What the public thinks it knows about science.

Popular culture probably does more than formal science education to shape most people’s understanding of science and scientists. It is more pervasive, more eyecatching, 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.