Charge Up a Light Bulb

Ever had this happen in your house – something gets broken and Dad goes over and takes a look at it. He studies it for a while and then suddenly – bing…. a little light bulb goes on above his head? Everybody in the house sighs and knows it’s in everyone’s best interest to get out of there – quick.

Charge Up a Light Bulb

Lemon battery

Batteries store chemical energy that can be transmitted as electrical energy through various components in a circuit. You can think of the circuit as the path the electrons (electricity) take. The path has to have no breaks in it and it much be a path made of a material that will allow the electrons to flow (e.g. most metals although some are better conductors than others).

Lemon battery

Magic floating orb of tinsel

Science can often times seem like magic. In this mind bending experiment, we’ll demonstrate a very basic scientific principle with an experiment that will astonish your friends and confuse your Dad – and all you’ll need is a PVC pipe, Christmas tinsel, and a head of clean, dry hair to create a “magic wand” that will float a colorful orb. It won’t float your little sister or little brother out the window but it’s still pretty cool.

Magic floating orb of tinsel

Magical Attracting Tape

In this experiment we will magically force electrons from Scotch Tape to pass to and from a table (note – we’d use Dad in this experiment but you know how stingy Dad is with things like, Ohhh, his tools for instance. So if you think Dad’s stingy with tools try asking him if you can transfer some of his electrons…). Of course, you won’t be able to actually see the electrons transfer but you will definitely see the affects of the hopping electrons.

Magical Attracting Tape

Making Sparks

In this experiment we’ll create an object called a electrophorus. Using the materials listed above, we’ll charge the object and then discharge it creating a snap, a little electrical shock, and a bright spark. If you’re afraid of a little electrical shock then get Dad to discharge the object for you. And for grins, don’t tell Dad beforehand about the resulting spark and shock. After all the amateur garage projects Dad has worked on, he’s bound to be used to electrical shocks by now…

Making Sparks

Look Ma, I'm a Battery

A DC microammeter is an instrument that measures the electric current in a circuitIn a nutshell, a battery uses a chemical reaction to produce an electrical current. In this experiment, we will create an electric current using nothing more than our own bodies (Reeko promises this won’t hurt…. much).

Look Ma, I'm a Battery

Making Sparks - Part II

Ever heard of a Leyden jar? It’s been around for over 200 years and is the forerunner of the modern day capacitor. The guy who invented it tested it on himself and stated that ‘my whole body was shaken as though by a thunderbolt’. And no, his name wasn’t Leyden – Leyden was the town that the jar was invented in. If we had named the jar after the inventor it would be called a ‘Musschenbroeck jar’ (now you see why it’s called a Leyden jar). It was once discharged through seven hundred monks who were holding hands. They flew up into the air simultaneously. Definitely sounds like a experiment Dad should be involved with…

Making Sparks - Part II

Piezo Explosive Popper

Kids love things that go boom. Throw in some flames and you’ve got one of the most popular experiments in Reeko’s Mad Scientist Lab. The piezo popper, also known as the film cannon, binaca bomb, or photo flash, lets us release energy from a rapidly combusting fuel-air mixture and use that expanding air to blow the top off a film canister. The force of the mini-explosion will be so great that we’ll be able to propel the canister over 3 stories in the air!

Piezo Explosive Popper

Waxing poetic

How many times have you snickered at Dad walking around the house with a sock stuck to his back? Or watched as he ran his hand up his shirt to scratch and pulls out one of those antistatic dryer sheets? The reason these items sticks to Dad has nothing to do with his popularity in the laundry world. It’s simply due to the fact that the laundry items are chock full of electrons and Dad, well, he’s just not.

Waxing poetic

Blow up balloon

When vinegar is mixed with baking soda, a double replacement reaction takes place. The end result is carbon dioxide but behind the scenes, there is more than one reaction taking place.

Blow up balloon

Look out, she's gonna blow!

Now we’re going to get a little messy. In this experiment we build a real working volcano. After mixing just the right amount of ingredients together, we’ll add the final item to make our volcano ‘blow its top’ spewing red lava down the sides. Yes, this is the famous “Baking Soda Volcano” experiment – found exclusively at Reeko’s Mad Scientist Lab (and on the websites of the millions of Reeko’s minion slaves).

