AFO 2014: A FESTIVAL FULL OF STARS by AFO

15. – 20. 4. 2014

ACADEMIA FILM OLOMOUC

A Festival Full Of Stars AWARDS / INDUSTRY 4SCIENCE / FEEDBACK / ECHOES LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS: I HOPE FOR THE DEMISE OF RELIGION DEREK MULLER: STEAL MY BEST BITS AND USE THEM! PAMELA GAY: ASTRONOMY IS EVERYTHING

Content AWARDS Lawrence M. Krauss: I Hope For The Demise Of Religion INDUSTRY 4SCIENCE Derek Muller: Steal My Best Bits And Use Them! Pamela Gay: Astronomy Is Everything FEEDBACK ECHOES AFO 2014: A Festival Full Of Stars International Festival of Science Documentary Films Academia Film Olomouc (AFO) thanks to its professional program called Industry 4Science offers a unique opportunity for networking of professionals from the film and television industry with science popularisers out of leading researchers and academics. In your hands, you are holding a magazine that will take you closer to the atmosphere of such meetings at least through photos and texts. The 49th edition took place from 15th to 20th of April 2014. And as usual, the festival broke its own record number of visitors, 4050 of whom accredited for 8 primary programme sections. Cosmos, dedicated to the legendary Carl Sagan, dominated these sections. Other sections focused on pets, insomnia, memory or Alan Turing, for example. 358 films from all over the planet competed overall, 17 competed for The Best International Science Documentary Film Award and 13 for the RWE Award to the Best Czech Science Documentary Film. Festival was graced by 300 Czech and foreign guests from the ranks of film and television professionals and scientists. These included biologist and a TV host of the Canadian The Nature of Things Jennifer Gardy, astronomer and author Pamela Gay, internet populariser Derek Muller and world renowned American theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss, who was also awarded with the Award for Outstanding Personal Contribution to the Popularisation of Science at the conclusion of the festival. The roundnumbered 50th AFO will take place between 14th and 19th of April 2015.

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Lawrence Maxwell Krauss

ROZHOVOR

Lawrence Maxwell Krauss

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ROZHOVOR

Lawrence Maxwell Krauss

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Lawrence Maxwell Krauss

The Best International Science Documentary Film Award:

RWE Award to the Best Czech Science Documentary Film & Dějiny a současnost Magazine Award:

Student Jury Award

The Best Science Documentary Short Film Award

Audience Award

Vesmír Magazine Award

More Than Honey (dir. Markus Imhoof, 2012) All over the world bees are dying out and it seems that their living conditions are of little concern. In the United States, where bees have to deal with the chemical spraying of trees, various germs and parasites, and even with the stress of transportation between collecting localities, the rate of death equals the extinction rate in the Swiss mountains, where bees live in their natural environment. In certain areas of China, bees have become extinct due to man’s environmentally unfriendly actions and so flowers have to be pollinated by humans. The results of scientific studies show that bees have their own will and a much higher intelligence than we ever thought. Moreover, another species starts to play its role in this survival game, that is the Africanised honey bees. They are highly resistant to parasites and, unlike other bees, can even survive without antibiotics. However, they pose a fatal threat to humans and so scientists are attempting to breed a new hybrid. The camera reveals in great detail the remarkable life of bees and provides insight into the lives of the beekeepers. The film not only shines light on the mysterious dying out of one species, but also on human civilisation.

Whose Is My Child (dir. Marek Duda, Radim Procházka, 2013) The film Whose Is My Child is based on popular science documentaries such as BBC Horizon. The creators investigate the human body from a scientific perspective; the first episode is focused on human reproduction. Nowadays, the number of fathers asking for paternity tests is growing. Scientists from Charles University research the so-called mate-guarding strategies, such as “watching” one’s partner in the relationship. One of these strategies is jealousy. It turns out that jealousy is an indispensable part of human aspiration for the most effective spreading of our genes. The camera not only visits Czech universities and laboratories, but also Tibet. Tibetan polyandry maximizes the effectiveness of reproducing one’s own genome. The documentary answers topical questions, for example what has caused the decreasing birth rate in western countries. Using eye-catching graphics, it explains terms such as infanticide, selfish gene, the Cinderella effect and allele.

