Communicating science to the public

Some people would say this is great, wonderful communication of science. Others would say it's... something else. I think that, at least, the report speaks for itself.

Sex talk wins 'science idol' competition

A Serbian molecular biologist has beaten off competition from around the world to win International FameLab, a kind of Pop Idol of science.

Mirko Djordjevic, final year student in molecular-biology in the Department for Applied Genetics and Evolution at the University of Belgrade did the most with his three-minute spot to wow the judges at The Times Cheltenham Science Festival on Saturday night.

Mirko's talk on the ins and outs of sexual selection made a fun comparison of the mating habits of humans and dogs, and saw him belt out an excerpt of the Bloodhound Gang song: "You and me baby ain't nothin' but mammals. So let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel."

Prof Kathy Sykes, one of the judges, said: "Mirko really stood out, as he gave a stunning presentation and was able to communicate a complex concept to the general public with ease."

I thought it would be kind of interesting to actually see and hear the winning performance, as well as others. So I went looking for something on YouTube. The good news is I found it! The less good news is that it's (apparently) in Serbian. Oh well, you can still almost figure out some of what they're saying:



People who don't like science, and who don't know Serbian, may claim this isn't less clear than other talks on science they've heard.

Perhaps in a few days some of this will be available in English. If anyone finds it, please leave a note in the comments.