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

This week, we learned …

… Star Wars is really about feminism … and Jefferson … and Jesus.

 

… nihonium, moscovium, tennessine and oganesson will step up to the periodic table.

 

… how monsoon rains returned to lift India’s spirit and economy. (One assumes it played out like SRK, Madhuri, and the random singing children here.)

 

… the one simple question most people get wrong about college graduates.

 

… how Muslim scholars are in search of the Ramadan moon. (Let Cat Stevens Yusuf Islam tell you about it.)

 

… LeBron James and Serena Williams have nothing on Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s highest-paid athlete. (Watch this video to understand why.)

 

… before there were hobbits, there were smaller hobbits. (Not these hobbits.)

 

… an unsung hero of Western science speculated, two thousand years before Darwin, about “mutation according to place.”

 

… black students are four times more likely than white students to be suspended.

 

… how and why British farming—unlike British manufacturing—survived globalization.

 

… the past is a foreign country to China’s memory manipulators. (Once Upon a Time in China … )

 

… South Korea is launching a “K-pop Academy.” In Mexico.

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

Note: Current Event Connection is slowing down for the summer. Our column will continue to appear once or twice a week until mid-August. If you have an idea for a Current Event Connection, a recommendation for a good read, or want to share one of your MapMaker Interactive maps, let us know at education@ngs.org!