Periodic Videos

Interactive Cubes Win Top Award

2012-02-11T02:18:00.000-08:00

An interactive display showcasing our Periodic Table of Videos has picked some major awards.

The Interaction Cubes were created by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation Museum of Life in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with our permission to use the videos.

Inserting an element cube from the oversized periodic table into a "TV slot" starts our element video playing (with Portuguese subtitles).

The display won two gongs - the "Engaging" category and the "People Choice Award" - at the Interaction Awards held in Dublin!

Professor Poliakoff and I visited the display in Brazil last year. Here is the video we made, showing how it works:

And here is the foundation's own video, which was part of their entry:

Congratulations to our friends in Brazil... We are proud to have made a small contribution to their very clever and well-executed idea.

Photos from our Brazil Trip

Come see The Prof

2012-02-07T04:43:00.000-08:00

Professor Martyn Poliakoff will be giving a public lecture tomorrow (February 8) at the University of Nottingham.

It will be about his YouTube adventures - the growth and success of our Periodic Table of Videos.

The lecture is associated with his winning of the 2011 Nyholm Prize, as explained in the video below.

The lecture starts at 3.30pm in lecture theatre X1 at the university's School of Chemistry.

More info here.

The weekly routine

2012-02-05T17:29:00.000-08:00

My two big new projects for 2012 are Numberphile and Deep Sky Videos.

I'm being flexible about upload dates so the videos can react to what happens in the world (and space).

But as a general rule I am trying to upload Deep Sky Videos on Mondays and Thursdays.

Numberphile films go up on Tuesdays and Fridays.

Here are last week's additions...

MONDAY - The Elliptical Galaxy M105

TUESDAY - Why the fraction 3/4 is important in biology

THURSDAY - The Reflection Nebula M78

FRIDAY - Why the number one is NOT prime

Janet Folkes 1959-2012

2012-02-02T23:44:00.000-08:00

Today friends and family will say goodbye to Janet Folkes, who died last month.

I've gone through the old tapes from my first flight with Janet and tried to re-create the feeling of that special day.

This was the maiden voyage of Janet's creation - the University of Nottingham balloon - in the stunning setting of the Swiss Alps.

And what a landing! Thanks Janet.

Views of the Isaac Newton Telescope

2012-01-31T04:36:00.000-08:00

Just posted a blog for the Guardian website about the Isaac Newton Telescope.

CLICK HERE TO READ IT

And here's the video which inspired the blog.

And below are some pictures of the telescope from my recent visit to La Palma.

ORIGINAL SITE IN SUSSEX (Pic by David Brander)

NEW HOME ON LA PALMA

WHO LEFT THE LIGHT ON?

IN USE AT NIGHT

BRADY AND THE DOME

FULL MOON

ON THE RIDGE

HIGH ABOVE THE CLOUDS

FILMING TIMELAPSES (it was windy, needed the rocks!)

A Mini Professor

2012-01-28T03:47:00.000-08:00

Received this picture and message from a long-time periodicvideos viewer.

"So for a while now I've been showing periodicvideos to my little sister, she's become a big fan of the Professor!

"Despite knowing this however, I still wasn't prepared for what she gave me for xmas.

"A periodic table mug and a tiny Professor!"

The Professor and the Nyholm Prize

2012-01-26T12:32:00.000-08:00

Professor Martyn Poliakoff has picked up a top award for his work on The Periodic Table Of Videos.

The Royal Society of Chemistry awarded him the Nyholm Prize for Education.

In our latest video, The Professor discusses how he missed out on meeting Ron Nyholm in rather tragic circumstances.

The silver medal is quite an impressive sight!

Next week Professor Poliakoff - who already has his medal, trophy, etc - will give a special lecture at the University of Nottingham as part of the whole prize-receiving tradition.

Some Australia Videos

2012-01-26T08:25:00.000-08:00

It's Australia Day.

Here are some videos - covering chemistry and astronomy - from our recent roadtrip Down Under.

Never forget your first

2012-01-25T12:15:00.000-08:00

Over the next year or so I hope to upload videos about all 110 Messier Objects.

This is astronomy's most famous collection of galaxies, star clusters, nebulae and other objects (and a few non-objects).

Of course I have previously seen pictures of many of them (The Crab Nebula, Andromeda Galaxy, etc)

And, without knowing it, I have probably seen some of them with my naked eye as small smudges in the night sky.

But this video about M15 documents the first time I knowingly saw a Messier object through a telescope.

After my special moment, amateur astronomer Roy Gretton attached his camera to the telescope and also captured an image for posterity (right).

So there you have it... M15 was my first Messier object.

They say you never forget your first.

<iframe width="400" height="233" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/S-vLAg3bNDk" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen>iframe>

Films about our stormy sun

2012-01-25T04:16:00.000-08:00

Solar flares, CMEs and aurora are back in the news.

Well the Backstage Science project has plenty of great stuff about them - fill your boots!

Backstage Science is a series of films I did behind-the-scenes with the Science Technology and Facilities Council last year.

The chap in these videos is solar scientist Chris Davis.

Funny comment

2012-01-23T10:52:00.000-08:00

Hundreds and hundreds of comments are posted every day on our YouTube videos.

I try to read most of them, especially on newer videos.

And I try to reply to a dozen or so each day, just so people know I'm reading them.

But today there was a comment on a video that really made me smile!

It was posted on the latest Sixty Symbols video about 3D glasses.

The comment said:

"Ironically I'm watching this video when I should be revising for my physics exam tomorrow. Even more ironically, I'm revising for my physics exam so that I can go to Nottingham University to study physics xD So if I don't get in to Nottingham university, I'm blaming Nottingham university :L"

I shared this one with the whole Sixty Symbols team because I thought it would amuse them!

Another surprising ad?

2012-01-21T00:39:00.000-08:00

Sometimes surprised by the advertisements which are automatically selected to appear next to my videos.

The introduction to Deep Sky Videos - a new series about hard-nosed astronomy and physics - was accompanied by this one for some sort of astrology/psychic thing?

Not exactly sure what it is because I didn't clcik on it. I'm pretty sure no-one, man or woman, will propose to me in 2012.

Previous blog about automatic advertising.

The Messier Objects - First Steps

2012-01-20T08:45:00.000-08:00

This week was the proper launch of Deep Sky Videos.

One of our main tasks will be making videos about the famous Messier Catalogue, which we introduced in this video:

There are 110 object in the catalogue, so it should keep us busy.

We won't be doing them in order, but we did start with M1 - the Crab Nebula:

Follow Deep Sky Videos on Twitter or Facebook.

The Brilliant Janet Folkes

2012-01-17T09:20:00.000-08:00

Dr Janet Folkes died today after a long battle with cancer.

Janet was an engineering lecturer at the University of Nottingham

Her successful career included work with lasers and a high-powered waterjet.

I first met met Janet through this scientific work, but spent far more time with her making films about hot air balloons.

Flying was Janet's great passion - especially in balloons - and she still holds numerous world records in them.

I was lucky enough to share just a few fragments of these adventures (usually from the ground)... and spent many hours hearing tales about the other ones.

Some films about Janet's adventures can be found below.

Janet was a brilliant woman - generous, genuine and brilliantly understated.

My wife and I joined her in Switzerland for a remarkable ballooning festival and the maiden flight of the University of Nottingham hot air balloon.

The trip remains one of our fondest memories.

Janet also "donated" numerous flights for charity, including one with my brother-in-law which we followed as ground crew.

It was another great day made possible by Janet.

I imagine there are hundreds of other people whose "brilliant days" had Janet working the burner!

It's sad that she's gone, but we've been left with many great memories. It's just a bit hard to smile about them today.

Science-named Pets

2012-01-13T05:39:00.000-08:00

This week I posted a video about a viewer in Norway who named her pet rabbit "Buckyball".

Small, round, black - it seems an appropriate name for a chemistry fan.

Buckyball (rabbit)

The 16-year-old owner, named Izabelle, told us that Buckyball was expecting babies and was after more science-themed names.

Since then, viewers of our chemistry videos have been suggesting plenty of options. And feel free to suggest more here on the blog, etc.

However I've since cast my net wider and been asking people to share more pets who have science-inspired names.

Here are a few that have caught my eye:

Neil deGrasse Tyson (boxer dog)

Jayden from New Zealand told me his family adopted this dog because his owners were fleeing Christchurch after the first big earthquake.

Apparently he was in poor condition and underweight, but he's since back to full fitness.

Jayden's family wanted to call the dog Tyson...

But Jayden only agreed on the condition the dog's official name was Neil deGrasse Tyson, the American astrophysicist and science communicator.

Dubnium-Dysprosium (centipede)

A Swiss physicist named Maja sent me this rather alarming picture of a pet centipede named after two of the lesser-known elements on the periodic table.

Maja said she chose the name because: "I thought it sounded special."

But apparently Maja's mother preferred to call the creature "Alejandro" because it was easier to pronounce and was from a popular Lady Gaga song?!

Dubnium-Dysprosium died of old age last September.

Niels (cockatiel)

Twitter user paradoxosaurus shared a picture of his cockatiel named Niels.

The bird's named after the late, great Danish scientist Neils Bohr.

We can now add the bird-naming to Bohr's impressive list of honours which also included the Nobel Prize.

This is Steve

2012-01-10T11:45:00.000-08:00

Some of you may be aware I'm launching two new projects in 2012 as part of YouTube/Google's "made for web" initiative.

They are Numberphile and Deep Sky Videos.

