Tune into Food Network’s Unwrapped to get a peek inside the Spangler Science labs as Steve shares the science behind the Mentos Geyser all of that exploding soda. Back in December, I mentioned that a crew from Unwrapped on the Food Network wanted to get the real scoop on the popular Mentos and soda reaction. The crew spent an entire day grabbing the reaction from every angle and trying to understand how all of those tiny bubbles produce such a huge fountain of soda. The episode is scheduled to air on September 24, 2007. Consult your local listing for time and channel.

As a youth speaker, I’ve had the opportunity to share my message at most of the leading youth conferences in the country. However, in my 15 year career as a youth speaker, I had never heard of the KIDS PLUS Conference in Duluth Minnesota. I just returned from one of the best student leadership conferences in the country! The 13th Annual Kids Plus Conference was sponsored by the Northland Foundation and was an experience nearly 2,000 youth and adults will not soon forget. It’s no easy job to pull off a quality learning experience for 2,000 students, but the conference organizer, Carol Valentini, did it with style and class.

Carol invited me to present a featured session entitled, “Exploding Soda and Flying Potatoes: Uncovering the Secrets of Creativity”. As you might imagine, the session drew an a wide range of audience members from science enthusiasts to kids who just wanted to see build a connection between the Exploding Soda Trick and a lesson in leadership. And I was just one of 54 speakers at the conference! My hat is off to Carol Valentini and the Northland Foundation for creating a quality event that was overflowing with content and enthusiasm.