ESP Biography



MIKE BROWN, Biology Postdoc




Major: Biology

College/Employer: Stanford

Year of Graduation: Not available.

Picture of Mike Brown

Brief Biographical Sketch:

I am a molecular biology postdoc currently studying host-pathogen interaction in plants in Professor Mary Beth Mudgett's lab at Stanford. I am also an IRACDA Fellow, receiving teaching experience and training at San Jose State University. My major teaching interests include microbiology, immunology, identifying pseudoscience. and the portrayal of science in popular culture

Previously, I was a Graduate Student Instructor as University of California, Berkeley and an instructor at San Quentin with the Prison University Project.



Past Classes

  (Clicking a class title will bring you to the course's section of the corresponding course catalog)

B4339: It Looks Human: Exploring Bad Biology in Movies and Television in Splash Spring 2015 (Apr. 11 - 12, 2015)
A lot of the science fiction you watch has, well, less science than fiction. In this course, we'll: -discuss how bad science in movies and TV can have a negative effect on our culture -see some specific examples of bad biology in popular media -talk about the real science behind these misrepresentations -show how it would be possible to fix these problems without affecting artistic integrity -learn how to identify good and bad science on your own


B4000: It Looks Human: Exploring Bad Biology in Movies and Television in Splash Fall 2014 (Nov. 08 - 09, 2014)
A lot of the science fiction you watch has, well, less science than fiction. In this course, we'll: -discuss how bad science in movies and TV can have a negative effect on our culture -see some specific examples of bad biology in popular media -talk about the real science behind these misrepresentations -show how it would be possible to fix these problems without affecting artistic integrity -learn how to identify good and bad science on your own


B3562: It Looks Human: Exploring Bad Biology in Movies and Television in Splash! Spring 2014 (Apr. 12 - 13, 2014)
A lot of the science fiction you watch has, well, less science than fiction. In this course, we'll: -discuss how bad science in movies and TV can have a negative effect on our culture -see some specific examples of bad biology in popular media -talk about the real science behind these misrepresentations -show how it would be possible to fix these problems without affecting artistic integrity -learn how to identify good and bad science on your own