Look out, she's gonna blow!

Elephant Toothpaste

So you don’t want to be a kid and instead want to be an elephant because Reeko said elephants never have to brush their teeth? Well Reeko has news for you – there’s a lot more differences between kids and elephants than just their teeth. If you don’t believe that, try picking one up. Imagine being an elephant and always loosing at hide and seek. Even when dressed in yellow and disguised as a banana they are easy to find in a crowd. They are large, gray, and wrinkly. And when they do brush their teeth – well, those are 9 pound molars they have to deal with. Now that we have your elephant yearnings out of the way, let’s make some elephant toothpaste and help those guys out. So go call your friends on the elephone and get them ready, this experiment is going to elephantastic fun (groan).

Elephant Toothpaste

Starting a fire with water

Zinc does not occur freely in nature but does exist in the ores of other metals. Zinc was widely used centuries before people knew what it really was. For instance, Romans use to smelt copper ores that contained zinc and were making weapons out of brass without even knowing it.

Starting a fire with water

Making water split

s we know, water is actually made of hydrogen and oxygen molecules tightly bound together to form that liquidy goodness we so love to spray on each other. So if it’s made of oxygen, why can’t we breathe it? Actually, we could breathe it IF we could separate the oxygen out from the hydrogen. Fact is, we can’t. If we tried to breathe water we’d instead get the liquidy stuff which of course, our lungs cannot absorb.

Making water split

Making homemade plastic

Yep, we’re surrounded by plastic. Sit right there and look around the room and see if you can spot something made of plastic. See, I told you so. The keys on your keyboard are made of plastic. The mouse you’ve got your hand resting on is made of plastic. Even parts of the monitor you’re looking at right now is made of plastic (yikes… Reeko, I don’t know how you know all these things but stop it – it’s giving me the creeps).

Making homemade plastic

Magic balloon egg

Magic balloon egg
If you’re the type of person who finds yourself shouting, “I want patience…. and I want it NOW” then this experiment might not be for you. It’ll take 10 days to see the results of our experiment but when all is said and done, we’ll have one...
Magic balloon egg

Burning through Money

In this experiment, we’ll freak Dad out by lighting a five-dollar bill and laughing madly as it burns. The flames will mysteriously go out and the five-dollar bill will be left unharmed. Hmmmm… Is this science or magic? Well, given the name of this website we all know that it is pure science but we’ll tell Dad it’s magic just to freak him out. Oh yeah, and we’ll tell you how to make $20 extra dollars in the deal too…

Burning through Money

Homemade fire extinguisher

Most people have fire extinguishers in their homes and in fact, we even place extra ones in the garage where Dad hangs out. All schools and businesses are required by law to have fire extinguishers on their premises. Fire extinguishers work by removing one of the critical ingredients for a fire – oxygen. In this experiment we demonstrate this process.

Homemade fire extinguisher

Invisible ink

Invisible ink has been used by spies for centuries. At the time of the Revolutionary War, invisible ink made of a mixture of ferrous sulfate and water was commonly used. The secret messages were often written in between the lines of a normal letter. When heat or a special chemical (such as sodium carbonate) were applied, the message that was placed in between the lines would appear. In modern times, inks containing special properties are used and require viewing under ultraviolet (UV) light to see the message.

Invisible ink

Oil and water don't mix

After a rainstorm have you ever noticed puddles in the road with glossy-looking oil floating on top? Ever noticed the oil spots that sometimes form in your chicken-noodle soup? Ever notice how Reeko occasionally writes ‘lead ins’ to the experiments that have absolutely nothing at all to do with the experiment?

Oil and water don't mix

Silly Putty or Slime - your choice

Make your own silly putty or green slime and then take a dab of green slime and wipe under your nose. Then tell Mom you’re not feeling well. Or take the brown silly putty and place a lump on Dad’s chair right before he sits down. When he stands up make a scrunched up face and say “Ewwww, yucky”. The possibilities with this stuff are endless!

Silly Putty or Slime - your choice

Strange acting goop

Ever had a hot, steaming cup of Oobleckh? Geez, I hope not. The stuff is nasty! But it does exhibit some interesting properties which we will demonstrate in this experiment.

