As Science Friday’s video producer, Luke is tasked with writing, filming, directing, editing, animating, narrating, and promoting many of the short films you’ll find on this here website. Every other week, he becomes obsessed with the research he films until his video is complete or his colleagues show him a shiny new study to play with. Luke also wrangles a stable of equally enthusiastic freelance filmmakers, helping them to produce and promote their own stories.
Prior to being domesticated by Science Friday, Luke worked at the Wildlife Conservation Society, where he profiled a wide cast of characters, both two- and four-legged. The experience provided hands-on training in storytelling, as well as some invaluable lessons in wildlife filmmaking, such as “Lemurs enjoy scent marking. Everything.” And, “Never let a baby walrus sit on you.”
Despite his snobby film school education at SUNY Purchase and his devotion to Werner Herzog, his favorite film remains The Bear. He doesn’t care that it is a “kiddie film” that anthropomorphizes animals—he cries every time and isn’t ashamed of it.
The Never-Ending Flipbook Machines
This Queens-based artist created a way to turn flipbooks of fluttering hummingbirds and butterflies into moving sculptures.
6:34
What Is Causing Maine’s Puffins To Physically Shrink?
Centuries of see-sawing growth and decline now has a new factor: climate change.
Wondrous Beauty Made From Dead Insects
Artist Jennifer Angus creates a celebration of cicadas and insects in her eye-catching collages and dioramas.
A Tour Through Maria Ferreira’s Crystal Gardens
Blending chemistry, physics, and animation, artist Maria Constanza Ferreira grows tiny gardens of crystals to create dazzling images.
How Climate Change Is Giving Maine’s Wild Blueberries The Blues
Climate change is threatening Maine’s native blueberries. These researchers are looking to provide solutions—and help farmers in the process.
How Puffins On The Gulf Of Maine Act As ‘Sentinels Of Climate Change’
Learn how conservationists live on an isolated island to study Maine’s puffin population, and how the birds are dealing with warming seas.
3:29
In An Uncanny Valley, Art Evolves
The website ArtBreeder lets you blend, tweak, and evolve existing artworks using biological principles.
These Stunning Images Were Created Using The Forces Behind Evolution
A computer programmer and artist discovers inspiration in biological growth processes.
9:50
Life Of A Coronavirus Scientist During A Pandemic
These scientists have studied coronaviruses for years. Here’s how the pandemic has impacted their lives and research.
Surveying The Northern Lights
For nearly two decades, Don Hampton has been monitoring the Northern Lights in Alaska to understand the energy pouring down from auroras.