The Significance of Memorial DayHappy Memorial Day weekend! With summer vacation around the corner, it is often hard to remember that the purpose of the extra day off from school, is not to lounge at the pool with friends or check out sales at the mall. It is to honor the brave men and women who have died serving our country in the United States armed forces!...
اقرأ المقالThe Disneyland Attractions That Never Made It Past Walt Disney's ImaginationIn 1953, Walt Disney hired some of the country's best talent to create an eight page prospectus to convince investors to finance a new kind of amusement park - Something that we now all know as 'The 'Happiest Place on Earth' or Disneyland. While many of the attractions that the team had envisioned, made it in some form or shape when the first park opened in Anaheim, California, on July 17th, 1955, there are a few that just remained on their wish list because they were either illegal or, just too radical....
اقرأ المقالCalifornia's Mystery Spot Defies Gravity And Logic!Always wanted to experience what it would be like to live in a gravity-free world? Then you may want to check out the 'Mystery Spot' - a nondescript barn located in the redwood forests that lie on the outskirts of the picturesque city of in California. That's because short of flying, you will be able to experience almost everything astronauts do, without ever leaving earth....
اقرأ المقالArtist Creates Mobile Homes Made From Recycled Materials For Oakland's HomelessMost artists aspire to create masterpieces that can be admired and collected by the elite few, who can afford them - not Gregory Kloehn. He focuses on art that can be lived in, by people who have no homes to call their own. The best part is, that each structure is built from recycled materials that the artist finds inside dumpsters....
اقرأ المقالNewly Unearthed Titanosaur May Be A Strong Contender For The Biggest Known DinosaurA team of paleontologists in South America recently announced that they have found the remains of what may be the biggest dinosaur found yet. According to their estimates, the unnamed giant, a new species of the Titanosaur, weighed at least 77 tons, stood 65-feet high and measured 130-feet long, from head to tail. In contrast, the previous record holder, the Argentinosaurus, which stood a slightly taller 70-feet, is believed to have weighed just 70 tons and measured 115-feet in length....
اقرأ المقالSan Francisco's Wacky Bay To Breakers Race Never Fails To Entertain!The beautiful Northern Californian city of is known for many fun events. However, none are as wacky or as popular as the Bay to Breakers, a 12K (7.45 mile) road race that spans across the city. Started in 1912, as a way to bring some cheer to residents who were still recovering from the devastating 1906 , it is the oldest consecutively run annual footrace in the world....
اقرأ المقالHow Octopuses Avoid Getting Tangled Around ThemselvesScientists have often pondered over how the eight-armed octopus avoids getting tangled around itself. This mystery was particularly perplexing given that each tentacle is lined with hundreds of suckers that are strong enough to stick to almost anything. Also, unlike animals with rigid skeletons, the mollusks have no idea where their arms are at any given moment....
اقرأ المقالThe Unexplained Mystery Of Why Hot Water Freezes Faster Than ColdOne of the most popular ways to demonstrate this year's severe US winter appeared to be tossing out a glass of boiling water and watching it freeze instantly, in mid-air. Of course, the reason the fun experiment impressed viewers is because nobody expects boiling water to turn to ice that quickly. Turns out that contrary to intuitive thinking, it actually solidifies faster than cold water! Why? That's a mystery still waiting to be solved....
اقرأ المقالMeet Grace Bush, 16-Year-Old High School AND College GraduateIt's May, which means that millions of students around the country have or are getting ready to receive their college diplomas. Grace Bush is one of them. The only difference? Grace is just 16 years old. Yes, that's right - at the age when most teenagers have not even completed high school, Grace has graduated from Florida Atlantic University (FAU) with a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and a minor in Spanish. What's even more astonishing is that the brilliant girl received her high school diploma from Florida Atlantic High School on May 9th, a week after her she had graduated from college!...
اقرأ المقالDeep-Sea Explorer May Have Found Christopher Columbus' Ship Santa MariaIn August 1492, Christopher Columbus and a crew of 90, set off aboard three ships to find a new trade route to Asia. However, around Christmas of the same year, his flagship vessel, the Santa Maria, hit some reef off the coast of Haiti and was badly damaged....
اقرأ المقالGuess What? Our Sun Has A Sibling!A team of scientists led by University of Texas, Austin, astronomer Ivan Ramirez have identified a star that they believe is one of many siblings our sun has floating around the Universe. Formed 4.5 billion years ago from the same large interstellar cloud that gave birth to our sun, it is 15% larger and lies 110 light-years away in the constellation Hercules. Though not visible with the unaided eye, HD 162826 that lies close to bright star Vega, can be easily viewed with low-power binoculars....
اقرأ المقالAncient Tomb Painting Provides Answer To Pyramid Building MysteryEver since the discovery of the first pyramid, scientists have pondered over how ancient Egyptians built these monumental structures that are visible even from space. Though there are some theories about the construction technique, the question that was always left unanswered is how workers were able to lug the giant limestone bricks that weighed as much as 2.5 tons, from the quarry to the pyramid sites that were located hundreds of miles away....
