Sudbury scientist using web tools to teach about science

Sudbury scientist Steve Maguire is using platforms like YouTube and Reddit to teach people about science because he says it helps make it accessible to the everyday person.

But along with chemistry, Maguire also has a passion for acting...and using his personality to make science accessible to everyone.

On his YouTube channelhe calls "Science isn't Scary," Maguire explains everything from how soap works to why the sky is blue.

200 questions & comments from Reddit AMA

Last week Maguirefielded nearly 200 science questions and comments during an Ask Me Anything(AMA) session, on Reddit, anonline forum.

Maquireworks as a chemist atthe Sudbury Neutrino Observatory (SNOLAB), anunderground laboratory.

Some of the questions he answered during the AMA session includedtechnical queries about SNOLAB.

He was also asked how he teaches science and makes it accessible to others.

"When you have a wider audience, you don't have to worry about getting a space or people to come to your event," Maguiresaid of his online interests in promoting science.

Maguiresaid he isreally interested in taking science to the public and feels the Reddit AMA was another way of doing that.

"Walking up to a mic in front of a room of people to ask a question about science, can be nerve-racking. I've seen the nervousness,the stammering and stuttering of the person who really wants to ask this question, they'rejust terrified of being there."

TheAMA session was organized through the American Chemical Society, which Maguire is a member of.

"People think science has to be hard or boring...that's not true."

"People think that science has to be hard, or boring, or 'mathy'or that only scientists can do it. That's not true."

He said he gets alot of the comments frompeople who tell him theynever understood scienceuntil heexplained it to them.

Maguiresaid heplans to continue his online ventures and would like to be the next science guy on television.

"If you told me ten years ago I could sit in my living room and produce something that could be accessible to anybody around the world, I would have laughed at you."

Maguirecredits his Grade 11 Chemistryteacher for helping develop his interest in science and chemistry. "I clicked with his teaching style. I discovered that I like chemistry. I liked knowingwhat things were made of and how you can turn things into otherthings."

Anyone whomayhave a science question for Steve Maguirecan find him on Twitter at @sciencenotscary.

Morning North8:03Taking the fear out of science

Steve Maguire, a Sudbury chemist, is answering your questions online using Reddit forums and Youtube. Steve talked about how he's taking the fear out of science for everyday people.