And yesterday, he took some time to do an AMA for reddit. Let’s just say that it was a pretty successful thread.

If you aren’t familiar with AMAs on reddit, they are “Ask Me Anything” threads that run like an online Q&A session. Reddit users post questions on the thread and the subject of the AmA answers whichever question they feel like answering. AMAs usually take the form of “I am ______, AMA,” and can feature celebrities or random people with interesting stories – for instance “I am a bi-polar ex-heroin addict, AMA.”

Tyson’s AMA did well, to say the least. It is by far the top scoring (based on upvotes) post on reddit this week, and is already the 98th most popular post of all time. When you think about the magnitude of links submitted to reddit daily, this is no small feat.

The really amazing thing about Tyson’s AMA is the volume of comments that it received – currently 10,634. For perspective, the top scoring AMA post of all time happens to be the 10th top scoring post of all time across all of reddit. It featured long-time Jeopardy winner Ken Jennings, and amassed 5,273 comments – about half of what Tyson’s generated yesterday. In fact, there is no post in the top 100 that even comes close in terms of comments.

And for good reason. Dr. Tyson said some pretty amazing things during the AMA. The top comment comes from the question “What never fails to blow your mind in physics?” Tyson answered as follows:

1) The fact that an electron has no known size — it’s smaller than the smallest measurement we have ever made of anything.

2) That Quarks come only in pairs: If you try to separate two of them, the energy you sink into the system to accomplish this feat is exactly the energy to spontaneously create two more quarks – one to partner with each of those you pulled apart.

3) That the space-time structure inside a rotating black hole does not preclude the existence of an entire other universe.

MindBlown x 3

Here’s Tyson’s favorite short science fact:

That our bodies atoms are traceable to supernova stars that scattered their chemical enrichment across the cosmos, spawning the birth of star systems that contain planets, at least one of them containing life.

Here’s Tyson on teaching science to kids:

Kids are never the problem. They are born scientists. The problem is always the adults. The beat the curiosity out of the kids. They out-number kids. They vote. They wield resources. That’s why my public focus is primarily adults.

The AMA was so popular, that it’s already prompted redditors to post with frequency on the topic of the already-legendary AMA. He’s spawning his own new memes, and people are posting their favorite answers from the session with gusto. If you want to see what I’m talking about, look at the lead image from this article and check out this search on reddit.

It’s also possible that the overwhelming flood of comments took down reddit for a short period of time. Soshable points out that early this morning, reddit was down for “emergency maintenance.”

As his last comment, Tyson suggested that he does one of these AMAs every month. In the meantime, enjoy this:

The website asks users a series of questions to determine how serious their flu symptoms are based on the latest Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines. Users have the option to share their information with their doctor, as well as family members.

The site also provides a set of online tools to help doctors monitor their patients’ symptoms, make treatment decisions, and manage their practices’ patient flow.

AMA-Flu-Help

"With both seasonal flu and H1N1 circulating this year, physician offices are already busier than normal," said AMA Board Member Mary Anne McCaffree, MD.

"This resource allows patients to assess their symptoms and determine when to seek care for themselves or their loved ones. To prevent the spread of influenza, this site also helps determine when it is safe for those who have been sick to return to work or school."

AMAfluhelp.org can help people assess their own flu symptoms or those of a family member, and offer advice about seeking treatment. There is also a tool for pregnant women to evaluate their need for a flu shot and for all users to monitor any post-vaccine related symptoms. The site can also generate a doctor’s note when it is safe to go back to work or school.

The AMA says as the site develops it will add a number of applications that support patient/doctor communication, reduce redundant testing and allows for continuous  monitoring of patients with complex health conditions.

“YouTube is increasingly a resource people consult for health information, including vaccination,” said Dr. Jennifer Keelan, an assistant professor at the University of Toronto’s Department of Public Health Sciences.

“Our study shows that a significant amount of immunization content on YouTube contradicts the best scientific evidence at large. From a public health perspective, this is very concerning.”

"Health care professionals need to be aware that individuals critical of immunization are using YouTube to communicate their viewpoints and that patients may be obtaining information from these videos" said Dr. Kumanan Wilson, senior author and an associate professor with U of T’s Department of Medicine. "YouTube users also need to be aware of this, so they can filter information from the site accordingly."

Wilson also suggested that public health officials should learn to use YouTube as a portal for spreading their own views on immunization.

… soliciting information about any military funerals that might be taking place on the same day President Bush was being sworn in to a second term.

The ABCNews.com request seeked to find families who were burying military serviceman from Iraq on Thursday, Jan. 20 and would be willing to talk. One blogger, anticipating that the ABC News message would be taken down, saved the page.

During my talk today at the AMA blog seminar an attendee asked me if I thought bloggers are journalists. I described them as a separate entity – citizen journalists – who co-exist with the media in symbiosis, much like the Tick bird and the Rhino.

This is the perfect example. ABC News put up a post on their site for a brief time but the bloggers were watching. The bloggers are always watching.

Steve Rubel is a PR strategist with nearly 16 years of public relations, marketing, journalism and communications experience. He currently serves as a Senior Vice President with Edelman, the largest independent global PR firm.

He authors the Micro Persuasion weblog, which tracks how blogs and participatory journalism are changing the public relations practice.

Presented on October 28, 2004 at the annual American Marketing Association Awards Gala in Atlanta, the AMY Awards recognize effectiveness in marketing, advertising, public relations and communications campaigns. For the second year running, Prominent Placement achieved excellence in the Search Engine Marketing category, which recognizes Web sites that have increased traffic and effectiveness through strategic Internet marketing campaigns utilizing search engine optimization, search engine placement services or a combination of both. Prominent Placement is the only search engine optimization company to have ever received back-to-back honors in the Search Engine Marketing category.

The Atlanta search engine optimization company won a Bronze AMY for a pay-per-click advertising campaign conducted for CompuTaught, a provider of online real estate agent and appraiser courses. The campaign goal was to lower the click-through rate and generate more targeted and qualified visitors to the site. Through search engine placement services, the strategic Internet marketing campaign increased performance by more than 160% and generated a positive ROI at a significantly lower cost.

Prominent Placement also earned AMY Finalist honors for a Search Engine Optimization campaign conducted on behalf of The Banker’s Exchange, a leading online reseller of new and used back-office banking equipment. The campaign applied SEO expert techniques and resulted in significant top rankings – with top 10 search engine placements increasing 128% and number one search engine placements increasing 223%. Additionally, the search engine optimization program increased monthly site traffic driven by search engines 144%. As a result of the strategic Internet marketing campaign, online sales increased dramatically, exceeding the client’s search engine positioning goals.

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