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Image: Robotic Snake coils around pipe

Engineering

2 minute lesson

Snake Robots: Can You Watch This Without Squirming?

The snake robot takes inspiration from the way snakes move to find new ways to explore the world. Check out how biomimicry combines engineering and nature!

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Image: Wallet being held open

Social Studies

10 minute lesson

Lost Wallets Proving It’s Still an Amazing World

Can losing a wallet be a good thing? Check out this experiment in acts of kindness from Mark Rober. It turns out, the world is kinder than you may think!

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Image: Dolphins

Technology

8 minute lesson

What are Dolphins Trying to Say to Us?

Is it possible to communicate with dolphins? Researchers are discovering ways to understand the communication between these animals, and now how to talk back!

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Image: Crowd of people at concert

Arts

13 minute lesson

How Music Reshapes Our Brains

Music is a human universal and has a deep impact on us. Here’s how music affects our brains and the ways it reshapes us at a fundamental level.

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Image: Assorted trash

Culture

3 minute lesson

Our Plastic Waste Problem: It’s Not About Perfection

Reducing our single-use plastics isn’t about perfection, it’s about progress. Here are some simple ways you can get started or inspire your community!

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Image: Small squid

Science

6 minute lesson

The Bacteria that Lights Up This Squid’s Life

The bobtail squid has made friends with an unlikely organism, a bacteria that helps it glow at night. Together they are a remarkable example of how life finds a way to survive through symbiosis.

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Image: Bill Gates drinks water from Omniprocessor

Engineering

3 minute lesson

Bill Gates Drinks Sewage: Introducing the Omniprocessor

What if your glass of water was raw sewage just 5 minutes ago! The Omniproccessor is turning waste into safe, clean drinking water for people in developing countries, here’s how!

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Images: People in Giant Crystal Cave

Places

4 minute lesson

Giant Crystal Cave: An Underground Wonder!

Mexico’s Crystal Cave is home to some of the planet’s most remarkable crystal formations. After its accidental discovery, it has become a wonder to see!

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Image: Origami paper art

Math

5 minute lesson

What in the World is a Hexaflexagon

Have you heard of the hexaflexagon? This shape is a fascinating look at what happens when mathematics, creativity, and experimentation combine!

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Image:Hands of bean and peas seller, Varanasi Benares India

Health

13 minute lesson

Chickpeas: Doing the Hum-Most!

Chickpeas may seem like a humble food, but how they came to be loved by people around the world, and how we grow them is a fascinating look at how the foods we love make it to our tables!

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Image: illustration of a feathered dinosaur eating a bug

Science

5 minute lesson

Decoding Dinosaur Feathers

Did you know we can figure out the color of dinosaur feathers? Using physics and biology together, scientists are able to see dinosaurs as they once were!

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Image: The band BOSTON together in 1977

Arts

4 minute lesson

From MIT Engineer to Rockstar

Tom Scholz began his career as an MIT engineer but used his skills and curiosity to start one of the world’s most famous bands, BOSTON. Here’s his story!

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Image: Kayaker paddling down a river with rapids and a waterfall behind them

Places

9 minute lesson

Exploring the Salween River Before It’s Too Late

How do you save an environment if you don’t know anything about it? Meet the organization helping people experience waterways before they disappear forever!

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Image: kayaker paddling into the sunset

Culture

3 minute lesson

What Happens When Athletes and Scientists Team Up?

Adventure Scientists is training outdoor enthusiasts to become citizen scientists to help researchers understand some of the world’s most remote regions!

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Image: Lufefe Nomjana farming spinach

Culture

4 minute lesson

Solutions from the Spinach King

What if, more often, we saw problems in our communities and took matters into our own hands to fix them? Innovation happens when we see a problem, know the hardships involved in making it a reality, and press on anyway! For Lufefe Nomjana, the “Spinach King”, seeing a need in the community and innovating a solution has… Read more »

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Image: Collage of many birds-of-paradise species

Science

6 minute lesson

The Unbelievable World of the Birds-of-Paradise

Birds-of-Paradise are some of the most distinct and beautiful species on Earth. Learn about the project that is documenting these magnificent birds.

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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: a bowl of painted wooden eggs

Arts

5 minute lesson

The Artist Who Brought the World Joy One Egg at a Time

The artist Shari Kadar discovered her calling as an artist late in life, but through her passion, she was able to touch the lives of many. Her work spread joy and shared her life story with many.

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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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Science

7 minute lesson

It’s a Dog, It’s a Deer, It’s a… Whale?

Modern whales are almost unrecognizable from their ancient ancestors. Here’s how whales went from tiny deer-like creatures to the giants of the sea.

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Image: Bagpiper in silhouette

Arts

3 minute lesson

Meet the Hindu Bagpipers Bringing Cultures Together

What happens when you combine traditional Indian music with the sounds of Scotland? This global band of Hindu bagpipers is breaking the mold when it comes to what cross-cultural collaboration sounds like!

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Image: Up close image of numbers on a football field

History

5 minute lesson

History of Earth on a Football Field!

Where do humans sit in the history of Earth? Did you know the t-rex is closer in time to us than to the stegosaurus! When you lay out history this way it’s pretty fascinating.

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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: a petri dish growing colorful bacteria

Science

5 minute lesson

The Beautiful World of Bacteria

What happens when you combine bacteria and art? This artist turned the bacteria of the New York subway system into beautiful works of art!

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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: Boat cleaning up oil with a boom on the ocean

Engineering

4 minute lesson

Your Spare Hair Could Clean the Ocean!

A solution for helping clean our environment could be growing out of your head right now! This idea takes something we have a lot of, hair, and turns it into an environment saving innovation.

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Image: Picture of birds compared to a T-Rex skull

Science

7 minute lesson

A Closer Look at the Dinosaurs with Us Today!

Dinosaurs are not as extinct as we may think! Birds are the walking, squawking, relatives of these ancient creatures. Here’s how scientists figured that out!

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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: DNA double helix

Health

15 minute lesson

Not Your Average Museum Specimens

The Denver Museum of Nature & Science is putting together a unique collection of museum specimens and you could be one of them!

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Image: Rabbit standing up in a lawn

Places

5 minute lesson

Rabbits Everywhere!

Ōkunoshima island is overrun with rabbits. This unique place with a strange history teaches us about the fragility of our complex ecosystem.

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Image: Research room of the New York Public library

Culture

3 minute lesson

Have a Question? Ask the Human Google!

What did we do before Google could answer all of our questions? Well, at the New York Public Library you can call up one of their librarians and instead of turning to Google for an answer you can just ask them!

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