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ARS Science 4 Kids! - The Agriculture Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture wants to plant some information in your brain to see if it takes root. At this site you'll learn about aquaculture and how fish farmers raise bighead carp for market. You will also discover why some farmers have radar guns under their tractors and others rely on GPS satellite systems to help them find their bees. Click around on the illustration and see what you can pull up, or choose Contents and see a list of all the articles.
ASL for Kids - This nice little introduction to American Sign Language features animated GIF images so you can see what a signed word actually looks like. Try the game--can you guess the name of the animal from its sign language equivalent? This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest Junior competition.
Aibo, the Robotic Dog - Meet Aibo, Sony's robotic dog. It has amazing lifelike movements! According to the product information, it is also capable of artificial intelligence: it thinks, feels, and "grows up." Learn about what it does, how it works, and how you can get one. (Hint: You'd better have lots of money.)
Archaeology's Dig - How's this for a fantastic factoid? In 1996, at a dig site in Sweden, archaeologists found what they think is the world's oldest piece of chewing gum! It was made of birch bark tar and might be over 6,500 years old. For some reason no one checked if it had lost its flavor. You'll really dig this kids' magazine on archaeology.
Ask Dr. Universe - Do frogs sleep? Why are flowers colored the way they are? Why does electricity shock? These are some of the questions answered by a cat named Dr. Universe. She hunts down the answers to questions from people all over the world. Many times she has to pounce on a University expert to help her understand the question as well as the answer! The results of her labors are here.
Biological Timing Online Science Experiment - Did you ever hear of a biological clock? That's what helps you go to sleep at night and wake up in the morning. At this site there's a fascinating article called The Mystery of Sleepy Adolescents. Do you have trouble waking up for school? You're not alone. These kids decided to investigate the whole problem. This is their Web page about biological clocks, circadian rhythms, and how plants and animals tell time.
Build It & Bust It - Engineers figure out how to build bridges that stay up, tunnels that don't collapse, and buildings that rise to the sky without tumbling down. At this site you can try building your own joint and beam structures and then test them for stability. If you have a hard time, just go to the Testing area and load someone else's bridge and apply forces to it. Will it stand up or go falling down, falling down? This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest competition.
Cinema - How Are Hollywood Films Made? - It's fun to see a movie in a theater, but have you ever wondered what it takes to bring a movie to the big screen? This site takes you through the whole process, starting with screenwriting, moving through producing, directing, acting, and of course, editing. Along the way there are activities for you to try. For example, can you write a good comedy scene?
Come to Your Senses - This site makes a lot of sense. You can see what we mean if you touch base here. In fact, we hear that there are really nine senses: taste, sight, hearing, touch, smell, hunger, thirst, pain, and balance. This page was created by kids as an entry in the ThinkQuest Junior contest. In it, you'll get a taste of all the senses; the research here smells OK to us.
Cool Robot of the Week - NASA cares about robots enough to honor the "Cool Robot of the Week." Check past awardees for information on remotely powered environmental research aircraft, news on the winners of the annual RoboCup, and a photo of how MIT students turned a campus dome into a replica of R2D2, among many others!
Flip Me Some PEZ!! - Pez dispensers, trivia, fun and games. This site has it all! Get information on the history of Pez candies, the factory, and how it all started. See all the Pez dispensers ever made and shop on-line!
Great American Landmarks Adventure - At this page you can download pages of historic landmarks to color. But it's not the usual type of famous landmark. Here you'll find some really weird stuff, such as Independence Rock (Casper, Wyoming), where folks traveling along the Oregon Trail got out of their covered wagons long enough to scratch their names. You'll find the U.S. Capitol here, but you can also choose to color the Taos pueblo. If you send in your drawing, they may put it on the Web. Check it out!
History of Flight - Click anywhere on The Runway of Flight to explore various milestones in aviation history. You'll start with the dreams of Leonardo da Vinci, whose ideas were ahead of available technology. Keep going up the runway to learn about test pilot Chuck Yeager, military aircraft, and commercial flight service. Along the way, you can test your knowledge with some fun simulations. This site, built by kids, is a ThinkQuest Junior contest finalist.
Learn2.com - Do you know how to use chopsticks, or clean a freshly caught fish? Could you use a lesson in putting a golf ball or breaking in a new baseball mitt? How about tips on folding a shirt or cleaning up a stain? This truly great site will teach you all of the above and more.
