In an odd little review on Nature News (link, paywall rising soon), Kendall Brown pays a visit to Kansas and reviews Flock Of Dodos, a movie about the Intelligent Design controversy. At a meeting in the local science museum (included to inform us, should we be so dim, that not all Kansans are ID-championing hicks), the writer-director Steve Miller says one of the weirdest things about science and education I've ever heard, and Brown doesn't pick up on it:

Miller points out the caricature of Albert Einstein that greets museum-goers. "We haven't had a rock star scientist since Einstein," he notes. "What's the incentive for kids to go into discovery science?"

Duh. What does he think goes on in kids' heads? Kids don't become rock stars because of rock stars - they become rock stars because of rock. Scientists become scientists because of science, not from looking up to Albert or having posters of Charles and his posse of finches on their bedroom walls. Kids might get into sport because they worship a hero, but they don't get good unless they worship the game. Most people can't name a living scientist but they can name a living sports hero and a living rock star; however, this inequality is not the reason why Intelligent Design prospers in the Bible belt or why enrolment in university science courses is low.

[Later: Steve Miller commented that his real words have been, er, under-reported in typical journalist abbreviative style, and the true gist/context lost. He was a little more nuanced on the day. Still, as he implies, any space in Nature is going to be good for the movie's exposure.]