Kids News - Environment Articles

A walnut-sized bee with a wingspan of two and a half inches – about the length of a human thumb – may seem like something straight out of a science fiction movie. However, the Megachile pluto, or Wallace's Giant Bee, is not a figment of a movie writer's imagination, but a real insect that dwells in the Indonesian forests. While a few dead specimens of the bee have been discovered over the years, researchers have not seen a living one since 1981. Now, thanks to a team of dedicated American and Australian biologists, the magnificent bee has been photographed live in its natural habitat for the first time....

Experts assert that if food were a country, it would rank third behind China and the US as one of the biggest greenhouse gas polluters. The reason is the ever-rising demand for meat. Livestock farming is responsible for 14.5 percent of global methane emissions. While cows are the worse offenders, pigs, sheep, and other animals contribute as well....

While any sighting of the critically-endangered leopard deserves mention, that of a black leopard is particularly newsworthy. What makes the specimen, recently captured on camera in Central Kenya by San Diego Zoo researchers and British wildlife photographer Will Burrard-Lucas, unique is that it is the first scientific documentation of such a creature in Africa in nearly a century. Prior to this, the only confirmed sighting was a 1909 photograph taken in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia....

Always wanted to experience the magical winter wonderland that Queen Elsa created in Disney's animated movie Frozen? Then you are in luck. Thanks to Utah-based company “Ice Castles,” acre-sized frozen fortresses are now a reality in six of North America's coldest regions: Dillon, CO, Excelsior, MN, Lake Geneva, WI, North Woodstock, New Hampshire, Midway, UT and Edmonton in Alberta, Canada....

Pesky as they may be, ants are truly incredible insects. The tiny creatures can survive floods by joining together to morph into living rafts, predict earthquakes, lift up to 20 times their body weight, and even select the best tool to complete a job efficiently. Now, it appears that the elusive Dracula ant (Mystrium camillae) can snap its jaws shut at a mind-boggling speed of 90 meters per second (more than 200 miles per hour) – the fastest-known animal movement on record....

This year’s winter has been particularly harsh on the residents of the central and eastern United States, who have had to endure an abnormally cold weather pattern since the second week of January. Unfortunately, things are going to get even worse starting Tuesday, January 29, 2019. According to the National Weather Service (NWS), the extreme Arctic cold sweeping across the Midwest and Great Lakes will result in dangerously cold wind chills and cause temperatures in some cities to drop to their lowest levels in over two decades....

A giant spinning wheel of ice on the surface of the Presumpscot River has enthralled crowds in Westbrook, Maine since Monday, January 14, 2019. Many locals have likened it to crop circles –strange patterns that appear mysteriously overnight in farmers' fields, which have long been theorized to be markers of extraterrestrial communication – and speculated that the icy ring is a landing site for an alien ship. Unfortunately for UFO enthusiasts, experts say that the rare winter phenomenon is a natural occurrence....

In addition to providing us with delicious honey, the hardworking honey bees also pollinate about a third of food crops and almost 90 percent of wild grasses, like alfalfa, used to feed livestock. Hence, it is not surprising that their declining population, caused by climate change, habitat loss, and deadly microbial diseases, has researchers scrambling to find ways to protect the vulnerable insects, which are so crucial to our existence. Now, scientists from the University of Helsinki in Finland have found a way to help honey bees fight off infectious diseases with a sweet, edible vaccine!...

A thrilling polar competition between two adventurers to cross Antarctica solo, unsupported, and unassisted had a happy ending with both explorers achieving the unprecedented feat back-to-back. American professional endurance athlete Colin O’Brady and British Army Captain Louis Rudd set off November 3, 2018, a mile apart, from the Atlantic coast with the aim to become the first person to ski across the remote, inhospitable continent alone....