Lights Out! (dir. Michael McNamara, 2012) When Edison invented the light bulb, he did not have the slightest idea that it would change society and reset the biological clock of the human body. That technological development has a constant impact on our lives. For instance, the birth of artifi cial light turned our natural day and night cycles upside down. The lives of our ancestors were subjected to sunrise and sunset, but there is nothing to hold us back, except for unpaid bills. Many of us are woken by a cell phone in the morning and in the evening we fall asleep watching TV. Some of us work shifts and others only work at night. After watching the Lights Out! episode from the documentary series The Nature of Things, the audience will surely give up watching late night repeats of the evening news. American scientists discovered that the abundance of light not only robs our body of an undisturbed sleep, but it also causes depression and the addition of a few extra kilos. The scientists identifi ed the function of a crucial hormone, the production of which is based on a regular routine of light and dark. Melatonin prevents our carcinogenic cells from becoming cancerous, but it is only activated in the presence of the darker colours of the light spectrum. The morning’s pale blue colours mute its function.

Monthlies (dir. Diana Fabiánová, 2014) Monthlies is the documentary sequel to the film Month in Us, directed by Diana Fabiánová. Fabiánová once again focuses on the taboo topic of menstruation. By means of animation and expert explanations provided by gynaecologist Dr. Máslová, the documentary explains not only the menstrual cycle itself, but also the source of the pain so wellknown to women. The documentary also deals with the spiritual aspect of women’s monthly cycle, the significance of the first menstruation in our culture and in tribal societies, and the way it has been understood throughout human history.

Wolf Mountains (dir. Erik Baláž, 2013) In ancient times forests were inhabited by herds of European bison and wild horses, both hunted by predators. The wilderness struggled with the cruelty of the circle of life, yet despite that, many marvellous wild animals made their home there. The wolves combined with our ancestors to form a community of hunters. Today the very last of them are struggling to survive in deep forests far away from people, whom they have learned to avoid. Wilderness no longer exists in Europe. The area called The Wolf Mountains seems like a miracle from the past, full of the beauty of wilderness. The borders of Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine, one of the least populated places in Europe, shelter the last fascinating remains of the most diverse of ecosystems. The filmmakers did not shy away from the freezing winters and summer storms, which they faced in order to film animals on the brink of extinction, and to expose the raw beauty of untouched nature. During the dangerous shooting, the film crew did not use any tricks to lure the animals, and thus spent 500 days tracking and waiting for the right moment, when the most mysterious inhabitants of these mountains would show up.

Rivers of Otakar Štěrba (dir. Ladislav Moulis, 2013) Otakar Štěrba is a scientist, rock climber, paddler and landscape ecologist all rolled into one. He has spent most of his life studying nature; its mysteries and inner connections. Rivers of Otakar Štěrba follows the life of the first ecology professor in the Czech Republic and his efforts to protect river landscapes. During his studies of various scientific disciplines, fate led him to study rivers and their biotopes. He is fascinated by the beauty, power and life of rivers. As he travels around the world, on foot or by kayak, he discovers places untouched by man, but also landscapes suffering from the consequences of people’s carelessness. He sees river realignment as the biggest river problem in the Czech Republic. But his appeals to Czech water authorities and other institutions have been in vain. Hundreds of plans suggesting how to prevent floods will, most likely, not be carried out. This documentary asks the fundamental question, whether we control nature or just think we do.

AWARDS

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txt: Martin Uhlíř, Respekt magazine (editorially shortened)

Guest of honour of AFO 2014, American atheist and cosmologist Lawrence M. Krauss on the future of cosmos and the redundancy of God. He was a prominent guest of Academia Film Olomouc this year and he was treated as a rockstar would. He is enjoying his lecture tour of the USA the same way. Famous American physicist, Lawrence M. Krauss, holder of numerous awards, along with other proponents of the so called New Atheism declares religion to be a set of superstitions and the Bible to be propaganda which he wants to debunk using rational thinking and science.

You became a cosmologist, among other reasons, because you wanted to determine the ultimate fate of the cosmos. By the turn of the century it was found out that a mysterious dark energy exists in space and that it propels galaxies further apart from one another at an ever increasing rate. Instead of the cosmic expansion slowing down due to the gravitational force of matter present in the universe, it turns out to be accelerating. How did this impact your ideas about the future of cosmos? Originally, we thought the future of the universe was determined by its geometry, by whether it is curved or flat. Turns out, however, it is only influenced by the nature of dark energy. Assuming that empty space might contain energy, that dark energy speeding up the expansion of cosmos might be a property of space itself, future of the universe seems bleak. Specifically? All galaxies apart from those gravitationally bound to our Milky Way will gradually float further and further away from each other at an increasing rate. Ultimately, all of them will move faster than light and in some 2 trillion years, they will become invisible to us because light from them will never have the chance to catch up to us. The stars themselves will not fade out by then so the sky will be filled with a single cluster resulting from the collision of the Milky Way and its galactic neighbours. Rest of the universe will disappear from our sight.

