many shows talking about climate change.
War on Carbon, January 6, 2014
Our Dead Planet – Melting Cities, January 10, 2008
This show about the Live Earth global rock concert supporting conservation really captured the world’s climate of hope and fear.
On this show, Stewart sneezed at how newscasters claimed that this year was the worst year for pollen ever – and then showed that year after year, as the world warmed, that was actually true.
Along Came Pollen, May 27, 2015
Stewart was interested in other big science issues like stem cells, and the thoughts of great scientists. Not all guests were household names, but at least one name on this list is well-known to Scientific American fans.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson, March 6, 2013
Fred Guterl (Scientific American Executive Editor), August 1, 2012