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Chris Higgins
The Late Movies: Bill Nye the Science Guy
by Chris Higgins - October 21, 2009 - 10:00 PM

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In honor of Bill Nye’s appearance (yelling “I’m just a speck!”) in We Are All Connected, I thought I’d round up some clips of his classic science show for kids. Enjoy!

Quicksand!

Quicksand is just really, really wet land!

Illusions!

Whoa, Jerry Andress is showing off all kinds of cool stuff (see also: The Ames Window – A Bizarre Illusion).

Astrology

Bill Nye explains the astronomical basis for astrology. My favorite quote: “and it did work [the sun rising behind certain constellations] — two thousand years ago when the Babylonians made all this up.” See also: Carl Sagan on astrology.

Gravity

Do not, I repeat, do not attempt this demonstration at home. I sure hope they recycled those electronics properly after throwing them off the building. :)

Crying

Why do we cry? Why does Bill Nye cry? Why do we blow our noses when we cry? Why is Bill Nye getting so upset about all this?

Why Pluto Shouldn’t Be Called a Planet

But “ice dwarf” just sounds like something out of Dungeons & Dragons, dude.

More Bill Nye Goodness

Go check out tons more on YouTube! Post your favorites in the comments, if you’re into that sort of thing.

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Comments (8)

  1. I saw him eating lunch with his wife at the Smithsonian when I was in eighth grade. I love Bill Nye!

    posted by Chelsea on 10-21-2009 at 11:21 pm

  2. I’m not too proud to admit it: my first nerd crush was on Bill Nye.

    posted by Liz on 10-22-2009 at 1:19 am

  3. I learned so much from Bill Nye. I feel that he was an inspiration/role model for countless nerds!!!

    posted by Eric on 10-22-2009 at 2:37 am

  4. Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill! Bill!

    The theme song is going to be stuck in my head the rest of the day. I grew up on PBS programming and Bill Nye was one of my favorites. Thanks for posting these!

    posted by Kelsey on 10-22-2009 at 9:37 am

  5. I freaking love Bill Nye! Good choice Chris Higgins, good choice!

    posted by Kate on 10-22-2009 at 10:31 am

  6. Haven’t watched any Bill Nye in forever. When I watched that video yesterday I was actually gonna go see if I could find some clips. Yet mental_floss already did it for me! I would always look forward to watching this show in the mornings and watching it in class…Bill Nye days were my absolute favorite. =]

    posted by Cody on 10-22-2009 at 1:02 pm

  7. Before he was famous or had his own show, Bill Nye was on a local skow on KING tv 5 in Seattle called “Almost Live” that came on after Saturday Night Live. He did a lot of his wacky science demontrations, but also was in some of their comedy skits. I do not know if they are available anywhere on the internet, but if you can find them some were absolutely hilarious. (especially Bill Nye as superhero “Speedwalker” and as one of the “High fivin’ white guys”)
    We would never miss the show on TV and i actually got to go to a live taping one time and meet the cast members.

    posted by Andrew on 10-22-2009 at 1:56 pm

  8. So funny that the quicksand segment was here today. Just got back from the “Wetlands Center” after teaching 4 groups of 5th graders about our wetlands here in SE Texas. This clip is from the video we use to help educate them. The kids loved it.

    posted by Steve S on 10-22-2009 at 2:08 pm

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