These are in addition to various ongoing projects (Periodic Videos, Sixty Symbols, et al).

An impossible amount of work for one person.

But help is at hand.

Stephen Slater is an assistant producer, editor and camera operator.

He has edited many of my Foodskey films and, more importantly, is editing many of the Deep Sky Videos (launching next week).

Stephen's an excellent editor with plenty of impressive projects under his belt - perhaps the best-known being his labour of love Destination Titan which was screened on the BBC.

He also works on various projects across the country, ranging from space to sport.

Why introduce him on the blog today?

Because it's his birthday.

Behind Closed Doors at the STFC

2012-01-10T02:25:00.000-08:00

Have been putting the finishing touches on a year of work for Backstage Science.

The videos have been going behind the scenes at ghe Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

The final videos included this one about a machine used to simulate the shaky ride into space.

But I also put together this little montage which - for me at least - encapsulates the curious spirit of Backstage Science.

Not sure if there will be more Backstage Science videos - there's certainly plenty more to see and a growing following for the project!

But regardless, you can find the whole collection of videos at this little website I created for the project.

And thanks to the STFC for letting me behind all those doors.

Special mentions to Tony Buckley, Terry O'Connor and Robin Clegg at the STFC. And to Professor Mike Merrifield from the University of Nottingham who helped out at my end.

Neutrons and Nanoscience

2012-01-03T03:14:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year everyone!

(Here's a private video from my holiday in case you're interested)

I'll try to find some time later for bloggy reflection on 2011 - but for now it's back to real work.

To start 2012 here are two videos from the STFC's amazing ISIS facility in Oxfordshire, where beams on neutrons are used to probe the world at the tiniest levels.

The films are all about using the beams to explore things at the comparatively large nano scale!!!

So large that the team doing the work is called the Large Scale Structures Group.

The videos are part of my Backstage Science project for the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC).

Chemical Reactions Compilation

2011-12-23T03:12:00.000-08:00

Here's a compilation of reactions from The Periodic Table of Videos.

If any catch your eye, you can find the full videos in the list of links below.

Don't say I never do anything for you... And don't hesitate to point out any wrong links or errors. I haven't had time to double check them all.

0.00 Sulfur Barking Dog: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGMR72X8V-U

0.02 Hydrogen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rdmpx39PRk

0.03 Apollo Lunar Lift-Off Chemistry: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLCrZGgKD-k

0.06 Pete's Coloured Flames: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3ZuimXdObE

0.10 Liquid Nitrogen (version 1): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmvJ54kRpjg

0.11 Magnesium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hu385YwuRaM

0.12 Cake Blowing Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=js9_EhrjDD8

0.14 Boron Flame Test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JzqdHkpXuy4

0.16 Pistol Gunpowder: Not in a video yet?

0.17 White Phosphorus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6_-EUcswSc

0.20 Helium Balloon cooled with Liquid Nitrogen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8FJEiI5e6Q

0.24 Liquid Oxygen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuG5WTId-IY

0.27 Cokes Cans in Acid and Base: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnPrtYUKke8

0.30 Crude Oil: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S4xeWY1ouSw

0.33 Sodium in Water: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IT2I3LtlNE

0.35 Cheeseburger in HCl: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NddZ5ftQb0Q

0.36 Aqua Regia dissolves gold: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwnKU89CCdI

0.39 Fluorine and cotton wool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtWp45Eewtw

0.40 Smashing Liquid Nitrogen Pumpkin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2799XSIlZM

0.42 Platinum Gauze: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBBy4-0uUC4

0.44 Copper Sulphate: Not yet broadcast

0.45 Unbroadcast - but hear about some favourite reactions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfWb5ksi3qc

0.47 Lithium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wY0afMI4Jgc

0.49 Phosphorus: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSYLUat03A4

0.50 Caesium (first go): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCARhVfeX5U

0.52 Unbroadcast - but hear about some favourite reactions: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mfWb5ksi3qc

0.54 Magnesium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKkWdizutxI

0.57 Magnesium in CO2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dSMzg0UPPo

0.59 Fake Blood: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pXOdQetMysY

1.01 Krakatoa Tubes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=drHVT4NHSNQ

1.05 Pumpkin Thermite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2799XSIlZM

1.09 Pete's Coloured Flames again: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3ZuimXdObE

1.13 Heavy Metals Collide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okJnQIjELY4

1.15 Bunsen Burners: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmtbMKJLUJo

1.16 Titanium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpFTQYynrc4

1.18 Caesium (first go): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCARhVfeX5U

1.21 Copper Colour Changes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kop1sWzTK-I

1.22 Heavy Water: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUVzb0fzHsk

1.24 Exothermic: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-iisqNh1r8

1.25 Sulphuric Acid and Sugar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=100Bk580mPY

1.27 Aspirin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=amTAuK25P6c

1.29 Fluorine and Steel Wool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtWp45Eewtw

1.30 Alcohol Distillation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CheFL8see30

1.32 Gold Watch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7dF0QTzcuac

1.34 Magnesium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKkWdizutxI

1.35 Fluorine and Charcoal: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1FsO5zaf6M

1.37 Fluorine and Cotton Wool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1FsO5zaf6M

1.39 Hydrochloric Acid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7GE56dxS8o

1.30 Carbon Dioxide under a coin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dSMzg0UPPo

1.42 Rubidium in Water: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XLGopBovoI

1.45 Boring Zinc: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99wPiMb-k0o

1.49 Musket Firing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orO3PxLPiKU

1.50 Copper in Nitric Acid: Not in a video yet?

1.52 Gun Powder: Not in a video yet?

1.55 Jim from Thunder and Lightning: Not in a video yet?

1.56 Ferrocene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6_E6C_e_fg

1.57 Fire in Pumpkin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O2799XSIlZM

1.59 Silver Flashes: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPd5qAb4J50

2.01 More Fluorine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V1FsO5zaf6M

2.02 Ammonium Chloride, Zinc and Iodine: Not in a video yet?

2.06 Potassium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPdevJTGAYY

2.08 Methane in Sam's Hand: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXB3ULFKl0o

2.09 Traffic Lights Reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YO4UPTjMVI

2.11 Potassium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPdevJTGAYY

2.13 Hypergolic Reaction: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bin_W1xVPfY

2.15 Martyn on Candles: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZjfoJmOt1I

2.16 Chlorine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BXCfBl4rmh0

2.21 Carbon Dioxide: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dSMzg0UPPo

2.22 Reaction: Not in a video yet?

2.24 Bromine: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Slt3_5upuSs

2.25 Luminol from Pete's Cam: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaJdCYP67zM

2.27 Live in Turin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHlrkMILAZs

2.29 Frozen Roses Live in Turin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHlrkMILAZs

2.30 Gun Cotton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38w2-NCdtio

2.35 Creme Eggs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6GyJBgBk2o

2.44 Perfume: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrNHyJGTt20

2.46 Caesium: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5aD6HwUE2c0

2.49 Sulfur: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGMR72X8V-U

2.53 Iron/Thermite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=euQUgp5AY-Y

2.59 Gallium Beating Heart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6ccRvKKwZQ

3.00 Silver: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPd5qAb4J50

3.02 Liquid Nitrogen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zmvJ54kRpjg

3.03 Live in Turin: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHlrkMILAZs

3.05 Creme Egg ruptures: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6GyJBgBk2o

3.11 Crystal Garden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAr7mvBjWq8

3.16 Silver Cylinder: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0SgYhzd5ehY

3.20 Coke cans in Acid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnPrtYUKke8

3.23 Alcohol Distillation: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CheFL8see30

3.24 Ethiopian Periodic Table: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4nqHfvYVbk

3.26 Crystal garden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAr7mvBjWq8

3.29 Creme Eggs: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6GyJBgBk2o

3.30 Fire Water: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1z0AVvY9yM

3.33 Hydrogen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rdmpx39PRk

A Christmas Hamper of Videos

2011-12-23T01:10:00.000-08:00

Over the years - including this one - I've uploaded plenty of videos with a Christmas theme.

Here's some to keep you busy over the festive period!

The Periodic Table of Videos' world-famous Chemistry Christmas tree decorated with molecular models:

Etching "Merry Christmas" on a snowflake:

Stamp collecting meets Biblical studies - and was Mary really a virgin?

Which element would you like for Christmas?

Our tree expert Markus on the Science of Christmas Trees:

And here's Markus on Holly:

Professor Moriarty from Sixty Symbols puts a popular Christmas gift through its paces:

Astronomers and Biblical scholars combine for a bit of fun about the Christmas Star:

Accompanying the above, here's a "Star of Bethlehem Simulation" from Test Tube:

All about the Higgs Boson

2011-12-22T00:07:00.000-08:00

Last week we heard news that scientists at CERN are - maybe - edging closer to finding the Higgs Boson.

This was news demanding attention from Sixty Symbols.

But I was away from Nottingham and unable to speak with the usual suspects.

To make a amends I've published a 12-minute epic:

Followed by 49 minutes of hyper-extended interview footage on Test Tube (traditional home of our bonus footage):

An odd mix of videos

2011-12-20T05:30:00.000-08:00

After a filming expedition away from home last week, I'm madly editing through my backlog before Christmas.

This has resulted in an odd mix of videos posted over the last 36 hours - from a Vortex Nitron to the Shawshank Redemption!

From Krispy Kreme doughnuts to "romantic" numbers!

Periodic Table of Cupcakes

2011-12-19T04:30:00.000-08:00

Last Friday (Dec 16) was Professor Martyn Poliakoff's birthday.

