The University of Nottingham woke up one morning and, after taking tea with talking badgers (which was the custom of the place), decided to produce and share sixty videos on astrophysics, each one allied to an astronomical symbol. Sixty Symbols was born.
Whether the symbol is a 70s medallion (minus chest hair) or a kitty (plenty of chest hair), whether it’s pi (not apple) or apple (no pie), there’s a video behind it.
In the forgoing examples videos covering Mars, Schrödinger’s Cat, 3.14159265 and Isaac Newton.
On each video, a perky, stunned, non-Euclidian or tonsorially terrifying scientist explains something so convoluted that in the past listeners would frequently blink out of existence rather than face the fact that our world is a crazy backward alphabet-land built on Wiffle balls and soap bubbles.
Laughably, the project’s ringleaders assert that none of this learning will harm you.
“They aren’t lessons or lectures – and this site has never tried to be an online reference book.The films are just fun chats with men and women who love their subject and know a lot about it!”
In addition to the symbolic questions, viewer questions are also occasionally answered.
Nottingham [something something something sheriff] goes for the full-court press in terms of outreach by trumpeting its geeky peacockery over the rooftops of the world via Twitter, Facebook, RSS, YouTube and a blog, Periodic Videos.
