What happens when a Stanford Physics Graduate Student takes a job as the school paper’s cartoonist? PhDcomics.com.
Piled Higher and Deeper has been around for almost a decade, vastly outliving the author’s tenure as a grad student. He still writes it full time for cash and glory while also teaching robotics engineering at a university. But this particular (not funny) episode illustrates the ease with which a cartoonist can turn a conversation with two other physyicists about dark matter into a movie strip. It’s much easier to follow than any text book or magazine article on the subject.
We should all take note of the power of illustration in teaching. RSA animate applies a similar style to make even wonky or complex topics fun to learn. This is the future of education – lectures are just a “quick and dirty” tool for communication. As we teach the same topic repeatedly, we should be developing a catalogue of fun entertaining videos and illustrations.
Click image to see full video, or watch the vimeo link at the bottom:
Can you believe that 95% of the stuff in the universe remains hidden? It illustrates my own idea, that you become a scientist when you realized how little we know. Once you realize how little you know, the scientific method of finding answers is simply the only realistic way to explore the universe.
ChewyChunks 
I would love to know which tools do Jorge Cham use to animate he’s drawings. 🙂 Any hint?
I’ve no idea what he uses, but I know he’s a hand drawing illustrator for his comics, or was at first for Standford Univ’s student paper.