After last year's birthday gift (the world's smallest periodic table) we had our work cut out to match the spectacle.

Luckily a team of first-year chemistry students at The University of Nottingham came to the rescue with a spectacular periodic table of cupcakes.

Here's the video:

And there are more pictures on Flickr.

In the interests of transparency, I should admit we presented The Professor with his cakes before his birhday.

That's because both he and I were due to be abroad on the day itself (The Professor in Ethiopia and me in La Palma).

However I've since learned The Professor's birthday was also celebrated in style in Africa.

Below is a cake presented to The Professor by his collaborators in Ethiopia:

La Palma Diary - Day Eight

2011-12-15T16:31:00.000-08:00

My final sunset on the volcano at La Palma, and this will be my final blog entry before jetting back to England.

In the afternoon I filmed at the SuperWASP facility and learned a lot about exoplanets.

Then to the Belgian-owned Mercator Telescope and a discussion about the Andromeda Galaxy.

I will be leaving La Palma with 14 tapes and a few memory cards full of video and photos.

The videos will be starting in January on Deep Sky Videos (more links below for Facebook, Twitter, etc).

Finally I must say a word of thanks to the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes which made this visit possible.

And especially the ING's public relations officer, Javier Mendez (right).

Javier went beyond the call of duty driving me all over the mountainside and arranging incredible access to many facilities - both at the ING and other telescopes.

He seemed to be working 24 hours a day and had an incredible knowledge about the science and technology across the observatory.

Thanks Javier.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

La Palma Diary - Day Seven

2011-12-15T04:03:00.000-08:00

I've come to my final day and night on the mountain.

Everything is becoming bit of a blur.

I've seen so many telescopes, so many remarkable things - and had so little sleep.

Last night I went for a walk and saw perhaps the most amazing sight of the trip... the Geminids meteors.

These meteors appear each December as the Earth barrels through the dust and debris of an asteroid called 3200 Phaethon.

The first meteor streaked across the entire sky for about 10 seconds, burning up in spectacular fashion.

The sky here's so clear - you see so many stars and the Milky Way.

The meteor initially looked like an emergency flare, moving quickly but also gently (perhaps because of the eerie silence).

I've seen meteors before, but this one looked so foreign I didn't know what it was.

I initially thought one of the telescopes had fired a flare skyward (to check the weather conditions, perhaps)?

But its strange trajectory across the sky then made me realise how daft that was!

More meteors appeared at a steady rate and of course I went to fetch my various cameras, but didn't have the equipment, skills or luck to catch them.

And none matched the first one I'd seen.

Earlier in the day I visited yet more telescopes and filmed various bits and pieces for upcoming Deep Sky Videos.

These included the formidable MAGIC telescope, a pair of huge machines which detect gamma rays from the depths of space.

They are among the most striking sights on the mountain (below) because their huge mirrors and exposed day and night, not concealed within a dome.

Today I will see I couple more telescopes and spend a final night on the volcano.

Then home at last - which I am looking forward to.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

YouTube in Schools

2011-12-13T12:54:00.000-08:00

A common complaint I hear is that schools block YouTube - making videos difficult to use in classrooms.

Every week I get emails from frustrated teachers unable to share videos with students.

I've discussed it several times with people at Google (the owners of YouTube) and they've always said "we are working on it".

Well, they HAVE worked on it.

Many of my channels are now part of a program to improve school access to appropriate content.

Sixty Symbols, Periodic Videos and Numberphile are all part of it, among others.

To find out more you apparently visit youtube.com/schools

To be honest I don't yet know how it works... but wanted to share this news as soon as possible.

I hope it means scenes like the one below will become more common and scientists like The Professor will speak to millions more young people!

La Palma Diary - Day Six

2011-12-13T12:12:00.000-08:00

Below is the galaxy M74, imaged about an hour ago.

It is not the prettiest image of M74. Not a composite of many exposures with various filters.

But it's something more pure - more real.

And it's a far better example of what astronomers really see when they use professional telescopes.

The image was created with the Isaac Newton Telescope, on La Palma.

Astronomer Rafael Barrena (right), from the IAC, was kind enough to image it (I don't know how to use a telescope, do I?)

It's a two-minute exposure using a so-called R-Filter - essentially it is the red light coming from the great spiral galaxy.

This is the image as it appeared on the INT's screen.

It is unprocessed and has not yet been corrected for the CCD and mirror's idiosyncrasies, etc - that comes later.

But I wanted to share the image for that reason - because it's still untreated.

They will be plenty more stuff like this in the upcoming Deep Sky Videos series, which will be about showing astronomy as it really is.

I should point out the image was created in the twilight hours, here at La Palma.

That's because the telescope has a heavy schedule of science through the night (and every night).

But during twilight there was a brief window of opportunity for us.

Meanwhile, below is an apologetic video I just posted from La Palma for Sixty Symbols.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

La Palma Diary - Day Five

2011-12-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

Another day and night on the volcano - and more amazing sights.

In the last post I said we missed our chance to use the Isaac Newton Telescope for a quick observation.

Well last night we made amends when the professionals allowed us a very brief opportunity to observe Messier 110 (right) - the satellite galaxy to Andromeda.

It was a real treat and will be a great addition to Deep Sky Videos early next year.

An exclusive (albeit very brief) opportunity to use a real professional telescope.

Earlier in the day there was another treat when we had a tour of the Gran Telescopio Canarias (right).

With its immense 36 mirrors stitched together, it creates a telescope with a mirror measuring 10.4m across.

One of the biggest and most powerful telescopes in the world.

Needless to say I did some filming in there too.

I can't describe how immense it was inside... I'm constantly amazed that humans build these things.

I also posted a short film to Deep Sky Videos this morning showing one of my timelapses at the Isaac Newton telescope.

I was quite pleased with it, until at dinner I met a named Daniel Lopez.

Daniel is one of the world's best astrophotographers and creates timelapse videos of the night sky to take your breath away.

Here's a link to his work. Please don't compare it with mine.

I am back in my room now, about to do some video editing for The Periodic Table of Videos, which has been neglected due to this La Palma diversion.

By the way - here's where my room is (below). It is take from near the summit - the clouds and sea are far below.

But do a I have a nice view?

No - all the windows are shuttered up.

They don't like (artificial) light around here very much!

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

La Palma Diary - Day Four

2011-12-11T20:13:00.001-08:00

Back in my room after another night amongst the telescopes.

This evening I was mainly at the Isaac Newton Telescope (above), hoping to make a quick observation during one of its rare "service nights".

But the schedule was packed and it was not to be.

However it was fantastic to see the telescope in such detail.

And before sunset, my gracious host Javier Mendez had operated the machinery so I could film its movements.

Javier also showed me through the archives, including a fascinating collection of star surveys on old-fashioned "plates" (right).

I greedily filmed plenty of material for future films on Deep Sky Videos.

Then we walked around the mountain-top and shot a few timelapse sequences.

And while the camera never does it justice, I took a few nice photos.

Especially like this one (below) of Javier at the historic ruins of La Palma's first telescope.

And I love this one (below) of the moon-lit JKT telescope with the constellation Orion.

Despite the spectacular clouds below us, it was certainly the clearest night on the volcano since I arrived.

After faffing around with my own photos, I once again joined student astronomer Liam Hardy for more observations of Messier objects.

He'd imaged a few nice ones for us, including a couple of spiral galaxies.

It all starts again tomorrow. I'd better sleep.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

La Palma Diary - Day Three

2011-12-11T05:07:00.001-08:00

Recovering from my first taste of a real "observing run".

I spent last night in this building - the William Hershel Telescope, at La Palma.

The main telescope - with its immense 4.2m mirror - was being used by a team studying quasars.

I had a lengthy chat about their work, which was very impressive.

But I was not there to use the WHT.

I was working in an adjacent control room with student Liam Hardy, from the University of Sheffield but currently based at La Palma.

Liam was using a small telescope with a 0.5m mirror called pt5m.

The pt5m (below, A) sits on the roof of the main WHT bulding (B), dwarfed by the main dome (C).

However it still packs a punch, and Liam was using it to observe something amazing.

He spent five hours tracking and imaging a star called Wasp 33.

During this time an exoplanet about the size of Jupiter crossed the face of the star - a transit.

It sounds impressive - and of course it is - but it wasn't much to look at.

It was nothing like a solar transit or eclipse we're used to (Venus transit, right), when a black disc is clearly visible.

The transit of Wasp 33 was imperceptible to human eyes.

Only later when Liam closely measures the light from Wasp 33 will he deduce the affect of the planet's transit.

From that he hopes to learn more about the planet's size and trajectory, etc.

I made a film about Liam's work and it will appear soon.

But with the "real work" done, Liam allowed me to use pt5m (below) for other purposes.

Namely observing Messier objects for an upcoming video series called Deep Sky Videos.

We slewed the telescope across the sky in search of nebulae, galaxies and star clusters from Messier's famous catalogue.

My mind's a little hazy from lack of sleep, but I think we successfully imaged six objects.

They will appear in Deep Sky Videos throughout 2012.

One thing that struck me was that the images were not the typical gorgeous shots we see on TV and in glossy books.

These one-off snapshots were more raw, containing less detail.

Yet we were using a very powerful telescope at one of the world's best observing locations. So what was going on?

I guess it really hit home that those classic images we see of galaxies in deep space are not simple "photos" (right).

They are usually composites of many images (possibly hundreds) taken with many filters.

