American Scientist

To the Editors:

Throughout my career as a research scientist in biology, the three c’s—clear, concise, and correct—came up consistently in connection with communicating experimental results. If comics are to be used for conveying science to the public (“Science Comics’ Super Powers,” July–August), then a fourth c for caution needs to be considered before a fifth c for comics is taken up. For example, in The Gecko Effect, an episode of The Wild Kratts that originally aired on October 22, 2012 (season 1, episode 33) on the PBS television series of educational adventure comedy stories for children (and rebroadcast on a local channel of British Columbia’s Knowledge Network on March 13, 2018), there is no mention that not all geckos can walk upside-down on glass and other smooth surfaces. This leaves viewers with incomplete information about geckos and the wrong impression that all geckos can climb walls and walk on ceilings. Kellar Autumn, who studied gecko’s sticky feet (“How Gecko Toes Stick,” March–April, 2006) pointed out (in the Letters to the Editor entry “Toes Unstuck,” July–August 2006) that Leopard geckos lack adhesive pads and that this unique climbing ability of geckos has come and gone among the many species of geckos over the course of their evolution. This error is not the only one in the Wild Kratts’ series of comedy programs for educating children. And to be sure there will be errors from time to time in this genre of educational material. It is to be hoped that high standards for accuracy will be established for comic presentation of scientific evidence and that there will be rigorous peer review and readily available correction to erroneous presentations.

H. Stuart Whitney
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada