CHANGE is in the atmosphere – pop culture is starting to see science as cool and like in the best action movies, it’s just in the nick of time. In a world riddled with conspiracy theories and mistrust of experts it is vital that science and scientists are understood and valued.
The situation has not been helped by the ivory-pillared status awarded to science in the media, literature and entertainment. There has been a sense that scientists are a distant intellectual elite and their discoveries and research are beyond the grasp of ordinary folk. Can we trust what we don’t understand?
The film The Arrival, where Amy Adams plays linguistic professor Louise Banks recruited to communicate with aliens, marked a change. She’s a hero who helps save the universe – all thanks to communication. Elsewhere science has undergone a hipster makeover, garnering a geek chic factor with TV series like Big Bang Theory, science-ish blogs, radio shows and YouTube explainer videos.
Many of us stop exploring science when we leave school, so there is a yawning chasm between us and what’s going on in the world’s labs. It needs to be bridged. The arts, the entertainment industry and scientists themselves have to collaborate to make this happen.
Before coming to the UK, I was in Los Angeles working as a storyteller for NASA at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. This was not PR or marketing. I worked with its knowledge management department creating innovative strategies to capture NASA’s many stories and lessons, helping departments communicate for future mission success.
At college I majored in Mythology and Astronomy and felt destined for a role where storytelling and science meet. However, I was not prepared for post-work challenges in bars around LA, where I’d get tangled up in arguments with random strangers about moon landing conspiracies or faces on Mars.
I began to see the gulf between science and the public’s perception of science everywhere and became inspired to use the arts to promote a wider and deeper understanding of the incredible research and discovery that was happening.
Since coming to Scotland, and more specifically, taking up the role as artist in residence at the Synthetic Biology Lab at Edinburgh University, I have been stunned by the quality of the science, innovation and research being done in this country.
For a country of this size, it puts the US to shame in so many areas. It’s not just the science, but at the Synthetic Biology Lab they are setting new standards for cultural diversity and gender equality. They are creating a supportive atmosphere that promotes innovation and entrepreneurial skills. My job is to create a work of art that communicates the spirit of the labs and the outstanding work they do.
Helping scientists communicate and creating art about science isn’t a bad gig.
And Edinburgh is so inspiring. A stone’s throw from my office (if I threw the stone quite hard) is where Darwin went to school. But there is a huge task to be done to haul science into mainstream culture. This is what this weekend’s Big Bang Festival, taking place in Scotland’s National Book Town, Wigtown, is all about. It’s an event for all the family where the arts meet science. Lectures by leading scientists in the fields of AI, Space, Biology and Literature are on offer, plus fringe events and interactive exhibits.
My great hope is that it will help inspire new generations to seize the baton and join history’s ranks of world-changing Scots. Any just maybe, there will be a real-life Professor Banks amongst them.
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