Clue #2 About Episode #4

It's a beautiful Brooklyn day for a clue. Are you ready?

Hurry and comment with your guesses! Episode #4 is on the way, any day....

What's Up for May? Here's Comes a Clue!

Almost everyone LOVES French fries. And also donuts. And also all kinds of tasty stuff that gets deep-fried before we eat it. In fact, Americans love fried food so much that billions of gallons of cooking oil are used to make it for us every year. See that jug on the right in the photo? That's a gallon; now imagine BILLIONS of those. Every year. After the oil is used, it gets sent to landfills, where it hangs around pretty much forever; or it gets poured down the kitchen sink, where it gunks up the pipes. But here in Brooklyn, some people have got another—much, much better—idea about what to do with leftover cooking oil! In May, City Science Kids will tell you what that is. Meanwhile, tell us what creative, environmentally-friendly thing YOU would do with leftover cooking oil. 

City Science Kids is Ready for Spring!

And to prove it, we've been working on all kinds of episodes. Here are some clues about what's coming up in the months ahead! Guesses, anyone?

Photo 1: Getty Images via CNBS; photo 2: via clipdealer;
photo 3: via Google Images; photo 4: via permacouture

City Science Kids Explains How Salt Melts Ice: A Mini-Episode

Nothing melts ice and snow like warm temperatures—and we'll be having a lot more of those when spring begins on March 21 (less than a week away, now!). But you know what else melts ice and snow? Watch this mini-episode and find out!

For a great visual aid for understanding how this works, visit this site and fiddle with the animation, changing the temperature and adding more or less salt. Happy almost-spring everybody!

It's snowing in Brooklyn!

OK, we're not going to get nearly as much as the photo shows. But today in this space, snow means one thing: that it's almost time for a mini-episode of City Science Kids. Stay tuned!

City Science Kids presents: Episode #3—Shipworm Science!

Originally called the Ronson Ship, after the company that built the office tower in our story, the Princess Caroline was a 3-masted, square-sterned (the stern is the back of a boat), 150-ton trading ship. She was sunk on purpose to use as landfill on the site of what is currently 175 Water Street, near South Street Seaport in Manhattan. Possibly it had become un-seaworthy because of the shipworms that infested it (the same shipworms that later helped identify it).

For 200 years, the Princess Caroline lay submerged in water, where no wood-eating bacteria could live. But as soon as marine archaeologist Warren Riess and his team dug her up and exposed her to air, she began to rot. To keep her from falling apart completely, they pumped her full of special wax; this held her together until she could be sent to a conservation facility.

In total, about 20 feet of the bow (the front part of the ship) were excavated by Riess and saved; they now live in the Mariner’s Museum in Newport News, Virginia. The rest of the ship was pulled out of the ground by the Ronson company, to make way for the pilings that now support the building on Water Street. And what became of the ship’s remains? They were brought to Staten Island—to be used as landfill…again!

Videography by Amy Sirot; excavation, ship and map images courtesy of Joan Geismar, urban archaeologist in charge of the 175 Water Street excavation (and an extra-special thanks to her, for all her time and help with this episode!); shipworm video and images courtesy of Hugh Macintosh; ship etching by William Burgis; and another special thanks to Warren Riess, the marine archaeologist who unraveled the mystery of the Princess Caroline, 30 years after she was dug up!

Get Ready for the Final Clue!

Next week we'll be all ready to post Episode #3 of City Science Kids. Until we do, here's the 3rd and final visual clue to what it's about. Are you ready to guess, kids? Get set...go!