Nanochemistry students turn lab videos into viral hits

Nanochemistry and Instagram? An unlikely combination at first glance. But two students from the Nanochemistry department have proved that science can not only be useful and inspiring, but also funny and viral on social media. The three most successful posts from the last month have collectively garnered over a million views.

When David Mareš and Pavlína Konopáčová started to manage the instagram account of their department at the suggestion of the head N Michal Řezanka, the original intention was to find a possible collaboration with the corporate environment. However, they soon discovered, what they largely expected, that the popularization of everyday laboratory activities has much more potential.

"Originally, Instagram was meant to get us noticed by companies so we could collaborate. It just didn't work out," David recalls. "So we decided to change the target audience and focus on students and science outreach."

And it worked. Their contributions, which combine scientific experiments with humour and simple explanations, quickly began to gain attention. "We thought the growth would be gradual, but several of our videos went viral," Pája says.

The actual process of creating the posts was a trial-and-error experience. "In the beginning, we wanted to do more specialized content, but we quickly realized that's not how Instagram works. We had to simplify the information, make it faster and more attractive. And short, dynamic videos were a hit," explains David.

One of the most successful posts? "Definitely the nuclear magnetic resonance video. We showed it as a divining sphere that tells you what substance it's analyzing. In reality, of course, it's not that simple. Unfortunately!" Pája laughs. "The watchers even recognized the chemical formula in the comments. However, there was a big discussion about the use of MRI, which certainly helped to spread the video. It had two hundred thousand views in two days. However, these have been steadily increasing and are now over half a million, plus thirty thousand likes."

And the funniest reaction? "One viewer wrote to me on the video How Chemical Reactions See Us that I shouldn't smile at a chemical reaction, but I should have respect for it," says David. "But in addition to the jokes, we've also heard from people with a genuine interest in collaborating. For example, a researcher from India wanted to analyse his samples on our instrument."

Future plans? According to Pája: "We will definitely stick to funny videos! But we also want to show other measuring methods and instruments that we have in our department - BET for measuring surface area, infrared spectroscopy or Raman spectroscopy." The latter found important applications, for example, in the analysis of alcohols during the methanol affair.

In addition to topics from their department, they would like to include topics from other departments of the institute. "For example, electron microscopy videos or 3D printing," David mentions. "We would also like to involve other members of the department or new students in our department in the filming. But so far, they're not really rushing in, it's more about giving us advice on how we should make videos. They're probably shy! They don't want to be on video," laughs David

One thing is for sure: nano is trending on Instagram and shows that even a lab environment can be not only useful but also fun.

Ondřej Havelka