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Scientists measured the gravitational waves produced by two colliding black holes. Learn how familiar analogies, such as the toll of a bell, can help comprehend events at the intergalactic scale. Answer questions about the importance of signal-to-noise ratios in science. Then delve deeper by explaining how changing the individual values of a ratio affects the overall ratio.

Scientists noticed Venus’s weirdly shaped mountain ranges decades ago, but until recently their origin has remained a mystery. Learn how researchers apply computer-modeling technology to existing data, revealing patterns suggesting what might have created such geological features. Answer questions about plate tectonics and discuss how our knowledge of Earth-like processes can help us understand the mysterious geology of other planets.

Nature solved a great design ‘feet’ — and engineers are now taking notice. Inspired by water-striding insects, they’ve invented a fancy-footed, water-walking robot. Learn how researchers might look to nature for inspiration in design and invention. Answer questions about the value of analogies in explaining unfamiliar concepts, then discuss possible applications for fancy-footed robots.

Computer models suggest a remote yet haunting possibility— that passing stars could carry the potential to warp Earth’s orbit, triggering a cosmic collision. Answer questions about cause and effect. Discuss matter from the scale of the tiniest quark to the vastness of the known universe.

Exposure to germs triggers an immune response. But just thinking about germs might do it, too, new data show. Researchers used virtual reality to study how people respond to sickness in others. Learn techniques and tools researchers use to study how we respond to illness at three levels of biological organization — the behavioral, physiological and chemical. Answer questions about experimental variables, then discuss possible applications for virtually boosted vaccines of the future.

Inspired by nature’s greatest acrobats, roboticists have made engineering leaps — creating and upgrading an agile, jumping robot that can grasp branches like a squirrel. Learn how scientists use biomimicry to launch new approaches to old engineering challenges. At the same time, explore concepts of momentum in daily life, then answer questions about possible applications for squirrely robots of the future.

T. rex or Velociraptor — who would win in a race? Scientists of the 1970s developed a set of equations that led modern scientists to predict speed of dinosaurs. But how well do those equations predict real life? Learn how a tidy math equation can sometimes oversimplify complex issues. Answer questions about how missing variables might lead to flawed conclusions and discuss challenges from inferring the behavior and characteristics of long-extinct species from available evidence.

Scientists built hula-hooping robots to answer an old mystery: How does a Hula Hoop stay up? Learn how best to launch and maintain a circulating hoop — and then explore how specific shapes can turn gyrations into a gravity-defying force. You can apply those concepts to then predict the hula-hooping success of other shapes.

Virtual reality (VR) has expanded people's ability to experience visual and auditory sensations in virtual worlds. What about our other senses? Learn how chemical-detection capabilities of the tongue allow us to taste cake as being sweet and lemonade as being sour. Explore how scientists used this understanding to develop taste-mimicking VR technology, all while answering questions about how this tasty research might one day help people.

Raindrops might fall on your head, but thanks to your eyelashes, they rarely drip into your eyes. Learn how the simple, elegant design of our eyelashes flicks away water. Answer questions about diverse functions of body hair, all while discussing the value of analogies as a literary device used to improve understanding of unfamiliar concepts.

Strange ghostly blue lights have haunted the little town of Summerville, S.C. for decades. Reports of spectral balls of light floating along a desolate stretch of railroad inspired a ghostly local legend. Learn how legends can inspire real-world science. Then discuss similarities and differences between scientific theory and legend while answering questions about a proposed geologic explanation for this phenomenon.

Scientists have long suspected that a mysterious third force underlies the unique life-sustaining conditions of our planet but lacked the technology to measure it. Until now, that is. Learn how the interplay between different planet-wide energy forces gives rise to Earth’s cozy atmosphere. Then, explore how scientists use modern technology to study a newly discovered electrical field and fit this knowledge into their global understanding of how our planet supports life.