Ring of Truth Series: Gold, Noodles, and Hydrogen

Above, watch molten gold transform into gold leaf as it is beaten into thinner and thinner pieces while cold. This clip is from PBS’ six-part miniseries The Ring of Truth: An Inquiry Into How We Know What We Know – Atoms (1987). 

“It was the craftsmen who mastered the remarkable properties that go with specific materials. They were the first to journey towards the atom. The goldsmiths slowly refined their craft to take advantage of what gold alone could do…”

MIT astrophysicist and Institute Professor Philip Morrison narrated the series, which he co-wrote with his wife, noted art and science educator Phylis Morrison. Philip Morrison also narrated and wrote the script for Charles and Ray Eames’ Powers of Ten, a must-watch video for all ages.

Chef Kin Jing Mark demonstrates how to make super-thin noodles and helps introduce the principle of halving in this clip from the PBS miniseries The Ring of Truth: An Inquiry Into How We Know What We Know – Atoms (1987). MIT astrophysicist and professor Philip Morrison narrates:

If atoms exist in patterns in space, we should somehow be able to measure their size. We approach the division of matter by the attractive process of halving, and halving, and halving it again… Twelve foldings produced 4,096 fine noodles, and if Chef Mark could have stretched the dough 30 more times, the noodles would have reached atomic thickness.

Possibly the most well-known scientific formula on the planet, H2O is one of those terms that we see around all the time. We know that H2O means water, and that a water molecule is composed of two hydrogen (H) atoms & one oxygen (O) atom, but have we ever seen this formula proven?

Above, a clip from the 1987 miniseries The Ring of Truth: An Inquiry into How We Know What We Know, hosted by Philip Morrison, who wrote it with art and science educator Phylis Morrison. Watch as two units of hydrogen are combined with two units of oxygen over and over again. What happens every time?

How is Victorian Nectar Drop Candy Made?

…and why are lemon drops, cough drops, and fruit drops all called drops?

In this video by Tallahassee, Florida’s Lofty Pursuits artisanal candy makers, we get an up close look at how their restored candy equipment, circa 1848, made (and makes) Victorian era nectar candy drops. Watch the hot sugar roll through the pairs of brass drop rollers into sheets of molded candies…

And the ‘drop’ name? Wait until you see how the candies are separated.

North Dakota's Enchanted Highway

In 1989, the small town of Regent, North Dakota was getting smaller, and with no prospects in sight for bringing in visitors and jobs, former school principal Gary Greff came up with an idea: He would build an ‘enchanted highway’ full of sculptures that would lead visitors to Regent.

…but these wouldn’t just be any sculptures. These would be massive sculptures. Via the always wonderful Atlas Obscura:

With zero experience welding or creating art, he began building the world’s largest metal sculptures and placing them along the “Enchanted Highway,” or Highway 21.

By 2006, Greff had completed a total of seven mammoth sculptures for the 32-mile stretch of road. All are thematically related to the western North Dakota’s cultural and historical roots. For instance, in one sculpture Teddy Roosevelt dominates the rolling hills, while in another, grasshoppers five times the size of a car feast on golden wheat rising from scoria rock beds.

You can also see Tin Family (1991), Geese in Flight (2000), Deer Crossing (2001), Covey of Pheasants (1998), Fisherman’s Dream (2006), and more. See them in person, via google maps, or via the Great Big Story video above.

How Did Clouds Get Their Names? - Richard Hamblyn

Pacific Light - Rus Khasanov

Pacific Light, a mix of water, ink, oil, and soap, filmed and edited by Russian designer Ruslan Khasanov, who works on side projects that experiment with physics and design.

Al Jazeera Street Food World Tour

The Japanese have a word for it: kuidaore, "to eat oneself bankrupt." This has risen to some combination of tradition and aspiration in Osaka, Japan's second-largest city, a former merchant enclave once referred to as the country's "kitchen." You can see exactly what empties Osakan bank accounts on Al Jazeera English's series Street Food. Its episode on the city (part one, part two), embedded above, seeks out the stands that most efficiently cater to the citizenry's characteristic busyness, the source of the freshest sushi around, the barbecue counters of Koreatown, the poisonously-livered fugu fish, the ideally controversial dish that is whale meat, and a range of food writers and critics to lay down some culinary insight. The program finishes its journey with one visit to a culinary academy and another to the poorer side of this Japanese metropolis. Being a Japaneese metropolis with more poverty than most but also one a greater love of eating than most, Osaka has produced street food even among its street people.

There you have the basic form of a Street Food broadcast, each of which takes on a different world city, all of which operate under the theory that the best path into a culture runs through its alleys most dense with comestible commerce. In the episode just above (part one, part two), Montreal's meeting of English and French sensibilities, a slightly uneasy coexistence in the best of times, turns into an all-out ideological conflict on the subject of how to eat. One particularly important skirmish occurs over poutine, the French fry, cheese curd, and gravy dish essential to any investigation of Montreal cuisine. In the episode below (part one, part two), we see the elements of Spanish and Andean eating finally converging on the streets of Lima — aided, in a big way, by flavors brought in by the Peru's many immigrants from Asian. Admittedly, the convergence isn't complete, not will it be until Limeños not of native descent come to enjoy the city's most popular item of street food, with 65 million eaten every year: the guinea pig.

All episodes of Al Jazeera English's Street Food on YouTube:

• Beijing (part one, part two)
• Cairo (part one, part two)
• Fez (part one, part two)
• Jerusalem (part one, part two)
• Kingston (part one, part two)
• Lima (part one, part two)
• London (part one, part two)
• Montreal (part one, part two)
• Nairobi (part one, part two)
• New York (part one, part two)
• Osaka (part one, part two)
• Palermo (part one, part two)
• Zanzibar (part one, part two)

Ferrofluid + Glow Sticks - Dianna Cowern

Ferromagnetic + fluid = ferrofluid, a liquid containing nanoscale particles of magnetite, hematite, or an iron compound. Invented by NASA’s Steve Papell in 1963, ferrofluid forms undulating spikes and patterns as it reacts to nearby magnetic fields.

Glow sticks are a chemiluminescent reaction captured in plastic tubes. Combine ferrofluid with glow stick liquid and you get color-filled landscapes of black ooze. Physics Girl Dianna Cowern demonstrates and explains.

Strange Invaders (2001) - Cordell Barker

A childless couple lives the nightmare of their dreams in this hilarious Oscar®-nominated animated short. From the director of the much-loved classic The Cat Came Back comes the tale of a mischievous alien toddler who turns an innocent couple's lives upside-down... and with style! Directed by Cordell Barker - 2001

Color Our Collection Coloring Book - Biodiversity Heritage Library

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B00hDkSQMhfDV3FOTmhYUFJueVU/view

Color Our Collection Round Up (2016)

Biodiversity Heritage Library
Bodleian Library (PDF)
Digital Public Library of America
Dittrick Medical History Center Rare Book Collections, Case Western Reserve University (PDF)
Europeana
Folger Library
James Madison University (PDF)
National Archives of the United States (patents)
New York Academy of Medicine
New York Botanical Garden
New York Public Library (PDF)
Special Collections and Rare Books, University of Missouri Libraries (PDF)
Smithsonian Libraries - (PDF)
The Getty
The Huntington
The Open Library
Wangensteen Historical Library, University of Minnesota