October 17, 2008

Queen Latifah, science geek? That's the buzz

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This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Here at Scientific American, we’re quite proud of our 163-year history. We especially like to point out that nearly 140 Nobel Prize winners have written for us – including three of those who won last week.

But we’re also proud to count pop culture icons among our readers. Here’s one: Queen Latifah, icon of coolness.

Who knew?

"I read Scientific American … and I'm just fascinated by nature and animals and insects," the actress told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in a story published today. The queen plays a beekeeper who takes in two runaways in a new movie, The Secret Life of Bees. (One secret is that there’s an actress in the film named Nicky Buggs.)

The queen's publicist didn’t immediately respond to an e-mail asking for more details about her being a fan of ours. We're wondering, though: Did Queen Latifah, who at 38 is also a successful rap artist and businesswoman, ever entertain a career in science?

And what did she read about bees in Scientific American, anyway? Was it “Being Stung by Bees: 'You get used to it'"? Or maybe “Searching For What's Behind the Bee Decline"?

Then again, she’s trying to create some, uh, buzz around this movie. So maybe it was “Why Do Bees Buzz?”

(Image of Queen Latifah at 2008 Urbanworld Film Festival via Flickr)

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