As a child (okay, as an adult, too), I suffered from extreme motion sickness. Cars, buses, boats – anything that moved, really – would set my stomach swirling. Please fasten your seat belts. I anointed many a random front yard on car trips and shut down more amusement park rides than I care to remember. Even now, the first thing I look for when I board an airplane is that special bag.

So I immediately took to this Popular Science article by NOVA scienceNOW correspondent, Jake Ward. He explains that the fundamental limit to all forms of travel is not technology, but humans. We’re flimsy creatures - our bones break easily, our bodies need oxygen constantly, and our inner ear is a mercurial beast.

We can make planes, trains and automobiles faster and manipulate them as we see fit, but the rub is that we can’t really improve passengers’ (oh lowly humans!) ability to withstand the technology. Sadly, it doesn’t look like I’ll make it to space anytime soon. And that special airplane bag isn’t going anywhere, at least not for me.

Want more Jake? Watch his NOVA scienceNOW piece on Plasma Rockets online!

During Katharine’s interview, what most caught my attention were her end-of-this-century scenarios. She said that under higher emissions, Chicago summers could Baby Katharine doesn’t want that snow to melt! feel like those on the Gulf Coast and Massachusetts ones like those in the Carolinas. As a Carolinian myself, that immediately resonated with me. I remember those summers tangibly, still – stepping outside, having just showered, yet feeling instantly as though I needed to again, so muggy was the heat. The searing temperatures penetrated your very core, causing claustrophobia even in large spaces. Summer soccer practices were dreadful – I remember getting cold I was so hot. I think they call that heat stroke. No offense to my roots, but I’d rather enjoy Northeast summers, at least until they disappear.

Relating climates to what we know, as Katharine does, helps us understand what could be. My Carolinian friends may be accustomed to sweltering southern heat now, but what will happen as temperatures rise? If the Northeast will feel like the South, what will the South feel like? I shudder to think. But what can we do? A lot, actually, without much extra effort.

Like most people, I recycle, use cloth bags for shopping (I like these!), and turn out lights. But a few years ago, after working on a documentary about low-impact living, I decided to make some bigger changes. Bigger doesn’t always necessarily mean harder, either. Here are a few easy steps you can take that won’t cramp your lifestyle:

Working long hours to complete his work for the Intel Science Talent Search, You can buy our love, Paul. (The_Admiralty) Alan probably needed “Eight Days A Week.” But he persevered with just seven and became a finalist in the competition, thanks to a little help from his parents and Paul McCartney. The musician and fellow vegetarian was so impressed with Alan and his animal-friendly scientist ways that he took the time to write him this letter. It made all of those endless days spent in the lab worth it. (And it made all of us jealous!)

Enough song references for you? Okay, okay…I’ll Let It Be.

All you need is Paul.

It’s hard for me to imagine Alan as a youngster, willingly eating his veggies. My sister and I, loathe to eat our greens, used to push them around surreptitiously (and in revolt) until there were enough pockets of plate peeking through to make it appear as though we’d taken the required few bites. While I was pursuing the “Hamburglar” and all his meaty riches and happy meal toys, Alan was actively refusing all his tricks.

Popeye ate spinach for strength, but there’s no denying the many cognitive benefits of a diet rich in veggies. A New York Times article recently reported that a diet laden with greens can help slow the rate of mental decline. A 2006 study touted the same. Alan’s choice at a young age to become a vegetarian might mean he’ll maintain his smarts and brain function to a ripe old age. And that will buy him more time to earn a Nobel Peace Prize, something a great many Intel finalists aspire to and achieve. Keep eating those veggies, Alan! Eat your veggies, kids!

The lovely Jean Berko Gleason has made it into the headlines as of late, addressing the talking twins video that recently went viral on YouTube. Gleason said that although the twins were communicating through gestures, they weren’t actually talking, but “jargon babbling,” a kind of very expressive babbling. Whatever it was, it captured the rapt attention of nearly four million viewers, including me.

