Bill Nye, whose PBS series helped kids learn everything from the water cycle to blood circulation, is currently learning all about the beauty of small-living and pervasive public transit in Manhattan. Though his primary residence is still in Los Angeles, the bow-tied science whiz has been settling into the one-bedroom Chelsea rental he scooped up last year. Almost all of the furniture in the apartment is rented, and as Nye tells The New York Times, who recently visited him at his NYC pad, "There's not much going on here aesthetically." But c'mon now, it's Bill Nye the Science Guy, so obviously there's lot of cool stuff going on in there. Here are six:
6. Science toys, obviously—According to the NYT, this includes "copper and aluminum Eddy current tubes" (for demonstrating magnetism), "square plates or blocks for melting ice" (thermal conductivity), and "a miniature Stirling engine" (thermodynamics).
5. One black-framed Geochron, a world clock in the form of a glowing world map—"I sure prefer it to many pieces of art," Nye says.
4. A Mova Globe—The rotation of this tabletop orb is powered by ambient light and the Earth's magnetic field alone.
3. A flatscreen TV that broadcasts images from outer space—Nye juiced up his TV with a Raspberry Pi computer that's been "programmed to receive a feed from the International Space Station."
2. A "gold-tipped blue bowl" from Taxco Sterling, purveyor of jewelry and accessories made of silver and stone—According to the NYT, Nye had his eye on the piece for years as he traversed airport concourses, home to many Taxco Sterling outposts. "It reminds me of 'Starry Night,'" Nye says. "It's not something anyone needs. It's just cool."
1. A very heavy solid teak table Nye bought straight out of engineering school almost 40 years ago—"It's probably illegal to even look at it now," Nye tells the Times, probably referring to the fact that the durable, "high-end," and increasingly scarce teak wood is now banned from being exported in Myanmar, one of the few countries that produce it naturally.
To see what all this looks like when put together, head over to the NYT for a home tour.
· Where the Science Guy Loosens His Tie [NY Times]