Lawrence Maxwell Krauss INTERVIEW

LAWRENCE M. KRAUSS: I hope for the demise of religion

What do you think about while watching the night sky? Does it appear beautiful to you or is your head filled more with theories of astrophysics? Of course I admire its beauty. Physicist by the name Richard Feynman once said: “The rainbow is no less beautiful just because you understand how it works.” On the contrary, it is even more beautiful. Thanks to what I know about how the universe works, my mind can roam wonderful places. Had I not know how far the stars are, I might have thought somebody painted them on a solid sphere close to Earth and I would not have considered the night sky as amazing as I do now.

exist before they embarked on their journey. They were not hiding somewhere supernatural, they simply came to be when the electrons inside the light bulb jumped to a different energy level. They came out of “nothing”. As it seems, this does not bother anyone. Everybody starts protesting only when you talk in these terms about the entire universe. It is, however, absolutely possible that the entire cosmos originated through the same quantum process as these photons. It happened in a situation where there was no space or time. How to describe such a state? We do not know, there is no suitable language for this, we do not know the appropriate laws of physics. Despite that, it seems that if time and space are quantum mechanical phenomena, if gravity is a quantum theory, then it is possible for space, time and cosmos to suddenly burst into existence. If you ask what kind of universe will come to life this way you will realise it will have the properties we observe. This suggests in a very compelling manner that we are on the right track. It looks like a miracle – seemingly, the law of conservation of energy is being violated. There is nothing and suddenly, something comes out of it. Trouble is, this “something” might have the zero sum of energy. Evolutionary biology populariser and proponent of New Atheism, Richard Dawkins, openly proclaims his desire to destroy religion. You are his friend and stand for similar ideals. Do you share this goal of his? I am not driven by the desire to destroy religion. I want to show the universe to the people for what it is and convince them our universe is much more interesting than that of the Creator. I hope that a by-product of this effort of mine will be the demise of religious myths and superstitions. I want to arouse people’s interest in cosmos, awe at the wonders of nature. And I think Richard looks at things very similarly. Creationists make the mistake of taking Bible literally. Are you not doing the same when asking people to turn away from Bible because it is a book full of errors? That the world could not have been created in six days and so forth. Vast majority of people understands biblical texts in a symbolic manner, attempting to understand things scientifically ungraspable. One cannot refute a good novel by saying it could not have possibly happened in real life. Of course. In that case, we do not approach the Bible as a doctrine really holding a deep, unequivocal truth. It may be a symbolic book but then – what symbols does it present? It is a collection of ideas of an Iron Age peasant who had no idea the Earth revolves around the Sun. That in itself makes it questionable. It is even more important to realise that people who claim Bible is speaking in symbols to them completely omit parts of the text that are not important to them, and only account for parts interesting to them. Why not, we might say, but in this case, majority of the so called Christians are not really Christians. They do not believe in the Immaculate

By this time, will there be any astronomers to observe this? If yes, then not on Earth as our Sun will die in just about five billion years. New civilizations that will perhaps emerge in the following billions of years might witness only a single galaxy surrounded by infinite empty space. All traces of the Big Bang and universal expansion will disappear. One of your popular-scientific books is called A Universe out of Nothing. Could you explain how something, in this case an entire universe, can come from nothing? Something comes into being from nothing all the time. Take a simple light bulb, for instance – the photons it is emitting did not

Religion is as old as humanity itself. Buddha, Jesus Christ or Lao-c’ and thousands of others tried to critically think about how to lead a meaningful life and they came up with very effective methods of developing one’s skills and personality. Are you saying we should dismiss all this as archaic, useless junk? I do not think we could get rid of religion so rapidly. And after all, slavery has always been since the dawn of civilization, too. In those times, people did not want to get rid of that, either, because who knows what would happen then. The same goes for us and religion. But why not try living without it? It seems to me that in a society based around empirical evidence, rational thinking and logic, people will get along much better. Scientists of different nationalities, cultures, faiths and languages co-operate perfectly. Look at the Large Hadron Collider in CERN, a huge international project. This is a model of how humanity could function. All the indirect evidence at my disposal suggests the world would surely not be a worse place without religion and might even likely be better. We all do our best to make this world a better place and one way to do this is to give people the freedom to criticize things seemingly untouchable. To ask questions, to sculpt our lives so that we could live them as happily as possible.