Elephants as art is not a new concept. In 2002, Washington, DC hosted an exhibit called “Party Animals.” It consisted of 100 elephant and 100 donkey sculptures (the symbolism needs no explanation) that were decorated by local artists and displayed around the capital. The “Media Circus” elephant read the fine print. I took a safari through the city one day to find as many as I could, but my journey lasted much longer than the exhibit. For years after the animals had been auctioned off, I would stumble across ones I hadn’t seen before. They would sneak up on you—a bison camouflaged in a front yard or a butterfly elephant fluttering by a neighbor’s pool.

But those crafty creatures have turned the tables and reclaimed art for themselves. Though large and lumbering, the oversized mammals are quite talented—they perform delicate dances in circuses and, thanks to Dave Sulzer, can serenade you, too. So it should come as no surprise that elephants can also master other artistic endeavors. Party animal Ging Gaow painted this work of art.

Most of Thailand’s domesticated elephants once had jobs in the timber industry, but new regulations and deforestation have left these animals adrift without a log. The Asian Elephant Art & Conservation Project decided to ensure the elephants’ survival by teaching them a new vocation—painting. The mammals’ art is sold to help the Asian elephant conservation effort. According to The National Zoo, an elephant trunk has over 40,000 muscles—more than all the muscles in a human body. That’s more than enough power to wield a paintbrush. Take a look!

So do elephants enjoy all of this creativity? According to Dave, they do. In fact, they might be the biggest “party animals” of all.

According to a recent article in USA Today, A Swimming Scientist Len Zon’s gene studies on zebrafish are shedding light on melanoma, the most deadly skin cancer, and offering clues on how to treat it. What can’t Len do with his zebrafish swimming by his side? All that said (and read), don’t let your zebrafish (or yourselves) swim in the sun too long! And if you want a Len refresher, watch and enjoy him all over again here.

Yale researchers, led by our very own Laurie Santos, have determined that prejudice is a trait humans have retained from our evolutionary predecessors. Judging Monkeys According to studies, rhesus macaques monkeys, who shared a common ancestor with humans millions of years ago, can tell if other monkeys are in the “ingroup” or “outgroup” and will treat them with love or disdain accordingly. And we thought kids could be brutal—I’d hate to be an outsider in monkey middle school. Even after millions of years, it seems valuing those in the in-crowd is a habit neither humans nor monkeys can shake. The good news is that the study also showed monkeys were flexible in letting “outgroup” members become “ingroup” members again. At least there’s hope. Read more about the fascinating discovery in the IB Times article. And watch Laurie’s videos again here

Our very own NOVA scienceNOW correspondent, Mo Rocca, recently interviewed Oscar-winner/”It Girl,” Natalie Portman. And I got the chance to grill Mo afterwards to see just how impressed he was with her Intel intellect that I wrote about previously. Below is our Q&A.

On Sunday mornings, he likes to Mo the “Swan.” TOBEY: Would you believe me if I told you Natalie Portman was a science whiz, nay, genius?

MO: In her yearbook she was voted most likely to win “Jeopardy.” And probably watching “Jeopardy” as a teen is what helped her get into Harvard. Something tells me that she could have beaten that computer. She’s whip-smart.

TOBEY: Now that she has that Oscar, what are the odds that her singular focus will lead her to a Nobel? A lot of those Intel finalists go on to win them, you know.

MO: “Black Swan” was probably really big in Scandinavia, so she probably has a leg up on a Nobel.

TOBEY: Do you think she might find her way back to science, at least via film?

Shaundra Daily’s software has been instrumental in helping girls understand their emotions, and apparently she’s not alone in her thinking. When I read this article in the New York Times, I was happy to know that other Shaundra’s exist the world over. This guy helps kids emote.

