Tagged Science
From Sloths to Sleuths: The Academy of Natural Sciences Free Pass Program!
The Academy of Natural Sciences and the Free Library of Philadelphia are old friends. For over 100 years, they have lived across from each other on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, educating and entertaining Philadelphians. In…
Get Ready for the 2024 Solar Eclipse on Monday, April 8!
Something very special is happening on Monday, April 8 : a total solar eclipse will cross North America from Mexico to Canada! After April 8, the next solar eclipse viewable from the contiguous United States won't occur…
Explore the Geology of the Wissahickon Park
William Penn’s dream of having a “Green Country Towne” inspired many generations to preserve parks and green spaces throughout the city and region. One prime example of this is the great Wissahickon Valley Park ,…
Empathy Versus Misinformation Wrap-Up
Thank you to everyone who came out to our Empathy Versus Misinformation: Transgender Youth series of panels. There has been a lot of interest in transgender youth in the media, and yet so few easy ways to access reliable answers to…
It’s National Immunization Awareness Month!
by Lillian B. and Jake T. Afraid of shots or needles? Have questions about protecting your health? Get excited to learn with us this National Immunization Awareness Month ! Primarily, immunizations are most effective when given to…
Add Some Science to Your Summer with the Franklin Institute
Do you have a young scientist at home? An endless Lego tower builder or a spaceship dreamer? A robot creator or future climate-change solver? Sign up for a new virtual summertime science adventure with The Franklin Institute . This…
Picture Book Highlights | Women in Science
March is Women’s History Month—let’s take a look at recent books highlighting women in science! From deep in the ocean and outer space to medicine and physics, women have been playing an important role in advancing…
Dr. Rebecca Cole: Pioneering Philadelphia Doctor and African American Health Advocate
One of the joys of my profession is not knowing who will spark my curiosity to continue learning about something or someone. To celebrate Black History Month this year, I let my curiosity guide me to inventors and scientists either born…
Digital Media Spotlight | Shark Week 2020
It's that time of year again... where you'll never know what to expect from... Shark Week ! For the past 32 years, Shark Week has grown from a small, PBS-styled series of documentary programming to a full-blown pop culture…
Delving into the Science of Me
In the midst of a heat wave, Science in the Summer continues to spark young minds! For over thirty years, the program has demystified the sciences with free, hands-on learning for students entering 2nd-6th grades, all the while…
Science in the Summer Is Back!
Science in the Summer is returning to the Free Library of Philadelphia and we are excited about this year’s curriculum—The Science of Space. By bringing the Science of Space to elementary school children, we’re showing…
#GetNerdyPHL at the Philadelphia Science Festival!
In Philadelphia, April means the Philadelphia Science Festival ! The week-long festival, hosted by the Franklin Institute, includes hundreds of free and low-cost programs across the city for children, families, and adults. The Free…
Owl Pellet Dissection with The Center for Aquatic Sciences
Owl Pellet Dissection: Owls are amazing birds of prey, but they have some weird habits around the dinner table. Follow along with the instructor as we learn a little more about these birds and figure out what owl pellets are, why…
Wednesdays of Wonder: Snake Party with Scott Prior!
Attend our first of four Wednesdays of Wonder programs: Join snake expert Scott Prior to meet his favorite scaly friends as they visit the library. He'll share interesting facts about snake behaviors and habitats, and answer your…
LEAP: Science Day!
Explore the wonders of science with experiments and interactive activities like paper plane making and more! Meet us from 3:00–5:00 PM to discover something new and exciting.
Wednesday STEAM LEAP Activity
An activity that changes from week to week to explore language, art, and/or STEM topics in the children's section from 3pm-4:45pm.
Sew What?! ROOM 108 Sewcial-Needle Crafts
Sew What?! Is a clever and creative get together for crafters who do crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting, felting, and more. Want to share what you're making with other fabric crafters? Join us to collaborate and…
Sew What?! Evening ROOM 108 Sewcial-Needle Crafts
Sew What?! Is a clever and creative get together for crafters who do crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting, felting, and more. Want to share what you're making with other fabric crafters? Join us to collaborate and…
Wednesday STEAM LEAP Activity
An activity that changes from week to week to explore language, art, and/or STEM topics in the children's section from 3pm-4:45pm.
