Speed Dating for Science!

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youtubespace panelLast night was amusing. I was at the YouTubeLA space with 6 other scientists from various fields, engaging with an audience of writers and other creators for YouTube, TV, film, etc.

It was an event hosted by the Science and Entertainment Exchange and Youtube/Google, and the idea was that we each had seven minutes to present in seven successive rooms with different audiences in each, so changing rooms each seven minutes.

Of course, early on during the planning conference call for the event, one of the scientists asked why it was not more efficient to simply have one large room and each give our talk once… but once it was explained about things like “novelty” and “buzz” and so forth (which such nn arrangement certainly generates), everyone was on board. I was overwhelmed (in a good way) with people wanting to ask questions and connect in various ways all through the event and so I neglected to take any photos. I also think that the audience must have been very engaged since there were few photos to be found under the various tags (like #SciandStory) people are supposed to use… suggesting that people were not on their phones much? Anyway, the one I’ve embedded here is from a tweet of @gotdaved. At the end we all were brought together for a moderated panel discussion about science and entertainment, and it was moderated by the multitalented Yulin Kuang (whose YouTube channel is here).

This was the list of scientists who participated, as it was presented to the audience: Duana Fullwiley (Anthropologist/Race & Genetics), Quyen Nguyen (Oncology Surgeon), Clifford Johnson (Theoretical Physics, USC), Jordan Evans (NASA Engineer), Elizabeth Loftus (Psychology/Social Behavior), Crystal Dilworth (Chemistry/Addiction – YouTube), Rishi Desai (Medicine – YouTube – Khan Academy).

(It was great to see and reconnect with my friend Crystal, who you may recall from my posts about the excellent #FailLab !)

Apparently a great time was had by all, and several of the panel retired to a bar in Venice after to explore conversation some more…

-cvj

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23 Responses to Speed Dating for Science!

  1. Pingback: Ships and Knobs… - Asymptotia

  2. Clifford says:
    June 26, 2015 at 5:46 am

    Yulin, Absolutely!

    -cvj