American Scientist

Above the whiteboard at the front of Matt Brady's high school science classroom is a plain, black-and-white sign that reads "Question everything." The statement is fundamental to the philosophy of, among others, René Descartes (1596–1650), who upon questioning everything—including his own existence—eventually came to the conclusion Je pense, donc je suis ("I think, therefore I am"). Scientists, too, are often thought of as questioning everything, though to advance scientific knowledge they must rely heavily on the previous discoveries of others. For the students in Brady's classroom, the sign is also almost certainly a reminder of pop culture: "Question everything" is a meme on social media, shows up in song titles/lyrics, and is printed on T-shirts, engraved on jewelry, and plastered on car bumpers as a quote attributed to everyone from Einstein to Euripides.

Most of the other posters and items in Brady's classroom are explicitly pop culture references, largely drawn from the world of comics, which Brady covered as a scientist-turned-journalist who co-founded and led (as editor-in-chief) the entertainment website Newsarama. "I like to decorate it like this as kind of a safe space, a place where … they see stuff that they're familiar with and they're comfortable with, and I think it works," says Brady.

After becoming a teacher, Brady co-founded another website, The Science Of, as a resource for other science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educators to connect lessons to pop culture references. Earlier this year, after a decade of teaching, Brady published a book titled The Science of Rick and Morty: The Unofficial Guide to Earth's Stupidest Show (Simon & Schuster, 2019), though Brady is quick to point out that the British publishers who chose the subtitle didn't mean "stupidest" as an insult but more of the "amazed" or "stunned" version of "stupid" from the word's etymological roots.

I admit, I approach anything that starts with "The Science of..." with a heavy dose of skepticism—"questioning everything"—because so often science is invoked to explain things for which there is no scientific evidence (such as ghosts) or to give credence to things that are entirely made up (such as warp drive). Although I'm a fan of science fiction, I hadn't seen Rick and Morty prior to hearing about this book, and it's no wonder: The show isn't science fiction, but about the adventures of an "ill-tempered, alcoholic scientific genius named Rick Sanchez and his teenage grandson, Morty Smith" as an article in the New York Times described it. So it was with low expectations that I watched a show in consideration of whether to crack open the book.

Let's just say, I was entertained. But it was Brady's serious scientific background that got me reading. Still, the title of the opening chapter, "Alien life," again had me questioning that decision. But after reading that first chapter and the serious science questions Brady asked and attempted to answer—including whether life is inevitable, and, even if it is, are we effectively alone given the vast distances between stars—I started plotting a visit to meet Brady in his classroom at Atkins High School in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. There, we talked about the book and using pop culture to teach—and learn about—science. Here's a podcast I made from the visit.

Image opener (at top) from the book The Science of Rick and Morty: The Unofficial Guide to Earth's Stupidest Show used with permission from Atria Books.