اقرأ المقال121 Student Teams Compete In Shell's Ultra Efficient Energy Vehicle ChallengeEvery year, global energy and petrochemical company Royal Dutch Shell challenges high school and university students to design, build and test energy efficient vehicles. Created to spark debate about the future of mobility and inspire young engineers, the Shell Eco-Marathon begins in the Americas, before moving to Europe and then finally Asia. This year's Americas event which took place in Texas from April 24th-27th, 2014 attracted 121 teams from all across the continent....
اقرأ المقالFlorida Fisherman Accidentally Snares Terrifying Goblin SharkA fisherman trawling for shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico, south of Key West, Florida, got the surprise of his life when he pulled up the nets on April 19th - Intermingled with the tiny shrimp was a giant shark, the kind that one would only expect to encounter in a horror movie! What was even scarier, was that the shark was alive and menacingly trashing around the deck, trying its best to escape....
اقرأ المقالScientists Reveal A Failproof Strategy To Win Rock-Paper-ScissorsIf you have ever had to decide on an outcome with a friend, chances are you have done it by playing rock-paper-scissors, the fun hand game where players simultaneously form one of the three shapes with an outstretched hand. Like most people, you probably thought that the game is designed for a random outcome, one in which neither player has an advantage. Turns out you were wrong. According to scientists from China's Zhejiang University, there is a method to this madness - one that can be easily mastered so that you never lose a rock-paper-scissors duel again....
اقرأ المقالBrazil Approves Use Of Genetically Modified Mosquitoes To Combat Dengue FeverWhile most scientists are focused on creating vaccines for life threatening mosquito-borne diseases like dengue fever and malaria, British biotech firm Oxitec is taking a unique approach. They want to nip the problem in the bud or should we say larva, by killing the dengue-carrying mosquitos with the help of genetically modified laboratory versions....
اقرأ المقالCrafty African Bird 'Cries Wolf' To Steal FoodThough humans may think they are the masters of deception, some of the world's best con artists appear to be birds. First there is the cuckoo finch that tricks other birds into raising its offspring and now, Africa's fork-tailed drongo that sends out false alarm signals, just so that it can steal food from other birds....
اقرأ المقالThe 2014 U.S. Tornado Season Has BegunEach year, from March to June, millions of Americans that live in the Midwestern and Southern United States, brace themselves for the tornado season. And while the twisters are often late, they never fail to make an appearance. This year's first big storm which arrived on Sunday, April 27th, was a deadly slow moving system that caused havoc across a large swath of the country from Oklahoma to Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Texas, Florida, Iowa, The Carolinas and even, New York....
اقرأ المقالJafflechutes Delivers Food 'Hunger Games' StyleA new eatery in Melbourne, Australia is making headlines all over the world. However the accolades are not for its cuisine, service or location, but for the way it delivers - via a parachute, similar to how the Hunger Games tributes received their gifts! Another unusual twist? The menu comprises of just one item - grilled cheese sandwiches or jaffles, as the Australians like to call them....
اقرأ المقالNational Geographic Kids Teams Up With IBM To Create The World's Smallest Magazine CoverIn January 2012, US tech giant IBM's Swiss laboratory stunned the world when they unveiled the world's smallest globe. Measuring a mere 22 by 11 microns, it was so tiny that 1,000 of them could be placed on a single grain of salt. Now, the scientists have done it again with this even tinier, National Geographic Kids Magazine cover. Measuring 11 by 14 microns, it is about half the size of the globe, which means that up to 2,000 of the covers could easily fit on a grain of salt!...
اقرأ المقال13-Year-Old Designer's Clothing Line Hits NordstromMost 13-year-old girls spend their days trying to keep up with the latest fashion trends and fretting about junior high grades. Isabella Rose Taylor is no different. Except in her case, it involves setting fashion trends with her eponymous clothing line and worrying about college grades. For, believe it or not, this teenager is not just a successful fashion designer, but also, a brilliant student who is pursuing a degree in fine arts at a local college. If that is not impressive enough, her junior clothing line is about to debut at one of the nation's most prestigious retailers - Nordstrom....
اقرأ المقالGeorgetown University Launches $5 Million USD Challenge For U.S. Communities To Re-Think Energy UseEarlier this week, the Earth Day Network announced the 'Green Cities' challenge, asking communities worldwide to reduce their dependence on 'dirty' energy - electricity produced using fossil fuels. Now, Washington D.C.'s Georgetown University, is making the challenge more enticing, with a $5 million USD reward for any U.S. town or city that devises the best program to reduce energy consumption....
اقرأ المقالSeattle's Park Passive House Takes Energy Efficiency To A Whole New LevelResidential houses have come a long way in reducing their energy footprint. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, homes built after 2000, consume only 2% more energy than older homes, despite being 30% larger. While that is certainly encouraging, advocates of the Passive House movement believe that there is a lot more that can and needs to be done - not just to reduce energy costs, but also, to help reverse global warming....
اقرأ المقالEggshelland - Cleveland's 56-Year-Old Easter Tradition Continues To AmazeFor over half a century, the city of Lyndhurst in the eastern suburb of Cleveland has been home to a fun Easter tradition - Eggshelland, an elaborate mosaic made entirely from colorful eggshells put together by Ron and Betty Manolio in their front yard on Linden Lane....
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