Barbie's Fashionistas line celebrates diversity and self-expression through a wide range of dolls. Launched by Mattel in 2009, the collection includes dolls with different body types, skin tones, and medical conditions. This includes dolls who are blind, have Down syndrome, and use a wheelchair or hearing aids. On July 8, 2025, the lineup welcomed a powerful new addition: a Barbie with Type 1 diabetes (T1D)....
Read news articleCaterpillars are usually seen as harmless, plant-munching larvae. But a newly identified species discovered on the Hawaiian island of Oahu challenges that reputation. Measuring just 5 mm long, the "bone collector" caterpillar feeds on dead insects found in spider webs. It then repurposes the remains, wearing body parts like beetle shells and weevil heads as camouflage....
Read news articleEach summer, the Northern Hemisphere night sky comes alive with one of the year's most dazzling celestial events: the Perseid meteor shower. Known for its bright, fast-moving meteors, the Perseids are a favorite of both casual stargazers and serious astronomers....
Read news articleOver the Fourth of July holiday weekend, the Hill Country region in Central Texas experienced intense rainfall. This caused the Guadalupe River, which runs through much of the area, to surge over 26 feet (7.9 m) in about 45 minutes. The rapid rise triggered one of the worst flash floods in US history. The water swept through entire communities with little warning, engulfing land and washing away vehicles, buildings, and bridges. Thousands of residents lost their homes and businesses. As of July 25, 2025, 138 people have died — the 10th-highest toll on record for a US flash flood. Three are still missing....
Read news articleAstronomers and skywatchers around the world are celebrating the release of the first images from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory. Unveiled on June 23, 2025, they mark a major milestone in the observatory's mission — to capture cosmic events as they unfold over the next ten years....
Read news articleA robot built by undergraduate students from Indiana’s Purdue University has solved a Rubik’s Cube in an incredible 0.103 seconds. This is about twice as fast as an average human blink. Named "Purdubik’s Cube," it claimed a new Guinness World Record for the "Fastest robot to solve a rotating puzzle cube" on April 21, 2025. The previous record was held by a robot built in Japan by Mitsubishi Motors engineers in 2024. It completed the task in 0.305 seconds....
Read news articleChimpanzees are well known for their intelligence, especially in using tools to hunt and gather food. Now, new research on chimps at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, Africa, suggests these clever primates are not just tool users — they may also be natural engineers....
Read news articleCrows are remarkably smart animals, with thinking skills comparable to those of five- to seven-year-old children. They can solve puzzles, use tools, and even remember faces. Now, researchers at the University of Tübingen in Germany have found that these unassuming birds can also recognize different geometric shapes — a skill previously seen only in humans....
Read news articleFor centuries, the world beneath Antarctica’s thick ice shelves remained one of Earth’s greatest unknowns. No one knew what, if anything, lived there. That changed when a massive iceberg, roughly the size of Chicago, unexpectedly broke away. This rare event gave scientists a once-in-a-lifetime chance to explore a part of the planet that had never been seen before....
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