Jennifer Ouellette, director of the Science and Entertainment Exchange, and Jamie Paglia, co-creator of SyFy Channel’s EUREKA, discuss the importance of connecting top scientists and engineers with the entertainment industry.

LISTEN or read the interview transcript.

The portrayal of science – its practitioners, its methods, its effects – has often posed a challenge to the entertainment community. Likewise, the scientific community has struggled to find an effective conduit through which it can communicate its story accurately and effectively. Though many of the world’s biggest problems require scientific solutions, finding a way to translate and depict scientific findings so that reach a wide audience has required a sounding board that has often been missing.

The Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, bridges this gap and addresses the mutual need of the two communities by providing the credibility and the verisimilitude upon which quality entertainment depends. Spanning the range of science topics, The Exchange can find experts to identify and effectively portray the science details that complement a storyline. The program helps flesh out ideas that depend upon accurate details relating to  insects, extraterrestrial life, unusual Earth-based life forms, or the mysteries of oceans. It can refine concepts relating to emerging science in areas such as military, space travel, multiple dimensions, nanotechnology, computer technology, and engineering. It can find experts in environmental and ecological issues, health, medicine, and disease, and U.S. educational practices.

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