Kids News - Articles with 600-800 Words

Mention the word shark, and the first image that comes to mind is that of a ferocious carnivore circling helpless prey. However, while the bonnethead enjoys meat as much as any other shark, it seems to love its greens as well – so much so that about 50 percent of the shark’s diet is plant-based....

3D printing has come a long way since Massachusetts Institute of Technology students Jim Bredt and Tim Anderson modified an inkjet printer to expel a binding solution on to a bed of powder. The technology, which works by “printing,” or laying down, successive layers of material until the object is created, has been used to build a wide variety of things – from electronic devices to jewelry to artificial organs. Now, 3D printing is escalating to a whole new level with the creation of homes, art installations, and even barracks for the U.S. Marine Corps....

As had been expected, Hurricane Florence made landfall near Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina at 7:15 am ET. on September 14, 2018. While downgraded to a Category 1, with sustained winds of 90 mph, the storm still packed a powerful punch, causing widespread flooding, destroying several structures and knocking out power to over 900,000 homes....

About a decade ago, Brigham Young University paleontologists stumbled upon thousands of fossils at the Saints and Sinners quarry, an ancient, dried-up water hole, in northeastern Utah. Since there were too many to extract at the site, the team, led by Brooks Britt, cut the slabs of sandstone in which the bones were preserved and took them to the laboratory. Over the years, they have identified the remains of several late Triassic inhabitants, including several sphenosuchians - small crocodile-like creatures – and two carnivorous dinosaurs. However, the most exciting discovery was that of a new species of pterosaur that dates back over 200 million years, when supercontinent Pangea was still intact....

Just when we think we have discovered, and mastered, every shape in the world, comes the scutoid. The three-dimensional prism-like struture has been hiding in plain sight in all living creatures including humans. While not visible to the naked eye, scutoids, the shape skin cells take as they bend, twist, or turn, are everywhere – in your armpits, elbows, organs, and even all over your face....

Florida residents are no strangers to harmful algal blooms (HABs), or “red tides.” The natural phenomena, which occurs along the state’s Gulf Coast annually, is the result of excessive growth of microalgae Karenia Brevis. The single-celled organisms, which are only visible through a microscope, are dangerous because they release brevetoxin – a nerve toxin, that attacks the nervous systems of animals with often fatal results....

Think the prices at your neighborhood coffee shop are a little steep? Then you might want to avoid visiting the South American country of Venezuela, where the cost of a cup of coffee has risen more than tenfold, from a “reasonable” 190,000 bolivars in April 2018, to over 2 million bolivars in August 2018. What’s worse is that if the July 26, 2018 report from the International Monetary Fund forecasting a 1,000,000 percent annual inflation rate is correct, the caffeine fix could set the country’s residents back an astounding 5 million bolivars per cup by September! Welcome to Venezuela’s hyperinflated economy!...

Just a few decades ago, humans were the only species believed to be smart enough to grasp the concept of zero — the idea that nothing can be counted as something. While a select group of animals, including dolphins, primates, and a few birds, have since been added to the list, experts have always maintained that only “intelligent” species are capable of processing the difficult concept. Now, researchers from Melbourne’s RMIT University and France’s Université de Toulouse assert that honeybees, which like all insects are considered to be at the low end of the cognitive spectrum, also understand the abstract mathematical notion of nothing....

While whales are known to grieve the loss of their loved ones, the recent story of an orca mom clinging to her dead calf for over two weeks demonstrates unprecedented evidence of the strength of the species’ familial bonds. The heart-wrenching saga began on July 24, 2018, after a female calf born to J35, aka Tahlequah — a member of the endangered Southern Residents Killer Whales (SRKW) pod — died 30 minutes after birth. Instead of letting the carcass sink into the ocean, the grieving mother began carrying the lifeless body by balancing it on her forehead or nudging it along the water surface with her nose....