prox card
n.— «Sexual assault and other incidents in college dorms have led many schools to control access to these buildings by giving residents a kind of electronic key, often called a prox card, that can also be used to track the comings and goings of individual students. This technology is starting to spread to academic buildings, but daytime access to classrooms is still largely unrestricted.» —“Can We Make Campuses Safer?” by Julie Rawe Time Apr. 16, 2007. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Astronauts returning from space say they experience what’s called the overview effect, a new understanding of the fragility of our planet and our need to reflect on what humans all share as a species. A book about the end of the universe...
Amid court-ordered busing in the 1970s, a middle-school teacher tried to distract her nervous students on the first day of class with this strange assignment: find a monarch caterpillar. The result? A memorable lesson in the miracle of metamorphosis...