Strange acting goop

Steel Wool Generating Heat

Chemical reactions occur every day all around us. A chemical reaction is a process where one type of substance is chemically converted to another substance. That fizzling toilet bowl cleaner is a chemical reaction. The fire in your fireplace is another type of chemical reaction. The smoke that comes out of Dad’s ears when you lose one of his favorite golf clubs is a result of a chemical reaction. OK, so maybe that’s a bad example. This experiment demonstrates a chemical reaction that’s fairly common all around us (and we don’t have to touch Dad’s golf clubs to make this one work).

Steel Wool Generating Heat

Spineless potatoes

In this science experiment we will introduce you to a principle called osmosis. Using simple household items we will demonstrate what osmosis is and how it works.

Spineless potatoes

Rocket powered pennies

Remember – heat causes things to expand (or get larger). Cold causes things to contract (or get smaller). Heating an object sealed inside another object can produce some interesting results. Let’s demonstrate with this experiment.

Rocket powered pennies

Frightened run-away pepper

We all know how glue or tape can be used to stick two objects together. These adhesives cause the two objects to cohere (or adhere) together. Cohesion is the word for this sticking force. Cohesion also occurs on common everyday objects – rain to a car’s windows, dust to the ceiling fan, chewing gum on Mom’s carpet. This experiment demonstrates cohesion in an interesting situation – and Mom’s carpet stays looking as good as new!

Frightened run-away pepper

Ultra Cold LN2 Replacement

Ultra Cold LN2 Replacement that will instantly freeze anything!
NOTE: THIS EXPERIMENT IS HIGHLY HAZARDOUS AND CAN RESULT IN INJURY OR DEATH. IT IS NOT INTENDED TO BE CONDUCTED BY CHILDREN BUT RATHER, SHOULD BE CONDUCTED BY SICENCE TEACHERS ONLY!

Liquid nitrogen, represented by the equation...
Ultra Cold LN2 Replacement

Using dry ice to blow up a balloon

Blow up a balloon with solid carbon dioxide
Most substances have three states – solid, liquid, and gas. When they go from a solid to a gas, they usually turn into a liquid in between. Ice is a good example. It first melts into a liquid and then evaporates into a gas. Sublimation is when a c...
Using dry ice to blow up a balloon

Super bouncing bubbles

Reeko loves bubbles – all kinds of bubbles. Reeko loves chomping a big glob of bubblegum and blowing bubbles the size of baseballs (and as a kid, used to giggle with glee as his mother struggled to cut the gum from his hair). Reeko loves making them in the bathtub using the “natural” bubble method (if you haven’t mastered the natural bubble method, eat beans, it helps). And of course, the science behind bubbles is quite amazing too.

Super bouncing bubbles

Sticky water

Yep, it’ true. Even though it seems as slick as snot, water has a certain ‘stickiness’ to it. Conduct this experiment to demonstrate the “stickiness” of water.

Sticky water

The homemade pen cap sinker

What do you think causes the pen cap to sink when you squeeze the sides of the bottle? By squeezing the bottle, you increase the pressure inside, thus forcing more water up into the pen cap. The added water in the cap increases its weight and causes the cap to sink.

The homemade pen cap sinker

Make a homemade Lava Lamp

Lava lamps were very popular in the 1970’s. For some reason, your parents thought it was very fun to sit there and watch colorful liquid in a bottle swirl aimlessly around. They probably even chanted “Oh wow, the colors, the colors.” Kids today are much smarter, and think lava lamps are cool because they knew they demonstrate the scientific principles of immiscible liquids (liquids that just won’t mix). In this science experiment, we’ll create a real working lava lamp and explain to your parents why they saw those swirling colors back in the 70′s.

Make a homemade Lava Lamp

Principles of Flotation

How come a boat floats while a rock sinks like a, uh… rock. How come when you’re in a pool and you stretch your body out flat you float. But, if you wrap your arms around your legs and curl up into a ball you sink? Well, it all has to do with how much water is pushing against you and a little scientific principle called buoyancy or flotation.

