Barbara Kingsolver’s book Demon Copperhead is a retelling of Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield set in today’s Appalachia. Martha shares memories of a long-ago visit to Kingsolver’s family farm in Virginia, where they...
Quiz Guy John Chaneski has clues to several rhyming pairs of words separated by the word and. For example, what do you call the technique for narrowing the aspect ratio of a wide-screen movie so it will fit on your TV screen? This is part of a...
In German, the electronic dashboard display on a car has a picturesque name. It’s Mäusekino, literally, “mouse cinema.” The Hungarian term for “mouse cinema,” egérmozi, is often applied to various kinds of small...
A new book about how animals perceive their environment reveals immense worlds beyond our own. A bee can see ultraviolet light, catfish have taste buds all over their bodies, and manatees use highly sensitive lips to examine nearby objects. Also...
Mocap is short for motion capture, the process of creating digital characters for 2D or 3D computer animation by attaching reflective markers to an actor and having them move in front of a green screen while information about those movements is...
High school students in Alabama share some favorite slang terms. If someone tells you to touch grass, they’re telling you to get a reality check — but the last thing you’d actually want to touch is dog water! Also, the history of the...