Making Science Fun

Last week my 10-year old nephew Clint called to ask Ryan and me if we would help him with his science fair project. My first response was no, but we could probably hire someone to do it. Ryan looked at me like I was worse than Hitler, told him we would be delighted to help, and asked what kind of project Clint wanted to do. He said he wanted to make a model volcano that really erupted. I rolled my eyes at the bush leaguedness (it's a word) of that suggestion. After all, if I am going to be involved, it has to be something better than just baking soda, vinegar, and red food coloring. I mean, unless we are making someone swallow those three ingredients to see what happens -- that would be cool.

For the past few days I have been searching the Interwebs, looking for something that would rock the science fair. I didn't want to search for a project, I just wanted to shoot down the suggestions Ryan and Clint came up with, but then Ryan said something about "being a part of the solutions" and "crushing dreams." So, I went to my friend Dr. Google and started searching. And then I found this...

Perfect. Clint has a cat, and if he doesn't feel comfortable using it, he can borrow one of ours. It's low cost, has simple steps, and a lot of showmanship. Now, I know some of you are thinking "but that's cruel, Libby." Is it though? If it is done in the name of science is it really cruel? Wait, don't answer that. Instead, answer this -- if it is done in the name of comedy masquerading in the name of science is it cruel? I thought not.

Of course, there is the problem that this little girl has already done the experiment, and posted it all over the Interwebs. Or at least, she is pretending she did, to cover up for parents who did the work for her. I think we'll just have to go a step further. Maybe we'll look into whether or not giving a cat a cigarette before attaching them to the battery makes them any less adverse to the shock. Or see if Josh Groban records bore them into a trace that makes them impervious to the electricity.

This is going to be great. I feel some kind of Nobel prize coming on. Either that or some kind of animal and/or child cruelty arrest. They both pretty much go hand in hand, don't they?