The new Netflix comedy, Don’t Look Up follows two Michigan State University scientists played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence trying to convince the world of the impending threat of a comet hurtling towards Earth.
While it’s not doomsday quite yet in real life, there are actual researchers at MSU looking out into space for potential dangers to our planet.
In an interview with The Detroit News, the film's director Adam McKay said he chose MSU because he wanted to poke fun at how Ivy League degrees are considered "status symbols," even though state institutions offer just as good educations.
He consulted with his science advisor, Dr. Amy Mainzer, who vouched for the reputation of Michigan State's astronomy program to solidify his choice.
Seth Jacobson is an assistant professor in MSU's Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and in the Department of Physics and Astronomy in the College of Natural Science.
WKAR's Sophia Saliby spoke with him about the accuracy of the film and how MSU scientists are really defending the planet from objects in space.
Interview Highlights
On when he found out MSU would he highlighted in the movie
The Michigan State University Astronomy program doesn't always get this sort of high profile attention. So, when we saw that we were mentioned in the trailer of the movie, we got very excited. And then when I got to see a sneak peek of the film, it was really, really nice to see how we were portrayed as scientists who really care about our work and are trying to inform the public about our findings.
On the potential of a real asteroid or comet hitting the Earth
Impact events are rare events, but they can be really damaging. And since we have the ability to protect ourselves from them, just like flood mitigation or earthquake mitigation, we should step up and do so. And that's exactly what NASA is doing.
On the parallels he found between the plot of the movie and the current climate crisis
The title of the movie comes from the fact that there's a campaign generated to get people to not look up and see the comet coming as it's about to strike the Earth. And that's very similar to what's going on in our climate change response. Scientists have come forward with lots of evidence that we are catastrophically changing the climate of the planet. And a lot of the response by the news media, by the political class, by the ultra-wealthy is one of distraction, avoidance and an attempt to get wealthy off of the crisis.
Interview Transcript
Sophia Saliby: This is All Things Considered on WKAR. I’m Sophia Saliby.
The new Netflix comedy out today, “Don’t Look Up” follows two Michigan State University scientists played by Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence trying to convince the world of the impending threat of a comet hurtling towards Earth.
While it’s not doomsday quite yet in real life, there are actual researchers at MSU looking out into space for potential dangers to our planet.
Seth Jacobson is one of them. He’s an an assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences. Thank you for joining me.
Seth Jacobson: Pleased to be here.
Saliby: Can you tell me your reaction when you found out this movie would feature characters basically doing the work that you do at MSU?
Jacobson: It was pretty exciting. The Michigan State University Astronomy program doesn't always get this sort of high profile attention. So, when we saw that we were mentioned in the trailer of the movie, we got very excited.
And then when I got to see a sneak peek of the film, it was really, really nice to see how we were portrayed as scientists who really care about our work and are trying to inform the public about our findings.
Saliby: Turning to your actual work, you are a part of NASA's Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) team, which launched a spacecraft last month to test our ability to change the path of an asteroid. Can you tell me briefly about that test?
Jacobson: Yeah, so the DART mission is, NASA's, but really humanity's first space mission to test planetary defense technology. And specifically, we're using the kinetic deflection technique to try and alter the trajectory of an asteroid.
Now, the asteroid that we're doing the test on is not a threat to the Earth at all. But what we hope to do is precisely measure how our spacecraft can alter its trajectory, so that in the case of a threatening asteroid, we can save the planet.
Saliby: When will that test actually take place?
Jacobson: The collision itself will take place next fall. The launch was in November. And so if all goes well, we'll know by the end of next year, whether or not we were successful, and we'll start getting results regarding the deflection itself.
What we hope to do is precisely measure how our spacecraft can alter its trajectory, so that in the case of a threatening asteroid, we can save the planet.
And we're going to keep following up with ground-based telescopes to measure how that trajectory keeps evolving of this asteroid after the collision.
Saliby: I'm going to ask the question that we're all probably thinking. Is an asteroid hitting Earth something we should actually be worried about?
Jacobson: What we're concerned about here are rare, but very catastrophic events. And the most famous asteroid impact event, in most people's minds, is probably the dinosaur-killing impact. The K-T Boundary impact, which created the Chicxulub crater off the coast of Mexico.
But there have been more recent impacts. There was the Chelyabinsk impact in Russia just a few years ago that injured over 1,000 people, mostly due to broken glasses [and] windows shattered due to the sonic boom.
So, impact events are rare events, but they can be really damaging. And since we have the ability to protect ourselves from them, just like flood mitigation or earthquake mitigation, we should step up and do so. And that's exactly what NASA is doing.
Saliby: This movie is a comedy. But is there anything they get really right when it comes to the kind of work scientists like yourself are doing to protect the planet?
Jacobson: I think the movie, it is a comedy, and I think the response by the news media, the political class, the multi-billionaire class is somewhat preposterous. Although I think it's supposed to be an allegory for how the the planet is responding to the climate change crisis.
I think it's supposed to be an allegory for how the the planet is responding to the climate change crisis.
With respect to the impact event itself, though, they talk about NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office, which is a real office that coordinates our response to these sorts of threats. They take in data from observers, and then they work with engineers, and small body scientists, asteroid and comet scientists to come up with mitigation strategies.
Saliby: Can you speak more on the parallels you found between how the movie talks about this comet and kind of how our world is dealing with the threats of climate change?
Jacobson: Yeah, and I think that this is the heart of the movie. The scientists come forward with observations [and] clear evidence of the threat of this impending killer comet in the movie, and in the "Don't Look Up" universe, the reaction by the press, by the political class, and by the ultra-wealthy is one of "How can this serve me?" And so, those the conflicts of interest of these powerful groups act to thwart a solution.
And while I won't give away the ending of the movie, it builds a lot of tension. And their actions seem preposterous given the immediate threat of an impact. In fact, you know, the title of the movie comes from the fact that there's a campaign generated to get people to not look up and see the comet coming as it's about to strike the Earth. And that's very similar to what's going on in our climate change response.
Scientists have come forward with lots of evidence that we are catastrophically changing the climate of the planet. And a lot of the response by the news media, by the political class, by the ultra-wealthy is one of distraction, avoidance and an attempt to get wealthy off of the crisis.
Saliby: Seth Jacobson is a planetary scientist at MSU. Thank you for being here.
Jacobson: Thank you.
This conversation has been edited for clarity and conciseness.
