Science & Society
- Physics
How science saved the Eiffel Tower
The Eiffel Tower was an engineering masterpiece. But Parisians initially thought it too ugly to let stand for more than 20 years. So Eiffel made the tower a bastion of science. And that would soon ensure that the structure was too valuable to tear down.
- Science & Society
Teen wins Nobel for support of educating girls
Malala Yousafzai survived an attempt on her life by extremists who protested her efforts to see that girls be allowed to go to school. Upon recovery, she expanded her outreach to beyond her Pakistani homeland. She has just become the youngest-ever Nobel Prize winner.
- Animals
Rare as a rhino
Most species are rare. Some have always been rare. A problem develops when people are responsible for accelerating a species’ rarity to the point that extinction threatens.
- Health & Medicine
Recovery help from the blogosphere
And some who have been there now are sharing tips on what it takes to become a successful survivor.
- Health & Medicine
The media’s dangerous influence on body image
A study found how powerful TV and ad messages can be in distorting the attitudes about body image among young girls in Fiji.
- Archaeology
Mummies existed before Egypt’s pyramids
Materials from an ancient Egyptian cemetery suggest people were preserving their dead long before the pyramids and pharaohs.
- Health & Medicine
Early school starts can turn teens into ‘zombies’
Teens face serious consequences when they don’t get enough sleep. Yet most school start times don’t allow a full night’s rest, doctors say. The result: Too many students become ‘walking zombies’.
- Health & Medicine
Screen time: Most U.S. teens overindulge
Too many 12- to 15-year olds spend hours each day doing little more than pushing buttons on the TV remote or a computer’s keyboard, a government survey finds.
- Physics
Comic book heroine teaches science
Most people don’t think of superheroes as science teachers. But a comic book from the American Physical Society wants to change that. Meet Spectra, the human laser.
- Science & Society
Dissect a frog and keep your hands clean
Dissecting frogs can be a fun and useful way to learn about anatomy. If you don’t have a frog on hand, here are three smartphone apps that allow you have your frog legs and dissect them, too.
- Animals
A library with no books
The Macaulay Library at Cornell University has no books. Instead, the audio library has been accumulating sound recordings since 1929.
- Animals
A library of tweets (and howls and grunts)
The Macaulay Library houses a world of animal sounds. And now anyone with an Internet connection can check out this audio collection.
