A site maintained by A. Bloomfield, the author of "How Things Work: The Physics of Everyday Life." You can read old questions or ask Bloomfield your own. Great explanations of everyday physics.

What you see and what you think you see are different things. Find out what your brain doing behind-the-scenes!

This article discusses the benefits of teaching students how to take things apart. Includes examples of how students record the process of disassembling something, what the parts are named, and their relationships of components to each...

Find out seven surprising facts about how the nation's highest court works and how it's changed over the years.

Everyone wants a good memory but we don't often ask ourselves what memory is for. Let's begin our exploration of why memory is important and how it works with a little memory test: Do you remember what you learned in class last...

Invented around 1930, the Van de Graaff generator is a popular tool for teaching the principles of electrostatics. Others just call it "that thing that makes your hair stand on end." See how it works here.

There's a pleasure in making things for yourself- especially something unexpected. William Gurstelle shows how to make your own speakers from objects probably already laying around your house, like copper wire and an empty yogurt cup. [6...

The author discusses how he and his partner have applied the laws of systems thinking outlined by Peter Senge over the 13 years since they started their digital agency business. He describes the things that worked and those that didn't....

There are various approaches to solving problems that require us to analyze and interpret data. However, complex problems can require different perspectives to work upon and different elements that altogether play a crucial role in...