Kids News - Science Articles

Stereo, or 3D, vision is what enables humans to gauge the depth and distance of surrounding objects. The right and left eye capture slightly different images and send them to the brain, which merges them and then calculates the proximity of everything in the vicinity. The ability, which requires an intricate network of neurons and lots of processing power, can also be found in a select group of animals like cats, horses, owls and sheep, as well as one insect — the praying mantis....

With over 3,500 exoplanets confirmed as of January 2018 and more being observed on a regular basis, the discoveries have become almost routine. However, all the planets found thus far have been within the Milky Way, the galaxy that contains our solar system. Now, scientists from the University of Oklahoma believe they may have found evidence of trillions of planets beyond our galaxy....

Though animals are continually evolving to adapt to their environment, it is hard to observe the process real time in the wild. Now, some international scientists have stumbled upon a unique group of West African dwarf crocodiles that may be in the midst of mutating into a new species....

A 14-year-old with a vocabulary comprising four or five rudimentary words may not sound impressive. However, it sure is when the speaker happens to be an orca, or killer, whale! The amazing discovery along with the recording of the vocalization was unveiled in a January 31 study published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B....

If you were among the millions of people that watched NBC’s replay of the opening ceremony of the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, South Korea on Friday, February 9, you might have seen an airborne snowboarder, a bird flapping its wings, and the iconic Olympic Rings, light up the skies. While they may have appeared to be digital fireworks, the mesmerizing show was the result of thousands of tiny drones preprogrammed to follow complicated flight paths to form the shape-shifting images....

RZ Piscium, a star located 550 light years away in the constellation Pisces, has long intrigued researchers with its strange “winking” behavior. During the erratic episodes, which last as long as two days, the celestial body becomes about ten times dimmer and discharges a larger than normal amount of energy at infrared wavelengths, indicating the presence of enormous dust clouds....

The American alligator (Alligator mississippiensis) is known to be a crafty and fierce predator that devours anything it can snare. However, given that the reptile lacks salt glands, scientists had always believed that its diet was restricted to the fish and crustaceans that dwell in its freshwater habitat. Now, a new study suggests that the opportunistic beasts also gobble down saltwater inhabitants like crabs, sea turtles, stingrays, and even sharks....

On January 31, millions of stargazers around the globe will witness what promises to be a spectacular total lunar eclipse. While the celestial event is always special, what makes Wednesday’s particularly noteworthy is that it coincides with both a blue moon and a supermoon. Hence the moniker “super blue blood moon.” According to NASA, the lunar trifecta is the first of its kind in 35 years and will not occur again until 2037....

If Michael Strano has his way, homes and streets of the future will be lit up with “green” energy — literally — from glowing plants and trees. While that may sound like a lofty goal, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) professor of chemical engineering and his team are well on their way to realizing the dream with a luminescent plant, which they hope will someday replace your bedside or table lamp!...