LEAP: Science Day!
Explore the wonders of science with experiments and interactive activities like paper plane making and more! Meet us from 3:00–5:00 PM to discover something new and exciting.
Sew What?! ROOM 108 Sewcial-Needle Crafts
Sew What?! Is a clever and creative get together for crafters who do crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting, felting, and more. Want to share what you're making with other fabric crafters? Join us to collaborate and…
The Silent Submarine Service: History & Recollections of a Navy Veteran
“Torpedo in the Water!” Edward A. Sierra vividly remembers hearing those terrifying words loudly come across the speakers while submerged aboard a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine in the Mediterranean Sea. Ed joined the…
Sew What?! Evening Sewcial-Needle Crafts
Sew What?! Is a clever and creative get together for crafters who do crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting, felting, and more. Want to share what you're making with other fabric crafters? Join us to collaborate and…
Sew What?! Evening HEIM CENTER Sewcial-Needle Crafts
Sew What?! Is a clever and creative get together for crafters who do crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting, felting, and more. Want to share what you're making with other fabric crafters? Join us to collaborate and…
Wednesday STEAM LEAP Activity
An activity that changes from week to week to explore language, art, and/or STEM topics in the children's section from 3pm-4:45pm.
LEAP: Science Day!
Explore the wonders of science with experiments and interactive activities like paper plane making and more! Meet us from 3:00–5:00 PM to discover something new and exciting.
Sew What?! Afternoon ROOM 108 Sewcial-Needle Crafts
Sew What?! Is a clever and creative get together for crafters who do crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting, felting, and more. Want to share what you're making with other fabric crafters? Join us to collaborate and…
Sew What?! Evening Sewcial-Needle Crafts
Sew What?! Is a clever and creative get together for crafters who do crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting, felting, and more. Want to share what you're making with other fabric crafters? Join us to collaborate and…
Sew What?! Evening HEIM CENTER Sewcial-Needle Crafts
Sew What?! Is a clever and creative get together for crafters who do crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, quilting, felting, and more. Want to share what you're making with other fabric crafters? Join us to collaborate and…
Squid Dissection with the Center for Aquatic Sciences
Take a deep dive into the world of aquatic invertebrates as we explore the characteristics of these strange animals and examine one up close. For every 2 students the dissection will include 1 squid and a set of tools. This program is…
Wednesday STEAM LEAP Activity
An activity that changes from week to week to explore language, art, and/or STEM topics in the children's section from 3pm-4:45pm.
LEAP: Science Day!
Explore the wonders of science with experiments and interactive activities like paper plane making and more! Meet us from 3:00–5:00 PM to discover something new and exciting.
STEM - Science
Suggested books for students in the field of science.
STEM - Engineering
Suggested books for students in the field of engineering.
NASA
Learn more about The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), which is responsible for the civilian space program as well as aeronautics and aerospace research.
Wild Weather
From global warming and carbon footprints to new weather forecasting technologies and more frequent natural disasters like volcanoes, earthquakes, landslides, tornadoes, typhoons, hurricanes, and more.
Fantastic Planets and Adventurous Astronauts
Read these biographies of astronauts and the planets and galaxies they have explored.
Global Plants
Gale OneFile | High School Edition (formerly InfoTrac Student Edition) *
High school students will have access to age-appropriate content from magazines, journals, newspapers, reference books, and engaging multi-media covering a wide range of subjects, from science, history, and literature to political…
Gale in Context | Middle School (formerly Research in Context) *
Discover reliable and trusted information on a variety of topics to support middle school student research for government, U.S and world history, geography, literature, sciences, and social issues. Research In Context offers…
American Physical Society Online Journals
Academic Search Main Edition *
Academic Search Main Edition is a multi-disciplinary database providing full text for nearly 2,000 journals and periodicals and is updated daily on EBSCOhost.
