Occupation (Battlestar Galactica)

Transcription

HOST: For some 80 years, comic books have entertained audiences both young and old, but what can they teach us about science? In this planet saving, superhero blazing, special episode of Science & U! we explore the intergalactic union of science and superheroes. Science & U! starts now. ♪ [Theme Music] ♪ MIKE GILLIAM: I'm Mike Gilliam at Grand Central Terminal. A lot of superheroes have come through here, but before a superhero was ever on the movie screen or on the pages of a comic book, it starts in someone's imagination. That imagination is not allowed to run wild. They have to get the science correct. We're going to show you how in just a second on Science & U!. BARRY MITCHELL: I'm Barry Mitchell at Comic Con. Doctor Who; time traveling genius, or a superhero? You decide. Ahead on Science & Who!. FEMALE 1: You. BARRY MITCHELL: You. CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: I'm Carol Anne Riddell. It's a common dream for little girls growing up to be Wonder Woman; but what about growing up to be a scientific superhero? More on that ahead on Science & U!. ERNABEL DEMILLO: Hi, I'm Ernabel Demillo. So imagine the burdens of being a superhero, having to worry about saving lives. Well coming up on Science & U! we'll have the psychology of super heroes. TINABETH PINA: Hi, I'm Tinabeth Pina. When it comes to comic books is art imitating life? We'll find out ahead on Science & U!. MIKE GILLIAM: I'm Mike Gilliam. When you watch a superhero on the big screen many of the plots seem believable. In fact a lot of the things that you see in those science fiction movies end up coming true many years later, but how do they get it right? Well they go to a guy like this man. His name is Dr. Kevin Grazier and he has a PhD in Planetary Physics. He's the type of guy that helps a Spiderman snare you in his web. He allows Wolverine to draw you in, and makes Batman the true caped crusader. He's worked on Battlestar Galatica, Eureka, and The Event, and he says producers try to get the science right. DR. KEVIN GRAZIER: Hollywood producers want to ground their series in accurate science. They want to create more moments that make the viewer say, "Wow!" and fewer that make them say, "Oh, please!" Because when you make a viewer say, "Oh, please" with bad science, they transform from someone who is immersed in your creative vision to someone who's sitting among four walls, the 21st Century, feeling cheated like "They could have done that much better." MIKE GILLIAM: Grazier says it's not so much that the science has to be accurate as to feel accurate so that the viewer says "Wow that could happen." If you've done all of your homework along the way, the audience is much more likely to take a leap with you later. So what about Spiderman? DR. KEVIN GRAZIER: Spiderman, one of my favorites; bitten by a radioactive spider. You notice that over the years, from the sixties to the more recent incarnations, as we learn more about DNA, the story behind the spider has actually changed. So the creators of the more recent Spiderman and then the reboot, the "new, new" New Spiderman, have done their homework and attempted to incorporate newer science in their creation of Peter Parker. MIKE GILLIAM: How about the Hulk? DR. KEVIN GRAZIER: Dr. Banner was irradiated with gamma rays. Now let's go back into the fifties and sixties. It was always radiation. Radiation could do anything. MIKE GILLIAM: Batman is a different story. DR. KEVIN GRAZIER: Batman is really just a high-tech driven superhero. I mean yeah he's in great shape; yes he knows how to fight and etcetera; so yes he is a martial artist are both internally and within the skill. But really it's his tech. He has a whole huge, you know, Wayne Enterprises supporting him. So in that case, the science creates a superhero in many respects. MIKE GILLIAM: How do you make sure that that is believable from a scientific standpoint? DR. KEVIN GRAZIER: So we could start from the beginning. You can incorporate science before you even start writing, or at the very end when the screenplay is written you hand it to someone who red pens it an says, "Well, no this could be improved, this could be improved. This doesn't happen but maybe this could" etcetera. MIKE GILLIAM: Now do you ever have a situation where you're doing it. You're red-penning something and a guy says, "Oh wait a minute, my creative vision is here, and this is the storyline, I can't let the science get in the way." DR. KEVIN GRAZIER: Story wins every time. Though science advisor, if the science doesn't work it's incumbent upon a science person to find something that does. If this science doesn't work, hey maybe this does. So it's a give-and-take process. MIKE GILLIAM: Okay, we're sitting here in Grand Central; they're about to celebrate their Centennial. What is the one superhero movie that stands out in your mind that took place here? DR. KEVIN GRAZIER: One of my favorites, one that kind of flew under the superhero radar my opinion, "Unbreakable." Bruce Willis' awesome performance I think kind of flew under the radar because people expected it to be "Sixth Sense Part Two" but Bruce Willis literally stood right here in a very iconic moment. It might be in holding out his hands, touching people sensing their life story