The Alan Nursall Experience: Scommies Team Up with The Daily Planet

This past week, The Daily Planet was in Sudbury for a four-day shoot for a segment of the Alan Nursall Experience.  The Scommies were invited to participate in two parts of the shoot.  It was a great opportunity for all of us to experience the works behind filming television programming.  So, in short, we were wired with mics. and sent in front of cameras to communicate science!

Day One: Super-cooled Liquids

Six of us (Lorraine, Brandon, Josh, Karen, Susie, and Nina) got to hang around outdoors on Laurentian University campus to answer a viewer question: Say you've put a bottle of water into the freezer.  Why is it that sometimes, even though the temperature of the water is below freezing (below 0 degrees Celsius), the water is still liquid, but if you shake or squeeze the bottle, it freezes almost instantly? 

Thanks to chilly Sudbury weather, we got to answer the question by experimenting with bottles of super-cooled water and beer (and of course there was no shortage of LU students walking by and exclaiming "There's beer on that table!").  We got to work with infrared thermometers (to read the surface temperatures of the bottled liquids without disturbing them), and watch water that remained liquid at -7 Celsius flash freeze before our eyes!  I won't spoil all of the details, but I will say that the results of our experiments were super-cool.

Nina, Brandon, and Karen - along with Alan Nursall - create ice with super-cooled water. Photo courtesy of Laurentian Alumni on Twitter (@LaurentianAlum).

Day Two: Spa Day

While some of us got to freeze our butts on the previous shoot, Jalyn, Sarah, and Steph got to spend their shoot in the sauna at the  Laurentian University gym.

From Steph:

If you had been taking a shower in the LU women’s locker room on Wednesday morning of last week, you would have been interrupted by a strange announcement: “Quiet please, we’re filming!!” 

That would have been quite the excuse to wrap up in a towel quickly and get out!  But there was nothing strange going on, just a shoot of The Alan Nursall Experience in the sauna for Daily Plant.  Maybe a bit strange for a science show, but that’s what makes the experience so much fun.  Alan and friends (including a few of our very own Sci. Comm. students) were exploring the reason why you get hot while enjoying the sauna. 

Steam you say?  Well yes, sort of.  In order to make water boil and become water vapor (steam), you must add heat.  Therefore, when this water condenses into its liquid form again, heat is released.  You are the coolest surface in a sauna, so the evaporated water condenses on your skin, releasing heat, and making you feel warmer.  Interesting stuff! 

Experiencing filming for television was very interesting.  It is a time consuming practice, which is especially noticeable when sitting in a sauna with a robe on.  Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun and a great addition to the “Scommie’s” list of adventures!

Stay tuned for more photos and showtimes.  The Daily Planet airs everyday on the Discovery Channel at 7 pm and 11 pm EST.

Adventures in SciComm: Science Centre Showdown

If you watch The Discovery Channel, you may or may not have tuned in to watch The Daily Planet's "Greatest Show Ever" to celebrate its fifteenth anniversary.  As a part of Science North, our class had the opportunity to participate in this episode through a science centre showdown in which science centres across Canada competed with science demonstrations. Jalyn, Steph and Josh volunteered for the demonstration.

From Josh:

School started just over a month ago and I have already been on national television; what other program offers an opportunity like that? At the beginning of September we were asked by the science centre staff if any of us would like to participate in Science North's entry into Daily Planet's Science Centre Showdown. Jalyn, Steph and myself were lucky enough to be chosen to help out. The day before filming we were taught the experiment and went to dress rehearsal with the rest of the team. A few hours of practice and we were set.

The next night, a Monday in mid-September, we met in the Vale Inco Cavern at Science North. The crew from the Discovery Channel was already there when we arrived and ready to go. Filming is a long process and a long set up for a quick experiment meant a lot of downtime on the set. But good pizza and great company meant that we all had fun. The rest of the class showed up to watch a take of the experiment, and so did Alan Nursall, Daily Planet television personality and exhibits professor for the program. Between takes we were able to talk to the crew from Discovery Channel about their jobs and the traveling they get to do; their next stop after Science North was the Discovery Centre in Halifax. Many hours, and many takes later we were done filming.

