Here are a couple of notes on links I came across this weekend. The associated websites intend to boost public understanding and appreciation for, respectively, astrophysics and mathematics.
The first link is to the American Museum of Natural History's video "The Known Universe." Starting from earth, the video takes the viewer on a simulated voyage outward, to the solar system, the Milky Way galaxy, and beyond. According to a caption at the beginning of the video, "Every satellite, moon, planet, star and galaxy is represented to scale and in its correct, measured location according to the best scientific research to date." As the images in the video get more distant from earth, a caption at the bottom of the screen fills in the number for "Light travel time from earth..." The following pages from the Wikipedia and Science Clarified discuss the concept of light years and the inferences that can be drawn from them (e.g., "If you look at something in the sky that is eight light-years away, you are seeing light that left that object eight years ago").
The second link is to the initial column by Cornell Professor Steven Strogatz, as part of a new series in the New York Times in which he will attempt to convey mathematical concepts to the public. Strogatz literally starts at the beginning, discussing why we have numbers in the first place. And he uses a Sesame Street illustration to show us!