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.
Kelp: It’s What’s For Dinner
Meet the farmers who want to make cheap, environmentally friendly kelp America’s next favorite vegetable.
10:12
Riding The Wave Of Kelp Farming
The kelp revolution has reached the U.S. and it could change everything (including how cows fart).
How To Grow Coral
Corals have long been at risk of bleaching. At Georgia Aquarium, a team of biologists are helping restore coral in the wild—by cultivating them in the lab.
Big Ideas, Tiny Museum
Traditional museums can be intimidating and are usually in wealthier neighborhoods. A new company that makes portable museums is hoping to change that.
Hurricane In A Box
Unable to study Category 5 hurricanes in the field, University of Miami researchers create them from scratch in a giant box.
The Very Hungry Maggot
What happens when you give hundreds of puppies a single bowl of food? This mechanical engineer is trying to solve this problem with physics…and maggots.
6:19
If You Give A Maggot A Cookie…
Researchers are digging into the eating habits of maggots to help solve the food waste problem.
Bats Take Flight
Thanks to high-speed video, we now know that bats fly very differently compared to birds.
New Visions Of Ancient Creatures
A paleoartist reinterprets the dinosaurs we thought we knew so well.
Breakthrough: Bitter Water
For Navajo hydrologist Karletta Chief, water is sacred. When a mine spill contaminated a vital river in the Navajo Nation, she decides to investigate the potential environmental and health impacts it had on her community.