Happy Fun-with-Evidence Friday. Since I do rattle on about the need for better ways of presenting evidence, this caught my eye: Now you can compete in a contest called Dance Your PhD. Really. The official site says "the human body is an excellent medium for communicating science -- perhaps not as data-rich as a peer-reviewed article, but far more exciting."
Success! The contest is a bonafide hit, earning lots of media coverage (NYTimes Tierney Lab writeup here). To get in the game, you have to upload a video of your, um, presentation to YouTube. My personal favorite is the 2009 winner in the professor category, Vince LiCata, with A Molecular Dance in the Blood, Observed (view YouTube here). Sue Lynn Lau, this year's winner in the grad-student category, interpreted "The role of vitamin D in beta cell function."
Live! On stage for one night only! February 13 in Chicago, the group presented a live performance, "a dance synthesized by 4 choreographers based on the published research of the 4 scientists who won the AAAS/Science Dance Contest" (Facebook invitation here).
As the Gonzo Scientist explained it after the competition's 2008 maiden voyage, "No one quite knew what to expect as the lights came up on a pair of astrophysicists dressed as binary galaxies. To the tune of an old tango, Ruth Gruetzbauch stalked and twirled around Jesús Varela before surrendering to his supermassive gravity. The rowdy audience of scientists exploded with applause. The world's first Dance Your Ph.D. Contest, with Christoph Campregher at the controls of the sound system, was off to a good start."
Happy FEF, everybody!
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