Entertaining Science

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Scenes from the US television comedy The Big Bang Theory benefit from the guidance of physicist David Saltzberg.

MEDIA CONSULTING Entertaining science Scientific advisers for films and television help to bring credibility to the screen — and take some tangible and intangible benefits back to the lab.

BY PAUL SMAGLIK in science-communication studies at the involvement in a TV show or film can help to University of Manchester, UK, and an expert educate people about research in the way that ere’s the pitch: swap running experi- on the intersection between Hollywood and the Star Trek film drew on images from NASA’s ments with advising on screenplays. science. “I kind of feel bad telling them they Cassini mission to Saturn, or how Contagion Mingle with stars instead of manag- probably can’t make a living doing this.” illustrates the functions of the US Centers for Hing postdocs. Become independently wealthy But many who advise as a ‘side job’ find these Disease Control and Prevention. Involvement instead of scrabbling for grants. Here’s the real- opportunities an entertaining adjunct to their can also help those shows to portray scientists ity: that could happen only in the movies. research careers. Physicist David Saltzberg as real people and role models rather than as Acting as a science adviser for film and consults regularly on The Big Bang Theory, negative or laughable stereotypes. television rarely turns into a full-time career. the popular US sitcom featuring physicists, but And some scientists do get paid — in one Most who become science advisers seldom, if he would not trade that experience for his day manner or another. They are often granted ever, rub shoulders with celebrities. And they job at the University of California, Los Ange- film or TV credits, as well as rewards hidden rarely get paid (see ‘All that glitters is not gold’). les — even if it were to pay more. “I have 30 within a film or show — their very own for- “I get an e-mail every month from research- years invested in physics,” he says. mula scribbled on a whiteboard or a textbook, ers who want to break into this business, So what is the benefit for scientists who go perhaps, with their name on it, up there on the thinking it will offer an alternative career, to Hollywood if it is not about big money or screen. And in addition to communicating saying, ‘How do I get into this? I want to quit getting their name in lights? They are myr- science to the general public, science advis- the lab,’” says David Kirby, a senior lecturer iad, says Kirby. Outreach is one: a scientist’s ers can take on stimulating challenges such

as drafting the rules of physics for a planet she met with him and the show’s writers. A science adviser tends to interact mostly with a different gravity from Earth’s or simulat- Of course, given the show’s subject with a show’s writers, and their first meeting is ing the destruction of a space station. matter — a mild-mannered high-school chem- often a crash course for the writers in learning They also get to have fun. istry teacher who starts making crystal meth- the everyday realities of science. A step into the world of Hollywood became a amphetamine, an illegal street drug, to fund his Nelson helped the writers to shape the Wal- case of fan fulfilment fantasy for James Kakalios, cancer treatment — she knew she had to tread ter White character: the way he interacted with science adviser on The Amazing Spider-Man. In carefully. She wanted to portray chemistry but his former student, Jesse, for example, and how 2001, he was a newly minted professor teach- did not want to glorify its misuse. Indeed, the he portrayed his respect for accuracy and logic ing physics to first-year undergraduates at the US Drug Enforcement in science. She recalls that the writers peppered University of Minnesota in Minneapolis — and Agency advised the her with questions, such as: “What are scien- he wanted to use more ‘fun’ examples than the show to skip certain tists like?” and “Is this how they would talk textbook staples of a brick sliding on a surface or aspects of the produc- to each other?” They asked what would drive a ball falling from a tower. So he created a course tion process. someone like White to get a PhD, how such a he called “Everything I Needed to Know About One of her first person could end up as a high-school teacher, SARAH TANTILLO Physics I Learned From Reading Comic Books”. inputs was in an epi- and what could influence a graduate student to Kakalios used some examples from the Spi- sode in which pro- give up a promising career in science. der-Man comics, such as how the superhero’s tagonist Walter White Seemingly innocuous questions can have adhesion to a wall would work using van der taught his students profound effects. The Big Bang writers asked Waals forces (weak electrodynamic forces about alkenes. White’s Saltzberg what one physicist character would that act over small distances) or how much classroom featured do to win back a love interest. Saltzberg vaguely force a falling body wrapped in a spiderweb Nelson’s blackboard suggested “something to do with holograms”. would exert. When the film Spider-Man was “When you are notes and diagrams, The writers and producers conjured a scene of released in 2002, he and the university wrote giving a talk or which attracted inter- the character projecting images of Earth and a press release describing his class. The release a lecture, you est from students the Milky Way for his girlfriend — in front of attracted media attention, so he turned his are putting on a around the world, a live studio audience, who gasped collectively, class into a book, which garnered more atten- show, like it or many of whom Saltzberg says. tion — and, eventually, he was invited to be a not. I probably started science blogs Working with Hollywood writers and science adviser for The Amazing Spider-Man. picked up a few that were based on producers has helped Saltzberg to develop He also advised on the film adaption of things.” ideas presented in the in ways he had not anticipated. He had to Watchmen, and subsequently produced a video David Saltzberg show. “They would broaden his knowledge beyond his speciality, explaining how one character’s powers could call me and interview for one thing. “As physicists, we are often dig- be explained by quantum physics. The video me and then argue on blogs about what was ging narrowly into our own fields,” he says. has been viewed more than 1.8 million times. correct or wrong. Or they would argue online And he thinks that his consulting work has Donna Nelson saw the same possibilities and then contact me for a comment,” she says. improved his interpersonal skills through the as Kakalios after reading an article in which “These kids were becoming science groupies.” need to interact with a set of writers and pro- Breaking Bad creator Vince Gilligan said that Scientist advisers on TV shows and films ducers. Before The Big Bang Theory, he was he wanted more formal science advice for his featuring scientists — such as The Big Bang involved in high-energy physics experiments crime-drama TV series. Nelson, a chemist Theory, Breaking Bad and Gravity — can help with hundreds of participants, so being a team at the University of Oklahoma in Norman, to create more nuanced versions of researchers player was nothing new. But, he says, “some- thought that she could use the series “to build than the usual evil nemesis or nerd character, thing must have happened, because collabora- a bridge between science and entertainment” such as a stereotypical James Bond villain or tion has become easier and easier”. and expose more viewers to realistic portrayals the eponymous lead character in The Nutty Working with professional storytellers has of science. Not long after contacting Gilligan, Professor. also improved his public speaking. “When you

