Back in February, NASA successfully landed the Perseverance rover on Mars. The pictures it transmitted back to Earth of the red planet were spectacular, and captured the imagination of millions. It also gave the Cambridge Dictionary its first hint on what this year’s word of the year would be.

Today on the Best of Our Knowledge, we’ll hear why the Cambridge Dictionary made perseverance the 2021 word of the year.

Then, sustainability is one of the many criteria that students and parents use when choosing a college. And the Princeton Review has got a guide for that. Their 12th annual guide to green colleges was released last month, and has listings for 420 schools in the US and Canada, as well as a few in some far off places around the globe. We’ll talk to the editor in chief of the Princeton Review about this unique guide.

Finally, we’ll spend an Academic Minute with sustainably artistic oysters.

Photo courtesy of Cambridge Dictionary.