Recently added articles from Science News for Kids:
Brain cells take a break.
May 27, 2009; ... Scientists have long wanted to know what happens inside the human brain when deep asleep. You may be unconscious, but your brain cells are busy with activity. Neurons, brain cells that conduct electricity, keep your mind humming even while your body is resting. In a new study, a ...
World's largest lizard is venomous too.
May 27, 2009; ... If you're looking for a new pet, don't even think about a Komodo dragon. These reptiles are the world's largest lizards and can grow to be 10 feet long and weigh more than 300 pounds. (Roughly the weight of two or three eighth-graders.) Komodo dragons run fast and eat almost any kind of ...
New eyes to scan the skies.
May 20, 2009; ... Four hundred years ago, an Italian scientist named Galileo Galilei became the first person to see the craters on the moon. Galileo, who also observed four of Jupiter's moons and the rings of Saturn, was one of the first people to use a telescope to study the sky. Since then, telescopes ...
Puberty gone wild.(animal development and behavior)
May 20, 2009; ... Breakouts, mood swings and sudden growth spurts: Puberty can be downright awkward. Even if you're not of the human species. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Puberty is a period in which humans move from childhood to adulthood. During this transition, the body goes through many ...
Taking the sting out of scorpion venom.
May 20, 2009; ... About as long as a human finger, the Arizona bark scorpion is small enough that most people probably don't even notice it. Unless they happen to step on one--and that's a different story. The scorpion's sting contains a poison so powerful that it can seriously harm or even kill a child ....
Night of the living ants.
May 13, 2009; ... When an ant dies, other ants move the dead insect out of the nest. Sometimes, the dead ant gets moved away very soon--within an hour of dying. This behavior is interesting to scientists, who wonder how ants know for sure--and so soon--that another ant is dead. [ILLUSTRATION ...
Seeing red means danger ahead.(polymer engineering using mechanophore for warning system)
May 13, 2009; ... The color red often means danger--and by paying attention, accidents can be prevented. At railroad crossings, flashing red lights warn cars to stay back. A red light at a traffic intersection tells cars to stop, so they don't run into other cars. And when a driver steps on the brakes, ...
A bird that keeps the beat.(bird behavior on music and rhythm)
May 06, 2009; ... The idea for a science experiment can come from an unusual place. After watching a YouTube video of a dancing bird named Snowball, a scientist in California decided to study the ability of animals to keep the beat. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Bird lovers have long claimed ...
Silk's superpowers.
May 06, 2009; ... Spider-Man isn't the only person with an interest in spider silk. While Spidey uses the threads to zigzag from building to building, or to snare a bad guy, scientists are investigating silk for different reasons. And though researchers have learned a lot about silk by investigating ...
Swine flu goes global.
May 06, 2009; ... If you live in the United States, it's likely that swine flu has been found in your state. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] As of May 5, 403 people in 38 states have been diagnosed with novel influenza A (H1N1), commonly known as the Swine flu. Those numbers are likely to ...
Life trapped under a glacier.
Apr 29, 2009; ... Ever heard of Blood Falls? It's freezing cold, far away and hard to reach--probably not where you're headed on your family vacation this summer. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Blood Falls is at the tip of a giant glacier in Antarctica. As its name suggests, the icy face of ...
The hungry blob at the edge of the universe.(Lyman-alpha blob galaxy)
Apr 29, 2009; ... Using a telescope atop a Hawaiian mountain, astronomers recently caught sight of an enormous, newfound glowing object in deep, deep space. If you were an astronomer, what would you call such a thing? [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] How about a "blob"? Technically, ...
Fighting fat with fat.(white and brown fat cells properties)
Apr 22, 2009; ... The human body hides more than one kind of fat. White fat cells, which we usually think of when we think of fat, store energy. But brown fat is different: It's a type of fat that burns energy and gives off heat. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] When you were born, you had a ...
Have shell, will travel.(fossil arthropods and their shells)
Apr 22, 2009; ... Many modern animals, like crabs, live in shells and carry their homes around with them. Picture one of these animals in your mind, and you may have some idea of what the first land-dwelling animals looked like. After studying strange marks that accompany some sets of ancient fossil ...
Kids now getting 'adult' disease.(juvenile diabetes)(Disease/Disorder overview)
Apr 22, 2009; ... When she was 9 years old, Ann Albright went to the doctor with odd flulike symptoms. She was exhausted. She had to go to the bathroom frequently in the middle of the night. She was always thirsty. Even her vision was blurry. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] After a few tests, ...
A grim future for some killer whales.
Apr 15, 2009; ... In 1989, an oil tanker called the Exxon Valdez struck an underwater reef in Prince William Sound, a large body of water in southern Alaska. The ship dumped about 11 million gallons of crude oil into the freezing water, creating the largest spill in U.S. history--and a disaster for animals ...
Springing forward.(climate change and natural cycles)
Apr 15, 2009; ... It's not just Daylight Savings Time that came early this year. All around the world, spring seems to be coming sooner than it used to. It hasn't moved up on the calendar--but many cycles in nature are telling us that spring just can't wait to be sprung. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...
The Earth-bound asteroid scientists saw coming.
Apr 15, 2009; ... On October 7, 2008, an asteroid the size of a car blazed through the atmosphere and crashed into the Nubian Desert in the African nation of Sudan. Eyewitnesses who were looking up at the sky at the time reported seeing a fireball over the desert when the asteroid, named 2008 TC3, exploded ...
Meet the new dinos.
Apr 01, 2009; ... The last dinosaurs died about 65 million years ago, long before humans started walking around. Scientists can still learn new things about these ancient animals though, thanks to the fossils they left behind. Paleontologists are scientists who study dinosaurs, and recently these ...
The most popular stars.
Apr 01, 2009; ... As long as people have been living on Earth, we've been looking up at bright stars in the night sky, trying to understand the universe and our place in it. Astronomers have long known that not all stars are alike. Some are almost as old as the universe itself, others are just now being ...