The Quarked! project was conceived by Professor Alice Bean and a diverse team of collaborators at the University of Kansas in 2003 as an entertaining method of introducing the world of subatomic physics to kids and adults. They imagined a world in which every child knew about the small and abstract parts of science as well as they knew their favorite TV characters and asked "If we could spark such an interest in basic science early on, would the level of science literacy grow as the audience aged?" And "If children were exposed to the ideas of subatomic physics early, would more of them understand and even pursue the scientific challenges of the next century?"