Breaking News!

So, I’ve commented off and on and here and there about a new show being produced by Revision3 in which I get to play the mad scientist. Oh, oops… sorry, that’s the RAD Scientist. My segment, called Rad Science, is part of an amazing program called PopSiren that was just released to the public today. It’s first official showing will be today at 12 noon. You can find the show at Revision3’s website.

PopSiren is hosted by Jessica Corbin and Sarah Lane (both of Tech TV fame), and features cool DIY tips, tricks, and projects for girls and boys. Neha Tiwari is the resident Nerd Bird, and I get to do science. Yay! My favorite. PopSiren is produced and directed by Heather Frank.

The reason that I initially became excited about this project was that I would have the opportunity to work with four amazing women, each with unique strengths and interests. The combination could be nothing more than amazing. And, so far it has. Each week I am absolutely impressed by the abilities these women bring to the table. What a fantastic experience!So, my first week on the job was the craziest experience ever. I was in the process of moving from Davis to SF with way to much stuff on my plate when Heather asked if I could have a segment ready for the following week. Of course, I said yes. I spent the week trying to fit my research for the segment in between packing boxes and cleaning nooks and crannies. The idea I came up with was inspired by watching a few sciencey videos on the internet. However, it was kind of involved and required the building of a fairly large apparatus - a Ruben’s Tube.

Enter my friends: thanks to the help of the amazing people in my life everything came together. Of course, it was all at the 11th hour, but it got done. We moved on a very rainy Saturday, and on Sunday the script was written and the Ruben’s Tube was built. We tested it sometime around midnight the night before the PopSiren shoot. Everything worked beautifully.The next day I hauled everything down to the Revision3 studios (and totally felt like a crazy person with this giant aluminum tube in my arms as I walked down the street) for the shoot. Once I was all set up, I had to deal with the actual recording. OMG! Tele-prompters?!? This was going to be interesting. It is actually quite difficult to read from a tele-prompter and NOT look like you’re reading. I guess you learn something new everyday, and today was the lesson in tele-prompters. We went through the segment a couple of times and then moved on to recording. It all went surprisingly smoothly. What a relief when it was over. I really wanted to do a good job, and I think that I did. My secret was to make sure I had fun. Not terribly hard when I’m playing with fire.

What does a Ruben’s tube have to do with fire? Well, the Ruben’s tube, also known as a flame tube, is named after Heinrich Rubens (1865 - 1922), a German physicist who used to hang out with the likes of Max Planck. While he is better known for his role in working out quantum theory, he used his knowledge of sound and pressure to create the first flame tube. A flame tube consists of a pipe, sealed at one end, with holes drilled along its length. the unsealed end of the pipe houses a speaker. Flammable gas is pumped into the tube. When the gas begins to escape through the little holes, the gas is lit. It looks like lots of little candles. Then sound is transmitted to the tube via the speaker. This is where the fun starts.

Sound is a physical effect of the movement of matter. Some initial force creates waves of pressure that push air particles into and past each other. So, when the speaker is turned on it creates sound waves in the tube. The waves act on the gas in the tube, compressing it, and pushing it out through the little holes. Because of the tube itself, it is possible to visualize the standing waves of sound in the flames on top of the tube. The flame tube demonstrates the physical aspect of sound that is normally invisible to the human eye.Fun, right? I thought so. You can see what my friends and I built on PopSiren’s launch episode.

Check it out!

Food Science Demo Reel

I got Joe Lindsay at Pixelcorps to edit me a demo reel of the work I’ve been doing with them on Food Science. Take a look! Oh, and if you want to see Food Science in full go to www.onfoodscience.tv for lots of great episodes brought to you by the amazing people at OnNetworks.

I’m Back…

… from the dead so to speak. I have been fully ensconced in the writing of my dissertation for the past couple of months, but a few days ago I got the required signiatures and turned it in to the university authorities. I am done. I am a doctor. Let’s hope it helps me get my phd in the door somewhere.

I’m readying myself for the flurry of Christmas activity in which I usually become involved around this time of year. Buy the presents, visit the families, go to parties, drink and eat a lot. Sometimes the pomp and circumstance gets to me, especially the present purchasing bit. I mean if this month or so is supposed to be so about family and love, why ruin it by putting a dollar value on it with the number or extravagance of presents bought.

