In 1981, the U.S. medical community noticed a significant number of gay men living in urban areas with rare forms of pneumonia, cancer, and lymph disorders. The cluster of ailments was initially dubbed Gay-Related Immune Disease (GRID), but when similar illnesses increased in other groups, the name changed to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The mid-1980s saw a number of advances toward understanding and treating the disease, but no vaccine or cure was forthcoming. Gay advocacy and community-based organizations began providing services and pressuring government to increase funding for finding a cure and helping victims. Despite further drug therapy breakthroughs and prevention campaigns, in 1995 AIDS became the leading cause of death for Americans aged 25 to 44. By 2002, while the annual rate of new HIV cases dropped in the U.S. to 40,000 (from a 1980s high of 150,000), more than 20 million people worldwide had died from the disease, and 40 million were living with HIV. In the following 1983 testimony before a congressional committee, three AIDS patients described their personal experiences during the early years of the disease.

In 1981, the U.S. medical community noticed a significant number of gay men living in urban areas with rare forms of pneumonia, cancer, and lymph disorders. The cluster of ailments was initially dubbed Gay-Related Immune Disease (GRID), but when similar illnesses increased in other groups, the name changed to Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS). The mid-1980s saw a number of advances toward understanding and treating the disease, but no vaccine or cure was forthcoming. Gay advocacy and community-based organizations began providing services and pressuring government to increase funding for finding a cure and helping victims. In the following 1983 testimony before a congressional committee, three representatives of social service organizations sharply criticized the Reagan administration's limited response to the AIDS crisis, advocated increased federal funding, and warned that AIDS was a societal "time bomb" likely to have grave consequences beyond the gay community. In 1995 AIDS became the leading cause of death for Americans aged 25 to 44. By mid-2002, while the annual rate of new HIV cases dropped in the U.S. to 40,000 (from a 1980s high of 150,000), more than 20 million people worldwide had died from the disease, and 40 million were living with HIV.

An interview with biologist David Pearson, an author and expert on tiger beetles. Did you know that tiger beetles can run so fast that they go blind and just what would it be like to be hunted by these tiny, but ferocious animals? These are a few of the questions that we learn the answer from our guest biologist.

The emergence of Western science: the systematization of natural knowledge in the ancient world, the transmission of the classical legacy to the Latin West, and the revolt from classical thought during the scientific revolution. Examines scientific concepts in light of their cultural and historical contexts.

This animation produced by WGBH and Digizyme, Inc. demonstrates the experimental technique used to introduce DNA plasmids inside bacterial cells, a process called bacterial transformation.

This lesson introduces carbon emissions and the idea of carbon and ecological footprints to students.

Design, operation, and management of traffic flows over complex transportation networks. Covers two major topics: traffic flow modeling and traffic flow operations. Deterministic and probabilistic models, elements of queueing theory, and traffic assignment. Concepts are illustrated through various applications and case studies.

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, the cast tries to design and build a bridge made out of drinking straws that will support the weight of 200 pennies.

This interactive activity, from the Building Big Web site, explores tunneling and the tools and methods used to do the job.

Students explore the lifeforms and land formations under the ocean. The three ocean levels and their respective lifeforms are investigated and discussed, focusing on shape, form, and color. Students will gain a better understanding of the connections between the science and arts curriculum.

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students examine how to use fractions to measure and help conserve freshwater resources.

In this video segment adapted from the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Inuit observers describe how their traditional understanding of weather patterns is being challenged by unpredictable weather behaviors.

The work of anthropologists such as Franz Boas, Margaret Mead, and Ruth Benedict did much to popularize the notion that accepted American standards of behavior were not found universally in other cultures. Traditional gender norms therefore were culturally and historically determined rather than derived from nature. In the following Collier's article from 1952, Dr. Judson T. and Mary G. Landis invoked Mead's work to investigate contradictory assessments of the "typical" American male as either dominant and aggressive or blundering and dependent. The authors examined findings of social scientists that compared male and female survival rates, achievement, and sexual performance. They argued that while men were, in fact, the "weaker" sex biologically, their struggle to conform to cultural ideals of superiority and dominance often led to failure and difficulties in relationships. Their conclusion--that "in most families the man is, and has to be, the 'stronger,' he has to be the bulwark for the family" because of greater fluctuations in "endocrinological functioning" of women than in men--shows the power that ideas of biological determinism held even in the social science community.

