X things you never knew about Y

Recently I've seen just an overwhelming number of these "7 Things You Should Know About Wearing Clothes" and some such. I wonder whether the majority of the US even communicates using cohesive thoughts anymore, or if everything is just a list that people share with each other on facebook/twitter/instagram/vine using #hashtags. It would be really interesting to look at the prevalence of each of these behaviors... I guess the best way to do that would be working with one of those companies' datasets. But that's beside the point (I'm a data scientist, forgive me).

There's nothing wrong with this form of communication, don't get me wrong. It's just different from what I'm used to, what generations before me were used to. But then, when email became a thing, everyone bemoaned the end of paper correspondence. Is that the end of paper correspondence? No. And I would guess the vast majority of people would agree that email allows people to reach loved ones they otherwise wouldn't, facilitates quicker and more efficient business worldwide, and makes planning things easier than catching someone on the phone (and mobile phones are a big part of that too).

So I wondered. Along with the silly "I didn't believe X until I saw it with my own eyes", there have recently been some interesting pieces talking about real issues- from abortion law to living with depression. If this is how people are most connecting with news and general facts, would it be possible to use this to spread real truths and important scientific knowledge as well? As my good friend Steve said, "Don't hate the medium -- you've gotta reach people where they're at or you won't reach them at all!". 

To this end, I'm going to try to post a few lists of interesting, true science facts on this blog over the next few days and see if anyone reads them. Consider it a study of sorts. It will be difficult to gauge, of course- currently there are a sum total of zero daily visitors- and if I post a link to my facebook page there's a good chance that at least 700 people might see it (again, curses, facebook algorithms! If only I could decipher you). 

But we will have to see. Also going to look into whether the NSF has tried this yet or not. I can imagine all kinds of applications... maybe I'm just behind the curve. But I know some awesome scientists doing really interesting and important things. Wouldn't it be cool if we could get a cell biologist, an epidemiologist, a research chemist or two, some physicists, and a mathematician to tell us their "best of" about their field or research area? And if they could make it interesting? I know there are a lot who would love to share, and can't find an easy way to do so.