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Science Videos Search Engine

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the do-mentos-and-coke-count-as-science-yet dept.

Rami writes "ScienceHack is a search engine for science videos. What makes ScienceHack unique is that every video is screened by a scientist or an engineer to verify the video's accuracy and quality. ScienceHack focuses on many topics including physics, chemistry and biology. If you go to YouTube to search for videos, you will get spam videos and comments and many conspiracy and low quality videos. ScienceHack has none of that. ScienceHack currently supports videos from YouTube, Google videos and Metacafe."
http://sciencehack.com/

51 comments

  1. Finally what we all need, by kaufmanmoore · · Score: 4, Funny

    Because scientists are never wrong!

    1. Re:Finally what we all need, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Because scientists are never wrong! Being a scientist doesn't mean being correct all the time. Being a scientist means applying the scientific method to better understand something. Memorizing facts is only half of it (actually much less for a computer scientist). If you don't want information from a scientist, then I would be greatly entertained to hear where you do get it from.

      This does raise an interesting point, however, as sometimes entertainment shows & amateurs can be a valuable source of information. If I didn't hear chemistry explained in wrestling terms, would I have ever understood it? Would a video of some college kid explaining it be screened from ScienceHack?
    2. Re:Finally what we all need, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you kidding me? The attitude on Slashdot is that the scientists/experts are always wrong.

    3. Re:Finally what we all need, by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, the goal of science is not wrongness or rightness. The goal of science is repeatability. Basically, is what you say about the world able to be replicated and observed by others? If it is not, science discards it. If it can be, science uses it as a basis for further research. It is a great way to find things out about the real world because it involves actually observing the real world. Now it seems obvious, but some would have you discover things about the world by not observing the world. Not sure what they are trying to do with their method -- but it ain't science.

    4. Re:Finally what we all need, by aliquis · · Score: 1

      My first thought was: Will intelligent design videos show up or not?

    5. Re:Finally what we all need, by Goaway · · Score: 1

      And here I thought Slashdot was the place where people made fun of christians for being anti-science.

      No, wait, that's right, all those people moved to Reddit.

    6. Re:Finally what we all need, by bhiestand · · Score: 1

      Are you kidding me? The attitude on Slashdot is that the scientists/experts are always wrong. No, no, no! That is totally wrong. Scientists are either right or wrong depending on who funds them!
      --
      SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
  2. Bookmarked it... by Nefarious+Wheel · · Score: 0, Troll

    Be interesting to see what real moderation is like.

    --
    Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
    1. Re:Bookmarked it... by Monkeys!!! · · Score: 1

      Be interesting to see what real moderation is like.

      You know I made this awesome one liner about you been moderated troll and when I previewed the comment you had been moderated Insightful...

      Thank fuck I actually previewed for once in my life.

  3. recommended intro science videos for kids by artifex2004 · · Score: 4, Informative

    I suggest videos from Professor Julius Sumner Miller.

    1. Re:recommended intro science videos for kids by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

      I hope Professor Miller has exceptional server capacity. Thanks to your posting that link he's probably over his bandwidth allotment for the month. I got one video out of ScienceHack just now, and that was that.

      DDOS at it's finest.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    2. Re:recommended intro science videos for kids by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Also Prof. Lewin's videos on ocw.mit.edu. And others. Many others.

    3. Re:recommended intro science videos for kids by Organic+User · · Score: 1
      Hey! Stop downloading. Your not an Australian tax payer. The ABC is funded by tax payers. That is why shows like the chaser's war on everything have to place a silly statement on their downloads page:

      This video podcast is made available for use by persons located in Australia only. If you are not located in Australia, you are not authorised to use this podcast. The ABC grants you a licence to download these audio-visual files for your private, personal, domestic, non-commercial use only. You may not use these audio-visual files for any other purpose (including but without limitation downloading, editing, or using these files for the purpose of (a) distribution to a third party; or (b) promoting, advertising, endorsing or implying a connection with you (or any third party) and the ABC, its agents or employees). The ABC will not be liable for any loss or damage (including but without limitation any costs charged by your service provider incurred by you in receiving the download) which you may suffer as a result of or connected with the download or use of these files. Please note that qualifying educational institutions may be able to use these audio and audio-visual files in accordance with Part VA of the Copyright Act 1968 as amended. For more information, please contact Screenrights (licensing@screenrights.org). The ABC are very supportive of having their content in as many platforms as possible. As long as you don't download it from their website. In the case of The Chasers the producers upload every episode to bit torrent every week.

