In its third year, the Dance Your PhD contest is proving that maybe, just maybe, scientists can dance. From the contest’s website:

The dreaded question. “So, what’s your Ph.D. research about?” You take a deep breath and launch into the explanation. People’s eyes begin to glaze over…

At times like these, don’t you wish you could just turn to the nearest computer and show people an online video of your Ph.D. thesis interpreted in dance form?

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What does it take to get scientists to dance? A Youtube contest, of course. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) announced yesterday the winners of its Science Dance Contest, which called on science graduate students, post-docs, and professors to create and videotape a dance about their research.

Out of 36 entries, the four winning dances used contorting bodies to explain protein-DNA interactions, neuron firing, hemoglobin, and the role of vitamin D in beta cell function. Other submissions ranged from ballet to tango, hoola-hooping to traditional Indian dance, as well as scientists just jiggying in their labs. View them all here.

The idea for the contest came from John Bohannon, a science journalist who started a Dance Your Ph.D. contest last year.

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