The Martian - A Brilliant Book and Viral Campaign

Wait...you haven't read The Martian yet? Get on that ASAP. It's really really great.

I first heard about the book via The Weekly Space Hangout's talk with author Andy Weir. Andy is one of those guys that likes to calculate orbital dynamics as a hobby. All the science in the book is accurate, including the physics of space travel and the various orbital paths. He actually wrote software to track constant-thrust trajectories. To say that I appreciate that level of scientific detail and accuracy is an understatement. It really shows in the reading and, I think, makes the book that much more gripping.

In this promo video, Neil deGrasse Tyson focuses on The Martian's Ares 3 mission, giving us information about it Cosmos- and Star Talk-style. Neil reports to you as if he is in a real video talking about an actual mission to Mars. The video is part of a quite impressive viral marketing campaign out of 20th Century Fox, the studio filming the adaptation. The film stars Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, and Kate Mara (to name a few) and is released on October 2nd. Can't wait!






Oh, and here's the trailer too:

Maturation is Coming

BioLegend has come up with a great little page about cells will mature and change into different stages as they develop. The animations are pretty neat, showing what gets upregulated on T cells, Tregs, B cells (mouse and human), monocyte/macrophages (and subclasses), and dendritic cells. And a neat little gimmick is the Game of Thrones-esque House sigils they have created for each cell type:

(via BioLegend Maturation Markers)

The Simple Western

Another addition to the creative and fun science ad category.

a.k.a. Buy our really expensive stuff.

Science Heroes

I recently received this video in a promotional email by Life Technologies. I haven't posted a creative, sciency ad in a while. Although, I've yet to find an ad that surpasses BioRad's The PCR Song or even Eppendorf's epMotion ad.

Roche xCelligence

In the realm of please-buy-our-expensive-stuff, here's another creative commercial.

SNP Guru

From the people who brought you the "Its Called epMotion" video.

It's Called epMotion

"Pipetting all those well plates, baby, puts your thumbs into overdrive..."



On the theme of great musical commercials, here's another classic.

Scientists for Better PCR

If you're a scientist and haven't seen this yet then shame on you - we need to fix how you spend your time procrastinating.

"Its amazing what heating and cooling and heating will do...."