One of my favorite blogs, Flowing Data, provided me the heads-up on a great lecture by Adam Savage (the Mythbuster’s guy) called “Simple ideas lead to scientific discoveries”. I really enjoyed all of his stories, but especially the one on Hippolyte Fizeau’s measurement of the speed of light in 1849. Ingenious!
Coincidentally, my brother Paul forwarded me a detailing of how one can measure the speed of light with a tray of mini-marshmallows! Check it out at this Science Blog written by theoretical astrophysicist Ethan Siegel. This sharp-fingered fellow (if you view his blog you will see what I mean) goes on to tout a marshmallow-made diorama that ‘peeps’ recent claims of particles going faster than the speed of light.
That leads me to puffing up my daughter Emily, who achieved the “peeple’s choice” award in the Saint Paul Pioneer Press Ninth Annual Marshmallow Peeps Diorama Contest. She and two of her closest peeps produced The Mupeeps Take Minnepeepolis. It looks very much like the view out of my window from Stat-Ease headquarters east of downtown Minneapolis.
By the way, my favorite Muppets are Bunsen and Beaker. See them demo their invention of fireproof paper here. At the Muppets Lab one should always be prepared with fresh marshmallows on a stick. I advise going for two at a time. o——<8