The long-awaited Wired Magazine / PBS television lovechild “Wired Science” debuted tonight — here’s a clip with host Chris Hardwick, who many Boing Boing readers will know as half of the comedy duo Hard ‘n’ Phirm (here’s a previous BB post about an anatomically-correct valentine song they did, LOL). Hardwick is awesome, he’s a wonderful host. Video Link.
From Wired Science executive producer Melanie Cornwell (she’s from the Wired Mag side of the project):
WIRED Science is the first
new prime-time series on PBS in 5 years. Hosted by the most excellent Chris
Hardwick, Kamala Lopez, and Ziya
Tong, the show translates Wired Magazine to television.
In the premier episode, Wired contributing editor Josh Davis
reports on the botnet attack that took out much of Estonia’s online
infrastructure this past spring (Davis simultaneously reported this story
for the magazine and Wired Science in Tallin and Moscow); Tong tests
software from the MIT Media Lab that is designed to help kids with
Asperger’s Syndrome do something the rest of us take for granted– read
emotions on people’s faces; Wired senior editor Adam Rogers goes in search
of chemistry and ends up needing to be decontaminated at the aptly named
United Nuclear in New Mexico; plus we’ll see a RoboDoc performing cardiac
surgery at UCLA– fascinating but definitely not for the squeamish. There
are also studio segments, including Hardwick bringing ‘What’s Inside’ from
the mag hilariously to life; a demo of Photosynth software; and a chat with
Paul Kedrosky, a VC who’s in the more-than-highly speculative business of
moving science out of labs and into markets.
The website launching with the
show has lots of original content, including a blog with 8
contributors, most of whom are scientists. Congrats on the launch, guys!
Below, Adam Rogers prepares to demonstrate dangerous toy chemistry sets.
