NORFOLK, Va. — Spongebob, Mickey Mouse and of course Snoopy. They're all staples of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade! This annual tradition mixes art, music, and science for millions of viewers.

Ah, the stately hot air balloon. Not really useful for all that much except for having a grand old time floating around the skies, it's still a marvel of simple physics. Fill a giant balloon with air.

James is a published author with multiple pop-history and science books to his name. He specializes in history, space, strange science, and anything out of the ordinary.View full profile James is a ...

Pretty much everyone loves balloons—especially younger children. Kids are slowly building up ideas about the way the universe works (through their observations), and they already know that when you ...