Discover Resources
Browse curated homeschool resources from the community
How Lead Affects Your Body Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner
Lead is a metallic element that’s distributed across Earth’s crust. When it enters the human body, it can disrupt many critical processes that span various systems, producing a diverse set of symptoms. So, just how bad is lead for human health? And if it’s really that dangerous, how did it get into so many products? Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner dig into the lethal history of lead.
The Tragedy of the One Guy Who Was Right About the Trojan Horse Noah Charney
Laocoön, a seer and priest, was deeply suspicious of the enormous wooden horse that the Greeks left in Troy and cautioned the Trojans not to accept this strange offering. But their fate was already sealed — the gods granted the Greeks victory and punished the priest for threatening their success. Noah Charney explores how Laocoön’s tragic tale inspired countless artists across the ancient world.
The Worlds Longest Burning Fires Emma Bryce
In 1997, a fire began in Indonesia that would rage for almost a year. Despite being one of the largest fires in recorded history, for months at a time it burned without a flame. This might sound like a uniquely freaky fire, but it’s actually one of many. So, is it possible to snuff out these bizarre blazes? And how do they form in the first place? Emma Bryce explores the phenomenon of peat fires.
Can You Solve the Dark Matter Fuel Riddle Daniel Finkel
It’s an incredible discovery: an abandoned alien space station filled with precursor technology. Now every species in the galaxy is in a mad dash to get there first, but you’ve got a problem. Your ship can’t hold enough fuel to get you there unless you vent caches of it into space at precise points and then come back for the fuel later. Can you reach the alien space station? Dan Finkel shows how.
Can You Solve the Time Traveling Car Riddle Dan Finkel
You and the professor have driven your DeLorean back to the past to fix issues with the spacetime continuum caused by your time traveling. But another DeLorean appears with older versions of you and the professor. The professors panic and explain that the universe could collapse now that you’re both in the same time and place. Can you merge the timestreams and travel home? Dan Finkel shows how.
Why Should You Read Flannery O Connor Iseult Gillespie
Flannery O’Connor scribbled tales of outcasts, intruders and misfits staged in the world she knew best: the American South. She was a master of the grotesque, but her work pushed beyond the purely ridiculous and frightening to reveal the variety and nuance of human character. Iseult Gillespie explores how O’Connor’s endlessly surprising fictional worlds continue to draw readers decades later.
Why Should You Read Moby Dick Sascha Morrell
A mountain separating two lakes. A room papered floor to ceiling with bridal satins. The lid of an immense snuffbox. These seemingly unrelated images take us on a tour of a sperm whale’s head in Herman Melville’s "Moby Dick." Though the book features pirates, typhoons, high-speed chases, and giant squid, it’s anything but a conventional seafaring adventure. Sascha Morrell digs into the classic novel.
How to Uncover Your Best Ideas
This is episode 2 of the animated series, “Public Speaking 101.” Ideas change everything — and since language lets us share our ideas, learning how to use it well gives speakers the power to inspire people and even change how they think. This 11-episode course will teach you how to identify, develop, and share your best ideas, while mastering essential communication skills along the way.
How to Speak with Meaning
This is episode 5 of the animated series, “Public Speaking 101.” Ideas change everything — and since language lets us share our ideas, learning how to use it well gives speakers the power to inspire people and even change how they think. This 11-episode course will teach you how to identify, develop, and share your best ideas, while mastering essential communication skills along the way.
Can You Solve the Time Travel Riddle Dan Finkel
Your professor has accidentally stepped through a time portal in his physics lab. You’ve got just a minute to jump through before it closes and leaves him stranded in history. Your only way back is to grab enough colored nodules to create a new portal to open a doorway through time. Can you take the right amount of nodules to get back to the present before the portal closes? Dan Finkel shows how.
The Curse of the Monkeys Paw Iseult Gillespie
Sergeant-Major Morris regaled his friends with epic tales from faraway lands— until one asked about an artifact the Sergeant had alluded to. Slowly, he produced the object: a mummified monkey’s paw. He explained that a holy man had imbued the paw with the power to grant three wishes to three men. But each wish comes with chilling consequences. Iseult Gillespie shares the tale of the monkey’s paw.