as they brushed past. Fantastic movie, fantastic place; again one of my favorites. MIKE GILLIAM: But when it comes to what movie did the best job of using science to make a superhero seem believable, Grazier says one stands out. DR. KEVIN GRAZIER: Wolverine. Wolverine, his claws, his Adamantium skeleton, that's not a superpower. That's a side effect of his superpower. He has incredible healing properties, an incredible ability to heal which allowed him to survive the process. His fighting skill comes from technology, but it was his healing ability that allowed him to survive that. I think that's the most believable of the superheroes in my mind. MIKE GILLIAM: Bottom line how important as the science to the superhero genre? DR. KEVIN GRAZIER: Marginally important. People who watch these superhero movies don't expect super-accurate science. I believe they like it when you've made the attempt to ground your story in accurate science. If you tell a plausible back story they'll go with you on the journey when you push a little bit more into the more fantastic elements. MIKE GILLIAM: So you get that? The science is important but only to draw you into the fantasy. I'm Mike Gilliam for Science & U!. TINABETH PINA: I'm Tinabeth Pina. Since the birth of Superman in 1938 and every superhero that's followed, comic books have opened our minds to the world of possibilities to what's extraordinary and, with the help of science, to what's even possible. At the same time perhaps reminding us to take a look at the world in which we live in, and make a difference. CHRIS CLAREMONT: The artist, whether a visual artist or a literary artist, draws inspiration from the reality that is around him or her. I walk around the city. I have a shoulder bag, in that shoulder bag is a Moleskin. I generally keep a diary, and the book is crammed with images because I never know when one of those bits and pieces will click together and become the inspiration for a story. TINABETH PINA: Chris Claremont is a prolific comic book genius who is best known for his inspired work on Marvel Comics' blockbuster X-Men Series. He's been writing for the comic book industry for over 40 years, and everything from racism to feminism found their way into his comics. A reflection he says of the times we live in and the triumphs that can happen with the stroke of a pen. CHRIS CLAREMONT: The questions and challenges that were faced by people in the real world became- found their counterpoints in the action of the characters in the series. We didn't want Nightcrawler to act like he looked. Yes I'm blue, I'm furry, I have a tail, I have fangs, I have two fingers, two toes, and I teleport. I look like a monster, therefore I am a monster. But what if he's the most rational character in the team? The inner soul trumps the outer appearance. TINABETH PINA: One professor has taken comic books to a whole new level. BARNA DONOVAN: What we're doing with a social science like I like communication is we're trying to understand the interaction in society, social dynamics, and how people are using- what kind of media they're using to communicate to one another. It looks like the main medium and then the main channel just seems to be the superheroes. WANDA VARELA: I feel like it's a learning tool and I mean apart for it to be entertainment it's also an education. GARVEY POTTER: What I learned through a lot of these media classes is that usually the mediums have become really popular. Ones that reflect the social consciousness of its time. I always felt that comic books could teach you something. It's a mode of expression so that art has soul and maybe it has something to teach you. TINABETH PINA: These students took part in Professor Donovan's Media Communications Class; where their final project had them taking a lesser-known superhero and rebooting him or her so that their adventures were socially relevant today. JAMES SMITH: You know with this project you really have to think about well what's the social relevance of, you know, this reboot? What are you going to do with it? How is it going to work out? It's definitely an eye-opener. BARNA DONOVAN: Whatever happens to these characters, it always has to be the reflection of the mindset of the time. Because otherwise they would fail; nobody would read them. So when Superman was created in 1938, it's the depression. So it was written in such a way that it's an obvious metaphor. SUPERMAN: You're working for the spider lady aren't you? MALE 1: We can't tell you anything. SUPERMAN: Better change your mind sometimes; I don't know my own strength. BARNA DONOVAN: Even little kids can understand that this character's talking to a problem that we have in the world. TINABETH PINA: Superheroes not only teach us about what's going on in the world socially, but there's also the added benefit of scientific learning. BARNA DONOVAN: These days it seems to be genetics and genetic mutations, things like the X-Men comic books. So definitely you can probably see a lot of kids out there who are reading X-Men comic books, or they're watching the movies. This gets them thinking about something that's real. CHRIS CLAREMONT: Science is a foundation source. You take those things that would seem the most fantastic; those powers, the suits, the claws, whatever, and then you relate it back