On the road giving talks this spring and in several forthcoming articles, I recommend that one way to widen the net in terms of public engagement is to hook science around entertainment media. A leading initiative I spotlight is the National Academies' Science & Entertainment Exchange which pairs scientists with TV and film producers. A recent success was the incidental news coverage generated by scientific consultation on the movie-version of The Watchmen.
This week comes another great strategy for "going broad" with science communication. As the NSF spotlights, more than 45 lectures are taking place across the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico as part of the series "Angels and Demons: The Science Revealed". Events are also planned in particle physics institutions across Europe, Asia, Central and South America.
As the sponsoring web site explains:
This May will see the world premiere of Angels & Demons, an action-packed thriller based on Dan Brown's best-selling novel that focuses on an apparent plot to destroy the Vatican using a small amount of antimatter. In the book and the movie, that antimatter is made using the Large Hadron Collider and is stolen from the European particle physics laboratory CERN. Parts of the movie were actually filmed at CERN. It's not every day that a major motion picture places particle physics in the spotlight, especially one starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard. Through a series of public lectures, the particle physics community is using this opportunity to tell the world about the real science of antimatter, the Large Hadron Collider and the excitement of particle physics research.
The Web site is impressive as is the national and local coordination in terms of media outreach. I will be interested to track the initiative as an important case study and to learn about any formal evaluation that takes place.
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I just hope that the movie treats how anti-matter works better then Brown did (and then blatantly claiming it is good science). That said it's probably easier to steal a nuke and follow the plot then walk out of CERN with a working version of a Penning style particle trap.
Don't forget to crosscheck with the fearless folks who run the "online resource dedicated to providing a balanced assessment and factual response to the spiritual, historical and scientific assertions in the book and upcoming movie" at http://www.truthaboutangelsanddemons.com !
of course this is dan brown. one of whose books hinged a plot on a main character listening for a dial tone on his cell phone.
rigorous research is probably not in the offing.
Nice promo for your own website, Pierce Butler.
The 'Truth About Angels and Demons' website is operated by Westminster Theological Seminary.
Kudos on your damage control efforts, at least. The movie isn't going to make any new friends of the Church.
Terry Rice - nope, that's not my website - ain't got one.
I posted the info here as an attempt at comedic counterpoint to our host's assessment, and as an illustration of how claims to "scientific" education spinning off from pop media can serve counter-scientific ends.