Happy First Day of Summer!

It’s already been hot for weeks at Socratica Studios.  But now that it’s officially summer, that means we can officially have ice cream for dinner.

KHH

We recommend:

The Cuisinart Ice Cream maker. Instant Summer.

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The seasons video above came from our Socratica Kids channel.

Don’t forget to check out our FREE educational apps on the Google Play Store.

A little physics would help here.

Why don’t animators use well-known physics equations to make motion more believable?

Check out Rhett Alain’s  plot comparing the falling Mosasaur from Jurassic World with a falling ball.  This isn’t complicated – it’s simple mechanics, what you’d learn in high school physics.

From Plotly by Rhett Allain

What would Galileo say?!

I don’t want to pick on Jurassic World – this is a problem endemic to all movie animation. Superheros jumping as if their bodies were weightless and elastic. Buildings being destroyed by minor explosions. Bodies flying around from the impact of a gunshot.  Heroes outrunning fireballs.  I know it’s fantasy – but we have a lifetime of experience with gravity on this planet, and our eyes know in a fraction of a second when we see an object falling incorrectly. This doesn’t enhance fantasy – rather, it breaks that beautiful meditative spell that movies can put us under.  Break it enough times, and you’ve lost your audience. They’ll never believe what they’re seeing in that gut-instinct, “eyes of a child” kind of way.

Can you imagine how refreshing it would be to see convincing special effects motion? And it wouldn’t be that hard. Just crack open a physics textbook. Hey, if you can learn how to use studio-quality animation software, you can learn how to do a little high school physics.

KHH

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Don’t forget to check out our FREE educational apps on the Google Play Store.

We recommend:

The Mechanical Universe (this is Volume I of the textbook we used for Freshman Physics at Caltech)

In Search Of: Our Missing Female STEM Viewers

Socratica is an educational YouTube channel, focusing mainly on STEM. We do have some Arts and Humanities in the mix, but STEM is what we think of first.

There’s a lot of talk in the news and on school campuses about the lack of women in STEM. Is it due to subtle gender bias, overt gender bias, harassment, work policies incompatible with having a family, lack of interest, “leaky pipeline” – is it none of the above or all of the above?

As a STEM person with two X chromosomes, I’ve never doubted that STEM was for me (it’s still my passion, even though I’m not doing research anymore). I read scientific journals, I watch STEM videos, and I make STEM videos. So how come my videos aren’t getting more views from women?

Just look at our channel statistics:

Overall – 69% male, 31% female:

But wait, it gets worse.  For a video on Neutron Stars, 91% male, 9% female:

We always knew we had predominantly male viewers (our comments are almost all from men), but the stats for our neutron stars video frankly shocked me. Our videos are clear, concise, friendly, and more often than not, presented by a woman. Most of our videos are written by women.  And yet, where are our female viewers?

If you are someone who is concerned about the lack of women in STEM, please share our videos with the women in your life. Get the word out. Science is for everyone. Socratica is for everyone. We need more viewers of all stripes, but there is just no reason why women shouldn’t be loving our videos just as much as men.  Come on.

KHH

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Don’t forget to check out our FREE educational apps on the Google Play Store.

AW YISSSS

Socratica Studios just passed 20,000 subscribers.

Subscribe here, then join the dance party.

KHH