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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The Carbon-Negative Country

I guess this falls under the category of Every Little Bit Helps. The odds are few people can find Bhutan on the map.  A small country between China and India astride the Himalaya Mountains, it’s strictly third world with an economy of only around $2 billion.  But thanks to some enlightened leadership, it’s taking a first-world

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Happy Early Spring!

Did you know this is the earliest spring since 1896? According to the EarthSky News, the March equinox, when the sun crosses the celestial equator going from south to north, signals the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere  and autumn in the Southern Hemisphere.  The March equinox can actually come on March 19, 20 or

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A Visit to Hiroshima

As a history nerd, I jumped at the chance to visit Hiroshima during my recent trip to Japan. Today, Hiroshima is a modern, vibrant city. But the past is being brought to vivid reality by the Peace Memorial Park, which is on an island  between the Honkawa and Motoyasu-gawa Rivers, and the Atomic Bomb Dome

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Language Families and Japanese

Did you know languages can be grouped into “families”?   For example, English is a Germanic language, and the Romance Family includes Latin and all its derivatives, including Spanish, Portuguese, French and Italian. I was thinking about this during my recent trip to Japan.  To a Westerner like me, the writing systems in Asia all look

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Checking the Politicians

I hope you’re not as tired as politics as I am.  Our system is so long and drawn out, I’m already wishing the election was over. But this is the system the Founding Fathers gave us, so we’d all better pay attention, because we’re going to need the best possible leadership in the years ahead.

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The Snow Monkeys of Nagano

During a recent trip to Japan, I got to visit a colony of snow monkeys which live in a national park in the Nagano area.  Their species name is actually the Japanese macaque, and their range is through much of Japan.  I was expecting white fur, but they actually have light brown fur; the name comes

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Are You Satisfied With Our Calendar?

This may come as a shock, but not everyone is satisfied with our current calendar. We presently use the Gregorian Calendar, which was first established in 1582.  But everyone is familiar with its quirks, like months with either 28, 30, or 31 days.  What if it there were no leap years, holidays fell on the day day

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When Clothing and Biology Meet

Would you wear a garment that was alive? You may get a chance.  According to the March 2016 issue of Smithsonian magazine (page 18), MIT Media Lab researchers have found a way to incorporate live bacteria into a synthetic fabric.  They’ve chosen a bacteria that quickly changes shape in response to moisture.  With such a

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