In “Arrival,” a linguist is given a task of planetary importance: deciphering the language of aliens who have come to Earth for unknown reasons. Linguistics may not be all Hollywood chalks it up to be, but there is actual language science to dissect from the movie’s aliens.

In "Slingshot” three astronauts (or maybe just one?) embark on a voyage to Saturn’s moon Titan to retrieve methane. We tour the beauty that is Saturn, and its unique moons, like Titan.

In "Cosmos," three amateur astronomers find evidence of extraterrestrial life. Amateur Astronomy may not be that glamorous, but there’s still lots to explore with just a telescope.

In "Star Trek: the Motion Picture," the crew of the iconic USS Enterprise face off against a human probe returned to destroy Earth. While that probe was not actually made, humans have sent a number of machines into the stars.

In “The Martian”, a stranded astronaut must fight to survive on a hostile world. In reality, NASA is working to put humans on Mars in the next decade.

In Outer Wilds, a satellite goes undiscovered because it orbits vertically, while the planets orbit horizontally. In reality, some outer solar system objects have gone undiscovered because of their orbits.

Continuing our discussion of the history of astronomy, we talk about the “Dark Ages” and highlight later figures like Copernicus, Galileo, and Einstein.

In a galaxy far, far away, the forces of good and evil fight for control. In some not so far, far away, there is plenty for humanity to explore.