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Featured: Justin Bernstein
Researcher Spotlight: Justin Bernstein
July 5, 2026
Meet Justin, a postdoctorate fellow at the American Museum of Natural History. In this role, he studies taxonomic and geographic systems to uncover how geological processes have shaped present-day faunal assemblages.
Featured: Alli Grunkemeyer
Researcher Spotlight: Alli Grunkemeyer
June 30, 2026
Meet Alli, a program manager at the Perry Initiative. In this role, she helps introduce thousands of young women to STEM careers and connects them with the mentors and experiences that helped shape her own journey.
Featured: Fernando Melendez-Vazquez
Researcher Spotlight: Fernando Melendez-Vazquez
June 29, 2026
Meet Fernando, the manager of the Science Research Mentoring Program (SRMP) at The American Museum of Natural History. There, he helps mentor the next generation of scientists by making research more accessible and inclusive.
Image Credits: Encyclopedia Britannica
June 24: The First Black Hole to be Discovered
June 24, 2026
What exactly comes to mind when you hear the term ‘black hole?’ You might think it’s an astronomical vacuum of sorts, or maybe just some wormhole that facilitates transportation across the galaxy. Both of these assumptions, however,... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Getty Images
June 18: Sally Ride Became the First American Woman in Space
June 18, 2026
On June 18, 1983, the Space Shuttle Challenger lifted off from Kennedy Space Center carrying mission specialist Dr. Sally Ride. Notably, this mission was one that would go down as a leap for women across the world. At 32 years old, Ride became the first American woman to travel to space... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Susan Q. Yin
What is the Hidden Curriculum?
June 12, 2026
Did you know that there is a second, invisible curriculum that is not taught directly in schools? Specifically, this curriculum is a collection of unofficial or unspoken sets of rules that some students seem to already know while others stay in the dark. That unwritten rubric is... click here to read more!
Image Credits: UseMyFrame
May 23: The Invention of Bifocals
May 23, 2026
On May 23, 1785, Benjamin Franklin (a name you have likely heard numerous times), wrote a letter to his friend George Whatley describing a new invention he had devised to solve a deeply personal problem. Interestingly, Franklin was nearsighted and also farsighted, which meant... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Innovation Quarter
Why Are Mice Used in Research — and Not Other Animals?
May 21, 2026
In almost every movie involving a scene with a laboratory, mice are often squealing in the background. Even in scientific literature mice are showing up in studies covering all sorts of diseases. But why? Of course we wouldn’t want to use human beings as test subjects... click here to read more!
Image Credits: picture-alliance/dpa/T.. Brakemeier
May 12: The World's First Programmable Computer Was Presented
May 12, 2026
On May 12, 1941, German engineer Konrad Zuse stood before an audience in Berlin and demonstrated the Z3. For the first time in history, a machine that was both fully automatic and fully programmable existed. Despite this incredible feat, at the time of its breakthrough... click here to read more!
Image Credits: NASA
April 24: The Hubble Space Telescope Launched into Orbit
April 24, 2026
On April 24, 1990, Space Shuttle Discovery lifted off from Kennedy Space Center carrying one of the most ambitious scientific instruments ever built: the Hubble Space Telescope. The following day, Hubble was deployed into orbit approximately 340 miles above Earth... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Innovation Quarter
Wet Labs vs. Dry Labs: What's the Difference?
April 4, 2026
If you’ve already started looking into research programs or internships, then you’ve probably seen the terms “wet lab” and “dry lab.” What exactly does it mean, though, for a lab to be wet or dry? For someone who has never been in a laboratory setting before... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Bellman Oil
March 27: Kerosene Was Patented
March 27, 2026
On March 27, 1855, Canadian geologist and physician Abraham Gesner received a U.S. patent for kerosene, a refined petroleum product that would eventually transform the way millions of people light up their homes, businesses, and streets. Gener's patent is one of the most significant... click here to read more!
Image Credits: The Jacobi Medical Center
Student Spotlight: Sabia
March 25, 2026
Meet Sabia, a 17 year old senior high student at the Bronx High School of Science interested in pursuing a career as a family physician.
Image Credits: Kenneth C. Zirkel
Researcher Spotlight: Colin
March 24, 2026
Meet Colin Burdette, a graduate student at Weill Cornell Medicine, where he develops chemical tools to study protein interactions.
