Tag Archives: science communications

Jon Spaihts: Hollywood’s go-to science fiction screenwriter on the importance of science in filmmaking

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Jon Spaihts

Hollywood’s go-to science fiction writer.

Jon Spaihts is the screenwriter of The Darkest Hour, Ridley Scott’s Prometheus and the upcoming Passengers and The Mummy. The one-time physics student and science writer has become one of the go-to writers for hard science fiction and space epics in Hollywood. He is currently working on a remake of Disney’s classic, The Black Hole and is writing Marvel’s forthcoming movie Doctor Strange.

Jon also features in today’s OSAM blog: Behind the Science of Hollywood

Here Jon speaks to Alex Jackson on collaborative work with scientists on film, the importance of science in filmmaking and finding the right balance between scientific practice, current knowledge and future developments with the demands of fine storytelling.

What experiences of working with scientists in the screenwriting process, do you have?

Much of the collaboration I’ve done with scientists is related to projects still in development – so there’s only so much I’m allowed to talk about them.

For example, I’m currently working on a remake of Disney’s classic, The Black Hole. It raises critical questions about robotics, artificial intelligence, interstellar travel, singularities, quantum mechanics, and string theory. Quite a to-do list! We’ve convened a panel of remarkable scientists to help us think through the scientific issues.

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Naked Neuroscience: Dr Hannah Critchlow reflects on educating the public about Neuroscience

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Hannah Critchlow: Educating people across the globe on the values of neuroscience.

Hannah Critchlow: Educating people across the globe on the values of neuroscience.

Dr Hannah Critchlow is a neuroscientist with a background in neuropsychiatry. She currently strips down the brain with the BBC broadcast Naked Scientists. Using radio, on-line channels and live events she designs, produces and presents a neuroscience-focused, interactive multimedia experience for the public.

In 2014 Hannah was named as a ‘Top 100 UK scientist’ by the Science Council for her work in science communication. In 2013 she was named as one of Cambridge University’s most ‘inspirational and successful women in science’. During her PhD she was awarded a Magdalene College, Cambridge University Fellowship, and as an undergraduate received three University prizes as Best Biologist. She previously worked as Strategic Manager for Cambridge Neuroscience and on secondment with the British Neuroscience Association.

Hannah’s choice of career stemmed from working as a nursing assistant at St Andrews Psychiatric Hospital. When not being enthused by all things brainy, Hannah spends her time splashing about by the river and living the houseboat dream.

For neuroscientist Dr Hannah Critchlow, the last 12 months have been pretty special. If being named one of Cambridge University’s most ‘inspirational and successful women in science’ late in 2013 wasn’t surprise enough, what was to follow was in her words, even more “gobsmacking.” Just days later, while in New Zealand for Christmas, Dr Critchlow was recognised by the Science Council as one of the top 100 UK scientists for her work in science communication.

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Google Chrome’s security lead on STEM, women in technology and fighting cyber crime

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An ambassador for women in technology and STEM education.

An ambassador for women in technology and STEM education. Image courtesy of Brandon Downey.

Parisa Tabriz is Google Chrome’s security lead. She has worked on information security at Google for more than 6 years, starting as a “hired hacker” software engineer for Google’s security team. As an engineer, she found and closed security holes in Google’s web applications, and taught other engineers how to do the same.

Today, Parisa manages Google’s Chrome security engineering team, whose goal is to make Chrome the most secure browser and keep users safe as they surf the web. In late 2012, she was selected by Forbes as one of the 30 under 30 pioneers in technology. When she’s not hacking, she likes to make things (art, food, miscellaneous DIY projects) or escape Silicon Valley to go hiking and rock climbing in the mountains.

“Good code is marked by qualities that go beyond the purely practical; like equations in physics or mathematics, code can aspire to elegance,” author Vikram Chandra recently exclaimed in an article in the Financial Times.  In an environment where statistics in US education make for grim reading in the numbers of young people, especially women, that are going into programming and computer science, this “beautiful art form” needs to be embraced – and fast.

Column inches have been filled with critics condemning the state of technology education in the US and all the while increasingly more jobs are now reliant on computer and coding across all sectors. A 2010 report from both the Association for Computing Machinery and the Computer Science Teachers Association found that more than two-thirds of US states had little or no literacy in computer science at secondary school level. It is a problem, which the report suggests, has left the US “woefully behind in preparing students with the fundamental computer science knowledge and skills they need for the future.”

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