Bookmarks (10) clear filters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hdT8PgT19w Who can resist miniatures? Wee food, painstakingly rendered in felted wool… Matchbook-sized books you can actually read… Classic record albums shrunk down for mice… The late Frances Glessner Lee (1878-1962) definitely loved miniatures, and excelled at their creation, knitting socks on pins, hand rolling real tobacco into tiny cigarettes, and making sure the victims in her […] The Gruesome Dollhouse Death Scenes That Reinvented Murder...

If Richard Feynman had only ever published his work in theoretical physics, his name would still be known far and wide. As it is, Feynman remains famous more than thirty years after his death in large part for the way he engaged with the public. From his popular textbook The Feynman Lectures on Physics (which […] What Made Richard Feynman One of the Most...

What if I said the problem with STEM education is that it doesn’t include nearly enough art? For one thing, I would only echo what STEAM proponents have said for years. This doesn't only mean that students should study the arts with the same seriousness as they do the sciences. But that science should be […] Explore an Interactive, Online Version of the Beautifully...

In one cascade of events after another, people are finding out the normal they once knew doesn’t exist anymore. Instead it feels as if we’re living through several past crises at once, trying to cram as much historical knowledge as we can to make sense of the moment. 2020 especially feels like an echo of […] The History of the 1918 Flu Pandemic, “The...

Albert Einstein was a precocious child. At the age of twelve, he followed his own line of reasoning to find a proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. At thirteen he read Kant, just for the fun of it. And before he was fifteen he had taught himself differential and integral calculus. But while the young Einstein […] Albert Einstein’s Grades: A Fascinating Look at His...

After winning the Nobel Prize, physicist Max Planck "went around Germany giving the same standard lecture on the new quantum mechanics. Over time, his chauffeur memorized the lecture and said, 'Would you mind, Professor Planck, because it’s so boring to stay in our routine, if I gave the lecture in Munich and you just sat […] The “Feynman Technique” for Studying Effectively: An Animated...

Remember the posters that decorated your childhood or teenaged bedroom? Of course you do. Whether aspirational or inspirational, these images are amazingly potent. I’m a bit embarrassed to admit what hung over my bed, especially in light of a certain CGI adaptation… No such worries with a set of eight free downloadable posters honoring eight female trailblazers in the fields […] Download Beautiful Free Posters Celebrating the Achievements of...

According to the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, global warming is likely to reach 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels between 2030 and 2052 should it continue to increase at its current rate. What does this mean, exactly? A catastrophic series of chain reactions, including but not limited to: --Sea level rise --Change in land and […] The Prado Museum Digitally Alters Four Masterpieces to...

Some people are paralyzed by rejection. Others, like Michigan State University’s Earth and Environmental Sciences PhD candidate, Caitlin Kirby, sport rejection like a mantle of honor... or more accurately, a pleated skirt falling to just below mid-thigh. "Successfully defended my PhD dissertation today!" Kirby wrote in a Tweet that has since garnered over 25,000 likes. "In the spirit […] What to Wear to a Successful PhD Thesis...

I sometimes wonder: why do people post amateur repair videos, made with smartphones in kitchens and garages, with no obvious commercial value and, often, a level of expertise just minimally above that of their viewers? Then I remember Richard Feynman’s practical advice for how to learn something new—prepare to teach it to somebody else. The […] Richard Feynman’s Technique for Learning Something New: An...