Lights, Camera, Action

A few months ago, The Guardian reported that the Oxford English Dictionary had included an incorrect definition for the word 'siphon' for about 100 years. Never fear though, you can now learn all about siphons from four schoolchildren dressed as monsters.

This learning opportunity arises from SciCast, an online initiative which invites scientists (of any shape or form) to submit short films about science to their website. They also present the SciCast awards, which are open to films submitted from the UK and Ireland.

Many of the films come from schools, but anyone can submit- families, professional scientists, youth groups, etc. as long as they are from amateur film-makers.

The result is a huge web resource of fun science movies that everyone can enjoy at www.planet-scicast.com

The initiative is the brainchild of TV producer Jonathan Sanderson and stems from what he says was a dirth of science content on British Children's TV.

The winners of the competition element of the scheme were announced at an event in the Royal Institution, London last Friday. Some of my favourite award winners include:

• The schoolchildren from Scotland who tested a variety of rockets. See it here.
• The Lego animation of the Apollo 11 moon landings by Oliver Madgwick which discusses the difference between mass and weight. This film won the award for technical and Artistic Achievement. See it here.
• A fun explanation of the Doppler Effect. See it here which picked up the best Physics SciCast.
• An excellent paper animation demonstrating seed dispersal which received the award for Best Biology (Primary) SciCast. See it here.
• Finally, there is the wonderful "Spooky Siphoning" film which combines an explanation of siphons with monster costumes - It has to be seen to be believed!

There are loads more films to watch on the website. And while watching them should be a great learning opportunity in itself, if it encourages people to create their own SciCasts, then the organisers will have achieved something altogether much more fun!


Some of the most weird and wonderful highlights of SciCast:



Jonathan Sanderson takes about SciCast:

All aboard for Turin

In another example of novel science communication, six young Irish science ambassadors are travelling across Europe aboard the Science Communication Bus in order to promote Dublin City of Science 2012.

Having left Dublin on the 20th of June, they plan to reach Turin (City of Science 2010) on the 1st of July before heading on to Barcelona to end their tour. The stopover in Turin will coincide with that city's science celebrations which take place from 2nd-7th July.

The science ambassadors will be tweeting, blogging and youtubing along the way.

The science bus rolled into Brussels yesterday where they visited Ireland's European Commissioner for Research and Innovation, Maire Geoghegan-Quinn.

Ellen Byrne, one of the science ambassadors outlined the goals of the trip: "We are travelling from Dublin to Turin and all along the way, we are talking about Dublin, the city of science 2012".

Maire Geoghegan-Quinn welcomed the initiative: " I think it is a tremendous achievement because it is collaboration between different elements, Enterprise Ireland, which deals with industry in Ireland, the chief scientific officer and so on, and also the tourism bodies in the country."

"They have been talking to the ambassadors, and they keep telling me that every time, everywhere they go, there is a huge buzz and a huge excitement. And, as I've said from the beginning, I want young people back involved in the sciences and what better way to promote that than to see these young people travelling all the way to Turin."

And Ellen Byrne had some advise for those interested in science: "I would say roll up your sleeves and just totally get involved. There is something for everyone in science: science, technology, engineering and maths; and whether it's music, art or football, there is something for everyone to do within science."

You can find out more about the trip and about Dublin 2012 by visiting www.dublinscience2012.ie

I'm a scientist, get me out of here!

As I posted recently, the public want scientists to communicate more. This is one of the more inventive ways of doing it. Based upon the reality TV format, students get to get to know and quiz a panel of working scientists before voting for their favourite and evicting the rest.

55% of public say scientists must communicate more

According to a new Eurobarometer report published this week, nearly 80% of Europeans say they are interested in scientific discoveries and technological developments, compared to 65% interested in sport.

57% think scientists should put more effort into communicating about their work and 66% believe governments should do more to interest young people in scientific issues. Europeans overwhelmingly recognise the benefits and importance of science but many also express fears over risks from new technologies and the power that knowledge gives to scientists.

For example, a massive 58% of respondents at the EU level agreed with the statement that "we can no longer trust scientists to tell the truth about controversial scientific and technological issues because they depend more and more on money from industry". This figure falls to 36% when responses from Ireland only are considered. Given the Irish government's decision to reduce the amount of exchequer funding available to scientific research, in favour of more input from industry, it begs the question: will the Irish and European public be happy about this? Perhaps not, given the results of this survey, but they are hardly likely to demand higher taxes to pay for purely government sponsored science either.

53%: "scientists have a power that makes them dangerous"Worrying too is the agreement of 53% of the European respondents (46% of Irish respondents) with the statement that, because of their knowledge, scientists "have a power that makes them dangerous". Not potentially dangerous, mind you, but just dangerous, full stop!

