One of the most powerful uses of YouTube has got to be this: the YouTube Space Lab. It uses the YouTube format and world-spanning forum to advance the cause of math and science!
YouTube Space Lab, along with NASA and JAXA (Japan's version of NASA), is looking for space experiments that can be conducted on the International Space Station! Submissions are no longer being accepted, but they are looking for people to vote on the finalists.
The finalists for the YouTube Space Lab were chosen from thousands of submissions from students aged 14 - 18. The winner will watch their science experiment blast off into space from Japan and streamed live on YouTube. Global and regional winners will also get a trip to Washington, D.C. where they get to experience a zero-G flight! They'll all get Lenovo IdeaPads, too.
A Superstar Judging Panel
The judge's panel includes notable names such as Dr. Neil Turok and Stephen Hawking, 6 international astronauts, and even Guy Laliberte, the founder of Cirque du Soleil. The amazing judges are all leaders in their fields, which include theoretical cosmology, quantum physics, space flight, robotics, design, journalism, and all kinds of physics: fluid physics, solar physics, interplanetary physics, and magnetospheric physics -- just to name a few!
Look through the YouTube Space Lab videos HERE. There's a lot of math at work in most of these science experiments, but they are also incredibly varied. For anything that is outwardly scientific, you can bet that the data-gathering and analysis will be rooted in math. It just goes to show that the subject matter you can explore with math and science is about as far-reaching as, well, space.
