After speaking with the casting director, and learning additional information, trust me, this could be BIG!! If you are geeky or nerdy or just plain smart, and like to compete individually and on teams, and think a big prize package is worth your effort, you simply must apply.

EMAIL: KINGOFTHENERDSCASTING@GMAIL.COM.
Include your name, age, photo, contact info, and brief bio on what makes you today’s MOST INGENIOUS nerd!

As a follow-up, you will most likely have to make a home video of yourself, just to prove you come across enthusiastic and fun on camera.

This show will be hosted by the original nerds, “Lewis and Booger” from “Revenge of the Nerds”, the movie!

Lewis and Booger from "Revenge of the Nerds"

In the interest of time, because their need to find fun nerds is urgent, I have cut and pasted the announcement from the casting director right here.

URGENT NATIONWIDE CASTING ANNOUNCEMENT
PLEASE SHARE – FORWARD, THANK YOU!

NOW SEEKING: MEN & WOMEN 18-30 YEARS OLD
WHO ARE PROUD & PASSIONATE NERDS OR GEEKS
AND WANT TO WIN BIG ON THE NEW TBS SHOW
‘KING OF THE NERDS’!!

From the producers of MYTHBUSTERS, SURVIVOR and AMAZING RACE
comes a new competition based show embracing and celebrating passionate and intellectual guys and girls 18-30 years old.

Showcase your skills by competing on topics you already know and
WIN A HUGE ULTIMATE GRAND PRIZE GEEK PACKAGE!

Are you a super fan of STAR WARS, STAR TREK, HARRY POTTER,
LORD OF THE RINGS, BATTLESTAR or DRAGONS and WIZARDS?
Are you a GAMER who owns every console and maxes out trophies and achievements?
Do you have an outrageous collection of TOYS and/or COMIC BOOKS?
Are you passionate about MATHEMATICS, PHYSICS, BIOLOGY, etc?
Do you build ROBOTS and write APPS and PROGRAMS for fun?
Do you consider yourself a MAKER or DIY person?
Are you obsessed with SUPER HEROES?
Are you a D&D, or WoW fanatic?
Do you love everything SCI-FI?
Are you ARDUINO proficient?
Are you in MENSA?

If you answered YES to any of the above and consider yourself a modern day GEEK or NERD between the ages of 18-30,
WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU RIGHT AWAY!!!

THIS IS AN URGENT CASTING CALL!
BE A PART OF A NEW SERIES THAT EMBRACES THE NERD IN ALL OF US!
MUST BE COMPETITIVE. MUST BE PASSIONATE. MUST BE READY TO WIN BIG!

FOR MORE INFO AND TO SUBMIT:
PLEASE EMAIL your name, age, city/state, phone number, recent photos
and a brief bio on what makes you today’s MOST INGENIOUS nerd to

CASTINGARIANA@GMAIL.COM
Ariana Schlotthauer
Casting Director
King of the Nerds, TBS
Give her a call! 310.360-2346
Follow her on twitter! @castingariana

ALL INTERESTED CANDIDATES ARE ENCOURAGED TO SUBMIT NOW!!!

Image URL

A molecular biology ditty for mom by Adam Cole, who has a pretty fun science video channel. You know I love this one!

“Slightly more than half of me is thanks to you!!”

From his description below the video come his lyrics and a quote by the wonderful Robert Sapolsky.

Lyrics:
To make one me you just add
Half of mom and half of dad
That is what I once believed
But I know now that I was wrong
I got so much more from you mom
Than just half a set of genes
I got nutrients and transcription factors
and nearly everything that matters
plus my prenatal environment (transplacental inheritance)
mRNA, mitochondria,
That back in the day once belonged to ya (theyre cytoplasmic)
and I just want to thank for supplying them

Just like two strands of DNA are spirally entwined
Your nature and your nurture are inspiringly combined
Scientists remind me and I find that it is true
Slightly more than half of everything I am is thanks to you

Mitochondria power my cells
and they have DNA as well
Transcription factors modulate transcription
And since they’re in the cytoplasm
The eggs the only one that has em
and sperm I guess they dont have much ambition

My sex determination gene means that Im a guy
From you I got my X chromosome, from Dad I got my Y
X has over a thousand genes, Y has less than 92
Thats why more than half of everything I am is thanks to you

I roomed in your womb for nine whole months and never paid the rent
Your glucocorticoids shaped my hypothalmic development
I took in your blood and sucked it dry of every nutrient (its gross but true)
Sometimes I wonder where the time went (where did it go)
Sometimes I wonder where it went

I know Ill never understand all you have done for me (Im not that smart)
But since you paid for college Ill get my B. S. degree (bachelor of science)
And I have learned its not BS but absolutely true
Slightly more than half of everything I am is thanks to you.

“It’s not an even 50/50 split you get a disproportionate share of your DNA coming from your mom. Really important.” – Robert Sapolsky

“Otter 501″ is the story of two characters. First is Katie, a recent college graduate from the Midwest who is visiting family out in Monterey Bay California for several months. She spends time exploring the ocean and coastline and happens upon a stranded baby sea otter. The otter is rescued by the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Sea Otter Research and Conservation Group . The otter, Katie’s co-star, is not given a name, but rather a tag, otter 501, to indicate it is the 501st rescued otter by the facility.

While Otter 501 is the focus of the film, there are plenty of other otters in their natural habitat to be seen in all their fluffy playful cuteness, too!

In a modern day twist for the movie, Katie narrates the stories via her Facebook video posts. At her friends’ urging, she sets out to learn more about what happened to the rescued otter pup and ultimately finds herself volunteering in research about the otters, learning everything about their habitat and habits and how rescued otters are rehabilitated. Depending on the condition the otter arrives in, a decision is made as to whether it will be raised by a surrogate (and not come in direct contact with humans) or will be raised for a life in an aquarium or zoo. (See my post Non-native Chicago Wildlife for more information)

We follow and learn along with Katie as she joins a sea otter field research team where she is introduced to almost everything one can know about otter behavior; including grooming and feeding habits, the dangers they encounter, as well as how rescues, rehabilitations and releases are conducted.

I told you “it’s so flufffeeee!”