Many of scientists believed in one final, unified theory which would explain why our universe is the way it is. Now it seems probable we will never formulate such theory. There may be a countless number of universes with us simply living in the one allowing for our existence. I would never say “never”. If we do not try, we will not know for certain if such a theory can be formulated or not. It is, for example, possible to at least imagine a fundamental theory giving us a certain likelihood of our universe obeying a concrete set of laws of physics – for instance, that there are four fundamental forces of nature and that a proton is two thousand times heavier than an electron. Or, based on this theory, one might say that if universe has three spatial dimensions, there are four fundamental forces of nature in it. From these fundamental principles we might be able to deduce how probable it is for a universe similar to ours to occur. In theory, it is possible to find such principles even if the set of universes we can study only consists of a single specimen. I do not think we will find them, however. It also seems lately that the universe appears more reluctant to share more information about itself with us. We managed to discover the Higgs boson and thus conclude the theories on microcosm. We likely observed gravity waves in the early universe confirming the theory of inflation, an explosive expansion of the universe immediately after its birth. The older theories were apparently true but there is no sign of a true surprise, a paradigm shift in physics. You are right, this is unsettling. If we can only find the Higgs particle using CERN’s particle collider, and nothing else, it would be extremely unfortunate. More questions would be brought up than answered. The discovery of gravity waves gives us an experimental tool we can use to search for new physics. Inflation is a new physics in its own way. Otherwise, there really are not many discoveries that would tell us which way to go in our exploration of the universe. That is frustrating. We believe, however, that next year, when CERN’s collider will resume operation, we will be pleasantly surprised and the path will become clearer.

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Conception. Some do not even believe in resurrection, they just find this idea somewhat... comforting. That is completely fine, I just want to say that one cannot take those parts of a book which happen to matter to them and then declare the book as a whole to be a source of truthful, deep reflection of the world. Additionally, Bible is not just untrue, it is also amoral and repulsive. Nobody actually wants others to live by its rules. We do not think disobedient children should be put to death. Bible says they should be. It also says it is more acceptable to rape women than men, because they do not matter. It is full of repulsive stuff. How could it be considered a moral compass? In my opinion, it is a two thousand years old propaganda pamphlet.

Lawrence Maxwell Krauss INTERVIEW

From these fundamental principles we might be able to deduce how probable it is for a universe similar to ours to occur.

You can read the entire article in Respekt 20/2014

INDUSTRY 4SCIENCE

The Future of Science Documentaries has been resolved at Camp 4Science How do cosmic rays influence life on Earth? How can music help with the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease? Will scientists be able to programme a future genius? When will the human body learn to digest cellulose? Can Estonian students use their “home” made satellite to surf the cosmos? Answers were given during AFO 2014 by Camp 4Science otherwise known as the only European workshop focused on the development of science documentary films. Chairperson for the Camp was Brigid O´Shea from production companies Werwiewas and Inselfil. Among the most prominent tutors coaching and advising the creators of new projects was also Hana Rezková – she has led East Doc Platform, the platform for co-production meetings of the Institute of Documentary Films, for solid 10 years. In 2012, she began to develop Camp 4Science and became the leader of studies for the educational programme Caucadoc. Another was Christine Reisen, commissioning editor of science documentaries for European ARTE channel and a holder of BAFTA award. Yet another was Dinah Lord, producer of a range of award winning films and shows produced in an international

Creating a quality documentary is science in itself co-production with BBC, Discovery or AlJazeera America. Gregor Streiber, the owner and head of production company InselFilm with over 300 programmes for CDF, ARTE or BBC under his belt since 2007 and Florian Thalhofer, creator of Korsakow System software for creation of non-linear films will also have their say. Other workshop consultants and presentations panellists were, among others, also Sue Dando, executive producer of the Canadian station CBC and its programme Nature of Things; Alison Leigh, director of the Australian World Congress of Science and Factual Producers; as well as Llewellyn Falco, developer of educational games; James Van Verth, expert from Google; or Irina Belikh, director of the Russian 360°, Contemporary Scientific Film Festival.

with the viewers carefully avoiding a strict, dry scientific jargon. Science popularisers must therefore keep in mind that they are communicating science to a large variety of individuals with different levels of education. There is, however, one thing all of them agree on – every attempt to popularise science will positively be improved by humour.