      After some 15 year old boy famous duped YouTube in deleting all of the chasers content by sending Google a fake take down notice. ABC's Ms Gibson said:

      "[ABC wishes] to get our content out there on as many platforms as possible, run by as many different operators as possible."
  4. Finally! by grimdawg · · Score: 2, Funny

    A porn site I can feel dignified visiting!

    --
    There are 10 kinds of people in this world: those who understand binary, and nine other kinds of people.
    1. Re:Finally! by Idbar · · Score: 1

      You mean you are aiming for the "gynecology" section and how you can provide significant support in that area.

      As a slashdotter, I think we all know, with every single detail, the "theory".

    2. Re:Finally! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually, after viewing one of the videos ("Hacking a 9 volt battery to AAA batteries"), the next three videos that came up on the site to view were: "How to use a condom (which has the image of a condom over a large banana--I think)", 2-"Fat or Thin Sexy Women" and 3-some teenager with a video called "My Most embarrassing moment." Similar videos came up when I viewed their video on building a simple steam engine from a tea candle. If you have younger kids, you might want to preview the clips and perhaps use one of the video downloading apps like Real's (shudder) new player/copier.

  5. Peer review? by Christianson · · Score: 4, Informative
    There's nothing on the site, as far as I can see, that gives any details about how they select the scientists who are going to moderate the videos. The closest I can find is their blog, which suggests that their criterion, however, they find them, is just that they be at least a current undergraduate student in a science-related discipline.

    Given that Sciencehack is only really aiming to be a Youtube for science, maybe this doesn't really mean very much. Still, a little more openness about the process would have been encouraging.

    1. Re:Peer review? by Varun+Soundararajan · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I just tried a few queries where the result I know is in Google Videos. None of them turned up. It was related to science but the results were irrelevant.
      eg:
      1) Near Death Experience gave - Using a spatula..
      2) Time travel gave -- Introduction to CSS editing using Firebug | How many times the ball is passed between the white players? |

      This is totally retared.. My Pegions would pick better search results any time.!

      --
      the purpose of carping is always to improve its standard. -Myself

    2. Re:Peer review? by RichardX · · Score: 1

      I once had a near death experience using a spatula, you insensitive clod!

      --
      Curiosity was framed. Ignorance killed the cat.
    3. Re:Peer review? by Gomphonema · · Score: 1

      I wrote to the creator(s) of this site and expressed similar concern, telling them that without identifying the reviewers, there is no way to tell if it's a second year undergraduate or a fellow of the Royal Society and thus no way to determine the validity of their scientific review. Lo and behold, it turns out that they are using undergraduate and graduate students as their "scientist" reviewers. I'm willing to call it a draw with the grad students as they have at least demonstrated sufficient competency in their field to be admitted to their various programs. The use of undergraduates raises serious concerns about the truthiness of their claim that "every science video on ScienceHack is screened by a scientist to verify its accuracy and quality".

  6. The Media by Threni · · Score: 1

    Perhaps the various news organisations can run their mobile phone/wifi/cannabis etc scare stories past this before wasting anymore airtime on unfounded nonsense.

    1. Re:The Media by ScrewMaster · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Yeah, no kidding. Although, when you get right down to it, the media people aren't necessarily stupid or ignorant ... what they are is self-serving. They have numerous sources they could use to check their content, and I'm sure they do. But they go ahead and publish that unfounded nonsense anyway because it makes money, and it makes money because We, The People, would rather be entertained than informed. That's going to cost us.

