streaming videos
grrlscientist | February 11, 2008tags: Egg in a bottle, air pressure, streaming video
This is an amusing video demonstration of how to get an egg into a bottle (and then, how to get it out again) without breaking anything -- neither the egg, nor the bottle, nor anything in your parents' kitchen [2:18]
grrlscientist | February 8, 2008tags: Macbook Air, humor, streaming video
I am so jealous, I want a Macbook Air, too! Here's a streaming video of this amazing new laptop, just to make you envious of those lucky few who own one [0:39]
I could carry this in my back pocket of my jeans!
grrlscientist | February 8, 2008tags: Penn & Teller, bullet catch trick, streaming video
The amazing double bullet catch performed on Phobophilia by Penn and Teller -- how did they do that?? [9:43]
grrlscientist | February 7, 2008tags: birds, red knot, Calidris canutus rufus, ornithology, endangered species, conservation, streaming video
This Sunday, 10 February, at 8pm EST, the award-winning PBS series "Nature" will feature migratory shorebirds, the Red Knot, and the horseshoe crab. This program, Crash: A Tale of Two Species, examines the amazing relationship between these two threatened species.
The red knot migrates from the tip of South America to its breeding grounds in the Canadian Arctic, and stops off briefly at Delaware Bay. Here it relies almost completely on horseshoe crab eggs to refuel for the second…
grrlscientist | February 7, 2008tags: flame test, identifying salts, chemistry, streaming video
Some elements can be identified by the colors they emit while burning. This is a quality that chemists use to identify salts, by burning them. In this video, a science teacher douses several exotic salts in methanol and ignites all of them at the same time. The results are really spectacular -- green, orange, yellow, blue, and purple flames burning side by side. [2:01]
Do not do this in your parents' kitchen or you will become very good friends with the local fire department, and probably the local police as well.
grrlscientist | February 6, 2008tags: kitchen science, shivering quarter, streaming video
Before using your quarters for laundry, you should try this little experiment. Push a quarter into a block of dry ice, and you will notice that a strange thing happens. The quarter quivers. Can you explain this phenomenon? [1:18]
What do you predict would happen if you instead laid the quarter flat on the surface of the dry ice? What if you used a penny? how about a spoon?
grrlscientist | February 5, 2008tags: Frozen Grand Central, NYCLife, streaming video
On a cold Saturday a couple weeks ago in New York City, the world's largest train station came to a sudden halt. Over 200 Improv Everywhere "Agents" froze in place at the exact same second for five minutes in the Main Concourse of Grand Central Station. Over 500,000 people rush through Grand Central every day, but on this particular day, things slowed down just a bit as commuters and tourists alike stopped to notice what was happening around them. [2:16]
This event was organized by the group known as "Improv Everywhere."
grrlscientist | February 4, 2008tags: starling flocks, birds, streaming video
This flock of starlings at dusk is an amazing thing to see, near Oxford, England. The area is an RSPB reserve called Ot Moor. The road from the village to the parking lot is closed from January 7th to March so beware -- you can still see the starlings but it is a long walk. The music is from a company called CSS Music. The track is "soaring with the sun". This video was shot by Dylan Winter on a high definition camera. [5:28]
grrlscientist | February 3, 2008tags: bob's house, deaf, Pepsi ad, Super bowl, streaming video
Okay you guys, in honor of the SuperBowl, I am showing this video to you today. Pepsi made this odd commercial ad that will really give the audience pause .. it honors deaf people and is entitled "Bob's House" [1:00]
Did you hear anything during this commercial? Well, neither did the deaf actors who played characters in the ad. Herre's more about this ad [2:00];
grrlscientist | February 1, 2008tags: meet your meat, activism, animal welfare, meat industry, streaming video
I am not an animal rights activist, but I am deeply concerned about animal welfare, and I rarely eat meat, for many reasons, both ethical and economical. But if you are a rabid carnivore, this is the video that has created quite a stir all across the internet these past few days. "Meet Your Meat" describes the astonishing, heartbreaking cruelty that is commonplace when raising domestic animals for meat. Narrated by Alec Baldwin. [12:28]
I wonder about the ethics of a society that ignores such blatant and horrible…