Science popularisers Jennifer Gardy, Jack Lewis and Karl Byrne are clearly experienced in the field, it shows in their speeches. At a discussion panel in Industry 4Science, they disclosed some of the tricks they use when communicating science to the public. According to a Canadian scientist and host, documentary should be structured in the same way a theatrical drama is – escalate the tension at the end of each act and make its way to the final catharsis. She also puts a lot of stress on strong narrative and convincing personas of scientists involved who often need to be talked out of overwhelming the viewers with sheer amount of information instead of focusing on the core of the matter. On the other hand, Jennifer Gardy completely agrees with her colleagues in the matter of oversimplifying things, especially the oversimplification of research itself which leads to degradation of not only the documentary. Creating a quality scientific documentary is, in short, science in and of itself. Karl Byrne adds that the basis of science communication lies in dialogues

A documentary film should be structured in the same way a theatrical drama is

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Derek Muller: Steal my best bits and use them! txt: Ondřej Čížek & David Petráž

Why did you start studying physics?

company. This is a place where students would go after school. There we had classes of 14 and we sat in a U-shape. The concept of the class was rapid fire questions. My rule was „Say nothing that the students can say for you.“ And like that, we built the knowledge together, through conversation. If you don‘t do this, you can leave people behind. You can leave the whole class behind, which is something that happens most of the time. The only way to stop yourself from doing that is to force them to say the thing that you‘re thinking. Many of my students were from Asian backgrounds, and in their cultures it is not very common to participate. But as their teacher, I forced them. This is how I work and they had to get used to my methods. I don‘t think they have this in most of their classes at school. I think, similarly, around the world, there is a difficulty with making real interaction happen in classes. This has to change.

One thing about studying physics is that it‘s a challenge. Another thing was that my mum, when she was at school, was best at physics. Once, I said to her - What is physics? What was funny was she couldn‘t really tell me. She said „You know it‘s this thing where there‘s a paper and all these equations and you just play with the equations,“ but she just couldn‘t explain it simply.

In your view, what is it about? Well, fundamentally, it‘s about understanding our world.

So for you it is fundamental to explain simply to people what physics is. I‘m aligned with this word Truth. A lot of people go to the life and they believe things that are not true, which is unfortunate. And I would love to help everybody understand what is true and what is not, and sometimes it‘s not obvious.

After last year‘s AFO which was honored with the visit of Elise Andrew, the founder of an immensely popular facebook page I Fucking Love Science, another internet star found his way to the festival. Derek Muller, a 32-year-old Australian videoblogger who obtained his doctor‘s degree at the University of Sydney, an excellent public speaker and one of the most innovative contemporary science communicators. Having established his popular science blog Veritasium on YouTube in 2011, he has been relentlessly dispelling the myths of science, promoting it as something exciting and not stale. In our interview, we touched upon the know-how of his show and spoke about the qualities a really good teacher should possess.

I‘ve always enjoyed presenting. I think when I was very young, I learn it. Everyone has to learn it at some point. When I was 12 I was in a professional theater production. It was a Christmas carol and I played the role of Tiny Tim. It was a musical and I had a few solos. So I‘ve been used to performing in front of crowds for almost my whole life, and it‘s something I quite enjoy. If you‘re trying to convince people they don‘t know what is true and you do, you just need to speak to them. The most important thing is that, if there is a good enough objective, if there is a good enough reason for you to talk to people, then you will talk to people. I have things I want to tell people so it‘s easy.

DEREK MULLER INTERVIEW

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You give the impression of a natural speaker. Were you always like this? What were you like at school?

Could you name 3 fundamental qualities of a good teacher?

Were you raised in a scientifically-based family or did you, by yourself, start to wonder how ordinary things worked? My mum was a physio and in fact she wasn‘t very talented in math, she didn‘t remember a lot about science. She was more into languages. My dad was a civil engineer, but he worked in remote sites so I didn‘t have him around very much. I think my passion for science was sparked by brilliant teachers at almost all levels of my schooling. I just loved their classes because they were so clear.

A great teacher must be incredibly knowledgeable. Their knowledge of the subject they are talking about must be unparalleled. Number two, their focus and their goal must be the learning of their students. So this requires someone who has a lot of care for other people and a fundamental need to make people understand. That‘s my top two. What else do you need, number three? (laughs) If you have these two, you‘re there.

What led you to writing your diploma thesis called Designing Effective Multimedia for Physics Education? I am really passionate about science and the truth. And to me, science is the way of getting to the truth. I also have a passion for education and I want other people to know the truth as well. And I‘m passionate about filming. I love the craft of filmmaking, making a story, and my thesis provided an opportunity for me to merge these two together. To say how you actually can make a film which teaches people about science.

Did you ever make amateur films? I made amateur films from 2001. When I was studying engineering physics, I also started doing one or two courses in film studies. So I did fundamentals of film production and a media theory course. Then a bought a camera in the summer after my first year of university and started filming. With my engineering friends we made videos that always had something silly going on like Yeti, vampires or private detective. They were comedy things and they‘re bad (laughs). But that is what I started with. So I was always making films which were kind of bad, even up until 2011 when I started the YouTube channel. So the YouTube channel shows a lot of growth over the last 3 years.

