Lee Durant

Science Feature – About a Flea

Thursday, February 24th, 2011

One of the best things about being a cameraman is learning something unexpected and new about a subject you are filming, jobs are varied and the people you meet along the way are often experts in their own right and are very keen indeed to inform you about their chosen subject specialization. Tuesday’s job was just the ticket with a feature shoot and interview at the university of Cambridge all about fleas and the way that they jump.

These irritating creatures apparently experience forces of up to 50-G’s when jumping through the air, to put that into context the average human passes out when they experience 4-G. Scientists at Cambridge are researching how a flea manages to jump so efficiently using cameras that capture 5000 frames a second to accurately record the fleas takeoff and flight. They are hoping this knowledge could be used to great effect in medical and robotic science.

I returned to the office loaded with knowledge and Chief cameraman Bart made the mistake of asking me about the morning’s shoot. I got through about two sentences of my newly found insect expertise before he cut me short with a “never mind I’ve got a spread sheet to finish” look in his eyes.

Tags: Editorial, reuters, Science, tv, Video
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