When I was a little girl I was told that I was made up of sugar, spice and everything nice.  Boys were obviously made of snips, snails, and puppy dog tails, which to this day I find incredibly disturbing.  I found out that I really was not made up of those sweet things when I was in middle school.  Okay, so I had figured that my body was not really composed of sugar by that time, although I could definitely eat my weight in the stuff.  Nope, it was then that we were taught about DNA. 

Lightning is an awesome force of nature, and one that remains largely shrouded in mystery despite advances in scientific knowledge on the subject. Every year, lightning captures our imaginations, zipping across a storm darkened sky so fast you’ll miss it if you blink, and packing a wallop of a punch in terms of raw electrical energy. Lightning makes strange things happen and it behaves unpredictably. It sometimes strikes the unsuspecting seemingly out of nowhere and on a clear day. For all of these reasons, lightning is simultaneously fascinating and frightening.

Ever been to a party where the hours ticked on and people began showing off in various ways, doing interesting little tricks to amaze everyone, and wondered where they learned how to do that? Wouldn’t it be nice if you were the one astounding your friends with science-geek tricks and puzzlers that could make everyone “ooh” and “ahh,” and finally give you a rollicking round of applause? Well, now you can be that one, because today we’re going to show you a video of a guy practicing some of the world’s most intriguing bar and party tricks, and explaining the science behind them in terms that anyone will be able to understand.

Ravens have long been considered some of the most intelligent birds on Earth. Now, scientists have discovered even more reasons to support that claim. Using their beaks and wings the way humans use their hands, ravens are able to make and understand simple gestures like pointing to an object. The discovery is remarkable since it is the first time researchers have observed the use of these kinds of gestures in the wild by animals besides primates. Other animals, such as dogs trained by humans, are capable of learning to point items out using their paws or by pointing with their snouts forward. But this is because humans taught them how to do so. Scientists have always suggested that only primates develop the use of gestures as part of their natural development. Even then, only the closest cousins to humans in the primate family (such as chimpanzees and great apes) have been known to adopt gestures on their own. The gestures employed by those animals are generally primitive, and serve to indicate where another might find something to eat, or where one animal wishes to be groomed.

Almost anywhere you go, if you look around you will notice that at least half of the people in a given place are wearing eyeglasses. Perhaps you have never paid attention to this, especially if you are one of the people who are blessed with excellent vision that needs no assistance from corrective lenses. Next time you’re out and about, look around you and take a brief survey. You might be surprised at how many people are wearing glasses – and if you knew how many of the people not wearing glasses were wearing contact lenses, it would really amaze you. How do corrective lenses work to help people with vision problems see more clearly?

This week, a mother made unwanted news headlines when her child was taken from his home with her and placed in foster care because of his weight. The boy’s mother is understandably upset, and in an interview with her town’s local newspaper she said that she feels villainized by the county officials who stepped and and forcibly removed her son from her care.

Suppose that we could make clouds appear brighter by using sea water, or send aerosol sprays soaring into the stratosphere? Could solar shades be placed over the earth to protect it from the harmful rays of the sun or reduce the impact of greenhouse gases escaping? What if we changed the color of our crops to something lighter, and painted all of our housetops white to create more energy?