Principles of Flotation

Super hero egg shells

Ever wonder why igloos are dome shaped and not square? Ever been amazed at how a suspension bridge can hold the weight of hundreds of passing cars with little or no apparent support underneath it? This experiment demonstrates how arches are used in architecture not only for aesthetic appeal but for a very useful and needed purpose…

Super hero egg shells

Science Fair secrets (or how to win the Science Fair without cheating or paying off any judges)

Science Fair judges can be pretty weird. If you could get into their head and figure out how they think, you’d have the upper hand in the contest – right? Well since we can’t get into their heads (you don’t have a medical degree yet so don’t even think about it), we’ll do the next best thing. Here are some Science Fair secrets that will help you get a leg up on the competition.

Science Fair secrets (or how to win the Science Fair without cheating or paying off any judges)

Stop peeing in the pool - it's creating a deadly, dangerous chemical weapon!!

Scientists with too much time on their hands have just finished a study that found peeing in the pool, which contains chlorinated water, is creating a deadly combination of chemicals. The chemical that results, cyanogen chloride, is known to the military as “CK” and is considered a chemical warfare weapon. So yeah, your pee in the pool is mixing with the chlorine and making a chemical weapon – how cool is that!!!

Stop peeing in the pool - it's creating a deadly, dangerous chemical weapon!!

Rock and roll records that just won't swing

Gyroscopic inertia – a strange, complicated word – is a force common all around us. It explains how we are able to ride a bike, how planes navigate, and how a figure skater is able to do those lightening fast spins. Here’s a simple experiment that’ll clear up this confusing concept. Note: the hardest part of this experiment is going to be finding one of those old LP records.

Rock and roll records that just won't swing

An enlightening experiment

Light traveling in a straight line appears colorless. But there’s more to light than just colorless nothingness. When light passes through a wedge shaped piece of glass called a prism, the light is separated into 7 different and unique colors. You see these colors when light passes through rain or moisture producing a rainbow.

An enlightening experiment

Where inside and outside are one and the same

Think you’ve seen it all. Just when you thought you understand the simple little concepts like up and down, forwards and backwards, and inside and outside, Reeko comes along and throws a curve ball at ya’ – in this case, a curved piece of paper that will blow your mind.

Where inside and outside are one and the same

Splatter blood for blood spatter analysis

First we will let you in on a little secret. When you or your brother or sister do something wrong, your parents have to figure out who did it. To parents this is like a whodunit game and in fact, they have a secret name for it that they have sworn never to reveal to the kids (breaking this rule can result in loss of their official parenting card). It’s called the “which kid do we smack” game. And no, they don’t roll dice or draw straws to figure it out the winner.

Splatter blood for blood spatter analysis

The evolution of a spider (or not) - science and religion battle over Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Being a prominent (ahem) member of the scientific community, Reeko has a lot of scientist friends. Reeko knows that the thing that bugs scientists more than anything, is when people don’t believe their theories (well, that and burning lab coats). And when it comes to Darwin’s Theory of Evolution, scientists treat it almost like a religion. On the flip side, some religions have a big problem with the scientists’ Theory of Evolution making the whole subject of “natural selection” a huge heated debate between scientists and religious groups. How heated is the debate? Well, if both groups were monkeys right now and you put them all in the same room, they would throw monkey poop at each other.

The evolution of a spider (or not) - science and religion battle over Darwin's Theory of Evolution

Eyes in the back of your head

Parents have eyes in the back of their heads – we all know that. They always know what you’ve done, where you did it, and sometimes even why you did it. We’ll never fully understand how they do this; even science cannot provide an explanation of this natural phenomena. But, this experiment can at least put you on somewhat equal ground as we create a gadget that will literally let you see around corners…

Eyes in the back of your head

Fooling Around with your Mind

Our eyes see everything going on around us. The eyes then send this information to our brain which then interprets the information they are given. Sometimes the brain has to fudge a little when making these interpretations. This is especially true when our eyes see something that the brain knows cannot be true. In cases like this, the brain interprets the information the best it can and may end up feeling a little bit confused…

Fooling Around with your Mind

Diet Coke and Mentos Eruption

Reeko will never forget the first time he discovered this unique experiment. He learned three very important things that he has never forgotten to this day. Firstly, if you mix Mentos and Diet Coke, you get a violent eruption that will spew a gallon of sticky cola on you before you can even blink an eye. As he passed through the lab animal house, on his way to the kitchen to clean up, he learned something else – lab rats love coke!