Academic OneFile
More than 20,000 peer-reviewed journals and more than 9,200 in full text Full text of The Economist ranging from 1988 to the present, with no embargo Full text of The New York Times from 1985 to present, updated daily Full text of The…
Dasha Kiper | Travelers to Unimaginable Lands: Stories of Dementia, the Caregivers, and the Human Brain
In conversation with Dr. Jason Karlawish In partnership with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society The clinical consulting director of support groups at The CaringKind (formerly The Alzheimer's Association), Dasha Kiper has an MA in…
R. Jisung Park | Slow Burn: The Hidden Costs of a Warming World
In conversation with Patrick Behrer, Research Economist, Development Economics, World Bank How the subtle but significant consequences of a hotter planet have already begun—from lower test scores to higher crime rates—and how we might…
Dennis Yi Tenen | Literary Theory for Robots: How Computers Learned to Write
Dennis Yi Tenen is an associate professor of English at Columbia University, where he also serves as co-director of the Center for Comparative Media. Affiliated with Columbia’s Data Science Institute, he is a former fellow at the…
Emily Nagoski | Come Together: The Science (and Art!) of Creating Lasting Sexual Connections
Emily Nagoski is the author of the New York Times bestseller Come as You Are , a self-help manual lauded by critics and readers for its ability to “offer up hard facts on the science of arousal and desire in a friendly and…
Annie Liontas | Sex with a Brain Injury: On Concussion and Recovery
In conversation with CJ Hauser Featured as an Editor’s Choice in The New York Times Book Review , Annie Liontas ' debut novel, Let Me Explain You , follows the bridge-burning patriarch of a Greek American family who believes he has…
Siddhartha Mukherjee | The Song of the Cell: An Exploration of Medicine and the New Human
In conversation with Carl H. June, MD, Director of the Center for Cellular Immunotherapies, University of Pennsylvania Siddhartha Mukherjee won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for nonfiction for The Emperor of All Maladies , a “meticulously…
Michael E. Mann | Our Fragile Moment: How Lessons from Earth's Past Can Help Us Survive the Climate Crisis
The Presidential Distinguished Professor and Director of the Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media at the University of Pennsylvania, climatologist and geophysicist Michael E. Mann has greatly contributed to science’s…
Simon Schama | Foreign Bodies: Pandemics, Vaccines, and the Health of Nations
Pine Tree Foundation Endowed Lecture In conversation with Maiken Scott “A historian of prodigious and varied gifts” ( San Francisco Chronicle ), Simon Schama is the author of 20 books, including The Embarrassment of Riches; Scribble,…
Barbara Butcher | What the Dead Know: Learning About Life as a New York City Death Investigator with Kate White | Between Two Strangers
Barbara Butcher is the former chief of staff and director of the Forensic Sciences Training Program at the New York City Office of Chief Medical Examiner (OCME). Only the second woman hired as a death investigator in Manhattan (and the…
Linda Villarosa | Under the Skin: The Hidden Toll of Racism on American Lives and on the Health of Our Nation
A contributing writer at The New York Times Magazine and The 1619 Project, Linda Villarosa has won numerous awards for articles concerning issues of Black mother and infant health, medical myths, America’s hidden HIV epidemic,…
Sarah Bakewell | Humanly Possible: Seven Hundred Years of Humanist Freethinking, Inquiry, and Hope
In conversation with Eric Banks Acclaimed for “wonderfully readable” fusions of “biography, philosophy, history, cultural analysis and personal reflection” ( The Independent ), Sarah Bakewell is the author of At the Existentialist Café…
Simon Winchester | Knowing What We Know: The Transmission of Knowledge: From Ancient Wisdom to Modern Magic
Pine Tree Foundation Endowed Lecture Exuding “the comfort and charm of a beloved encyclopedia come to life” ( The New Yorker ), Simon Winchester is the bestselling author of nearly 30 nonfiction books that explore some of the world’s…
Angela Saini | The Patriarchs: The Origins of Inequality
Angela Saini is the author of Superior , an “easy-to-read blend of science reporting, cultural criticism, and personal reflection” ( Slate ) that explores the resurgence of the harmful and faulty study of race science. She is also the…
John Hendrickson | Life on Delay: Making Peace with a Stutter
In conversation with Robert Kolker John Hendrickson is the author of a 2019 Atlantic article titled “What Joe Biden Can’t Bring Himself to Say.” An account of the President’s—and his own—lifelong experience with stuttering, it was…
Anna Badkhen | Bright Unbearable Reality: Essays
