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10 Things We Learned This Week!

What did you learn this week? Let us know in the comments or at education@ngs.org.

This week, we learned …

… there is a secret library in Syria—and users dodge bullets to reach it.
Learn more about the civil war in Syria here.

Syrians (like this priest in 1938) are readers. Volunteers working at the hospital use the library's books to advise them on how to treat patients. Untrained teachers use them to help them prepare classes. Aspiring dentists raid the shelves for advice on doing fillings and extracting teeth. Soldiers on the front lines have “rifle in one hand and a book in the other.” Photograph by W. Robert Moore, National Geographic
Volunteers working at the hospital use the library’s books to advise them on how to treat patients. Untrained teachers use them to help them prepare classes. Aspiring dentists raid the shelves for advice on doing fillings and extracting teeth. Soldiers on the front lines have “rifle in one hand and a book in the other.”
Photograph by W. Robert Moore, National Geographic

 

 

… students who take AP classes don’t actually get better grades.
Still interested in AP? Try material from our AP Human Geography collection.

Great chart! Information here taken from the College Board, the organization responsible for the Advanced Placement program. Chart by Ali Zifan, courtesy Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0
Great chart! Information here taken from the College Board, the organization responsible for the Advanced Placement program.
Chart by Ali Zifan, courtesy Wikimedia. CC BY-SA 3.0

 

 

… a mother-daughter team designed India’s amazing, 3-D pedestrian crossings.

 

 

… drought is shutting down the Amazon’s carbon sink.

Zoom, zoom, zoom on this beautiful map from the October 2015 issue of National Geographic magazine. The largest terrestrial carbon sink in the world, the Amazon rain forest is threatened by drought that is slowing the growth rate of trees. Map by National Geographic magazine
Zoom, zoom, zoom on this beautiful map from the October 2015 issue of National Geographic magazine. The largest terrestrial carbon sink in the world, the Amazon rain forest is threatened by drought that is slowing the growth rate of trees.
Map by National Geographic magazine

 

 

… archaeologists sniffed out 340-year-old cheese at a Swedish shipwreck, and 2,000-year-old “bottom wipers” at a latrine on the Silk Road.
Learn more about the Silk Road, without “bottom wipers.”

The cheese (not this astrolabe!) was described as a smelly “mixture of yeast and Roquefort.” Photograph by Bates Littlehales, National Geographic
The cheese (not this astrolabe!) was described as a smelly “mixture of yeast and Roquefort.”
Photograph by Bates Littlehales, National Geographic

 

 

… how to identify plagiarism.

Download, print, and post this poster! Chart courtesy Poynter.org
Download, print, and post this poster!
Chart courtesy Poynter.org

 

 

… as smoking declines in the West, the tobacco industry is heading to Africa.

According to data collected by the World Health Organisation (WHO), smoking rates have increased in only 27 countries over the past 15 years; 17 are in Africa. Photograph by Chris Johns, National Geographic
According to data collected by the World Health Organisation (WHO), smoking rates have increased in only 27 countries over the past 15 years; 17 are in Africa.
Photograph by Chris Johns, National Geographic

 

 

… American STEM students are too WEIRD, and they might benefit from those old-fashioned college lectures after all.
Use our STEM resources to foster 21st-century skills.

This is WEIRD—Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic. And Australian. Photograph by the Agriculture and Stock Department (Australia)
This is WEIRD—Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic. And Australian.
Photograph by the Agriculture and Stock Department (Australia)

 

 

… roach milk may be the next superfood.
Learn how to build your own superfood RoboRoach army here!

 

 

… the science of proton packs, and the math of the Death Star.

5 thoughts on “10 Things We Learned This Week!”

  1. Cigarettes tobacco all are injurous to health still they are sold.. People know their hazards ready well still they consume it.. It’s like committing suicide.. These substance act like slow poison for body.. Hope anyone who is victim will Un the value of his life for his own and for family.. Government should take strong steps to bann all these poisons….

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  2. Was that really cheese!!! Maybe not… They must be bacterias… Kronan sank before 340 years .. How can a cheese survive so long?? Hope I’ll get the answer soon..

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  3. Forest of amazonia are helping us a lot by absorbing carbon dioxide.. We also have our duties towards forests… We live because of trees so it’s our responsibility to take care of them at least for the sake of future generations.. Save trees save lives….

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  4. I’m very proud to hear about the effort of saumya to save life of people in India.. After all I’m an Indian.. I hope her work will spread in almost in every city in India and people will not loose their lives..

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  5. I can imagine how are the conditions in Syria because of civil war.. Blood, dead bodies everywhere.. Anas is doing really a great effort by founding a library.. It’s the best way to make people understandind, educating and civilized.. Insha Allah there will be peace soon..

    Reply

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