Last month, scientists discovered a mysterious metal monolith in a canyon in the Utah desert. No one knows yet who made it, and some unidentified people removed it a few days later. Another one showed up in Romania. A “monolith” is usually a large piece of stone, like the ones at Stonehenge, but this one was made of shiny aluminum or steel, joined together with rivets into a triangular prism. A lot of people think it was an art project. What do you think? If you made a piece of art, would you want people to know you made it? Why do you think it was a triangle?

You can make your own mini monolith with household materials.

For this activity you will need:

• A thin cardboard box, flattened

• A ruler

• Something to write with

• Scissors

• Glue

•  Tape

• Aluminum foil

To make your mini monolith:

1. Turn your flattened box blank side up. Pick a skinny side and measure how wide it is. Then measure and mark two more adjoining rectangles. Make sure they’re all the same size.

2. Cut out the shape with your scissors. You should now have a piece of cardboard with two folds in it and three identical rectangles. Tape the edges together to form a triangle.

3. Glue aluminum foil to the outside of your monolith. You can rub out any creases with the side of your pencil.

4. Let the glue dry, then trim off or fold in the extra foil.

5. Put your monolith somewhere dramatic and take a picture.