Image: Nurse giving a woman a blood test

Engineering

3 minute lesson

Detecting Malaria with Magnets

Can low-tech solutions solve major medical problems? Find out how scientists are developing a technology that can detect malaria using magnets!

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Image: Kids Learning to control a toy robotic arm at a Maker Faire

Engineering

5 minute lesson

Sadie McCallum Shows Us Why Invention is for Everybody

The young inventor Sadie McCallum has a unique perspective on the world. When a problem arises as a result of her cerebral palsy she invents her way to brilliant solutions! Explore her work as an advocate and inventor!

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Image: Man walking and listening to music on his smartphone through headphones

Science

4 minute lesson

Turn Your Phone Into a Microscope!

You have a device in your pocket that can help you access the microscopic world. Here’s how you can create your own DIY smartphone microscope!

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Image: Scientist in a heat proof suit climbing down into a volcano

Places

4 minute lesson

Drones Helping to Explore Life on the Edge of a Volcano

What happens when you fly a drone too close to a volcano? What kind of life do you find living in one of the planet’s most extreme environments? This journey to the edge of one of the planet’s active volcanoes has some answers!

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Image: Drummer Jason Barnes with his robotic drumming hand

Technology

8 minute lesson

When Robotics and Music Collide!

Can robots really make music? The musician Jason Barnes would probably say yes, and then blow you away with his cyborg drumming hand. Here’s his story and how music and robots are colliding!

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Image: Hubble deep field image of deep space

Culture

6 minute lesson

Peering into Space: The Image that Changed Everything

Can an image change the way we think about ourselves? In 1996 an image that looked deep into space did! This is the story of the Hubble Deep Field image and how it changed the way we think about our place in the universe.

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Image: The first user of this device, Ian, hitched up to the sensors and using the computer

Health

7 minute lesson

NeuroLife Is Rebuilding Brains!

Ian Burkhart and the folks at NeuroLife are reconnecting brain to body even after the debilitating effects of a spinal injury.

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Image: Astronaut waving at camera above earth

Engineering

5 minute lesson

Astronaut Chic: Space Suits!

When astronauts leave Earth’s protective atmosphere, they need a little help from a space suit to keep them safe from the dangers of space

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Image: Tilly Lockey at the SingularityU The Netherlands Summit in 2016 with her bionic arm

Technology

5 minute lesson

Making People Into Superheroes with an Amazing Arm!

Open Bionics is creating open source bionic arm technology! The Hero Arm changes lives, looks cool, and is available to anyone with a 3D printer!

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Dragonfly wing closeup

Engineering

7 minute lesson

Biomimicry: Letting Nature Be the Teacher!

Biomimicry is taking inspiration from the elegant simplicity of nature’s design. Human technology that imitates the natural world works better!

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a child wearing virtual reality glasses

Technology

11 minute lesson

Bring Your Friends into Virtual Reality!

At the University of Illinois-Chicago, engineers are changing the way we experience virtual reality by making it a group experience!

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Image: Plant floating in the International Space Station Above Earth

Engineering

7 minute lesson

Did You Know We Can Garden in Space?

Gardening in space could be the key to living on other planets! Here’s how astronauts on the International Space Station are growing some of the first plants in space.

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Image: Colorful cross section slide of a Triceratops frill

Science

9 minute lesson

Seeing Dinosaurs from the Inside Out

Scientists are able to learn more about the lives of dinosaurs than ever before because they can look inside their bones! Look at these amazing discoveries…

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History

8 minute lesson

The Playful History of Innovation

Necessity isn’t always the mother of invention, the history of innovation may be much more playful than we think!

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