Mining asteroids for water and precious metals may sound like a sci-fi boondoggle, especially the way Jon Stewart described it Wednesday night on "The Daily Show" on Comedy Central. When Planetary Resources co-founder Eric Anderson says water would be worth $20,000 to $50,000 a pound in space, Stewart quips, "Who amongst us wouldn't pay $50,000 for a pound of space water ... at the space convenience store?" To cut through the orbital debris, Stewart brought astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson on stage to weigh in during a segment called "Bulls#*t or No Bulls#*t." In just one minute, Tyson rendered his decision — while solving a Rubik's Cube puzzle and ribbing Stewart about the reverse-rotating Earth in his show's opening credits. Watch how it went down in the video clip above, and get the straight story from MSNBC's Dylan Ratigan in the clip below.

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto,"my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.