Why is everyone on here assuming that making the broadcasts 'better' 'spruced up' and 'more interesting' equates to them being dumbed down? This is an incorrect gross generalization.

I don't think anyone is suggesting that NASA TV turns into the Discovery Channel 'hey I wonder how big of an explosion we can make with all that liquid h2 and o2'.

Anyone who thinks that the current version of NASA TV is utilizing resources to the best of their ability is sorely out of touch. There is plenty they could do to make these broadcast a lot more appealing to a wider audience whilst also enhancing their scientific and educational content.

If you just want to listen to the bare minimum commentary video feed only broadcast I'm sure they can still make this available.

Here here! I'm a huge space fan and NASA's broadcasts still put me to sleep... it's like watching some public access broadcast from the 80s. I can't imagine it's doing much for those that need to be convinced space exploration is 'cool.'

It's certainly not PC to blame the victim, but in cases like this they ultimately hold the bulk of the responsibility for what occurred.

I'm a scientist and have worked in labs where chemicals like this are used. You ABSOLUTELY KNOW that this stuff is crazy dangerous... there's simply no way you don't. Even as an undergrad your profs and older students tell you stories about how dangerous this stuff is. If you don't have a chemistry background then I know it's hard to put the incident in question into perspective... but let me put it like this: It would basically be like a nuclear scientist working in a radiation lab who just reached in with their bare hands and picked up some highly reactive radioactive substance, walked around with it and then died of radiation poisoning (then everyone trying to blame the 'lab' afterworlds).

The university/lab certainly has some questions to answer (such as why was someone who was clearly inexperienced and not qualified to be performing such experiments given a key to the building and allowed to access such dangerous chemicals on their own?), but again if you're a chemist you know this stuff is crazy dangerous and if she didn't feel comfortable handling it she should have sought additional assistance and supervision... which given the lack of protective clothing it and standard safety precautions it was obvious she didn't know what she was doing. I do feel really bad for this girl and her family/friends as nobody wants to see something like this happen... but people need to stop trying to find a scapegoat here and accept that there's a strong element of personal responsibility at play here.

No amount of safety procedures and training will matter if an inexperienced student with a key to the lab decides to come in on their own and mess around with crazy dangerous chemicals... period.