The Kid Should See This.
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There's just so much science, nature, music, art, technology, storytelling and assorted good stuff out there that my kids (and maybe your kids) haven't seen. It's most likely not stuff that was made for them...
But we don't underestimate kids around here.
Kid-friendly not-made-for-kids videos for all! Collected by Rion Nakaya and her three four year old co-curator.
Tip Jar: Curating this blog takes work! If you like the videos on this site, please support the science education projects that we've picked on DonorsChoose.org.
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William Kamkwamba’s story is already out there as a book, a young readers book, a Kickstarter documentary film project, not only one but two TED Talks, and luckily for us, the six minute story in video form. A description of that story:
Enchanted by the workings of electricity as a boy, William had a goal to study science in Malawi’s top boarding schools. But in 2002, his country was stricken with a famine that left his family’s farm devastated and his parents destitute. Unable to pay the eighty-dollar-a-year tuition for his education, William was forced to drop out and help his family forage for food as thousands across the country starved and died.
Yet William refused to let go of his dreams. With nothing more than a fistful of cornmeal in his stomach, a small pile of once-forgotten science textbooks, and an armory of curiosity and determination, he embarked on a daring plan to bring his family a set of luxuries that only two percent of Malawians could afford and what the West considers a necessity—electricity and running water. Using scrap metal, tractor parts, and bicycle halves, William forged a crude yet operable windmill, an unlikely contraption and small miracle that eventually powered four lights, complete with homemade switches and a circuit breaker made from nails and wire. A second machine turned a water pump that could battle the drought and famine that loomed with every season.
Soon, news of William’s magetsi a mphepo—his “electric wind”—spread beyond the borders of his home, and the boy who was once called crazy became an inspiration to those around the world.
We love windmills and really love William’s drive and ingenuity. This is exactly what the kid should see.
The amazing story of Damian Aspinall reuniting with an adult male gorilla named Kwibi whom he hasn’t see in over 5 years. Damian raised Kwibi in England and then released him into the wild in Africa when he was 5 years old.
Especially sad and bittersweet; despite being a dangerous and powerful animal living in the wild, Kwibi clearly missed his caretaker, even after a five year separation.
A troop of wild mountain gorillas recently turned a typical ecotourism encounter upside down when the animals paid a visit to a tented camp in Uganda’s Bwindi Impenetrable National Park.
Video footage, now gone viral, shows baby and adult gorillas approaching U.S. tourist John J. King II, sitting with him, and even grooming him as he sits in quiet amazement—right next to a giant male silverback gorilla.
At first, “this baby kind of grabbed my arm in a very gentle way. I just can’t tell you how gentle it was. It was like a young child touching your arm in a way that’s very endearing.
This was a big hit with the co-curator. You can read more about the experience on NationalGeographic.com.
via Devour.
From the Handspring Puppet Company, their War Horse puppet at Sandown Park Racecourse. Spend a few minutes really watching this one… especially the head movement around 2:30-2:45.
via Neatorama.
Achrioptera fallax is a stick insect species found in Madagascar.
The males are a bright electric blue (with greenish tints) and have two rows of reddish orange spines along the edges of the femur. There are also dark coloured spines going along the sides and underneath the thorax. Males are brachypterous (incapable of flight) and have small reduced wings. The forewings are a bright yellow; the hind wings have a yellow ridge and are primarily red with a black centre.
Nature is stunning. Here’s a close-up photo of the wings and the head.
Beautiful footage of giant manta rays in Mozambique, including an interview with Dr. Andrea Marshall, who has lived there since 2003.
Andrea’s world-leading manta ray research program (which has examined aspects of their biology, reproductive ecology, habitat use and social behaviour) has dramatically increasing the level of knowledge on manta rays. Her recent discovery of a new giant species of manta ray in 2008 was one of the largest new species to have been described by any scientist in the last 50 years.