Interestingly, when asked whether they agreed or disagreed with the statement that we depend too much on science and not enough on faith, 29% of Irish respondents agreed. This was down significantly from 41% when this survey was last taken in 2005. Is this an indication of the increased secularisation of Irish society?

With regard to the communication of science, 57% of EU respondents (55% of Irish respondents) felt that scientists do not put enough effort into informing the public about new developments in science and technology. When the data is closely analysed, we see that those respondents who feel that they are not informed at all about scientists feel that scientists themselves are not making enough effort to communicate the message about science.

16%: "newspaper journalists best equipped to communicate science"The majority of EU citizens (63% of respondents) felt that scientists working at a university or government laboratories are best qualified to explain scientific and technological developments. Just 32% of respondents felt that scientists working in industry were best placed to explain these developments. 16% of respondents felt that newspaper journalists were best equipped to discuss such developments.

Research, Innovation and Science Commissioner Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said: "The success of the Europe 2020 Strategy depends on cutting edge science to keep Europe competitive. In turn, that means ordinary Europeans need to back science and keep the pressure up on government and on industry to invest in it. These results show a very high awareness of the importance of science. But they also show that both politicians – like me – and scientists themselves need to explain better what we are doing and why."

Overall, the survey shows that European citizens are fairly optimistic about science and technology - 75% of respondents agree or tend to agree that thanks to science and technology there will be more opportunities for future generations. However, there is a shift towards scepticism compared to the 2005 survey. Judging by the results of this survey, this scepticism could be reduced by more scientists, in particular those in academia, making an even greater effort to communicate their work to the general public.

As Peter Fiske wrote in Nature earlier this year: "Scientists must communicate about their work — to other scientists, sponsors of their research and the general public...searching for opportunities to give talks and lectures — and seeking audiences that are outside one's immediate sphere of scientific influence at, for example, science museums or local civic organizations".

"scientists must communicate about their work" - Peter Fiske"Many scientists are incredulous at how little the general public knows about science and technology" says Fiske, "but scientists do little to address the gap in understanding. Most think that their successes in the lab are manifestly evident, making education about the value of their work unnecessary. Few ever communicate with their elected officials. With the public footing most of the bill, this misguided belief seems naive and undermines those who campaign for more funding.

"Excellent work is a prerequisite for career progress, but is not sufficient by itself. Broadcasting one's accomplishments and exercising the 'active voice' in all aspects of one's work is the best way to earn notice, gain recognition and make the public at large aware of the value of the scientific enterprise."

The full Eurobarometer report (pdf) can be viewed here.

An edited version of this article appears on the Guardian.co.uk Science Blog.

So you want to be a scientist?

In the age of TV talent competitions and the X Factor, the BBC have used the format to help amateur scientists turn their ideas into real experiments.

This week, four finalists for the "So you want to be a scientist?" competition were announced. These came from the some 1,300 ideas which were submitted since January.

The amateur scientists will now work with experienced researchers to design and implement their experiments and collect and analyse the results, They'll present the results at the British Science Festival in September when the judges will pick an overall winner.

The four finalists are:

Sam O'kell, a croupier, who wants to test his hypothese that concert crowds are more dense between 6-10 feet from the stage rather than at the very front.

Ruth Brooks, a retired special needs tutor, wants to protect her plants by establishing the homing distance of the Garden Snail. "How far away do I ahve to dump them before they find their way back to my garden?"

Nina Jones, a 17-year-old A-level student, is interested in Facebook and particularly what makes up a typical Facebook profile picture. Adults seem to show a big event in their lives, while teenagers tend to use a picture of themselves having a great time. Nina will see if this is true and why it occurs.

The final place (which was a very close call by all acounts) went to John Rowlands who wants to "investigate the frequency and brightness of noctilucent clouds".

Ideas which made the shortlist, but just missed out on a place in the final include an investigation by a gallery owner into why more people come into the gallery when he places a mannequin in the window. Do art lovers not like to be on their own?

Another shortlisted amateur scientist wanted to see whether getting a choir to sing a piece of music based on the sounds of bees to the hive once a week would increase honey production.

Angus Johnson on the other hand proposed an investigation into the ability of men and women in their ability to find one item amid a clutter of other objects. Are men much messier than women?

Science writer and broadcaster Dr. Adam Rutherford welcomed the competition noting that "science is not a bank of knowledge. It's a way of knowing. Qualifications and working in professional labs certainly does help, but if you've ever looked at something and thought "hmmm, how does that work?" or "what happens if I...?" then you're thinking like a scientist already."

If you're in school and interested in trying your hand at some scientific experiments, then you can try the BT Young Scientist Competition or SciFest.