He has rubbed Fundamentalist noses in evolution in the second episode, helped to explain the workings of the universe in an episode aptly named "When Knowledge Conquered Fear," and last night he took on one of the most famous of all Biblical stories.
Noah's Ark.
Only Tyson does not relate the version we are all most familiar with, he shares the one related in the Epic of Gilgamesh, a thousand years earlier.
Of course those of you who are fans of IM, know that we dealt with the stories that proceeded Noah earlier this year. Of course that is the kind of thing I like to explore here on this blog.
However having the story transmitted into American households by such a popular new show is definitely going to cause bigger shock waves than anything we do here.
And if suggesting that one of the most famous Biblical stories was the result of plagiarism were not enough, then Professor Tyson went on to suggest that life on this planet may not have been the result of a supreme being suddenly snapping his fingers but instead simply the result of microbes hitching a ride on an asteroid.
In other words he opened the door for Panspermia, the idea that life on this planet originated elsewhere and then hitched a ride here on meteorites.
I think there is very little doubt that the producers of Cosmos and Professor Tyson are purposefully goading the Fundamentalists and Creationists into responding, and that they are prepared to continue challenging Christian mythologies moving forward, in what I would assume is an attempt to address the attacks on science, and public education, in this country by religious zealots.
So far I have found no response online from the Creationists. But since they have demonstrated an overwhelming need to refute the facts shared on this show in the past, I have to imagine they are typing their fingers to the bone in response to this one.
Have I mentioned before how much I love this show? Because I most certainly do!