Aki Kurose and the Japanese-American internment camps
“On December 7, 1941, 16 year-old Aki Kurose shared in the horror of millions of Americans when Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor.” In February of 1942, ten weeks later, President Franklin D....
View ArticleA more perfect unit: The New Mole
THE MOLE—as in 6.02214076×10^23, the unit in chemistry used to count really really tiny stuff like atoms and molecules. Well, THE MOLE changed (it’s not simply 6.022×10^23 anymore). And while you may...
View ArticleWhat’s In a 20,000 Year-Old Cube of Ice?
Like tiny time capsules from 20,000 years ago, the minuscule bubbles trapped within Antarctic ice core samples can tell us the composition of Earth’s ancient atmosphere. Scientists use these bubbles to...
View ArticleArchaeopteryx and the Origin of Birds
Paleontologist Dr. Julia Clarke shares the evidence that connects modern-day birds with dinosaurs in this 19 minute exploration: The Origin of Birds. Also: Archaeopteryx, one of the most important...
View ArticleYour Sneakers Are Part of the Plastic Problem
Plastics are used throughout modern sneakers to make them more comfortable, stronger, and lighter. But this hodgepodge of different plastics, “stitched and glued and molded together in complicated...
View ArticleThe Eclipse That Made Einstein Famous
On November 6, 1919, British astronomer Sir Arthur Eddington announced to the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society that measurements taken during the May 29th total solar eclipse of that year...
View ArticleAncient Egyptian Tombs Were Crammed Full of Snacks
In this video from the Smithsonian Channel, King Tutankhamun‘s ‘afterlife snacks’ are revealed. Professor Salima Ikram, an Egyptologist and a leading scholar in Egyptian funerary archaeology, presents...
View ArticleWhat is a caboose used for?
The caboose is the last car on a freight train. Its name is “probably from Dutch kabuis, kombuis, from Middle Low German kabūse,” referring to the galley or “cab house” on a ship. In this video from...
View ArticleHow Dutch Gouda is made at this 100-year-old family farm
Behind an island house in the village of Rijpwetering, Holland, cheesemaker Marije Van der Poel makes a daily quota of 15 wheels of aged artisanal Gouda, pronounced ghow-duh with a guttural ‘h’ sound....
View ArticleNatural History Museum, a future imagined by Kirsten Lepore
Two modern-day humans observe a museum diorama that showcases what primitive life on Earth was like. Moments later, these humans are within their own diorama, observed by humanoid aliens who muse about...
View ArticleAmber, A Substance Like Nothing Else on Earth
There’s potentially a lot to discover within every piece of Amber, “fossilized tree resin—a substance that forms over millions of years.” Via Britannica, “Many hundreds of species of fossil insects and...
View ArticleShowzi Tsukamoto demonstrates the art of kintsugi
Kintsugi master and teacher Showzi Tsukamoto demonstrates The Art of Kintsugi (golden joinery), a traditional Japanese method of restoration that honors an object’s history rather than hiding it....
View ArticleHow to Make a Tesserae Mosaic
“Mosaics are sort of like jigsaw puzzles—in reverse.” They can be made with pieces of construction paper, stone pieces, glass or tiles called tesserae (pronounced TESS-er-eye). This Met Kids video from...
View ArticleHow Martin Luther King, Jr. Improvised ‘I Have A Dream’
The final draft of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous “I Have A Dream” speech famously did not include the phrase “I have a dream.” Having worked on the August 28, 1963 speech with a close team of...
View ArticleYosemite’s glowing Firefall: Why does it happen?
Every year around “February 16th to 23rd, or maybe a little beyond that,” if the conditions all align, Yosemite National Park‘s majestic Horsetail Fall transforms into Firefall, “one of the most...
View ArticleWhat’s so special about Viking ships?
As the Roman Empire flourished, Scandinavians had small settlements and no central government. Yet by the 11th century, they had spread far from Scandinavia, gaining control of trade routes throughout...
View ArticleHow Douglas Fir Trees Shaped The Northwest
If you live in the Northwest, you’ve seen a million Doug firs. For centuries, they’ve been crucial to the Northwest way of life. And if you celebrate Christmas, you might bring one into your home every...
View ArticleThe man who shaped the history of hot air balloons
How are hot air balloons made? And how are they designed and sewn into incredible shapes and characters? This BBC News video spends some time with Don Cameron, the man who shaped the history of hot air...
View ArticlePlastic Was Invented To Replace Bugs
Learn how Plastic Was Invented To Replace Bugs, specifically to replace the shellac that can be made from the resin of a female lac bug. This science history video from Planet Money‘s series on oil...
View ArticleConstruct a Roman aqueduct, a DIY engineering activity
What does a growing city do when they’re not located on a river or when their river is too polluted to use for fresh drinking water and bathing? In the face of these challenges, the Roman Empire built...
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