Project 2 Vacuum of Life
Here is the transcript of the speech that Keith read: Our project is based on Robert Boyle's experiments with an air pump. To reiterate what you already know, Boyle discovered that when he placed animals (like birds) into a container and removed the air out of the container that the birds would die. This was a big discovery back then. There were arguments in the scientific community concerning what was in the container after the air was sucked out. We, as scientists, attempted to replicate this experiment. So, after going through about 15 baby canaries, we were able to validate Boyle's findings. It was our 16 th attempt that proved to be interesting. By accident, one of our fellow scientists selected a fake fluffy bird, named Heubert, instead of one of our endless supply of baby canaries. We were flummoxed at first, to find that this bird appeared to be dead even before the air was removed from the container. When we noticed our silly mistake we all chuckled and decided to take a well-deserved break. What we didn't realize was that our vacuum apparatus was still on, and the air in actuality was being removed. After about 15 minutes we saw, to our astonishment, that our fake fluffy bird Heubert was moving. Somehow we were able to reanimate a nonliving cotton stuffed object. As scientists, we would have performed this experiment in a controlled environment, of course. But since the activity was noted 15 minutes later, we are saddened to say that some additional variables might have affected the end results. So here today, we will try to make history by recreating our last experiment live, including all of the extraneous variables that could've affected our outcome. We have attached a faster vacuum to speed up the reanimation process for your convenience.
Variables:
We were really happy with the reception that our project received from the class, and we felt that Sandy was happy, because we took a known scientific discovery and twisted it to fit into what we considered to be Weird Science. And it was fun, which is a good thing.
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decided that our second project should tie in directly with the topics that were being discussed in each class. Although most of the conversations were very interesting and project worthy, the topic that struck a chord with the three of us was when Sandy described the story of Boyle and his experiments with the air pump, which stemmed from our class reading of “Leviathan and the Air Pump.” What we found amazing was what the scientists of that time described as important discoveries, discoveries that we would describe as common sense. To reiterate, Boyle discovered that when he placed a live bird inside of an enclosed airtight structure, which he then proceeded to remove the air from, that the bird would die. This discovery led to further explorations concerning what remained inside of the container once the air was removed. We were all eating lunch one day shortly after this particular class took place, when we started in on the topic of Boyle and his air pump. We shit you not; we really did talk about it one day. For three advertisers, any topic that strays from the world of advertising is a welcome topic. Anyway, one of us brought up the idea that wouldn't it be funny if we tried to replicate this experiment in class for our second project. After a second or two of pondering what the animal rights groups would do to us if they found out, we decided to alter the experiment slightly, so that all of the furry animals of the world wouldn't need to be sacrificed for our second project. We decided 
to create an experiment that would attempt to animate a bird that never had the chance to live, that bird was Heubert, the stuffed animal bird of death. We realized that with a vacuum cleaner, a duct-taped hamster cage, and a small remote controlled animal with wheels, that we would be able to pull this faux-experiment off. In class no less. With the help of a speech that Keith performed, we recreated Boyle's experiment, with a twist. His speech also allowed us to add in some humorous “extraneous variables” that happened to be occurring when our bird Heubert first came alive. Variables such as eating Nutella, doing knee-bends, thinking about Jello pudding, and most importantly, replicating barnyard animal noises, since our lab was on a farm.