I hadn’t heard of Twitch until stumbling across a Sep 18, 2024 article by Nicole Carpenter for Polygon (gaming and entertainment news source), Note: Links have been removed,
The atmosphere of Halo’s arid planet Sanghelios or the science of Valorant’s Alpha Earth aren’t the only explorations of space you’ll find on Twitch [emphasis mine]. The livestreaming platform is best known as a hub for games like League of Legends, Valorant, or Minecraft, but today, it’s also a place for people to learn: about science, space, and the planet we live on. Science and technology have their very own category on Twitch [emphasis mine], which hosts everything from NASA livestreaming a total solar eclipse to a group of enthusiasts monitoring seismic waves.
It’s also where you’ll find Twitch partner and space, science, and astrobiology communicator Moohoodles, who shares space news, like the first images from the Euclid space telescope or watching the Odyssey spacecraft land on the moon, and plays video games while chatting about science to her viewers.
Ahead of TwitchCon, Polygon emailed with Moohoodles (who asked Polygon to use her handle for privacy) about her long career on Twitch, science’s place on the platform, and building an engaged community.
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Moohoodles talks about how her start on Twitch and her start as a science communication on Twitch, from the Sep 18, 2024 article,
Polygon: Can you introduce yourself? What’s your niche on Twitch?
Moohoodles: I’m a pioneer of science communication on Twitch, covering astrobiology while serving up engaging and animated reactions to the latest news about outer space. Imagine Ms. Frizzle crossed with Carl Sagan, contagiously snort laughing. My community loves our fun and safe corner of the internet where we can nerd out about astronomy and increase our scientific literacy. When I’m not gushing about space, sharks, conservation, or programming, you can find me gaming everything from retro to new releases. My content is informed by a decade of live-streaming experience and energized by my passion for encouraging and uplifting women in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics].
What brought you to Twitch? How long have you been streaming?
I have been streaming since May of 2014! Twitch was very different over a decade ago, and to be honest I started streaming because I thought I was funny and had good reactions to video games! I never would have imagined back then what my stream would turn into and how impactful it could be. As far as I remember, Twitch didn’t have any non-gaming categories in 2014, so I would just talk about all my passions and interests while I played video games. In 2015 while I played Fallout 3, I remember my community was really excited to talk about the future where humans could land on Mars, and also talk about the possibility of life out there in the universe. To keep a long story short, after non-gaming categories were added I would bring more lecture based materials (with powerpoints I created for talks to my college’s Astronomy Club that I ran) and do deep dives into specific Astrobiology topics on my stream.
In 2018, Twitch created the Science & Technology category and it was a huge win for all of the science communication streamers! I was so happy to pave the way for that category to be created, and it’s the main category I stream in now as I cover current news in outer space and astrobiology, plus rocket launches! Of course, I still do a bunch of variety gaming, and I love bringing in new viewers to the educational side of Twitch through space themed games!
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You can find science communication anywhere, eh?