Kitchen Science 103: We're Off To See The Emmys

The mad scientists who made this epic video have been nominated for an Emmy Award (in the new category "Broadband Variety") and will be heading to LA in a few days for the announcement of the winners.

Compared to the sorts of topics I write about, it's tough to take a television awards ceremony very seriously, but I'll be pulling for them in a big way -- relatively speaking, of course. In my opinion their second epic video is even better.

How did they set that up? Click here to see the layout.

Warning: Don't try this on an airplane!

Kitchen Science 102: More Exploding Liquids and an Update from my Science Advisor

In Kitchen Science 101, we saw what happens when you let a couple of demented young scientists play around with Mentos and Diet Coke:

I also mentioned that my Science Advisor had agreed to write a semi-irregular science column for this nearly frozen page.

News on both fronts: the same demented young scientists are still at it! But my Science Advisor is not going to become a semi-irregular columnist anytime soon.

He will continue to be available for consultation, however. So that's good. We've been talking about all kinds of things lately, including polonium-210 and the "Holocaust deniers" conference in Tehran. And I may have more on one or both topics sooner or later.

But in the meantime here's another Diet Coke and Mentos video, to be followed by a question or three.

Did you watch that video? It's hilarious, isn't it? If you haven't watched it yet, please take a few minutes and do so before you continue...

OK? Now for the questions:

[1] Do you suppose the Pakistani courts dismissed all the terror-related charges against Rashid Rauf because they could find no Mentos among his possessions?

[2] What happens when you mix Mentos with hydrogen peroxide?

[3] Can you buy Diet Coke on an airplane? If so, Maybe It Was Possible After All!

Kitchen Science 101 : Common Household Items Yield Explosive Mixture ... And More!

I'm humble to announce the imminent arrival of my Science Advisor as a semi-irregular contributor. He'll be writing an off-topical column for us every now and again, and I'm looking forward to it in a moderate way.

The "feature" he'll be writing will fill a space which is yet to be named. So we're taking suggestions; if you can think of a good witty name for a wide-ranging science feature on a cold and windy blog, please share it in the comments thread below. Big blocks of ice for the top three entries. We're also looking for a good graphic; public domain only, please. So if you see anything worthy of consideration, please let us know.

Behind the nearly frozen scenes, we're working on the first installment, tentatively to be called "Skewed As In Screwed". It's about the various ways in which scientific research can be (and is) ... um ... um ... oh, never mind.

While we're talking about science again, and further to my soon-to-be ongoing series of articles about the alleged Liquid Bombers whose alleged Plot was allegedly busted in Britain on August 9/10, I can't help but wonder how much longer the Department of Homeland Insecurity can afford to overlook the possibilities inherent in...

The Extreme Diet Coke & Mentos Experiments

What happens when you combine 200 liters of Diet Coke and over 500 Mentos mints? It's amazing and completely insane.

The first part of this video demonstrates a simple geyser, and the second part shows just how extreme it can get. Over one hundred jets of soda fly into the air in less than three minutes.

These guys are crazy and I love 'em.

But I worry about 'em, too. You sort of have to, don't you?