TECHNOLOGY Researchers are turning cockroaches into smartphone-controlled cyborgs for use in search-and rescue-operations. (NOVA PBS, see the video below!) With $50, three hours, some electronics savvy, and an aversion to squeamishness, you, too, can build your own RoboRoach army! Use our resources to see other ways engineers are developing gadgets and gizmos to take over the world. Discussion Ideas According to the NOVA video, futuristic “bugbots” … Continue reading Hack a Roach
ENVIRONMENT Cockroaches have neighborhoods, too. At least in New York City, where researchers are conducting a citizen-science project to trace the insects’ diverse ancestry and migration patterns. The geno-cockroach project? (National Geographic News) Squash a bug, for SCIENCE. Then use our resources to find other citizen science projects. Discussion Ideas New York City’s three “cockroach communities” identified in the Nat Geo News article are the … Continue reading There Goes the Neighborhood
I resisted the smart phone movement. I resisted it hard. I felt my phone, with its flip screen and actual buttons, looked “smart” enough and that there was a good chance a smart phone just might be smarter than me. I feared the Blackberries and iPhones of the world. Then, something horrible happened. My beloved, antique flip phone suffered an untimely accident, and I needed a … Continue reading Get Up Close and Personal with Nature
This blog was written by our summer intern, Alecia Jurado. I would like to share a memory with you—a memory that has influenced me my entire life. One sunny day in Tampa Bay, Florida, my dad decided to take me out on the boat for an “adventure.” I was eight years old, with wide eyes and a seemingly endless supply of built-up energy. We went … Continue reading A Day in the Bay
National Geographic invites you to share pictures of plants and animals from your world with the whole world. Last night, National Geographic received the 2013 Risorgimento Award from Destination Imagination, an organization that gives students the opportunity to learn and experience the creative process from imagination to innovation. In National Geographic’s acceptance speech, Melina Bellows of National Geographic Kids officially kicked off the Great Nature … Continue reading The Great Nature Project
