Brain Story

Brain Story, a science television series and accompanying book which has received great critical acclaim in the UK, is now showing in the US and many other countries. It is the latest project of Susan Greenfield, professor of pharmacology at the University of Oxford. Greenfield is one of Britain’s most successful science popularizers who has successfully grappled with a steep, media learning curve over the past decade. Like many others, she attributes her media career to chance. She happened to write a book review for Nature which struck a chord with the appropriate editor who then spent a short period working at the BBC. Needing someone to speak on women in science for a late-night show, he contacted Greenfield who then appeared on the programme. And the editors were well pleased with what they heard and saw. She later presented the prestigious Christmas Lectures at London’s Royal Institution which attract considerable media interest. But Greenfield, being female, telegenic and articulate, confounded the media stereotype of scientist and attracted particular interest. “There were lots of profiles and articles,” she says. Since then she has made many TV and radio appearances, written popular science books and newspaper columns. She has worked hard to hone the craft of putting science across. “The real skill is in seeking the perfect metaphor and avoiding jargon,” she says. “People are particularly interested in topics to which they themselves can relate,” she says. It’s crucial that descriptions are made on scales people are comfortable with. For example, “if you are describing molecular interactions think of molecular handshakes,” she says. Another issue she has mastered is the widespread relutance amongst scientists to comment on areas of science outside their own expertise. But she says that the level of comment is often so broad or basic that this really isn’t an issue. She recounts a visit to a London prison, where she gave a talk to inmates about the brain. Some were unaware that the brain was attached to the spinal cord, she recalls. “I don’t want to be patronising but I think many scientists do not realise the level at which they may need to discuss scientific issues with the public.” The culmination of all this work is Brain Story. The series focuses on how the brain might be working as a whole rather than focusing on the bedrock work over recent years on the pattern of release of certain chemicals and the lighting up of certain brain regions under a scan. But she champions the belief that understanding our emotions, memories, ideas and desires still requires an understanding of the processes carried out by ‘the mass of grey sludge inside our skulls’. Brian Story is the result of months of work filmed on location from Hawaii to Jerusalem. It takes a human-oriented approach with many interviews with people with specific, and often distressing, afflictions of the brain. “I did not want to focus on a series of facts as I might do with my medical students,” she says. She also interviews many leading researchers on particular issues. The topic and format have been greatly successful and new projects undoubtedly beckon. Although Greenfield finds television exciting, she also believes radio has its appeal. “It can be so quick and efficient to do”, she says. But one of her biggest challenges is as an occasional panellist on a current affairs television show where her colleagues are mostly politicians and journalists, who answer questions on any issue from members of the audience. “It takes at least a week of reading all the newspapers before appearing,” she says. I do it because I am keen to show that scientists have the same interests and views as anyone else. “I hope I can help present an acceptable face of science,” she says. R690 Current Biology Vol 10 No 19