Can Dance Replace PowerPoint? John Bohannon's Modest Proposal and Dance Your PhD

TL;DR

Dance can make complex science easier to understand and serve as an alternative to ineffective PowerPoint presentations. John Bohannon supports the idea with Dance Your PhD, a contest he started four years earlier, and David ODI's work with dancers to model cell movement. He also cites an estimate that poor presentations drain $250 million per day, making the case worth exploring further.

Transcript

[Applause] good afternoon as you're all aware we Face difficult Economic Times I come to you with a modest proposal for easing the financial burden this idea came to me while talking to a physicist friend of mine at MIT he was struggling to explain something to me a beautiful experiment that uses lasers to cool down matter now he confused me from t... Read More

Key Insights

• "dance really can make science easier to understand" (4:32)
• "I think that bad PowerPoint presentations are a serious threat to the global economy" (6:04)
• "another spooky property is that it flows with absolutely no viscosity or friction" (3:03)
• "super fluids are of the most fragile things we've ever discovered" (3:27)

Questions & Answers

Q: What is John Bohannon's modest proposal in Dance vs. PowerPoint?

John Bohannon proposes using dance to communicate complex ideas instead of relying on bad PowerPoint presentations. He argues that fewer words can better capture the essence of a difficult subject and that dance may sometimes work without words at all.

Q: Why does John Bohannon consider bad PowerPoint presentations an economic threat?

He cites an estimate that ineffective presentations drain $250 million per day. The estimate assumes half-hour presentations, an average audience of four people earning $35,000, and that about a quarter of presentations are a complete waste of time.

Q: What is the Dance Your PhD contest?

Dance Your PhD asks scientists to explain their research through dance instead of words. Bohannon says he started the contest four years earlier and that hundreds of dancing scientists could be found online.

Q: Can dance make science easier to understand?

Bohannon says Dance Your PhD showed that dance really can make science easier to understand. He also describes how dancers helped explain biomedical research to him instead of using PowerPoint.

Q: How does David ODI use dancers in his research?

David ODI, a biomedical engineer at the University of Minnesota, works with dancers to study how cells move. Before testing mathematical models in the lab, he uses dancers to help determine what kinds of models to build, calling the process efficient brainstorming.

Q: How do cells move according to John Bohannon's explanation?

Cells move by changing their shape when a chemical signal reaches one side, triggering expansion on that side. Because a cell continuously touches and tugs at its environment, this change allows it to ooze in the appropriate direction.

Q: How can lasers cool atoms into a superfluid?

Atoms are isolated in a special bottle with electromagnetic fields, then exposed to lasers precisely tuned to the right frequency. The atoms briefly absorb photons and gradually slow down until they approach absolute zero, where the right atoms can enter a state called a superfluid.

Q: What properties does a superfluid have?

A superfluid can slow photons to 60 km per hour and flow without viscosity or friction. It is extremely fragile, turning back into normal matter when exposure to the outside environment raises its temperature by even a fraction of a degree.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• A physicist explains how lasers can cool down matter and create super fluids, using dance as an analogy.

• Dance Your PhD contest encourages scientists to explain their research through dance, making science more accessible.

• Scientists are collaborating with dancers to study cell movement and using dance to explain their research to a wider audience.