PBS Shoot Fun

By | | , , , , , ,

pbs_shoot_selfieMore adventures in communicating the awesomeness of physics! Yesterday I spent a gruelling seven hours in the sun talking about the development of various ideas in physics over the centuries for a new show (to air next year) on PBS. Interestingly, we did all of this at a spot that, in less dry times, would have been underwater. It was up at lake Piru, which, due to the drought, is far below capacity. You can see this by going to google maps, looking at the representation of its shape on the map, and then clicking the satellite picture overlay to see the much changed (and reduced) shape in recent times.

There’s an impressive dam at one end of the lake/reservoir, and I will admit that I did not resist the temptation to pull over, look at a nice view of it from the road on the way home, and say out loud “daaayuum”. An offering to the god Pun, you see.

pbs_shoot_piru

Turns out that there’s a wide range of wildlife, large and small, trudging around on the (sometimes slightly quicksand-like) pbs_shoot_piru_3surface near the water. There were some impressive bear and mountain lion tracks, mussel shells underfoot, and some of the oddest tiny wriggling creatures that I’ve seen in a while down at mud level (which I came up close to due to an idea I had for an on-camera demonstration – you can see the crew working on photographing some of the demo’s surroundings in the top picture). Now there are physicist-tracks:

pbs_shoot_piru_2

Anyway, I think I’ll remain quiet about further details of the show until I’ve got permission to say more, so stay tuned.

pbs_shoot_piru_1

-cvj

Bookmark the permalink.

50 Responses to PBS Shoot Fun