to the world we live in. TINABETH PINA: In the upcoming months we can expect to see sequels to Thor, Captain America, and Iron Man at a theater or perhaps even a classroom near you. I'm Tinabeth Pina for Science & U!. CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: I'm Carol Anne Riddell. Strong, independent and powerful in a man's world; that describes Wonder Woman. It also describes many female scientists who are high achievers in areas once typically dominated by men. Today we'll introduce you to some superhero female scientists and take a closer look at how Wonder Woman has inspired generations of women to push gender boundaries. VIDEO: Geez, now that's Wonder Woman. CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: Wonder Woman, her strength beauty and superhero outfits have made her an idol for generations of little girls. A new documentary called, "Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines" explains how this comic book icon became so much more. We sat down with the film's producer Kelsey Edwards. KELCEY EDWARDS: Her creator William Marston was a really interesting figure. He was a psychologist and an eccentric, and also sort of a pre-feminist. He saw the lack of female superheroes and decided to enter the comic industry and create this role model for young girls; that's how she was intended. CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: The need for strong female role models still exists, and that's perhaps especially true in certain professions like scientific fields traditionally dominated by men. But take a look and you'll find them, scientific wonder women making their mark. RUTH STARK: I'm trained as a chemist. But the work would be called biophysics which means that I use the tools of chemistry and physics to study biological targets. JILL BARGONETTIE: I have two molecules which are really my specialties, which are P53 and it's sort of sister MDM2. The research has to do with control of cell growth and cell death. We try to look at better ways to kill cancer cells. VICKI FLARIS: I'm an engineer. I am particularly focused on developing new materials and creating new properties. FEMALE 1: I'm dressed as Wonder Woman. She's strong and brave. She was train by warriors. She shows that girls can be daring and brave. CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: Why are role models so important? The Wonder Women documentary takes a look at that. KELCEY EDWARDS: So for young girls to be able to you imagine themselves as engineers; imagine themselves as scientists; as politicians, they need to see that. That that's happening in the world. That, you know, somebody else has kind of blazed that trail. If she could do it, I could do it. CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: The trail has been blazed. These three women alone are evidence of that. But some say there's more to do when it comes to closing the gender gap. JILL BARGONETTIE: Yes, the landscape has definitely changed, but things are definitely more difficult for women. I think it's harder to gain respect of your male peers, and maybe sometimes even female peers. RUTH STARK: It used to be that women had- the generation before me say that women often had to make a choice between having a family and having that kind of high-end career. I think in my students I still certainly encounter real concern from women, where I wouldn't hear it from men, who are worried about how to mix all of this in. CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: So the conversation about gender equality continues, whether that's in a science lab or at the dinner table. VICKI FLARIS: My husband and I introduced my son to Wonder Woman, the actual Wonder Woman show, which is a wonderful show because it shows women in a leading role, in a strong role. We've always believed that my son should see his mother and his father equally in strong roles. KELCEY EDWARDS: One of the challenges in making this film was a lot of the attitudes we encountered from people who were, "Why make a film like this?" You know, "Feminism is dead." I think the fact that people think all the work that needs to be done has been done, is exactly why projects like this need to happen. CAROL ANNE RIDDELL: From science labs to boardrooms, the message is any little girl can grow up to be a Wonder Woman. Sometimes it just takes getting in touch with your own inner superhero. I'm Carol Anne Riddell for Science & U!. LISA BETH KOVETZ: Modern science has adopted powers of the Invisible Woman. Scientists at the University of Tokyo using retro projection technology have come up with a way to create the illusion that a person and/or object is transparent. I'm Lisa Beth Kovetz for Science & U!. In Stan Lee's epic work X-Men, mutations in the human genome caused some people to develop extraordinary powers. Guess what? It's all real. DEAN KARNAZES: I ran competitively through high school as a freshman. Then, you know, hung up my running shoes, if you will. In a bar with my friends on my 30th birthday at eleven o'clock at night, I said, "I'm leaving" and they said, "Hold on, where are you going? The night is young, have another shot." I said, "No, I'm going to run 30 miles tonight to celebrate my 30th birthday." They said, "You're not running, you're drunk." I said, "Yeah, I am