Kids News - Articles with 400-600 Words

On April 26, NASA astronauts Peggy Whitson and Jack Fischer starred in the first 4K ultra-high-definition live stream broadcast from the International Space Station (ISS). The highly anticipated event that occurred at 10:30 AM PDT (1:30 PM EDT) was part of a special show at the 2017 National Association of Broadcasters in Las Vegas to demonstrate the advanced technology and promote space science and filmmaking. Though the broadcast lasted just a few minutes, the astronauts impressed the ground audience with some fun experiments that looked stunning, thanks to the high resolution imaging....

Ever since Malaysian ecologist-architect Ken Yeang introduced the concept in the 1990’s, living walls and rooftops have become an increasingly common sight in both residential and commercial buildings. In addition to looking good, planted exteriors also help cut energy costs, and in the case of rooftop farms provide urban dwellers with homegrown produce. Now, Stefano Boeri wants to take green architecture to the next level with “Forest Cities” to combat China’s air pollution woes....

Given that scientists have been studying the human body for thousands of years, one would think that they have uncovered all there is to know. It turns out that is not the case. The latest surprising news comes from a team of researchers from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), who have discovered that our brains might be ten times more active and possess 100 times more computing power than previously believed....

While smartphones continue to get increasingly sophisticated and resilient, the same cannot be said about the display screen. The Gorilla Glass cover used for most high-end cell phones tends to shatter easily, leaving owners with little choice but to pay for an expensive replacement screen or buy a new device altogether. However, this issue may soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new self-healing, Wolverine-inspired material which automatically repairs itself within 24 hours....

About 130 years ago, Harry Govier Seeley, a paleontologist trained in Cambridge, classified dinosaurs into two distinct groups, or clades, based on the shape of their pelvic bones. The “reptile-hipped” saurischians included carnivorous theropods like the Tyrannosaurus Rex (T-Rex), while the “bird-hipped” ornithischians comprised herbivores such as the Stegosaurus and Triceratops. As more dinosaur fossils were discovered, a third group, dubbed sauropodomorphs, was established. In 1887, Seeley concluded that the long-necked herbivorous sauropods, like the Brontosaurus, were related to theropods and classified them as saurischians....

Though 70% of the Earth is covered in water, only about 2.5% is fresh. Even worse, only 1% of the fresh water is readily accessible, the rest being trapped in glaciers or deep underground. It is therefore not surprising to hear that over 780 million people worldwide currently do not have easy access to clean water. The problems are only expected to get worse with climate change and the burgeoning world population. Though desalinating sea water is the most logical solution, current techniques are too expensive and cumbersome to deploy on a large scale....

Flying cars have been in the works since 1946, when aeronautical engineer Ted Hall created two prototypes of the ConvAirCar. Unfortunately, a crash landing due to low fuel caused the hybrid vehicle’s manufacturer, Convair, to lose interest and shut down the venture within a year. While there have been numerous attempts since, none have gone beyond the experimental stage. That is about to change thanks to a slew of new and established companies that are determined to make this 70-year-old quest a reality....

In your biology class, you may have learned that lungs help us breathe while bone marrow, found in flat bones such as the hip bone, produces red and white blood cells through a process called hematopoiesis Now, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) researchers have discovered that in addition to being a crucial part of our respiratory system, lungs also play a major role in the production and storage of blood cells....

Single-celled amoebae, which resemble small blobs of jelly, are usually of interest only to the researchers that discover them. However, a new South American species is garnering significant attention from fans of the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R.Tolkien. That’s because its unique shell, or carapace, bears a close similarity to the hat donned by Gandalf, the powerful wizard leader of the Fellowship of the Ring and the army of the West....