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Did you know that most of the authors of the icon series The Simpsons have a scientific background? That’s why most episodes are full of references to scientific research and current facts about technology and science: nuclear energy, waste disposal, psycho-drugs for children, Viagra, GMOs, space missions, debates between evolutionists and creationists, even cruel parodies of well-known scientists.
Malaspina describes this and ponders about the truth of The Simpsons and the obscurity of the real world: are we really so far from Springfield? Through lively quotations from the funniest and most eloquent scenes of the TV cartoon, deconstructing
the exchange of information between expertise and the public just as it happens in the show, the author shows that there may be a way to do it more properly in our world too.
This book does not help the reader with maths and physics: its point is to make the reader more critical, sceptical, independent minded. And, of course, it is an affectionate tribute to the most loved TV series of the XX century.

Introduction; Science in The Simpsons: the scientific background of the authors. A nuclear family; how to comunicate environmental risk. Allergic to ecology: not in my backyard. Health is all. Beer and doughnuts: fat pride and Lisa the vegetarian. The sky over Springfield: Stephen Hawking, Batman and the right ascension. A matter of method; the simpson's way to teach science. Homer sapiens: from the mith of the creation to the discover of an angel's skeleton, a new glance on the evolution

Marco Malaspina is a scientific journalist and works at the Communication office of the Italian National Astrophysics Intitute (INAF). He writes for the weekly magazine «Oggi» and hosts a weekly radio programme on science. In his spare time he watches The Simpsons and reads the works of William Shakespeare.