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Ellis Abel Learns.

In my own words

Why I love science

A research laboratory seen from outside through a glass window, with a scientist inside preparing samples for analysis. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Science" page.
A research laboratory seen from outside through a glass window, with a scientist inside preparing samples for analysis. U.S. Geological Survey · Public domain
  • I get to ask why, and then find out.
  • I write down what I think will happen. Then I check.
  • Being wrong is not bad here. Being wrong is a clue.

What it really is

Science is asking a question in a way that lets the world answer it.

Three things to try today

  1. Ask one question nobody in your house knows the answer to.
  2. Write your guess down before you look it up.
  3. Look it up. See how close you were.
Student intern Maddy Olson works alongside NASA scientists at a bench in the Swamp Works laboratory at Kennedy Space Center. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Science" page.
Student intern Maddy Olson works alongside NASA scientists at a bench in the Swamp Works laboratory at Kennedy Space Center. NASA · Public domain

For the grown-up reading this

Prediction before observation is the whole method. Ask for the guess first, every time.

Why I love science — 4,299 places across America

Alabama (87)
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California (273)
Colorado (85)
Connecticut (27)
D.C. (1)
Delaware (5)
Florida (158)
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Hawaii (8)
Idaho (54)
Illinois (155)
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Maine (21)
Maryland (35)
Massachusetts (53)
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Montana (61)
Nebraska (97)
Nevada (22)
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New Jersey (45)
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North Carolina (127)
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Ohio (124)
Oklahoma (88)
Oregon (51)
Pennsylvania (88)
Rhode Island (6)
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations (5)
South Carolina (65)
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Tennessee (114)
Texas (340)
Utah (48)
Vermont (16)
Virginia (158)
Washington (77)
Washington, D.C. (1)
West Virginia (64)
Wisconsin (95)
Wyoming (25)

Love something else too

A wide-angle view of the flight control room of NASA's Mission Control Center, filled with rows of consoles and display screens. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Technology" page.Why I love technologyLong rows of black cabinets housing the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Center for Climate Simulation. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Computers" page.Why I love computersTwo small AstroPi Raspberry Pi computers with camera modules floating in the Columbus laboratory of the space station. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Coding" page.Why I love codingA close-up of one row of the Discover supercomputer, showing about 2,000 processors stacked in cabinets with cabling. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Data" page.Why I love dataThe Robonaut 2 humanoid robot, with a gold-visored head and two jointed arms, mounted inside the Destiny laboratory of the space station. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Robotics" page.Why I love robotsThe tracked crawler-transporter carries a mobile launcher platform and twin solid rocket boosters along the crawlerway toward Launch Pad 39A. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Engineering" page.Why I love engineeringThe International Space Station with its newly attached Destiny laboratory, photographed from space shuttle Atlantis above a cloud-covered Earth. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Space" page.Why I love spaceA Hubble Space Telescope view of the faint blue spiral galaxy NGC 3274 surrounded by scattered stars on a black background. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Astronomy" page.Why I love stars

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