Image Credits: Cornell Engineering — Cornell University
Student Spotlight: Claire
February 18, 2026
Meet Claire, a 19 year old college freshman at Cornell University, who is studying at the Duffield School of Engineering.
Click here to read more!
Image Credits: Getty Images
January 9: Steve Jobs Unveiled the iPhone
January 9, 2026
On January 9, 2007, Steve Jobs walked onto a stage at the Moscone Center in San Francisco and, while wearing his signature black turtleneck, told the audience he was going to introduce three revolutionary products. The first was a widescreen iPod with touch controls... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Healthline
December 11: Nitrous Oxide Was First Used as an Anesthetic
December 11, 2025
On December 11, 1844, a Connecticut dentist named Horace Wells sat down in a dentist's chair and had one of his own teeth extracted while breathing nitrous oxide. Remarkably, he felt no pain! This was the first time in history that an inhaled gas had been successfully used... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Getty Images
November 30: ChatGPT Was Released to the Public
November 30, 2025
On November 30, 2022, OpenAI released ChatGPT to the public as a free research preview. Within the first five days, it had over one million users. Within two months, that number had grown to 100 million, making it the fastest-adopted consumer application in history... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Velatron Technologies
August 29: Faraday Demonstrated Electromagnetic Induction
August 29, 2025
On August 29, 1831 English scientist Michael Faraday first made one of the most consequential experimental discoveries in the history of physics: he demonstrated that a changing magnetic field could generate an electrical current. This principle is known as electromagnetic induction and is... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Prototek
April 6: Teflon Was Discovered
April 6, 2025
On April 6, 1938, a 27-year-old DuPont chemist named Roy Plunkett opened a cylinder of gas in his laboratory at the Jackson Laboratory in New Jersey and found something unexpected. The cylinder, which should have contained pressurized gaseous tetrafluorothylene... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Rare Historical Photos
December 17: The Wright Brothers Achieved the First Powered Flight
December 17, 2024
On December 17, 1903, on a beach near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, Orville Wright lay flat on the lower wing of a fragile wood-and-fabric aircraft called the Wright Flyer and flew approximately 120 feet through the air in 12 seconds. It was the first sustained, controlled flight of a powered machine... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Getty Images
August 27: The First Color Television Broadcast
August 27, 2024
On August 27, 1940, engineer Peter Goldmark gave the world's first public demonstration of color television, broadcasting from the top of the Chrysler Building in New York City. Working at CBS Laboratories, Goldmark had spent years developing a system that could... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Willis Carrier
July 17: Willis Carrier Designed the First Modern Air Conditioner
July 17, 2024
On July 17, 1902, a 25-year-old engineer named Willis Carrier submitted the drawings for what would become the world's first modern air-conditioning system. Interestingly, he wasn’t even trying to keep people cool. Instead, he was trying to solve a printing problem... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Amino Labs
June 28: CRISPR-Cas Was Established as a Gene-Editing Tool
June 28, 2024
On June 28, 2012, the journal Science published a paper by Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier that would go on to be recognized as one of the most consequential biology papers of the 21st century. The paper demonstrated that a bacterial immune system... click here to read more!
Image Credits: NASA
April 12: The Space Shuttle Made its Maiden Voyage
April 12, 2024
On April 12, 1981, Space Shuttle Columbia lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, carrying astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen on a mission designated STS-1. This was a moment filled with tension and anxiety. After all, Columbia was the first spacecraft in history... click here to read more!
Image Credits: Britannica
March 12: Tim Berners-Lee Proposed the World Wide Web
March 12, 2024
On March 12, 1989, a British computer scientist named Tim Berners-Lee submitted a proposal to his supervisor at CERN, the European particle physics laboratory near Geneva, Switzerland. The document was titled "Information Management: A Proposal," and it described... click here to read more!
Image Credits: U-Long High Tech Textile
February 28: Nylon, the World's First Fully Synthetic Fiber, Was Created
February 28, 2024
On February 28, 1935, chemist Wallace Hume Carothers synthesized the first sample of a new polymer at DuPont's Experimental Station in Wilmington, Delaware. Although its technical name was Dolxbexametbylene adipamide, it would eventually be known by something far simpler: nylon... click here to read more!
Image Credits: The British Online Archives
February 24, 2024
What do you picture when you hear ‘scientist?’ You might imagine heaps of test tubes filled with mysterious, colorful liquids or a white lab coat. But what about the scientist themself? Most students, unfortunately, think of scientists as... click here to read more!
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