Melanie Meadors, Author at GeekMom

What Made King Alfred so “Great?”

February 24, 2022February 23, 2022Melanie Meadors

King Alfred of the Anglo-Saxons is known as “The Great.” What did he do to earn this title, and did he really deserve it?

Bessie Coleman: History-Making Flying Ace

February 7, 2022February 6, 2022Melanie Meadors

Bessie Coleman was the first African American woman to get her pilot’s license. Learn more about how this young flying ace made Black history.

Why Isn’t the Earth Cratered Like the Moon?

January 18, 2022January 17, 2022Melanie Meadors

The Moon and Earth are close neighbors, but they look very different. Why isn’t the Earth cratered like the Moon? There are five main reasons, many of which are interconnected.

Enceladus Ice Plumes: New Insights

January 11, 2022January 11, 2022Melanie Meadors

A couple years ago, I wrote an article about how scientists were using the scientific method (yes, the one you learned about in school) in order to study the Enceladus ice plumes, which were discovered when Cassini was doing its fly-bys of several of Saturn’s moons. Well, they are still at it, and learning even more about this fascinating place in our solar system.

Margaret Beaufort: The Pain, Piety, and Politics of a Medieval Mother, Part 3

January 7, 2022January 6, 2022Melanie Meadors

Things aren’t looking great for Margaret Beaufort and her new baby Henry Tudor, as seen in the last installment of this series following a young noblewoman on her path through the politics of medieval England. Find out what happens in this last installment of “Margaret Beaufort: The Pain, Piety, and Politics of a Medieval Mother.”

Margaret Beaufort: The Pain, Piety, and Politics of a Medieval Mother, Part 2

December 23, 2021December 22, 2021Melanie Meadors

When last we left Margaret Beaufort, the mother of the Tudor dynasty in late medieval England, she was seven years old and had just been married to John de la Pole as a political pawn. This was typical for wealthy, landed gentry of the time. It gave the woman (or child, in this case) security […]

How Will NASA’s DART Asteroid Mission Work?

November 27, 2021November 26, 2021Melanie Meadors

What is NASA’s DART asteroid mission, and how will it protect us from near-Earth objects?

Margaret Beaufort: The Pain, Piety, and Politics of a Medieval King’s Mother, Part 1

November 21, 2021November 20, 2021Melanie Meadors

How did Margaret Beaufort go from daughter of a tainted family to mother of a king? Find out in the first of a three-part series!

New Black Hole Discovered Outside Our Galaxy

November 11, 2021November 10, 2021Melanie Meadors

The same thing that keeps Earth in orbit around the Sun can help us detect black holes: gravity. And that’s just how astronomers using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope found a small black hole in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a next door neighbor galaxy to our own.

Medieval Women: Fact from Fiction

November 1, 2021October 31, 2021Melanie Meadors

Let’s take a deeper look at the various roles and identities of two European women in the Middle Ages to dispel some fact from fiction.

Bicycles for Women: Fashion, Freedom, and Function, Part 3

October 25, 2021October 25, 2021Melanie Meadors

What were some of the cultural impacts of women and bicycles at the time? That’s the subject of this concluding part of Melanie’s series. Be sure to read parts one and two of the series as well!

Bicycles for Women: Fashion, Freedom, and Function, Part 2

October 18, 2021October 17, 2021Melanie Meadors

Bicycles were a big deal for women in the 1890s, but why? Was it just a fashion statement, or did it really give women a sense of freedom and emancipation from standard gender roles? In part two of my series, I will show how bicycles became more useful to women at the time, why they rode them, and what stood in their way.

Fashion, Freedom, and Function: Women and Bicycles, Part 1

October 13, 2021October 13, 2021Melanie Meadors

This post is the first in my new series about women and bicycles at the turn of the twentieth century. The 1890s saw what was called a “bicycle craze” among women. What was this about? Why women, and why then? Was the bicycle movement just fashion, or did it really lead to more freedom for women? I’m hoping this series will not only answer these questions, but pique people’s interest to learn more.

Space Junk On the Rise: Cleaning Up Our Act

March 15, 2021March 15, 2021Melanie Meadors

Since the dawn of space programs around the world, space junk has been steadily increasing. Find out why this is a problem.

Mars Month: How NASA Picked the Perseverance Rover Landing Site

July 31, 2020Melanie Meadors

NASA had very clear mission objectives for Mars Perserverance. How did they find a site that fulfilled all of them?

Mars Month: Signs of Possible Life at Mars Perseverance Site

July 26, 2020Melanie Meadors

Scientists have found possible signs of ancient life at the Mars Perseverance landing site! What does this mean? Read on!

Mercury and Its Magnetic Field: More Than Meets the Eye

May 10, 2020May 10, 2020Melanie Meadors2

There is more to Mercury than meets the eye, and its secret lies in its magnetic field.

‘Archaeology From Space’: How Remote Sensing Helps

May 3, 2020May 2, 2020Melanie Meadors

Archaeology from space? How can a subject we think of as very hands-on be done from thousands of miles away?

Why Is the Sky Blue? Some Science You Can Understand

March 28, 2020March 28, 2020Melanie Meadors3

Why is the sky blue? Teachers and parents don’t always have answers, but science whiz Melanie Meadors explains in a way even the most non-sciencey of people can understand!

Betelgeuse: Dimming or Just Dusty? Astronomers Find Clues

March 20, 2020March 19, 2020Melanie Meadors

Betelgeuse has been dimming over the past several months. Astronomers think they have uncovered the key to why.