Neil deGrasse Tyson, America’s best-known astrophysicist, speaks with Parade about his passion for the laws of nature and how he wants to “transform how we think about science.” Starting in March, this science rock star will become an even bigger cultural phenomenon as he hosts Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey, a 13-part, prime-time series airing on both Fox and the National Geographic Channel.

Read excerpts from the conversation below, and be sure to check out this weekend’s issue of Parade for the full story.

On early reactions to him as an African-American male interested in science.

“I was an aspiring astrophysicist and that’s how I defined myself, not by my skin color. [But] people didn’t treat me as someone with science ambitions. They treated me as someone they thought was going to mug them, or who was a shoplifter. I’d be in a department store and the security would follow me. Taxis wouldn’t stop for me. I was just glad I had something to think about other than how society was treating me.”

On what Cosmos will accomplish.

According to Tyson, it will help you “understand your relationship to other humans, to the rest of the tree of life on Earth, to the rest of the planets in the universe, and to the rest of the universe itself. I want it to get inside your skin. I want you to be so affected that the world looks completely different.”

On Cosmos’s presence in prime time on a commercial network, unlike its original incarnation, hosted by Carl Sagan 34 years ago on PBS.

“This would be a level of exposure for science that has never been reached before. And that, for me, is the most important fact about this rendering of Cosmos.”

On the possible existence of other forms of life in the universe.

“No astrophysicist would deny the possibility of life. I think we’re not creative enough to imagine what life would be like on another planet. … [But] show me a dead alien. Better yet, show me a live one!”

On our media “space moment,” as evidenced by the movie Gravity, the top-rated sitcom The Big Bang Theory, and the hit forensic drama CSI.

“Artists have come to embrace science in ways I’ve never seen before. That’s how you know science has become mainstream. It’s with us and around us. That gives me great hope that Cosmos will land on hugely fertile ground, possibly transforming how we think about science as a driver of our future.”

More from Neil deGrasse Tyson: Why You Will Never Find Scientists Leading Armies Into Battle

Dr. Tyson moonwalks and discusses Cosmos, Carl Sagan, and Pluto on this exclusive video: