4 Awesome Science Things to Show Your Kid Today

Every day the internet gifts us a weird, wonderful mix of videos, GIFs, and memes, the best of which offer funny, informative, horizon-expanding stuff to share with your kids. Problem is, it takes a while to wade through all the other nonsense to find them. And who has time for that? Not you. Here, then, is a daily dose of new science-related content to share with your kids. Hopefully, they’ll spur some interesting family conversations or just keep them from playing with a fidget spinner for a while. Today’s finds include a real life robocop and the world’s first drone jump.

This Daring Drone Jump

Considering man successfully jumped to earth from space, you wouldn’t think that there are many aerial boundaries to break. But there are. And Ingus Augstkalns recently broke one. Lifted up to 1,082 feet by a 28-propellor drone to 1,082 feet, the skydiver safely completed the first ever drone jump. The stunt, which took place in Mali, Latvia, might not seem like much, but it required more than six months of preparation to complete. As drone technology continues to improve, we’ll surely see wilder drone-assisted jumps in the near future.

IRL Robocop

It’s not the year 2043, but the first Robocop is here. Today, the first-ever robotic cop took to the streets of Dubai. Along with an adorable police hat, the patrolman “moves around on wheels, can speak six languages, and has the ability to detect a person’s emotions and facial expressions.” While the prototype may not yet be able to solve a string of seemingly unrelated murders, the DPF is planning for robotic police officers to account for 25 percent of their police force by 2030.

Dino Tooth

George Phillips was hunting for fossilized crabs and mollusks in the Missippi River when he stumbled upon a dinosaur tooth. But it wasn’t just any incisor. Andrew Farke, a paleontologist at the Raymond M. Alf Museum of Paleontology, studied the tooth and found that it likely belonged to a ceratopsid, a horned dinosaur similar to the triceratops. This is significant because a horned dinosaur has never before been found in eastern North America, which means our entire dinosaur timeline might be thrown off.

A Ready For Mars Car

NASA is currently working to launch a mission to Mars in 2020, and they released an artist’s rendering of what the mission’s rover will look like. The straight out of Star Wars six-wheeled, multi-armed vehicle features a brand new drill that “can collect core samples of the most promising rocks and soils and set them aside on the surface of Mars.” Pretty great, but does it have any place for bumper stickers?