Beakman’s World - Season 4 Episode 7

Beakman bounces off to a start with the first viewer question about rubber. The wacky scientist as Charles Goodyear reveals the historic lore surrounding rubber, dating as far back as 1770. He discovers that it's no stretch to call rubber the most miraculous substance in the world. Rubber is able to hold air, keep moisture out and most importantly, it is elastic. Turning to Beakmania, Beakman counts the sands of time to find out if there are more grains of sand than stars in the universe (there are more stars in the universe), and if animals are able recognize themselves in the mirror (chimpanzees and some gorillas can). Then Beakman as Chef Art Burn gives away a scientific culinary treat-how to change the colors of carnations. With two jars, water, food coloring, a knife, celery and some flowers, Beakman demonstrates, not only the art of floral arranging, but how plants distribute water to nourish themselves. The final hair raising question comes from a viewer who asks, "how does hair grow?" To get to the root of the answer, Beakman and his science team take a closer look into the hair follicles to discover "bulb cells" dividing very quickly to produce hair all over the body. Beakman also brushes over some facts about different hair lengths, dandruff and why cutting hair is so painless.