      They say we get the government we deserve: I guess that also applies to our news organizations. Not that I perceive much difference between the two any longer, given the number of serious domestic issues we're facing right now that get little or no coverage in mainstream media. Or if they do get covered, they get it exactly wrong.

      Back on topic, ScienceHack is an interesting idea, with some promise. I mean, wow, a site with science videos reviewed by actual scientists? Well, maybe almost scientists (grad students and so forth), but still, that's pretty cool. Granted, all scientists are not of equal caliber, but nevertheless having at least the obvious crap weeded out is a good thing for anyone interested in the subject. Certainly YouTube isn't going to bother filtering out the baloney.

      --
      The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
    2. Re:The Media by White+Yeti · · Score: 1

      Yup. I know a couple of people who are leading experts in their space-related field. When they're interviewed for "popular" articles, their statements are often (more than half the time, I think) heavily edited or completely dropped by the author. Sometimes they ask to be removed when they see the final draft of an article.

      Unfortunately, this leaves publishers quoting watchdog groups and "Concerned Citizens for Whatever" (i.e. amateurs).

  7. more links by kunzy · · Score: 2, Informative

    Some more links:
    A lot of very good Berkeley lectures http://webcast.berkeley.edu/
    Lectures and science videos http://freescienceonline.blogspot.com/

    1. Re:more links by unchiujar · · Score: 1

      No spring break webcasts though...

      --
      Shakespeare poems - infinite monkeys with infinite time.Computer tech support - a few trained ones working from 9 to 5.
  8. Something seems wrong by laejoh · · Score: 2, Funny

    I search for "paris hilton" and got:

    Size Comparison of Various Celestial Bodies

    First of all, she doesn't have a Celestial Body. My girlfriend has, Hilton has not!

    Second; size? What size???

    What's going on?

  9. Good question by benhocking · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If I didn't hear chemistry explained in wrestling terms, would I have ever understood it? Would a video of some college kid explaining it be screened from ScienceHack?

    A good question, but as I understand it, such videos would be welcome - as long as they were accurate and of good quality. That's a somewhat sticky measuring stick, however, as what one scientist might call "simplifying", another might call "dumbing down" or just "wrong". I suspect they will not be overzealous about such screening, however.

    --
    Ben Hocking
    Need a professional organizer?
  10. hack to get a girlfriend? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    now i would be impressed if there was a hack for these science geeks to get a girl.... how would that be for amazing?

    -AC

  11. Partial matching by benhocking · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I had to see if you were lying or not, and unfortunately, you weren't. The searching technique relies on partial matching, so "paris" is found in "comparison", and an OR match is used to "hilton" is not required. Thankfully, searching on "paris hilton" in quotes returns no hits.

    --
    Ben Hocking
    Need a professional organizer?
    1. Re:Partial matching by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thankfully, searching on "paris hilton" in quotes returns no hits.

      Nobody hits on Paris Hilton? She will be distraught! (Or she would if she knew what that meant.)

  12. At last! by VikingBerserker · · Score: 2, Funny

    A site where I can find hundreds of videos of Diet Coke and Mentos geysers!

  13. Dr Quantum by dominious · · Score: 1

    What makes ScienceHack unique is that every video is screened by a scientist or an engineer to verify the video's accuracy and quality. Like Dr Quantum: quantum physics
  14. Where's Bill Nye? by kaufmanmoore · · Score: 2, Insightful

    This site is missing the best science videos ever created.

    1. Re:Where's Bill Nye? by programminandy · · Score: 1

      Bill Nye is the greatest! (And a nice guy...I met him a few years ago in Milwaukee.)

      This site is still pretty freaking awesome though. I already lost an hour to its physics and chemistry categories.

    2. Re:Where's Bill Nye? by Workaphobia · · Score: 1

      Just remember that only the videos directly linked seem to be screened. The ones listed as related in the menu (I guess that's a youtube feature) are as accurate a portrait into human idiocy as ever.

      (I'm especially miffed at the guy who took one of the astronomy videos and replaced the music of Holst ("Jupiter") with a 50s-style western theme, calling it better music.)

