Kids News - Articles with 600-800 Words

In July 2016, much to the dismay of environmentalists and the Standing Rock Sioux tribe, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) — the federal government body in charge of the nation's waterways — granted the final permits to allow construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). When completed, the 1,172-mile-long, $3.8 billion USD pipeline that snakes through four states will be able to transport up to 500,000 barrels of crude oil from the Bakken Formation area of North Dakota to refineries in Illinois, daily. The builder, Dakota Access, LLC, a subsidiary of Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners, asserts that the underground pipeline is a more direct, cost-effective, safer, and environmentally responsible way to transport crude oil....

Sunday, September 11, 2016, marks the 15th anniversary of the most daring and deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. Planned and executed by Islamic extremist organization Al Qaeda, the unprovoked act of violence is what led to our ongoing "Global War On Terrorism” and changed life as we knew it, forever....

On Wednesday, August 24, the residents of the Apennine regions in central Italy were jolted awake at 3.36 a.m. by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake. To make matters worse, it was followed by over 80 aftershocks, including a 5.5 magnitude tremor that hit Umbria an hour later, at 4.33 a.m....

While your pet fish may appear to be oblivious of your presence, chances are it knows you extremely well and can probably even identify you from a crowd of humans! At least, that is the conclusion reached by scientists the University of Oxford in the U.K. and the University of Queensland in Australia, following an extensive study of the archerfish, a species of tropical fish that can be found all the way from India, to Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia....

With more than 16,000 jumps to his credit, professional skydiver Luke Aikins has performed many heart-stopping stunts, but his latest feat tops them all. On July 30, 2016, the 42-year-old daredevil became the first man in the world to leap off a plane from an altitude of 25,000 feet without a wingsuit or parachute! Instead, he relied on a net that measured 100-by-100-feet, or less than one-third the size of a football field, to break his fall and help him land safely....

With technology permeating every aspect of our lives, it should come as no surprise that it is playing an important role at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Wearable tech is not just helping elite athletes deliver their optimal performance at this competitive sporting event where everyone is battling for Olympic gold, but also protecting them from serious injuries....

A few weeks ago, if you saw someone wandering around your neighborhood staring at their phone, you might have assumed they were lost. Now, it would not be too much of a stretch to think that they are busy locating, capturing, battling or training fictional creatures called Pokémon Welcome to Pokémon Go, the free-to-play location-based augmented reality game that has taken the world by storm since its release on July 6. For those that are unfamiliar with the Pokémon brand and wondering what the latest hoopla is all about, here is a brief rundown....

On June 23, residents of the four countries that make up the United Kingdom (UK)— England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, and Wales — went to the polls to determine if the country should leave the European Union (EU). Most experts believed that Britons would make the “sensible” decision and vote against what has popularly been dubbed “Brexit.” After all, the benefits of remaining with the world’s largest economy far outweigh the drawbacks. But the experts were wrong!...

Though the detrimental impact of plastic waste on the environment is well-known, consumption of drinks bottled in polyethylene terephthalate (PET) —the most commonly used polymer — continues to rise at alarming levels. According to experts, over 22,000 plastic bottles are discarded every second, and the numbers are only growing. While a fraction of them do get recycled, most end up in the ocean, where they disintegrate into smaller pieces and are often mistaken for food by innocent fish and birds....