an in joke...

Superman was here...

This article describes some gypsum crystals found in a cave that would have taken a million years to grow this big!  http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2011/09/scienceshot-a-crystal-a-million.html

Gorgeous!

deep thought Mad libs!!

Try this one out - Mad libs channeling Deepak Chopra:

http://www.calamitiesofnature.com/extras/madlibs.pdf

Mentos and coke reaction - epic fail!!

Here is what not to do with the mentos and coke reaction:

Check out this great MSN video: Coke and Mentos Experiment Gone Wrong

Turns out there are lots of "near death" experiences with mentos/coke bottle rockets...

And one the guys will sympathize with:

What it looks like when it goes right:

So be very very careful with this experiment!!!

IYC2011 chemistry dance

Hey, stop sniggering - they are chemists not professional dancers!! They get points for guts!

I was at this conference but I think I missed this session - drats!
First posted at Bytesize Science

Strindberg And Helium With Sulphur And Iron

Some of the unusual things you can find on the internet...

the database we love and just hate a little...

The blog, Chemjobber, just posted some new taglines for Scifinder - wonder if the ACS will pick some up?

First 5:

SciFinder: Two weeks in the lab will save you two hours with me.

SciFinder: Find the reaction you want? What am I -- Google?

SciFinder: Destroying your original proposal ideas one hit at a time.

SciFinder: Yes, the Egyptian Journal of Chemistry really does exist.

(Web) SciFinder: Time to get a cup of coffee... in Colombia!

and his very inventive followers have added tons more in the comments!!

A quite lovely chemistry video for IYC2011

addicted to sudoku?

Well here is a chemistry version!

An online version is available from the University of Hull Chemistry Dept:
chemistry su doku

and the Royal Society of Chemistry also published some sudoku books but they seem to be out of print now...bummer!

and a life without chemistry?

Mr.Bean!!!

Mr. Bean does chemistry...

this was about my experience with organic chemistry too...

http://failblog.org/2011/03/02/epic-fail-photos-graph-jam-also-known-as-geometry-ii/

great tips for your science writing

How to write consistently boring scientific literature
Kaj Sand-Jensen

Oikos Volume 116, Issue 5,
Article first published online: 26 NOV 2007
DOI: 10.1111/j.0030-1299.2007.15674.x

This is a good follow up to the paper written by the 8-10 year olds in Biology Letters (an open access article) on bee behaviour:
http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/early/2010/12/18/rsbl.2010.1056

These walked into the library today..

You can get all different styles here!!

need help with conversions?

check out this site:
http://chemistry.about.com/od/weirdscience/a/Funny-Unit-Conversions.htm

such as:

2000 mockingbirds = two kilomockingbirds
and
1 million bicycles = 1 megacycles

lab safety videos

What not to do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cr7roogzM8c&feature=related
 and along the lines of Lego can do anything:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOfXGEbB4gg&feature=related
How about gangsta style?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5wyM_CRsqw&feature=related

Explaining the atom on WKRP

Here is a cool clip where Venus is explaining the structure of an atom to a reluctant teenager (yeah, he is supposed to be 16!) in terms of street gangs.
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6767o_60-2_auto

Who remembers WKRP in Cincinnati!  Classic...

Classic hoax website - DHMO.org

A very dangerous material -

Dihydrogen Monoxide

Annals of Improbable Research - best journal ever!

The Annals of Improbable Research highlights real (unusual) research papers and ones that could be real...in all areas of science and more.

They also award the Ig Nobels - for the wackiest papers published in the scientific literature.

and even have a "Luxuriant Flowing Hair Club for Scientists (LFHCfS)"

Here is one example:
Film clip and psychology question
and it includes the most incredible action scene ever!

Can't forget the XKCD cartoons

If you have ever been a student involved in research - these will speak to you!!

XKCD

Periodic table of videos

Love these little videos on each of the elements - cool teaching tools!
http://www.periodicvideos.com/

Chemistry cartoons

I've always love Nick's cartoons on all subjects of science and they can be freely used in presentations!

Some of my favourites:

not a chemistry video but a cool library studying video!

Featuring Robarts Library @ U of Toronto

Chemical bonding - like love....

What Taylor swift really meant...

Party!!

A video on chemical reactions...

And let's not forget math...

Having math problems?

Supercolliders can be fun!

A great rap song about the Large Hadron Collider:



And more by the physicist and rapper AlpineKat:

The safety song

Need to teach new lab users safety in the lab?



And another good one by the same folk on Nanotechnology

"NaCl" by Kate McGarrigle

Or watch the original by the late great Kate McGarrigle herself!

"The elements" by They might be Giants

Classic!



And all the other science songs from the album "Here comes Science" by They might be Giants!

1. "Science Is Real"                     They Might Be Giants
2. "Meet the Elements"                They Might Be Giants
3. "I Am a Paleontologist"            Danny Weinkauf
4. "The Bloodmobile"                  They Might Be Giants
5. "Electric Car"                          (with Robin Goldwasser) They Might Be Giants
6. "My Brother the Ape"             They Might Be Giants
7. "What Is a Shooting Star?"      Louis Singer, Hy Zaret
8. "How Many Planets?"             They Might Be Giants
9. "Why Does the Sun Shine?"    Singer, Zaret
10. "Why Does the Sun Really Shine?" They Might Be Giants
11. "Roy G. Biv"                        They Might Be Giants
12. "Put It to the Test"                They Might Be Giants
13. "Photosynthesis"                   They Might Be Giants
14. "Cells"                                  They Might Be Giants
15. "Speed and Velocity"            Marty Beller
16. "Computer Assisted Design" They Might Be Giants
17. "Solid Liquid Gas"                They Might Be Giants
18. "Here Comes Science"         They Might Be Giants
19. "The Ballad of Davy Crockett (in Outer Space)"
                                                  Tom W. Blackburn, George Bruns

Snake oil is on the left, eternal youth potions on the right, and everything else in between....

I am starting this blog as a place to link all the cool videos and stuff that I am finding on the internet - wanna waste a few minutes or hours - step right in....

Most will have something to do with science and especially chemistry but there may be some surprises!

To start us off with a bang: