What Are You Curious About? An Exciting New Science Service Sparticl
From Rick McMaster
For those unfamiliar with sparticles, think S (as in Science), add particle, drop the “e” (but not the Engineering), end with a “.org” and you will find yourself at a new web and mobile service designed to excite teenagers (and adults like me) about science. Even their graphic is stimulating, representing the supersymmetric particle, well beyond my education as a low temperature physicist.

So what’s new and different here? Sparticl is a collector and distributor of information, not a direct source of it. Each day new information appears on the front page to explore. Have an item of specific interest or maybe an assignment? Just answer the question “What are you curious about?” and you’ll quickly see the wealth of information that is available to you through links – videos, articles, games – media of all sorts that will educate and make you a near expert in no time.

My first test was entering “Higgs Boson” just before this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded. I viewed a number of the links and all the material was very high quality. I just tried it again and there’s a whole page of results, including the announcement of the Nobel Prize to Peter Higgs and Francois Englert. This single search yielded links to Nova, Test Tube Games, NPR, Live Science, CNET, Time, CERN, and physics.org. My favorite is from GÉANT, “Sonification enables world to hear new Higgs Boson-like particle”. Want to hear a Higgs Boson? Give it a try yourself.

Sparticl’s own words best describe the service. “Sparticl is a new web and mobile service for teens, a collection of the very best the web has to offer in science, technology, engineering, and math or STEM. Sparticl includes answers to science questions, images, videos, games, and hands-on activities, all curated by a team of experts. But it's also a place where teens play a critical part – ranking content, sharing it, and recommending new content, all the while earning points and badges. Sparticl is created by the award-winning National Productions division of Twin Cities Public Television, and is made possible with the generous support of 3M.”

For parents and educators who are concerned about safety, Sparticl uses technical filters, member moderators, and Sparticl moderators to supervise activity on the website. While it is open to children of all ages, only users over the age of 13 can create an account. Sparticl does not offer user-to-user contact. To learn more about these aspects of the site, click on For Parents.

You can follow Sparticl on Facebook, Twitter and Google+.

“What are you curious about?” Give it a try and pass it on.

Until the next issue and, as always, your comments and suggestions for future columns are welcome, @drkold.

Rick McMaster is the STEM Advocate at IBM’s University Programs Worldwide.

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