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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 there are two competing sites of the “Garden of Eden” in Iraq.

Map by Pieter Mortier, courtesy Cornell University Library. Public domain.
Map by Pieter Mortier, courtesy Cornell University Library. Public domain.

 

… 62 years after Brown v. Board of Education, a Mississippi school district was ordered to desegregate.

Barnard School, in Washington, D.C., above, was integrated a year after the Brown decision. Photograph by Thomas J. O'Halloran, courtesy Library of Congress
Barnard School, in Washington, D.C., above, was integrated a year after the Brown decision.
Photograph by Thomas J. O’Halloran, courtesy Library of Congress

 

… the most successful female Everest climber of all time is a Connecticut housekeeper.

A climber trudges to the last camp before the summit of Mount Everest. Photograph by Barry Bishop, National Geographic
A climber trudges to the last camp before the summit of Mount Everest.
Photograph by Barry Bishop, National Geographic

 

… why we court death by GPS.

These guys aren’t lost—they’re using GPS to help locate an archaeological site in the Honduran jungle. Photogrpah by Dave Yoder, National Geographic
These guys aren’t lost—they’re using GPS to help locate an archaeological site in the Honduran jungle.
Photograph by Dave Yoder, National Geographic

 

… women won big at science fiction’s premiere party, the Nebula Awards.

Nnedi Okorafor won the Nebula for best novella for her work Binti. Female authors were also recognized in the best novel (Naomi Novik, Uprooted), best novelette (Sarah Pinske, Our Lady of the Open Road), and best short story (Alyssa Wong, Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers). Photograph by Cheetah Witch, courtesy Wikimedia. Public domain.
Nnedi Okorafor won the Nebula for best novella for her work Binti. Female authors were also recognized in the best novel (Naomi Novik, Uprooted), best novelette (Sarah Pinske, Our Lady of the Open Road), and best short story (Alyssa Wong, Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers).
Photograph by Cheetah Witch, courtesy Wikimedia. Public domain.

 

… the changing habits of the American diet … when we started thinking of the cupcake as a “female” food … and why we should be eating roadkill, anyway.

 

… digital education may be a double-edged sword.

Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic
Photograph by Mark Thiessen, National Geographic

 

… a mug in Auschwitz held a secret treasure for 70 years.

An X-ray reveals jewelry concealed behind the false bottom, which separated from the mug after more than 70 years. Photograph courtesy Auschwitz Museum
An X-ray reveals jewelry concealed behind the false bottom, which separated from the mug after more than 70 years.
Photograph courtesy Auschwitz Museum

 

… what chemical ingredients make you YOU, how much they’re worth, and whether your microbes outweigh you.
Screen Shot 2016-05-20 at 9.54.55 AM

 

… the future of Quakerism is in Kenya. And it’s noisy.

 

… how to work with the excitement of the upcoming summer break, not against it. Bring the Summer Olympics to the classroom, of course!

The Maracanã stadium will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympics, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Photograph by Daniel Basil, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-3.0-BR
The Maracanã stadium will be the site of the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2016 Summer Olympics, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Photograph by Daniel Basil, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-3.0-BR

 

… pigeons make beautiful art.

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

 

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