PTERO-SOAR

Tomorrow's High-Tech Aircraft May Use Secrets From the Days of the Dinosaurs!

PLANES Made of PLANTS

Scientists are looking for creative ways to reduce airplanes' carbon footprints by making them fly more efficiently and developing sustainable fuels. But what about the materials in the planes themselves?

The QUEST for QUIET, QUICK PLANES

Supersonic Flight Could Be Making a Comeback

WHY KITTY HAWK?

The Wright brothers searched carefully for the best place to test their gliders and flying machines. Their main concern was for good, steady winds. But they also hoped to find a remote location to allow them to perform tests away from the public eye.

TAKING OFF

The Wright brothers expected airplanes to “take off,” but even they might be amazed at the way the airline industry has become big business. In the past, it was expensive to send something by plane.

Da Vinci's 4 Designs

Have you ever wondered how a bird flies? Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) did. He thought that understanding how a bird flies would provide the key to human flight. So, what did da Vinci learn from birds?

TAKING OFF TOWARD A GREENER FUTURE

Efforts to make flying sustainable

Do You Really Want a Flying Car?

Close your eyes and imagine the future. Are flying cars whizzing through the air?

Envisioning the Future

Albert Robida had a fun but clear-eyed view of the future. Writing and illustrating at the end of the 1800s, he imagined what the year 2000 would look like. Who could picture the world more than a century in the future?

Balloons on a Mission

When scientists need to do research at the very edge of space, they skip the rocket ship and send a balloon instead.

No Flights of Fancy

Animal-inspired innovations for airplanes

Airborne Animals

Humans have taken to the skies in balloons, gliders, and airplanes-but we're not alone among the clouds. Animals of all sorts have evolved to harness wind power.

Eye in the Sky

An interview with Joe Piotrowski

"Addictive" Social Media Feeds That Keep Children Online Targeted by New York Lawmakers

New York would restrict the way online platforms like Instagram and YouTube can collect and share children's personal information and let parents keep their kids from being bombarded by "addictive" feeds from accounts they don't follow, under legislation proposed this week.

Getting Started

The people who settled the United States have a history of being restless. They often were on the move, always searching for a better place to live. The first settlers who sailed from Europe crossed the Atlantic Ocean. They established colonies along North America’s eastern coastline.

THE MISSION AT WAIILATPU

One fall day in 1831, four Nez Perce men arrived in St. Louis, Missouri. They sought a meeting with General William Clark. They had met Clark some 25 years before when he had explored the country with Meriwether Lewis and the Corps of Discovery.

Eyes on Oregon

The instructions President Thomas Jefferson gave his minister to France in 1802 were simple: negotiate the purchase of the port city of New Orleans from France.

WAGONS HO!

Oregon fever spread quickly in the early 1800s. The symptoms included restlessness, hunger for land, and a thirst for adventure. The cure was to get to Oregon Country as quickly as possible.

THE PATHFINDER

One man in particular provided information about the route to Oregon Country. He was explorer, soldier, and politician John Charles Frémont.

Let's Dine Out

Has your family ever taken a long car trip? Did you eat at restaurants or shop along the way? On the Oregon Trail, pioneers could not stop in restaurants or grocery stores.

From Point A to Point B

Before railways extended across the continent in the mid- to late 1800s, getting from one coast to the other in North America was a real trek.

A TRUE PIONEER

DR. D'S MYSTERY HERO

Diamonds BURIED HERE

STRANGE-LOOKING A PLANT TELLS PROSPECTORS WHERE TO DIG.

Danger on the Trail

About 20,000 emigrants died on the Oregon Trail. That averaged to about one grave for every 100 yards from the Missouri River to the Willamette Valley. And because pioneers had to keep to a steady pace each day, burials on the trail were hasty. There often was no time to create a marker to note a burial site.

Routes Well Traveled

The United States is not the only country that celebrates its historic routes. But the routes included here are much older!

TRICIA NADEAU

Coolest job ever. No, make that the hottest job ever. As a volcanologist, Tricia Nadeau has a front-row seat to erupting volcanoes.

THE MAGMA HAMMER STRIKES

Tonga's Recent Massive Underwater Eruption

Last Stop, Independence

For many Oregon Trail pioneers, Independence, Missouri, was the last stop in the United States. Soon after it was founded in 1827, the waterfront town became a strategic city on the Missouri River.

Deadly Lakes

WHAT ARE LIMNIC ERUPTIONS?

IO'S ON FIRE

Volcanoes in Our Solar System and Beyond