That's what they call cold

[ellestra]

Everyone you know and a lot of people you don't have been doing the ice bucket challenge for ALS. That includes some billionaires, our favourite celebrities and even writers. It almost feels like everyone poured ice water on themselves. But this is nothing*. Here's a guy pouring liquid nitrogen on himself. It works because of the Leidenfrost effect - skin is so hot compared to liquid nitrogen that it turns into gas instantly so the liquid never touches the skin. Still - not something to try at home.
EDIT: The original video is down so here's another version

*I didn't mean it like that. ALS is one of those terrifying neurodegenerative diseases I talked about earlier. It's almost the exact opposite of the things like Alzheimer's but is equally horrifying. You're not loosing your mind but it becomes trapped inside your unresponsive body - still there inside, unable to do anything. As I said - these are the kind of things that horrify me. Anything that helps to make it better is awesome.

EDIT: And since I'm adding things to this - here is Stephen Hawking version

Comments

[tj-teejay.livejournal.com]

Uhm... says video is private.

[ellestra.livejournal.com]

It worked yesterday. It worked this morning - io9.com posted it at 7:30 PDT - you can still see the best part in their gif (http://io9.com/the-mad-science-of-pouring-a-vat-of-liquid-nitrogen-ove-1629488388). I don't know what happened. Maybe he got in trouble for this and had to take it down?