Rosalind Franklin should be a household name as one of the discoverers of the structure of DNA along with James Watson and Francis Crick. But like so many women scientists, her work was minimised and she died before Watson and Crick were awarded the Nobel Prize for the discovery. Rosalind Franklin was born in London … Continue reading “Rosalind Franklin: Scientific Pioneer”
April 22 is Earth Day and its organisers are encouraging us all to “invest in our planet”, the theme of this year’s event. It certainly needs us all to pay more attention to its needs. Earthday.org and NASA provide lots information and teaching tools to engage students and offer practical actions to take. This 1-minute … Continue reading “Earth Day 2022”
This Earth Day, 22 April, President Biden is hosting an online Leaders’ Summit on Climate ahead of the UN’s COP 26 Climate Change Conference that is supposed to take place in Glasgow in November. And he made the surprise pledge to cut the U.S.’s carbon emissions by half in the next decade, double the previous … Continue reading “A Free Poster for Earth Day”
Gitanjali Rao from Colorado, won America’s Top Young Scientist 2017, for her innovative gadget to test for contaminants like lead in drinking water. She’s continuing her research to try to bring her test to market, while also working on cyberbullying and opoid addiction. She has also mentored 30,000 students, encouraging them to use science and … Continue reading “Young Scientist Named Time’s “Kid of the Year””
Not all the scientists researching a Covid vaccine or cure are professionals working in labs. Anika Chebrolu, 14, from Texas, has been named America’s Top Young Scientist 2020 for finding a compound that could bind to the distinctive spike protein in the SARS-Cov-2 virus and potentially inhibit its ability to infect human cells. Anika is … Continue reading “Teen Scientist Looking for a Covid Cure”
The days when the public faces of NASA are only white men seem to be coming to an end. On 8 July, the space agency announced that it is renaming its Washington headquarters the Mary W. Jackson NASA Headquarters in honour of one of the African American women mathematicians whose contribution to the space race … Continue reading “Times Are Changing at NASA”
2020 marks the 50th anniversary of the first Earth Day marches to support the environmental movement. Like so many events in 2020, the marches and events planned to mark the anniversary on 22 April will have to become virtual. But these videos of 50 Voices for Earth Day, from age 8 to 80, from around … Continue reading “50 Years of Earth Day”
Celebrate Halloween with a new A1+-level video of a fun science experiment involving a pumpkin and foam! There is a new video with interactive comprehension activities for Halloween in the Banque de ressources anglais cycle 4. To see the resources, register now or log in: Vidéos > A1+ > Rencontres avec d’autres cultures > Halloween … Continue reading “Halloween Experiment”
NASA is marking the fiftieth anniversary of the first Moon landings. Fifty years after Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walked on the Moon, and 47 years after the end of the Apollo program, the U.S. space agency is preparing to go back to Moon by 2024. On July 20, 1969, Armstrong and Aldrin boarded the … Continue reading “Landing on the Moon”
Caroline Criado Perez’s thought-provoking book Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men does exactly what it says: shows the hundreds of ways in which the needs of women (and anyone who isn’t a 1.77m tall, 76kg white male) are ignored in all aspects of our society. The author will be giving a … Continue reading “Visible Woman”