Scripting Scientific Thinking

Sometimes we have a clear idea of a series’ themes before we start scripting, other times they emerge as we write the episodes. For this series a few strong themes emerged early on.

Growth and Change: Science is a never-ending quest for truth. And that’s partly because our understanding of the truth keeps changing! This became an important theme that surfaced in a number of episodes, particularly in the final (forthcoming) episode!

Process: While the truth may be elusive, the path we take to reach it is durable. Scientific Thinking focuses on that path to knowledge, the tried and true scientific methods we can rely on to navigate our world. This theme ties in very closely to our desire to inform the viewer, not persuade them. We wanted viewers to understand that the only “agenda” science has is to become less wrong over time.

Community: That process relies on community. Communal efforts like peer-review and replication of studies form the backbone of science. Science doesn’t happen alone! Part of the joy of having two hosts was that we could also illustrate this idea on screen, with Hank and Sage playing off of each other.

How Science Happens: Science doesn’t have to be mysterious. By pulling back the curtain on the scientific process we can see how each step (from collecting evidence, to peer review, to forming consensus) works to explain the world around us. This was a big theme that ran throughout the entire series. We wanted viewers to feel like science was approachable, rather than some black box of equations and jargon.

Have you been watching the series? What is your favorite thing you've learned so far?