A Doll Comes To Visit

You are a fifth-grade girl who comes home from school to find a doll on your front porch. The doll looks like you, is dressed like you, and there is something about the eyes. Who left it? Why is it here? And what makes this doll so special?

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With a Little Help From My Friend

Jim Jenkins is an ace detective who solves the most difficult crimes. Yet he always works alone. Or does he?

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The Boy Who Could Wiggle His Ears

Learning how to wiggle your ears is really hard. But you can do it if you keep trying. And if you learn to keep trying, no problem is too big. So if you can wiggle your ears, you can do anything!

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Secrets of Happiness

You have probably heard of the United Nations’ World Happiness Report and how the Scandinavian countries, especially Denmark, score so well every year.  If you’ve ever been curious about how Denmark ranks so highly, and if they have something we should try to copy, I’d like to recommend a podcast that explores this very issue.

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So Elephants Never Forget?

We all know elephants are special animals, and that they have great brainpower.  But we’re only now beginning to appreciate how unique they are. Neurobiologist Paul Manger at the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa began modern study of the elephant brain when he obtained permission in 2009 to  preserve the brains of three

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Would You Like To Be A Scientist?

If you are interested in scientific research and have some time, but no training, don’t worry, you can still contribute.  That’s why zooniverse.org ( https://www.zooniverse.org/ ) was founded — “the world’s largest and most popular platform for people-powered research.” Scientific research may sound glamorous, but there is a lot of routine work analyzing data.  This is

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How To Break A Bad Habit

Having habits can either be good or bad.  A good habit helps get you through your daily routine.  But a bad habit can hold you back, and even endanger your health.  If you’re like most people, that can be a struggle.  If you always find yourself losing, could science offer some solutions? Science does offer

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Can You Really Smell Rain?

I grew up on a sheep and chicken farm, so naturally there were lots of smells.  One of the most interesting was what I sensed before a rain.  It was if I could actually smell the rain coming. Was it just me?  No, according to the article “Why You Can Smell Rain” by Tim Logan

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Why Don’t You See Sunburned Plants?

The end of summer may be a bit late to think about this, but have you ever wondered why plants don’t get sunburned? Actually, they’ve already thought of that.  Plants can make their own sunscreen to protect from harmful solar radiation and yet not interfere with  photosynthesis. Specifically, in 2011 a team of scientists reported

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Self-Esteem: Finding Your Peak

My best friend is a psychologist in private practice, so any news about behavior catches my eye.  For example, a new study on self-esteem, which analyzed 191 research articles covering almost 165,000 people, suggests this is one trait that gets better with age. Data suggest self-esteem first begins to rise between ages 4 and 11.   Levels

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