The Why Files is created at the University of Wisconsin-Madison under the guidance of National Institute for Science Education with support from the National Science Foundation. Each week, there is a new story on the science behind the news.
Science Resources
Science News for Students
Science News for Students (formerly Science News for Kids) aims to bring new scientific information and research developments to a younger audience. Published daily, SNS posts both shorter news stories and longer features, all written with a vocabulary and sentence structure aimed at readers 9 to 14 years old.
NASA For Students
Students can explore and experience unique space and aeronautics content through NASA's education resources. Explore NASA Kids' Club, NASA news, and learn about all the cool projects NASA is working on.
Gross Science
Why do we smell different when we’re sick? Why does cheese smell like feet? Why don’t vultures get sick from eating rotting meat? Science is filled with stories: some of them are beautiful and some of them are gross. Really gross. Gross Science tells bizarre stories from the slimy, smelly, creepy world of science.
The Secret LIfe of Scientists & Engineers
This PBS NOVA series profiles today’s leading scientists—and shows what they’re like when the lab coats come off—showing a human side of science that many students can relate to. The series explores scientists and engineers in the following fields: earth science, life science, medicine, physics and math, social science, space science, and more.
Nature
This collection of science videos and media-enhanced lesson plans draws upon the powerful documentaries of public television’s award-winning natural history series, Nature. The video pieces focus on domesticated animals, ecosystems, human impact, life cycles, wild animals, natural science, and more.
MIT's Science Out Loud
Science Out Loud is an original webseries hosted and co-written by MIT students on everything from the physics of skydiving to the biochemistry of farts. These videos take the traditional concepts taught in middle and high school science, engineering, and math classes and put them in a context completely outside the classroom.
Physics Girl
Discover the immersive, perplexing, and hands-on side of physical science with the Physics Girl. In this series from PBS Digital Studios, the Physics Girl shows us how the physical world works by using everyday experiments and questions to demonstrate basic (and sometimes, dangerously complex) scientific ideas.