Diet Coke and Mentos Eruption

Trapped Bird in a cage

Ever wonder how cartoons are created? Basically what happens is the artist draws the cartoon characters in multiple sequential images and presents them to us in a manner that causes our minds to fill in the missing pieces. This experiment helps demonstrate the basic principle of animation.

Trapped Bird in a cage

Simulating Gravity on Film

Zero-G refers to weightlessness and means “zero g-force” not “zero gravity” as some would believe. It’s most commonly envisioned as astronauts floating around in space. You can experience zero gravity in a free falling airplane too and in fact, astronauts use these free falling planes to train in a weightless environment.

Simulating Gravity on Film

I'm feeling pretty heavy with all this metal in me

If you sit there and ponder the foods that you eat for a bit, you’ll realize that you eat plants and animals just like other fuzzy creatures in the forest. But did it ever occur to you that you eat metal too? Just like a tool grinder chews through a metal blade, little scientists chew through metal in their food without even really thinking about it. Even more eye opening is the fact that metal in your diet is required to survive.

I'm feeling pretty heavy with all this metal in me

Galileo's Free Fall

You may already know that there is a mystical force called gravity that pulls everything on Earth downward. This is really cool since if we didn’t have gravity we’d all be floating around in space. Do you think that this mysterious force pulls heavy objects faster than a light object? Reeko thinks the answer may surprise you.

Galileo's Free Fall

Milk carton water wheel

Ever held a toy under your running bath water? Did it spin or twist away from you? This is explained by a law proposed by a guy named Sir Isaac Newton. Specifically the law states that ‘for every action there is a equal and opposite reaction’. You know, kind of like when you smack your big brother you know you’re going to get smacked back. OK, so maybe that’s not such a great example. Here’s one that will aptly demonstrate Newton’s law.

Milk carton water wheel

Moving Magical Marbles with More Momentum than Most

Inertia means that a rolling ball on a smooth, level surface will roll forever if nothing stops it. In fact, friction and air pushing against the moving ball will eventually bring it to a stop. But interesting things happen when a motionless object gets in the way of a moving one. Try this experiment and see for yourself.

Moving Magical Marbles with More Momentum than Most

Can we please lower the pressure in here?

Named after Daniel Bernoulli, the Bernoulli Principle states that as the velocity of a fluid increases, a decrease in pressure occurs. The mathematician Daniel discovered many new ideas regarding fluids and pressure. For instance, Bernoulli, who had earlier begun to study medicine, wanted to know about the relationship between the rate of blood flow and its pressure. He poked a hole in a pipe and stuck a straw in it and noticed that when the fluid sped up, the liquid rose higher in the straw.

Can we please lower the pressure in here?

Vibrating pennies

Remember – heat causes things to expand (or get larger). Cold causes things to contract (or get smaller). The heat from your hands is transferred through conduction to the air in the bottle warming the air. This causes the air molecules to move faster which makes the penny jump.

Vibrating pennies

Look Ma' - no hands

The pushing force of air is called air pressure. The closer you are to Earth, the greater the air pressure. The farther away from Earth (in other words the higher your altitude), the less the air pressure. And remember, pressure is coming from all around us.

Look Ma' - no hands

Homemade Barometer

The air pressure around us greatly affects our weather. Notice how your weatherman always mentions various pressure systems (low pressure system, high pressure system, etc.) and how they will affect tomorrow’s weather. In this experiment, we will create a tool that lets you gauge the pressure of the air around you.

Homemade Barometer

Magical inflating balloons

One of the first things a little scientist should learn is that heat causes things to expand (get bigger) and cold causes things to contract (get smaller). Things such as air will contract and take up less room when cooled. Similarly, things will expand when they get hot. If you don’t believe this, carefully observe Dad’s head the next time you break one of his expensive tools (Reeko tip – observe from a distance). Ok, so Reeko’s gonna save you some heartache. Rather than test this by breaking one of Dad’s tools, let’s try the following experiment instead.

Magical inflating balloons

Five tried and true rules to guarantee your experiment will work

OK, so it happens. But we are prepared! Scientific experimentation is not an exact science (see what Reeko did here – it’s called a “pun”). That’s what experimentation is all about. But, since we’ve been asked this question on more than one occasion, here’s the standard answer. Follow these 5 simple steps if one of the experiments on our site does not work.

