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12 Things We Learned This Week!

What did you learn this week? Let us know in the comments or at education@ngs.org.

This week, we learned…

… that tea might be finished as the British national drink.

 

… how educators are reminding test-taking students that “there is no way to test all the amazing and awesome things that make you YOU.”
Screen Shot 2016-05-12 at 1.38.25 PM

 

… that there’s a high school inside JFK Airport?!

 

… ancient trade routes are written in camel genes.

A 500-strong camel caravan winds through the desert from the oasis town of Bilma, Niger. Photograph by James L. Stanfield, National Geographic
A 500-strong camel caravan winds through the desert from the oasis town of Bilma, Niger.
Photograph by James L. Stanfield, National Geographic

 

… it can be dangerous to do math on a plane.

Admit it, this is terrifying. Guido Menzio & Shouyong Shi, 2011. "Efficient Search on the Job and the Business Cycle," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(3), pages 468 - 510.
Admit it, this is terrifying.
Guido Menzio & Shouyong Shi, 2011. “Efficient Search on the Job and the Business Cycle,” Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 119(3), pages 468 – 510.

 

… five islands have been lost to sea level rise, and a village has been buried in sand.

Male, Maldives, is not underwater. Yet. Photograph by James L. Stanfield, National Geographic
Male, Maldives, is not underwater. Yet.
Photograph by James L. Stanfield, National Geographic

 

… that cake and pie can teach complex mathematical concepts.

 

… history isn’t dead. There is a lost colony of the Confederacy in Brazil, and secret messages are hidden in colonial handwriting.

A Work Containing Divers Sorts of Hands. Illustration courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library. CC-BY-SA-4.0
A Work Containing Divers Sorts of Hands. Illustration courtesy Folger Shakespeare Library. CC-BY-SA-4.0

 

… skywriting is a dying art form.

 

… that central Ohio is the best place to find great Japanese cuisine and grocers outside Japan.

Columbus, Ohio, is a “little Japanese wonderland.” (This grocery story is actually in the big Japanese wonderland—Tokyo.) Photograph by Daderot, courtesy Wikimedia. Public domain.
Columbus, Ohio, is a “little Japanese wonderland.” (This grocery story is actually in the big Japanese wonderland—Tokyo.)
Photograph by Daderot, courtesy Wikimedia. Public domain.

 

… what would happen if GPS failed.

 

… a weasel can take down CERN, a raccoon can take down Seattle, and the most terrifying animals in big aquariums are turtles.

Behold the hawksbill sea turtle, whose razor-sharp beak can take chunks out of aquarium fixtures . . . and divers’ bodies. Photograph by David Doubilet, National Geographic
Behold the hawksbill sea turtle, whose razor-sharp beak can take chunks out of aquarium fixtures . . . and divers’ bodies.
Photograph by David Doubilet, National Geographic

What did you learn this week? Let us know in the comments or at education@ngs.org.

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