Fun_Science

"A personal narrative is presented in which the author describes her success of becoming a scientist and tells that anybody can become a scientist too." She talks about the scientific method and different types of wildlife.

"The article provides basic information about the sun. A description of what happens during a total solar eclipse is given. Information about the composition of the sun, the nature of sun spots and solar cycles are also included. Inquiry on why the corona of the sun is hotter that it's surface is also offered."

"The article compares predators and insects on the same abilities such as flight speed and body strength. Movement per second of the tiger beetle is at 170 times its body length compared with that of the cheetah at 20 times its body length. Gorilla's can lift 10 times its weight while dung beetle can lift 1,141 times its weight. Other comparisons include the peregrine falcon's flight speed with that of the dragonfly and howler monkey's call with that of the cicada."

"The article offers information on three different desserts, described to be cold and icy, sandy and hot, and foggy and rocky, respectively. However different, one common feature of desserts is their dryness. The desserts described include Antarctica, one of the driest deserts, Sahara, the largest hot desert on Earth, and the Gobi in northern China, also called a semiarid desert because it gets a little more rainfall than a hot, dry desert and is a lot cooler."

"The article discusses how animals use color to survive. It discusses how a peacock spider, which can be found in eastern Australia, use color to show off or to get attention. It explains how a chameleon in Madagascar protects its territory by showing different colors. It cites that macaws in South America blend in their environment by using their colorful feathers as camouflage. It mentions that the dumpling squids off the coast of Australia hide from predators by using colors."

"The article presents a teacher's guide which involves improving reading by understanding the main ideas in a story about "National Geographic" magazine photographer Joel Sartore's work with endangered animals, and defines several words used in the story including "ecosystem," "extinct" and "habitat.""

"The article presents a teacher's guide to improve reading and writing by having students find ways in which the author of a story about germs and the immune system uses facts to explain ideas, and defines several words and phrases used in the story including "antibody," "immune system," and "virus.""

"The article features penguins, flightless birds of the southern hemisphere between Antarctica and South America, with black upper parts and white underpants, and wings that developed into flippers for swimming under water. It informs that the way penguins look and act are adaptations to help them survive in extreme environments. It also describes the penguins' feathers and odd-shaped bodies, as well as narrates how the penguins keep warm and how their eggs survive the coldness of the ice."

"The article discusses how plants learn about their world through their senses. It offers information on an experiment conducted by Charles Darwin, a 19th century English naturalist and geologist, to prove his hypothesis that plants bend toward light. It also informs that plants can feel, as they can feel the wind, the rain and human touch, as well as explains the sense of smell among plants."

"The article discusses the responsibilities of firefighters and the environment effects of fire. Topics discussed include a group of firefighters called hotshots, the fire triangle, comprising of heat, fuel and oxygen, and a chemical called sky Jell-O that can be used to put out a fire's flames. It also explains how fires change the environments and restore the ecosystems."

"The article focuses on the process of cooking glass. It explains the physics behind the formation of glass into shaped objects, which involves the tightly packing together of the scattered atoms in melted glass as it hardens. The baking of glass in high heat is performed by a glassblower. Also recounted is the history of making glass, which began from the Romans who invented glass windows."

"The article offers information on an educational activity in which children can discover how tall trees get the water they require."

"The article narrates how skydiver Felix Bumgartner tested how far and how fast a person can fall and still survive. It reveals that he floated 39 kilometers above the Earth, in a region called stratosphere where there is less air pressure, riding a giant balloon for two hours. It also mentions that his team of scientists had questions only his jump could answer, such as how a human body would react to such a big fall from such a high place, and how the technology to protect him worked."

"How Netflix engineers use math and computer science to find movies you'll love" Hint: Click on PDF version to get the pictures

Engineers make giant filters so the beach actually cleans itself.

Interview with a bee researcher discussing the bee population and efforts to stop them dying off

The science behind junk food

"How cleaning cooking could help the environment-and save millions of lives"-discusses cooking methods that make less black carbon

"The article focuses on the solar airplane Solar Impulse, which uses solar cells to charge its batteries, and also expresses the views of Bertrand Piccard, founder of the Solar Impulse project, on how the technology can be used in the cars and buildings to reduce worldwide energy consumption."