grrlscientist | January 31, 2008tags: Newfoundland, freezing waves, streaming video
This strange weather phenomenon happened in Newfoundland where the waves were actually frozen as they crashed on the beach [1:00]
Possible explanation: This phenomenon, while visually stunning, can be easily explained. It likely wasn't extremely cold when this occurred, as you can tell by looking at the still liquid mudpuddles and also by the guy in shorts. It was probably early in winter, when the surface of the water in the bays and inlets near these small communities was just beginning to freeze. This thin layer of ice on the surface of…
grrlscientist | January 30, 2008tags: drug use, lemurs, streaming video
This streaming video from Animal Planet reveals that Madagascar's lemurs also use drugs to get high -- but instead of peyote buttons or magic mushrooms, they use a poison produced by the millipede [1:55]
grrlscientist | January 29, 2008tags: hummingbird nest, birds, ornithology, streaming video
This video was sent to me by a friend who works at National Geographic (and later, by an aviculturist whom I know) and it seems appropriate for today, considering that winter has closed her icy hand around us all. This video is a small glimpse into the lives of two hummingbird chicks, from when they are mere eggs until the moment when they fledge. I am amazed to see how deeply the mother puts her long beak into the chicks' mouths when feeding them -- it seems almost as though she might pierce the bottom of their crops! The music is "…
grrlscientist | January 28, 2008tags: politics, pirates of the health care-ibean, health care crisis, streaming video
You know, this video, depicting the health care crisis as resulting from a gang of pirates would be funny, except that it's true. Music by the Austin Lounge Lizards [3:24]
Profits over People.
grrlscientist | January 25, 2008tags: kitchen science, great balls of fire, streaming video
This is an interesting little kitchen science experiment that is better thought of as backyard science since it involves an open flame. But this video shows you how to create your own flaming balls that you can hold in your hands! [3:25]
grrlscientist | January 24, 2008tags: peregrine falcon, Falco peregrinus, diving peregrine falcon, streaming video
How fast can a peregrine falcon fly/dive? In this amazing video, one scientist aims to find out by skydiving along with a peregrine falcon. [2:59]
grrlscientist | January 23, 2008tags: ants, The Secret Megalopolis of the Ants, ant nest, streaming video
This is a video of scientists pouring ten tons of liquid concrete into an ant colony, waiting several weeks for it to set, then digging it up. In doing so, they learned that the structure covers 538 square feet and travels 26 feet into the earth. To build it, the ant colony moved 40 tons of soil -- billions of ant loads of soil were brought to the surface. Each load weighed four times as much as the worker ant, and in human terms, was carried over 1/2 mile to the surface. It's amazing what evolution can construct, don't…
grrlscientist | January 22, 2008tags: technology woes, humor, streaming video
Since you are all starting your work week after a wonderful football- and booze-filled three-day weekend, I thought I'd share this video of people who are really having a bad day -- thanks to technology. Music is "Bad Day" by Daniel Powter [4:16]
grrlscientist | January 21, 2008tags: Martin Luther King, MLK, streaming video
I am not religious in the least, but I admire Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I own his essential writings and speeches and it is my personal tradition to read a selection from them every year on this day. He is so eloquent and passionate that his words always inspire me. But even more than a writer, MLK's true genius was that he was a master orator, something that I think should never be forgotten. This is the original footage from his last speech, 'I Have a Dream'. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. [11:50]
Martin Luther King's original "I have A…
grrlscientist | January 21, 2008tags: Martin Luther King, MLK, streaming video
I am not religious in the least, but I admire Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I own his essential writings and speeches and it is my personal tradition to read a selection from them every year on this day. He is so eloquent and passionate that his words always inspire me. But even more than a writer, MLK's true genius was that he was a master orator, something that I think should never be forgotten. This short video from his last speech always amazes me. I'll share a few more clips from his speeches with you today, including one longer one that I…