It’s the year 1960, and you are asked this question: Which would you donate $10 toward: Research to develop an affordable treatment for diabetes OR basic research on how bacteria protect themselves? What would your answer be?
Those of you who are scientists likely recognize this as a trick question. However, it’s a great way to get a viewer interested in watching a video about why basic research is important. The video was created by five graduate students and a post-doctoral scientist and recently won a national video contest called “Stand Up For Science“. Take a look:
It’s not a matter of if, but when the zombie apocalypse will strike.
Those of you who are fans of the AMC TV series, The Walking Dead, know that zombies (aka “walkers”) zero in on human victims through smell (and sound, which is why it’s better not to use guns in the event of a zombie apocalypse). Survivors sometimes camouflage themselves by smearing putrified zombie blood and gore on their skin. They then become invisible to the zombie walkers who shamble past the humans as if they did not exist. The main drawbacks are (1) you have to “kill” and gut a zombie to get the material, (2) you end up with a disgusting coating of goop, and (3) it needs replenishing to ensure the human odor is masked.
In a recent video, the American Chemical Society suggests, tongue-in-cheek, that it may be possible to create a zombie death cologne fabricated from a few key chemicals extracted from decaying flesh. This is a much better idea than the gut and smear approach; when you need to go out for a supply run, just spritz on the zombie cologne and you are good to go.
The video uses the public’s fascination with zombies as a way to teach viewers about chemistry. The video features a real chemist, Dr. Raychelle Burks, who explains how several compounds such as cadaverine and putrescine contribute to the characteristic bouquet of decaying flesh.
The video is part of a series, called Reactions, which is produced by the American Chemical Society. I think you’ll agree that this video is effective, informative, and entertaining:
Now, if they would just create a sand fly repellant that really works…..
Note: I created the animated image with Cinegif (www.cinegif.com).
When I was a beginning graduate student, I had only a vague understanding of just how important communication skills would be to me as a scientist. Like many students starting out, I thought science was mostly about doing the research, conducting experiments, and carrying out laboratory analyses. It really did not occur to me at that time that unless I effectively communicated my findings to others, all that work would be for nothing.
In addition, I had no inkling of how communication of information would change over my career. When I embarked on research for a master’s degree in 1973, there were no cell phones, no iPads, no personal computers, and no Internet. Just think about that for a moment. The communication technologies that dominate our lives today did not exist when I was a student.
Of course, communication skills are all important for a successful career in science; but how we communicate information has undergone a radical change in the past couple of decades, and even in the past few years. Those of us in science—whether research, teaching, or outreach—struggle to keep up with those changes. A growing number of scientists are developing strong communication strategies that take advantage of the new communication technologies—to raise their visibility within their fields (and beyond), to promote new publications, to develop new collaborations, and to crowdsource fund their research—to name a few ways.
I recently gave a seminar in which I talked about the new ways that scientists can communicate their work through digital media, online publishing, and social networking. I’ve decided to make that slideshow publicly available on the Prezi website. You can see it below in the embedded player window (select full screen for best viewing):
Periodically, I feature a science video created by students. In this post, I would like to point you to a nice video produced by Reza M. Namin, an undergraduate student in mechanical engineering at Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Iran. He is also doing research on the physics of fluids, specifically a phenomenon known as a “floating water bridge”, which was recently published in Physical Review and featured in Science Magazine’s ScienceShot. To better share their findings with others, Reza and his collaborators (fellow students and professors) created an informative and professional video, which describes the floating water bridge, how he and fellow students became interested in it, and how their research helps explain the forces behind the phenomenon.
Are you curious yet about what a floating water bridge is? Watch the video:
The video not only does a wonderful job of explaining the phenomenon but also shows how scientists go about testing hypotheses with a series of experiments. It’s a good example of how a video can complement a technical article and enhance understanding of the science. I liked how team members explained different aspects of the research, which were nicely illustrated with images, drawings, and other visuals. Most importantly, I was able to understand and follow the information provided in the video, even though fluid dynamics is not something I know much about. Great job, guys!
I hope to feature more student videos, so if you’ve produced one or seen one that you liked, please let me know.
Some of my science videos contain clips filmed from a helicopter, which I’ve used occasionally to conduct research in the Mississippi River Delta (this video, for example, showing aerial footage of both the Mississippi River Birdsfoot and the Atchafalaya Deltas). Such opportunities are rare for the average scientist (or videographer) because helicopter time is quite expensive. However, an aerial perspective can really add to a science story about an unusual or extensive landscape or a remote ecosystem.
We now have a viable alternative to expensive helicopters: remote-controlled quadcopter drones outfitted with cameras. Filmmakers are beginning to take advantage of drone technology to capture stunning aerial footage at a reasonable cost. In the video below, a film crew shot an unusual video in ice caves that riddle the Mendenhall Glacier in Alaska. They apparently were able to fly the drone (a DJI Phantom) into the caves and crevasses by using the GoPro Hero 3 camera to see how to maneuver. A wireless link between the camera and a viewing screen (on a smartphone or tablet) allows real-time viewing as well as camera operation.
I would have been pretty nervous about sending a drone and my camera into a deep hole from which recovery would have been impossible…..but they got some quite spectacular footage. Read more about the making of the ice cave film here.
From what I read, setup and operation of these quadcopters is not that easy. Several commenters on one site selling the Phantom described how their drones flew off (with the GoPro Hero camera attached) never to be seen again (even though there is supposed to be a fail-safe return mechanism). That would be quite disappointing, to say the least.
So, the quadcopter is on my wish list, but I may wait a while and do some more research before purchasing.
