A mountaintop astronomical observatory at night, its dome open to a sky full of stars above a dark ridgeline.

Academy stories

Stories that teach

Real episodes from science and history, and fiction about choices that matter. Each one takes a few minutes, and each ends with a question to think about.

FictionEleven MinutesThe booth at the university's open day promised that anyone could drive a Mars rover.…3 min read
FictionThe Graph That LiedDev was proud of the chart. It had taken him a whole evening to get the colors right.…3 min read
True storyThe Pump on Broad StreetOn the last day of August 1854, people in one corner of Soho, London, began to die.…3 min read
FictionThe Result We WantedThe science fair was on Friday. It was Wednesday night, and Mira's result was wrong.…3 min read
True storyThe Stone That Spoke Three WaysIn July 1799, French soldiers rebuilding a fort near the Egyptian town of Rashid, which Europeans called Rosetta, pulled a slab of dark ston…3 min read
True storyThe Well at SyeneSome time in the third century before the common era, a librarian in Alexandria heard something that bothered him.…3 min read
True storyTwelve-Oh-TwoOn 20 July 1969, with the lunar module Eagle a few minutes from touchdown on the Moon, a yellow warning light came on in the cabin and the c…3 min read
True storyWash Your Hands, DoctorIn 1846, a young Hungarian doctor named Ignaz Semmelweis had a problem he could not stop looking at.…3 min read