Your lecture at the AFO festival was very interactive. It seems to us that in the Czech environment, students aren‘t very forced into speaking and presenting things in front of people. How is this issue approached in Australia and Canada? Can you compare? It‘s hard for me to comment on the system in Australia and Canada, but in Australia I worked as a tutor at a tutoring

Once someone told me: “Teachers are great thieves. They go around and see what others are doing, and they steal the best bits and take them back to their class.” The feedback is excellent. Specifically, the teachers like the videos where the viewer has to make a choice. They can use these in their class and discuss them with the students. Simply, they get the students involved. They‘re also short videos which work well in the class rather than something long and explanatory.

What is the response of teachers who are older than you? Have you encountered any difficulties gaining their respect? It‘s something I say whenever I speak to a group of teachers, which is „I am in awe of the experience that is in this room, such a wealth of knowledge,“ and I think it‘s so important to acknowledge that because it‘s 100% true. But I know things that they don‘t know because I‘ve studied them and I also work in science video. So I tell them that I want to share what I have and that it might be useful to them. Once someone told me: „Teachers are great thieves. They go around and see what others are doing, and they steal the best bits and take them back to their class.“ So I hope for the teachers to steal from me and share with the students. I want to give them all of my best bits. This is what I‘m here for, to spread good ideas.

How do you decide what the next episode is going to be about? Do you decide yourself or do you also take suggestions from your audience? Sometimes there‘s a good suggestion but normally I decide myself. It usually depends on what I‘m passionate about

How long does it take to make one episode? It depends. Most of them take at least a few days if you include editing, but some of them may take months or years. For example, there was this one with the spinning disc at the end of a stick which I wanted to do this for over a year. I tried to build it twice, and twice it didn‘t work so I had to fix it. So it really depends on the experiment and the circumstances.

How is the episode of Veritasium structured? I think there is no formula. I do a lot of different structures. In a way, I think this is regrettable because having a defined format makes it easier for you and also makes it easier for your viewer. So maybe my haphazardness is a detriment. On the other hand, being able to do things in a novel way all the time attracts new people. Recently I‘ve been realizing just how important ideas are to people, so I‘m focusing more on ideas than just amazing visuals. DEREK MULLER INTERVIEW

You basically teach teachers. What is their feedback to the Veritasium channel?

at the moment and what resources I have on hand, what I read, and what I talk about with people. The ideas come from everywhere.

Still, you have a favorite method you keep repeating in your videos, don‘t you? Yes, some of the videos take this particular structure. Start by talking to people on the street, about what they initially believe, then do an experiment with them or point out a fundamental flaw in their reasoning, and then either see the result of the experiment or have them work towards the correct answer. It‘s actually my favorite type of video. If you can find someone on the street who is willing to engage with you with no pretense, and also turns out to be excited by the result they discovered through their interaction with you, it is the most rewarding type of video to make.

Why do you think Veritasium is so successful? I was thinking about this idea yesterday. There are two sides to look at this. One side is that you want to show people something they‘ve never seen before. The other side is you want to show something that is relevant to people‘s lives. And this is the great paradox. How do you find something that is relevant and applicable to people‘s lives that they also haven‘t seen before? When you‘re able to satisfy these two criteria, you have a winning video.

There is a lot of Carl Sagan at this year‘s AFO. How do you feel about his contribution? Carl Sagan is one of the top all-time science communicators, so he is a personal hero of mine and someone I admire very much. What is really great about Carl Sagan is how he came across as very genuine and how he connected with people, specifically through his television series. He leaves an incredible legacy.

Pamela Gay is currently one of the most prominent popularisers of astronomy. As a host of Astronomy Cast podcast she relentlessly shares more and more facts about cosmos and through CosmoQuest.org she interacts with individuals who learn about science and who take active part in it. During the course of our interview we talked about the origins of her love of astronomy, how to bring science closer to children, about the relationship of popular culture and science and the frustrating issue of astrology.

that we should never try marijuana because it is a gateway drug, and if we try it we’ll all end up cocaine addicts. It was a rather silly and false lesson, but I think all of us scientist hope that if people just try one taste of exploring astronomy they will want to keep learning science. While astronomy offers a lot of answers, it offers them while requiring people to also learn math, and physics, and chemistry, and… Astronomy is the science that brings everything together all at once.

