What? Increase the scientific accuracy of movies? Where would the fun in that be? What, for example, would Star Trek be like without inertial dampers?

Scientists may have less to cringe about when they go to the movies, if a new initiative designed to foster cooperation between scientists and the entertainment industry is successful. The new effort, called the Science and Entertainment Exchange, is a project of the US National Academy of Sciences, and will be run by science writer Jennifer Ouellette, author of The Physics of the Buffyverse. By bringing scientists together with Hollywood-types, the project aims to improve the scientific accuracy of what the entertainment industry produces and also help scientists communicate more effectively with the general public.