Lindsey's science

The trends are all around us: American students are being bested by students around the world when it comes to science and math. What to do?

One man in Cape Girardeau isn't satisfied with doing nothing. Jason Lindsey, a meteorologist at KFVS12, hopes his efforts will raise interest in science. Lindsey also hosts the station's Heartland Science Lab with students participating in experiments that are fun. And sometimes messy.

Thanks to Lindsey, Oct. 3 was designated as Science Day in Southeast Missouri. The big event was an attempt to break the world's record for the most Mentos fountains launched at one time, A thousand youngsters showed up to pop Mentos mints into bottles of diet soda, causing them to erupt into geysers spraying several feet into the air.

Will spraying yourself with sticky soda cure cancer? No. But out of those thousand youngsters there might be some who will think about science as a career path. Who knows how many of them will make a significant contribution to our future scientific knowledge?

Any effort to encourage children to learn is a noble one, and Jason Lindsey is to be commended for his efforts.