Cosmos was the central theme of AFO 2014. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear that word? First thing? A combination of stunning Hubble Space Telescope images and a feeling of being very very small. What does science mean to you? I find comfort in science. The fact that we live in a universe that can actually be explained gives me comfort on the days when the issues of our irrational world seem overwhelming. With science we design new technologies that bring us closer through easier communications, that extend life through medical advances, and let us explore the largest and smallest parts of the universe through particle accelerators and telescopes. Science can be used for harm - but it’s power for good is what drives be to keep learning and studying and trying to discover more. Why did you take up astronomy in particular? I’ve been working in astronomy as long as I’ve been allowed to work and studying it my entire life. When I was very small, my dad got me interested in it through science fiction and through looking at things through a backyard telescope. I think most kids are interested in space and dinosaurs at some point. My kids grow out of it though. I guess I decided to never outgrow my love of astronomy. In high school I was able to get a job working at Haystack Observatory working on radio telescope data of very young stars. As an undergrad I studied very old stars. In graduate school I moved on to studying galaxies. Planets were all that was left, and today I run a program to study planets. I’ve never been good at focusing on just one thing, and I’ve been lucky enough to have a career that has let me constantly try new things. Do you think astronomy holds a special place in communication of science? Astronomy is one of the few sciences that produces vast numbers of stunningly beautiful images while also answering fundamental questions: Where did we come from? What will the future bring to Earth? How will it all - the universe and everything - end? The science of astronomy has the answers. Many of us have spontaneously said, “Astronomy is a gateway drug to learning science.” This comes from the US education system telling people my age

PAMELA GAY INTERVIEW

txt: Jakub Ráliš

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Pamela gay: Astronomy is everything

Could you introduce yourself to the Czech audience a bit? Put simply, I’m someone who loves science and likes to spread that love to others. From helping writers understand how to design more realistic fictional universes to helping students learn how to map the Moon for NASA, I spend the bulk of my time into either engaging people in learning and doing science, or planning new ways to get people learning and doing science. The rest of my time? It tends to be spent riding my horse, an old race horse who is sceptical of everything except carrots and candy.

Do you have experience with inspiring children’s interest in science? At a certain level, kids and adults aren’t that different, but with kids you have to make sure you don’t accidentally create mad scientists. I fear I forget that sometimes. The last time I worked with kids, I recommended they all go throw a *really big rock* into a sandbox to see how it splatters sand because that splatter is kind of like the blanket of material that surrounds craters on the moon. At the end of the day, I had a whole bunch of kids really excited about craters … and also really excited to go throw rocks. Luckily, some of their parents were also excited about throwing rocks (and most of the parents were excited about craters) You also appeared in one of the How the Universe Works episodes about science in popular culture - do you think sci-fi and pop-culture is dumbing down science? Just like food can be junk that sickens the body, or nutrition that keeps of healthy, fiction has the power to dull the mind or challenge it. Good science fiction can teach and expand peoples thinking. I have recently been reading Robert Sawyer books because they challenge how think about evolution, biology, and society. White Plague, by Frank Herbert is a book I read as a teen that made me fear virus research because I realized the power of science to do harm, and Scott Sigler’s books reawakened that fear. I could keep going; keep listing the amazing authors who make me think - who sometimes make me worry and sometimes make me dream - but life is short and that list is long. There will always be junk fiction, and it will often be popular, but I hope everyone takes the time to eat a complicated, richly textured fiction that will turn them into readers who think. What is your view of astrology? How do you perceive its conflict with astronomy? Astrology frankly baffles me. The Sun passes through 13 (not twelve) constellations each year, and the days the Sun is in these constellations doesn’t match the Sun-Signs of the Greek zodiac. How can truth be imagined in something that doesn’t match the basic reality you see with your eyes? Pseudo science is similarly frustrating? How can people spend so much time and energy on things that aren’t testable and call it science instead of fiction or opinion?

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FEEDBACK

Robert Alexander: fascination as a motive There is an International Community for Auditory Display and Academia Film Olomouc hosted a man who was awarded the Outstanding Achievement Award by this organisation for his extraordinary work with cosmological data. Music defined by nature and the Sun. Story about the miracle of mind. Pythagoras himself claimed the Universe to be full of music. Music as a science of relations was only partial to him here on Earth – he entertained the idea of a harmonious coexistence of heavenly bodies and interplanetary music. Pythagoreans have a precious successor, sonification specialist Robert Alexander. At AFO49, he held a thrilling workshop at two different times. Without previous knowledge of the subject, this workshop was kind of like a journey down the rabbit hole, the impression made by the topic was, however, ensured by a complete attention. As a leading expert on sonification, Robert Alexander is an exceptional speaker which made the workshop entertaining and educational at the same time. It made the audience think in terms of various associations – organic vs. inorganic, implosive vs. explosive, constructive vs. destructive... sounds, sources of sound and subjects of sound. The centrepiece of his creations is Sun, the centre of our Solar System as an inspiration and fascination as a motive. Sonification of the Sun and other celestial bodies works on several levels. It is possible to see it as a sovereign human task to represent what is happening in the cosmos in its living form. However,