MEAGRE MONEY All that glitters is not gold

“Credit optional. Remuneration especially US National Academy of Sciences’ Science Movie budgets include ‘over-the-line’ optional,” says Malcolm MacIver, who and Entertainment Exchange, which aims for expenses that must be paid — stars’ fees, provides science advice to film and television more and better portrayals of science and catering, car service — and ‘below-the-line’ productions when he can fit it into his day job scientists. On the other hand, not being paid expenses for perks or services that are as a bioengineer at Northwestern University in devalues the expertise the scientist brings to helpful but not essential, says Kirby. Science Evanston, Illinois. So how are most Hollywood the project. advisers’ fees fall into the second category, science advisers paid? “Bragging rights,” says Even screen credit is inconsistent. In Lab even though their input can alter a plot point MacIver, who often works for free, including Coats in Hollywood, science writer David or character development. on his first Hollywood film, Tron Legacy, and Kirby relates that caterers must be listed in Many scientists are prepared to work his most recent work, for Terminator: Genesis. the credits that scroll at the end of a film, but without pay because they feel that what they Like other Hollywood science advisers, science advisers do not get mandatory listing. do is a public service — and fun. “I don’t he says that he is ambivalent about the Kirby, a lecturer in science-communication think that will change until the appropriate inconsistent compensation that scientists studies at the University of Manchester, UK, institutions provide pressure,” says MacIver. receive from the entertainment industry. points out that other consultants, such as Until then, he says, science advisers must On the one hand, he and others subscribe animal trainers, tend to be paid at a much make do with working for cachet, rather than to the mission of organizations such as the higher rate than Hollywood advisers. for cash. P.S.

