That is rather ODD...

These observations are things I have learned from our Oddities genre of programming:

1. One can identify if a piece of "freak" taxidermy is real by feeling for seam lines
2. It's not surprising for people into taxidermy & articulating to be vegetarians
3. A Taphophile is someone who is passionate about cemeteries (e.g. gravestones)

Do you know what else is odd and very cool? The cast of Oddities and Oddities San Francisco are going to meet in person – true story! Here are some pictures of when the Executive Producer (Josh Berkley) and I went to Obscura and met everyone.

Introducing Fringe Puppet Theatre!

We here at Science love Fringe. We also love Red Vines (almost as much as Walter Bishop). So, of course, the next logical step was to merge the two -- and invite all of our Fringe fans to play along.

Introducing Red Vines' Fringe Puppet Theater: we give you the puppets, you grab some Red Vines from the grocery store and then you film your favorite scenes from Fringe. Then you send us a video link and we feature it on our Fringe on Science Channel Facebook page!

Before you get started, you should know we're working on our own video. Actually, we've enlisted the help of one of Fringe's biggest fans, Ian Larson, son of one of Science's employees. He spent all weekend cutting, pasting, and filming his favorite scene from Fringe, Season 1 -- it's the one where the bank robber gets stuck in a wall, dies, and then Walter cuts off his hand. These are photos his mom took of him hard at work.

We'll be featuring his video shortly, but also wanted to give YOU the chance to get in on the fun. You can download, print and cut your puppets from the large picture image below. Then, film away! We'll take all of the submissions (unless they contain foul or inappropriate language) and feature them on Facebook. So start puppeting NOW! 

When you're finished, tweet us a link to your video OR leave us a link in the comments below...you may even receive a little somethin' somethin' from us as a "thank you" gift...hint, hint.

Here's the big image. Simply click the photo. It'll show up in a new window and you can print it for your puppting needs!

Q&A with the Executive Producer of the Firefly Special Event

Meet Bernadette McDaid -- or simply Bernie, as we call her around the office -- and her very famous friends.

She's not just another executive. She's a real Browncoat -- and the "Browncoats Unite: Firefly 10th Anniversary Special Event" is her baby. She's the mastermind behind reuniting the cast at San Diego and New York ComicCons, filming the reunion, writing the script...EVERYTHING.

Here's your chance to get special behind-the-scenes access to the woman closest to all things Firefly-reunion-related. Bernie has graciously agreed to answer any questions you may have about the upcoming special. So ask away! Leave us a question in the comments and we'll have Bernie answer them.

NOTE: Bernie is also the woman behind the EXCLUSIVE #FireflyNov11 clips that are on their way to being unlocked by fans on Twitter. Bernie has identified these as being juicy bites that just didn't make it in to the 1-hour-long special. So follow @ScienceChannel and keep tweeting #FireflyNov11! Click HERE to participate.

TUNE IN November 11th at 10pm ET/PT for "Browncoats Unite: Firefly 10th Anniversary Special Event" on Science and...HINT HINT...you'll find out how to bid on exclusive Firefly items from the reunion special with all proceeds going to charity...

Chunk This: The Destructive Side of Punkin Chunkin

Punkin Chunkin (watch it Thanksgiving night at 8PM!) is one of my favorite things about working for SCIENCE. I've been to the actual World Championship event three times now and it is just incredible to watch those massive machines send those gourds flying into the skyline. There's only one thing missing: some medieval carnage. That's where Chunk This comes in.

Yesterday, the SCIENCE digital group teamed up with air cannon team Chunkin Up, Metro Productions and Butler's Orchard to see what would happen if we pointed their massive machine right at a few different targets and let those gourds rip. What we got was better than we'd hoped! Layers of drywall, a Thanksgiving dinner table, a refrigerator and even an upright piano were outright annihilated. What better way to spend the day, right?

We originally tried this idea with air cannon team Chunk'n'ology in 2010 (check out the video below to see how it turned out). The difference this year is that we shot everything with higher quality cameras, which means you'll be able to see more of the carnage in seriously slow motion. It's gonna be epic.

Get Interactive with "MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition"

Meet the star of the show, Buster, as he rests in his chair after flying over 200 feet, propelled by fireworks in a recent MythBusters episode.

Chances are that at some point while watching Jamie and Adam do crazy experiments on MythBusters, you kind of wished you had their job. Let’s face it, it doesn’t get much better than making a living off playing with explosives, dropping pennies from the Empire State Building and feeding giant octopuses – all in the name of science.

MythBusters VIDEO: Best of Household Myths 

While we can’t all be mad scientists, there’s nothing stopping you from testing out some of MythBuster’s most popular experiments at the “MythBusters: The Explosive Exhibition,” now open at The Tech Museum in San Jose, Calif. Unlike other exhibitions, this one encourages visitors to interact with the props that were taken right out of the show and find out for themselves whether something is a myth or a fact.