Otter 501 is chosen to be rehabilitated and raised by a surrogate mother so it will be ready to be released back into the wild. The progress of a few other otters are also followed, with the reality that not all releases are successful tactfully incorporated into the film.

The filming of the landscape and the sea is expansive and gorgeous, with an appropriately lovely music score. There are a number of sequences taken with what seems to be GoPro cameras on Katie’s kayak and surfboard, so we feel like we are a part the action. Katie also films with her smart phone so we get the sense she is really wanting to share her adventures with US.

And of course, there are even more otters! Cute, “fluffeeeee” otters!

At its heart, this is a nature documentary, but filmed with a crucial human element, so we feel so much more a part of the effort to rescue and protect the southern sea otter, whose population has been mysteriously declining in the past few years. This movie would appeal to kids and adults, but I am especially glad that Katie, our good-natured, curious, and concerned heroine is there to represent and reflect the desire of this age group to go out, find a purpose in life, and also make a meaningful contribution to the world in a way that resonates with their personalities. I hope Katie will lead the way in inspiring people to help otters, as well as all animals.

Finally, I leave you with the inspiration for the movie, as discovered in an interview with Katie and the director, by some middle schoolers!

RIP Maurice Sendak – Your contributions will live on.

The first film of Sophia’s that caught my eye was Illuminate – about the power of electricity.

CB: What kind of film training do you have?

SP: I wish I had more! I started doing this in 7th grade when I borrowed a camera and made a movie with some friends. Since I make my films on top of my schoolwork, rather than as part of a class, I mostly try to figure it out on my own. However, I did take a three-day course in Final Cut Pro, and this summer I’m going to Maine Media Workshops for two weeks to finally get some real training.

CB: I love your unique use of visualizations, everything from m&ms on a map to paper strips for bar graphs. Where do you get these ideas?

SP: Thanks. I’m glad you like them. I’m not sure where they come from, but I try to keep the visuals both simple and surprising so that people can understand them — and remember them. I found this is really important when explaining scientific principles.

CB: What inspires you to make films?

SP: It is challenging to take a story or an idea, especially one about science or a complex issue, and distill it to just a few minutes. I also like that you get a final product at the end that other people can watch.

CB: What techniques did you use to get all of those inanimate objects moving in ‘Help Wanted’?

Luz Bauer, my collaborator on Help Wanted, and I had never made a stop motion film before, but we were set on trying to make one. We set a camera up on a tripod. Then we took a photo, moved the food a little bit, took a photo, moved the food, and repeated. But for some scenes, we had to come up with creative ways to move the food and dishes without our hand being in the photo. We didn’t have any advanced technology, so we had to think of low-tech solutions. For example, we needed a plate stand up on its side and roll across a table. So we taped a Harry Potter wand to the back of the plate, and I crouched underneath the table rolling the plate with the wand while Luz took the photos. In the end, we had more that a thousand still photos that I uploaded into Final Cut Pro and edited.

CB: Your films are about some pretty powerful topics, like censorship and gender imbalance. What projects are coming next?

This summer, I’m taking a three-week course in genetics at Johns Hopkins. When I’m done with that, I’m hoping to make an animated film about the human genome. Also, I’d love to make a more traditional narrative film with actors.

Thanks for answering my questions Sophia! I’ll look forward to seeing more of your great work in the future.

Before we discuss today’s movie about light pollution, I’d like to share some incredible timelapse footage of what we saw in our dark night sky as captured by WSJ multimedia producer Michael Kofsky;

The Project Aether team had been up in Alaska for a few weeks and auroras were tepid at best (or hidden behind clouds) and would begin in the freezing cold at 3 or 4 o’clock in the morning. Fortunately, the night our group went out to view, as if made-to-order on a clear night, an auroral show began at about 12:30 and lasted, in all of it’s breathtaking and spectacular beauty, for more than an hour. I can count this as one of the most amazing things I have experienced in my life. I could hardly sleep for the impact this made on me.

Auroras in Fairbanks, Alaska are only visible from August through to April and this, of course, has to do with the amount of sunlight that interferes into the nighttime hours. The auroras are there, just obscured by light. Also, it is important to move away from city lights for best viewing. Our locale opened up the night skies for us, resplendent with stars, Venus and Mars, and of course, the aurora.

The annoyance (how annoying? Read this at the Guardian) of interfering light that typically obscures the beauty of the night sky around most towns and cities, brings me to a wonderful independent film I received back in February direct from the hands of the film maker, Ian Cheney, as he was an artist-in-residence at one of the dorms here on the University of Illinois campus. It seems appropriate to share the message of “The City Dark” with you now.

This movie is, for the most part, about astronomy, and astronomers naturally play a big part in the film. How many adults do I know who, as children, wanted to be an astronomer when they grew up? I know I was one. I always figured that was because the night sky is there, accessible yet mysterious at the same time. I now wonder, if I couldn’t see the stars, would I still have had that same desire to become an astronomer that stayed with me until I was 11 years old? Oft repeated throughout the film is how the night sky touches us in ways that inspire us and give us all a sense of scale, and how losing this to excessive light pollution may have psychological, spiritual, philosophical and emotional impacts on us. As Cheney asks, “What do we lose when we lose the night?”

But before you think the entire movie is a philosophical drag, don’t worry. While you are left pondering those questions throughout the film, you are asked also to practically consider what would happen if modern astronomers cannot see the night sky. One of the more dangerous scenarios is that they may not see an asteroid heading our way. As it is, observatories are now relegated to the darkest deserts and islands in order to peer deeply into the night without the light pollution that is like looking through a fog. For those of us interested in other areas of science other than astronomy, there are also plenty of environmental, ecological and physiological aspects to be examined in relationship to light pollution.

“It is more than just humans who are losing the night, ” says Cheney. Hatching sea turtles must orient themselves to the lightest horizon, which used to be the ocean because it reflected starlight…but no more. The hatchlings move toward the wrong light, toward the cities, disoriented away from the ocean. In Chicago, rescuers find birds who have lost their way and have struck the glass of tall buildings. Stars serves as a map for birds as they migrate through the night sky. Birds are disoriented in cities whose lights are “artificial stars”, according to David Williard, zoologist at The Field Museum. Birds are DRAWN to the building lights. In addition to birds and sea turtle hatchlings, all nocturnal animals are affected when there is more light than dark.

