Niche sites spread science on the Web

Haim Weizman is a chemist by trade and an Internet moviemaker on the side.

In his first video, a telegenic narrator in a lab coat swirls a flask as electronic music plays in the background. Created by four science and film students at the University of California, San Diego, the video shows a typical recrystallization experiment straight out of Chemistry 101.

The six-minute epic complete with bloopers got 1,205 views on Google’s YouTube, but the number increased fourfold when the video was posted to SciVee, one of a number of online video-sharing start-ups designed to let scientists broadcast themselves toiling in the laboratory or delivering lectures.

Fans of the niche sites say they help the lay public — and students — understand the scientific process, allow researchers to duplicate one another’s results and may help discourage fraud.

By Alicia Chang, Associated Press

Full Story: http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/2007-12-03-science-nice-sites_N.htm