They're gorgeous, artistic and have great public relations value - but to some extent they are "artificial".

The objects would never look like that to the naked eye or through a telescope.

For that reason, I really enjoyed seeing what these objects look like when astronomers capture them "in the raw" (right).

It was a long night (with more to follow) and we were very lucky with the weather.

A huge bank of cloud threatened La Palma through the night (below), but it never enveloped the island.

It was enjoyable, productive and an eye-opening evening for me.

But after 20 hours straight working, I was grateful for some sleep!

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

La Palma Diary - Day Two

2011-12-10T07:13:00.001-08:00

So I braved the cold last night to take some photos of the observatory site.

This image (below) was probably the best effort with equipment ill-suited to the job:

It was a strange feeling out among the telescopes at night.

Everything is so quiet, so cold, so dark - yet you know each hulking machine is gazing skyward with steely resolve.

It's rather eerie actually - like being in a field full of unblinking, oversized eyes.

I learned the next day that "seeing" conditions were actually quite poor by La Palma standards.

Disappointing news for the astronomers.

Today I've been walking around the observatory site taking photos in daylight.

The observatory is huge, with telescopes scattered among the peaks.

It was hard walking up all those hills, lugging cameras and a tripod.

That's perhaps the thing that has surprised me most - just how scattered the domes are across such an expansive mountain-top.

I imagined everything would be closer together.

I'm now rugging up (below) for a night of real observing in one of the telescopes.

I'll be joining Liam Hardy, an astronomer-in-training from the University of Sheffield.

He has a long list of possible targets for us, including galaxies and a extra-solar planetary transit!!!

Fingers crossed for good conditions and some nice images for our upcoming video series.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

La Palma Diary - Day One

2011-12-09T12:05:00.001-08:00

This will be my home for the next seven days.

It's the Roque de los Muchachos Observatory - a collection of telescopes on the island of La Palma.

Most housed in gleaming white and silver domes, they loom over the Atlantic Ocean atop a volcano in the Canary Islands.

I'm here making films for an upcoming series called Deep Sky Videos.

The videos are still in production (that's why I'm in La Palma) but I thought it might be fun to share a daily diary of what's going on.

I arrived at lunchtime today. The first view of La Palma (below) was the island's peak and observatory poking through the mist and clouds.

The fact the peaks reach through the clouds is a major reason the observatory was built here.

The observatory is a collection of telescopes operated by different groups. But my host is the Isaac Newton Group (ING) of telescopes.

In the afternoon I met ING director Marc Balcells (right), who showed me inside the two main telescopes: William Hershcel and Isaac Newton.

I must admit being staggered by the size of the former. It was much bigger than I expected. Cavernous!

After recording some enjoyable interview clips with Marc (videos soon) he left and I checked into my accommodation on the volcano's flank.

But not before snapping the photo below, which I love.

As the sun sets, it shows the island's immense shadow being cast across the ocean.

You really should check out the detail on Flickr.

Over the next few days I hope to film much more of the telescopes and record some observations of objects in space.

I'm also considering going outside tonight to attempt some night-time photos, though the howling wind is making me think twice.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory is run by The Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias. I am being hosted by the Isaac Newton Group of telescopes. The videos from this trip will appear on Deep Sky Videos: YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Flickr.

Click here for diary day one.
Click here for diary day two.
Click here for diary day three.
Click here for diary day four.
Click here for diary day five.
Click here for diary day six.
Click here for diary day seven.
Click here for diary day eight.

Mendeleev's Business Card

2011-12-08T10:32:00.001-08:00

This week I posted a video about Dmitri Mendeleev's business card, which we were lucky enough to be shown at The Royal Society archives.

I also wrote a short blog for The Guardian website which included some nice pictures.

But I thought I'd post a couple of extra pictures here on my own blog.

Here's a cheeky picture of Mendeleev's card, with Professor Poliakoff's beside it.

And here's Mendeleev's card flanked by a couple of Periodic Table of Videos promotional URl cards!

Here's the video:

69 and 6174

2011-12-08T06:33:00.001-08:00

Two new videos have gone up this week for the Numberphile project.

They are 69 and 6174.

The first to be uploaded was 6174, featuring Professor Roger Bowley's discussion of the so-called Kaprekar Constant.

For the second video this week I let the public decide via a vote on Facebook - the options were 31, 69 and 153.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the choice was 69.

In this video Professor Laurence Eaves discusses why 69 is the highest number you can factorialize on a standard pocket calculator.

Follow Numberphile on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

Flerovium and Livermorium

2011-12-03T01:06:00.001-08:00

For The Periodic Table of Videos, there can be no bigger story than a new element on the table.

Except, of course, TWO new elements!

This week it was revealed that two new names have been proposed for elements 114 and 116.

They are Flerovium and Livermorium.

We did not post our video as quickly as usual (because I was away filming in Oxford).

However this went up last night.

If this topic interests you, here are a few other videos worth looking at.

Single Muslims watching Bibledex?

2011-12-03T00:09:00.001-08:00

I always insist that my Bibledex series is NOT aimed at Christians.

The videos - about every book and various vereses in the Bible - are targeted at a neutral audience.

Basically anyone who just wants to find out what's in the book - some background to its history, geography, possible writers, trivia, interpretations, etc.

However Google's automated advertising is perhaps being overly optimistic by plastering the YouTube channel with advertisements targeting single Muslims!?

I now some people with Muslim faith watch the videos - but I'm not sure they're too numerous?

PS: See an earlier blog post about amusing advertising on my videos.

Closing in on Pluto

2011-12-02T13:21:00.001-08:00

I just read that NASA's New Horizons probe is now closer to Pluto than any previous spacecraft.

The old record was held by Voyager 1.

But New Horizons still has quite a wait before its rendezvous with the non-planet...

So to kill some time, why not watch our earlier Sixty Symbols video about Pluto.

And here are our videos on all the planets.

Merry Christmas from Mr Molloy

2011-12-02T01:13:00.001-08:00

Chuffed to receive this picture from Sydney-based chemistry teacher Gary Molloy and his students.

We visited Mr Molloy in Sydney earlier this year at St Aloysius College.

The school has an extraordinary view over the harbour, allowing us to film this video.

And here's a picture of Professor Poliakoff with Mr Molloy at the school.

Click here for a full playlist of our videos from Australia.

Filming Underground

2011-11-29T07:59:00.001-08:00

Here is The Prof and I deep undeground in an Australian gold mine.

There's 20 million tonnes of rock (and a few specks of gold) above our heads.

We enjoyed a tour of the mine, then made our own video about where gold comes from.

Professorial Cake

2011-11-29T00:52:00.001-08:00

Professor Poliakoff had some students visit his office the other day (right).

They claimed to be fans of our Periodic Table of Videos, which we always like to hear.

They also had a confession.

In a flagrant and unauthorised breach of The Professor's image rights, they'd used his likeness on a friend's chemistry-themed birthday cake.

The professor agreed to waive his usual fees is exchange for a few photos of the cake itself! :)

I've never seen The Prof's hair look more delicious!

Click here for another brilliant likeness.

The Ernest Rutherford Collection

2011-11-25T04:33:00.001-08:00

Our most recent film for The Periodic Table of Videos is about Ernest Rutherford - or his potato masher to be precise.

But it reminds me that I've now edited three videos with interesting tales about Rutherford.

Here they are:

A message from Vietnam

2011-11-23T23:55:00.001-08:00

Loved this email (and pictures) from a young Periodic Table of Videos viewer in Vietnam.

Dear periodic table of videos,

My name is Mark, I am one of your channel subscribers.

I am writing you this letter to inform you on some great news.

I started watching your videos only about 6 months ago when I was surfing the internet for some infos on aqua regia, since then I've been over every videos of yours, every single ones, including the previous videos too and some of Brady's other channels, because I found your videos astoundingly fascinating.

Most of your videos I found was unexpectedly useful when my classmates asked me about the stuff they didn't understand for example: gallium melting point, etc.

Ok, let's get to the main point.

I took the national Australian chemistry quiz held by RACI in July which spread over 15 nations (which Vietnam is where I'm from, Mark is just my preferred English name).

This test mainly aimed at basic chem learners (I'm only 13) so you get a bunch of infos before a question (so that you don't need to know much about chemistry at all).

I found it rather easy for some of the questions was on: year of chemistry, neodymium, buckminsterfullerene, 2010 Nobel prize, etc, which I already saw on your channel.

The result, I got 30 out of 30 and later received the award of excellence, which I'm very proud of since no one else in my school have it.

SO, IN OTHER WORDS, THANKS FOR GIVING ME THE BIGGEST BREAKTHROUGH IN MY EARLY CHEMISTRY CAREER.

I've sent you some pictures.

Yours sincerely,
Mark

PS And yes! I wrote this, not my English teacher.

Enigma Machine... on the dining room table

2011-11-22T13:56:00.001-08:00

Filmed with a real-life enigma machine today for Numberphile.

Not every day you have one of THEM on the dining room table.

Videos about it soon!

Automatic advertising?

2011-11-22T04:53:00.001-08:00

I'm sometimes fascinated by automatically-generated advertising.

Some examples on recent films I've uploaded.

Here we see a video about standard weights (such as the official troy pound stored at the Royal Society). We get an advertisement for weight loss and dropping dress sizes!

A video featuring the famously coiffed Professor Poliakoff - we have a hair product that will "end frizz now."

And somewhat mysteriously, this video featuring spy satellites runs with an advertisement espousing the merits of Russian ladies!?

