Topic Selection (Coco Ang, W14)

After listening to various episodes from Everyday Einstein, I have decided that this is the podcast that I will emulate. I have chosen this podcast it uses science to explain our world in a simple and meaningful way. For example, it uses science to answers questions like, “Why is the sky blue?” and, “Why do glasses get foggy in cold weather?” As a person who is very interested in science, I feel that this is the perfect podcast to emulate. I really enjoy listening to this podcast because it is very funny and uses an anecdote to start off most of its episode. Since these are the main reasons that keep my attention while listening to Everyday Einstein, I would also like to include these aspects in my own episode.

Recently, I have been very interested in various common scientific misconceptions and I have noticed that Everyday Einstein actually speaks about these as well. For example, in its episode, “Should You Store Batteries in the Freezer?” it debunked the common belief that we should keep batteries in our freezers to extend its shelf life! For my podcast I would also like to challenge a common misconception. More specifically, would like to answer the question of, “What should we really do after being stung by a jellyfish?” I feel that this question captures the theme of Everyday Einstein and it will also keep the audience’s attention.

After looking at some advice from Spark (Student Papers & Academic Research Kit), it was much easier for me to pick a topic. At first I was very overwhelmed with the idea of selecting a topic but Spark helps guide you through the process in a very simple manner. It also gives various resources like, Brainstorming, Nutshelling and Plus, Minus Interesting (PMI) which I found very useful. I found the Nutshelling resource most useful because it really helped me narrow down my topic and keep me focused on what exactly I want to accomplish through my podcast.

The advice I would give to others is to definitely use the resources that Spark gives us. Although we likely walk through these steps intuitively, these resources allow us to keep track of our ideas! I find this particularly important because this way, if we forget a key aspect of our topic, we can just refer back to these resources!