Today’s featured #SciFund project is Aditya Rao’s C-Cilia in Motion!!
I love the video for this project. LOVE it. It’s one of my favorite videos of the bunch. Why? Because quite simply, I am quite often bored stiff by cellular and molecular biology. The litany of proteins, the endless cycles of metabolic processes, etc. etc. etc. And yes, I realize the grand irony of not connecting to this when I’ve ended up studying the complexity of ecosystems. (In fact much of my reading these days is about metabolic networks).
Aditya’s video changed this for me. It’s full of passion, excitement, and humor. I got REALLY excited about flagella. His love of his organism, the problem he’s studying, and the clarity of his explanation opened up something for me. Not only was the delivery and scripting pitch-perfect, but the style of the video also makes it a stand-out for me. The video opens with wonderful old-timey edited footage of the study organism in question. Throughout the video, it cuts to short images that at times make analogies and other times counterpoint the research being discussed.
It’s a fantastic example of creative storytelling about science. The viewer is left feeling not only interested in the nerdy science of the project, but has a clear vision that this is a project with huge implications.
It’s not all video – there’s also the fantastic text of the proposal itself. From the intro
Look around you! See the world. Smell it! Hear it! Touch it! What’re you doing?
You are sensing the world you live in. And to do this, you are using special equipment like hands, eyes, tongues etc.
Now imagine that you are a tiny little cell in your body. To survive, you need to be able to sense the environment you are in. You need to find food, you need to sense danger and you need to communicate with other cells! What equipment will you use??
We know the answer to that one. The answer is a tiny whip like structure called the Cilium.
Exciting dynamic language and a clear connection to the reader. Fantastic!
All in all, it makes me wish I lived in Syracuse so that I could kick in $250 for a curry dinner and hear more about cilia! But maybe you do! Heck, even if you don’t go check out C-Cilia in Motion!! and help to #SciFund it!
