Last month we launched the video component of Southern Fried Science–Blue Pints. Blue Pints was designed to be an informal conversation among marine scientists about current issues in marine science and conservation. Our first four episodes covered topics ranging from shark finning to Japanese kelp fishing to Sea monsters and hoax UFO’s. Thanks to Google+, we could broadcast these discussions live while recording them for posterity. It took several episodes for us to hit our stride and I’m certain that we’ll continue to perfect and change the formatting as we continue, which leads us to the big question on everyone’s mind:

What is next for Blue Pints?

A weekly episode proved a bit too much for our current schedules, so we’re cutting down on the number we produce every month. On top of that, as many of you know, I’m defending my doctoral dissertation next month, so my southern fried schedule is pretty much completely packed until then. Finally, as much as you all love to see mine, David’s, and Amy’s faces, I’m sure you’d much rather we mix up the hosts a bit.

Two things are happening between now and the end of August. First, we’re soliciting guests to join in on our broadcasts. If there are issues in marine science and conservation that you’d like to talk about, or you just want to hang out online with us talking about the ocean, drop us a line or leave a comment on this post and we’ll start assembling a schedule of ocean communicators. Second, we’re launching a complementary program–A shot of Blue–which will be a short (5 minutes or less) discussion covering a single topic. This will help round out the schedule with out demanding too much of our time. We may continue to run episodes during this month, but will not be sticking to a regular schedule.

Check out the first 4 episodes of Blue Pints:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQ_8ZtKKfjk

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ijPEW7x93N0

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hNEoyUdXgHc

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RIfiPiQJ3pU