What's Science Ever Done For Us? What The Simpsons Can Teach Us about Physics, Robots, Life, and the Universe

Science News,  August 25, 2007  

• E-mail
• Print
• Link

WHAT'S SCIENCE EVER DONE FOR US? What The Simpsons Can Teach Us about Physics, Robots, Life, and the Universe PAUL HALPERN

The Simpsons, the longest-running animated television series, is a surprising trove of scientific knowledge. In a guide that should appeal to science buffs and Simpsons fanatics alike, Halpem takes a tongue-in-cheek look at some of the hidden scientific lessons in the series. For example, one episode has Homer Simpson, an employee at a nuclear-power plant, marketing a plutonium-treated tomato. Halpern looks at how radiation and genetic modification might affect real-life crops as well as the fictional Springfield's ever-present three-eyed fish. Halpern uses an episode in which Lisa Simpson inadvertently produces a town full of miniature life forms from one of her baby teeth to ponder the emergence of life on Earth. With Simpsons episodes as references, Halpern explains principles such as chaos theory, gravitational theory, and artificial intelligence. He ends with a science checklist for the newly released Simpsons movie and a list of scientifically relevant episodes from the television series. Wiley, 2007, 262 p., paperback, $14.95.

COPYRIGHT 2007 Science Service, Inc.
COPYRIGHT 2008 Gale, Cengage Learning