Dark matter in 140 characters or less

Last week Dr. Katie Mack held an "Ask Me Anything" session on Reddit. Dr. Mack is an astrophysicist.  The AMA was on the science subreddit - the section of Reddit where scientists go to talk about science.

But then I noticed one of the questions: "How do you explain dark matter to kids?"

These scientists wanted to figure out how you talk about science with people who don't do science.

Matt Shipman occasionally does this really cool thing where he asks people what they would ask a scientist about a certain topic, and then he presents the questions to the appropriate scientists at NC State.  (He just did one of these about food, and it's great.)  So I thought I'd give something similar a try.

I got the questions from members of a Dad Bloggers Facebook group I'm in. (One of my all-time favorite videos has two dads in lab coats.)  I threw in a few of my own questions in case I couldn't get any takers.

I got the answers from real-life scientists - but since I don't work at a university I just pinged scientists I follow on Twitter and maybe have met at a blogging conference.

Despite its limitations on length, I decided to use Twitter as my medium for a few reasons.  First, it's enormously useful for people with short attention spans or those who use mobile platforms to get their information. Second, it presents an interesting challenge to scientists who want to describe their work.   Can you explain "dark matter" in a single tweet?

Finally - and most importantly - Twitter is an amazingly open platform that can connect people from completely different walks of life with a simple "follow."   If these dads wanted to know more about astrophysics or chemistry or biology, a simple click gives them access to an expert. If these scientists want to know more about how they can describe their work to parents, they have a wealth of resources a click away.

So here's my own little experiment in outreach.

So I've asked a few dad bloggers if they have scientific terms they'd like defined in a single tweet. Brace yourselves.
— David Wescott (@dwescott1) April 28, 2014

Old & busted → new hotness :D RT @dwescott1: @DrRubidium curious - can you define "chemical reaction" in a single tweet?
— Raychelle Burks (@DrRubidium) April 28, 2014

.@dwescott1 Dark matter is a substance that is invisible and cannot be touched, but that makes up 5/6th of all matter in the Universe.
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) April 28, 2014

@dwescott1 "life" contains genetic information, reproduces, has a certain level of biological functionality?
— Stephani Page (@ThePurplePage) April 28, 2014

I got some great ones on the doppler effect:

@dwescott1 If drop seed front/back w every wavelength while walking, seeds in direction of motion squish & those trailing spread like waves
— Pamela L. Gay (@starstryder) April 28, 2014

@dwescott1 @starstryder Frequency of wave crests depends on velocity of the emitter rel. to observer. E.g. pitch (sound), color (light).
— Christopher Greer (@chgreer) April 28, 2014

@dwescott1 @starstryder Any waves you emit bunch up in front of you when you move forward, and stretch out behind you in your wake.
— Katie Mack (@AstroKatie) April 28, 2014

@dwescott1 @starstryder beeeedoooo beeedooo beedoo bedobedobedo beedoo beedoo beeeedoooo
— Chris Smith (@EnvEdChris) April 28, 2014

@dwescott1 @starstryder Motion squishes or stretches waves, like a train whistle. In light, squish is more blue, stretch is more red.
— Jim E-H (@Redshift42) April 28, 2014

@dwescott1 @starstryder It's what turns the ice cream truck music sound so damn creepy once it passes you.
— Tyson Sukeforth (@tybot3000) April 28, 2014

Andrea Kuszewski was particularly helpful with neuroscience:

@dwescott1 Sure. Delusion is seeing what isn't there. Imagination is seeing what is possible. :)
— Andrea Kuszewski (@AndreaKuszewski) April 28, 2014

@dwescott1 Neuroplasticity: Adaptability of the brain (connections &/or form) in response to environmt, behavior, neural states, or injury.
— Andrea Kuszewski (@AndreaKuszewski) April 28, 2014

And there were a few more:

@dwescott1 Change over time :)
— Kate Clancy (@KateClancy) April 28, 2014

“@dwescott1: @drskyskull is light a wave or a particle? asking for a friend.” Both, really, which technically means it's kinda neither!
— skullsinthestars (@drskyskull) April 28, 2014

@dwescott1 Neutrinos are low mass particles made in many nuclear reactions. They're everywhere but mostly don't interact, so hard to detect.
— Matthew R. Francis (@DrMRFrancis) April 28, 2014

I'm still trying to get tweetable answers for a couple outstanding requests - string theory and wormholes - but I'm confident they will come.  The scientists were very eager to be helpful.

I don't know that these tweets are really the answers to questions - but I do hope they will prompt more questions, and I hope everyone will be connecting more to create a sort of user-generated Twitter glossary of science or something.

You know, just for fun.