Tea and Crumpets: A Summer in Science

Code Girls  by Liza Mundy "The first American to learn that World War II had officially ended was a woman" reads the first line of the Smithsonian article lauding the release of Liza Mundy's book Code Girls about the amazing women who helped break codes for the United States during WWII. We all know the story of Alan Turing, the code-breaking computer scientist that created the machine to crack the German Enigma code during World War II. You've maybe seen the hit movie The Alan Turing Imitation Game , starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Kiera Knightly. The British code-breaking operation at Bletchley Park is well known, but few people know about the American counterpart, and fewer still know about the women that were integral to the success of its mission. The Code Girls  by Liza Mundy beautifully chronicles their story. From their origins in mathematics and physics classes at college during a time when women typically did not pursue higher education, or...

Ever walk down the street and see a beautiful mural and wonder who created it? Or what it signifies? Enter Artistreet . This site, created by students in my Girls Who Code classroom, identifies street art in numerous cities across the United States. Global Warming  by Shepard Fairey located in Miami The girls created the site by scraping open-source elements from other sites and combining and expanding through their own original code. They worked mainly in HTML, incorporating CSS and JavaScript to make their site more interactive. They also incorporated Google Maps to show the locations of the different street art in real time. They did this all in under two weeks! They did multiple rounds of user testing and refined their design multiple times from the feedback of both other students and UI professionals. The Owl  by Brooks Golden located in Chicago The final product is a website that is coded well, educational, and aesthetically pleasing. As their ...

There is lots of wearable tech out there, with varying designs and capabilities. As wearables grow in popularity, some people dislike the obvious "tech" look of products like the Apple Watch or FitBit. Enter Blinq . The ring, currently on Kickstarter, is a panic button that looks more like gem than gadget. The ring is a panic device that can be activated when the wearer feels they are in danger by a customized series of taps, which trigger an emergency message to be sent to a set of emergency contacts. The ring can also be synched to your phone, delivering notifications through vibrations and lights, allowing you to set your phone aside. But functionality is not what set Blinq apart. It's the chic design that does not give away its high tech purpose. The stones are genuine gemstones, and are set in silver or 14k gold. There are 12 different design options with three available finishes (silver, gold, and rose gold). The designs are modern but classic, and there...