Lying Through Big Teeth – Megalodon and “Shark Week”

The Discovery Channel‘s “Shark Week” began on Aug. 4 with a documentary titled Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives. The program’s interviews and interpretive animations earnestly explored the biology of the massive shark, as well as the hazards a particular specimen, “Submarine,” poses to boating on the South African coast. This blend of science and violence helped earn the channel the highest ratings among all networks among male viewers aged 18-49 from Aug. 4 to Aug. 10. Such success might be considered a coup for science communication were it not for one minor detail: all reputable scientific work indicates that Megalodon has been extinct for approximately 2 million years.

At the very end of the two-hour program, the Discovery Channel briefly displayed the following disclaimer: “None of the institutions or agencies that appear in the film are affiliated with it in any way, nor have approved its contents. Though certain events and characters in this film have been dramatized, sightings of ‘Submarine’ continue to this day. Megalodon was a real shark. Legends of giant sharks persist all over the world. There is still debate about what they might be.” Many scientists have criticized this disclaimer as intentionally vague and misleading, claiming that the statement failed to explain the depth of the “dramatization.” In perhaps the most blatant omission, the network did not explain that the marine biologists used in the program’s interviews, Collin Drake and Madelyn Joubert, were completely fabricated talking heads portrayed by actors. A poll conducted by the Discovery Channel after the show found that nearly 75 percent of viewers believed Megalodon was still alive, indicating that the majority viewed the documentary as fact rather than fiction.

Artist’s rendering of a Megalodon, courtesy of Kevin Oedekoven.

The network has defended its programming, with executive producer Michael Sorenson claiming that, “[w]ith a whole week of Shark Week programming ahead of us, we wanted to explore the possibilities of Megalodon.” However, as explained by zoologist Stephen Wroe of the University of New South Wales in Australia, the real science behind the ancient shark has plenty of possibility. Wroe’s models indicate that Megalodon could exert up to 40,000 pounds of bite force, enough to destroy a small car. The shark is thought “to have used its massive jaw to bite the tails and flippers off large whales, effectively taking out their propulsion systems.” The teeth used to inflict this massive damage support Megalodon’s literal translation as “big tooth,” ranging from three to seven inches in size with sharp serrated edges.

With these sort of awe-inspiring, scientifically supported facts known about Megalodon, it seems unnecessary to create false excitement about the shark. The Discovery Channel has a unique position as “the world’s #1 nonfiction media company,” and its viewers trust the network to provide them with informative and entertaining content. Shark scientist David Schiffman has heard members of the public believe “because they saw it on the Discovery Channel, that Megalodons are real, and we have to launch a campaign to protect humans against them by killing sharks.” When science communication causes people to fear rather than to understand and value nature, it has failed in its most important goal.

The Species Has Spoken – Mars One

On July 21, 2011, the space shuttle Atlantis successfully touched down at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, bringing its mission, along with that of NASA’s manned spaceflight program, to a close. For nearly two years, U.S. astronauts have resorted to hitching rides on the Russian Soyuz rocket, while U.S. satellites and International Space Station components have been ferried to orbit by private companies like SpaceX. In NASA’s defense, its recent unmanned missions, like the bold landing of the Curiosity Mars rover or the ion-propelled Dawn asteroid probe, have pushed the envelope of science and engineering. Yet after Congress cut funding for the Constellation program, NASA’s planned successor to the shuttle program, in response to a tightening budget, the prospects of human space exploration beyond low-Earth orbit have seemed rather unlikely.

Astronaut hopefuls may yet have another ticket to the Red Planet in the Dutch non-profit organization Mars One. Its founder, Bas Lansdorp, recently gave a TED talk outlining his ambitious goal: the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars by 2023. In contrast with the scuttled Constellation program, Mars One plans to assemble its hardware from existing suppliers rather than develop its own, saving significant amounts in research and development costs. The greatest savings, however, come from the mission plan itself, which includes no possibility of return for the Martian settlers. Much of the expense of spaceflight comes from the fact that a rocket must not only carry enough fuel to put its payload into orbit, but also enough fuel to get that fuel into flight.  For the Martian astronauts to return, an entire second rocket would have to be either sent into or assembled in space, safely landed on Mars, and have enough fuel to make the return trip. NASA has estimated the cost of a such journey at $100 billion; Mars One, in contrast, claims it can land its crew on the planet for a mere $6 billion.

Artist’s rendition of the Mars One colony, courtesy of Fox News.

The organization’s most revolutionary idea may be the way it plans to finance the endeavor: the creation of the most ambitious and important reality TV phenomenon in history. From crew selection and training through launch and landing, Mars One plans to televise, tweet, and post the entire course of the mission. The company has already leveraged the power of YouTube in its astronaut selection process; over 78,000 applicants have uploaded videos explaining why they should be selected for the 20 available crew slots (with an application fee of up to $73). If successful, this approach would monetize the most important intangible of space exploration, the sense of wonder inherent in the vast distances and unknown mysteries of space. Neil Armstrong’s moonwalk drew approximately 125 million viewers in the US, a 93 percent share of all TV viewers in the country; the cost of a 30 second ad for the most recent Super Bowl, with a market share of only 48 percent, was $4 million. Although some may consider it crass to advertise during the coverage of this great adventure, it seems a small price to pay to allow the mission to take place at all. Until it becomes possible to mine asteroids for platinum or other valuable metals (a possibility this blog will explore in a future post), the riches of media may prove the best way to fund the exploration of space.