'Live Long and Prosper'

As much as for Captain James T. Kirk's way with alien women or Bones' quips about being a doctor (not a magician, or miracle worker, or engineer), Star Trek is loved by fans for Leonard Nimoy's portrayal of the Vulcan scientist, Mr. Spock. Researchers today can learn a lot from Spock, says Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution researcher Christopher Reddy at Wired Science. Spock was a "dispassionate" man who presented valuable scientific information in a cool and rational manner, Reddy says, adding, "I’ve come to realize that this attitude is exactly what you want from a scientist during a crisis." While the character is capable of great emotion, and has a passion for science, he put emotion away when it comes to presenting data. "I read quotes from really good scientists who are known to be passionate about what they do, but who became passionate to the point of sounding ridiculous when they presented their views," Reddy says. "Spock would have never acted like that. … Whether observing some strange new world around him or analyzing complicating or conflicting data, he keeps his cool, keeps searching for some grain of objective truth that will (inevitably, because each show was only an hour long) crystallize out of the confusion."