Embedded in Research: Artists, Dramatists, Filmmakers, Jugglers, and Storytellers

How to reveal the vast sub-atomic ‘emptiness’ inside the apparent solidity of objects?  The remarkable edge properties of topological insulators?  Preserving a qubit of memory within a bit of diamond dust?  Breaking through the diffraction limit in optical imaging?   How to visually portray the way individual scientists collaborate to solve problems none can solve alone?  And, tell a good story about “unfinished” science with all its ups and downs?  Indeed, can we nourish the actors and artists within scientists to help them become better teachers and communicators?  These are some of the tantalizing challenges the Museum of Science Strategic Projects team tackles with the help of artists, animators, jugglers, dramatists, filmmakers, and story-tellers, as we embed ourselves into research collaborations as part of our overall strategy to share “too-small-to-see-or-touch” and “too-weird-to-describe-with-just-words” science with broader audiences.  Artistic collaborators include “MacArthur genius” David Macaulay, multiple Emmy-award-winning filmmaker Lawrence Klein, the inimitable Amazing Nano Brothers, the New England Institute of Art, and illustrator/animator Jeanne Antill.  Research collaborators include the NSF Center for Integrated Quantum Materials, the QSTORM Collaborative, and the NSF Center for High-rate Nanomanufacturing.  View some interesting and entertaining examples, see the stats, and find out what the audience research shows.