The theme of radiation is at the core of the comic strip dynamics. Marvel comics’ Incredible Hulk, a green-skinned monster, was born when a scientist accidentally irradiated himself while handling his own “gamma bomb”. The X-Men’s awesome powers come from the radiation of their parents’ reproductive system. And Spiderman is the product of a teenage nerd bitten by a radioactive spider at a science exhibition.

Since radiation is a real world threat to humanity, there is a feeling that something had gone wrong. We usually don’t regard superhero comics as relevant research material when we study the public’s understanding of science. To most of us these are a “perverse” hybrid of drawing and writing, suitable only for “children and retarded adults”. But they to tell us something about what society really think about science.

Ambivalence is the word for the mixed feelings that common people have about science. One reason could be that popular comic strips present scientists at times as saviour-heroes with “techno-magical interventions” and at other times as insane villains all set to destroy the world. Superman, the first comic strip superhero, doesn’t have a bad-boy image, but “super-boy scout” Hulk and the X-Men belong to an outlawed class — a threat to decent society.

Many liken Superman’s special powers, such as his ability to leap skyscrapers, to the power of grasshoppers and ants, while some researchers simply dismiss them as “hokum”. In a sense, Superman plays up our faith in eugenics that can turn men into more powerful and efficient physical specimens. But, some people have even thought comic strip characters are harmful just because they are highly implausible.

We have here a context where Science looks akin to magic but then, like magic, it is not “an unqualified power” we take for granted. Rather, science may also be “a source of alienation, and thus of disenchantment”. Sacred and extraordinary, technology appears as something more than human, but it is also a source of trouble and a possible loss of humanity.

The plot thickens when it dawns on superheroes that with great powers comes great responsibility — as in the case of Spiderman. Sci-Fi writer Dr Rosaleen Love says people who enjoy comic strips are not passive. They take from them something that’s already in the air. “Science is so pervasive in our culture that even something that would seem to be pretty remote from it is still reflecting the anxieties and the hopes about science more generally.”

SNEAK PREVIEW

* In the movie “Finding Nemo,” a young clownfish gets swept from his father’s coral reef and must somehow find his way back home. He turns to sea turtles and sharks, aquarium fish and seagulls for help. It should have stopped and listened instead. In real life, sound is the big draw. Baby fish use the racket of the reef to find a home. The fact that young fish have good hearing suggests they might use the crunches, pops, and groans of mature reef fish and snapping shrimp to find a suitable place to settle down.

* The Maya of Mesoamerica are known for their massive temples and powerful empire, but not for their thriving salt production industry along the Caribbean Sea. Researchers have discovered plenty of ceramic vessels used to boil down seawater for salt. And preserved in the mangrove peat bogs is the first wooden Maya artifact ever found: a wooden canoe paddle. Possibly they used canoes to transport the salt along a system of engineered waterways to inland cities. The factories were drowned by the rise in sea level that has occurred since the end of the last ice age.

QUIZ NO.178

1. Where did the Rose Revolution take place?

– Georgia
– Guatemala
– Guinea-Bissau
– Guyana

1. Georgia

2. Who’s the only player in professional tennis to ever win a “Golden Set”?

– Rod Laver
– Pete Sampras
– Jimmy Connors
– Bill Scanlon

2. Bill Scanlon

3. Who won the Nobel Prize for Medicine/Physiology but was actually an expert in ethology?

– Ronald Ross
– Konrad Lorenz
– Emil von Behring
– Robert Barany

3. Konrad Lorenz

4. Which device possibly can make things invisible?

– Partition X
– Dracula’s torch
– Plasmonic shield
– Ring of Zina

4. Plasmonic shield

5. Which pop diva recently gave an exclusive interview to a 10-year old girl?

– Celine Dion
– Mariah Carey
– Christina Aguilera
– Britney Spears

5. Britney Spears.