SBME Interfaces with E. Paul Zehr

Getting science communication 80% right.
Concussion recovery and inspiring research.
The Olympics, doping, and human potential.

We sat down with Dr. E. Paul Zehr on all this and more in our latest episode.

Guest:
E. Paul Zehr
Author & International Science Communicator
Professor, University of Victoria
Affiliate Professor, UBC Department of Medicine

E. PAUL ZEHR, Ph.D., is a professor, author, and martial artist at the University of Victoria. He is passionate about the popularization of science using superheroes as foils for human achievement and ability. His recent pop-sci books include BECOMING BATMAN (2008), INVENTING IRON MAN (2011), PROJECT SUPERHERO (2014), and CHASING CAPTAIN AMERICA (2018).

His innovative work as head of the Rehabilitation Neuroscience Laboratory focuses on the recovery of function after neurotrauma using integrated whole body movement.

At an early age martial arts got him into science and he continues his daily practice in Victoria where he also teaches karate and Ryukyu kobujutsu in the community.

Paul is a regular speaker at conferences and comic conventions including San-Diego International Comic Con and New York Comic Con and has presented to the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences on the science of superheroes. In addition to articles and interviews on exercise, science and superheroes in Flipside: The Science, Engineering, and Technology Magazine for Teenagers, Scientific American Online, Men’s Health, Men’s Fitness, Maxim, Popular Mechanics, Discover and Maclean’s magazines, Zehr also blogs at Scientific American.

Zehr won the 2012 Craigdarroch Award for Research Communications at the University of Victoria and the 2015 Science Educator Award from the Society for Neuroscience. "Project Superhero" received the 2015 Silver Medal for Juvenile Fiction from the North American Independent Book Publishers.

Learn more about Paul's work

Host:
Miguel Eichelberger
Communications & Engagement Manager, School of Biomedical Engineering

Miguel is an unflinching optimist. He is a communicator and writer whose work has appeared in literary magazines and on stages around the world. His most recent publications include Harpur Palate, the Literary Review of Canada, Plainsongs Magazine, and Soliloquies Anthology. He believes in authenticity; in doing and saying what you actually believe, and he is an obsessive student of leadership from the biological and anthropological perspectives. You've likely heard him rant about it, and he's not sorry.

Learn more about Miguel's work here

Chapters

• 0:00 SBME Interfaces with E. Paul Zehr
• 2:11 On making an "Acceptable Impact" on the world
• 6:17 On doing the public a favour by working to get it 80% right
• 12:40 On being unable to tell the extraordinary story of the vaccine because of miscommunication
• 14:00 On communicating all possibilities for more impact, and on making a 'mostly correct' point
• 16:55 On understanding the human body to better understand life
• 22:30 On exciting new technologies that are providing new windows into neuroscience
• 27:32 On recovering from a concussion, renewed purpose and the irony of being the neuroscientist with a brain injury
• 34:25 On the Olympics, what's doping vs what isn't, should we draw limits and thinking differently about human performance
• 43:22 On what's next, a potential sequel for "Becoming Batman," and finding ways to contribute to society