Popular Science Pays Off

PowerPoint by Nesrin Mutlu

Contents

What is popular science?

Popular science in infotainment shows MythBusters Galileo Experiment Brainiac What makes these shows so successful?

What is popular science?

Popular science demonstrates and interprets science for a general audience rather than for students or scientists.

Popular science in infotainment shows

Several TV shows present popular science and experiments in ways an average viewer can understand.

Popular science in infotainment shows

MythBusters (US)Galileo Experiment (Germany)Brainiac (UK)

Try yourself: real or fake?

( Infotainment: Information + Entertainment )

MythbustersAdam Savage Co-hosts MythBusters,

teaches advanced model making in the industrial design department at the San Francisco Academy of Art

Jamie Hyneman Co-hosts MythBusters,

holder of several patents and the winner of numerous industry awards

MythBusters‘ promotional video

Mythbusters

Mythbusters want to discover the truth in sundry urban legends (e.g. “Don‘tuse a cell phone at a gas station – the emissions from the phone will ignite a fire!“: is this true??). They plan, construct and experiment, sparing no efforts.

The show is interesting & exciting, and arouses the audience‘s curiosity by dealing with legends and questions taken from everyday life.

Galileo Experiment

The Galileo Experiment is a rubric of the infotainment show Galileo on the German TV station Pro7. It has a similar format to that of MythBusters, also dealing with legends and questions taken from daily life. The experiments are presented rather reliably and at the same time quite entertainingly.

The show has been broadcast since January 2005 (Galileo, the main program, began in November 1998), moderated by Daniel Aminati.

BrainiacThe British infotainment show Brainiac has been on the air since 2003. The show concentrates on experiments which have more entertaining effect than scientific value. Brainiac is hosted by Richard Mark Hammond.Usually the experiments are faked by a pyrotechnics department in order to make them more dramatic.

What makes these shows so successful?

We can find infotainment (a portmanteau of information & entertainment) on TV in European, American and Asian countries. The success and the ratings of this kind of program depend on the interests of the audience in the respective country.

In Europe and the US these shows are very successful, because the audience is interested in the answers they find to everyday mysteries and practical technical questions. Not only people who are interested in the scientific explanation but also people who love exciting and informative entertainment on TV are the target audience. The shows appeal to the curiosity of the audience, assuring high ratings and economic success for the broadcasting station!