In 1904, in the midst of a bitter stockyard strike, socialist writer Upton Sinclair's two-month visit to Chicago's "Packingtown" area provided him with a wealth of material that he turned into his best-selling novel, The Jungle. The book is best known for revealing the unsanitary process by which animals became meat products. Yet Sinclair's primary concern was not with the goods that were produced, but with the workers who produced them. Throughout the book, as in this chapter, he described with great accuracy the horrifying physical conditions under which immigrant packing plant workers and their families worked and lived, portraying the collapse of immigrant culture under the relentless pressure of industrial capitalism. Despite his sympathies, as a middle-class reformer Sinclair was oblivious to the vibrancy of immigrant communities beyond the reach of bosses, where immigrants found solidarity and hope. Sinclair's graphic descriptions of how meat products were manufactured were an important factor in the subsequent passage of the federal Pure Food and Drug and Meat Inspection Act in 1906. Sinclair later commented about the effect of his novel: "I aimed at the public's heart and by accident hit its stomach."

"Designing a dream city is easy. Rebuilding a living one takes imagination.â€ " " " -Jane Jacobs This course examines the challenges that cities will face and strategies they can use to prepare for the impacts of climate change. Particular attention will be paid to the presence of global disparities, the needs of vulnerable populations and resource constrained locales, and the ways in which local government and community-based activities can achieve equitable levels of climate-readiness.

This video adapted from the University of Leicester demonstrates the proper use of different-sized micropipettes to measure precise volumes of liquid in the lab.

In this lesson designed to enhance literacy skills, students examine our growing waste problem and learn about strategies we can use to lessen the strain on our landfills and Earth's natural resources: reduce, reuse, recycle.

The Atomic Energy Act of 1946, known informally as the McMahon Act, established the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) as a federal institution to have total control of developments in the field of atomic energy. To replace the predominate image of atomic weapons as destructive, the AEC began a public relations campaign to show the atom's positive side. Hopes for a utopian society with atomic-powered cars and airplanes had died down by the late 1940s. But the promise of atomic energy for medical research, diagnosis, and treatment and for preventing starvation through duplicating photosynthesis remained. In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed a revision to the McMahon Act opening development to private industry. In the following article from the popular magazine Look published a year later, David O. Woodbury reprised the "utopian promise" rhetoric of the late 1940s, as he discussed the potential of radioisotopes for health, food production, and industry, as well as the production of electric power through atomic energy. The first nuclear power plant began operation in 1957 and facilities proliferated during the next two decades. Due to a drop in demand for electricity, a strong grassroots antinuclear movement concerned about safety and the disposal of nuclear waste, and national anxiety after the Three Mile Island accident in 1979, no new facilities were built after 1979 and many have been shut down.

Meet the Virus Investigators—a team of scientists at the John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Center for Research in Virology who study how viruses replicate and evolve so that we can better control them!

Resources available for learning about this lab include:
• Interactive cards designed to introduce students to scientists in a more personal way
• A video with a personal story that explains why the lab's research matters in real life
• Questions to consider that will spark connection, reflection, and conversation
• An interactive video experience where you can ask questions of scientists in the lab and learn about their research
• An inquiry-based activity that focuses on doing science, using some of the same science practices that the lab uses
• An educator guide with information about standards alignment, curriculum connections, and tips for using the media resources

These resources are part of Meet the Lab, a collection of educational resources for middle school science classrooms.

Ever wonder how a battery works? This segment highlights voltaic cells, their various components and how they operate.