Introduction

I was very lucky to attend two seminars given by Paul Hoffman in St Andrews. He is an amazing speaker who manages to convey the excitement of basic science without flashy ways that attract attention for the sake of it. The curiosity of scientists trying to understand the world, is enough, and many times it leads to unexpected discoveries that the scientists would never had predicted. There is even a bit of drama, as some of the discoveries are made after the death of the person that started them.

Paul Hoffman is probably best known for the snowball earth hypothesis, according to which the Earth was completely covered with ice from pole to pole. It is controversial, with most geologists currently being against it. I found the models of planetary dynamics based on ice cover, continent position, sunlight input and CO2 concentration very interesting, especially because they can generate stable equilibria or rapid change.

He also gave a very nice review of the geological literature of the past 200 years. It is possible for a single person to do this because there were not so many publications in the past. I realised the people studying geology during the napoleonic wars were ahead of their time, being concerned with matters beyond their everyday life. It sounds strange for someone in the present to study snail fossils, imagine what people would think 200 years back!

One of the most famous, and I think best TED talks, now shortened and with RSA animation.

Public education was designed for different times. Schools still operate like factories. People are still thought in an academic/non-academic dichotomy.

Worth to see again.

Here is a nice video illustrating and playing music from various points in history.

It is in Spanish, but the language of music is universal anyway.

Here is a 2 min video on pure research.

It is not about solving a puzzle, rather it is about finding the pieces.

Here is a talk by Mark Lynas, an activist heavily involved in the campaign against GM crops.

He changed his mind! And speaks about his journey. It is a great summary of issues behind GM crops.

07 Mark Lynas from Oxford Farming Conference on Vimeo.

Here is a home made movie, made by a very small group of people. It contains special effects that were blockbuster calibre 15 years ago.

Scifi. Worth a look.

R´ha [short movie] from Kaleb Lechowski on Vimeo.