The Thing in Your Kitchen Most Likely to Kill You George Zaidan
Between 2011 and 2022, the deadliest kitchen appliances in the US were ovens and ranges; taking lives by causing fires and leaking carbon monoxide. These kinds of sudden, catastrophic fatalities are thankfully rare. But the kitchen dangers that cause the most casualties may actually be less immediate, and more gradual. George Zaidan explores the safety of common kitchen appliances.
Why Should You Read Virginia Woolf Iseult Gillespie
How best can we understand the internal experience of alienation? In both her essays and her fiction, Virginia Woolf shapes the slippery nature of subjective experience into words, while her characters frequently lead inner lives that are deeply at odds with their external existence. Iseult Gillespie helps make sense of these disparities to prepare you for the next time you read Virgina Woolf.
Can Saunas Make You Live Longer Max G Levy
Finnish sauna, Roman balneae, Japanese onsen, and Indigenous American sweat lodges are just a few examples of how cultures across the globe have long considered exposure to extreme temperatures therapeutic. But today scientists are only just beginning to unravel how and why this may be the case. So, what exactly is happening in your body when you feel the heat? Max G. Levy investigates.
Are There Really Dead Wasps in Figs Carolyn Beans
In 2023, a US grocer recalled over 10,000 cases of broccoli-cheddar soup over concerns they contained too much of an unintended ingredient. That ingredient? Bugs. We know insects regularly come into contact with our food— but how many are you actually eating? And is it okay? Carolyn Beans takes a look at figs and their conspicuously close bond with wasps.
How Do Sinkholes Form Elise Cutts
It was a rainy December morning in San Francisco when the Earth opened up. The ground suddenly fell away into a 12-meter-deep sinkhole that engulfed a garage, part of a street, and a multi-million-dollar mansion. Sinkholes can seem to strike out of nowhere, but they’re more common than people often think. So, how do they form? Elise Cutts details what’s happening just below your feet.
This is How Nomadic Farmers Live
For millennia, livestock farmers strategically guided animals to seasonal grazing areas. This mobile way of life, known as pastoralism, provided them with wealth, social status, and political independence into the 20th century. But in the last century, political and economic policies have worked against these communities. Take a closer look at the challenges of modern pastoralism.
Why Should You Read Midnight s Children Isuelt Gillespie
It begins with a countdown. A woman goes into labor as the clock ticks towards midnight. Across India, people wait for the declaration of independence after nearly 200 years of British rule. At the stroke of midnight, an infant and two new nations are born in perfect synchronicity. These events form the foundation of “Midnight’s Children.” Iseult Gillespie explores Salman Rushdie’s dazzling novel.
The 3 Best Predictors of How Well Youll Age Juulia Jylhava
If you want to learn a tree’s age, you can count their rings. When it comes to humans, scientists have yet to find any visible traits that mark our age with the same specificity. But in the past few decades, they’ve discovered small, invisible markers hidden within the body that do change over time. Juulia Jylhävä shares what these markers can tell us about our health, history, and future.
How to Spot Fake Ai Photos Hany Farid
How do you know if that shocking photo in your feed is real, or just another AI fake? Digital forensics expert Hany Farid explains how he helps journalists, courts, and governments find structural errors in AI-generated images, offering four practical tips everyday individuals can use when facing the internet’s war on reality.
Do Politics Make Us Irrational Jay Van Bavel
Can someone’s political identity actually affect their ability to process information? The answer lies in a cognitive phenomenon known as partisanship. While identifying with social groups is an essential and healthy part of life, it can become a problem when the group’s beliefs are at odds with reality. So how can we recognize and combat partisanship? Jay Van Bavel shares helpful strategies.
How the Bra Was Invented Moments of Vision 1 Jessica Oreck
Lingerie has existed for hundreds of years, but it wasn't until the 1920s that a standardized cup sizing system was invented that changed underwear forever. In the first installment of our ‘Moments of Vision’ series, Jessica Oreck traces the ‘uplifting’ origin of the modern brassiere.
What s the Difference Between Accuracy and Precision Matt Anticole
When we measure things, most people are only worried about how accurate, or how close to the actual value, they are. Looking at the process of measurement more carefully, you will see that there is another important consideration: precision. Matt Anticole explains what exactly precision is and how can help us to measure things better.
Mysteries of Vernacular Keister Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
Originally meaning a woven container, the word keister has roots all over the place. The devil’s tool box? Sure. A safe? That too. So, how did it become associated with the buttochs? Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel get to the bottom of the word keister.