Five tried and true rules to guarantee your experiment will work

Have you lost your marbles?

Sound surrounds us all the time. You may awaken in the morning to the sound of an alarm clock or Dad snoring. During the day you may hear the cacophony of auto traffic or the hustle and bustle of city life. But all sounds have one thing in common. They are formed by the movement or vibration of an object.

Have you lost your marbles?

X-Rays

X-Rays are really quite amazing when you really think about it. I mean, come on guys, it lets you see right through things! Image how much fun it would be to have x-ray vision. When dad left for work you could snicker about his polka-dotted boxer underwear. At Wal-Mart you could look at closed-up stuff without having to sneak the box open. Heck, when the kids played ‘guess what I’m holding behind my back’ you’d win every time!

X-Rays

Saturn - the greatest planet (except for Uranus which is easier to work into jokes)

Like Jupiter, Saturn is a large, gaseous planet composed mostly of the gases hydrogen and helium. Saturn has a magnetic field 1,000 times stronger than Earth’s but not as strong as Jupiter’s. Due to its gaseous nature, Saturn’s density is so low that it could float in an ocean of water. It probably has a core similar to that of Jupiter. It is covered with cloud bands, some forming cyclonic patterns like Jupiter’s, but the colors appear more subdued than do Jupiter’s because of an atmospheric haze that covers the clouds.

Saturn - the greatest planet (except for Uranus which is easier to work into jokes)

Volcano lava

Lava is molten rock that pours out of volcanoes or from cracks in the earth. It comes from deep in the earth where the heat is great. There, it is called magma. When lava first comes to the surface it is red-hot, reaching temperatures from 7 to 12 times hotter than boiling water.

Volcano lava

Earthquakes rock our world

Earthquakes are no laughing matter. They are the result of vibrations in the Earth’s outer crust. These vibrations are caused when underground rock slips. The Earth’s crust is made of large plates of rock. Over time these layers of rock slowly move causing the plates to slip against each other. These tectonic type earthquakes occur in regions where the large plates border each other – the San Andreas Fault in California is a well known fault line.

Earthquakes rock our world

Astronauts

Astronaut is a person who pilots a spacecraft or works in space. In Russia and the other former Soviet republics, such people are called cosmonauts. Astronauts and cosmonauts operate spacecraft and space stations, launch and recapture satellites, and conduct engineering, medical, and scientific experiments in space. The word astronaut comes from Greek words that mean sailor among the stars. Cosmonaut means sailor of the universe.

Astronauts

Volcanic ash and volcanic gas

Volcanic ash is made up of fragments less than 1/5 inch (0.5 centimeter) in diameter. Most volcanic ash falls to the surface and becomes welded together as rock called volcanic tuff. Sometimes, volcanic ash combines with water in a stream and forms a boiling mudflow. Mudflows may reach speeds of 60 miles (97 kilometers) per hour and can be highly destructive.

Volcanic ash and volcanic gas

Robotics, Robots, and how they'll take over the world

In simple terms, a robot is a mechanical device that is intended to do the work a human would normally do. Robots can be as simple as a mechanical arm that helps assemble cars in a car assembly plant, or as complicated as a two-legged mechanical robot that looks very much like a real person. Robots are getting more and more sophisticated each day.

Robotics, Robots, and how they'll take over the world

QR Codes

Nope, they’re not modern art or erroneous ink blotches. These are QR Codes or “quick response codes”. These are like barcodes and are readable via a QR Code scanner or smartphone with the appropriate software installed. Download a barcode scanner or qr code scanner application on to your phone and you will be able to “read” one of these. In Reeko’s Mad Scientist Lab, QR Codes are used to provide secret messages (e.g. where to find the hidden pots of gold), science tips, and in some cases, just to mess with your head.

QR Codes

Galileo Galilei's Free Fall from the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Galileo, pronounced gal uh LAY oh (1564-1642), an Italian astronomer and physicist, has been called the founder of modern experimental science. Galileo made the first effective use of the refracting telescope to discover important new facts about astronomy. He also discovered the law of falling bodies as well as the law of the pendulum. Galileo designed a variety of scientific instruments. He also developed and improved the refracting telescope, though he did not invent it.

