"Striking in conception and format....Issues may be used by teachers for added reading, and there's enough in each one to delight any adult who wants to explore new territory."
-- Library Journal
Exploring takes a close-up look at the science of the everyday world -- from the history of artificial sweetener, to why golf balls are dimpled and curveballs curve; from the mathematics of a musical scale to the structure of a suspension bridge. Each issue examines a different topic in depth. Past issues have included Rhythm, Food, Electricity, Sports, Navigation, Fakes, and Cities.
Now in its fifteenth year, Exploring continues to intrigue people who are curious about the workings of the world around them. With elegantly illustrated articles and activities to do, observe, and make, Exploring reflects the attitude and approach of the Exploratorium, a museum of science and art where people learn by doing. Exploring is also a valuable resource for science teachers and students in middle school, high school, and college.
A sample of recent issues include:
Exploring Electricity
Investigate the shocking subject of electricity. Consider electric currents that flow inside your own body and regulate the beat of your own heart. Make a battery in your mouth--with a penny and some aluminum foil. Observe the flashiest electricity of all: the lightning bolt. Learn about the War of the Currents--the bitter corporate battle between Edison and Westinghouse that lead to the invention of the electric chair and the adoption of alternating current for household use.
Exploring Rhythm
In exploring the hidden rhythms of our world, we contemplate an unsuccessful attempt to create a ten-hour day, the internal timing mechanisms that let fireflies flash in unison, the collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the ticking of a watch, and the work of modern artists. Activities include a variety of musical experiments and the creation of an analemma, a pattern produced by cyclical changes in the sun's position in the sky over the course of a year.
Exploring Food
Discover science in your salad and chemistry in your sugar bowl! Consider the explosive contents of a candy bar. (A single Milky Way contains more energy than a stick of dynamite!) Explore the peculiar history of the potato, a lowly tuber that helped change the course of world history. Learn what astronauts really eat. (Yes, Tang is on the menu.) Perform scientific experiments--and eat the results.
Exploring Navigation
Feeling lost? This issue helps you find yourself: how people and animals find their way. Discover the navigation techniques used by the Polynesian sailors as they guide their canoes on thousand mile journeys. Figure out where on earth you are by sighting on a star. Find out how the boiling metal in the earth's core can help you find your way. Make your own compass with a magnet and a nail. Explore compasses, sextants, maps, and the senses used by the Arctic tern to migrate 25,000 miles.
Send order to: Exploratorium Store, 3601 Lyon St., San Francisco CA 94123