BS: Dancing with the Scientists

Subject: BS: Dancing with the Scientists
From: Desert Dancer
Date: 26 Nov 08 - 06:12 PM

The 2009 AAAS/Science Dance Contest, "Taking science to the dance, and back again"

Dancing With the Scientists
By John Tierney, New York Times
November 20, 2008, 2:31 pm

This just in! Four researchers have won the coveted AAAS/Science Dance Contest, which rewards those brave enough to choreograph and perform their dissertations. I especially liked the winning entry in the graduate-student division by Sue Lynn Lau of the University of Sydney in Australia, whose thesis is titled, "The role of vitamin D in beta cell function."

That may not sound like a promising project for choreography, but check out the results as the Sun dances away, producing vitamin D that goes on to bring new life to the beta cells. From the exuberantly happy finale of the dance, I have to assume that Ms. Lau's experiments in the lab successfully demonstrated the goal of her thesis: "We hypothesize that vitamin D could improve bet-call function, and insulin secretion, thus protecting against diabetes."

You can see the other winners and learn more about the contest here. It's the brainchild of the Gonzo Scientist, a.k.a. Science Contributing Correspondent John Bohannon, who last year sponsored the first "Dance Your Ph.D." competition (here's last year's post on the winners — we in the Lab never miss the important stuff).

Before you see the winner in this year's professor category, you might try imagining how you would choreograph a thesis titled, " "Resolving Pathways of Functional Coupling in Human Hemoglobin Using Quantitative Low Temperature Isoelectric Focusing of Asymmetric Mutant Hybrids." Then you can see how Vince LiCata, a biology professor at Louisiana State University, turned this thesis into the dance masterpiece, "A Molecular Dance in the Blood, Observed."

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What will they think of next... ;-)

~ Becky in L.A., this week

Subject: RE: BS: Dancing with the Scientists
From: Cluin
Date: 26 Nov 08 - 08:38 PM

Dancing with the Comic Book Writers?

Oh no wait! The wimmenfolk are making me go see "Lord of the Dance" tomorrow night.

Think well of me when I'm gone.

Subject: RE: BS: Dancing with the Scientists
From: Skivee
Date: 26 Nov 08 - 11:52 PM

What a wonderful idea

Subject: RE: BS: Dancing with the Scientists
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 27 Nov 08 - 09:04 PM

Thanks for posting. Whoever would have thought that the cells of the pancreas would possess such charm?