Entertainment, meet science

Although I felt a little guilty at the time for not sitting in technical talks at every opportunity, I’m really glad I stopped in at the Physics and Culture session at the APS March Meeting. (Professor Natelson, I agree with your student — it’s too bad you missed it!) There were several talks that discussed the (typically low) accuracy of science in popular movies and television, and how scientists ought to feel about it. The general consensus among the speakers was that, though we should try for greater accuracy, even bad science was all right because it got people interested in science and it provided a springboard from which we could begin conversations about how to do it right.

One of these speakers was Jennifer Ouellette from the National Academy of Sciences, explaining the NAS’s Science and Entertainment Exchange program. Basically, they match up directors and producers with scientific experts, so that whatever they’re directing and producing can be informed by the scientist’s expertise. This isn’t just about sci-fi flicks. Any time you have special effects, you have to make decisions about how you represent physics on-screen. (Of course, even when you live in a fantasy universe, there are some things we have trouble suspending our disbelief about.) Maybe you just want someone lecturing on math or science in the background of a scene, and you want to make sure what they’re saying is at all coherent. There are many contexts in which the Exchange can make, and has been making, valuable contributions.

I was really excited to hear about this program, and I think it’s great that the NAS is coordinating it. As Ivan Schuller (who spoke later) pointed out, people get bored if you tell them you’re going to “educate” them, but they can’t wait to be “entertained.” It’s good for scientists to make friends with Hollywood, because they can help us teach people things without making them feel like they’re being taught… but it’s next to impossible to do alone. An organization to act as an interface is a brilliant idea.

If you want to be in SEE’s database of scientists they can contact, let them know! (Contact information is on their website.) Jennifer told us that they’re actually looking for more condensed matter / materials science experts… but maybe she was just catering to the March Meeting crowd.

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March 23, 2009 · Written by
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