Tag Archives: Steve Spangler

Grow Christmas tree, grow Christmas tree

I found a delightful item posted by GrrlScientist this morning (Dec. 8, 2011) on the Guardian science blogs,

The holidays are stampeding down upon us. Everyone is excited and busy. But maybe you wish to take a little time to do something special with your family? Here’s a sweet little kitchen science project that you can do: grow your own snow-covered Christmas tree through the wonders of chemistry!

Here’s a video demonstrating this Christmassy home project,

You can find this video and others here on Steve Spangler’s YouTube Channel. You can also find a full set of written instructions for the ‘Magic Crystal Tree’  here on Steve Spangler’s website.

YouTube unleashes five science channels

Friday, November 11, 2011 (Remembrance Day), YouTube unleashed 100 new TV channels. From Rob Waugh’s Oct. 31, 2011 article for the Daily Mail,

YouTube is to take a dramatic step away from its roots as a user-generated video site – launching 100 new professionally produced TV channels in partnership with stars such as Madonna and Ashton Kutcher.

The channels will roll out from this autumn, and will be free of charge, supported by Google’s advertising system.

The move is designed to turn YouTube – already available via many internet TVS – into a rival to cable and satellite TV channels.

In addition to the celebrity-driven channels, YouTube is also launching a number of science channels. From the James Grime Nov. 11, 2011 posting on the Guardian science blogs,

Google is investing in education and science, with five new YouTube channels dedicated to mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, physics – and spectacular demonstrations.

The five channels will be hosted by Brady Haran, Numberphile (mathematics and mathematicians) and Deep Sky (astronomy); Hank and John Green (brothers and vloggers) each with one science channel  (Grime was not able to offer details); and Steve Spangler, well-known for his coke and mentos experiment, and the director of National Hands-on Science Institute in the US .

I’m glad to see the interest in science and a little sorry to observe the lack of female-hosted science channels. For the record, I think the lack of female involvement is due to the fact that very few women have created science-oriented video channels and I believe it’s time to change that.