EMBO reports 4, 12, 1104-1107 (2003)
doi:10.1038/sj.embor.7400040

What the public thinks it knows about science

Popular culture and its role in shaping the public's perception of
science and scientists

A. Bowdoin Van Riper

A. Bowdoin Van Riper is in the Social and International Studies
department at Southern Polytechnic State University, Marietta, Georgia,
USA. e-mail: bvanripe@spsu.edu

Popular culture probably does more than formal science education to
shape most people's understanding of science and scientists. It is more
pervasive, more eye-catching, and (with rare exceptions) more
memorable. No genetics textbook can hope to compete with Jurassic Park,
and no lecture on biophysics can match the sight of Dr Frankenstein
pulling lightning down from the stormy sky to animate his creature.
What messages about science, then, is the public likely to draw from
popular culture? This essay discusses some of the most common, but
there are of course many others. Science is complex and multi-faceted,
and so is popular culture's portrayal of it.

The idea that natural laws are constant across space and time is the
philosophical foundation of modern science. Mainstream popular culture
takes a more relaxed approach, flexing the laws of nature when...