On Nov. 19, 2008, The Science & Entertainment Exchange was officially announced and launched by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) at a formal launch event and press conference.

The Science & Entertainment Exchange, a program of the National Academy of Sciences, connects the entertainment industry with experts in science, technology, and medicine in order to enhance the portrayal of science and scientists in film, television, and new media, and to make science more accessible and inspiring for all audiences.

The Exchange has facilitated more than 4,000 technical consultations between the entertainment industry and experts in science, technology, and medicine. Think of us as a Hollywood hotline that direct-connects you to the STEM expert of your dreams, someone who can answer all your questions and give you bonus content you’d never even thought to cover because, yes, scientists are that smart, and creative, and interesting.

The benefits of a collaborative relationship are clear. For filmmakers, science advisers add a sense of realism and verisimilitude to their creative vision. But perhaps even more important, scientists provide access to the array of intriguing, mind-blowing, real-life science stories that are happening around us every day – all of which have the capacity to provide the inspiration for fresh, unique, and compelling narratives as well as novel, complex, and nuanced characters.

In short, The Exchange helps the entertainment industry harness science as a creative tool. By connecting industry professionals with scientists and engineers, The Exchange brings the reality of engaging science to the creative arts.

And ultimately, a successful collaboration between science and entertainment offers an opportunity to expand the reach of film and television, taking research out of the lab and into the public eye, offering the promise to improve attitudes toward science and galvanizing interest in further discovery.  Entertainment is more than a past-time, taking on the characteristics of a reality that can be shared across cultural and political barriers.  It is persuasive.  It creates connection and understanding.  This is what it feels like to be a race car driver… a police detective… a scientist.  Ideas expressed through humor and heart spread rapidly and effectively.

Chartered by Congress in 1863 under an Act signed by Abraham Lincoln to provide critical scientific advice to the nation, the NAS is a private, nonprofit institution in Washington, DC.