Our national symbol is the bald eagle, as you know, but few of us know much about eagles at all. Visit this site to read summaries of legends about eagles, and, when you’re done, click the links to learn facts about these incredible birds. If the season is right, you can even watch live videos of eagles in the wild!
How do domestic animals differ from their wild cousins? How were wild animals domesticated in the first place? Visit the American Museum of Natural History’s exhibit on horses to find out. Click on each of the site’s many links to discover where today’s wild horses came from and much more. You may be surprised by what you find!
Why would anyone fly a plane into one of the world’s most powerful storms? Visit this site to learn about “hurricane hunting” with the 53rd Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. Learn about its mission, its history, its people, its planes, and its role in saving lives. While you’re there, be sure to click on the “Cyberflight” link to experience a flight into Hurricane Dennis!
Read about a man whose occupation—harvesting seaweed from the ocean—keeps him immersed in the rhythms of nature.
Archaeologists in Denmark have excavated the sixth-century great dining hall at the center of the epic poem.
Teenagers are ready for more responsibility, but that doesn’t mean they function like adults. Listen to or read the transcript of this short radio story on the way adolescent brains are still developing.
Some human creations, such as the pyramids of Egypt, have lasted for millenia; however, most are considerably more fragile. This History® television series explores what might happen to what humans have built if nature had its way.
Kira Salak has traveled to almost every continent and has led expeditions to places such as Libya, Burma, and Iran. Learn more about this daring modern explorer.
If you’re afraid of small, confined spaces, spending time inside an MRI scanner might terrify you. Still, this incredible invention has changed the face of medicine forever. Learn how MRI scanners “see” inside patients, why doctors use them, what it took to develop them, and much more.
In this blog entry, Michael Brune, executive director of the Sierra Club, explains why his organization is undertaking its first campaign of civil disobedience.
Have you ever wondered if your pet has emotions? What connections do animals feel to people and to other animals? Read this excerpt from Marc Bekoff’s book The Emotional Lives of Animals. Then, explore the site for the PBS film Animal Odd Couples to learn about the special bonds animals form with unlikely partners.
A human can’t change into an insect, but the process of a caterpillar changing into a butterfly is mysterious and fascinating enough. British university professor Stuart Reynolds explains how it happens.
It’s very difficult to build affordable homes that can withstand earthquakes. Read this article on the Pinwheel house, a revolutionary design from MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning. The home is designed to withstand even the most powerful of quakes and eventually may cost only $1,000 to build.
With each new gadget, tech companies declare that everything has changed. Whether that’s true will remain to be seen, of course. Looking back, though, it’s far easier to see clearly what discoveries and inventions really did change everything. In this fascinating 10-part series, James Burke examines the advances that altered our world.
If you were walking in the park, talking on a cell phone, you’d notice a clown riding by on a unicycle, right? The surprising answer is, not necessarily. On this multimedia page, award-winning science reporter Alix Spiegel explores the phenomenon of inattentional blindness, in which we miss seeing something obvious but unexpected.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) helps Americans prepare for, protect against, and recover from disasters. Visit FEMA’s site to learn what you should do before, during, and after an earthquake, flood, hurricane, volcanic eruption, tsunami, or even a bit of bad space weather. Remember that it never hurts to be prepared!
Human beings make and use tools, create art, and use language in wonderful ways, which shows that we’re mighty intelligent. But we’re not alone: chimps, dolphins, elephants, pigs, dogs, cats, squirrels, crows, and even squid are pretty smart, too. Check out this site to learn more.
We know dolphins are smart. In some studies, dolphins come in just behind humans in terms of brain power. Now researchers have discovered that dolphins use names for each other and have individual identities. Read this article to find out how these amazing marine mammals communicate with one another.
In 1910, two separate expeditions set out to be the first to reach the South Pole. Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen’s expedition was successful, and Robert Scott’s expedition from England tragically fell short of its goal. Read about the great risk these men undertook and the price they had to pay for taking such risks.
Have you ever wondered whether night vision goggles really work? They do—find out how in this informative article.