Galileo Galilei's Free Fall from the Leaning Tower of Pisa

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Leaning Tower of Pisa is a bell tower at Pisa, Italy. It is famous for leaning 141/2 feet (4.4 meters) out of line when measured from the seventh story. It tilts because its foundation was built on unstable soil (it’s a well known fact that Pisa architects aren’t so bright). Construction of the tower began in 1173 and ended between 1360 and 1370 (which means it’s been around even longer than dad). The ground beneath the tower first started to sink after the first three stories were built.

Leaning Tower of Pisa

Elephant Teeth

So be honest with Reeko. How many times have your parents told you to go brush your teeth? Six time today ?!?! We all know that brushing your teeth is needed to keep your teeth healthy and white. If you were an elephant though, healthy teeth would not be a problem. Elephants simply grow new teeth.

Elephant Teeth

What the heck are cilia and flagella and how did they get into my science class?

Cilia and flagella are projections from the cell. They look like tiny hairs. They are made up of microtubules. They are designed either to move the cell itself or to move substances over or around the cell. In this regard, they are a lot like the legs and arms of humans.

What the heck are cilia and flagella and how did they get into my science class?

Charles' Law

Simply put, Charles’ Law states that: At constant pressure, the volume of a given mass of an ideal gas increases or decreases by the same factor as its temperature (in Kelvin) increases or decreases. Although the formulas and final concept of Charles’ Law were developed by Joseph Gay-Lussac in 1802, Jacques Charles came up with most of the ideas first and hence, the name of the Law.

Charles' Law

Our wonderful Sun - the brightest star in the sky!

Our Sun is an ordinary star although it is quite large compared to other stars. In terms of “mass”, most stars have less than half the mass of our Sun. You could fit 109 Earths across the Sun. The Romans called the Sun “sol” (as in SOlar).

Our wonderful Sun - the brightest star in the sky!

Spiders and their strange webs

Why don’t spiders stick to their webs?
A spider’s web is one of the strongest and stickiest substances known to man (relatively speaking, it is stronger even than steel). A single spider can spin an intricate web in less than an hour after which, she (yes, we refer to spiders as “she” – ask the...
Spiders and their strange webs

Welcome to the BRAND NEW LAB!

Regular visitors to the lab are probably scratching their heads wondering what sort of craziness Reeko has gotten himself into now. Well it’s true, there was another catastrophic fire in the lab. But the good news is – we got to rebuild the lab bigger, better, and with less escape routes for the lab rats!

Welcome to the BRAND NEW LAB!

Test Post from Reeko's Mad Scientist Lab

Test Post from Reeko's Mad Scientist Lab http://reekoscience.com

Noah and The Great Flood - civilizations throughout history have told of a great flood that destroyed mankind

The biblical story of Noah’s flood is world renowned. A deluge of rain that covered the earth with water and purged all evil from mankind. The survivors of the great flood went on to repopulate the planet and hence, were the originators of mankind. What most people do not know however, is that the historical recording of a great flood is a widespread theme through many cultures. For true skeptics, including scientists who scoff at the idea, the evidence presented below is overwhelming. Believers rejoice and naysayers place your heads firmly in the sand. Practically every major civilization in existence believed a flood story lending credence to the idea that something catastrophic did indeed occur on earth many thousands of years ago – and made us who we are today

Noah and The Great Flood - civilizations throughout history have told of a great flood that destroyed mankind

Horrifying! Dozens of razor blades found attached to playground equipment in Illinois park. One toddler injured.

Monsters of a different kind emerged in Illinois yesterday. Police say a two-year-old child was injured with cuts to his hand after a bizarre visit to Millennium Park in East Moline, Illinois. Authorities report they found at least a dozen razor blades glued to playground equipment in up-turned positions along handrails, swing handles, and monkey bar grips.

Horrifying! Dozens of razor blades found attached to playground equipment in Illinois park. One toddler injured.

High-res video of huge hexagon-shaped UFO flying above military base in Nevada leaves many scratching their heads

With the deluge of sketchy quadcopter and LED-light UFO videos that began suturing the Internet last year, I’ve been quite hesitant to post news of these events (which I consider to be “nonevents”) unless there is sufficient evidence to suggest they are authentic. Fact is, hoaxes are much more difficult to spot today. But the video below is intriguing. Admittedly, the authenticity cannot be verified yet but I thought I’d go ahead and pass it along and invite reader comments. But first, a bit of information about the video’s author and the video itself, which depicts a high-resolution shot of a strange hexagonal-like glowing object flying above a military base in Nevada.