If all this light disorients animals, Cheney then wonders,” What is the necessary habitat for humans?” How does all of this light of our 24/7 culture affect us physiologically? We don’t understand the longterm consequences of this type of lifestyle. The notion that this light disrupting our circadian rhythms could be responsible for cancer and influence other diseases seen in industrialized societies is well described in the film. In fact, so compelling is the evidence against too much light, the World Health Organization calls shift work a probable carcinogen.

Cheney reminds us, “Our era is one where the stars left the sky and came down into cities.” ISS astronaut Don Pettit explains that “Smoke stacks used to show how industrialized a city was. Now it is the light that shows how affluent a place is.” Light facilitates social interaction. It also removes the terrors that hide in the night. Humans have chosen to light up their world for numerous reasons without giving thought to what happens if there is no night. After a discussion of the social implications of lighting and lack of it, the movie turns to discuss how humans can have their light but save the night sky, mostly through directing light only downward where it is needed. This reorientation will restore that which many did not realize they were missing. We are encouraged to design lights with the night in mind.

Seeing an aurora, the milky way, dark skies, a shooting star, and the rings of Saturn are all things we might not miss if we didn’t know they were there. The reason to be able to see the night sky may be more spiritual than practical. As Ann Druyan points out, “What is coming of age but realizing you are not the center of the universe?” Neil deGrasse Tyson reminds us, “You will be missing a cosmic perspective if you never look up. Your environment is not all there is. Seeing the night sky is the resetting of your ego.”

This movie could have been quite depressing, but through light, enjoyable music, as playful as the twinkling of stars (and you can buy on iTunes) some simple yet charming animations, and a message of hope at the end, it is easy to leave wondering what we are missing without the night, and motivated to do something about it.

International Dark-Sky Association wants to end light pollution

So does Globe at Night

The deadline for entering one of the most prestigious and influential awards in natural history films is quickly approaching! The Wildscreen Festival awards ‘Golden Pandas’ to the most interesting, innovative and exciting films about the natural world. Any aspect of nature is applicable, and there are a number of categories to choose from. You’ve got until April 27th do do so, and award nominees will be announced in June. The Wildscreen Festival itself takes place October 14 – 19 in Bristol, UK.

SciAm Blogs makes our pop culture debut at about 1:57!

 

Romney To Travel Back In Time To Kill Liberal Versions Of Himself

It’s official, Scientific American Blogs are cool!

(This is not the first time that The Onion has approached the subject of scifi travel. You might enjoy this piece, “I Don’t Define Myself by my Ability to Travel Between Dimensions“)

Case in point: The video for the current kickstarter campaign “The Symbol: Wall Lizards of the Pityusic” by Nathan Dappen and Neil Losin at Day’s Edge Productions. The footage in this video is simply breathtaking – the colors and sights of these Spanish Islands make you yearn to tag along. Dappen and Losin have already proven to be skilled videographers, having won several awards and competitions with their well-edited and written works (see examples below). Both are biologists, and the current kickstarter project is to raise funds for a photographic guide to the lizards that Dappen studied during his PhD. The lizards themselves are beautiful – their color variation is vast, and the richness of their appearance is stunningly captured in this video.

Dappen and Losin represent an extremely rare combination of scientific knowledge and cinematic talent. I encourage you to check out their other videos, and of course their kickstarter page here. This unique set of talents and determination needs to be recognized. I’ll be looking forward to viewing their next productions!

Battle of the Sexes, a short video about Dappen’s PhD work

Another of my favorites, Snakes in a Cave – amazing footage!

I wish them all the best with the campaign!

Perhaps you recall a very catchy tune and animated video about life in the lab I covered in the post Ph. Diddy is on the scene! An Animated Music Video for Biotech Lab Work

From the same group at Life Technologies Corporation comes the second installment called “Ph.Diva and the Mystery Band”. Let’s watch!

Andrew Green (@andrewjgreen on twitter) has been in charge of this series of videos about cell and molecular biology research and gives us an idea of what it takes to make a video that accurately captures life in the lab:

“Our inspiration for telling these stories comes from a shared fascination for science. As with the Ph.Diddy video, the Ph.Diva video is a tribute to all the dedicated and hard working every-day-heroes of science – male and female! We wanted to capture the dynamics in a lab, and the ups and downs that all who have worked in a lab will recognize.  We salute the efforts they all put in – and we share their passion for science!

We put a lot of effort into two things:

1) getting the story right

2) getting all the details, details and details right.

Ph.Diva from Life Technologies' new video!

April Brite, (aka the Ph.Diva) is one of the many brilliant and experienced scientists out there and a well-respected Postdoc. To create the story and the lyrics, we first whiteboarded her journey, the emotions she would go through. She is thrilled when her abstract is picked for an oral presentation, and starts preparing her presentation. When everything does not go exactly as planned, we see and hear how she meets frustrations, anticipation, fascination and determination. Will she make it in time for her conference? These are emotions and situations that those who have been in science have experienced and can identify with – including ourselves (many Life Technologies marketing people have a scientific background, some even have a Ph.D). We also included a few of our own R&D staff in the story-making.  The song was recorded, and the audio file sent to the animators.

We work with an external partner for the actual animation artwork, but we are basically the art director and executive producers ourselves. They got the lyrics in a word document, sprinkled with tons of notes explaining the emotions and stages she’d go through, and how the different scenes would typically play out. Like a link to a video on YouTube showing how to lift a microtiterplate out from the PCR-machine. Or a link to an image of how a PCR-gel or a qPCR result, a primer sequence and a pre-PCR lab actually look. Along with explanation on stuff like the conference abstract submission process and the concept of being picked for and prepare an oral presentation etc etc. We were happy to see how they were able to take this detailed input and work all the details into the video!

Because of the careful preparation and the detailed art directing, most of this was relatively smooth sailing.  One thing we did have for the animators to understand, was how the dynamics between the Ph.Diva  and the PI is different from the one we saw with Ph.Diddy and the PI in the previous video. And how an unexpected and rather suspect scientific result can turn out to be a good thing that can actually advance science further!

