Happy Bunsen Burner Day!

In honor of the 201st birthday of Robert Bunsen, I thought it would be eminently appropriate to share this picture -- it's probably the most beautiful Bunsen burner I've ever seen:
http://hiox.org/13831-bunsen-burner-day.php

Yes, I've seen quite a few. Mostly at a distance, or on Youtube, but still.

The New Adventures of Queen Victoria: Alternate Uses for Lemonade

A different -- Victorian -- take on alternative fuels:

http://www.gocomics.com/thenewadventuresofqueenvictoria/2010/07/27

Better than corn, eh?

EepyBird: Entertainment for the Curious Mind

EepyBird is the group that created the Diet Coke and Mentos fountains, as well as the Post-It note cascading awesomeness (really, how do you describe it?). Here's one of my favorite videos from each series, because such awesomeness is meant to be shared:

Diet Coke and Mentos:



Post-It Notes:



I can't tell you how many times I've watched these. I'm so very tempted to attempt to reproduce these experiments. Do you think my parents would mind?

BBC: Sperm Whale Faeces Help Oceans Absorb CO2

Kind of gross, but very interesting nonetheless:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science_and_environment/10323987.stm

Nature is such complex balance; who knew that the bathroom habits of whales had such a specific and important function in the marine ecosystem?

Makes me want to run those Japanese whalers into a sandbar, it does.

The Elements Song

It's unfortunately not YouTube, and therefore not embedded, but Tom Lehrer is brilliant and funny and worth clicking through to hear.

http://www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html

It's "The Elements Song" (sung to the tune of "The Modern Major-General" from Pirates of Penzance)!