Students readily answered questions about string theory and chaos but were stumped by those about everyday things.

Jennifer Cutraro

Cambridge resident Marla Fletcher thought she was just heading out for a typical Sunday stroll with her two dogs in Harvard Square yesterday afternoon when she heard a commotion. “Ladies and gentlemen, we are offering free science advice today,” shouted a tall woman with a microphone in front of Grendel’s Den. “Come and ask your burning science questions!”

Fletcher did, in fact, have a burning science question, so she took her place in line to test the knowledge of three local science and engineering PhD students sitting at a table under the trees at the corner of JFK Street and Mt. Auburn Street.

The students were being filmed for a pilot video called Stump the Grad Student, produced by Boston’s public television station, WGBH, for the website of its science show NOVA. The video aims to reach out to new audiences by taking a fresh approach to science, said WGBH assistant editor David Levin. “We wanted to make something that, on the Web, gets people interested in science because it’s fun, not just educational,” he said.

Erez Lieberman (left), Kristin Myers (center), and Charisse Crenshaw, local science and engineering PhD students, fielded questions from the public about science yesterday in Harvard Square.

For about four hours, the graduate students—one from MIT, one from Harvard and one affiliated with both—fielded dozens of questions, from the straightforward (“How do you measure a decibel?”) to the practical (“How can we tell if there’s lead in the crystal glasses we drink from?”) and the esoteric (“Which is faster: the speed of light or the speed of thought?”). Children and adults alike took their turns at the microphone to challenge the panelists. Somerville comedian Cathleen Carr acted as the MC to coax passersby into participating.

For the most part, the students, who were selected by WGBH after passing a screen test, handled the questions well, tackling topics ranging from string theory to color blindness and chaos. They even used a small chalkboard to describe why supersonic jets make so much noise.

But the real stumpers were queries inspired by simple observations of the things we see or use every day, such as Teflon or diesel engines. One passerby, gesturing at the flocks of birds swooping through the Square, asked the panel why we never see baby pigeons. Maybe it’s because it was late in the day and their brains were getting taxed—but the team couldn’t come up with an answer.

Lessons for the stumped

In struggling with those everyday questions, the students learned how challenging it can be to explain science in nonscientific language. “We love our jargon; it’s like a crutch,” said Harvard molecular and cell biology grad student Charisse Crenshaw. “To not use it, you have to really understand what you’re trying to explain.”

At the same time, they said they enjoyed the chance to reach beyond the traditional boundaries of their research disciplines. “Coming into it, we didn’t know what to expect, so it was fun to see how much we could stretch our knowledge,” said MIT mechanical engineering grad student Kristin Myers.

Erez Lieberman, a graduate student in a joint Harvard-MIT program in evolutionary genomics, was more surprised by the questions he didn’t hear then those he did. “People didn’t ask any questions about hot-button issues like stem cells,” he said.

And Fletcher? She wanted to know if it was possible for her two dogs—sold to her as littermates—to have two different fathers. The student panel explained that it was if the mother mated with multiple dogs after ovulating multiple eggs. Fletcher seemed satisfied with the answer. “I think they got it right,” she said.

Editor’s note: Charisse Crenshaw’s affiliation was incorrectly given as MIT. She is at Harvard. The correction has been made.