The City in the Middle of the Crystal Sea

A miniature world of water, oil, crystal and iron, created by Christoper Brooks. The sea is a mixture of water and vegetable oil, and the crystals are sodium thiosulphate pentahydrate, which crystallizes very quickly when melted then cooled.

The shiny black oil is ferrofluid - a suspension of tiny iron particles in oil with a surfactant to hold it together. Magnets are placed out of shot to make the spikes.

Kinzua Bridge: Once the World’s Longest Railroad Bridge, Destroyed by Tornado

When it was built in 1882 the builders of the Kinzua Aqueduct Bridge boasted that it was the Eighth Wonder of the World.  Their hyperbole had some merit: at just over 300 feet it was the tallest railroad bridge on the planet and remained so for a number of years. Then, in 2003, to Pennsylvania came a tornado…

Image Credit Flickr User deziner

Oxygen goes to Element-ary School

Everyone has to have their first day at school but for some it is more difficult with others. When it comes to little oxygen, that first day at element-ary school can be fraught with dangers as well as possibillities.

This very cool animation by Christopher Hendryx very clevery imagines young oxygen's first day - with all the fear that goes with it. Unfortunately for the poor little chap, some of the other kids turn out to be not the ideal playmates for which he was hoping.

I do wonder how many teachers know of this beautiful, entertaining, and educational animation.  Certainly if I was teaching a group of young students about the elements I would use this.  It's a great introduction to the Periodic Table.  As well as resonating with their own memories of their first day at school it also provides some valuable learning about what happens when oxygen gets together with other elements (shame what happened to poor little iron!).


This was created as Hendryx's thesis, produced at the Ringling College of Art an Design in the department of Computer Animation. If he is still looking for work in the industry my best advice would be to produce a few more of these and start selling them on DVD.

Every Home Needs a Harvey

The newest hit TV advert in the UK is to enourage advertising itself.  Created by agency Red Brick Road agency for Thinkbox, its aim is to show the powerful effect that TV adverts can have.  And it is funny. 

A couple are looking for a new pet so they visit the local dog's home to see if they can choose a dog to adopt.  The first two dogs are adorable and then comes the third. If ugly is cute, then Harvey is the most beautiful dog ever.  However, this canny pooch is well aware of his shortcomings and has created a TV ad to effectively sell himself.

There isn't anything this dog can't do.  He can mow the lawn, play chess, do the school run as well as help with chores around the house such as ironing, cooking and cleaning. The tag line at the end is Every home needs a Harvey.

With a cool soundtrack - You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet by Bachman-Turner Overdrive (which either puts a sell by date on the creative minds behind this or amply demonstrates their parents' taste) from 1974   The team include Justin Tindall as Creative Director and Andy McLeod as Director with Gemmap Philips as Copywriter.

I wonder how much a TV ad for Kuriositas would cost?