We are already working on the next music video in the series, this time featuring both Ph.Diddy and Ph.Diva. And a fourth one is also being planned – stay tuned!”

Image is screenshot of a thumbnail from youtube video

Happy Friday Everyone!

Shedd Aquarium's otter pup is bottle fed

First, we will meet Cayucos, John G. Shedd Aquarium‘s new arrival. A behind-the-scenes visit included dipping the bottom of my shoes in a pan of disinfectant followed by a brief rinse in water to prevent tracking in diseases that could be harmful to the sea otter pup. I was able to view her through a window looking into her pool built specifically for the purpose of nurturing otter pups, full of artificial “kelp”, which you will see in the brief video just below. Cayucos decided to nap while I visited, so the cute frolicking we are used to seeing of otters is just not there, but take a look anyway! You will hear my voice and that of Executive Vice President of animal programs and training, Ken Ramirez, explaining how long sea otter pups usually rely on their mothers.

Before Christmas 2011, three southern sea otters, a species hunted to the brink of extinction for their fur, subsequently added to the endangered species list and making a comeback, were separately found stranded on beaches in southern California by wildlife rescuers. Cayucos was found (and named) in Cayucos, California. After a short stay at Monterey Bay Aquarium, where trainers assisted with her intensive care, she was released to Shedd by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Read more.

The US Fish and Wildlife Service determined the three otters should be raised in differing locales. The two who were not in good health would be raised by humans for eventual display for the public (Cayucos at Shedd and the other at Sea World (see her video here)) and one would be raised by a surrogate mother, like Toola, the world’s first surrogate otter mom, who passed away this month.

When an otter is raised by humans, there are many skills they need to learn, including how to feed themselves, groom themselves, and to sleep in the water. Unfortunately, once they are habituated to humans, they will not gain the skills needed to hunt, so cannot be released into the wild. On the other hand, the otter raised by the surrogate will gain all necessary skills and may be released to the wild in the future.

Here is a video of Cayucos being groomed at the Shedd, courtesy of Shedd Aquarium (no audio):

From Shedd’s website: “Keeping the pup’s thick fur clean, dry and fluffed is essential to her survival. Sea otters are the only marine mammals that aren’t wrapped in an insulating blanket of blubber. Instead, they have about 1 million hairs per square inch of skin, divided into an outer layer of thick guard hairs and an inner layer of dense, wooly underfur honeycombed with millions of tiny air pockets. The layers work together to keep water out and body heat in. If the fur becomes matted or fouled with pollutants such as oil, cold sea water penetrates to the otter’s skin and the animal can quickly succumb to hypothermia. Otters shed their fur gradually and throughout the year so that they are never without this vital protection.”

I was curious how experts like Ken learned to care for otters, and how to help hand raise them. He shared that most of his experience came when he and others from Shedd Aquarium were called on to help over 2,000 otters who were affected by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 to help clean them for the reasons stated already. It should be noted that Shedd sends out teams of animal specialists to assist with other oil spills including the recent Gulf Oil spill.

Cayucos is a permanent addition to the Shedd Aquarium and will probably be ready to be introduced to some of the more docile otters already there as summer approaches. If you visit the Shedd Aquarium this summer, you might just get to see Cayucos playfully showing off for visitors. In fact, I will most certainly return so I can see her do more than tumble into the water for a nap!

Out of the water and into the trees

Last February, a new baby sloth, Siesta, was born to parents Chewbacca and Carlos. In fact, I was visiting Lincoln Park Zoo, Chicago’s free zoo, last year and was unaware that Siesta had been born as she was hiding with her mother after her long first day! The mother was hiding tucked up under the roof of the thatched hut of their display. It wasn’t until I was looking at their website a few days later that I realized a new baby sloth had been born!

This time around, I wanted to be sure to see the new arrival, even though a year had elapsed. With all of the excitement around sloths lately (much in part due to Lucy Cooke’s show “Too Cute, Baby Sloths” which I covered here on PsiVid in November), I was even more enthusiastic to meet Siesta.

I spent some time with Small Mammal and Reptile Curator Diane Mulkerin who spoke with me about their Hoffman’s two-toed sloths. I was told that Siesta had begun to wander around without mom in the last few months. Just my luck, the day before I visited, apparently Siesta was moving all around her enclosure and the zoo photographer, John Kortas, was able to get some great shots, but I wasn’t able to see her be anything but a curled up ball of fur! Luckily, returning the next day, I was met with the treat of Siesta’s dad, Carlos, moving around. Here he is in my video!

Carlos was born at Lincoln Park zoo, living there for many years, and sent away to Chicago’s other zoo, Brookfield, for ten years and later returning to LPZ. He has sired seven babies in his life and is 29 years old now (LPZ prides itself on their fairly geriatric population of animals across the zoo who live beyond their life expectancies in captivity). In 2009, Chewbacca, who also goes by Chewy, (currently 21 years old) was brought in to LPZ and introduced to Carlos. It took a while before she was finally pregnant. After a 6-9 month gestation, Siesta was born February 15, 2011, right in the middle of the day! Diane informed me that Chewy gave birth while hanging on the mesh of their enclosure and they found Siesta’s umbilical cord wrapped around a branch and mom’s legs, yet some how mom and baby extricated themselves and were found obviously just fine!

My visits to Shedd and LPZ taught me quite a bit about population management in zoos and aquariums. Siesta will mating age in about a year, and at that time a zoo population manager will begin to discuss with other zoos about moving her around for mating possibilities.

I had other great discussions about science outreach and activities both at Shedd Aquarium and Lincoln Park Zoo. Informal science activities are very important for children and adults. I’ll be sharing more about these opportunities for engaging in science in Chicago soon in a guest post!

Cayucos’ images courtesy of Shedd Aquarium

Siesta’s images courtesy of Lincoln Park Zoo, John Kortas

CB: You are a physicist by training, where did you go to school?

DM: I have a B.Sc in Engineering Physics from Queen’s University, and a PhD in Physics Education Research from the University of Sydney.