drunk but I'm so going to do it." That night I walked out of the bar at eleven o'clock and ran 30 miles straight through the night. You know I've run on all seven continents of the earth twice now. So I've run a marathon on the South Pole. I've run 135 miles across Death Valley in the middle of summer where temperatures got up to 127 degrees. LISA BETH KOVETZ: Dean Karnazes can run literally for days on end. Has a geneticist ever analyzed why it is that you can run for so long? DEAN KARNAZES: You know there's a couple of things they have found. I mean one is when I run my foot hits the ground as a runner's foot should. I don't pronate or supinate. One physician who looked at my joints and says, "My god you have the bones of a 21-year-old. I mean it's amazing." That's hereditary, I mean you can't digest your, you know, your biomechanics. They always say the best thing you can do as a long distance runner is choose your parents well. ERIK SCHADT: A trait like longevity is a very complex trait that is the result of many different genes, and many different environmental stresses. Nutrition can have a very big impact on how those genes manifest themselves. LISA BETH KOVETZ: Nutrition has had a very significant impact on the powers of our real-life superhero. DEAN KARNAZES: I've kind of follow traditional Mediterranean diet. It's as though I live in Icarus and run through the hills chasing goats. I just let my genetic background play out as it would have had my lineage never left the island. LISA BETH KOVETZ: So where does the mutant X-Men gene come into this story? DEAN KARNAZES: I seem to have a unique ability to buffer lactic acid as quickly as I produce it. If you ever go to a gym and you work out and you're kind of lifting and you start to feel that burning sensation, you just can't keep going; that's accumulation of lactic acid. One time they put me on a treadmill to kind of test my threshold and they said, "This will take about 15 minutes to determine where your breaking point is." I was on this thing for two hours and I finally said, "I've got to go pick up my kids from school." They said, "We just can't believe it, we've never seen anything like this before." LISA BETH KOVETZ: What is a genetic mutation? ERIK SCHADT: Your DNA, right, is comprised billions of letters, three billion letters. Harry Potter has a million letters; that's like three thousand Harry Potter books, that's your DNA. What we're looking for are single changes in those letters that can alter the meaning of a sentence in the book, or your system. There's no question that within the future we're going to be able to manipulate genes. Type 1 diabetes patients for example that have a single mutation in a gene that effects how their beta cells produce insulin. What's being done today is to go in and correct that single letter in these patients' stem cells, make new beta cells, and punch those back into the pancreas so that they can make insulin normally. DEAN KARNAZES: It's interesting to think it through isolating certain specific genes, building up those into the kind superstructure of a human. You know, it's the stuff of great fantasy. LISA BETH KOVETZ: This has been Lisa Beth Kovetz for Science & U!. ERNABEL DEMILLO: Hi, I'm Ernabel Demillo. So imagine Superman's conversation with his therapist. Well a group of academic scholars decided to go into the heads of our favorite comic book heroes, and what they found may surprise you. CATWOMAN: You don't owe these people anymore. You've given them everything. BATMAN: Not everything, not yet. ERNABEL DEMILLO: In the movie "The Dark Knight Rises" Batman struggles with the idea of coming back to help the citizens of Gotham. But superheroes exist in real life too and may find themselves facing the same struggle. ROBIN ROSENBERG: I think that anyone who has the power or ability to help other people in dire need and take that power and responsibility seriously, lives under a certain amount of stress. ERNABEL DEMILLO: Dr. Robin Rosenberg is a clinical psychologist and author of "The Psychology of Superheroes" a collection of academic essays focusing on the psychological phenomena revealed by our beloved comic book heroes. She says they can tell us a lot about ourselves. We talked to her at Jim Hanley's Universe where we were surrounded by superheroes. ROBIN ROSENBERG: For many people who have the gift and curse, if you will, of being able to make a difference in the world; many of the gains offset the stress. I think that superheroes are the exaggeration of that response. ERNABEL DEMILLO: So yes Batman's job may be stressful but it's a good stress according to Rosenberg. He is saving the world, but why does he do it in a bat costume? Why does he have to do everything anonymously as a bat? ROBIN ROSENBERG: He wears a costume and is anonymous in that sense because to protect the people he loves. But for him there was another reason, which is that he was trying to come up with not just a costume, but a persona that would scare criminals. ERNABEL DEMILLO: Batman grew up in Gotham, a big city just like New York, and that may also have had an effect on his world views. But what if he grew up in the Midwest? MR. KENT: You just have decide what kind of man you want to grow up to be, Clark. Whoever that man is, he's going to change the world. ERNABEL