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11 Things We Learned This Week

This week, we learned …

… what happens when 26,000 stinkbugs invade your home. And they will. Read of the week!

Behold the brown marmorated stinkbug.
Photograph by Katja Schulz, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-2.0

Could a cold winter threaten the stinkbugs?

 

 

… how urban leopards improve human health.

Leopards in Mumbai’s Sanjay Gandhi National Park help prevent rabies cases in humans by consuming rabid dogs.
Photograph by Steve Winter, National Geographic

Use our idea set to find nature in your own urban area.

 

 

… what happens when a centuries-old cultural tradition (onsen) clashes with 21st-century sustainability (geothermal power).

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Geothermal power plants are competing (and cooperating) with onsen, the traditional Japanese hot spring spas.
Sokokura, from the series Seven Hot Springs of Hakone (Hakone shichiyu zue) by Hiroshige, courtesy Museum of Fine Arts Boston

What is geothermal energy?

 

 

… the six must-have elements of project-based learning.

Many, but not all, project-based learning experiences involve outdoor education.
Photograph by Lynn Johnson, National Geographic

Check out a few of our favorite project-based learning lessons!

 

 

… how birds are changing their tunes (literally) around oil fields.

Savannah sparrows like this beauty are adapting to the noisy habitat of North Dakota oil fields.
Photograph by Donna Dewhurst, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Public domain

Track the movement of Savannah sparrows and other North American birds with these gorgeous maps.

 

 

… Portugal was responsible for shipping 4.9 million people from West Africa to Brazil. Tourists don’t focus on this—so one tour guide decided to do something about it.

The African Lisbon Tour unravels the complexities of Portugal’s colonial past by drawing clear, insightful relationships between past and present.
Photograph by Deensel, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-2.0

What was the transatlantic slave trade?

 

 

… platypus milk could help combat superbugs.

Platypus mothers feed their young by concentrating milk in their stomaches and sweating it out.
Photograph by Dr. Philip Bethge, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-SA-4.0,3.0,2.5,2.0,1.0

Platypuses are just one of the species you can rent. But not milk.

 

 

… why the Arctic is being “shrubified.”

The short grasses and sedges of the tundra are being replaced by shrubs as tall as people. This is in Alaska.
Photograph by Erika Larsen, National Geographic

What is the Arctic?

 

 

… the United States now imports more than half its fruit.

This is not a painting! These gorgeous tropical fruits were gathered from four upscale markets in Manhattan, New York.
Photograph by Paulette Tavormina, National Geographic

Why are fresh fruits and vegetables part of a healthy diet?

 

 

… Runaway Negro Creek may soon become Freedom Creek.

Runaway Negro Creek runs through Skidaway Island, just outside Savannah, Georgia.
Photograph by Pete Seabolt, courtesy Wikimedia. CC-BY-3.0

What were Negros running away from?

 

 

… Finland is the world’s happiest country.

A young Finn works on a potato farm over her summer vacation.
Photograph by George F. Mobley, National Geographic

How does this differ from last year’s list? (Spoiler alert: Not much.)

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