Satellites in Shot

2011-11-21T09:01:00.001-08:00

My new space series Deep Sky Videos is due to launch in January.

But production has already started. and today I shared a little preview.

The preview included this photo, which I think is amazing.

Courtesy of Nik Szymanek

The image is a five-minute exposure of the Andromeda Galaxy, taken by top astrophotographer Nik Szymanek.

But his photo has been blighted by FIVE satellites streaking across the field of view.

One of them streak "through" the core of Andromeda (though of course the satellite is in the foreground - by about 2.5 million light-years).

Here's the video in which we see numerous examples of satellites popping up in pictures.

Don't miss Deep Sky Videos when it starts.

Follow on YouTube, Facebook or Twitter.

(Photo courtesy of Nik Szymanek)

The view from Down Under

2011-11-19T10:30:00.001-08:00

Here's another video from my recent trip to Australia.

It includes Dr Amanda Bauer, formerly of Sixty Symbols fame, but now working in Sydney.

And amateur astronomer Paul Haese, who lives in my home town of Adelaide.

Both are discussing the view of the night sky from the southern hemisphere, which differs somewhat from the northern view.

Here's some extra footage from the interviews which I posted on Test Tube.

And here is an earlier film with Paul, discussing an image of Saturn.

By the way, don't miss Deep Sky Videos... coming soon!

Four videos - time for a rest

2011-11-17T09:40:00.001-08:00

Today I uploaded four videos... count them!

There was this one for The Periodic Table of Videos... Not only amazing because of its content, but also because it features our friend Michael Stevens from Vsauce!

A new film for Numberphile, explaining why Pac-Man ends at level 255.

Then we have the latest piece of food science from Foodskey... Did you know that mayonnaise contains lemon peels?

And from Bibledex, we learn how Professor Roland Deines turned half a Bible verse into a 300-page book!?

What I did in the capital...

2011-11-15T15:19:00.001-08:00

Back from an eventful couple of days in London.

On Monday, I filmed for the new Numberphile series.

The man in front of the camera was Matt Parker (right), who calls himself a “stand-up mathematician”.

Matt combines comedy and maths in a unique way and his contribution to Numberphile was great – stay tuned for his videos soon.

In the meantime, you can visit Numberphile and watch the preview and our first video about the number 11 (presented by Dr James Grime).

On Tuesday, I headed for the hallowed halls of the Royal Society.

The morning was spent mainly with library manager Rupert Baker (right) trawling through old documents about the French astronomer Charles Messier.

It was a tremendous success (partly due to Rupert’s better-than-mine grasp of French) and the footage will be seen in the upcoming YouTube series called Deep Sky Videos.

The films will be focusing heavily on the so-called Messier Catalogue, a collection of objects in space recorded by Messier in the 1700s.

In the afternoon we were joined by familiar face Professor Martyn Poliakoff and a new friend – Michael Stevens (pictured together).

Michael's the man behind the wildly successful YouTube channel, VSauce.

We met in the Royal Society’s secure vault and discussed some of the society’s precious science artifacts.

It was a great privilege and should result in some nice little video snippets (aka, mind-blowing science awesomeness, as I imagine Michael would describe it).

Michael and The Prof had some fun banter!

I won’t give away too much, but rest assured all will be revealed here on my blog and on YouTube.

I should point out that the Royal Society’s amazing collection of objects and documents is freely available to anyone who’s interested.

It’s routinely on public display or items can be viewed by arrangement. Visit the Royal Society website for more information.

Photoshoot with The Prof

2011-11-14T14:05:00.001-08:00

Just saw these pictures of myself with Professor Poliakoff.

They were taken in Adelaide by photographer Brenton Edwards, from The Advertiser.

You can see him taking the pictures midway through our recent "Mr Dunaiski video".

Star Gazing with Nik

2011-11-11T04:59:00.001-08:00

It's been cloudy all week here in the UK - and Thursday was no exception (right).

So with a heavy heart I got in my car and drove three hours from Nottigham to Essex.

I was meeting Nik Szymanek, one of the UK's best astrophotographers.

The plan was to film Nik in action and capture some images for our soon-to-be-launched series "Deep Sky Videos".

But as I approached Nik's home and the sun started setting, something remarkable happened.

The skies started to clear. The stars came out.

I couldn't believe it.

Nik and I immediately headed into his backyard observatory, convinced the clouds would return.

Bu tthey never did, and we fillmed almost three hours of great footage for Deep Sky Videos.

I should say observing conditions were still not the best, mainly because of the full moon (see below).

But they were certainly better than a complete cloud out!

Nik (right) is a great astrophotographer - but also very good on camera and will certainly be popular with viewers.

Driving home through the night (didn't get back until about 1.30am) I was certainly feeling much happier.

Deep Sky Videos will be launching in earnest from January, but I'm putting a bit of preview footage up beforehand.

FOLLOW DEEP SKY VIDEOS
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Some Extra Gallium Stuff

2011-11-10T04:07:00.000-08:00

A interesting little post script to a video we posted a couple of weeks ago.

Annick's image courtesy of RACI

The video was about a periodic table depicting artworks for each element.

In the video, Professor Martyn Polikaoff commented on the element gallium.

It was one of our favourite depictions, although Professor Poliakoff was bemused by a "radioativity symbol" in the portrait.

Well, we have since heard from the artist, Dr Annick Ansselin.

Annick explained: "The reason the radioactive sign is there
is because Gallium is radioactive and used medically as a radioactive
tracer. By the way, the blue/mauve background refers to its use in the LED and BLUERAY industry."

Professor Poliakoff replied: "How kind of you to write. and explain your thinking. Your element picture was my favourite!"

More about the RACI's artistic periodic table at this link.

And more Annick's picture at this link.

A video about ETS Walton

2011-11-09T05:51:00.000-08:00

A new video from Sixty Symbols.

This one is from our trip to Dublin back in July (yes, I've had a backlog).

In this video Professor Phil Moriarty discussed Ireland's only Nobel Prize winning scientist - Ernest Walton.

We also discussed Walton with his former colleague at Trinity College, Iggy McGovern.

Iggy is a physicist (and happened to be the external supervisor for Phil's PhD).

But Iggy's also an accomplished poet.

In our video Iggy shared his poem "Hammer and Spark", dedicated to Walton.

Iggy also explained the nicknames given to Walton by his colleagues - "ETS" and "The Wee Prof".

Here's the video:

11th of 11th of 11

2011-11-09T00:05:00.000-08:00

So we've launched our first proper Numberphile video, and it's all about the number 11.

The video marks the date 11.11.11 which is on Friday - the last binary day of the century.

Yes it's uploaded a few days early - but you don't start advertising Christmas on December 25, do you?

You can follow Numberphile on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Featured in this video is Dr James Grime - one of several people who will appear in the videos.

We filmed at Nottingham Forest FC's home ground, the City Ground.

This was one of three videos we filmed at the famous stadium.

Very lucky that the club allowed us in for these.

Stay tuned for the other films in the near future.

You can find out more about my two new channels - Numberphile and Deep Sky Videos - at this link.

Some monster trees - and the maple

2011-11-08T02:15:00.000-08:00

A regular feature on my Test Tube project is Dr Markus Eichhorn's Guide to Trees.

Here's the latest, briefly discussing the Maple.

And speaking of trees, thought I'd take this chance to share a couple of trees encountered over the past 12 months.

First, this one in New Zealand called The McKinney Kauri which lays cliam to be 800 years old and a girth of 7.62 metres. Pretty big, bro!

And this Abies Grandis at Ardkinglas in Scotland, with a girth of 5.8m and height of 63m, lays claim to being Britain's tallest!?

Not my favourite foods

2011-11-07T10:15:00.000-08:00

If you haven't seen the latest from Foodskey, you don't know what you're missing!

Though admittedly some of the recent videos have featured items you won't find in my trolley - tomatoes and broccoli.

My favourite comment on this first one was a from a clever viewer who said: "Treat 'em mean, keep 'em green."

Makes sense when you've seen it!

Back to my periodic table roots

2011-11-05T10:43:00.000-07:00

The periodic table has become a big part of my life due to The Periodic Table of Videos.

But this is the periodic table where it all started.

It's the table on the wall of my old chemistry and physics teacher, Mr Lothar Dunaiski.

BACK TO ADELAIDE

During our recent periodicvideos trip to Australia, we visited my home town of Adelaide.

So I took the opportunity to visit my old school.

Back to the beginning

And amazingly, the original periodic table was still hanging in the lab.

It was gazing at this table which fueled my curiosity about the elements.

Sure, I knew plenty about the likes of hydrogen and oxygen.

But what of those mysterious and exotic elements lower down - what were they about?

Of course I was unaware that, many years later, I would explore the entire table in such detail with my video camera.

But more important than the table was the teacher.

I had fond memories of Mr Dunaiski and hoped to meet him again.

And to introduce him to Professor Martyn Poliakoff, with whom I was travlling.

IN THE HILLS

As fate would have it, Mr Dunaiksi was very busy the week we were in Adelaide.

He was arranging his annual "outdoor education camp" - taking when students into the hills above Adelaide to learn survival skills.

So we headed for the hills and met with Mr Dunaiski - filming a short interview.

Lothar Dunaiski - my chemistry and physics teacher

Mr D and The Prof also met briefly in the lab

It was very special to see him.

And Professor Polikaoff said it was the highlight of his trip Down Under.

POST SCRIPT

I should point out I have a notorious history on Mr Dunaiski's outdoor education camp.

