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Weigh in Now on the NSF 2026 Idea Machine Competition
NSF received over 800 idea submissions for its 2026 Idea Machine competition, and now needs your help deciding which of 33 entries should advance to the final stage.
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Bus Stops May Be as Good a Place as Any for a STEM Lesson
Be it for school or just running errands, thousands of children and their parents wait for the bus every day. A pilot program in Pennsylvania is trying to squeeze a little more science, technology, engineering, and math learning into those waits. In the Urban Thinkscape project in Philadelphia, researchers and local architects built spatial and science-related art at neighborhood bus stops in Philadelphia, including spatial puzzle walls, patterns of footsteps for jumping, or pictures containing hidden objects and shapes. Prior studies have suggested children who talk more about math outside of school do the same in class, and that play and simple prompts can increase such conversation.
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Alison Ledgerwood: How Can We Reframe Setbacks In A Positive Light?
About Alison Ledgerwood's TED Talk Why do we fixate on the negative? Why do setbacks stick in our minds for so long? Alison Ledgerwood shares ideas on how we can change our thinking patterns to reframe setbacks in a positive light.
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Why You Should Try to Be a Little More Scarce
Back in college, I was always the first to raise my hand in class (a behavior that didn’t win me many friends, let me tell you). Now as a freelance writer, I’m no stranger to that same overeagerness when it comes to work — translated in prompt replies and more than the occasional emoji. Emails, tweets, Slack messages — you name it — being affable and amenable is kind of my thing. And while conventional wisdom tells us we should eagerly embrace every opportunity that comes our way, playing a little hard to get has its advantages.
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Coney Island’s Rides Have Delighted (and Frightened) Us for Decades
In May 1914, Coney Island played host to an unlikely party of VIPs led by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and his wife, Lady Doyle. A New York Times reporter trailed the group all day, hoping for a quote from the famed creator of Sherlock Holmes. “First he shot the chutes, then he took the seemingly perilous Whip ride, and finally he went into the ridiculous Crazy Village,” wrote the dutiful journalist. “And he enjoyed it all — particularly the Whip, which he pronounced thrilling.” It was past midnight when Mr. Doyle left. He was dazed, to put it mildly. The man who’d invented the most brilliant, analytical detective in the history of popular culture had been overwhelmed by the park.
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It’s Never Too Late to Start a Brilliant Career
In 1980, I was 25 and hadn’t yet bloomed. This hit home one night while I was working as a security guard in San Jose, Calif. Just after dark, as I started my perimeter patrol of a fenced rent-a-truck yard, I heard barking from the lumber yard next door. I swung my flashlight around and came face-to-face with my counterpart on the other side of the fence: a guard dog. The implication was sobering. I was a Stanford graduate, and my professional peer was a Rottweiler. In a few months, Steve Jobs, also 25 at the time, would take Apple public, change the computer industry and become fabulously rich. I, on the other hand, was poor and stuck. My story is embarrassing, but is it that unusual?
