Posts by Jean M. Ward

It’s amazing to think that even 2,000 years after the city of Pompeii was destroyed, there is still something left to discover. But earlier this year, archaeologists literally uncovered a remarkable new find. As originally announced on PompeiiSites.org, researchers discovered a fancy chariot, unlike any they had ever seen before. Best of all, it was...

We are all overworked and under slept. My dog insists on waking me up earlier on the weekend than I have to get up during the week, and she refuses to be ignored. So I totally get how people can be just too tired, although I do worry about some of them being out on...

The luxury goods market is an interesting one. I mean, I’m as guilty as the next person of spending my hard earned money on ridiculous things. But there are definitely some items for sale that make you go “what?” Last month, mother and hockey fan Lexi Brown, PhD, went viral for her Tweet about random...

It’s heartbreaking when parents can’t take care of their children. Sometimes they’re very young or battling illness. Whatever the reason, the courts often look to grandparents to fill in. There are times when such an arrangement is the perfect solution. Other times, as these painful confessions demonstrate, it doesn’t really work out that way. Here,...

Personally, I can only imagine how gut-wrenching it must be to lose custody of a child you love. Whether it’s due to a difficult divorce, health, or financial reasons, it’s never easy. There can be all sorts of reasons, and even when you believe it’s in the child’s best interest, that doesn’t necessarily make it...

We’re all human, and part of being human is making mistakes. As a writer, I have definitely made my fair share of embarrassing typos. I remember one particular social media post where my mistake made it hilarious, but it was also devastatingly inappropriate and embarrassing, and I had to delete it as soon as my...

When you run a business, it’s all about building your brand. And one of the best ways to do that is through your logo and your signage. There’s nothing worse than when something goes wrong–it seems like it could cost you a lot of money to do over. Some businesses choose to live with it...

Just when you thought you knew how the world works, science throws you something new. There’s a ton of great research coming out of PhD programs these days–new discoveries and new ideas. One such researcher is Qian Yuan from the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University. His research suggests that parts...

Growing up, we played a lot of board games. We had the classics like Checkers, Clue, Trivial Pursuit, and Monopoly. We also played oddly specific games like a Clue-style Sherlock Holmes who-dunit, The New York game which involved navigating the subway to visit famous Manhattan sites, and an It’s a Wonderful Life themed trivia game....

We used to talk a lot about Global Warming. Then over the last few decades, the concept got rebranded as Climate Change, and with good reason. Warming in and of itself is not necessarily concerning. It’s the dramatic fluctuations in normal weather patterns, which we experience with greater and greater frequency and severity, in addition...

People‘s number one complaint against aquariums seems to be that marine mammals belong in the ocean, not “swimming in circles.” But what if that is actually a natural behavior, and we just didn’t know it until now? 🦈🌀❓ Scientists have discovered a confounding pattern in nature: Many marine animals are strangely swimming in circles. Why...

Every so often, the scientific community grows worried about an asteroid heading towards Earth, and we all wait on tenterhooks to see if a Sci-Fi action movie will become our new reality. Because what else can we do? Now a scientist from the University of Arizona is making plans to preserve life should such an...

The White House is an historic symbol of American pride and freedom. And because it is both the home and office of the President, there are a great many rules about who can come and go and what they can bring with them. Obviously the public can’t bring in things like weapons. But it might...

When I was young and hungry for adventure, I wish I would have seriously considered teaching English abroad. What an amazing experience it must be! Getting paid to immerse yourself in a completely different place, life, and culture? Here is what 12 young people had to say about why they went, and how teaching English...

It’s easy to feel lost right after college. Too many people ask what you’re going to do with the rest of your life. And who’s ready to think about 401ks and health insurance in their 20s? When they’re not ready to face “real life” yet, a lot of young people turn to teaching English abroad....