GENDER BREAKING INTO TINSELTOWN Perception differences How to make it big in the movies Female leaders underrate how their bosses and colleagues perceive their performance, Planetary scientist Kevin Grazier needed a of the academy, Loverd says. Joining find US researchers (R. E. Sturm et al. connection and a lucky break to become that database requires a call or e-mail to J. Org. Behav. 35, 657–677; 2014). In a the adviser for Battlestar Galactica in 2004. the SEE, followed by a chat between the two-part report examining responses from Since then, the scientific community exchange and the scientist to ascertain 270 women across sectors including health has established more formal ties to the interests and expertise. When someone services and banking, the authors find entertainment industry, and the Science from the entertainment industry needs that lack of self-confidence, perception of and Entertainment Exchange (SEE) in Los input, they contact the SEE, which then gender roles and a lack of direct feedback Angeles, California, is foremost among identifies the best expert and arranges an from superiors contributed to women’s them. Part of the US National Academy of introduction. “We make it very easy for self-underrating. Female managers also Sciences, the exchange is working to inject both sides to get involved,” says Loverd. rate their own performances lower than do more science into films and television by Here are a few ways scientists can get male leaders, the team found. Women in linking up researchers and film-makers. exposure to Hollywood: leadership positions must become aware “Anyone can play now,” says Grazier, ●●The SEE, go.nature.com/pcxgsm of any negative self-biases, says co-author who spent 15 years as a research scientist ●●The UK Wellcome Trust and British Leanne Atwater, a management researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Film Institute Screenwriting Fellowship, at the University of Houston in Texas. “If in Pasadena on the Cassini mission. go.nature.com/ybzy68 you’re unsure of your boss’s feelings about Indeed, the SEE has provided more than ●●The German Mathematics, Computer your work, get feedback and don’t make 800 matches since its 2008 launch, Science, Natural Science and Technology assumptions,” she says. says programme director Rick Loverd. and Equal Opportunities in the Fiction Scientists’ involvement can range from a Format, go.nature.com/qfiava quick conversation with a writer or director ●●The US Imagine Science Films, FUNDING to consulting from inception to end. go.nature.com/ubta9d The SEE has built up a database of ●●The US Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Irish entrepreneurs more than 1,500 scientists, and can film-schools programme, go.nature.com/ The Irish Research Council in Dublin also draw on the 6,000-plus members i34efv P.S. has launched an industrial PhD and master’s programme that will place 70 postgraduate- and graduate-level are giving a talk or a lecture, you are putting or producer. “Part of what makes you a researchers with businesses and non-profit on a show, like it or not,” he says. “I’ve prob- successful science adviser is humility,” he says. organizations. Some 60–70 employers ably picked up a few things.” (That would not Carroll, from the California Institute are joining the Employment Based include skills enough to write for the show. of Technology in Pasadena, says that his Postgraduate Programme to help student He suggested some jokes once: the writers personal satisfaction comes not just from researchers to develop innovation and politely advised him to stick to the science.) creating a more realistic scientific universe in entrepreneurial skills that should prepare California planetary scientist Kevin films, but also from subtly introducing peo- them for entering the non-academic Grazier, who has advised on several projects, ple to science. He points to his work on the research workforce. The council including the 2004 reboot of the TV show movie Thor as an example. “It was a movie contributes €24,000 (US$32,700) for Battlestar Galactica and the film Gravity, says version of a comic-book version of a Norse each student, who receives a salary from that his role requires soft skills and a thick god: not something you would associate with the employer. Council director Eucharia skin (see ‘How to make it big in the movies’). accurate physics.” But he made a few subtle Meehan says that the programme provides Both develop over time on the job, says the but profound suggestions and added accu- junior researchers with career options. lecturer at Santa Monica College in Califor- rate language about worm holes and travel nia. Success requires building relationships: through space and time. especially in TV where writers and producers The film-makers also wanted the Natalie UNIVERSITIES can work together for years. Portman character — a nurse in the comic Writers generally respect scientists as book — to have a more lofty profession, so China’s rankings rising long as they are not obstructionists who he suggested that she be an experimental China’s higher-education star is rising, insist that a plot point cannot be pursued physicist and helped to shape her character. while Japan’s is waning, according to the because of an obscure principle that most He wanted girls to see the film and realize Times Higher Education’s Asia University viewers would neither know nor care about. that a science career could be possible, and Rankings 2014. Japan dropped two Grazier says that he has the most success desirable, for them. institutions from the top 100, whereas when his suggestions open up story pos- Kakalios hopes that positively framed mainland China added four. But Japan sibilities, not when they slam the door on scientist characters — shaped with the help still leads the Asian nations with 20 top- ones the writers had developed. “You don’t of science advisers — could even help to 100 universities; China is second with 18, want to go in and say ‘You can’t do this, this bolster funding for science down the road. and South Korea third with 14. Thomson or this,’” he says. “If your alternative leads to Sometimes funders need to see the possible Reuters, which collates the data, bases a better storyline, fine.” in a fictional context before they can make it the rankings on 13 indicators, including Theoretical physicist Sean Carroll, who real, he observes. “It could,” he says, “be a case research and technology transfer. China advised on Tron: Legacy, adds that science of superheroes saving science.” ■ has advanced mostly as a result of advisers need to remember that they are increasing its research expenditure, says a not a principal investigator on the film set: Paul Smaglik is assistant editor of Nature Thomas Reuters spokesperson, whereas that would be the director, showrunner Careers. Japan’s research budget has remained flat.