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Ah, there… Steaming dark-roast in cup (Starbucks’ Verona, if you’re curious), let’s catch up…

You see, for the past few weeks, I’ve been scratching my head, trying to figure out how to create a multi-layered frame-in-frame look for a single Flash file. Most recently, Daily Planet host and Discovery Interactive’s resident expert, Jay Ingram, cooly agreed to share his thoughts with us on what 2009 holds for science. It only made sense to give it a more – how shall I put it – 2009 feel.

Five programs, innumerable system crashes and too many coffees later, we have the end-result here.

This clip is a example of an integrated multimedia platform for content development – essentially a bridge between broadcast and online. (Right now this bridge consists mainly of wooden planks and some rope, but we plan on evolving the structure to a more sturdy, comprehensive one.)

It’s more dynamic than what usually occupies your friendly neighbourhood web player, and combines the general awesomeness of the interweb. I definitely look forward to working on more projects like this.

Daily Planet did a segment on this in 2007. It’s one of my all time favourite DP clips as well.

Watch from the 2:20 min mark, when it goes from analyzing to solving.

My fave boom de ah dah rendition:

They’re the stuff our nightmares are made of – and they’re also tragically misunderstood. This past summer, I had a chance to do some research for Discovery’s annual Shark Week. I was shocked to learn the number of shark species on the verge of extinction.

In fact, statistically they are more likely to die from us, then we are from them. (Consider: for every shark-related human death, we kill 10 MILLION of them.) Undoubtedly, part of our complacency lies in the common portrayal of sharks as bloodthirsty, mindless predators. They are not. (Though that’s not to say it’s wise to touch them.)

To take the point home, watch this:

And if you have a chance, try to watch Sharkwater:

Rob Bryanton does a great job articulating concepts that are beyond most people’s existential reach.

Still can’t get over how that guy you thought was your friend took off with your girlfriend?? Here’s something that might help you move past the grudge: wash your hands, then give the sitch another thought.

What’s one got to do with the other, you ask? Plenty, according to British researchers.

The team – out of University of Plymouth – found that self-cleansing (or at least the pursuit of it) affects moral judgement. Specifically, their research suggests it makes you more lenient when it comes to condemning others’ transgressions. And you’re not alone.

In the study, 22 people who had just washed their hands, and 22 who had not, were asked to watch a three minute clip from the movie Transpotting. The clip featured acts such as stealing money, lying on a job application, cooking and eating a family dog, among other things.

The participants were then asked to deem how morally wrong the acts were, and to place them on a scale from one to nine, with one being acceptable and nine being inexcusably wrong.

While all 44 found the actions “wrong”, the extent to which these actions were deemed wrong varied; participants who had recently washed their hands were less likely to judge the actions as harshly as the group who had not.

And this correlation carried over to another experiment where one group was first shown words such as clean, neat, pure etc., while another was shown neutral words, before being presented with the same moral dilemmas.

The implications of the findings are understandably far-reaching. Consider: According to this theory, jurors in criminal trials who cleanse their hands come back with less severe verdicts. Similarly, voters may overlook a politician’s wrongdoing if they’ve just had a bath.

The take home message (apart from letting go of the grudge)? While we like to think of ourselves as rational, deliberative beings, incidental cues can shape our thought processes.

Now that’s a sobering thought.

The web…like you’ve always wanted it. Sounds like a tag line? It should be. Viewzi is to your regular search engine what the picture dictionary is to your regular Oxford. Except it doesn’t omit any info.

No reading required. Unless of course you want to.

Psychologist Jonathan Haidt looks at why you vote the way you do.