Now, let’s see: where can I find a bunch of extroverted science fanatics?
My friend Alom Shaha, in addition to being a talented science filmmaker, producer, ex-politician and part-time physics teacher, is in the midst of a wonderful blogging/film hybrid project at the moment. And he needs your help.
The premise is simple. There is one question, “Why is science important”? There are probably as many answers as people, and Alom would like to hear as many as possible so he has asked me to spread the word. If you’d like to answer the question on the project site, you can rub virtual elbows with the likes of Susan Blackmore, Adam Hart-Davis, Roger Highfield, Simon Singh and other luminaries – as well as the odd Nature Networked riff-raffy sorts.
With just a few pithy paragraphs, you’d be helping Alom to do some good in the world. As we speak, he’s making a film funded by The Wellcome Trust, and bits from the blog will appear in the film and bits of the film will appear on the blog, so you might even get your two minutes of fame as well. The end result, he hopes, will be to reach people who don’t think science is important and convince them otherwise. He wants to show, as he puts it, that science is “absolutely crucial to the future wellbeing of our world, that its contribution to culture is as significant as that of music, art or literature and, most important of all, that a sound appreciation of science is vital to realising your potential as a human being.”
If you think science is important and want to spread the word, follow the instructions here. Just tell him that I sent you.
p.s. Alom welcomes contributors of all species, but notes a worrying lack of female representation on the blog. So come on, ladies – let’s raise the tone a bit!
Can I post under the name of Florence?
Only if you dress accordingly for the bio mugshot.
You should definitely submit something. I wonder if Alom would accept verse? He did take a comic strip.
And especially if you’re a woman science teacher.
It doesn’t matter what you are, as long as what you do is aligned in some way with science and you feel passionately about it.
Just remembered: there’s various sciencey groups on Facebook, and Maxine can tell you all about Friendfeed: praps a heads up there is a good plan?
I have been trying to pull something together for this but not yet found the right tone. Thanks for the prompt — may finally make me get on with it…
After hearing your inaugural lecture I’m quite sure that you can be suitably inspirational!
Thanks, but that took a whole lifetime to prepare for!
It’s a-coming’ but I’ve been wrangling with it for a few weeks now. I’ve just re-read what I’ve done and it’s not too far off the final version…
Really pleased to hear it! Tell your friends!
But all my friends are scientists!
sniff
Don’t let that put them off!
oh dear… I guess I have to think about that one – I don’t think my fluffy “it makes me more curious in the end since I end up with more questions after each answer” is really what he looks for?! ;)
He’s looking for honesty, I think,
EvaÅsa. So, yeah, if that’s why you think science is important, let him have it.Stephen, I read the introduction of “I get my kicks from thermodynamicks” out loud at the recent Toronto NN pub night , and people loved it. Is that enough incentive?
Ok, I sent Alom something that is probably not terribly coherent, but well-meant, and dare I say, “heartfelt”.
I’m looking forward to the final synthesis of this “blogging/film hybrid project”.
Excellent, folks: keep them coming! Tell your geeky friends!
I am not in a mood to submit anything, but I did actually show the site to a friend a while back. She normally teaches chemistry to high school kids in Holland but is now doing research in Canada for a year.
Wow Eva, many thanks for the exposure! Famous in Toronto, eh? We visited Niagara Falls on vacation a couple of years ago and nearly got as far as Toronto. With my little camera on max zoom, this is what I could see:
Anyway, no further incentive required: I am pleased to confirm that I have sent my two bits to Alom… Watch that space.
The sky is always that pink, here. Really. It’s because it’s another planet.
It’s because it’s another planet
“Planet Claire has pink air
All the trees are red
No one ever dies there
No one has a head.”
~ The B52s
Kristi – I was just watching the “Mesopotamia” concert footage on YouTube, and there you are quoting from “Planet Claire”.
WoooOOOOoooo scary.
I encourage spooky coincidences in my salon.
I encourage spooky coincidences in my salon
You know, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say that.
Seen anyone type that.
You know what I mean.
Jennifer,
Thanks much for pointing out Alom’s project! My submitted answer was actually posted today. I’m also trying to get some of my friends here (including Bruce Alberts) to contribute as well. I think this approach is far more interesting/appropriate than the Rightful Place of Science effort over at ScienceBlogs. Or maybe I’m just biased.
Yeah. Scienceblogs are just a bunch of amateurs.
Everyone is “just a bunch of amateurs”, it turns out. Especially bankers.
This probably deserves its own post, but Alom’s film is done!