Last night, a month after filming, the final product finally aired. The hours we spent at Science North filming had been edited down to just over two minutes, but I saw each of us a few times. It may have only been for a few seconds, but the three of us can say we were on Daily Planet's Greatest Show Ever! It was the experience of a lifetime and a great way to start off the year.

 If you missed The Daily Planet's Greatest Show Ever, you can catch it online here (Science North appears at the 10:30 mark).

Things have been moving so quickly in this program that we seem to run out of time to write blogs!

Justin updated you a while ago about visiting the Perimeter Institute in Waterloo. This was just one of the great experiences we had while we explored the world of Science Communication in Southern Ontario. We also had the opportunity visit the set of Daily Planet (and we even met Jay Ingram!), the Ontario Science Centre (and Body Worlds), and the Royal Ontario Museum. We also got a special one-on-one with Pat Senson, a Science Journalist. It was a lot to cram into 3 days, but it was worth it!

We had a blast and wanted to thank everyone who accommodated us while we were visiting these various locations, Pat Senson for taking the time out of his busy schedule to come meet us, and Chantal, Dave, and Carey for organizing such a great trip for us!

We were all excited to visit CTV Studios!

And now onto more news! After a busy (and somewhat relaxing) reading week, we’re back at school and we’ve started a new term in the Science Communication program. Things couldn’t be more different for us!

First of all, we’ve had to say goodbye to two of our classmates, Mylene and Iara, who were here on an exchange from France. They are now completing their internships so that they can receive their Masters in Science Communication. Iara is back in France for her internship and Mylene is now in Montreal! We had a little going away party for them before they left to let them know how much we loved having them in our class. We miss you guys already!

The Science Communication students - together for one last time before Mylene and Iara head off for their internships. (Don't ask about James and Kevin's hair...)

Also, now that we’ve begun the practice portion of the program, we are now doing more hands-on work in the areas of our choice! We had the option of choosing from the following list of courses: Live Programming, Exhibits, Mass Media, and Information Technology. Because we all have different Science Communication interests and talents, we have all chosen different variations of these courses! These courses are a great opportunity for us to practice the things that we spent the first half of the year learning.

I decided to experiment with my teaching skills in the Live Programming course and to challenge my creative side in the Exhibits course.

For part of the live programming course, we must observe and deliver two different school programs at Science North. I spent the day on Friday observing different staff members deliver school programs in different areas of Science North. They are all so enthusiastic and good at their jobs. You could really tell that the students who were visiting were having a good time (and learning!). Hopefully when it comes time for me to deliver a school program, I will be as great as the Science North staff were!

In Exhibits, I have been trying to create an exhibit that engages visitors in a chemistry-related topic. This is something that is difficult to do in science centres – it’s hard to take a subject like chemistry, that sometimes requires lots of assistance, and create an exhibit that can be easily manipulated by visitors.

I think we’ve already learned a few important things in this class:

1. There is a lot of work that goes into creating exhibits. If someone can walk up to an exhibit, know what to do right away, and take something away from it, then it was an effective exhibit. Being able to make an exhibit like this is not as easy as it looks!
2. The initial idea won’t be the final idea. I’m two weeks into the course and have already changed my exhibit idea at least 3 times.
3. Getting input from others is extremely helpful when creating an exhibit. An important practice that we have been using is something like a “sharing circle,” where we describe our idea and receive feedback from classmates. We’ve also been working in pairs and noticing that it’s a great idea to bounce ideas off of others.
   

The only downside to me choosing these two awesome courses is that I now spend less time with classmates who have chosen other options! We’ve all become so close throughout the first 6 months of the course that it’s kind of strange not being all together in the boardroom – I guess we will just have to rely on our social lives to keep us all connected before we head off to our internships in April!

- Sarah :)

P.S. This is the first blog that I have written and posted on my own! (Well... I did need a little help from Justin! But still, it's pretty exciting!)