In conversation with Airea D. Matthews, 2022-2023 Philadelphia Poet Laureate and Co-Director of the Creative Writing Program at Bryn Mawr With an artist’s perspective and a ground-level view of people in extremis across the world,…
Douglas Rushkoff | Survival of the Richest: Escape Fantasies of the Tech Billionaires
In conversation with Kevin Werbach Acclaimed for their intersectional explorations of cyberculture, religion, currency, and politics, Douglas Rushkoff’s 20 bestselling books include Throwing Rocks at the Google Bus, Program or Be…
Michael Pollan | This is Your Mind on Plants
In conversation with Tamala Edwards, anchor, 6ABC Action News morning edition One of the world’s foremost chroniclers of the intersection of the human and natural worlds, Michael Pollan is a No. 1 New York Times bestselling author of…
Bill McKibben | The Flag, the Cross, and the Station Wagon: A Graying American Looks Back at His Suburban Boyhood and Wonders What the Hell Happened
“The world’s best green journalist” ( TIME ), Bill McKibben gave one of the earliest cautions about climate change with his 1989 book The End of Nature . His many other bestselling books about the environment include Falter , Deep…
M. Chris Fabricant | Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System
Meelya Gordon Memorial Lecture In conversation with John Holloway One of the United States’s foremost experts on forensic sciences and the criminal justice system, M. Chris Fabricant is the director of strategic litigation at the…
Frans de Waal | Different: Gender Through the Eyes of a Primatologist
“A pioneer in primate studies” ( The Wall Street Journal ), Dr. Frans de Waal is the author of The Bonobo and the Atheist , an exploration of the biological roots of human morality found in primate social interaction. His other 16…
Weather Wiz Kids
One stop for all kinds of weather links, just for kids! For grades 3 and up.
Visible Earth
From NASA. Images of our planet that can be searched by satellite, region, state, and more. For grades 4 and up.
The Weather Channel
From the Weather Channel. Includes your local forecast, stormwatches, ski conditions, flu outbreaks, and more. For 4th grade and up.
The Space Place
Games, projects, amazing facts, and more brought to you from NASA. For grades 3 and up.
The Franklin Institute STEM Scholars
Program that serves a select group of Philadelphia-area students in grades 9-12 who are passionate about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects.
STEM Philly
STEM Philly's goal is to stimulate students’ interest in STEM subjects and enhance their learning so they will become part of the STEM workforce in the Philadelphia area. With the help of volunteers and partners organizations, Explore…
STEM Education Coalition
Raises awareness in Congress, the Administration, and other organizations about the critical role that STEM education plays in enabling the U.S. to remain the economic and technological leader of the global marketplace of the 21st century.
Solar System Exploration - Kids
A kids' page from NASA. Build your own models, submit pictures for the art gallery, watch videos and more. For 2nd grade and up.
Philadelphia Science Festival
The Philadelphia Science Festival is a nine-day, community-wide celebration of science that takes place annually in April, featuring lectures, debates, hands-on activities, special exhibitions and a variety of other informal science…
PBS.org-Savage Earth
Just like the Savage Earth series. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Volcanoes, and more. For grades 4 and up.
PBS LearningMedia
Lots of STEM-related content and lesson plans on this free digital media content library site that builds on the strength of public media and is the destination for relevant educational resources for PreK-12 teachers.
Natural Disasters
In every place humans live, the possibility of a natural disaster exists. From National Geographic. Grades 4 and up.
National Weather Service
From the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Weather Service. Includes advisories, all kinds of forecasts, and text message signup. For grades 5 and up.
National Severe Storms Laboratory
Coloring books that you can print about weather! For Kindergarten and up. Children may need help with printing.
NASA History Division
A history of astronauts and their biographies from NASA. For grades 4 and up.
Kids Against Global Warming
Do something about global warming. The best things to do to prevent global warming. For grades 2 and up.
Exploring the Planets
From the National Air and Space Museum. Explore comets, compare planets, take a trip on the Voyager and more! For grades 4 and up.
ESA Kids
A website for kids from the European Space Academy. Includes information about space, earth, and other cool facts about our universe. For grades 4 and up.
EPA for kids
From the Environmental Protection Agency, for kids. Climate change, the greenhouse effect, games and more. For grades 3 and up.
EEK! Global warming
Environmental Education for Kids (EEK!) site. All about global warming. For grades 3 and up.