Beads do the darndest things (VIDEO)

Looking for a catchy bar trick? The good folks from BBC's Earth Unplugged have you covered.

The YouTube channel spoke with BBC Science presenter Steve Mould about the bizarre behavior of self-siphoning beads, also known as Newton's Beads.

In the video, Mould demonstrates how connected metal beads (the kind banks use to keep you from stealing their ballpoint pens) loop and weave around themselves when one end of the chain is dropped. It may look like special effects are in play, but there's no trickery involved.

As Mould explains in the video, the beads are acting in a kind of tug-of-war, with one side clearly winning the fight.

But why do the beads corkscrew and twist and seemingly hesitate as they move toward the ground? Listen to the wise words of Mr. Mould for the full explanation. (And no, as the commenters at io9.com pointed out, magnets aren't involved.)