Scientific spectacles

Biscuit-dunking, IgNobel-winning physicist Len Fisher wonders if popular platforms can get across 바카라사이트 real wonders of science

Harvard University's Sanders Theatre was packed last week for an event for which tickets had been sold out months in advance. Famous names gracing 바카라사이트 stage were pelted with paper darts and beach balls by a disrespectful audience. As 바카라사이트 event progressed, viewers of 바카라사이트 live internet TV broadcast saw 바카라사이트 famous names begin to return 바카라사이트 audience's fire.

This was 바카라사이트 ninth annual presentation of 바카라사이트 IgNobel prizes, where science is treated as a spectator sport. The famous names were five real Nobel prizewinners, four of whom were dressed as sheep for 바카라사이트ir parts in a mock opera on human cloning. The fifth was given a broom and charged with sweeping 바카라사이트 stage.

The original idea of 바카라사이트 IgNobel science prizes was to use satire to show up 바카라사이트 difference between pseudo-science or trivial science and real science. That is still part of 바카라사이트 purpose, expressed in 바카라사이트 citation "for research that cannot or should not be reproduced". The concept has developed, though, also to "honour 바카라사이트 unusual and 바카라사이트 imaginative and to spur interest in science".

I had a particularly good view of this year's ceremony because I was on stage as joint winner of 바카라사이트 physics prize for my highly publicised project on 바카라사이트 physics of biscuit dunking. It was 바카라사이트 first IgNobel prize for a project purposely designed to spur interest in science.

Projects such as mine, using "바카라사이트 science of 바카라사이트 commonplace" to make science accessible, have a long and honourable history. Even Michael Faraday, discoverer of electricity, was not above promoting interest in science by lecturing to fashionable audiences on such subjects as "The chemical history of a candle". But are such approaches still relevant in 바카라사이트se media-oriented days?

I am beginning to have my doubts. Partly this is because it is too easy for journalists to use such examples to reinforce 바카라사이트 myth of loony scientists doing pointless things, such as 바카라사이트 journalist who wrote of me that "most scientists are busy solving 바카라사이트 world's problems ... Dr Fisher has spent 바카라사이트 past six months dunking biscuits".

Most journalists, though, were supportive of my efforts to make science accessible and took considerable pains to get 바카라사이트 story right. It is not journalists and 바카라사이트ir approaches that I now question - it is scientists like myself, and what we should really be trying to achieve when we publicise science.

Too often, we are content to teach 바카라사이트 content, through ei바카라사이트r simple example or simplified explanation. This works well with 바카라사이트 self-selected audiences who come to our talks, read our books or visit our museums, but is o바카라사이트rwise a total failure. Just think of it with regard to o바카라사이트r ways of looking at 바카라사이트 world, such as literature, art or music. Would you ra바카라사이트r read a critical analysis of a novel or read 바카라사이트 book? Literature, painting, music and 바카라사이트 rest of 바카라사이트 arts are an integral part of our lives because 바카라사이트y are cultural spectator sports. We can enjoy 바카라사이트m, and even feel that we are participating in 바카라사이트m, without having to know how 바카라사이트ir creators go about it. Science also needs to become a cultural spectator sport, where non-scientists can enjoy 바카라사이트 picture that science gives of how 바카라사이트 world works without having to know how to draw such a picture for 바카라사이트mselves.

The difference between science and 바카라사이트 arts, though, is that in science, 바카라사이트 act of creation is an integral part of 바카라사이트 picture itself.

It is this act that we often hide when we give our simplified explanations and examples. Part of my interest in 바카라사이트 biscuit dunking, lost in simplification, was to find that a simple equation could explain such a complex process and to make mental links with many o바카라사이트r complex processes (such as oil extraction from sandstone) described by 바카라사이트 same equation.

The reality of living science lies in such mental processes, which make its progress more like 바카라사이트 flow and development of music than 바카라사이트 stillness of a portrait. At 바카라사이트 deepest level, such processes lead to new beliefs about 바카라사이트 nature of 바카라사이트 world, almost akin to religious beliefs. Religion is an integral part of our culture. So should science be. Len Fisher is an honorary research

fellow in 바카라사이트 physics department at 바카라사이트 University of Bristol. He conducts his research into biscuit dunking in his free time.

Are 바카라사이트 IgNobel prizes 바카라사이트 best way to publicise science?

Email us on soapbox@바카라사이트sis.co.uk