      --
      Evidently, the key to understanding recursion is to begin by understanding recursion. The rest is easy.
  15. I like it already by desNotes · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I did a search on Intelligent Design and it displayed the following videos (sorry, links not included)

    Cockroach Controlled Mobile Robot | Self-Replicating Repairing Robots | Acoustic Levitation Chamber | Tacoma Narrows Bridge Collapse | Jan Rabaey on Synthetic Biology | Jules The Robot | Turning the Place Over By Richard Wilson |

    This is true intelligent design!!

    No results from creationism!

    --
    "Saying that Linux is inferior to Windows because more people use Windows is like saying that all restaurants are inferi
  16. PARC Forums by north.coaster · · Score: 1

    PARC Forums from the last couple years also available online here.

  17. I want to meet... by PrinceAshitaka · · Score: 1

    ...the scientist that OKed a Brainiac clip. Please. That is not science.

    --
    quis custodiet ipsos custodes
  18. This site proves God exists by Tatisimo · · Score: 1

    and he loves us science loving nerds and wants us to stay amused.

    --
    Give Kashyyyk back to the Wookies
  19. Not very well screened... by captn+ecks · · Score: 1

    I checked this site out and while it sounds like a good idea my cursory look suggests it is not what it claims.

    I clicked on 'Ten Dimensions' and found a video by Rob Bryanton proporting to explain them. Rob Bryanton is not a scientist but (from Wikipedia) "is a Canadian author and composer, from Regina, Saskatchewan. He is known for his first book, Imagining the Tenth Dimension. In his book, he discusses many different topics, most notably his new, simplified approach to conceiving the ten dimensions. The book has eleven chapters, which cover a wide variety of topics, from string theory to philosophical questions such as "How much control do we have?" Rob is also a musician. In the back of his book are lyrics for many songs that he wrote."

    Notwithstanding the confusion (deliberately or not but never alluded to or explained in the video) he makes between time-like and space-like dimensions, how is this on a supposedly screened science site?

    All that said it is an interesting idea done up with nice production values. As presented however it belongs in a 'new age' site not a science one.

  20. Content Warning by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Actually, after viewing one of the videos ("Hacking a 9 volt battery to AAA batteries"), the next three videos that came up on the site to view were: "How to use a condom (which has the image of a condom over a large banana--I think)", 2-"Fat or Thin Sexy Women" and 3-some teenager with a video called "My Most embarrassing moment." Similar videos came up when I viewed their video on building a simple steam engine from a tea candle. If you have younger kids, you might want to preview the clips and perhaps use one of the video downloading apps like Real's (shudder) new player/copier.

  21. Uh oh.. by offaxis · · Score: 1

    sounds eerily like godtube.com

  22. External solution for internal YouTube problem... by Fishbulb · · Score: 1

    Seems like the real solution to this is to allow members of YouTube to vote on the relevance of tags for videos. I recall searching for "Bugs Bunny" a while back and getting some of the most annoying, weird crap. Oh wait, let me rephrase that. Some of the most annoying, weird, TOTALLY UNRELATED crap.

  23. SciTalks.com by christefano · · Score: 1

    Another science video site is SciTalks, which I helped launch last week. Users can vote videos up or down, submit links and videos, and create (and share) playlists. It's a pretty cool site.

  24. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  25. Site Down by writerjosh · · Score: 1

    As of this posting 10:49am PST, the ScienceHack site is down. I don't know if I should laugh or cry. If these "scientists" can't even keep their site up, what faith in their videos should we have. I can find a Paris Hilton video anywhere on the web -- with a reliable connection. *sigh*

    --
    Health Insurance Quotes
  26. Does science hack endorse the aircar by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Science hack has a video about a car that runs on compressed air. http://sciencehack.com/videos/category/13. Some people say that the companies' claims defy the laws of physics. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_car#Criticism

  27. This site will by www.youtube.com · · Score: 1

    This site will really get a lot of teenage boys off :p