She Likes to Watch

You may remember this from high school science class.

Mix together cornstarch and water. Pour the mixture on a metal cookie sheet, and perch that on top of a subwoofer.

Now turn on the juice. This ooey-gooey mixture starts acting like some prehistoric creature crawling out of the primeval ooze.

Why? Cornstarch mixed with water becomes what’s known as a non-Newtonian fluid, a substance that doesn’t have a single constant viscosity. When you apply force — say, by poking it with a finger — the stuff behaves like a solid, not a liquid.

From Barcelona, Spain, comes a more dramatic cornstarch-and-water stunt. Here, the hosts of the educational show “El Hormiguero” have poured the mixture into a small swimming pool.

Due to the thick liquid’s strange properties, they can run across the pool, even jump on it. When they stop moving, however, they sink.

***

I credit the geniuses at Gizmodo.com for inspiration. Thanks, guys!

“Hellboy II: The Golden Army” has to have one of this summer’s best marketing campaign. Everywhere I look I see photos, videos, interviews, and freebies related to the high-action sequel.

Here’s a clip reel of all the YouTube promos posted for “Hellboy II.” The film opens Friday in local theaters.

In order, Hellboy:

1. Meets the paranormal investigators on “Ghost Hunters”
2. Delves deep with “Inside the Actor’s Studio” host James Lipton
3. Visits Wolf on the “American Gladiator” set
4. Plays video games with NBC’s “Chuck”
5. Hangs out with Crash and Yasmin, the hip Latina hosts of “The Chicas Project” on cable channel Mun2*

My favorite clips is probably the final one, a heartwarming short styled after those celebrity-helmed public service announcements. Enjoy!

***

* You may have noticed that these are all NBC Universal products.