Author: Tricia Edgar
Hole-Digging Calculator: Where You’d End Up If You Just Kept Digging
Remember the good old days? Those days when you would sit in the back garden, digging a giant hole? I do. I was digging to China. It's probably good that I never made it. After all, it would have been a tad hot in the molten parts of the earth, I think. I mean, I would have brought my sunglasses and ...
The 10,000 Year Clock Inspires Us About The Future Of Humanity
It’s the year 4012, and there’s a ringing in the middle of a mountain. It’s a song no one on Earth has heard before, and it’s a song that no one alive will ever hear again. The 10,000 Year Clock is a project to capture the imagination. It’s also a project designed to inspire questions. Why would you ...
Roominate Dollhouse Lets Her Be A Little Engineer & Architect
When I was a kid, my sister put her foot through my dollhouse. It cracked down the middle. Needless to say, my soul still bears the scars of that moment. If I’d had an alarm for the dollhouse, perhaps connected to a few high intensity lasers, we’d all be sitting around telling a different story, wou ...
Buzz Pollination: Bumblebees Sing For Their Supper
What kind of music do you enjoy? Opera? Heavy metal? Or maybe a touch of punk? I have eclectic musical tastes. A visit to my iTunes library reveals some folky leanings tempered with a good dash of Tainted Love. I sing a little bit too. Mostly, I'm a solo singer. Infrequently, I inflict my singing on ...
Living Cyborgs: Now People Can Live Without A Pulse
I’m a cyborg. I’m rather proud of this fact, even though it is a pain much of the time. You see, one of my body parts doesn’t work, so I rely on a medical device to do the work for me, with a little help from my brain. I have type one diabetes and wear an insulin pump.
Unfortunately, so far being ...
Understoodit Classroom App: Press Red Button If You’re Confused
It’s early in the morning, and you’re sitting in class. You pulled an all-nighter yesterday, and the evening before you may or may not have been out partying. You’re not at peak performance, to say the least. And then the prof enters the room, and it’s all over. Confusion time.
While some univers ...
Swarm: Amazing Video Of Birds In Flight
From the dive bombing of an angry hummingbird to the placid motion of a flock of Canadian geese in the sky, birds move themselves into and out of our lives every day. Their movements are sometimes graceful and sometimes downright funny. Think of the mallard duck, with its rear end wobbling as it dab ...
Slug Slime: Coming To A Hospital Near You?
I love the rainforest. I love its wetness, and I love the mists that rise from the trees when it is sunny. I love its creeks, and I love all of those damp little creatures that scurry around in the leaves. Yes, I even enjoy looking at slugs.
In spite of this, I have never licked one.
There are ...
Leafsnap App: It Would Make Darwin Drool
Categorizing and classifying: these are the sorts of things that taxonomists are good at. While the rest of us may be able to sort our clothes by brand, our plant classification skills have really gone downhill in the last 100 years. Today, our hunting and gathering takes place in the grocery store, ...
History For Music Lovers: The Best Way To Study For Your Next Test
Do you remember your most awesome teacher? The one who dressed up in costume, entered the room with an electric guitar and some grooving vocals, and proceeded to lead the class in a thrash metal anthem?
Me neither.
It might be for the better. I was never good at listening to music and studying ...
I’m A Lumberjack: A Pillow That’s Really Ok
You know you’re ok. Your friends know you’re ok. But does the world know? Shout it to the world, baby. You’re a lumberjack and you’re ok, whether or not you like to press wild flowers.
As is the wont of British folk, with their pantomimes and long Shakespearean history of theatrical cross-dressin ...
Party In A Test Tube: Chemistry Parties Are So Reactive
When I was a kid, I wanted a chemistry set. Didn’t we all? Why did I want a chemistry set? It’s not because I wanted to sit placidly in my bedroom, creating new experiments that would change the world and lead to universal peace and harmony. No, I wanted to blow stuff up, just like you did.
Imagi ...
Grooving Graduates: The Dance Your PhD Contest
I went to graduate school. It was a great experience. I learned a lot. I experienced the world. However, I seem to have missed out on one vital part of the graduate school experience: I did not get to dance on a stage in a loincloth and post the resulting video on YouTube.
How could I possibly ha ...
Bling From Bugs: Caddisflies Are Natural Designers
Wads of jewels are not my thing. But bugs? When it comes to bugs, I’m all over them. And now they can be all over me - not the bugs themselves, but the jewelry that they've designed. I'm not talking about tent caterpillar gowns or beehive hairdos either. I'm talking about jewelry designed by an aqua ...
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