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11 Things We Learned This Week!

What did you learn this week? This week, we learned …

… your middle-school teacher was wrong about Wikipedia.

Photograph by Blend Images/Shutterstock
Photograph by Blend Images/Shutterstock

How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Wikipedia: Here are our 10 reasons teachers should be using Wikipedia as a resource.

 

… the most effective weapon on the modern battlefield is concrete.

U.S. Army soldiers guide a concrete barrier down into position as a crane lowers it to a street opening near the Joint Security Station in Shula, Iraq in 2008. Photograph by Staff Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez, U.S. Air Force
U.S. Army soldiers guide a concrete barrier down into position as a crane lowers it to a street opening near the Joint Security Station in Shula, Iraq in 2008.
Photograph by Staff Sgt. Manuel J. Martinez, U.S. Air Force

How has concrete been a crucial part of conquest throughout history?

 

… Canada just launched the first tidal generator in North America, and is planning to phase out coal-powered electricity by 2030.

Tidal energy is a renewable energy powered by the natural rise and fall of ocean tides and currents. Illustration by Nick Kaloterakis, National Geographic
Tidal energy is a renewable energy powered by the natural rise and fall of ocean tides and currents.
Illustration by Nick Kaloterakis, National Geographic

Why is tidal a “truly alternative energy” source?

 

… the steel industry is taking a cue from bamboo.

Bamboo is the world’s largest species of grass—which I suppose makes this tranquil forest in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, a beautifully manicured lawn. Bamboo’s sturdy, fibrous texture leads many organizations to consider it a forestry product, however—a tree. Photograph by Luis Marden, National Geographic
Bamboo is the world’s largest species of grass—which I suppose makes this tranquil forest in Nanjing, Jiangsu, China, a beautifully manicured lawn. Bamboo’s sturdy, fibrous texture leads many organizations to consider it a forestry product, however—a tree.
Photograph by Luis Marden, National Geographic

What other industries are using biomimicry to improve technology?

 

… the world sounds different than it did a century ago.

The ocean is just one ecosystem where it’s noisier now than it’s ever been. Illustration by Stefan Fichtel, National Geographic
The ocean is just one ecosystem where it’s noisier now than it’s ever been.
Illustration by Stefan Fichtel, National Geographic

How can you help students capture a moment of silence in a noisy world?

 

… how pesticides are poisoning the developing world.

A pesticide fog (designed to kill flies) hangs over a market in Cairo, Egypt, in 1972. Photograph by Winfield Parks, National Geographic
A pesticide fog (designed to kill flies) hangs over a market in Cairo, Egypt, in 1972.
Photograph by Winfield Parks, National Geographic

Are biopesticides a better solution?

 

… a new app lets you make sophisticated 3D maps of every room in your home.

Help your students get started on spatial concepts with this classroom mapping exercise!

 

… there are pirates on the Amazon.

How do the government and industry respond to piracy?

 

… seasonal wetlands are disappearing, and a soldier is fighting for the most silent space in America.

The Quinault rain forest on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula may be the quietest space in the continental United States. Photograph by Sam Abell, National Geographic
The Quinault rain forest on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula may be the quietest space in the continental United States.
Photograph by Sam Abell, National Geographic

What are seasonal wetlands?

 

… the defunct language of nautical flags.

Standard chart of "International Flags and Pennants" of the International Code of Signals, printed in 1969. Image courtesy Wikimedia. Public domain.
Standard chart of “International Flags and Pennants” of the International Code of Signals, printed in 1969.
Image courtesy Wikimedia. Public domain.

How are flags important for communication and identity?

 

… why Burma built a new capital.

myanmarburma
Can you find the old (Rangoon) and new (Naypidaw) capitals of Myanmar (Burma)?

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