According to a 2019 study conducted by the Pew Research Center, science literacy levels in America are largely based on education. (In fact, the study shows that supporters of the two major political parties are neck-and-neck in knowledge given the areas tested.) However, given government officials and thousands of citizens challenging the validity of fact-based science over Internet fodder and social media posts daily, pushing the importance of science education is more integral today than ever before.
Talkhouse’s Sing For Science podcast, which is closing its season, does its part in the fight for evidence-based science literacy by pairing it with something seemingly different: music. The show, created and hosted by musician, composer, and producer Matt Whyte, teams popular artists up with scientists to facilitate conversations centered around the link between a specific song and a specific topic within the science realm. Whyte’s hope for the show is that fans of the artists listen in to support their favorite stars, and leave feeling well-informed about something they hadn’t known about prior.
“Interest in music is so universal,” Whyte explains to Uproxx via Zoom. “I wanted to somehow bring people together through their love of music and then see what I could do to increase not just science literacy, but also [individual] respect for the scientific process.”
In the broadest sense, the show was inspired by folk artist and social activist Peter Seeger, whose “combo of art and patriotism” pushed Whyte into creating something of his own. (“[Seeger] was able to apply music directly to so many causes; He had labor songs, conservation songs, anti-war songs, and I just felt like I wanted to try.”) Artists from indie songwriter Mac DeMarco to electronic star Aluna Francis to singer/pianist/icon Norah Jones have been featured on the show, teaming up with scientists and educators discussing everything from the uncertainty in art and science, the science of gathering, and the science of acoustic sound and speakers, all while discussing some of their most popular hits.
“During one episode, we [focused on] ‘Cult of Personality’ by Living Colour, and we had [Corey Glover and Vernon Reid] speak with a fascism scholar named Ruth Ben-Ghiat about what they were writing and what they were thinking about at the time, because that was during the Reagan Administration,” Whyte explains. The song features sampled soundbites from famous political speeches from Malcolm X, John F. Kennedy, and Franklin D. Roosevelt.
In terms of how Whyte seeks out musicians for the show, it’s a combination of being a fan of their work and going through the typical pitching process to reach out to their teams. (Although he admits to cold calling artists from time to time.) An upcoming episode features iconic rapper DMC, who will dive into folklore and nursery rhymes with folklorist Dr. Jennifer Schaker.
He says first-time listeners who are interested in the series should definitely listen to the inaugural episode: a conversation between MGMT’s Andrew VanWyngaden and Ben Goldwasser and forest ecology professor, Dr. Suzanne Simard. To kickstart the episode, Whyte chats with the band members about the history of their popular song “Kids,” and more specifically the “arresting and evocative” lyric, “A family of trees wanted to be haunted.” From there, the group discusses the relationship between trees, how trees communicate, and “the folly of industrialized logging” with Dr. Simard.
“[Simard] is such a brilliant scientist, and I think it gets entertaining, it’s interesting,” Whyte says. “She talks about indigenous wisdom and Western science, and what indigenous wisdom has known for a long time that Western science is catching up to. It was a very well-rounded episode and the band was very engaged.”
While the show is still relatively new (the first episode dropped via audio platforms on October 14), Whyte is already dreaming up pairings of artists and scientists to explore various topics. He has aspirations of facilitating a chat between Robert Plant and “a flood management expert or levy engineer” regarding Led Zeppelin’s “When The Levee Breaks,” as well as holding a conversation between Patti LaBelle and a linguist about “Lady Marmalade.” (“All of these people have a pretty full plate, so you know, one can only hope,” he laughs.)
Whyte believes that while it’s been an issue especially within the past few years, science denialism could be solved with the right assets and information. (“The more science literate people are, the less susceptible they are to be influenced by disinformation,” he states.) Of course, he’s not suggesting that people begin learning about micro cell biology or nuclear physics in order to become better informed — science literacy could simply mean stronger civic engagement. With that in mind, multimedia resources such as videos and podcasts like Sing For Science have the power to make science and the process of diminishing disinformation more palatable for those who may not have been initially interested.
“Science is not a body of facts — it’s a slow and painstaking process that emphasizes the importance of evaluating all of the evidence before you arrive at any one conclusion,” Whyte explains. “I think that the creative ways that people are making audio-only content makes them able to reach people who may not have had the time or the space to be listening to something… For me, that’s where I learned a lot is from, podcasts.”
As the Sing For Science podcast continues to gain traction, Whyte is hoping that — outside of garnering interest in evidence-based public and government engagement — listeners find the show entertaining.
“I try to structure these episodes in a way that I would want to listen to them and how I would enjoy them,” he smiles. “Maybe Sing For Science could make a dent in what we’re calling the ‘war on science,’ you know? I’m hoping that this show kind of comes at it from a different angle… I don’t necessarily have an unquenchable thirst for scientific knowledge, I really don’t! But it’s all very interesting to me, and I hope it will be for other people, too.”