The Exchange

Who is better at hitting a target’s bull’s-eye? Super Bowl–winning quarterback Drew Brees or an Olympic archery competitor? The answer will probably surprise you.

Monday’s collegiate championship game featured lots of action on the basketball court. But none of those actions included a player breaking a backboard with a dunk shot. Not long ago a shattered backboard brought an extra element of excitement to the game, but is that now a thing of the past? Believe it or not, a piano helps determine the answer to that question, and not in a musical way.

Could improvisational theater help scientists communicate more effectively? If Alan Alda has anything to say about it, yes. 

The renowned actor, writer, and director has been a loyal, devoted friend of science, long before he played Hawkeye Pierce on M*A*S*H. From 1993 to 2005, Alda hosted Scientific American Frontiers for PBS, which he called “the best thing I ever did in front of a camera.” In 2001, he played physicist Richard Feynman in the play QED and in 2010, he hosted The Human Spark, an award-winning documentary that delved into everything that makes us human. Alda has also helped promote New York City’s annual science festival and recently wroteRadiance, a play about the life of Madame Curie.

In March, a new film hits theaters. It’s a courageous tale of a single mother, forced out of her home and fighting for survival. No, it’s not a little-known indie film or a critics’ darling. In fact, the main characters in the film don’t even speak – well, unless you count roaring as speaking. That’s right; the films’ “actors” are cats, lions to be exact.

The Last Lions, released by National Geographic Movies, follows the journey of lioness Ma di Tau (“Mother of Lions”) as she struggles to survive and care for her cubs after she loses her mate and is cast out by a rival pride. It’s a dramatic and suspenseful story – a story with the aspiration to raise awareness of the declining lion population (from 450,000 to 20,000 during the last 50 years) and to increase support for conservation.

The Sundance Film Festival has launched the careers of myriad household names in the film industry – Steven Soderbergh, Kevin Smith, Robert Rodriguez, Quentin Tarantino, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Darren Arronofsky – to name a few. Established in 1978, the festival, shepherded by film legend Robert Redford, has meant many things to those who have made the pilgrimage to Park City, Utah, for a glimpse at artful filmmaking at its most raw and energetic – a buying opportunity, a source of inspiration, a place to find your audience. It’s also become a training ground of sorts for artists to hone their craft.