Kids News - Science Articles

The western false asphodel — an herb-like plant found in abundance along North America's West Coast — has been known to science since 1879. But it is only recently that researchers from the University of British Columbia discovered the innocent-looking plant's penchant for insects. The finding is particularly exciting given that this is the first new predatory plant to be discovered in 20 years....

The Henan Province in central China is a treasure trove of dinosaur eggs. However, the odd-looking black orb with a blue tint, presented to Fenglu Han and Haishui Jiang by a farmer in 2018, was unlike any dinosaur egg the experts had encountered before. The paleontologists from the China University of Geosciences initially thought the egg might belong to a new species of the prehistoric giants....

Mattel's Barbie Role Models series, designed to inspire young girls to pursue their dreams, has highlighted the work of many incredible women. On August 4, 2021, the US toymaker revealed the latest additions to the collection — custom, one-of-a-kind dolls modeled after six female COVID-19 frontline workers....

The 2021 Atlantic hurricane season began with a bang for the residents of Louisiana. On August 29, 2021, the Gulf Coast state was battered by Hurricane Ida, a powerful Category 4 storm that officials believe was the strongest to hit the area in 165 years. To make matters worse, Ida arrived on the sixteenth anniversary of the devastating Hurricane Katrina and made landfall twice....

Even those that do not particularly care for math will agree that pi, or “π," is fascinating. The numerical constant — defined as the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter— is recognized by most as 3.14. However, Pi is an irrational number. This means it can't be written as a fraction. Instead, it is infinitely long and never forms a repeating pattern. While individuals attempt to break records by memorizing pi's decimal points, scientists strive to find its most accurate value using new algorithms and powerful computers....

Clothing made from synthetic materials, such as polyester and nylon, has many positive attributes. It is cheap to produce, lasts for a long time, and is comfortable to wear. However, the fabric, made from petroleum, has one major downside. The tiny polymer strands — or what we call lint — that shed from the textiles during each laundry cycle are big contributors to plastic pollution. Now, some scientists from Lithuania have found a way to recycle the textile waste into clean energy....

On August 8, 2021, the United Nations' Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its first assessment of climate science since 2013. The news was not good. The report stated that this past decade was the hottest in 125,000 years and that the atmospheric carbon levels are the highest in at least 2 million years. Glaciers are melting faster than any time in over 2,000 years, and ocean levels are rising at twice the rate since 2006....

The COVID-delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics ended on August 8, 2021, with a spectacular closing ceremony and a fireworks show. To mark the occasion, the seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) organized the first-ever space Olympics. The four events, modeled after classic Summer Games competitions, included fun twists to account for weightlessness....

The seven astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) recently encountered an unexpected and potentially dangerous situation. The Russian laboratory module, Nauka, inadvertently fired its thrusters while docked at the ISS. The force nudged the space station out of its normal flight position for a short time....