Top Documentary Films

Tim (thank you!) pointed me towards this great site called Top Documentary Films with 100s of free online documentaries. In the Science category there are currently almost 200 movies available and every one I have watched so far has been in pretty high quality. Even clips from one of my all time favorite science movies that EVERY scientist should watch is even there: Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus. There are also great docs on human sexuality and our flailing human society.

The most beautiful girl in the lab

2012 Time for Change Theatrical Trailer

This movie appears to feature my 2 favorite messages, a non-apocalyptic future and that one person can effect change. Thanks to doc mel for the link -MA

From the youtube page:
"2012: Time for Change" presents an optimistic alternative to apocalyptic doom and gloom. Directed by Emmy Award nominee João Amorim, the film follows journalist Daniel Pinchbeck, author of the bestselling 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl, on a quest for a new paradigm that integrates the archaic wisdom of tribal cultures with the scientific method. As conscious agents of evolution, we can redesign post-industrial society on ecological principles to make a world that works for all. Rather than breakdown and barbarism, 2012 heralds the birth of a regenerative planetary culture where collaboration replaces competition, where exploration of psyche and spirit becomes the new cutting edge, replacing the sterile materialism that has pushed our world to the brink.

10:10 carbon cutting campaign shows people exploding, controversy ensues.

From TreeHugger.com
Violent Climate Change Film Lands 10:10 Campaign in Trouble
by SAMI GROVER

!Alert! Video graphically shows people being blown up (its not real though), do not watch if you can't stomach graphic violence.

At times it's seemed like the 10:10 Campaign has got the whole of Britain cutting its carbon. From football teams to corporations to schools, individuals and organizations have committed to 10% CO2 cuts in just one year. Even the new UK Government pledged to cut its own emissions 10% in 2010. But 10:10 hasn't been free of controversy—most notably facing accusations of eco-snobbery for turning down an airport wanting to cut its emissions. Now 10:10 has caused a stir again, releasing and then promptly withdrawing a film in which school children, corporate workers and even a famous footballer are blown up for not taking part in cutting their emissions. So what's up? Is this a clever use of dark and self-deprecating humor to capture attention and hit the headlines, or a disastrous, inappropriate and violent own-goal for the environmental movement?

According to The Guardian, the 10:10 campaign short film No Pressure—written by Four Weddings and a Funeral screenwriter Richard Curtis—was intended to be an edgy and attention-grabbing piece that would put climate change back in the headlines. It has certainly done that—but the question is whether it will alienate more people than it will engage.

Featuring film star Gillian Anderson, England footballer Peter Crouch, and music from Radiohead, the film was shot by a 40-strong professional film crew led by director Dougal Wilson—in other words, this was clearly a major undertaking for the campaign. With those kind of resources being directed at this piece, it seems strange to think that the campaign would be unaware that there may be some controversy—in fact many folks have suggested that releasing then withdrawing the film may have been the intention all along.

The plot—which involves school kids, office workers and soccer stars unwilling to join the campaign being blown up by their peers—is undoubtedly a provocative one. Even the reaction to the movie by Fanny Armstrong, 10:10 founder and director of the Age of Stupid, was clearly meant to provoke a reaction:

"What to do with those people, who are together threatening everybody's existence on this planet? Clearly we don't really think they should be blown up, that's just a joke for the mini-movie, but maybe a little amputating would be a good place to start?"

I have to say I found the whole thing kind of funny. And while some people will doubtless paint the film as one more example of zealous environmentalists advocating a "go green or else" approach—I actually took it as a self-parody of such a dictatorial approach. But then again, I have been known to have a pretty inappropriate sense of humor. Certainly some major funders to the campaign were less than amused, with charity Action Aid arguing that "the moment this film was seen it was clear it was inappropriate."

Even many of my fellow TreeHuggers, while not exactly shocked by the film, were unimpressed. Reactions like "one big meh", "pretty poor", and "a bit lame" were commonplace in our internal discussions. And there was definitely a general agreement that for a campaign that is seeking to unify a broad swathe of the public, this was an unlikely and probably counterproductive way to do it.

Eco-advertising uses a power washer, a stencil and the dirty London streets

From core77 via neatorama

Green Street Media is a British ad agency that emphasizes eco-friendly advertising. One medium that it uses consists of applying stenciled designs and a power washer to dirty London sidewalks. The company estimates that an ad should remain legible for 3-5 months.

When a client wants a sidewalk advertisement, rather than using chalk or spraypaint GSM uses laser-cut stencils and a high-pressure hose to blast a clean spot out of the stencil's negative space. The only materials used are the stencil and plain water.

The tortured monkeys (fail) are self aware (win!)

when i first saw the article, I thought it was cool news (although am surprised it is being touted as novel), however when i saw and read the study, I decided not to post it because of the torture these monkeys had to endure for the finding (and I am not an end justifies the means type). But then i saw this great blog post from the primate freedom blog, and it so nicely summarized my feelings on the issue that I have re-posted it below. (Also see this discover magazine blog entry for an interesting review, including a strange splitting of hairs from Dr. de Waal which seems to convolute the existence of self-awareness and passing the self-awareness test) -MA

From Primate Freedom
Classic Evidence of Self-Awareness Not Sufficient to Deter UW-Madison Invasive Brain Experiments on Monkeys; Vivisectors Delighted by News

From the UW-Madison Press Release:

For first time, monkeys recognize themselves in the mirror, indicating self-awareness
Sept. 29, 2010
by David Tenenbaum

..... a study published today (Sept. 29) by Luis Populin, a professor of anatomy at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, shows that under specific conditions, a rhesus macaque monkey that normally would fail the mark test can still recognize itself in the mirror and perform actions that scientists would expect from animals that are self-aware.

..... Populin, who studies the neural basis of perception and behavior, had placed head implants on two rhesus macaque monkeys, while preparing to study attention deficit disorder. Then Abigail Rajala, an experienced animal technician who is in the university's Neuroscience Training Program, mentioned that one of the monkeys could recognize himself in a small mirror. "I told her the scientific literature says they can't do this," says Populin, "so we decided to do a simple study."

Much to his delight*, it turned out that the graduate student was right.

*Poplin thought to himself, "It's delightful that the monkeys I'm mutilating actually realize what's happening to them. My job's even more fun now!"

You can read the entire paper here: Rhesus Monkeys (Macaca mulatta) Do Recognize Themselves in the Mirror: Implications for the Evolution of Self-Recognition. be sure to look at the movies and the images.

Here's what Populin writes about one of the movies: "The view of the head implant has been blocked for discretion."

Discretion: circumspect; heedful of circumstances and potential consequences; prudent.

Here's one of the images -- also censored out of concern over the potential consequences of allowing the public to have a feeling for what these isolated monkeys undergo in a university lab:
You can glean a little of what Populin's lab does to monkeys (and cats) in this paper, in which he writes about his experiments on Shepard, Glenn, and Conrad: Monkey Sound Localization: Head-Restrained versus Head-Unrestrained Orienting. Luis C. Populin. The Journal of Neuroscience, September 20, 2006.

FAIL (for biology nerds)

My flat-mate bought these amazing napkins, awesome nerdy FAIL.