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Today’s Forecast

69º | Rainy | 87% chance of rain | Sunrise 7:28 a.m. | Sunset 5:42 p.m.
 
🧪 Chemistry isn’t a mystery
Dr. Kate stands on the right side of the frame, breathing fire into the left side.
Dr. Kate says she wants to inspire the next generation of scientists. | Photo courtesy of Kate the Chemist
Look, up in the sky. Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Actually, it’s elemental and Kate the Chemist is here to explain the science behind our everyday lives.

Perhaps you’ve seen Dr. Kate Biberdorf making elephant’s toothpaste with Lester Holt, breathing fire with Stephen Colbert, or answering questions for Wired. Maybe you took her general chemistry course while studying at UT Austin.

Class is in session. Dr. Kate sat down with ATXtoday to chat about her new podcast, “Seeking a Scientist,” and the art of chemistry.

Kate has always been a curious person, saying her parents used to count the many questions she asked while on car rides. Shortly after graduating with her PhD in inorganic chemistry at UT, Dr. Kate stayed on board to teach in 2014.

In 2018, Dr. Kate got a call from a Los Angeles-based agency offering to make her “the next Bill Nye.” Kate the Chemist was made official, and her TV appearances fell in line.

Before performing her scientific stunts, Kate had never been on TV before. Despite having no experience in the film industry, Dr. Kate said she feels right at home onstage. The bigger hurdle was making science approachable by applying artistry to her experiments.

“It’s fun and selfishly, I love the hair and makeup and I love the big explosions that I get to do,” Dr. Kate said. "(But) anytime we define a scientist or a job, it’s like, only one type of person can do that. We really limit it.”

Her new podcast posed a unique challenge: not having all the answers.
 
Mesa Rim Austin
 
Events
 
Thursday, June 8
  • Weezer | Thursday, June 8 | 7 p.m. | Germania Insurance Amphitheater, 9201 Circuit of the Americas Blvd., Del Valle | $40-$300 | While we can’t promise “Buddy Holly” himself, we can promise this early 2000s band will be playing all their old hits.
  • Sonic Frootz: Riders Against the Storm | Thursday, June 8 | 8 p.m. | Antone’s Nightclub, 305 E. 5th St., Austin | $20 | The Past Lives, Clarence James, and J Soulja will also perform at this live show.
  • Moonlight Margarita Run | Thursday, June 8 | 8-11 p.m. | Sand Beach Park, 111 Sandra Muraida Way, Austin | $60 | Celebrating its 20th anniversary, this fun run brings together two of Austin’s favorite things: running and margaritas.
Friday, June 9
  • Heartless Bastards | Friday, June 9-Saturday, June 10 | 8 p.m. | Antone’s Nightclub, 305 E. 5th St., Austin | $30-$35 | Start the weekend off with a live show also featuring Jon Muq.
  • Vinyl at Vixen’s Wedding | Friday, June 9 | 8 p.m.-1 a.m. | Vixen’s Wedding, 1813 E. 6th St., Austin | Free | Join in on a monthly vinyl DJ night with extended hours and drink specials.
Saturday, June 10
  • Rainbow on the Creek | Saturday, June 10 | 10 a.m. | Moody Amphitheater, 1401 Trinity St., Austin | Free | Join in on this family-friendly Pride party, complete with live music, drag performances, and interactive exhibits.
Click here to have your event featured.
 
 
News Notes
 
Outdoors
  • Watch your step for creepy crawlies — warm weather is when tarantulas come out in Central Texas. There are six known tarantula species that dwell in Austin, but the most common is the Texas brown tarantula, which can live up to seven years. (KVUE)
Development
  • A new highrise is in the works at the site of a Denny’s across from the Frank Erwin Center. In its place, Ledgestone Development Group plans to build an 18-story, mixed-use building with 250 condos. (Austin Business Journal)
Closed
  • East Austin biergarten Koko’s Bavarian is closed for the summer for some maintenance and upgrades. Fret not, the brewery — which was founded by a real Bavarian prince in 2021 — will still produce beer during the closure. (Eater Austin)
Award
  • Congratulations to the 2023 Lamb Jam Austin winners: Chef John Bates of Interstellar BBQ, Lamb Jam Master, and Chef Iliana de la Vega of El Naranjo, People’s Choice. Chef John earned a trip to the Culinary Institute of America in Napa, California, and Chef Iliana received $1,000, which she will donate to the ACLU of Texas.
Cause
Try This
  • Fancy some cafe de olla? Join Bar Toti, 2113 Manor Rd., for a pop-up panaderia pastry market featuring Filipino-inspired goodies from 10 a.m. until sold out on Sunday, June 11. Pro tip: get there early to secure some pan de ube and coconut sticky rice.
Drink
  • Struggle to drink enough water? (Same.) Hint fruit-infused water can change that — and new customers save 45%.*
Travel
  • Real flight deals Going members scored last month: A flight from Phoenix to Tokyo for $630 and a flight from NYC to Buenos Aires for $632. Sign up for free and see what crazy deals are offered on flights from your airport.*
 
City
 
⭐️ Be your own tour guide
The Austin skyline as seen from above, focusing on the new Google building and Lady Bird Lake, all the way to UT.
You don’t need to be a professional to have a good time Downtown. | Photo via Getty Images
There’s nothing like a day in Downtown Austin to cure what ails you.

We asked our readers to tell us their favorite thing to do Downtown. Here’s what they said.

About 45% like to try new restaurants, so we suggest:
  • Estelle’s, a flower shop and vintage vibes bar and restaurant.
  • Luminaire, a restaurant serving seasonal Texas fare.
Another 18% of y’all are live music lovers, so don’t sleep on:
Or try one of these reader-suggested favorites:
 
 
Answered
 
13 murals. Two winners.
The iconic Hi, How Are You mural off of Guadalupe Stree.

Johnston’s iconic mural of Jeremiah the Innocent was painted in 1993. | Photo by ATXtoday.

Join us in congratulating Alexandra H. and Raven B. for getting the highest scores —11 and 10, points respectively— in our mural quiz.

Y’all did a great job identifying Austin’s lovely local art but I might have made it too hard, because no one got a perfect score. The top score was 11/13 points, so add two points to your score as a curve. The most common score was five points.

There were a few questions that stumped the class:
  • Only 18% of people correctly identified “Jeremiah the Innocent Frog.” The rest answered “Hi, How Are You.”
  • “SOCO” was correctly identified only 9% of the time — by the way, this one was new to me as well.
But there were some softer balls:
Thanks for playing.
 
The Wrap
 
Laura Figi.jpg Today’s edition by:
Figi
From the editor
More than half of you readers are interested in living in an ICON house, and one person even said they plan to register to buy one.

To the person who asked about the home’s resistance to the elements, I have an answer. The houses are printed with ICON’s proprietary mix of LavaCrete, which ICON says exceeds strength requirements by more than 350%, and resists water, mold, termites, and fire.
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