CB: You grew up in Vancouver, BC.  What brought you to Australia?

DM: The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) has an excellent reputation globally. I wanted to attend from the age of 17 but first I needed to move to Australia and then I needed to get enough experience that they would let me in. The latter never came to pass.  I grew up in Vancouver but I love the warmer climate in Sydney.  Also, since the US is not right next door and the accent is different, Aussies make a lot of their own TV and films – a career path I was always interested in taking.

CB: What kind of video/film training do you have?

DM: I took a course in “fundamentals of film production” at Queen’s in 2002. Here I learned the nuts and bolts of filming, composition, editing, etc.

CB: Do you have help to make your videos or are they a one-man operation?

DM: Usually they are a one-man operation. This can be frustrating because it’s tough trying to focus on yourself when you’re behind the camera. Then when I get to watch the footage, sometimes the sound is terrible or missing, lighting is wrong, shots are out of focus etc. Particularly tricky when trying to interview people – then it’s best to have an accomplice.

CB: I see that you are branching out from pure physics videos – where do you get your ideas for short films?

DM: I’ve always wanted to do more than just physics. The original idea of my youtube channel was to start with the atom and work forward, with each video leading into the next. Predictably this turned out to be too hard so I just make whatever interests me at the time. I have a backlog of things as a physics educator that I always see people mixing up – or things that have mixed me up. I’m most excited about creating videos about this stuff.

CB: What are your ultimate goals for the films and for your career?

DM:

1. To get better. It really helps me to think of each film as a stepping stone – as a chance to learn more about the craft and improve my process. I look back at the early films and think I’ve come a long way.

2. To make science more beautiful. That was actually one of my main goals – to show its relevance, comprehensibility, and lack of dry, boring, textbook-style exposition. For example I have always wanted to demonstrate properties of waves on a still lake in the bush – hopefully I’ll get to do it one day soon.

3. For my films, I just want them to reach a wide audience, to encourage people who wouldn’t ordinarily be interested in science to take a more critical eye to their surroundings, and to revel in the things they can learn.

4. For my career I would like to make documentaries, longer form work for TV and festivals. I am happy presenting for science TV shows as I am in Sydney but I would also like to make things with a longer lead time. I think the big goal is to question the assumptions that everyone holds about life and the world around them.

“The idea is that instead of trying (and failing) to design machines to be as smart as we are–to be our equals–we should settle for making them only as “smart” as is necessary to forge simple, positive, useful emotional connections with us, like pets…That way, nobody gets hurt”

I am a huge fan of John Pavlus’ ability to intertwine science with graceful storytelling. You can see another feature that I wrote about some of his work HERE. I’m looking forward to what he comes up with next.

I’ve seen many casting calls and am certain that what follows (from the website Mystery of Matter: Search for the Elements) is the most thorough and well thought out description I’ve ever come across for the type of host the producers are hoping to find. Read the description carefully and decide if you would like to apply to this casting call.

“The Mystery of Matter: Search for the Elements is a multimedia project about one of the great adventures in the history of science: the long (and continuing) quest to understand what the world is made of – to identify, understand and organize the basic building blocks of matter. In a nutshell, the project is about the human story behind the Periodic Table of the Elements.”

“Funded by the National Science Foundation, the project is being produced by Moreno/Lyons Productions, a Boston company headed by two longtime contributors to public television, in association with Oregon Public Broadcasting, a leading producer of programming for PBS.”

Hugo Becker and Ava DeLuca-Verley as Antoine Lavoisier and Marie Anne Lavoisier

“Search for the Elements tells the stories of seven major characters whose discoveries, spanning nearly two centuries, laid the foundation for the modern understanding of matter. To knit these seven stories into a coherent whole, we’ll rely on an on-camera host, who will also serve as the narrator. The host will not be present in every scene, as Jacob Bronowski and James Burke were in their landmark seriesAscent of Man and Connections. Nor will the host be a “bookend” celebrity who appears only at the beginning and end of the program. Instead, the host will appear on camera perhaps 4-8 times per hour. Most (if not all) of the host scenes will be shot in a studio, but our goal is to make each scene as active as possible. Rather than delivering conventional “stand-ups,” the host will give demonstrations or use interactive graphics to make a key point in a lively way.

One of the host’s main roles will be to maintain the sense of mystery throughout the series. He or she will continually remind viewers that matter was a mystery for the scientists we’ll be featuring – that these men and women were searching for answers without the benefit of later discoveries we now take for granted; and that each time they solved one mystery, another one arose. The host will serve as our guide, leading viewers on a journey of discovery as we retrace the steps of the “chemical detectives” who, clue by hard-won clue, solved the mystery of matter.

Host qualifications In our search for a host, we’re looking for someone who can be as engaging as such popular PBS hosts as Carl Sagan, Bill Nye, Michael Wood, Alan Alda and Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Our hope is to find someone new from the chemistry community. The host needn’t be famous, a Nobel Prize winner or even a leading researcher. S/he might be a great teacher, for example, at the college or even community college or high school level. We’d like to find someone young enough to go on and serve as the host of later chapters in the continuing Mystery of Matterseries, so preference will be given to candidates under 60. Minority candidates are strongly encouraged to apply. Since many of the host scenes will involve performing chemical demonstrations, candidates who already have that skill will have a leg up. But the most important qualification is that s/he be a gifted chemical communicator — comfortable on camera, at ease with chemistry, and able to present with authority, enthusiasm and feeling for the very human story we’re telling.

Do you have what it takes to be host of The Mystery of Matter – or do you know someone who does? If so, send us an email with a link to a YouTube video illustrating the candidate’s skills as a communicator of chemistry. Be sure to include a way to contact the candidate. We will follow up with the most promising candidates. A subsequent screen test may be required.”

Please send your emails to this address:

Chemistry.Host@gmail.com

Best of luck!

photos from Mystery of Matter website, courtesy of Jeffrey Dunn

Maybe you are brave, curious and engaging and would love to host a TV show sharing shocking elements of our world.

Either way, TV might be calling you. Two new casting calls are out with upcoming deadlines, so act quickly!

Are you a designer who can build? Are you a machinist who can design?

