SciTalks

SciTalks is a new web site that aggregates videos of science talks from YouTube, news sites, universities and other sources. They don't actually host the videos - they just link to them. According to the SciTalks blog the goal is to create a useful educational resource.

Scitalks is important and needed. In the general trend toward democratizing education, we hope that it can become an important tool for educators, home schoolers and those who are wanting to educate themselves.

In another context, science’s credibility is at the heart of a conflict where the opponent is well funded and well organized. We’re a society trained to sound-bites. Our critical thinking skills are eroding. Scientific thought is by its very nature complex and challenging to communicate to the general public. Most universities aren’t up to the task and the scientists themselves are involved in a system where the public is at the bottom of the list of the masters they must satisfy if they want to remain in research. They must publish or perish, and peer review is where they publish.

Yet there is no one else who can better convey the necessity, drama and passion of their work than the scientists themselves.

They are asking for submissions of video links, so if you or a scientist you know has been featured in a video that is available online, it's probably worth letting them know.

Tags: SciTalks, video