It's far too easy to forget just how wonderful experiments are. It's a scientific paper in a nutshell: you show what you've got (Materials), you do something with it (Methods), something happens (Results) and then you get to discuss it. And not just "something happens", neither: so many of the best known experiments have astonishing and eye-catching results, from dramatic colour changes to peculiar vibrations to the completely unexpected.
A few weeks ago Karen James linked to Sixty Symbols on her Twitter feed, introducing me to the works of Brady Haran. Brady records scientists talking about physics (Sixty Symbols) and chemistry (Periodic Videos) at the University of Nottingham, edits them into tight little bundles of experiment, anecdotes and discussion, and puts them up on YouTube. I don't know how effective these videos are at connecting to non-scientists, but - as a long time science enthusiast - they're right up there with the best science shows I've seen.
Each short video focuses on a particular topic: carbon, angular momentum, or Planck's constant, and consists of discussions, mini-lectures and experiments - lots and lots of experiments.
Not that these videos are just for science newbies: Periodic Videos can go to places your high-school chemistry teacher simply couldn't. You can watch flourine being synthesized (and then used, MythBusters style, to set many things on fire) or aqua regia dissolving gold. And when you watch a video of a physicist waxing lyrical about his favourite number, you know you're in safe, geeky hands.
If you're at all into science, you really need to check out Sixty Symbols and Periodic Videos.
It is the University of Nottingham, NOT Birmingham!
Brady
Posted by: Periodicvideos | October 13, 2010 at 02:56 AM
*D'oh*! Thanks for the correction, Brady - and thanks again for the videos! I'm listening to the Bibletex all-in-one playlist even as I correct my silly mistake.
Posted by: Gaurav | October 13, 2010 at 03:02 AM