The Discovery Channel is looking for America’s most creative and daring techies, machinists, inventors and engineers to design, build and BLAST their way to a Grand Prize on their new competition TV show TOP ENGINEER

A handful of lucky men and women will be chosen to take on exciting challenges from various engineering fields at the state-of-the-art WET Design facilities (www.wetdesign.com) in California.

No, you don’t need to have an engineering degree to compete on the show, but you MUST be able to design, build, test and integrate an idea into a final product that WORKS. These will be fast-paced, hands-on VISCERAL challenges! If your experience is strictly behind the keyboard, then this show is NOT for you.

We are looking for visual effects experts, accomplished home shop machinists, contractors and engineers with backgrounds in electrical, civil, structural or mechanical engineering.

If you have an outgoing personality and are ready to get your hands dirty for the chance to win a GRAND PRIZE and the title of TOP ENGINEER, then we want to hear from you.

Email TopEngineerCasting@gmail.com with your name, age, location, phone number, a recent photo and a brief explanation of why you are perfect for this competition show.

Deadline to submit is March 7, 2012. Applicants must be US citizens or residents at least 21 year of age. For more information, please visit www.pligrimstudios.com/casting/topengineer

____________________________________

From Casting Director Chad Hillman,  comes a show that above all else wants a smart, funny, affable and CURIOUS host!

“We are now casting a host for a new cable Network Pilot that is a smart, INFORMATIVE, list-based countdown series that unearths the most outrageous, outlandish, extreme and frankly SHOCKING sights and stories on the planet. From tabloid-worthy tales to bleeding-edge science stories, We aim to be intelligent and amusing.

Our host ties all the stories together. He/She will interact with the story makers in an accessible, affable way. The host will be required to demonstrate certain situations and be hands on. The host is our “reporter,” getting in with the subjects and revealing first-hand all the juicy details viewers really want to know. We are looking for a host that has charisma and a zest for life. You must have great comedic timing, able to think on your feet and have a curiosity about all things shocking or unusual.

This is a host driven show, so you must meet all personality requirements. You should be funny, adventurous, daring, have no fear or inhibitions. 30 to 50, male or female. Comedians, celebrities and newbies should apply. We are more concerned about your character than your hosting experience.

Electronically submit resume, headshot and reel tvcasting@msn.com.

The deadline for this hosting opportunity is March 10.”

Best of luck!!

“Much like the whispered game “telephone” where one person whispers a message down the line until it’s very different by the end due to small “mutations” along the way, I would create a game of telephone using visual imagery.”

Tyler began the game by sketching a nondescript salamander-like creature:

He then had various groups of students make copies of this sketch, knowing that the copies would contain subtle differences.  The natural variation in the ‘progeny’ created from the first salamander sketch was used to determine the survival of the fittest.  Tyler would ‘kill off’ 98% of the organisms and start the process again, this time working from the sketches that ‘survived’.  In subsequent iterations he would throw out curveballs like desertification or a volcanic explosion (subsequent to the sketching), which would help the group decide which animals were best suited to survive.  They would then take these environmental changes into account when sketching their next creatures.

There was a total of 6 generations, after which time Tyler digitally cut out the images and animated them with his own music and sound effects from the children.  The finished product is an evolution video that is completely unique, refreshing and altogether entertaining.

I would like to congratulate Tyler on this remarkable achievement.  His editing skills and creative vision bring the process of evolution to center stage in an entirely new form.

137 Films in Chicago recently held a work-in-progress screening of their movie, “The Believers”, at the Gene Siskel Film Center and I was in attendance.

I previously wrote about the company and a preview to the film. Here is their trailer once again.

The film documents the announcement of the cold fusion finding at University of Utah in 1989 through to the downfall of scientists Stanley Pons and Martin Fleishmann by sharing expertly edited TV news segments along with magazine and newspaper clippings. The story moves back and forth between these news stories and interviews with fervent believers and modern experimenters in cold fusion today as well as interviews with scientists who played a part in dismantling the cold fusion discovery.

Brochures for the work-in-progress screening of "The Believers"

Interspersed in these time capsule news clips are also interviews with Fleishmann (Pons disappeared from the scene so completely, and he has not spoken with the media or Fleishmann since), and his interactions with a discredited physician treating Fleishmann’s Parkinson’s disease. Juxtaposed to this, we see a teen who experiments with cold fusion by himself in his own basement, taking a very measured and scientific approach. This impressive display of impartiality stands in relief to a ‘believer’s faith’ in cold fusion that Pons and Fleishmann seemed to embody early on and is reinforced by the image of the aging and ailing Fleishmann being “treated” in the home of this physician with questionable practices who fervently claims to have some deeper knowledge of cold fusion and is writing a book on the topic.

The movie doesn’t go into extraordinary detail of exactly how cold fusion is supposed to work. Instead, the explanation is kept at the level that would have been explained to TV and reading audiences at the time of the unveiling with a focus on how it could be the answer for clean, cheap, limitless energy for all of mankind. The focus of the film was not on teaching us the technology, but rather on the drama involved and missteps by Pons and Fleishmann which ultimately led to their scientific downfall.

In the after-show Q & A session, an audience member seemed quite agitated that the movie hadn’t explicitly spelled out how science IS done or SHOULD BE DONE,  at least not ideally. In a follow-up email, I shared with co-director Clayton Brown my perception of what I sensed the film was doing with the scenario and felt the audience member was a bit off-base in what the film’s intention was meant to be. I wrote: “I felt the film spoke volumes about how science is done and the potential dangers of interference by academia in their greed. It addressed where the scientists went wrong in sharing their science (or not). I don’t think, given the aims of the film, that you needed to address each step of the scientific method and what went wrong. It seemed you had a fine balance, and focused on the human side and not the nuts and bolts of the scientific method.”

Clayton summarized in response to me,  ”I’m glad you understood the fact that the very definition of science and the scientific process was up for grabs in the film — it’s one of the main themes.  I totally agree with you about the audience member’s interpretation, that he perhaps missed the point we were trying to make which was, as you said, that there are contradictory ideas at work about science, the way it’s done, and what went wrong when the complicating factors of greed, academia, patents, hope, and belief got involved.  The film attempted to explore the mess rather than explain it.”

