Parenting amongst zombies and breathing xenon

Melbourne’s Sean Elliott is a very talented man. He’s a science educator with a nice line in podcasts, some clever videos and an episodic story he’s writing about being father to a baby in a post-apocalyptic world.

Sean’s Website can be found at www.theoretikos.com. It covers burning issues such as how to build play-dough electric circuits and creating fake wounds – basic essential skills for geek parenting. Together with Vanessa Hill, the Launchpod site is home to a podcast series where you can chat with people doing amazing things in Astronomy and Space Science. Then there is his YouTube channel which includes a great video on what happens to your voice when you inhale xenon instead of helium, and why. I love both the topic and the fact it’s science delivered in an Australian accent.

All that is wonderful, but what really grabbed my eye was his blog series on “A Reluctant Father’s Guide to Child-Raising in a Post-Apocalyptic World.” Imagine your supermarket shopping trip complicated because the place has no power, diminishing stocks and zombies might have found their way inside since your last visit. It’s a more than cute idea. Although I can’t help but wish Sean had written more (and the publisher in me can’t help pointing out that he could do with an editor and proofreader at some points). Still it’s an idea to conjure with. As far as I can see the best way to read them all of You and Me versus Zombies in one place is to follow the category link on the left of his page.

If all this was not enough, Sean has a show, An Evening of Rough Science, in Melbourne next month. It’s billed as:

In an Evening of Rough Science we will conduct an autopsy on a microwave, unweave the rainbow to make the sky is blue, and unravel the challenges of how to explain Climate Change to your dad.

And who could ask for more than that?

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