ACS Chemistry AMA: I’m Adam Dylewski, I’ve been producing science videos
for Youtube for the past 10 years, Ask Me Anything!
Abstract
Hi Reddit! I’m the creator of the American Chemical Society’s Reactions
YouTube channel, a weekly series that highlights the chemistry in
everyday life. I also manage ACS Productions, the Society’s
award-winning video team. I received undergraduate degrees in Genetics
and Science Communication from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and
an MBA from George Mason University. I’ve been producing science videos
on YouTube for most of the site’s 10-year history. Bill Nye has said
that “if you want to teach something, you have to entertain
people… Mr. Wizard encouraged a generation of scientists and
engineers by doing this.” This entertaining, educational approach is at
the heart of Reactions. We’ve produced videos explaining why dogs smell
each other’s butts, why a pinch of salt can make bad coffee taste better
and how garbage kickstarted the modern chemical industry, as well as
episodes on the chemistry of hangovers, tattoos, avocados, bacon,
moisturizer and, yes, cats. The series (and its predecessor, Bytesize
Science) has received more than 20 million views and grown to 250,000
combined followers on YouTube and Facebook. Reactions episodes have been
featured on the Today Show, NPR, Washington Post and more than 100 other
media outlets. The series has collaborated with noted science
communicators and YouTubers, including Joe Hanson (It’s OK to be Smart),
Deborah Blum (The Poisoner’s Handbook), Raychelle Burks (@DrRubidium),
Andy Brunning (Compound Interest), Vanessa Hill (BrainCraft) and Rachel
Feltman (Washington Post’s Speaking of Science blog), among others. In
2015, Wired featured Reactions in its list of “Science Blogs, Twitter
Feeds and Channels We Love.” I’m excited to do this AMA about
communicating chemistry on YouTube. Feel free to ask me anything about
the making of Reactions, how science videos can reach the public, using
social media for science communication and questions about video
production and YouTube, in general. I’ll be back at 11 am EST (8 am PST,
4 pm UTC) to answer your questions, ask me anything! [Edit at 11:45am
EST:] Thanks for all the great questions! Had some technical issues,
but I’m now up and running and replying the qs below. [Edit at 12:45pm
EST] OK I tried to respond to as many of these as I could. I’ll pop
back online later this afternoon to answer a few more. [Edit 10:30pm
EST] Responded to a few more. Thanks for all the great questions –
this was fun! And if you haven’t already, head over to Reactions and
subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/user/ACSReactions