The piece shines a spotlight on the work of Mexican child psychologist Julia Borbolla, whose kid-like animated characters have helped get inside victimized children’s inner thoughts so that doctors are better able to help them. And the reason these “emotional agents” have been so effective at getting to the root cause is because most children feel more comfortable talking to a “kid” than to an adult. This thinking isn’t new – it’s just that technology has finally enabled doctors to put this rationale to good use.

As someone who has been told all throughout my adult life that my animated facial expressions reveal what I’m thinking at any given moment, it’s hard for me to remember that I wasn’t always like this. But as a child, I internalized nearly everything. And while I was quite emotive and playful when it was just me and my Smurfette action figures, I shut down around everyone else. Not quite a “flat line,” to use Shaundra’s words, but close. So when I watched Shaundra’s videos and read the article, it struck me how important having this capability actually is in helping children. Perhaps if Shaundra’s or Borbolla’s software would have existed in my youth, I could have expressed my feelings and made others understand how my surroundings were limiting my ability to emote.

I’m comforted that the technology exists now to help other kids make sense of their emotions. So to all you Shaundra’s and Borbolla’s out there trying to make a difference, I support you.

And when are you going to build some software to help adults understand the rollercoaster ride we’re on?

It seems everyone has a secret life. But who knew Natalie Portman’s was being a secret scientist? That’s right, you read me correctly. Hmmm, now what is the formula for a Black Swan? Ms. Portman’s resume extends beyond her IMDB credits and into the laboratory. The newly crowned Hollywood darling and Harvard alum was once a semifinalist in the Intel Science Talent Search competition – an elite contest for only the most scientifically genius youth, most of whom grow up to be awarded Nobel Peace Prizes and MacArther “genuis” grants. And now, Oscars.

So while Ms. Portman masqueraded as Queen Amidala by day, she was researching an environmentally friendly method of converting waste into energy by night. Is there anything the girl can’t do? For more on Ms. Portman’s scientific endeavors, as well as other stars who you’d never have guessed don lab coats, read The New York Times article.

What’s next, Natalie? Out-Oscaring Katharine Hepburn and single-handedly saving the planet as you pirouette?

As we reported in an earlier post, Judy was once so quiet and shy that she wouldn’t even speak to her teachers. But then a special teacher came along who made a very strong impact on little Judy. The teacher spent a lot of one-on-one time with her, taking the extra time to get to know Judy and earn her trust. Thanks to that teacher, Judy’s silence soon turned into a whisper, and eventually…a roar!

Below is that very special lady. So here’s a loud shout-out to Judy’s teacher and educators everywhere – thanks for all you do to shape our future! Judy doesn’t remember that special teacher’s name (it was a long time ago!) but we’re sending out some teacher love to her!

I can honestly say that visions of sugar plums were more likely to dance in my head…but then again, I’m no Michio Kaku. I loved math and science as a child, but my influences were more in the realm of boy band sensations (NKOTB!) than Nobel Prize Winners, sad as that may seem. I imagine Michio watching this broadcast of Einstein’s death on the news at the impressionable age of 8, the unified field equation beckoning him from his black and white television screen. It would one day permeate his thoughts and career, and provide a window for other equations to steal the dancefloor in his mind. (See Michio’s ‘Theory of Everything’ video….)!

Einstein did not believe in an individual surviving his own physical death, but on April 18, 1955 he certainly passed the baton—or in this case the unfinished manuscript of the unified field theory—and a young Michio took it, ran (er…skated) and never looked back.

Check out this clip to see just how much attention Len’s research really got—it even made it into a very well known monologue. (And come on Jay—ease up on the Lobster guys—there’s no such thing as a free lunch, even if it is invisible).

How does Len really change a zebrafish’s stripes? He has his very own, specially made magic wand, also known as his Monette trumpet. Watch and listen as Len trumpets his way into your (and Wynton’s) heart. Perhaps it will have you seeing stripes…or at least singing a different tune.