And “mess” or “drama”  are appropriate words to describe what unfolds during the movie. Having spent my career in academia, I viscerally reacted as I witnessed administration of the University of Utah proudly introduce Pons and Fleishmann and their finding. It was a moment of giddy pride and even arrogance, one that said,  ”Hey, look at us, we may not be MIT, but *we* are sitting on the most important scientific finding the world has seen.” It seems Pons and Fleishmann were pressured to reveal their finding early by the University of Utah which wanted to establish priority on the discovery before a colleague at Brigham Young University did so. The moviegoer witnessed the scientists’ initial hesitancy and nervousness being replaced by the glee of being the center of media attention as the days unfolded after the press conference.

I cringed as I watched as scientific peers rip the two men apart because the results could not be replicated in more sophisticated labs (like those at MIT). I watched the tension build as they defended their claims. My stomach knotted at the thought of patents, and the fear of being “scooped” in their findings. I imagined the hands of lawyers and PR agents muzzling the free sharing of the method that created the supposed cold fusion. I considered humility and the lack of it. There was the chaos of many humans wanting to be “right” and it’s intrusion into pure science.

My favorite take-away thoughts from the film were insights into science as expressed in the loose interplay set up in the film between Robert Park, an eminent physicist who made the announcement that took down cold fusion for the American public, and Edmund Storms, the older bearded gentleman in his sweater seen in the trailer, a physicist formerly with Los Alamos, who is a firm believer in cold fusion. The two, while on different sides of the cold fusion issue, both say true things about how science is done and the state of science in America.

Robert Park charms the TV audience while in Washington DC: ”I was the first scientist to speak out on this.  To be perfectly frank, it’s a preposterous claim.  Now, I’m sure the claimants are quite sincere in their claims.  But of course, there are sincere scientists who also believe in psychokenesis and flying saucers and creationism … and even the Chicago Cubs.” (The Chicago Cubs announcement went over very well with the Chicago audience, eliciting amused and knowing laughter!)

Listening to Parks as he shared his views quite eloquently speaks volumes about charisma having tremendous influence in leading people to “choose sides” in any debate, even in science. Eventually the scientific facts bore out, but the charm of a well-spoken scientist was first to lead the way to turning the public tide against cold fusion.

Ed Storms makes a statement in the film that made me stop and think:  ”Science thinks it prides itself on its openmindedness and its willingness to go explore new ideas, and it does to some degree.  But there’s also a tremendous unwillingness to make those changes.  You see that — it used to be in the church.  That was the bastion of conservatism.  Increasingly, that’s moved into physics in the United States.”

As much as I hold the ideal of science in my mind much of the time, the reality is often much less pristine and it was enlightening to hear Storms articulate his thoughts and apply them to situations scientists find themselves in modern research.

Robert Park, at the end of the film, claims scientific openness (in opposition to Storms’ perception) but in a subtle closing of that openness, takes a jab again at cold fusion and those who pursue it:  ”Now, is there room in science for passion? Of course, there is. And moreover, I would defend these people who are still involved. That’s what’s great about science.  It’s open.  You can challenge anything. And if they want to spend their life going back trying to redo those experiments and make them work, they have every right to do that.  The great breakthroughs in science usually come from someone who went counter to the current.  It’s perfectly all right to go spend your life doing cold fusion.  I wouldn’t want to spend my life that way.  But if these guys want to question whether there’s cold fusion, hey, that’s up to them.”

The directors are shopping the film around for screenings at various film festivals. I look forward to their final version being showcased and also hope to see it picked up in wider venues. When you see “The Believers” come to your town in the coming months, be sure to make some time to watch it.

137Films is working on their next documentary called “Truth or Consequences” about The New Space Age. I will share more on this in a later post.

Until then, remember to view every excitedly announced scientific breakthrough with skepticism.

Another of my favorites is ‘Superbase’, a parody of SuperBass by Nicki Manaj:

To check out their other videos head over to the Westerville South High School youtube channel HERE. Here’s to the success of partnering music with math.

What started as a trip to view the work-in-progress film about cold fusion called “The Believers” (see my post), has become a bit of an adventure.

I will briefly fill you in on some of the science (and Valentine’s Day) themed events, in case you are in town and want to attend or, at the very least, to have something to look forward to when I share more about them.

Sunday night, Stephanie Levi (@scienceissexy on twitter) will be hosting her Night Lab: The Science of Love and Attraction at a Chicago bar with two guest speakers who promise to enlighten us on the science of human attraction. Eli Finkel, PhD will share with the audience about the science of online dating and Rachel Fons will talk about the science and art of sex and film ratings! We are promised to be enlightened about how actors “do it” without “doing it”. Stephanie also has some great trivia prizes, including a two copies of The Science of Kissing by Sheril Kirschenbaum

_____________________

On Valentine’s Day, I am very much looking forward to Lincoln Park Zoo’s one in a series of events for grown-ups called Wine and Wildlife: Animal Attraction where attendees are promised champagne and chocolate and the inside scoop on the risque side of animal courtship as presented by three animal experts.

Internet dating websites have nothing on animal matchmaker SarahLong. She is behind hundreds of love connections in zoos across the country, ranging from tigers and monkeys to birds and snakes. She will be on hand to explain what goes into a critter coupling.

First impressions last a lifetime in both the human and animal world. Meet Mark Kamhout – he works with a team of zoo professionals who ensure that the animals’ environment is just perfectfor a love match up – chocolates and candlelight, anyone?

Sometimes the right match boils down to chemistry – just ask Dr. Rachel Santymire, an endocrinologist who analyzes the love hormones of zoo critters. She can help animalmanagers determine the perfect moment to introduce a feisty male tiger with a fetching female feline. Santymire also develops pregnancy tests for rhinos and other beasts to alert the zoo team when a baby is on the way

Whether you are an animal lover or a person in love, reserve your spot now at www.lpzoo.org or call 312-742-2000 for more information. Tickets are $45 per person, $40 for Lincoln Park Zoo members.

