国家地理:用吐槽的方式谈科学效果更好(3)

It's not hard to see why the relationship between satire and science would be symbiotic. Late-night hosts may occasionally poke fun at scientists, portraying them as oddballs working on obscure projects. Much more often, however, the hosts promote a positive image of science. Take Colbert, whose NASA-themed humor led the space agency to name a zero-gravity treadmill after him; or Kimmel, whose show features science demonstrations with exploding pumpkins and flying Ping-Pong balls. By making science entertaining to audience members with little knowledge of the topic, late-night television could be a gateway to science engagement. But if these viewers do tune in to science topics, will their opinions change?

不难看出讽刺与科学之间共生关系的原因。深夜主持人有时会嘲笑科学家，将他们描绘成从事晦涩项目的怪人。不过主持人常常会更多地宣传科学的正面形象。以科尔伯特为例，他以美国航空航天局（NASA）为主题的幽默，使NASA以他的名字命名了零重力跑步机。再如坎摩尔秀以爆炸的南瓜和飞行的乒乓球的科学演示为特色，让科学知识变得有趣。通过让对科学知之甚少的观众感到有趣，深夜电视秀可以成为一条了解科学的途径。但是如果这些观众收看科学话题，他们的观念会改变吗？

Our first experiment in 2013 tested how watching a clip from The Daily Show or The Colbert Report influenced audience members' beliefs about climate change. Viewers who saw Jon Stewart say that global warming is real came away more certain that climate change is happening. Colbert's show had a similar effect, even though some viewers misinterpreted his deadpan humor and mistook the host for a real climate change doubter.

我们在2013年进行的第一个实验，测试了观看《每日秀》或《扣扣熊报告》中的片段如何影响观众对气候变化的看法。当观众听到乔恩·斯图尔特说全球变暖是真实的，他们更加确定气候变化正在发生。科尔伯特的节目也对观众产生类似的效果，虽然某些观众误解了科尔伯特的冷幽默，认为他是真正的气候变化怀疑论者。