Curious Kids is a series for children of all ages. If you have a question you’d like an expert to answer, send it to curiouskidsus@theconversation.com.
What is the slowest thing on Earth? – Jiwon, Brookline, Massachusetts
In the words of the infamous villain, Dr. Evil: “Lasers.”
Lasers focus a narrow, directed beam of light...
An LGBTQ rights supporter sets up outside the Supreme CourtChip Somodevilla/Getty ImagesThe Supreme Court’s landmark ruling extending workplace discrimination protection to cover sexual orientation and gender identity was cheered by LGBTQ people and allies. Indeed, the June 15 decision represents a big win in the fight for LGBTQ equality.
But...
Many people with DACA status are in school.Frederic J. Brown/AFP via Getty ImagesEditor’s note: The Supreme Court voted, 5-4, on June 18, 2020 that the Trump administration can’t immediately end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA. Sayil Camacho, a Vanderbilt University postdoctoral fellow who studies...
Richmond's towering 1890 Robert E. Lee statue is transformed by protests following the killing of George Floyd.John McDonnell/The Washington Post via Getty ImagesA controversial statue of Robert E. Lee will remain in place in Richmond, the former capital of the American Confederacy –- at least temporarily.
On June 18, a judge extended an...
Smoke rises from damaged properties after the Tulsa Race Massacre in Tulsa, Oklahoma June 1921. Oklahoma Historical Society via Getty ImagesMy family sat down to watch the first episode of HBO’s “Watchmen” last October. Stephen Williams, the director, included quick cuts of gunshots, explosions, citizens fleeing roaming mobs, and...
Read more: From grandfather to grandson, the lessons of the Tulsa race massacre
Breathing in through the nose is an integral part of meditation and delivers virus-fighting gases to the lungs.triloks / Getty ImagesInhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. It’s not just something you do in yoga class – breathing this way actually provides a powerful medical benefit that can help the body fight viral...
Read more: The right way to breathe during the coronavirus pandemic
President-elect Trump at a post-election rally in Mobile, Alabama, Dec. 17, 2016. Mark Wallheiser/GettyAll leaders are demagogues. You may not realize this, because we’ve come to associate the word “demagogue” with only dangerous populist leaders. But in Greek, the word just means “leader of the people” (dēmos...
Emergency hospital during influenza epidemic at Camp Funston in Kansas around 1918. National Museum of Health and MedicineNear the end of the First World War, a deadly flu raced across the globe. The influenza pandemic became the most severe pandemic in recent history, infecting about one-third of the world’s population between 1918 and 1920...
Read more: 5 ways the world is better off dealing with a pandemic now than in 1918
'With Dad,' Marlborough, Massachusetts, Oct. 29, 1998.Stephen DiRado, Author providedIn 1985, when Stephen DiRado was just a few years out of college, he bought his first large-format, 8x10 camera. Since each exposure cost eight bucks in today’s dollars, the process required contemplation; he couldn’t simply snap 100 images and pick...
Read more: Holding on and holding still, a son photographs his father with Alzheimer's
Protesters hold signs outside women's fashion designer Eudon Choi in London during Fashion Week in 2017.Elena Rostenova/www.shutterstock.comThree-quarters of new and emerging infectious diseases in humans originate in wildlife. COVID-19, SARS and Ebola all started this way. The COVID-19 global pandemic has drawn new attention to how people think...
