Otto notices the rash on his arm during an episode of Beat the Geeks. This is the season of the reality science genre. Actors infiltrate university classes and seduce the profs with essays secretly written by their rivals and teams of relationship therapists. The actors break up with the profs in lecture halls full of students by reading their email exchanges aloud, until the profs throw their laser pointers at them or run from the room. Other actors pretend to be grant administrators. They drop by labs to tell researchers they’ve won millions in funding. They say with a straight face that nothing is more important than the researchers finding out whether fruit flies can conceive of an afterlife. Hidden cameras record everything. Viewers vote on which actors did the best job. The winners g
