Most kids in Kobe, Japan spend their free time on baseball, Pokémon cards, or manga. Jo Nagai spent his hand-raising swallowtail butterflies — and along the way, stumbled into a question serious entomologists have spent careers trying to answer. A Question Sparked by a Habit Asian swallowtails, easily recognized by the bright markings along their wings, are important … [Read more...] about The 10-Year-Old Whose Backyard Butterfly Experiment Caught a Georgetown Scientist’s Attention
When Her Nonverbal Son’s Communication Device Died at Dinner, This Mom Found a Backup That Never Runs Out of Battery
Jessica Fletcher, a mother from Fredericton, New Brunswick, was out to dinner with her 11-year-old son Hunter when the moment she'd been quietly dreading finally happened: the battery died on his AAC device, the tablet he relies on to select words and symbols to communicate. Hunter is autistic and nonverbal, and without the tablet, he suddenly had no way to tell his mother what … [Read more...] about When Her Nonverbal Son’s Communication Device Died at Dinner, This Mom Found a Backup That Never Runs Out of Battery
Lamb’s Quarters: The Wild “Weed” That Outperforms Spinach in Nutrition
Most people who find Lamb's Quarters growing in their garden pull it out without a second thought. It looks unremarkable — pale green, diamond-shaped leaves, a faint white dusting underneath — the kind of plant most weeding guides tell you to remove on sight. But Lamb's Quarters (Chenopodium album), also known as wild spinach, goosefoot, or fat hen, has a nutritional profile … [Read more...] about Lamb’s Quarters: The Wild “Weed” That Outperforms Spinach in Nutrition
A Restaurant Put Up One Simple Sign for Its Teenage Staff — and It Says Everything We Forget to Say
Some signs tell you where the bathroom is. Others tell you not to block the counter. And then, every once in a while, a sign stops you mid-step — not because it's clever, but because it's honest. That's what happened to one customer at a small local restaurant, standing at the counter waiting to order, when a laminated piece of paper taped near the register caught their eye. … [Read more...] about A Restaurant Put Up One Simple Sign for Its Teenage Staff — and It Says Everything We Forget to Say
Bees Can Smell 50 Times Better Than Dogs — Here’s How
A honey bee's body is a small marvel of specialized engineering — built almost entirely around two tasks: finding flowers and getting the colony fed. Its senses of smell and taste, in particular, are far more sophisticated than most people realize. A Sense of Smell Built for Survival Honey bees have 170 odorant receptors — compare that to 62 in fruit flies and 79 in … [Read more...] about Bees Can Smell 50 Times Better Than Dogs — Here’s How