Time-Wasting Tip #8 (for the Overworked Grad Student)

Got a long incubation time to kill? Waiting for your cells to spin? Bored in-between classes? In class? Another tip from a fellow graduate student leads us this week to the “Look Around You” modules from BBC 2, a parody of an educational video series, which can be easily found on YouTube or Google.

This series pays homage to educational videos of the early 1980s and is dryly narrated by a very scientific-sounding (and British) Nigel Lambert. However, while they may look and sound like the educational videos you may have been subjected to in grade school, these are anything but.

If you’re a fan of British humor, you’ll enjoy the subtle goofiness of each lesson: We learn, for example, that germs come from Germany and that water boils at 1,000 degrees Celsius. Each “module” is roughly 10 minutes long, and nine were released in their first season (arguably the most popular) with topics such as “water”, “maths” and “ghosts.”

If nothing else, to the untrained eye, this week’s time waster might make you look as if you’re actually educating yourself, as opposed to waiting for your next time point.

Check next week for another grad-student approved distraction — suggestions are welcome!