Short Attention Span Science Theater is a new Stanford University site that features “microdocs,” two to four minute videos explaining scientific topics in a simple and engaging way. Groups of microdocs are packaged into “notebooks” on particular topics. From Stanford News Service:
The first Short Attention Span Science notebook demystifies ecological sustainability–the basis for the green movement around the world, (Marine Science professor Steve Palumbi) said: “What is sustainability? What promotes it? What threatens it? What are the tipping points that push an ecosystem into ruin or keep it functioning forever? The ecological sustainability notebook shows the elements of sustainability and explains how they apply to one of the most important and beautiful ecosystems on earth–coral reefs.”
Palumbi serves as narrator and on-camera host of many of the microdocs, which were shot at research sites in Fiji, Samoa, the Caribbean, Micronesia and other coral reefs. “Navigating around the site is like a fast trip to the coral reefs of the world, with you in control of the journey,” he said. “We present the problems facing reefs, and how they can recover and grow. We show the kinds of reefs, the species that live on them and efforts by local people all over the world to preserve them.”
Short Attention Span Science Theater (Thanks, Jason Tester!)