Neil deGrasse Tyson, the astrophysicist, author, and host of 'Cosmos,' delivered a characteristically energetic and provocative commencement address at the University of Massachusetts Amherst in 2015. Speaking for what he insisted should be 'at least nine minutes, maybe ten,' he rattled through a rapid-fire list of truths the graduates needed to know. This quote — perhaps the most concise statement of scientific realism ever delivered at a graduation — came in the middle of a passionate argument about scientific literacy. Tyson was responding to the growing trend of politicians and public figures cherry-picking which scientific findings to accept based on personal ideology. The laws of physics, he argued, don't care about your feelings, your politics, or your beliefs. Gravity doesn't negotiate. Climate change doesn't poll well or poorly — it simply is.