Read Along with Charles Darwin

Much of Charles Darwin's work and writing, from personal letters to manuscripts, have been online for some time. In fact, some 35,000 documents can be found at The Complete Work of Charles Darwin website, which is hosted by the University of Singapore and partially sponsored by the British Society for the History of Science.

Now,  The Biodiversity Heritage Library has scanned 300 document from the scientists collection of 1,480 books in his personal library. Now we can see what kind of a note-taker Darwin, an English naturalist who lived during the1800s, was. Many of the books have Darwin’s comments scribbled in the margins. You can also go to Wired News to see a photo gallery of some of the scanned images.

Sources:  The Biodiversity Heritage Library, The Complete Work of Charles Darwin, British Society for the History of Science, Wired News.

Who Needs Gravity?

Synchronized swimming and ice skating may be one thing. But what about synchronized skydiving inside a wind flight simulator in Prague, Czech Republic.

Watch the two-minute video below, or read more about stunt in London's Daily Mail.

How Legos Are Made

Who doesn't love Legos, but have you ever thought about how they are made? An article on CNET shows through photos how these little blocks come to be. The photos also come from Denmark, home of Lego.

Medusa is complete!

Kayla, Jenn, and I, Rubina, have finally finished Medusa. She is an exercise catapult. You fling her by using your own arm strength and if you do that for a while, you might develop some serious arm muscles. Jenn has experienced this muscle work and knows what it feels like.

That is our catapult. Medusa and her Minions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Written by: Rubina

Thank You!!!!

Laura M.,

Thank you so much for volunteering at Hillwood for the uppergraders!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank You!!!!!!!!

Rubina H.

The Hillwood Hearald Takes On the Design Squad Challenge

Today is the day we finish up our PBS Design Squad Challenges. We will be uploading videos of our contraptions, as well as a description about our teams and design and engineering plans.

The questions we will be answering are: 

• Tell us about your team. 
(What's your team name/story? Who's on your team?)

• Describe your project. 
(What activity did you build big and why? How did you build it?)

Here is a video from last week: