Just in case you missed it, the European Commission made this video to encourage young women into science:
You might be mistaken for thinking it’s an advertisement for a new make-up brand called ‘Science’, but apparently someone actually thought that this hideous example of gender stereotyping would be a good way of getting girls interested in pursuing a scientific career.
Perhaps unsurprisingly the video was withdrawn fairly swiftly, but how it ever got made perplexes me. Taking a look at the website yields yet more pink and pastel, although it’s by no means as offensive as the video…
…except perhaps for this choice of science factoid that is deemed of interest to young women:
All in all it appears that the European Commission either has a very low opinion of women, or perhaps they just employed Sterling Cooper as their marketing consultants.
Zygoma 
That video is embarrassing. I wanted to turn away while watching it!
Also, the celery factoid is a myth.
The response videos have already begun: http://youtu.be/5vyAWyAUHpI
It could have been such an amazing opportunity to really talk about women in science. Well, at least we’re talking…
*hides head in hands* Oh good grief.
Meanwhile, Bridget has just become the first female President of the Institute of Acoustics. Now, that’s the kind of news Europa should be spreading.
Consensus from the Science Lunch Club:
Celery is indeed a calorie-negative food (as is cucumber) and a mild diuretic to boot. This does not mean you lose weight unless you substitute your snacks for celery and cucumber.
Unlike the economy, there is no relationship between hemline height and intelligence.
And we ❤ Caroline Herschel
Any evidence to back up the celery claim? According to Wikipedia* (where everything is true!) the claim has “no scientific merit”. 100g of raw celery has ~57kJ.
(* Not just Wikipedia; I’ve heard the claim denied elsewhere, but can’t remember where.)
Snopes is always a good place to look when dealing with popular debunking: http://www.snopes.com/food/ingredient/celery.asp
It seems that although celery does indeed contain calories, they are predominantly locked up in the form of cellulose, which means it takes a bit of energy to get access to those 13.62 calories per 100g and get rid of the subsequent waste products. The overall net energy balance will vary depending on the person and how efficient their digestive system is – and the temperature of the celery and whether it has any invertebrate hitch-hikers may also be a factor.
Thanks, Paolo. So, the main calorie-loss benefit seems to be that if you’re chewing celery you can’t be chewing chocolate.
That’s about it. Unless you’re dipping your celery in chocolate… now there’s an idea…
Or you could have asked Michael, who had the figures at his fingertips ….
OK, this is what might be called a result … A-M watched and was horrified. So horrified she called her cousin, who is an MEP. He watched and was so horrified he called the head of the department responsible for the video …. We are thinking of suggesting they offer a prize for the best response video 😉