In 1991 I left the camp after only two nights, breaking my arm in a stupid fall from a rope

Action man Mr D

Yes, I was clowning around.

Yet Mr Dunaiski allowed me to take part in the next year's camp as a "junior leader".

He didn't want me to miss out on the experience, despite my stupidity the previous year.

What a nice man and a great teacher.

The Periodic Table of Videos and Sixty Symbols would never have started without the interest in chemistry and physics he ignited.

Filming around the world

2011-11-04T01:29:00.000-07:00

Created this clickable map showing some of the places we've filmed over the last few years.

Also see the Periodic Table of Videos road trip page.

Discovering Osmium and Iridium

2011-11-03T08:34:00.000-07:00

This is the first time the names Osmium and Iridium were used.

They were written by scientist Smithson Tennant, who lived in the 17th and 18th century.

We were lucky enough to see his original letter during a visit to the archives at The Royal Society.

This year marks 250 years since Tennant's birth and Professor Martyn Poliakoff will be giving a public talk as part of the commemorations.

Here's the video we made during our visit:

Professor Poliakoff had a few interesting observations about the documents.

He seemed to especially enjoy the "cutting and pasting" by Tennant - an old fashioned version of what we still do with word processors.

But most interesting were Tennant's descriptions of why he chose the names - due to the appearance and odour of his discoveries.

The video also has a sad and mysterious post script.

The Royal Society archivists showed us a letter outlining Tennant's demise in a horse riding accident.

And how Tennant may have taken another discovery with him to the grave.

More photos from our visit can be found at this link.

And here are details about Profesor Poliakoff's upcoming talk.

Virtual chemists

2011-11-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

One for all you Nintendo users.

Simone, who follows us on Facebook, has made Mii versions of our chemists Professor Martyn Poliakoff and Dr Pete Licence.

And here are the real Martyn and Pete!

If you don't know what a Mii is, then you probably don't need to know.

If you do, here are QR codes to grab the characters.

Epic Fail of Hard Drive!?

2011-11-02T10:28:00.000-07:00

A minor catastrophe this morning when my Drobo Pro Hard Drive stopped working.

I can no longer switch the system on and it's suffering what I've learned is called a re-boot loop.

I'm not the first person to experience this, I have learned.

My data is in here somewhere?

I'm currently talking with the company about a replacement and am hopeful my data is intact.

The alternative does not bear thinking about, with years of video stored among those precious 1s and 0s.

The data is backed up across the drives - but all contained within the one chassis which isn't working.

Customer service from Drobo has been good so far and quite prompt... But will reserve judgement until the replacement arrives and the issue is resolved?

Watch this space - but video production will be slow for a few days.

I'm trying to stay calm. :)

POST SCRIPT ON 4 NOVEMBER:

The replacement arrived slightly sooner than expected and allowed me to recover all the data (or so it seems so far!?)

Credit where credit is due... A component failed, but sure enough all my data was safe as advertised and the customer sevice was very good.

Thank you Drobo.

Will try and blog more detail on this later as bit of a resource for other Drobo users.

Sneak Previews

2011-10-31T13:44:00.000-07:00

Last week we revealed details of two new channels - part of a major launch by YouTube/Google.

The channels - numberphile and DeepSkyVideos - are about maths and space.

We now have short little "previews" showing some of our raw footage.

DEEP SKY VIDEOS
YouTube channel
Facebook Page
Twitter

NUMBERPHILE
YouTube channel
Facebook Page
Twitter

iPhone photo of Jupiter

2011-10-29T09:24:00.000-07:00

This photo of Jupiter and two of its moons was taken last night with my iPhone.

iPhone pic of Jupiter and two of its moons

I was filming with amateur astronomer Roy Gretton, who lives nearby in Nottinghamshire.

(The film was for an upcoming film for Deep Sky Videos - more about that soon).

Jupiter is currently in opposition, meaning it's closer to Earth than usual.

Roy showed me the planet through his telescope.... it was amazing!

You could clearly see the striped bands of clouds and three of Jupiter's many moons.

Then, for a joke, I pointed my iPhone at the eye piece and snapped.

Although Jupiter is horribly overexposed, I was amazed that the planet and two of moons were pretty clear.

What would Gallileo say?

I haven't checked which moons they were - I'm sure the experts will tell me. The third moon was far off to the right in the above image.

Below is a video still also taken last night... Jupiter is clearly visible.

Roy and Jupiter (still from video camera)

Numbers and Stars

2011-10-29T01:45:00.000-07:00

My next big projects have become "official".

Last night YouTube unveiled a list of new "original channels" - see their announcement and view the list of channels.

Among them are two by me - Numberphile and Deep Sky Videos.

Numberphile will be about, oddly enough, numbers.

James Grime at City Ground

Filming has already started and the films are full of great facts and figures.

Yesterday we were lucky enough to film at a championship football stadium - The City Ground, home of Nottingham Forest FC.

Pictured right is Dr James Grime sitting in the grandstand and discussing number 11.

James will feature in many of the Numberphile videos.

Each video will be dedicated to a different number - from zero to infinity!?

The second project is called Deep Sky Videos.

It's a series about space, featuring a selection of professional and amateur astronomers.

As a starting point, we're planning to feature the famous catalog of Messier Objects.

Roy's image of M15

Just last night I joined local amateur astronomer Roy Gretton in the backyard of his Nottinghamshire home.

I watched him capture this image of Messier 15, or M15 (right).

It is just a quick picture captured for my sake, but it still nicely shows the globular cluster of some 100,000 stars.

I'll be posting plenty more information here on the blog.

But below are some details about following progress on both projects.

DEEP SKY VIDEOS
YouTube channel
Facebook Page
Twitter

NUMBERPHILE
YouTube channel
Facebook Page
Twitter

Honorary Associate Member

2011-10-28T08:35:00.000-07:00

Was really surprised today to learn I'd been made an "honorary associate member" of the Royal Australian Chemical Institute.

It was for the promotion of chemistry through the internet - namely The Periodic Table of Videos with chemists at the University of Nottingham.

Was really touched by such a nice gesture from chemists in my homeland.

And it follows an honor earlier this year from the Chemical Society of Ethiopia.

I was in Australia last month with Professor Martyn Poliakoff on periodicvideos duty. A couple of our films below:

A Busy Halloween

2011-10-27T02:53:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy pre-Halloween week, with three videos uploaded.

Two are for Sixty Symbols (physics and astronomy) and one for the Periodic Table of Videos (chemistry).

For chemistry we created a video about laser dyes.

The idea was cooked up by our cult hero, senior technician Neil Barnes, who also models the skeleton suit.

The first Sixty Symbols video was about ghost paticles... Quite technical stuff, but we had some fun with the filming and editing.

And a bit easier on the brain cells but still fascinating was this video about witches in space.

Finally, to see some previous Halloween videos from years gone by, visit my last blog.

They were about blood, candles and smashing pumpkins!

Halloween is coming

2011-10-25T11:14:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again...

And for some reason we always make an extra effort with Halloween videos.

This year will be no exception, with three in production for periodicvideos and Sixty Symbols!

But before that, why not enjoy these pictures of Professor Poliakoff snapped by Samantha Tang last week.

And below them, our Halloween videos from previous years.

An arty periodic table

2011-10-25T03:05:00.000-07:00

Another video from our recent trip to Australia.

Here we're in Bendigo and checking out a periodic table of artwork.

The Royal Australian Chemical Institute commissioned artists to depict each element, and this was the result.

It was a happy coincidence that the exhibit was in Bendigo when we were Down Under.

This is interesting because Bendigo is named after an old-time prize fighter from Nottingham (in a strange and indirect way)

And of course periodicvideos is based in Nottingham!

I told the story of this many years ago, in my BBC days.

Ed's Inaugural

2011-10-24T03:08:00.000-07:00

Ed Lester is an engineer and scientist at the University of Nottingham, and a regular contributor to Test Tube.

Ed was recently promoted the post of professor.

Traditionally this means he must deliver an inaugural lecture - a sort of showcase of his work for an audience of colleagues, family and friends.

I went along and filmed a few highlights.

Here is an earlier Test Tube video about Professor Cameron Alexander's inaugural lecture (involving a train set!)

A week at the seaside

2011-10-21T10:09:00.000-07:00

I'm just back from a very plesaant week in Hastings, in the south of England.

I'd love to say it was a pure vacation, but seemed to spend most of the time working.

My wife photographed me in action (above and right).

She then showed her own skills with the video camera to film a quick video message.

The message was to explain my YouTube absence and promote the new Foodskey series, about the science of food.

Thanks to Aldrich Chemistry

2011-10-20T05:22:00.000-07:00

The Periodic Table of Videos is a collection of more than 350 videos, and growing every week.

We love making them and are grateful to the audience who watch.

But the project takes time and resources - we can't do it without support.

Several organisations (and of course the University of Nottingham itself) have made the videos possible.

And now we have secured sponsorship from one of THE big names in chemistry - Sigma-Aldrich.

Anyone working in a chemistry lab would know the name Aldrich and its familiar logo on chemical containers.

The company has kindly made a financial contribution - but also agreed to supply us with chemicals for demonstrations.

Their support has secured the future of our videos for a couple more years at least.

Here's the page on which we thanks all our sponsors.

Ice Cream on Foodskey

2011-10-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

Another video in the new Foodskey series, this time looking at stringy ice cream from Turkey.

Follow the food science series on YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

And our website is up and running too.

A laser called Octopus

2011-10-13T02:24:00.000-07:00

There's still a few more videos to come from Backstage Science, and here's the latest.

