Physical Science
We summarize the week's scientific breakthroughs every Thursday.
- Math
Goodnight moon
Students will calculate the angular momentum and density of the moon and consider the implications of the results for various theories of the moon's origin.
- Space
A lunar journey
Students will search the Science News archive for other stories related to moon formation.
- Space
Probing moon formation
These questions focus on ideas about the origin of Earth's moon and evidence that supports various explanations of its formation.
- Health & Medicine
Biomolecules from many angles
These discussion prompts cover molecular structures and properties of sugars, proteins and lipids, as well as questions related to the immune system and cancer.
- Physics
Spacetime ripples found at last
These questions focus on gravitational waves, gravitational wave detectors and how observing gravitational waves can improve our understanding of the universe.
- Artificial Intelligence
The latest on self-driving cars
These student questions focus on autonomous vehicles and the nature of research that will support their widespread use.
- Physics
Wave detection
Students will design, build, test and optmize their own light-based detector for waves (a simple optical seismometer) and will explore how this detector relates to more sophisticated gravitational wave detectors.
- Physics
Wave generation
Students will generate and observe waves in a clear pan of water, drawing connections between these waves and light and gravitational waves.
- Space
Doing the wave
These discussion prompts cover the general properties and types of waves, how humans and other animals detect waves, and the design of laboratory wave detectors.
