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Please don’t set Thanksgiving on fire
A little science before dinner, plus Roberta Flack and one very good clinic cat.
Greg Sullivan
November 12, 2026 • Est. Reading Time: 3 minutes
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“What matters most is how well you walk through the fire.”
― Charles Bukowski
Thanksgiving is two weeks away, which feels like information someone should have given me sooner. Today, Kristine Nolin explains the chemistry behind an explosive turkey-prep disaster just waiting to happen, Roberta Flack gets an unexpected vote of confidence from Clint Eastwood, and a rescued cat finds himself on the payroll.
Science
A little chemistry before anyone loses an eyebrow.
Thanksgiving is only two weeks away. EEK. Perhaps you’re already dreaming of white meat and gravy. Perhaps you belong to the turkey-is-overrated crowd and are mostly there for the stuffing. Either way, let’s consider the bird’s less celebrated role: incendiary device.
Some people roast their turkeys. Some use a smoker. Other brave souls lower the whole bird into a vat of hot oil. In that latter case, if it’s still frozen, dinner prep can become a desperate call to the fire department.
As chemist Kristine Nolin explains, the difference between a crispy bird and a dangerous fire involves a few ordinary properties of things already in your kitchen. You don’t have to be on turkey duty to appreciate the chemistry. Though if someone in your family recently bought a very large fryer, this might be a useful addition to the group chat.
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Look at those colors. Or rather, that color, singular. This amazing study in orange comes from GOOD reader Jan Cota, taken at the northernmost point of Mississippi.
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You’ve had a lousy day. What helps most?No solutions required. Just reinforcements. |
Yesterday’s Results
Yesterday we shared the science behind glassblowing, which inspired us to ask: Which metal gives cobalt-blue glass its rich blue color?
69.2% of you correctly chose cobalt. Sometimes the answer really is right there in the question. We appreciate everyone checking for a trap.
Copper (23.2%)
Cobalt (69.2%) 🏆
Iron (4.9%)
Gold (2.7%)
Pop Culture | Courtesy of Upworthy
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Roberta Flack said her song was too slow for Clint Eastwood’s movie. Then he made it a No. 1 hit. | ||
Eastwood heard something in it that Flack didn’t, and the song’s fate changed completely. | ||
By Heather Wake | ||
Roberta Flack never thought her soulful rendition of Ewan MacColl’s 1957 folk song, “The First Time I Ever Saw Your Face,” would become a massive hit. Thankfully, Clint Eastwood had other plans. And had he not entered the picture, perhaps Flack would have been right. | ||
Flack recorded the song for her 1969 debut album, First Take, giving the composition an uncharacteristically slow and intimate treatment. Her version stretched beyond five minutes, with a long piano introduction and plenty of space between notes. It was beautiful, but Flack doubted that it was built to top the pop charts. | ||
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Animals
Last life, best life!
A sick cat named Rico may have thought he was at death’s door, but the person who answered wasn’t the Grim Reaper. It was veterinarian Meryem Imrani who found the shivering kitty and nursed him back to health.
"It was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made."
As Ryan Reed reports, Imrani soon realized her now-healthy cat needed a home. Like any true cat person, she kept him. Now he comforts anxious patients, keeps sick kittens company, and works full-time as the clinic’s resident “emotional support” cat.
The Universal Cat Distribution System gets it right again.
On November 12, 1980, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft made its closest approach to Saturn, passing roughly 77,000 miles above the planet's cloud tops. Its cameras captured breathtaking images of Saturn's rings, revealed intricate structures scientists had never seen before, and helped identify previously unknown moons. It also offered humanity its first close-up look at the mysterious, haze-shrouded moon Titan.
After its Saturn encounter, Voyager 1 continued outward on a trajectory that would carry it beyond the planets and, in 2012, into interstellar space. Remarkably, the spacecraft was still communicating with Earth more than four decades after its launch, carrying a golden record of Earth's sounds and images into the cosmic unknown.
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Until tomorrow, start making those plans now! Nothing lowers stress like preparedness.