LookItsA - Natures' atmospheric images in a new light! - See clouds and other images of nature as you did when you were younger! Caution, this is a very addictive sight!!! Join the club of watchers.
Monsters of Mystery - Here a monster, there a monster, everywhere a monster monster! Seems like every region of the world has a "pet" monster they like to tell stories about. Whether it's the Yeti of Asia or the Mokele-Mbembe of Africa, you can read some of those legends here.
Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster - Mark Chorvinsky has put together a remarkable Web site exploring the controversies surrounding Scotland's world-famous Loch Ness Monster. Nessie, as the lake monster is affectionately known, has been the subject of numerous credible sightings over the past 60-plus years, even though extensive scientific efforts to track it down have been a lesson in frustration. This page presents well-researched and clearly written essays on the sightings, the searchers, and the debunkers, as well as investigations into other, lesser-known lake monsters from around the world. For example, ever heard of Canada's Ogopogo? He/she's been spotted regularly since 1926 in Lake Okanagan, British Columbia.
Newton's Apple: Movie Sound Effects - Grab your rubber bands, sandpaper, Popsicle sticks, and tape recorder and head over to this site to learn how to be a Foley artist. They decide which movie sounds need to be fixed, replaced, or just improved a little. They even invent sounds nobody's ever heard before, like the sound of a dinosaur egg hatching. They're named after Jack Foley, a film sound pioneer from the days when talking pictures were first invented.
Sea-Monkey Central - It's "Instant Life"--it's "Sea-Monkeys"--it's a great marketing gimmick! Take the lowly brine shrimp (also known as live fish food) and develop a foolproof way to raise herds of them in a tiny plastic "zoo" aquarium. Advertise in the backs of comic books and sell the little critter eggs for a really cheap price. Everything you'd ever want to know about these fun but tiny pets is here, including terrible jokes, such as this one: Question: What do you call a Sea-Monkey tank that's been spilled on your sister's favorite doll? Answer: Shrimp on the Barbie.
Skywalker Sound - Learn how movie sound tracks are made from the pros at Skywalker Sound, where the famous sounds of the Star Wars movies, Jurassic Park, and Toy Story were made. One of Skywalker's specialties is creature sounds, like the ones made by Imperial Walkers, Chewbacca, and other aliens. To make these characters sound sad, happy, or scary, sound artists use everything from bicycle chains dropping on concrete to the voices of lots of different animals mixed together.
Technology: For Students: Brainspin - Ever wonder how your telephone works? This site gives you an overview of what takes place when you make that call to your great-grandparents in Cleveland. You did remember to thank them for sending those cool handkerchiefs for your birthday, right? You'll also learn about fiber optics, Alexander Graham Bell, and what the phone company's going to do when they run out of phone numbers. There are also some fun interactive games to try.
Terraserver.com - Welcome to TerraServer.com, your online source for satellite and aerial imagery. Search, browse, and buy images, prints, and more...or just let TerraServer.com take you around the world!
The K-8 Aeronautics Internet Textbook - How much do you know about the principles of aeronautics? That's the science of how planes, balloons, and other aircraft fly. Knowing how airfoils work can also help you throw a baseball or improve your tennis game--visit this site to learn how this works! You can also explore careers in aviation--from flying airplanes to fixing them.
White House for Kids - Let Socks, the First Cat, take you on a fascinating kid's-eye tour of the White House in Washington, D.C. Buddy, the First Dog, can come along, too. You'll learn how the White House was built (bricks were made on the front lawn), tour the rooms, and find out about the First Family pets that have lived there (don't miss President Harrison's goat or Caroline Kennedy's pony). We learned something we didn't know before: the president's desk was once part of a ship, abandoned north of the Arctic circle in 1854! The HMS Resolute was later found by the crew of an American whaling ship. It was repaired and refitted, then sent to Queen Victoria as a gesture of goodwill. Later, when the ship was taken out of service and dismantled, a desk was made from some of its timbers. Queen Victoria presented the desk to President Hayes in 1880. The desk has been used by most presidents since then. Socks never gets to sit on it, though. Well, maybe he does, late at night, when no one is around.
You Can with Beakman and Jax - Put on your thinking cap and visit this site. Discover the answers to important questions, like "What are fingernails made of?" and "Why do I hear weird sounds at night?" There are some neat animations, too. For example, check out "How the Internet Works."
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