CATEGORIES
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Q&A
Q Where do personal preferences come from? For example, I like hard rock music. Why am I that social outcast who runs screaming into the bathroom at school dances when everyone else is singing along? —Kate, age 13, Ohio
Trevor Cox – Acoustic engineer and Stonehenge researcher
Trevor Cox is a professor of acoustic engineering at the University of Salford in the United Kingdom. He engineers systems to make sound better. And he studies how the structures we build affect the sounds we make inside them.
How Fast Is Sound?
An experiment
Adolphe Sax – How To Invent An Instrument
The story of the saxophone
The Sounds Of Star Wars
This is the sound design activity you’re looking for.
Courtney Craven – Gamer and disability activist
Craven does presentations worldwide to assist game developers, teachers, writers, and others in making text and images available to people with any disability.
Deaf Friends
Want to communicate better with kids with hearing loss? Try these tips.
Can You Please Lower Your Voice?
The experience of auditory sensitivity
SNOT-COPTER: Drone at Work
THE BOAT IS on the move. It speeds over icy waters toward a humpback whale.
Fruity Valentine Nachos
Strawberries are red; Blueberries are blue. Valentine nachos Say, “I love you!”
Soured on Pickles
IT STUCK TO the bar of soap in the bathtub, so you didn’t want to wash with it.
Kitty Cleanup
HAVE YOU EVER wondered how your cat does such a good job of cleaning herself using just her tongue? Try this activity and find out!
Odor-able Valentine
SPRAY HOW YOU feel this Valentine’s Day by sharing this silly card with your friend or family!
The Stolen Smell
A Peruvian Folktale
Ophelia's Last Word - Blowhole Your Nose
Not feeling whale? Stop your blubbering, and turn your tissue box into the biggest thing on land or sea!
The War of the Noses
It could have happened anyplace: Two noses met up face to face.
Doodlebug & Dandelion
Very Skunky Valentine
THE LEGEND OF THE QUETZAL BIRD
A Mayan Tale retold by Pat Betteley illustrated by Amanda Shepherd
Semana Santa GUATEMALA'S HOLY WEEK
What if Easter preparations meant dyeing sand, collecting pine needles, and staying up all night to work on an art project that you knew would be ruined the very next day? Well, welcome to Guatemala’s Semana Santa, or Holy Week.
ME OH-MAYA!
The Maya are groups of people who live in parts of Mexico, Honduras, and Guatemala. Their ancestors created a great society. At its peak, from 600-900 C.E., the Maya civilization was more advanced than its neighbors in the Americas.
Playing Games Honduras-style
Would you play the same games in Honduras that you do in the United States? You might. Children in Honduras enjoy many of the same games North Americans do. They go fishing and shoot baskets. They play sandlot baseball—called bate (BAH tay). They fly kites and ride bikes. Their parents may go horseback riding or play golf or tennis.
LIVING A LONG LIFE IN THE Blue Zone
Most people would like to live as long a life as possible. No one really knows why some people live longer than others, but did you know that where you live can play a big part in how many years you’ll be alive? If you live in a Blue Zone, chances are that you will live much longer than people in other parts of the world.
ATTENTION WORLD: Belize Saves Their Coral Reef
Sea turtles float in clear waters, colorful corals hug the ocean floor, and aquatic animals glide among the mangrove roots. Welcome to the Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System, the second-largest coral reef in the world (Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is number one). Several years ago, this reef was in crisis, heading toward destruction. But the people of Belize fought back to save their reef’s health.
The Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a 51-mile long canal that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans.
This is Central America!
It’s time to visit Central America. But first, it helps to know exactly where Central America is. Despite its name, it is the southernmost part of North America, which can seem a little confusing. It makes up most of the isthmus dividing the Pacific Ocean from the Caribbean Sea. An isthmus is a narrow strip of land that connects two larger landmasses and has water on both sides.
Animal Central
From golden frogs to big cats to colorful birds, the national animals of Central America represent the geography and cultures of the region. For a quick sampling of creatures plain and beautiful, common and rare, read on.
31 Countries Biosphere
The Trifinio Fraternidad Biosphere Reserve is located at a spot where El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras converge. A biosphere is the layer of planet Earth where life exists.
The Sacrifice of the Rainbow Bird
A Tale from the Lenni Lenape
R.A.O.K. Spinner
AN R.A.O.K., OR “random act of kindness,” is something you do to make someone feel good, just because. Spread some New Year’s cheer with this R.A.O.K. spinner!
Ice Music
EVERY WINTER IN Luleå, Sweden, a remote town located just beneath the Arctic Circle, people are treated to a special concert. It’s not like any concert or recital you might have been to. The concert hall is an igloo, and all the musicians play instruments made almost entirely of ice! These ice concerts have also traveled to places such as Beaver Creek, Colorado, and the Italian Alps.