Best Things I've Read

How does a sunset work? We love to look at them, but Jolanda Blackwell wanted her 8th graders to really think about them, to wonder and question.

So Blackwell, who teaches science at Oliver Wendell Holmes Junior High in Davis, Calif., had her students watch a video of a sunset on YouTube as part of a physics lesson on motion.

"I asked them: ‘So what’s moving? And why?’" Blackwell says. The students had a lot of ideas. Some thought the sun was moving, others, of course, knew that a sunset is the result of the earth spinning around on its axis.

Once she got the discussion going, the questions came rapid-fire. “My biggest challenge usually is trying to keep them patient,” she says. “They just have so many burning questions.”

Students asking questions and then exploring the answers. That’s something any good teacher lives for. And at the heart of it all is curiosity.

Blackwell, like many others teachers, understands that when kids are curious, they’re much more likely to stay engaged.

Curiosity: It Helps Us Learn, But Why?

Answers to all of your Ebola-related questions, courtesy of NPR News:

What’s My Risk Of Catching Ebola?

No, Seriously, How Contagious Is Ebola?

Why Won’t The Fear Of Airborne Ebola Go Away?

Here’s How An Ebola Quarantine Works In The U.S.

Why Do Ebola Mortality Rates Vary So Widely?

Answering Your Questions About Ebola Treatments And Vaccines

Why Raising Money For Ebola Is Hard

Should You Stock Up On Chocolate Bars Because Of Ebola?

A Simple Question Can Stop Ebola: How Do You Feel?

Why A Thermometer Is A Good Tool For Airport Ebola Screenings

Why Ebola Is Not A Threat To The U.S.

For more coverage, visit our global health blog, Goats and Soda.

And for those of you who don’t want to read anything else about Ebola, we suggest you give this sad but sweet story a try: 3-Year-Old Ebola Survivor Proposes To Nurse.

The #Art of the Hashtag

Thanks to Twitter, the hashtag has become an important linguistic shortcut. But while everyone from Robin Thicke to Beyoncé has used the symbol as part of their art, only a few have truly taken advantage of its culture-jamming possibilities.

Via @pitchforkmedia

Remembering poet Shel Silverstein today on his birthday.

(Here’s some more poems from Morning Edition.) And even more from the Poetry Foundation and the New York Public Library and Marketplace.

Hating On Fat People Just Makes Them Fatter

Don’t try to pretend your gibes and judgments of the overweight people in your life are for their own good. Florida researchers have evidence that discriminating against fat people only makes them fatter.

"People often rationalize that it’s OK to discriminate based on weight because it will motivate the victim to lose pounds," Angelina Sutin, a psychologist at the Florida State College of Medicine in Tallahassee, tells Shots. “But our findings suggest the opposite."

Sutin and a colleague checked survey data from more than 6,000 American men and women age 50 and older who were asked how often in their daily lives they experienced different types of discrimination. Examples ranged from discourtesy or refusal of restaurant service to not getting a job or promotion.

Read the rest on NPR’s Shots health blog.

(via It took less than two months for Dunkin Donuts to mass-produce the cronut)

The ‘sink-urinal’ saves water, encourages men to wash hands

A Latvian designer named Kaspars Jursons is trying to help solve European water shortages by redesigning the men’s restroom. His new urinal design includes a tap and sink right over it.

"It’s not just a fancy piece of art," he says. “The idea is about function and consumption. You are washing your hands in the sink on top of the urinal, and the same water that’s running is also used to flush. You don’t have to use water twice, like when you use the urinal and wash your hands in separate sink."

Read more at NPR’s All Tech Considered blog.

Fee the faces?