DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, contains all of the information needed to make every protein in a living thing and is sometimes called the “blueprint of life.” This morning, on Kare11 Sunrise news, the kids and I showed viewers how easy it is to extract DNA from strawberries. In higher organisms like plants and animals, DNA […]

We turned our kitchen into a Halloween science lab this morning for the Fox9 news. The kids had a blast!  Here’s one of the segments on how to make “Magic Potion”:

It’s fun to create colorful, swirling marbled designs on eggs, and there’s science behind the fun! Here’s a brief description of each. Click on the blue titles for more instructions and science explanations. Olive Oil Marbling: You’ll need hard boiled eggs, olive oil, vinegar, and food coloring. We used green, yellow and brown food coloring […]

April 22nd is Earth Day, but there’s no reason we can’t celebrate all month long. Besides hiking and exploring, here are some of our favorite environmental science projects. Just click on the experiment names for directions and photos. You can find more fun ecological experiments in my books “Kitchen Science Lab for Kids”, “Outdoor Science […]

Most clear hard candy has what scientists call a glass structure. It’s a disorganized jumble of three kinds of sugar: glucose, fructose and sucrose, which can’t assemble into organized crystals, so it remains transparent when you melt the sugars together and allow them to re-harden. I recently ran across this fun prank that uses food […]

Use hydrogen peroxide, dish soap and dry yeast to make a Jack-O-Lantern ooze beautiful green bubbles! (*Don’t forget the safety goggles. Adult supervision required) Click here to watch the chemical reaction in action! Ingredients: -large bottle of 6, 10 or 12% hydrogen peroxide, or 20, 30 or 40 volume hydrogen peroxide clear developer (found at […]

Turn your kitchen table into the coolest mad science lab in the neighborhood. Click on the project name for a link to instructions and to read about the “Science Behind the Fun.” Most of these projects can be found in my book “Kitchen Science Lab for Kids,” the perfect gift for any young scientist! 1. […]

When dissolved in hot water and allowed to cool, gelatin molecules trap water to create what scientists call a colloid, or a gel. When glycerin is added to a gel, it becomes slippery, so paper won’t stick to it and can be used to make beautiful prints that capture the character and anatomy of a […]

Contact lens solution containing boric acid makes a good Borax substitute for making slime, when combined with baking soda and glue. (Note: Most liquid laundry detergents in recipes for “Borax-free” slime contain Borax.) What’s the science behind the fun? To make slime, you need a chemical called a crosslinker to make all of the glue molecules stick […]

Soap bubbles are made up of two layers of soap with a thin layer of water sandwiched between them. It’s fun to watch the beautiful crystal patterns that form in the water layer when bubbles freeze on a very cold day. Adding sugar and corn syrup to the soap stabilizes bubbles so that they won’t […]