Sing a song of nanotechnology

Explaining nanotechnology to people is tough—as anyone working in the field will tell you. Clever stuff that’s too small to see with the naked eye doesn’t slot easily into most people’s human-scale view of the world. So it’s not surprising that many non-experts (and even some “experts”) end up with a rather mangled idea of what the technology is, and what it is not!

And this begs the question: if people are to be empowered to make informed decisions on nanotechnology, how do you un-mangle the misconceptions?

One approach is to tap into the latent creativity of researchers and science-enthusiasts, and get them to make educational video-shorts. The American Chemical Society is doing just this in its “What is Nano?” video contest. The challenge: submit an original creative video no more than 3 minutes long before March 12 2009 on “what is ‘nano’?” “how is ‘nano’ best visualized?” or “where is ‘nano’ headed?” And get the chance to win $500in cash!

You can browse the entries and vote for your favorite on the ACS NanoTube website—highly recommended for an entertaining diversion when the pressures of work get too much!

My favorite so far: “Small can be big – a French cheesy perspective” from Irene Suarez-Martinez and Chris Ewels. Not sure how great the educational value is, but it made me laugh:

[Add your vote here]

The top contender at present though is “The Nano Song” from Patrick Bennett and fellow researchers at UC Berkeley… – seen at the top of this blog [you can vote for the video here].

I’m still not sure whether to cringe or grin at this one—but you have to admit, the production values are pretty high. And the video does have the distinction of hitting the big time on the Wired Science blog.

I should also mention out of familial loyalty, my eleven year old son’s entry:

[Add your vote here - no pressure!]

This is a repackaging of some legomation shorts he made for me a couple of years back. It stretches the boundaries of the competition rather (to say it explains anything about nanotechnology is a bit of a stretch). But I still think it’s a lot of fun—and it demonstrates a level of skill in stop frame animation that’s way beyond anything I could do!

To be honest, there are plenty of turkeys amongst the gems in the current offerings—including videos that will leave your head spinning, even if you thought you knew a thing about nanotechnology. But as a start, the competition is a great way of getting people to think more imaginatively about the work they do, and how to make it accessible.

So do look through the competition entries, and PLEASE add your votes—the more attention the videos get, the higher the quality of submissions here and in subsequent contests is likely to be.

And if you feel inspired, there’s still time to get your 3-minute masterpiece out there for all to see.

Best of luck!