Media

Sloan Science in Cinema Prize for "Don't Look Up"

On January 7, 2022,  I was on an online Q&A with director Adam McKay & actor Leonardo DiCaprio to discuss the film "Don't Look Up", which won the Sloan Foundation Science in Cinema Prize!  (The event was supposed to be live, but the in-person event was canceled because of COVID-Omicron, so I missed an opportunity to meet  McKay & DiCaprio in person... oh well!) 

Key quote from me: “With public debates over our collective response to crises such as COVID or climate change, I wanted to participate in this panel to highlight the crucial difference between the constructive process of peer review, in which scientists submit their analyses to rigorous scrutiny from peer experts with the goal of improving the quality of the results, versus ‘just asking questions’ of pundits and talking heads whose goal is to intentionally sow distrust and spread misinformation,” said Barranco. “Skepticism can be good and productive when it is entered into with good faith arguments, or it can be destructive when it is used solely to create chaos and hinder consensus toward necessary action.”

https://sffilm.org/event/sloan-presents-dont-look-up/

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08/21/2017 – Was in-studio guest scientist on KTVU (Channel 2 Oakland) for live coverage of Great American Solar Eclipse. Answered questions about the eclipse and eclipse safety from hosts of the morning show “The 9.”

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08/01/2013 -- I appeared on an episode of "Distort" which is "the show that distorts time to show you things your eyes might otherwise miss." "Distort" was a webshow on TestTube, a former education and documentary internet and app channel network under Discovery Digital Networks. Episode was posted online on August 1, 2013.