Monday, January 21, 2008

ReGenesis and Scientific Literacy

 
About a year ago I posted an article about ReGenesis, a TV show based on scientific investigation into fictional events such as pandemics, crimes, etc. One of the main consultants on the show is a colleague of mine, Aled Edwards [ReGenesis].

Eva of easternblot has found an online interview with Aled Edwards about the show [ ReGenesis on LabLit]. You can read the entire interview on the LabLit website [ReGenesis guru Aled Edwards].

I like what Aled has to say. He is trying very hard not to let the TV show get dumbed down.
The scientists on this show are more like real scientists than anything else on screen. They have to publish, they make mistakes. We place caveats into the dialogue, trying to convey that on the edge of science, nothing is certain: we deal in hypotheses and uncertainty. The science in the show has real-life ambiguity – there’s no CSI-like wrap-up at the end in many episodes. And there’s an order of magnitude more science on the show than any other I’ve seen on film or TV.
As many of you know, here's a controversy between many scientists and many journalists about how to communicate science. I think Aled Edwards has the correct attitude here. What do the rest of you think? How many have watched the show?


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