A good science blog can do wonders for your online image. The video below was posted on youtube on December 9, 2009 by a person with the youtube handle “skarefamena” and picked up by the science blogging wonder Pharyngula. Pharyngula a.k.a PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris and one of the most followed science bloggers/tweeters on the internet. When PZ posts a video to his site, it is seen by thousands. As of this post, skarefamena’s video has been viewed 10,836 times and climbing.
The video was edited by Nathaniel Krefman, a third-year Ph.D student in David Drubin and Georjana Barnes’ lab at the Molecular and Cell Biology program at UC-Berkeley. while Krefman is currently studying the microtubule cytoskeleton, specifically the proteins that form the interface between microtubules and kinetochores in mitosis, it would be interesting to follow up with him to see if his rise to stardom has had any impact on his research funding!
The video stars Phillip Cleves and Andrew Glazer who are also third-year Ph.D students in Craig Miller’s lab studying evolution and development in marine and freshwater stickleback. The synthesis of a director with a cell biology background together with actors from a marine biology lab speaks to the true genius of Krefman and his uncanny ability intermarry two seemingly divergent disciplines to create a science nerds paradise.
Keep up the good work Nathaniel!
Tags: funny video, Pharyngula, science parody