As the show’s co-host Grant Imahara explained it during the exhibit's opening ceremony, “you’re going to be dodging bullets, hanging by your fingertips [and] driving blind.” But that's only part of it. 

Master Control: The Last Line of Defense

It all comes down to me. My eyes and my ears. I don't just watch and listen — I monitor. My name is David Matias and I am a Master Control Operator.

Every day I stay focused on maintaining and ensuring quality control and accuracy of the all of the scheduled programming that originates from our facility and is transmitted to tens of millions of televisions across America.  It's the last chance to spot any mistakes before the viewers at home tune in to enjoy their favorite shows. If it sounds like a lot is on the line — it is.  Millions of dollars and hundreds of peoples hard work and the reputation of a global media leader are at stake.

3 MORE CLIPS! YOUR NEXT MISSION: You Give us 5,000 #FireflyNov11 Tweets, We Give You More Firefly

UPDATE: There are now 3 more clips awaiting your "unlock." CLICK HERE TO GO TO THE PAGE. Keep tweeting #FireflyNov11!

__________________________________________

See this screen shot? It's taken from the upcoming Firefly 10th Anniversary: Browncoats Unite documentary, set to air on the Science Channel this November 11, 2012 at 10pm.

Now, what if we told you there are more than 2 hours of UNUSED footage that WILL NEVER AIR because it just didn't fit into a 1-hour-long documentary? And what if we told you some of it was pretty darn funny, poignant, and just all around amusing? You'd want to see it, right?

So here's your chance: We're asking our fans to show us just how much they want to see this extra footage. We need YOU to send us a tweet to @ScienceChannel with the hashtag #FireflyNov11. And then we need 4,999 more.

This is your first challenge: When we hit 5,000 tweets with the hashtag #FireflyNov11, we'll tweet out a link to the first piece of cut footage. (Just to add a little excitement, I'll tell you it's a roundtable discussion of Nathan Fillion's one-and-only naked scene in the Firefly series.) So get those tweets coming in! We announced this endeavor at New York City Comic Con on October 13th -- and we'll keep releasing more and more content for each challenge met. Be sure to tell all of your Browncoat buddies!

Start tweeting NOW! #FireflyNov11

Enter the Master Control Core Where We Can Control All Networks!

 Here we are in my home -- the Master Control Core!  My name is Scotty Ham, and I’m one of the supervisors here at the Discovery Broadcast Center.  And yes, I'm a Brony.

 

So, here’s one of our Supe Stations that I work at daily.  I have the same abilities that each pod has and I can take control of any of our 13 networks in a matter of seconds if needed.  My main function out here is to troubleshoot the issues that operators find and come up with solutions and answers.  If we have content that is in question, whether it is a commercial with an incorrect phone number or a promo that advertises an incorrect time, I’ll pass that on to people like Darren in Encode who will correct it on their end and coordinate with us back here.  We also execute changes out here for content daily -- whether they are commercial or even program changes.  Our operators are the best in the business and make my job look easy.

An inSCIder Look at Master Control

 Have you ever wondered how your favorite Science show makes its way into your living room? Of course you haven't.  That's because Master Control's doing its job; making the television viewing experience seamless for you, the loyal SCIENCE viewer.

Sounds simple enough, but there are dozens of broadcast technicians and millions of dollars of equipment behind each show you see.  Over the next few weeks, you'll be getting an inSCIder look at what we do in Master Control, and on Friday, October 12, you'll get to know me and a few of my Master Control friends a whole lot better!

Was Mars Ever Habitable? Curiosity's SAM Instrument Seeks the Answer

After its amazing landing, which felt like it was straight out of a science fiction novel, NASA’s Curiosity rover is now safely on Mars and already at work. “Curiosity was designed to assess whether Mars ever had an environment able to support small life forms called microbes. In other words, its mission is to determine the planet's ‘habitability.’”^[1] To do this, Curiosity is equipped with an on-board laboratory that includes instruments ranging from spectrometers and radiation detectors to environmental and atmospheric sensors. Here’s what I learned from my visit to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center last week:

Gale Crater, Curiosity’s landing site, is the ideal place to search for evidence of organic compounds on Mars, many of which are the chemical building blocks of life on Earth. Similar to the Grand Canyon (though three times as high!), Gale Crater has exposed layers of rock that NASA hopes will reveal if there ever was life on Mars. Starting at the base of the crater, where the oldest sediments from the planet’s early years can be found, Curiosity will begin roving the area, performing experiments on the crater’s rock layers with its on-board lab.