PopSci is pleased to present videos created by ChefSteps, the free-to-learn culinary school started by alumni of the creative team behind Modernist Cuisine. These original videos explore the art and science of cooking, as well as provide a glimpse into unseen or unnoticed phenomena that occur in our kitchens.

The team at ChefSteps, a brand new online cooking school, created this remarkable video (the first in a series) for our edification. In it, a pool of liquid nitrogen placed in a vacuum chamber gets its pressure lowered so that its boiling point drops rapidly. The nitrogen comes to a vigorous boil, which in turn causes the liquid to cool off further due to surface evaporation. It drops below its freezing point, in fact, and becomes pure -346°F nitrogen ice.