Skip to content
Ellis Abel Learns.

In my own words · Ithaca, NY

Why I love whales

A humpback whale launching most of its body out of the ocean in a breach, with spray flying off its flippers. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Whales" page — read by families in Ithaca, NY.
A humpback whale launching most of its body out of the ocean in a breach, with spray flying off its flippers. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, via U.S. Geological Survey · Public domain
  • The biggest animal that ever lived is alive right now.
  • They talk across an ocean.
  • They went back into the water on purpose.

You can love whales in Ithaca.

What it really is

Whales are mammals that returned to the sea and communicate across huge distances.

Three things to try today

  1. Find out how long a blue whale is.
  2. Measure that out on the ground.
  3. Walk from one end to the other.

For the grown-up reading this

The Ithaca, NY metro area has about 104,047 residents, ranking 356th in the country. Somewhere in that number is a kid who lights up about whales and has never met another one.

Pacing out thirty meters makes the size real in a way a number never does.

If the kid who loves this is a girl

Read what one popular teacher said to one little girl who took out the classroom trash without being asked — and what that girl did with the rest of her life.

Girls are great at math — Ithaca, NY →

Love something else too

A bee crawling over the yellow centre of a wildflower while pollinating it on Kennedy Space Center property. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Insects" page — read by families in Ithaca, NY.Why I love bugsA scientist looks through a microscope at human breast cancer cells in a cell bioassay laboratory, with an automated liquid handling robot behind her. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Medicine" page — read by families in Ithaca, NY.Why I love doctorsAstronaut Kate Rubins holds a handheld DNA sequencer while running a gene sequencing experiment aboard the space station. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Genetics" page — read by families in Ithaca, NY.Why I love DNAAstronaut Ricky Arnold processes swab samples of microbes collected from space station surfaces at a work station. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Germs" page — read by families in Ithaca, NY.Why I love germsA 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 — read by families in Ithaca, NY.Why I love scienceA 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 — read by families in Ithaca, NY.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 — read by families in Ithaca, NY.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 — read by families in Ithaca, NY.Why I love coding

Near Ithaca

Why I love whales, everywhere in the US · All things to love · STEM jobs you could do · Summer camps in Ithaca