science

Warehouse 13

Warehouse 13 is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Warehouse 13 rather than just read about it. In short: Warehouse 13 is an American science fiction comedy drama television series created by Jane Espenson and D. Brent Mote and executive produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins for Universal Cable Productions which originally ran from July 7, 2009, to May 19, 2014, on the Syfy network.

Key takeaways

Warehouse 13 belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Warehouse 13 to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Warehouse 13 from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Warehouse 13 is an American science fiction comedy drama television series created by Jane Espenson and D. Brent Mote and executive produced by Jack Kenny and David Simkins for Universal Cable Productions which originally ran from July 7, 2009, to May 19, 2014, on the Syfy network. The series concerns Secret Service agents Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) and Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) who are assigned to Warehouse 13, a top secret South Dakota facility for the containment of supernatural artifacts headed by former NSA cryptographer Artie Nielsen (Saul Rubinek). The agents are tasked with retrieving further artifacts, aided by hacker Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti) and ATF agent Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore). The series has been described as "part The X-Files, part Raiders of the Lost Ark and part Moonlighting", and compared to Friday the 13th: The Series (1987–1990).

Plot The series follows U.S. Secret Service Agents Myka Bering (Joanne Kelly) and Pete Lattimer (Eddie McClintock) when they are assigned to the secretive Warehouse 13 for supernatural artifacts. It is located in a barren landscape in South Dakota, and they initially regard the assignment as punishment. As they go about their assignments to retrieve missing artifacts and investigate reports of new ones, they come to understand the importance of what they are doing. In episode 4 of the first season, they meet Claudia Donovan (Allison Scagliotti), who is searching for her missing brother; in season 2, she joins the team as their technology expert. In episode 1 of season 3, Steve Jinks (Aaron Ashmore), an agent from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, comes aboard.

Fictional history The series posits that there have been a dozen incarnations of the warehouse before the present-day 13th in South Dakota. Warehouse 1 was built between 336 and 323 BC on the orders of Alexander the Great as a place to keep artifacts obtained by war. After Alexander died, the warehouse was moved to Egypt, establishing the practice of locating the warehouse in the most powerful empire of the day, under the reasoning that it will be best defended there. Egypt's Ptolemaic rulers appointed a group of people, known as the Regents, to oversee the warehouse and act as its first "agents" and collectors of artifacts. Warehouse 2 lasted until the Roman conquest of Egypt. Other warehouses throughout history include: Warehouse 3 in Western Roman Empire (Italy), Warehouse 4 in Hunnic Empire until the death of Attila the Hun, Warehouse 5 in the Byzantine Empire, Warehouse 6 in Cambodia under the Khmer Empire, Warehouse 7 in the Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan, Warehouse 8 in Germany during the Holy Roman Empire (1260–1517), Warehouse 9 in the Ottoman capital of Constantinople until the death of Suleiman the Magnificent, Warehouse 10 in Mughal Empire (India), Warehouse 11 in the Russian Empire under the Romanov Dynasty (the 1812 Napoleonic War with Russia was an attempt to seize control of Warehouse 11), and Warehouse 12 in the United Kingdom from 1830 until 1914. It was during the time of Warehouse 11 that the Regents began to employ agents to gather and protect artifacts. This practice continued under Warehouse 12, with British agents traveling further and further searching for artifacts to add to the collection. The next move brought the warehouse to South Dakota in the United States. Unlike previous warehouses, which were placed in the centers of their empires, Warehouse 13 was located in a remote area of South Dakota to hide it. The first Warehouse 13 was built in 1898, but the structure burned down because of an insufficient understanding of how to safely store artifacts. The move to the rebuilt and current Warehouse 13 occurred in 1914 at the onset of World War I. The warehouse was designed by Thomas Edison, Nikola Tesla, and M. C. Escher, while the warehouse's expansion joints were created by Albert Einstein.

Artifacts and gadgets Originally, artifacts are items connected to some historical or mythological figure or event. Each artifact has been imbued with something from its creator, user, or a major event in history. Some are well known: Studio 54's Disco ball; Lewis Carroll's looking glass, which contains an evil entity called "Alice" that can possess other people's bodies (Myka in Season 1 episode "Duped"), leaving their minds trapped in the mirror; and Edgar Allan Poe's pen and a volume of his writing, which can make whatever the user writes a reality. Some are not: Lizzie Borden had a mirrored compact that today compels users to kill their loved ones with an axe; Marilyn Monroe owned a brush that now turns its user's hair platinum blonde, which Myka once used on herself while under the influence of W. C. Fields' juggling balls that induce drunkenness and blackouts. Others may have humorous effects, such as Ivan Pavlov's bell, which will call any dog to you but causes excessive drooling for 24 hours, and a magic kettle that grants wishes but produces a ferret if the wish is impossible. The artifacts react with electricity and can be neutralized by immersion in a mysterious purple goo or placed inside a neutralizing reflective bag, both produced by Global Dynamics, a research laboratory from Warehouse 13's sister show, Eureka. Artie has also mentioned that ingesting neutralizer will make you "see things". During episode 403 (season 4), Mrs. Frederic shows Claudia an artifact being created—a silver bracelet worn by an ordinary person who exhibits extraordinary courage.

Cast and characters

Warehouse agents are provided by the host country of the warehouse, in this case from various government agencies (such as the Secret Service, FBI, ATF, CDC, and DEA, etc.). Agents of Warehouse 13 in particular were chosen either for their above-average intelligence (Artie is an expert NSA codebreaker, Myka has an eidetic memory and a wealth of encyclopedic knowledge, Claudia and H.G. Wells are both expert inventors) or because they possess a kind of extranormal ability (Pete and Mrs. Frederic both receive "vibes" regarding situations; Leena can read people's auras; and Jinks has the ability to tell when a person is lying).

Main

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Warehouse 13

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Warehouse 13 claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Warehouse 13 before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Warehouse 13 ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Warehouse 13

In research: Warehouse 13 appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Warehouse 13 in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Warehouse 13 is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2000s American science fiction television series, 2000s adventure television series, 2009 American television series debuts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Warehouse 13 outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Warehouse 13 in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Warehouse 13 means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Warehouse 13 out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Warehouse 13 in simple terms?

Why does Warehouse 13 matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Warehouse 13?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Warehouse 13.