Entomologist Brian Fisher is no stranger to QUEST fans. His work at the California Academy of Sciences collecting and cataloging ant species from all around the world has been featured in a QUEST Radio story, a QUEST TV show, an interactive map called “Ants of the Bay Area”, and a QUEST Educator Guide for science teachers. We’ve also had Brian participate on several outreach and publicity events with QUEST. Frankly, I think he’s probably getting a little tired of us.
But we’re not done with him yet! Like the ants that he so passionately studies, we here at QUEST are great recyclers. Back in June 2010, when I produced the TV story about Brian, he let us use some great video footage that he shot during his field work in Madagascar earlier in the year.
A few months ago, I had the idea to use more of that footage to pilot a new type of segment for QUEST TV called “Field Notes” in which we’ll cut together raw video footage shot by scientists in the field to document their work along with an audio interview with the scientist explaining what they're doing. As with much of QUEST this season, it’s a grand experiment. But I think this first Field Notes segment with Brian Fisher successfully proves the concept.
The thing that first inspired the idea for Field Notes was reading Brian’s New York Times blog “Scientist at Work”. He’s blogging for the New York Times from Madagascar! How’s that for bringing science to life for the everyday science geek? One memorable post was when he dropped his backpack from a helicopter with all of his ant specimens, notes, money and car keys. Other posts include tales of flash floods, coup attempts and all kinds of crazy insects.
