weird but true – Alison Pearce Stevens

I have a book in the Scholastic Book Fair!

Alison — Thu, 01 Sep 2016 19:38:42 +0000

Today, one of my dreams was realized: one of my books can be found on the shelves of the Scholastic Book Fair (both elementary and middle school fairs have it).

I help run the fair at my son’s school, and I have, for the past several years, dreamed that one day one of my books would be in the fair. And now it has. I’m so excited!

Look! There it is! WEIRD BUT TRUE SPORTS!

(Don’t have a book fair? No problem. You can get your copy here.)

Mighty microbots

Alison — Tue, 19 Apr 2016 18:38:12 +0000

Robotics researchers have come up with some remarkable things, like this self-steering drone. Now a group from Stanford University has created 1-inch microbots, called μTugs (pronounced “micro-Tugs”) that can move some really big things.

The researchers started by creating a gripping foot that acts like a gecko’s toes. That gives the ‘bot the traction it needs to really tug. A set of wheels lets it move forward between pulls. It may be slow, but it steadily moves objects weighing up to 2,000 times more than itself.

Climbing robots can scale a vertical surface while pulling up to 100 times their own weight. That’s like a person scaling a building with an elephant in tow!

Watch the ‘bots in action:

Did you know? Geckos can climb straight up smooth surfaces without slipping!

Want to know more? Check out my story on the microbots for Science News for Students.

First book signing!

Alison — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 18:50:09 +0000

Last week was a huge one for me. First we got the outdoor classroom installed at my kids’ school. Then on Saturday, I had my first book signing at the Bookworm Book Store in Omaha, Nebraska–and sold out of books in 10 minutes! (Okay, truth be told, the big box of books they ordered didn’t arrive on time, so there weren’t all that many copies to begin with, but it sure sounds impressive.)

Showing this enthusiastic bunch some of my favorite stories.

Signing books for my young fans. Oh my goodness: I have fans!

Lucky for me, I was part of an Exotic Animals Day, so there was lots to keep everyone entertained even without enough books on hand. We had four tarantulas (three different types), three scorpions that glowed under a black light, a thelyphonid (AKA whip scorpion), a brown recluse, and an amblypygid (AKA whip spider).

When you run out of books, it’s always handy to have some cool critters on hand to share with curious kids. Showing these two how the thelyphonid lost its tail.

An amblypygid is featured on page 94 of Weird but True Ripped from the Headlines 2, thanks to my good friend, arachnologist Eileen Hebets (who also provided many of the critters for the morning’s activities).

Thanks to the Bookworm for inviting me to be part of such a great event!