Octopus is a very cool name for a laser with different "arms" coming from a central hub.

Though it does lose a few cool points when you learn the name's an acronym for Optics Clustered To OutPut Unique Solutions.

But we don't have to talk about that!

You can learn more about lasers at the STFC's Central Laser Facility at this link.

And here's another backstage video about lasers at the STFC.

A tough nut to crack

2011-10-12T04:50:00.000-07:00

The second film in the Foodskey series is done - it's about Bambara Groundnuts.

A bit like peanuts, this traditional African nut is described by experts as an "underutilised crop".

Scientist Sean Mayes is trying to change that, but faces some challenges.

One of the biggest is adapting the plant to places in the world with different "photoperiods" (or different day lengths, to put it in my language).

You can follow the new Foodskey series on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

The Foodskey website is under construction and should be ready soon.

The first video in the series was about crackers and sensory science.

The Beatles and chemistry that sucks

2011-10-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

Today I posted two videos about scientific papers.

The video for Sixty Symbols was very timely, because it was about The Beatles.

Timely because yesterday (October 9) was the late John Lennon's birthday and the third wedding of Paul McCartney.

The video is about a paper co-writen by four people, including Ed Copeland and Tony Padilla who are regulars on Sixty Symbols.

Their paper drew inspiration from The Fab Four, as they explain.

You can read the paper (for free) at this link.

The second video, from periodicvideos, was about a paper published by Pete Licence, Adrian Boatwright and Simon Puttick.

It's about using a siphon in a vacuum.

We filmed it a long time ago but had to wait for publication.

Again, here's a link to the paper, but this one will cost you $35 to read!!!

I should point out that's a fee set by the journal, not the writers.

Imaging Saturn

2011-10-08T07:40:00.000-07:00

On my recent trip to Australia, I caught up with astro-photographer Paul Haese.

Paul lives in my home town of Adelaide.

He recently won second place in the Astronomy Photographer of the Year award (in the solar system category) for this brilliant image of Saturn.

(Image used with permission from Paul Haese - paulhaese.net)

But what I found really interesting was seeing these two "raw data" images, which contributed to the final masterpiece.

It's all these colour-filtered filtered sub exposures which contribute to the final image.

It made me realise what an art form astro-photography can be.

Plenty more to come from Paul in future videos, but for now here is the video about his Saturn photo:

Introducing Foodskey

2011-10-07T08:03:00.000-07:00

I'm working on a new "science project" with researchers at the University of Nottingham.

It's called Foodskey (will explain the name later!)

The videos will cover all aspects of food science.

That'll include everything from sensory science to food security to crop technology.

I'll explain more soon, but here's the first video.

If you're YouTuber, do subscribe to the channel!

Oh, and I'll be tweeting it at @foodskey

PS: The pictures of me with the yummy cupcakes really has nothing to do with Foodskey - it's just a happy food memory!!!!

Quasicrystals and a busy day

2011-10-06T01:01:00.001-07:00

At 10.45am yesterday I had never heard of quasicrystals.

By 2pm I'd filmed and edited a video all about them.

Such is the life of a video journalist.

The video was about the awarding of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

It has become an annual tradition that we do "on-the-day videos" about the physics and chemistry Nobel Prizes for periodicvideos and Sixty Symbols.

However the chemistry video turned into bit of a technical nightmare... Mainly due to a combination of fatigue and my eagerness to finish it quickly.

(I had to attend and film an inaugural lecture in the evening, which added to the pressure)

I ended up uploading the film three times before getting it just right (one of the times due to a stupid typo which had the prize awarded in 2001 rather than 2011).

Not my finest hour.

But well done to my professors-on-demand - Martyn Poliakoff and Phil Moriarty - who explained the prize well and immediately!

Tiny table back in the spotlight

2011-10-04T13:57:00.000-07:00

Our teeny tiny periodic table is enjoying a fresh wave of fame and glory.

We created the table in December last year by etching it onto a strand of Professor Martyn Poliakoff's hair.

The subsequent video created some interest and of course we enjoyed the attention.

(We even had an advertising company co-opt the idea and we helped them create a similar "nano advertisement" for a shaving company)

However our tiny periodic table has been thrust back into the limelight after being featured by the Guinness Book of Records.

It seems featuring in the tome (we're in page 166 of this year's edition) is a big deal.

The University of Nottingham issued a nice press release about our appearance in the hallowed pages.

The BBC website followed and ran a lengthy online story.

And Sky News contacted us about permission to use the video for its iPad app.

It was reported by Fox News and ABC news in the US!

A rather famous scientific publication has also asked to see some pictures - so maybe they'll use one?

But the cherry on the cake - our local BBC News ran a lengthy piece about the record.

So there was Professor Martyn Poliakoff, floating behind local newsreaders Dominic Heale and gorgeous Kylie Pentelow. Quite a sight!

So thanks to the Guinness Book of Records for giving a single strand of hair a second moment of fame.

A photo gallery about the tiny table can be found at our Flickr site.

Now, back to work.

Some cool Nobel Prize stuff

2011-10-04T09:00:00.000-07:00

Today the Nobel Prize in Physics was announced.

The 2011 winners were Saul Perlmutter, Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess for discovering the accelerating expansion of the universe through the study of supernovae.

Each year Sixty Symbols tries to make videos about the announcement.

This year was easy because some of our Nottingham-based astronomers actually knew the winners.

In fact, our own Mike Merrifield is on quite good terms with co-winner Brian Schmidt.

In our video, Mike sheepishly admits he has doubted an aspect of Brian's work and the two have a long-standing bet about it.

With the Nobel Prize committee's verdict now pubic, Mike concedes he owes his old friend a bottle of whisky.

But there's another fascinating link with today's prize and Sixty Symbols.

Another of our regular contributors and fan favourites - Professor Ed Copeland - was cited in the Nobel Prize committee's announcement (see image).

Unfortunately Ed was not in Nottingham today so I couldn't interview him - but I'll try to catch him soon and find out what it's all about!

Nobel Prize Back Catalogue

2011-10-04T01:13:00.000-07:00

With the 2011 physics and chemistry Nobel Prizes about to be announced, here's a chance to re-live our previous Nobel Prize videos from Sixty Symbols and Periodic Table of Videos.

It's the Scots Pine

2011-10-03T15:22:00.000-07:00

Another episode in Test Tube's tree series posted today...

This time Markus was rather adventurous and ate some tree resin.

Chemistry-themed places

2011-09-29T23:41:00.001-07:00

Just received this photo from a viewer.

(full size version here)

The sender, Anthony Francis-Jones, included a description and an interesting suggestion.

"Thought you might like the idea of places that have chemistry related names. This is me (physics teacher!) in a street in Whitchurch in Shropshire called 'Chemistry'. Perhaps a viewer feature for periodic table/chem/phys street names - I don't live far from Ironbridge either!"

In fact Anthony's picture is more chemistry-themed than he realised... I note the H symbol by his leg!!!

If you want to send us some pics, do so at periodicvideos@gmail.com

A Happy Professor meets Hank the Koala

2011-09-29T08:27:00.001-07:00

I don't think I've ever seen Professor Martyn Poliakoff smile so much.

Last week we visited Cleland Wildlife Park, in my home town for Adelaide, Australia.

The staff were kind enough to give the professor a short opportunity to hold one of their koalas, called Hank.

It was the fist time I've seen the professor stop talking about chemistry. He seemed captivated!

But don't worry, a few minutes later we retreated to a nearby eucalyptus tree and The Prof made this video about the chemistry of koalas (or koala bears, as he couldn't help calling them!)

Summit of Snowdon

2011-09-29T08:22:00.000-07:00

Just saw this BBC news story about a car found parked at the summit of Mt Snowdon.

The picture on the story caught my eye because the vehicle is parked at the exact spot where we pitched a tent and made cisplatin for our "chemistry in the clouds" video.

World Record Holders

2011-09-29T03:25:00.001-07:00

The 2012 Guinness Book of Records has been published - and we're in it!

The record is for the smallest periodic table.

We engraved the table on a strand of Professor Poliakoff's hair (see video below).

The publishers have put the record in the nanotechnology section!

You can also see our record on the book's website.

I picked up a copy of the book at Heathrow Airport and gave it to The Professor in Australia, where he is on a lecture tour.

He has proudly shown the entry to a few people already and mentions it in some of his presentations!

The engraving was done by experts at the University of Nottingham's Nanotechnology and Nanoscience Centre using a beam of gallium ions and an electron microscope.

A gift from Portugal

2011-09-28T00:43:00.000-07:00

Received this image by email today.

The sender was Ricardo Silva from Portugal.

He said: "As a viewer, a future chemical engineer and a biochemist, and a big fan of Periodic Table of Videos (and Professor Martyn Poliakoff), I decided to design this image as a sort of 'gift' for all the things he has taught with Periodic Table of Videos."

A cool camera on the A380

2011-09-27T03:28:00.001-07:00

Just back from a trip to Australia - plenty to come from that, including a bunch of videos.

But an exciting moment was the flight home - my first flight on an Airbus A380.

I'm bit of an aviation enthusiast and was very curious about the giant plane.

Both legs were very smooth and I was impressed by how roomy the cabin was, even in the cheap seats!

Another thing I really liked was the view from a camera mounted in the plane's wing (which can be watched from your seat).

It was really cool landing at Heathrow, watching from this unusual angle.

The only problem was the English cloud and fog very close to ground level... the camera was covered with droplets and obscured the landing!