_____________________

Who doesn’t want to fall in love under the night sky, or with the night sky, for that matter? Adler Planetarium opens its doors once a month to adults after dark in an event they call “Adler After Dark”. Guests will be treated to wine, an opportunity to view through the Doane Observatory, weather permitting, for a chance to see Saturn’s rings or Jupiter’s red spot. This week, event goers will learn about the science of chocolate, enjoy Gustav Holst’s Space Opera (an artistic, philosophic, musical, scientific and cinematic experience all at the same time), have the opportunity to chat with Adler experts in an informal setting, party to live DJ entertainment and, for the singles, a chance meet and greet other singles.

Check out their website for more information!

_____________________

There are a few other behind-the-scene surprises I will have for you, including some video footage of something I am sure you will fall in love with!

According to 137 Films, in association with The Chicago Council on Science and Technology , a sponsor of this screening, “The Believers” tells the strange story of Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons, chronologically documenting the summer of 1989 as well as new developments today. The tale includes mystery, scandal, personal tragedy, and scientific wonder.

Understanding of events shifts depending on who is telling the story. A mixture of interviews, vérité footage, archival media, scientific animation, and reenactments will compliment interviews with scientists, journalists, politicians, and officials. Woven together, they paint a vivid, often contradicting account of what happened.”

Take a look at the trailer of “The Believers”:

I spoke with the directors, Clayton Brown and Monica Ross, about the film and learned that they, as artists (they both have MFAs from Northwestern University) wanted to go beyond what is typically done in documentaries, meaning they wanted to do much more than to have the audience leave merely knowing what cold fusion is and why it should or shouldn’t work. They wanted to reveal the humaness of science and scientists, to tell non-fiction stories rather than simply educate.

Allowing the scientists be characters, full of human drama and struggle, is what sets Chicago-based 137 Films productions apart from the shows that NOVA or the BBC produces. They want to promote science literacy through great story telling in a character-driven story.

One of the most difficult challenges they have as filmmakers is convincing scientists to relax, to let their guards down, and be the character in the story. Monica claims this is due to the fact that scientists generally control the way information comes out throughout their work. She then suggested that because of this control placed on expression, the general public doesn’t instinctively see scientists as people, but rather as cold and impartial beings.

Given a recent movement among science communicators to put a human face on science as depicted here and here, I think this film, and the company’s previous work, “The Atom Smashers” (which is about America’s strange relationship with science) fits right in as it aims to accomplish this same goal.

It was an immense pleasure to speak with the directors. I’d like you to meet them, too. Watch this video to see what it took to get their first feature made and to hear what Monica suggests for beginning filmmakers:

I was curious, given their artistic background, how they fell into making science-themed films.

Clayton shared that the company’s producer is the one who suggested science films. This was met with skepticism and hesitancy. Monica had explored and filmed topics about women and their relationship to culture, and was not initially interested in science films. Eventually curiosity took over when they realized that science provided an untapped reservoir of stories people weren’t telling, providing them with a wealth of material.

It’s been a long road to make their films. “The Atom Smashers” was inspired by an article in the Tribune about FermiLab and the race for the Higgs. It took four years to make. I asked Clayton and Monica about the benefits and drawbacks of being an independent filmmaker in the world of bigger budget science documentaries such as those from NatGeo, NOVA and BBC/Discovery.

Monica explained, “As an independent storyteller, we were able to get the scientists to trust us as we returned to them again and again to complete the story, to clarify details. As independent filmmakers, we had the flexibility to do that. We’d even show up for birthday parties! This is much different from a bigger commercial filmmaker who might send a crew in once for filming and that’s all the scientists see of them. We forged personal relationships and that is how we have been able to capture their human essence.”

Clayton added, “On the flip side, unlike big production companies, there is no funding. It is always hand-to-mouth to get our films made.”

Is this art or is it science? Funding is tricky for the filmmakers as they don’t fit into typical niches. They struggle to pitch to distributors and to organizations who grant money. 137 Films walk on the art/science edge. Because they are simultaneously promoting science literacy and democratization of science as a goal, it is not often readily accepted by the art funding community. Because they have embraced a character driven narrative style, the science funders often suggest they search for arts funding.

The good news is they have been able to get grants from local (Chicago) organizations, the Illinois Arts Council and the MacArthur Foundtion, though the monies are dwindling in the current economy. They have also run successful Kickstarter campaigns and have support of independent donors (which you can become). After their work on “The Atom Smashers”, they were hired by FermiLab to film other works they were requiring, which also helped pay the bills.

In their struggle to find funding, Monica discovered similarities between artists and scientists. “Scientists and artists have a lot in common. They always have their hand out for funding. They are both so passionate that they don’t give up, even without that funding. Both artists and scientists find themselves constantly needing to justify the value of what they are doing others. Strikingly, the argument needs to always be made for funding for curiosity driven science. Is it valuable. Does it deserve funding?”

I am excited for this weekend’s work-in-progress screening. 137 Films are shopping “The Believers” around to be picked up by film festivals. I will let you know more about the film and where you should be able to see it in a future post.

If you care to watch this “work-in-progress” screening, know that it’s by invitation only, which you can get by going through the The Chicago Council on Science and Technology, or becoming a 137 Films backer.

Perhaps I will see you there!

This video is a personal reflection of my experience of Science Online 2012. As an ex-dancer I tend to find the choreography and music in whatever it is that I’m working on. In this case the perfect music was Pink’s ‘Raise Your Glass‘, not only because in a very literal sense it reflects how a good number of us spend our evenings, but also because the song is about celebrating the underdog in all of us – the quirky, the nerdy, the geeky. The choreography didn’t really work out as well as I had hoped, but I pieced the video together with what I had.

The result? This glorious little production is the best explanation I can give for what Science Online means to me. A little dance, a little silliness, and a whole lot of amazing people to share it with. I hope you enjoy

I’d like to thank my friend Michael Taylor for his amazing sound remixing and vocals, also Mindy Weisberger, Brian and Dawn Crawford, and Maggie Pingolt for the use of their photos.

Lastly, I would like to thank Bora, Karyn and Anton for their tireless efforts to put the whole thing together. I hope you have an understanding of how much your efforts mean to so many.