Kids News - Current Events

A four-month-old giraffe calf at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park in Escondido, California, is finally standing tall thanks to a custom brace. Msituni, which means "in the forest" in Swahili, was born on Feb. 1, 2022, with her front legs bending improperly. The abnormality put a lot of pressure on the calf's joints and bones, making it hard for Msituni to nurse or walk around her enclosed habitat. Zoo officials worried that the calf would probably die if the condition was left untreated....

You may have heard your parents complain about the rising costs of everything from groceries to gas, clothes, electronics, and even cars. They are not wrong. From March 2021 to March 2022, consumer prices for food rose by 8.8 percent, while energy costs went up 32 percent. The rate of increase in prices over a given period of time is called inflation....

Christie's highly anticipated 20th-and 21st-century art auction on May 12, 2022, was a roaring success. Buyers from across the globe outbid each other to own the Impressionist and Modern paintings offered. However, the evening's highlight was a remarkably well-preserved fossil of a Deinonychus antirrhopus. The rare skeleton — the first of its kind ever sold at an auction — fetched an impressive $12.4 million (with fees) from an anonymous fan. It was more than double the auction house's estimated high of $6 million....

Americans are mourning the loss of innocent lives in yet another school shooting. On Tuesday, May 24, 2022, a gunman took the lives of nineteen children and two teachers, and wounded seventeen others, at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. The tragic incident is the second deadliest school shooting in US history, behind the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, when twenty first-graders and six staff members were killed. It marks the seventh-deadliest shooting in the country since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999....

Those looking for an excuse to indulge in some delicious donuts will be thrilled to know that June 3, 2022, is National Donut Day. This makes it your civic duty to eat at least one — or even a dozen — of the sugary treats. The yummy holiday, observed annually on the first Friday of June, is credited to the Salvation Army....

Extreme weather caused by global warming is expected to increasingly challenge the yields of conventional crops like corn, wheat, and soy. Small-scale farmers — who lack the resources to adapt to climate change — will be particularly hard hit. Scientists believe that the only way to combat this is by introducing new, hardier crops to what they're currently growing. That's where Ethiopia's enset, or "false banana," plant comes in....

Water scarcity is one of the world's biggest challenges. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that one in three people globally do not have easy access to clean water. Desalinating ocean water could help. But the currently-available devices are too energy-intensive and expensive to deploy on a large scale. Now, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers have developed a portable desalination machine that is both affordable and sustainable....

Memorial Day, which will be observed on May 30, 2022, is often considered the "unofficial" start of summer by Americans. However, the US federal holiday, celebrated annually on the last Monday of May, has a solemn purpose. It honors the men and women who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. This includes those in the Air Force, Army, Coast Guard, Marine Corps, and Navy....

Self-portrait photographs, or "selfies," are a great way to document and share precious memories. However, the images, which only capture a moment in time, can be somewhat limiting. That may change soon, thanks to Pixy, a tiny camera drone that autonomously captures pictures and videos of all your adventures....