DEMILLO: In the new movie, Man of Steel, based on the Superman comics Clark Kent grows up in Kansas. So Robin, if Superman were raised here in New York City as opposed to being raised in the Midwest; would he have been Superman? ROBIN ROSENBERG: I think he still would have been a superhero and used his powers for good, especially if he was raised by the Kents; if the Kents and Clark Kent lived in New York. But I think that he might have been cynical, perhaps a bit less happy-go-lucky. Maybe he had a different kind of sense of humor, and he might have been faster, because you have to be in the street. ERNABEL DEMILLO: So you imagine him faster. Yes, New Yorkers are in a hurry, but the city is full of would-be superheroes. Yeah, because you hear heroic stories all the time. Like someone saving someone that fell into the subway train tracks, firefighters in the city, the police officers. ROBIN ROSENBERG: Just people in general, you know, trying to help the homeless. You know, people who I saw someone fall and they help them up, or ask if they could carry their groceries. I mean people want to do good. ERNABEL DEMILLO: We're all superheroes. ROBIN ROSENBERG: We're all superheroes. ERNABEL DEMILLO: So I don't know about you, but after interviewing Robin, I feel like a superhero. Hey Siri, whose life needs to be saved? I'm Ernabel Demillo for Science & U!. BARRY MITCHELL: Iron Man first appeared in 1963. His super suit of armor can fly, shoot and is almost impenetrable. A half-century later NASA has manufactured a robot reminiscent of the suit of armor worn by our favorite superhero. BARRY MITCHELL: I'm Barry Mitchell at Comic Con. Gee there are so many speakers here today. Who's on first? DOCTOR WHO: Who. BARRY MITCHELL: That's what I want to know, who is on first? DOCTOR WHO: Who is on first. BARRY MITCHELL: Oh you mean Doctor Who, the BBC sci-fi Time Lord who's celebrating 50 years on the air. DOCTOR WHO: Precisely. DOCTOR WHO: Hello, you weren't busy were you? Well even if you were, wasn't it interesting that this probably is, didn't want you to miss it. Now just a quick hop. MALE 1: The doctor came from the planet known as Gallifrey, from a race known as the Time Lords. MALE 2: You know he's just righting wrongs and correcting problems that are out there in the universe. MALE 3: He can detect what time period he's in just by sniffing the air. BARRY MITCHELL: What time period are we in here? Sniffing the air here in the Javits Center? MALE 3: I smell a lot of hotdogs and relish in stuff. It's a pretty tasty environment. BARRY MITCHELL: Do you have a favorite Doctor Who? Eleven actors have played him since 1963. FEMALE 1: I think that they've all done wonderfully with the characters that they've done. BARRY MITCHELL: I have another famous doctor with us here, Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Do you follow Doctor Who as one doctor to another? DOC BROWN: Oh yes I do actually I like the show, it's pretty good. BARRY MITCHELL: What we're asking people today is, is Doctor Who a superhero? MALE 4: He may be not a superhero but just he's a good person. MALE 3: Yeah, I don't really think to consider him a superhero, and you know but other people might. FEMALE 1: I would have to say yes. FEMALE 2: Because he puts other's lives way before himself. DOC BROWN: I would say yes. VINCE CLORTHO: I'm Vince Clortho Keymaster of Gozer. BARRY MITCHELL: I have no idea what you said. Is Doctor Who a superhero? DOCTOR WHO: In a way yes because he does have powers. He can regenerate as in if he dies he can become anew. MALE 1: Back in the day when they first originated it, the producer said that he was an anti-hero. FEMALE 3: I don't think that he's a superhero. I think that he's a vigilante. MALE 4: No, well he doesn't have any super powers so, I'm going to consider that a superhero. He just has his knowledge, his sonic screwdriver, his ability to travel through time and space. BARRY MITCHELL: Sounds pretty super to me. MALE 4: But it's all machines doing it. He's like time traveling Batman. BARRY MITCHELL: Well we have a mother-daughter Doctor Who team here. Is Doctor Who a superhero? FEMALE 4: Absolutely FEMALE 5: Doctor Who isn't afraid to cry, and he's not afraid to be upset, and he's not afraid to love as well. BARRY MITCHELL: We're delighted to be talking with Peter Davison who was fifth actor to play Doctor Who; 1981 to 1984. PETER DAVISON: That's right, yeah. DR. WHO: A dalek, take cover! BARRY MITCHELL: Is Doctor Who a superhero? PETER DAVISON: Well I think he's the perfect British superhero. I'm not sure if he would fit into the American category of superheroes. The American superheroes would probably only use it as a last resort, and probably reluctantly, but I suppose there's no violence inherent in the British the superhero Dr. Who certainly. I mean that's the last thing he would ever do, and he actually probably isn't very good at it. FEMALE 2: There are superheroes in real-life that don't have powers, like the men and women that fight overseas in the war, I consider them the superheroes. BARRY MITCHELL: Superheroes, they come in all shapes and sizes. I'm Barry Mitchell at ComicCon, and you're watching- BOY 1: Science & U!. ALL: Yeah! HOST: Thanks for watching our show, we'll see you next time on Science & U! ♪ [Theme Music] ♪