November 17, 2008

Spangler’s Cornstarch Walk on Water Featured on Discovery’s Time Warp

Time Warp is one of Discovery's newest shows and it's definitely worth watching... even if you're not a science geek. Hosts Jeff Lieberman and Matt Kearney are on the prowl for anything and everything that might be cool to examine under high-speed photography. On the November 5, 2008 episode, Time Warp featured the Cornstarch Walk on Water stunt our team created for the Ellen Show back in February.

It's good to see that our mixing proportions of 2,500 pounds of cornstarch to about 200 gallons of water - all mixed in a cement truck - worked well for them, too. The best part of the segment was the slow motion photography showing just how the non-Newtonian cornstarch and water mixtures behaves under stress. The images are nothing short of amazing. (more...)

September 30, 2008

What Really Happens at the Ellen Show

If you're a fan of the Ellen Show, you know that the show recently moved to a new set on the Warner Bros Studio lot. The new studio is huge... great for exploding clouds of liquid nitrogen! Watch the video, but keep reading to learn what happens behind all of those clouds. I've mentioned this before, but it deserves a second mention. Ellen DeGeneres and the people who make up her staff are absolutely top-notch, first-class, amazing people who love their jobs. From the moment we arrived on the lot, there was someone ready to help us with anything we needed. And unlike a normal guest, I have a bunch of weird stuff to set-up backstage. The request list that I turned into the producers for this segment included rain coats, fire extinguishers, liquid nitrogen and a huge jar of pickles. With lots of stuff comes lots of set-up time backstage and probably more interaction with the Ellen Show crew than most guests get. Aside from having a great time, the big take away for me during this visit was the way the Ellen staff does … (more...)

July 1, 2008

Science Chat on Irish Talk Radio

Sean Moncrieff is the host of the Afternoon Show on Newtalk 106-108 fm in Ireland. This nationally syndicated show features news stories ranging from the serious to the zany... maybe that's why they called. While waiting for my segment, I listened to the show and quickly realized how much I want to speak again in Ireland. I first lectured at the Irish Science Teachers Association in 1997 and again in 2000. I shared a few science demos and they taught me the finer points of drinking lots of Irish beer. Here's my interview with Moncrieff.

June 23, 2008

Experiment of the Week Travels to Germany

It’s great to get your e-mails and photos of your children and students doing the science activities featured in our Experiment of the Week. These photos are from Sheila Allen, just one of a number of great teachers in the Department of Defense Schools at Ramstein AFB in Germany. Sheila writes... “Well today was the big day and boy did the children have fun! I think my favorite was the Expanding Ivory Soap activity, and I picked just the right kid to trick with the Do Not Open Bottle. We were doing an A-Z countdown to the end of school and so for E we did experiments, and we thought your activities really hit the high point for us! There are 9 kindergarten classes at Ramstein Elementary school (K-2) , and it is a good place for science to happen.” Sheila Allen and her team of mad scientists are a great example of how early childhood teachers are having an incredible impact on the science concepts that young children are being exposed to in the early years of their education. Over the last 15 years, I’ve seen countless examples … (more...)

June 3, 2008

Potatoes, Diapers and Fire Water on the Ellen Show

If you couldn't get enough of flying potatoes the first time, the nice people at the Ellen Show are rerunning the show that originally aired on April 15, 2008. The featured experiments include the Baby Diaper Secret, Fire Water and several versions of our potato guns (okay... call them "launchers").

Learn how to do the experiments featured on the Ellen Show