Chemistry
Electrified Sheep
& Elephants on Acid
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 Gummy Bear experiment evacuates school. (Aug 2011) The Maryville High School chemistry teacher starts every school year by performing a dramatic experiment: dropping a gummy bear into a solution of molten potassium chlorate. This year (2011), the smoke caused by the reaction set off the fire alarms in the hallway, leading to the evacuation of the entire building. Link: wbir.com.
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In 2011 researchers in the Rice University lab of James Tour demonstrated it was possible to grow graphene relatively inexpensively from a variety of cheap carbon sources. Their process involved placing a carbon-based substance on a thin piece of copper foil in a furnace at a temperature of 1050 degrees celsius and baking it for 15 minutes. The graphene formed on the bottom side of the foil. They demonstrated their process by creating graphene from chocolate, grass, plastic, girl-scout cookies, cockroaches, and dog feces.
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Homemade nuclear reactor (July 2011)
A Swedish man, Richard Handl of Ängelholm, attempted to conduct a nuclear fission experiment in his kitchen. He obtained radioactive materials from devices such as smoke detectors as well as online from sites including eBay, and then he combined those materials on top of his stove. He told reporters, "I thought I would do an experiment to see if it really works to build a nuclear reactor."
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