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| Image courtesy of Anne Simon |
Do you want to believe?
I think everyone wants to believe that there's more than just the existence that we see here. Like everyone else, I think it would be wonderful if some of the science fiction that you read becomes fact some day. But do I believe? I don't think there's evidence for it. As a scientist, I keep an open mind.
The bit about Henrietta Lacks in the first episode of the new season -- was that your doing?
I don't know if it was. Certainly it's something like I would say. I felt very strongly about that. I think that they used her cells, the poor woman died and then her cells are used by everybody. Frankly, it should not have been done without the consent of her family. She was a real person. ...the fact that I she was African American played into it.
I email him [Chris Carter] science articles and information every day. He loves it.
How do you feel about the way that science is depicted in television and film? Has accuracy improved since you started consulting for the X-Files?
I think that it has improved somewhat. That also might be because I avoid watching television. I saw The Martian and it was just terrific. You could tell how much they had paid attention to the people who were advising. It just shows that science can be portrayed in the media and be very popular.
In the beginning of episode three of the new season, Mulder does a sort of mea culpa about rational explanations of some of the cases from the era of the original series. Did you have anything to do with that?
No.
During the years between the end of the original series and the start of the new one, did you find yourself still coming across concepts in biology that you wanted to pitch to Chris Carter? Was it frustrating not having any place to take those ideas?
Yeah, that's always the case. I never thought there would be any more. I've known Chris for a long time and after the first series he was just so burned out. It was 24/7 for nine years and he was just very tired. And he said “I will never do another.” When he decided to do more I was surprised by it.
And I pitched an idea. That they found anomalies in the genome, and then it turned into episode 6 [of the new season].
Have you ever done any consulting or other work on any other shows or movies?
No, but I'm more than happy to help other people. The Science and Entertainment Exchange, sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences. ... they had me in a forum where I was there and the guy who did the science for Spiderman was there, and then Jerry Zucker was there. And the guy who did Law & Order SVU was there. And we were talking about how science gets into shows and how it's important to get accurate science in the shows because people don't know the difference between good science and inaccurate science.
Do you think that having this accurate scientific information coming out of Dana Scully's mouth had any impact on the numbers of girls deciding to go into science or medicine?
Yes, I think that had a significant impact. It's called "the Scully effect." When people were telling me about it during the early run, I didn't believe it at first. Then this woman contacted me about her PHd that she was working to study it... So in my next lecture I asked my class, this was probably in 1999, if anyone was influenced to be here by The X-Files. Two thirds of the hands went up. I still get email from people who say that they read my book because they liked The X-Files, someone bought the book for them, and then they couldn't put it down. And they say “I want to be a scientist now!” There are some things that are a little problematic because some people think you are portraying bad science. Like in episode 6 people say “you're making people afraid of vaccines!” but if you think that people are going to avoid vaccinating their kids because of imaginary aliens doing things on a TV show, that is just ridiculous. There isn't any hope to begin with for anyone that dumb.
It is one thing to accept the premise of an alien life form or bio-engineered bees, but how do you feel about the depiction of things like telekinesis on the show?
It's science fiction so I don't have any problem with that. What I would have a problem with would be if they depicted GMO food making people sick.
Cryogenically preserved heads communicating with each other, that's just absurd. But nobody sees that and thinks it is real science.
So yeah, I think what this is doing through social media is get people to look at science. Don't just listen to what people say. Especially about GMOs. People from organic food companies are saying things about GMOs that are just wrong. This stuff about GMOS on social media is just lies. It's like Donald Trump on Facebook. This is the only way that they can make money. We've got 3 to 6 million children dying each year so that they can make profits. You've got something like golden rice that alleviate [???] cases of blindness each year from vitamin deficiencies. And they are fighting tooth and nail to stop access to golden rice and children are dying because of it.
People are basing their opinions on fake, retracted data. We're basing ours on peer-reviewed studies. Who should you believe?
I've had almost zero connection with industry. I work on viruses. I have no financial stake in it -- I have an ethical stake in it. These people don't understand that they are like Donald Trump. Whether the things they say true or not, they don't care. And their supporters don't care.
I've heard that you were a fan of the show before you started consulting on it. How did it feel the first time you watched an episode of the X-Files and saw something on the show that you were responsible for?
Chris was working on the last episode of the first season, so I helped him a lot with that episode. All of the science in that episode came from me. I was such a big fan of the show. I hadn't realized that the Chris Carter I'd known for years was the same Chris Carter who made the show!
[I asked some type of follow-up question here but I'm not sure exactly what it was.]
I felt really good about it. And I didn't tell anyone. Because I'm a serious scientist and I didn't want anyone to think that I wasn't. ... The last thing you want is for people to be discussing, "well she's doing this stuff for The X-Files." I was worried that I would have trouble getting grants or getting published. But now I already have an established resume. But now, seeing my name in the credits last night, it made my heart jump. To see that actually on the screen.
Now it's really a way to communicate science. And when you have all of this misinformation we have to find a way to counter that. ...
Anything that says "GMO free," I won't buy. Because they are using fear-mongering and lies to sell products. That's just the worst thing that they can do. By spreading all this GMO stuff on social media I feel that I'm doing some good.
Can you name a species or biological concept that you've always wanted to work into the show but it just didn't happen?
I'd love to use crinkle virus. The virus that I work on happens to infect plants. I work on them because they are excellent models. They are small and easy to work with but they do the same thing that animal viruses do. They aren't dangerous.
Other than The X-Files, what films or television shows do you think have been depicting good science lately?
Outbreak was good. Outbreak and The Martian.
Can you give us a preview of your upcoming talk at Smithsonian?
For years I did a science of the X-Files talk. I'm going to start out by talking about how I got involved. I will show pages of the original script and how we went through corrections. I'll talk about some funny stuff with making the movie. And then I'll talk about the science behind the sixth episode. But you don't even have to know The X-Files to come and get something out of it. ... It's very funny.
[I asked a question here. Not sure what it was exactly]
The first time I was in the credits was the movie. He wanted to put “Dr. Anne Simon," I didn't want him to put “doctor.” One of the things you are supposed to do at a university is outreach and this is a form of public outreach.
I just don't think that this title that I have is meaningful. Doctor Anne Simon is the scientist. Anne Simon is the science adviser.
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