One potential gift this year that is getting a bit of press is the video game, “Left Behind: Eternal Forces”, based on the Left Behind book series about what happens to the people of the world after “the rapture”. The rapture is what born-again Christians expect to happen when Christ returns to the earth and takes all good (i.e. Christan) people to heaven. All non-believers will be left to face the anti-Christ here on earth. In the game as a player, you fight to convert people to Christianity and therefore save their souls or kill them if they won’t join you because that means that they must be with the anti-Christ. If you happen to kill someone unnecessarily (like they were a Christian, but they got their Sony PS3 before you, so you killed them for it), the game lets you atone for your sins through prayer. You can actually replace lost points through prayer.

“Left Behind: Eternal Forces” seems like the worst idea for a Christmas gift I have ever heard of. Way to teach Christian values, guys. So, first, it promotes the idea that non-Christians should be killed. This sounds like something I’ve heard about in the news in recent years. Let me think… Oh, right, like the small-minded jihadist thinking spouted by religious zealots in the Muslim community. Or, maybe like the Borg from Star Trek; you must be assimilated. However, in this case, instead of becoming one of a hive-like community of beings, you get to go to heaven. Second, this game promotes the idea that you are not responsible for your own actions as long as you pray. Sure, by prayer alone, you suddenly, magically, will be absolved of your actions. If we had a direct line to GOD, I am certain that if you killed someone, and called HIM up to say, “Hey, GOD… I kind of made a boo-boo and killed my friend for his PS3. I’m sorry.” Then GOD would say, “Yo, Dude… no problem. I understand, totally. No harm done.”

I’m glad that there are Christian groups out there who are against the sale of this game in stores. People should stand up to remind the world that violence is not religious truth. Wars are fought in the name of religions, but the basic beliefs of those religions are not based on violence. In fact, the basic beliefs of most major religions are pretty much the same in their emphasis on love and kindness. It’s in the interpretation that things get screwed up. It’s too bad that some people can’t just get over themselves, and realize how amazing we all are in our differences.

I’m not religious, so the aspects of the holiday season that revolve around organized religion are pretty lost on me. But this time of year is special to me. It is a time that almost forces me to sit back, and think about how lucky I am to have the friends and family that I do. There aren’t many times of year that do that. My life is quite active, and taking any time to spend with loved ones is a luxury. I mentally reserve this time of year to be luxurious in the company of my friends and family. It makes me sad when the real importance of the season, the personal chance to take stock and be more aware of the things in my life and to consciously be present in my life instead of running through it, takes a back seat to commersialism and obligation. If more people were to stop chasing life and actually start living it, there would be a lot more meaningful giving going on in this world. Maybe then we could stop celebrating Christmas and start celebrating humanity. That’s something we can celebrate all year long.

So, walk more slowly and enjoy the creativity and beauty around you as you shop for presents. Chew more slowly as you eat the holiday meals. Drink moments deeply and savor the amazing people around you. If you have nothing else to give, give a smile and a hug. Being present is the best present you can give.

New York Stories

When I traveled to New York this past fall for the AAAS fellowship I was required to write biweekly reports on my experience, a midterm report, and a final report. In addition, the American Physiological Society who sponsored my adventure asked that I write for their publication, “The Physiologist.” The first piece they published can be found here. I just finished working on a couple of stories, one is a final thought based on my experience at WNBC, and the other an opinion piece about the public image and future of science. I’ll wait to see which they choose to publish, and maybe post the other here on my site at that time.

Did you feel it?

So, according to my friends in the Bay Area, there was an earthquake today. I didn’t feel a thing being in Davis and far enough away from most epicenters to be clueless. However, as I sit here in my safe little town thinking about what I am going to do with myself when my dissertation in finished, it strikes home that there really isn’t anyplace safe to live. California, wherever I may go, is earthquake prone; the next BIG ONE due to hit either the Hayward faultline in the north or the San Andreas in the south. Whether I live in SF or LA, I’ll be screwed eventually either way. Living in New York seems like the safest option, but it’s far from home and suffers from deathly hot summers on the tail end of bitter cold winters (even though this year has been especially mild as far as winters go nevermind the blizzard). Florida has too many hurricanes, and the center of the country is constantly on tornado watch. If only it weren’t so dull in small towns I might actually be happy to stay put and live out the small town life.