High-res video of huge hexagon-shaped UFO flying above military base in Nevada leaves many scratching their heads

Unseen force propels object off counter in Gilford, New Hampshire ghostly surveillance video

A newly-released video depicting a glass object flying from a store countertop, presumable propelled by some unseen ghostly force, and smashing into pieces on the shop’s floor has sparked a Ghost Hunters investigation in the little town of Gilford, New Hampshire. The video spread through the Internet after the Ellacoya Country Store (located at 2667 Lake Shore Road in Gilford) posted the video on the Ellacoya Barn & Grille Facebook page with the heading “Haunted Much?”.

Unseen force propels object off counter in Gilford, New Hampshire ghostly surveillance video

The Stephenville Lights - dozens of credible witnesses report seeing glowing orbs in the Texas sky

One of the most widely witnessed and well-documented UFO sightings in U.S. history occurred on January 8, 2008 in the rural farming community of Stephenville, Texas. Known widely as the Stephenville Lights, the sighting of the brightly-lit mile-wide object was witnessed by dozens of local citizens including a pilot, county constable, and several business owners. One witness told reporters it was a life-changing experience. Steve Allen, a freight company owner and pilot who said the object he saw was a mile long and half a mile wide told the press, “It was positively, absolutely nothing from these parts.”

The Stephenville Lights - dozens of credible witnesses report seeing glowing orbs in the Texas sky

Ebola outbreak in Africa has reached epidemic proportions

The images are horrifying – a virus which spreads through blood, feces, even sweat, and causes profuse bleeding and necrosis (death of body tissue). 90% of those who become infected die – and now an outbreak is ripping through the region of Guinea in Africa infecting nearly 100 people thus far.

Ebola outbreak in Africa has reached epidemic proportions

NASA funded research project predicts collapse of our civilization within the next few decades

According to a surprising new study funded by NASA, civilizations on Earth are set to collapse – within only a few decades. Researchers used advanced mathematical models seeded with compelling historical data related to previous civilizational collapses (e.g. Roman Empire, Gupta Empires) to reach their conclusion and found that even with conservative estimations, civilization as we know it is tittering on the brink of collapse. According to researchers, the impending collapse is due to several factors including a world bent on exploiting natural resources and increasingly unequal wealth distribution between the rich and poor.

NASA funded research project predicts collapse of our civilization within the next few decades

800-year-old monk remains found sticking out of cliff face

Mandy Ewington was strolling along a British coastline when she looked up and noticed two odd-looking “tubes” sticking out of the face of a cliff. She quickly recognized the protruding white tubes for what they were, femur bones, and snapped pictures which she sent to leading coastal archaeologist Karl-James Langford. Langford also recognized the grisly remains as two thigh bones which were slowly being revealed as the cliffs eroded away.

800-year-old monk remains found sticking out of cliff face

Funeral home workers preparing to embalm body of dead man find man is still alive

78-year-old Walter Williams, described by family members as a “fighter”, appeared to have died in his Lexington, Mississippi home on February 26, 2013. The coroner arrived at the home and finding no pulse, pronounced him dead. Family members watched as emergency personnel “put him in a body bag and zipped it up”. Williams was then transported to Porter and Sons Funeral Home where his “body” laid in storage throughout the night. Thursday morning, funeral home workers began preparing to embalm Williams when suddenly, he started to kick in the body bag struggling to release himself from the enclosure.

Funeral home workers preparing to embalm body of dead man find man is still alive

Rapidly-defrosting Siberia yields huge, 30,000 year old virus - and it's alive!

Researchers in Siberia have uncovered and revived (say what!) a 30,000 year old giant virus sparking concern that increased mining and oil drilling in the rapidly-defrosting area could inadvertently release a similar virus that could one day prove harmful to man. The mammoth virus belongs to a new family of mega-viruses that thankfully, only infect amoeba. But researchers say its revival in a laboratory stands as “a proof of principle that we could eventually resurrect active infectious viruses from different periods.”

Rapidly-defrosting Siberia yields huge, 30,000 year old virus - and it's alive!