the most substantial is the process of sonification itself – it works essentially upside down. Alexander’s work does not incite activity, it stems from it. Alexander does not consider himself a composer, rather a sound designer. He does not create music, he detects it. He works with NASA which supplies him with endless columns of numbers describing intensity, velocity, intervals, pressure, frequencies or periodicity (such as that of solar eruptions, winds or activity). Therefore, all the sounds de facto already exist, Alexander simply makes it audible, mediates it. Value of his work, however, is enormous. He told a story about a woman blind from birth who, through listening to his recordings, “cannot hear but see the daylight” and is able to describe it. Demonstration of how an astounding amount of graphs can be transformed into various sound tracks exceeded my comprehension – it is, after all, a matter of engineering. Hard numerical data forged into works of art are a testament to the human mind. Alexander is very modest, though, and gives nature all the credit. He played synthetically created beats and sonified tremors of lithospheric plates or the rumbling of storm clouds. He then let us guess which sounds are natural and which are synthetic. He demonstrated how much we can learn from the recording just by playing it isolated, without a visual component. Earth is constantly making sounds and sonification is the path to take in order to understand and show what the Universe has to offer. Even the beeping of a Geiger counter can be considered an act of sonification, Alexander’s work, however, borders on orchestral composition. It was exciting, AFO! Veronika Mikulová Full Moon Magazine

Lawrence M. Krauss Theoretical physicist, professor, author of bestsellers like The Universe From Nothing, winner of many international awards

The AFO festival is remarkable in so many ways: the professionalism attached to every event, the energy and enthusiasm of the audiences, the excitement generated by the films, discussions and associated events, and the remarkable hospitality shown to the presenters and filmmakers. The screening of our film was a delight. To fill up a large auditorium full of members of the public, and then to follow that with an exciting Q&A with great questions, and then to celebrate with so many people late into the evening and still have a full house for a noon lecture the next day was amazing. Doing Czech national television in a chapel attached to the festival site was also an experience I will always remember. It was a wonderful time in a wonderful environment, and I look forward to returning.

Jennifer Gardy Scientist and popularizer of science, assistant professor at the University of British Columbia, television presenter and writer

AFO2014 was electrifying! The calibre of films was extraordinary, the lineup of speakers and special events was impeccably curated, and the nightly gatherings in a lively club space pulsing with the sounds of science-based beats and the tastes and smells of crazy molecular cocktails… it all made for a completely unique and inspiring experience. To see full houses at screening after screening for science documentary films was amazing, and is testament to the hard work the festival staff put into the event. It’s seamlessly run and enormously fun, and I’d go back in a heartbeat!

Jiří Chýla Professor and scientist, member of the Academic Council of Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, deals with the theory of elementary particles.

Pamela Gay Astronomer, writer and podcaster focusing on new media Rarely are science and art mixed as well they are at the AFO. In a low-key environment, the movers and shakers of both science and documentary film mix as they discuss their own research and creations with attentive audiences. The films presented represent the best in science communications from around the globe, and the accompanying demonstrations, lectures, and panels make science a joy. My own experience at AFO49 was a mixture of stimulating conversations interspersed with challenging films, and punctuated with laughter, curious audiences, and hospitality. What was particularly of note was the mix of classic content with new media. From movies filmed in remote locations by videographers who melt into their environments, to presentations by YouTube science sensations, all the best in moving (science) pictures was represented.

I have heard of AFO but I could not imagine the beautiful atmosphere pervading the entire festival or the overwhelming interest of both young and older audiences in various films and lectures on scientific topics. Perfect organisation, pleasant setting, beautiful town - I will gladly return. .

It’s seamlessly run and enormously fun, and I’d go back in a heartbeat!

See you at the 50th anniversary of Academia Film Olomouc 14 – 19 / 4 / 2015 WWW.AFO.CZ AFO: A FESTIVAL FULL OF STARS Editors: Ondřej Čížek & Matěj Dostálek Authors of texts: Martin Uhlíř, Martina Bubíková, Klára Měsíčková, Veronika Mikulová, Ondřej Čížek, David Petráž, Jakub Ráliš Translations: Ondřej Nosek, David Petráž Design: ReDesign Photos: Jan Hromádko, Michal Ševčík, Michal Hančovský, Tereza Darmovzalová Published and printed by Palacký University, Olomouc Křížkovského 8, 771 47 Olomouc www.upol.cz/vup Olomouc 2014 First Edition Not for sale Name and registration number of the project: Practical networking of audiovisual popularization of science – Academia film Olomouc CZ.1.07/2.4.00/31.0004

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