Scientists-turned-students guide viewers through ‘The Most Unknown’
Science’s big mysteries are explored in a documentary on Netflix
RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP Microbiologist Jennifer Macalady of Penn State University (left), who studies cave microbes, takes cognitive psychologist Laurie Santos of Yale University (right) spelunking.
When pondering the deepest scientific questions — What is time? What is consciousness? Is there life on other worlds? — it helps to have a knowledgeable guide. But not too knowledgeable.
In The Most Unknown, a documentary now available on Netflix, nine scientists perform a research round robin: Each one visits another from an entirely different discipline. Esteemed experts in their own fields, they each know little to nothing about their partner’s research. That makes the scientists remarkably good interviewers, asking the naïve but probing questions that lead to fascinating discussions. Drawing on their shared experience as scientists, the researchers quickly grasp their colleagues’ work and convey its importance in simple, jargon-free language.