Exhibitionism
Posted: September 17, 2026 Filed under: Art, Exhibit Development, Museums, Science, Social Justice, Uncategorized, Writing Leave a commentI’m so pleased to be working on a series of science center exhibitions with an extra-special sauce, that I think just might change the industry forever…? I want to tell you all about it. Ooo but we’ve only soft launched. Ain’t that just the way?
Look at the image below. Can you guess what THREE exhibitions it represents…?
Flying to Mars with NASA
Posted: May 30, 2024 Filed under: Art, Museums, Science, Screenwriting, Social Justice, Writing | Tags: Film, NASA, scicomm, SciEd, Science, Screenwriting Leave a commentAt the end of 2022, I was finally able to see the gorgeous final product of a project that began in 2020: a full-dome planetarium show Mars: The Ultimate Voyage. As co-writer and advisor on the project, I was humbled to hear planetarium directors calling it perhaps the most comprehensive show about long-distance space flight yet. Ask me anything about the challenge of balancing complex science with a cutting-edge approach to inclusivity and equity, or about the all-around joy of working closely with NASA scientists to collect their stories. And catch Mars: The Ultimate Voyage at planetaria everywhere on planet Earth!
COVID-19 Exhibition: virtual + physical
Posted: April 4, 2022 Filed under: Exhibit Development, Interactive, Museums, Research, Social Justice, Storytelling, Writing Leave a commentFor the past year, I’ve been honored to work with folks from Seattle and King County on an exhibition about communities rallying together during the COVID-19 pandemic. The exhibition started online, as a partnership between the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the South Seattle Emerald. It will take physical form in the foundation’s Discovery Center in June 2022.
As ever, my job as exhibit developer is humbling, and all praise is due to the folks whose stories are featured here––I hope we’ve done you justice. Thank you for sharing your stories, and most of all, thank you for doing the sometimes impossible-seeming work of leading community through collective trauma.
Many thanks, all, and more information soon.
Screenplays OF SCIENCE (ence, ence, ence)
Posted: January 11, 2021 Filed under: Exhibit Development, Interactive, Production, Research, Science, Screenwriting, Television, Writing Leave a commentScience communicators write screenplays? Heck yeah I do: the kind you see in museum exhibitions and planetariums (planetaria, if you’re nerdy).
I’m stoked and honored to be working on one about human space flight for a NASA grant, working with the Bell Museum and brilliant full-dome producers at Morehead Planetarium. Hoping it will be the kind of film that makes every kid who sees it want to work for NASA.
Every kid?
Well why not, I ask you.
And hey, wow: Victoria the T. rex, the video I wrote and directed for immersive, in-exhibition viewing, has won three awards! 🏆 🏆 🏆 See a sample from it (minus narration) at my instagram page, linked below. Cinematography, animation, and production by the incredibly talented folks at Animism Studio:
Reviews for Consider the Platypus
Posted: January 29, 2020 Filed under: Art, Books, Dolphins, Museums, Nonfiction, Research, Science, Storytelling, Writing 2 CommentsHonored and humbled by response to my first book, Consider the Platypus: Evolution through Biology’s Most Baffling Beasts, available now wherever books are sold:
- Wall Street Journal – “What to Give” nature books gift guide
- American Scientist – Science Book Gift Guide
- Ars Technica – Science and tech book review
- Queensland Reviewers Collective – book review
- Minnesota Book Awards – Finalist in General Nonfiction
“Victoria the T. rex” now open in AZ
Posted: January 29, 2020 Filed under: Exhibit Development, Interactive, Museums, Research, Science, Screenwriting, Writing Leave a comment“Victoria” is a newly discovered T. rex specimen, the second largest and most complete known to science (after Sue, at the Field Museum). I had the great honor of working alongside some of the world’s leading paleontologists to develop a touring exhibition around Victoria’s pristine fossil remains, complete with “Become Victoria” interactives and a fully immersive Cretaceous-era diorama come to life. Best of all, the entire experience builds directly upon the most cutting-edge T. rex science. (We’re talking forward stance and feathers, people.)
[EDIT] And that’s not all! This November, 2020, I was utterly chuffed to learn that the film I wrote and directed for in-exhibition has won three awards! Much credit is due to the incredible, unrivaled work of Animism Studio with whom collaboration was a career-topping thrill.
The exhibition, Victoria the T. Rex, is open now at the Arizona Science Center. Colossal thanks to the entire top-notch team, including Dr. Dave Hone, Dr. Heinrich Mallison, IMG, NGX Interactive, Stacy Sidman, and Khalil Williams. Check out the suuuuper flashy trailer for the exhibition below:
If All Water Were Blood
Posted: January 5, 2019 Filed under: Art, Books, Fiction, Social Justice, Speculative Fiction, Writing 2 Comments[Edited] The thing happened, that happens, where the online literary magazine that housed “If All Water Were Blood” has turned to digital ash. So here it is for posterity (and probably the AI farm): photos of the piece on paper. For how long? The life of me, or this website, or all of the internet, whichever goes first. Thank you forever to Paper Darts magazine, may she rest in peace.
Consider the Platypus
Posted: January 5, 2019 Filed under: Books, Nonfiction, Science, Writing | Tags: Books, scicomm Leave a comment…Is the actual, updated name of my aforementioned and forthcoming illustrated nonfiction book for adults and curious kids. Sneak peeks soon! Stay tuned.
How to Be a Dolphin (Not a Hippie)
Posted: July 6, 2016 Filed under: Dolphins, Nonfiction, Science, Writing Leave a commentMy latest for Nautil.us. It was only a matter of time.
I am the SciComm from Your Video
Posted: January 18, 2016 Filed under: Comedy, Dolphins, Fiction, Interview, Nonfiction, Performance, Science, Speaking, Storytelling, Uncategorized, Writing Leave a commentOne more dispatch from my adventures with Melbourne’s Wheeler Centre & their Interrobang Festival of Questions. Click the below links for some primo procrastination-aiding video content!
A discussion of ocean vs. space travel & the public’s expectations of science*, among molecular biologist/science communicator Upulie Divisekera, sci-fi author & BoingBoing editor Cory Doctorow, & some “comedy science” lady (me)
And What Future Do We Want and Deserve? With radical chef Adam Liaw, futurist Kristin Alford, author/editor Cory Doctorow, & that “comedy science” lady again, moderated by Wheeler Centre Director Michael Williams
*Stay tuned for the above-referenced COMPETITIVE Q&A, plus my speech on what science & art tell us about the importance of words vs. actions.
Mandford
