Have science, will travel
Home to the finest science shows this side of the Big Bang performed by the two best science guys in this (or any other) universe. Have science, will travel.
Today, Aaron gets physical!…And Chemical!…With Chemistry!
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Read MoreToday on Constant Science I decided to talk about chemistry. In all honestly it's odd that it's taken us this long to get around to it because a lot of what we do is chemistry. Fire and explosions? Straight-up chemistry. Some nice chemical reactions with an attendant release of excess energy as the atoms switch themselves up, forming new compounds.
In the video I only go into the very basics of chemistry and what chemicals are; things get way more complicated than that but you gotta start somewhere. Click through to watch!
Read More"BY YOUR POWERS COMBINED, I AM.....sincerely concerned about legislative efforts to significantly change the composition of the EPA's Science Advisory Board." Okay, maybe that's not the most exciting plot synopsis of a Captain Planet fan-fiction episode. However, recent legislation is threatening to do exactly that and it is just one in a series of challenges towards government funded science being faced in America and abroad. Join Aaron as he looks at one of these pieces of legislation and the possible repercussions for the EPA.
Read MoreNot that long ago, I had a kid ask me what my favorite thing about science was. I had to think about it for a minute. I mean, it's not an easy question. Science put humans on the moon and has shown us the depths of time and space. With a little applied chemistry, you can create all sorts of spectacular and safe (for us professionals, anyway) pyrotechnics. Hell, science gave us the technology to create Fallout 3.
After consideration, though, I gave him the answer "My favorite thing about science is that, when I think like a scientist, I'm better at knowing true things from false things." That may seem self-explanatory, but I think it bears a bit of unpacking.
Read More311,000,000 miles from home the Philae lander is gently slumbering. After an…interesting landing scientists have gleaned as much data from the craft as possible before it’s primary battery ran down. So what happened and what does this mean for Philae’s eventual fate? Join Aaron as he celebrates getting his hands on a webcam made in the current millennium by bringing you up to date on the Rosetta mission.
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Last week I went to see Interstellar, Christopher Nolan's new space sci-fi movie. I thought it was pretty sweet but there were definitely a few bones to pick with the sci part of the sci-fi. In this week's video I focus in on one specific part of the film involving Einstein's general theory of relativity and talk about how they got it wrong and what would have happened if they had gotten it right. This should go without saying, but SPOILER ALERT! Click through for the video and, as always, please leave suggestions for future videos in the comments!
While enjoying Daring Don’s video on statistics (watch it here) I was reminded how many people, myself included, feel deficient in their understanding of math or science. This week I wanted to share one of my favorite science-themed authors in what will be the first of many book reviews highlighting those science communicators who can break down the knowledge for those of us who are still striving to learn the nuts and bolts of the scientific endeavor.
Read MoreAmid the detritus of the sparsely attended mid-term election, many folks in Oregon are still all riled up. Measure 92, which proposed labeling for GMO foodstuffs was defeated although the PR war promises to continue through the next election cycle and into perpetuity. Not surprisingly I see more and more articles popping up in social media on both sides of the issue and, even though I’m not quite ready to open up that particular can of worms (unless we get requests……..), I’d like to use the debate to highlight some issues with how we parse the huge amounts of information provided to us through the many interconnecting tubes of the internet.
Read MoreSo I didn't have a lot of time this week to put together a new vlog covering some sweet new content. Instead I have pulled another bit from our full-length show "Don't Try This at Home," which you can watch in its entirety on our Performances page. In this clip, Aaron faces my wrath as I wield my mighty sledgehammer. After trapping him between two beds of nails. With a cinderblock on top. This is a classic demonstration of the sometimes counterintuitive nature of physics and energy transfer, but like everything we do we do it up. We bring a flair and style to this demo that you'll rarely, if ever, find elsewhere. And so far I haven't killed Aaron.
So far.
Read MoreThis week I follow in the footsteps of Daring Don Riefler and attempt my very first vlog to add my two cents about influenza and the flu vaccine.
Read MoreHappy flu season, everyone! In order to celebrate this joyous occasion I've tossed together an episode of Constant Science about viruses. What are they? How do they make you sick? How does your body fight them? Why can you only get some of them once? And most importantly, how can we protect ourselves from them? Check out the video to find out.
Read MoreMonday’s post by the delightful Don Riefler has me thinking a lot about the various current space missions being conducted by NASA and other space agencies. In particular I was thinking about the New Horizons mission to Pluto and, with a shock, I realized I had no idea what was going to happen to that brave little craft after it had reached our most distant former planet.
Read MoreIt's Monday, and that means that it's time for a new episode of our vlog series, which we have newly rechristened "Constant Science," because that is a way cooler name than "Science Talks." This week I talk with great enthusiasm all about the Rosetta space probe, currently in orbit around a freakin' comet! That is just cool as hell and I will tell you why. As always, please suggest topics for future videos in the comments!
Read MoreIn case anyone missed it, here are all the photos I took at ASTC these last two days. They’re all up on our Instagram, which is, if course, explosionsinc. Check out our Instagram itself to see a pair of videos, too. I’m inordinately proud of the one where I play Born to Run on a giant xylophone.
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Just a quick note to everyone that I am currently sitting in the Indianapolis International Airport about to take off for Raleigh, North Carolina and the annual Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) conference. With a little luck I'll meet some cool folks and spread the word that the best damn science show ever is ready to kick asses and take names across the country. Go Explosions, Inc.!
We’ve received some questions about the structure and content of our shows and, rather than insist the questioner watch our video in a vain attempt to pad our YouTube viewership, I figured I would take this opportunity to discuss the thought that goes into deciding what blows up and when and, most importantly, why.
Read MoreHappy Monday, fans of science and things that explode. Today we're bringing you the inaugural video in our "Science Talks" series of video blogs, where we talk science that isn't exactly amenable to exciting, theatrical coverage on a big stage. I decided to start all topical and stuff and talk a bit about Ebola and why it's not really anything you need to worry about if you live in the United States. We've got ideas for further videos in this series but if there's a topic in science that confuses and enrages you and you want us to try to break it down to something simpler, let us know by dropping it in the comments. Click through for the video!
We are all familiar with static electricity. A good deal of us could probably adequately answer a 7 year old’s questions about what it is. However, did you know that not only can it stick your socks together in the dryer or give you a nasty shock, but it can also levitate objects? Just a few minutes with several household items and you can make your very own flying device.
Read MoreWe know that our full length show video might be slightly daunting at nearly 90 minutes long, but there’s so much great stuff in there. To make all that great stuff a bit easier to parse, Aaron and I have decided to cut it down into bite-sized snippets of some of our demos and post them independently. It’ll give you just a small taste of the awesomeness that is an Explosions, Inc. Science Show.
Today’s feature, which you can find by clicking through to the full post, is our signature move, the one that inspired our logo: the Flaming Bubbles. As we like to say, though, before things like this, under no circumstances should you try this at home! Ever! We are trained professionals who have done this hundreds of times apiece and know the techniques necessary to making it as safe as it can be.
Read MoreNormally Don and I qualify all of our activities with “don’t try this at home”. So sometimes we like to share ideas for experiments that you CAN try at home. Prompted by the tempting display of Halloween candy at the local store we bring you a simple, fun, and family-friendly experiment that had Don literally foaming at the mouth.
Sometimes it seems that all acid/base experiments are as old as the hills and elicit about as much excitement as a box of rocks (taking for granted you aren’t a geologist). You mix together vinegar and baking soda and spend the next hour cleaning up. We would like to reinvigorate the acid/base reaction with an easy experiment that’s fun to do and, more importantly, fun to eat.
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