The only other problem was caused by the A380's enormous wings.

As we flew over Ayers Rock, in Australia, the captain banked the plane passengers could see.

But anyone sitting in the MANY rows over the wings saw nothing, myself included.

A dedicated fan

2011-09-21T07:29:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be aware I'm in Australia, making some films for periodicvideos, sixtysymbols and another secret upcoming project!

Since filming with Professor Martyn Poliakoff in Sydney, I've flown ahead to my home town of Adelaide preparing for more films.

The Professor stayed in Sydney for a conference and lecture on Wednesday.

A few of our video fans came along to the lecture (along with plenty of conference delegates).

But one fan who couldn't make it was a schoolboy named Brandon, because the lecture clashed with his lessons.

However the 16-year-old traveled specially to the conference hotel during his lunch hour and met Professor Poliakoff.

Brandon said The Periodic Table of Videos had been a big inspiration to him.

We're pleased to have this picture of the pair together!!!

PS: The Prof is now in Adelaide and will give a lecture tomorrow (Thursday 22 September) about chemistry and our videos.

It is being held at 6pm or 6.30pm (not quite sure which - 6.30pm seems most likely!!!) at the University of Adelaide's Chemistry Department's Rennie Theatre.

Details at this link.

See The Prof in Sydney

2011-09-17T21:27:00.000-07:00

Some of you may be aware the Prof is currently in Sydney for the first leg of a speaking tour around Australia.

We've just had word that any periodicvideos fans who wish to see his lecture on Wednesday (21st of Sept) can come along and get a free visitor's pass.

He'll be lecturing at 11.45am-12.30pm on his beloved topic of green chemistry and how it can improve the world.

He'll also be around (briefly) after to say hello.

The lecture is on level 3 of the Hilton Hotel on George St as part of Chemeca Conference.

The Professor in Australia

2011-09-15T02:25:00.000-07:00

This is just a quick note to let people know The Professor (Martyn Polikaoff) and I will be spending some time in Australia.

Of course we will make some films (see our previous roadtrip films).

But the main reason for traveling is so The Prof can deliver a series of lectures about his work - over many years in the lab and more recently on YouTube.

He'll be in Sydney, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Bendigo (!), Canberra and Perth.

If you live in Australia and would like to meet us (and see The Prof in action) send us an email and I'll try to send you any details you want?

Our address is periodicvideos@gmail.com

Some details can also be found at this link.

I'll also post more on the blog here if I get time.

This will be The Prof's first visit to Australia and he's very much looking forward to it.

Of course I'm from Australia, so it's a chance for me to show him around my homeland.

A challenge to University Challenge

2011-09-13T07:00:00.001-07:00

University Challenge is a great, geeky TV show.

The BBC quiz has fiendishly hard questions (well, hard for me) tackled by knowledgeable students from universities across the UK.

The show's opening sequence briefly features a periodic table.

And every episode of the show seems to feature a few chemistry questions, often about the periodic table.

However our latest periodicvideo reports that table used by University Challenge is sadly outdated, not featuring many elements which have been on the table for years.

Instead they just use the atomic numbers, as used before the elements were formally named (see my corrections below!).

As our own Professor Martyn Poliakoff argues, it can hardly be argued by the show's producers that their table is "historic" - "it's just a bit old".

As we mischievously say, maybe it's time of the opening credits to be updated!? Our very own challenge to University Challenge.

Of course it doesn't really matter, does it?

Our video is really a fun excuse to discuss our beloved table.

And a chance to show off the professor's equally outdated but reliable car!

Far Side of the Moon

2011-09-13T04:18:00.000-07:00

Here's a video just uploaded for Sixty Symbols about one of my favourite subjects... The Moon.

Professor Mike Merrifield discusses a recent paper in Nature which may explain why the Moon's relatively smooth on it's earth-facing side... yet quite mountainous on its far side.

They really look like two different objects and I suspect many people wouldn't recognise the Moon if shown a picture of its far side.

An epic cycling journey

2011-08-31T04:38:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I found myself at John o'Groats.

The coastal village is famed as the northern tip of mainland Great Britain (though this is not technically the case).

I was there with a team from The University of Nottingham, including the vice-chancellor David Greenaway (he's the university's top boss, standing next to me in this pic).

The team of 11 cyclists (and four support crew) are journeying from John o'Groats to Britain's other famous geographical extreme, Land's End.

They're doing it for the challenge - and to raise money for palliative care.

So why not do a good deed and sponsor the ride. It's for a very good cause.

More details at this link... And my video below.

Yes, thankfully I was filming and not riding!!!

Signed cards

2011-08-31T04:07:00.000-07:00

Some of you ma be aware we have been collecting pictures of our viewers.

They can be emailed to periodicvideos@gmail.com

I also promised some prizes.

A random draw selected three viewers and their prizes will be posted this week.

They'll receive the full set of "periodicvideos collector cards"... well, okay, promotional URL cards.

But these cards have been signed by the team.

The winners already know who they are and the cards are on their way!

Click here for viewer pictures on Flickr. And send your own if you'd like to be included (though you are too late for the prizes!)

Philosophy File

2011-08-31T02:14:00.000-07:00

Last night I uploaded the 8th video of my little foray into philosophy, Philosophy File.

The video was about metacognition and the ancient story of Gilgamesh.

That is the final video in the series, at least for now.

We may expand the idea after further consideration... so stay subscribed on YouTube.

Here are all the videos, created with the philosophers at The University of Nottingham:

Remembering an old friend

2011-08-29T12:31:00.000-07:00

The latest film on the Periodic Table of Videos is tinged with sadness.

Professor Martyn Poliakoff reports the recent passing of his first PhD student, Stephen Church.

He also recalls Stephen's pioneering work with the molecule Manganese Pentacarbonyl.

The Professor has since contacted some of the journals which published Stephen's papers in the 1980s.

One has already they have kindly agreed, for a limited time, to make the paper available without charge.

You can find it at the following link:

The molecule in solution

We will add any other links if they become available.

What molecules?

2011-08-24T10:09:00.001-07:00

The Periodic Table of Videos made its name by covering the elements!

But we also do a series all about molecules.

Yesterday I asked our Facebook followers what molecules we should be covering.

Here are some of their answers so far:

- The contraceptive pill. Something that radically changed the lives of women for the better, but also whether it's true the hormones getting into waterways are changing the sex of aquatic life.

- Serotonin!

- Mercury(II) thiocyanate decomposition, I've seen it on YT already, but some explainations of the molecular video experts would be cool.

- Something on other classic molecules, but pharma-oriented are my favourites!

- Nitric acid!

- Perhaps something that's got to do with the oxidation states of actinides, they never really taught me that at school.

- Noble gases compounds?

- How about DNA?

- Ethene (most produced chemical product in the world) or steam (for industrial boilers etc).

- Something pretty like Carborane.

- H2O... come on now.

- What about the chemistry of brewing and fermentation processes of beer and wine?

- And something about Glass, PVC, how they're produced.. it would be cool.

- Maybe sodium chloride?

- Mercury Fulminate ! ! ! :D Or thermite :)

- Yes mercury fulminate. As featured in the tv show Breaking Bad.

- Potassium Nitrate. So much history there!!

- How about something like chlorophyll

- I don't believe I have seen CFCs yet.

- Ochratoxin

- Hm...Urea or Chloroform.

- Piranha solution, potassium permanganate or potassium dichromate

- Dissect the lucrative world of toxins, preferably toxic compound used by different intelligence agencies. Scopolamine, ricin, abrin and in general tropanes would be of great interest. But I guess such "lethal" knowledge may not be pertinent for the univeristy to publish now in our turbulent times with all the terrorism.

Will MIRI fly?

2011-08-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

You may have seen recent reports about the future of the James Webb Space Telescope.

US politicians are debating funding for the project, which has been touted as the successor to Hubble.

One of the videos I created for Backstage Science was about an instrument built for the telescope.

The instrument's called MIRI and has been put together at the RAL Space facility, just outside Oxford.

It's one of four "cameras" which would be bolted to the telescope, utilising light caught by the giant mirror.

In the video Paul Eccleston speaks of his passion for the project and excitement about eventually seeing MIRI launched into space.

Whatever you think about the politics and cost, it would certainly be sad if MIRI never does the job it was made for.

Cool Film and Cool Song

2011-08-23T09:31:00.000-07:00

I don't usually feature films on this blog that I didn't create.

But have been wanting to share this one for ages...

Partly because I love mountains and the Eiger's one of my favourites.

And also because of the brilliant song they've used (from about the 1'15" mark).

It's become one of my favourite tracks and I often listen to it while running (as opposed to climbing the Eiger!)

A great example of a song and amazing footage combining to make something special.

The climber is Ueli Steck and the song is Welcome Home by Radical Face.

It's all from a film called Swiss Machine which I've not seen - but would like to!

Angry chemists and prime ministers

2011-08-22T10:15:00.000-07:00

In recent days a group of high-profile chemists wrote to the UK Prime Minister David Cameron.

They're angry at plans to cut funding for organic synthetic chemistry.

Professor Poliakoff explains the problem in our latest video on The Periodic Table of Videos.

(A number of Professor Poliakoff's colleagues at the University of Nottingham have signed the letter)

Not an organic chemist himself, Professor Poliakoff was not a signatory.

But he did write a letter to former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (who was a chemist herself!)

His letter, from 1987, has a similar theme to the more recent one.

Below is his missive and the replies he received. You can click on the images to see bigger versions on Flickr.