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Science News for Kids

Publication of the Society for Science & the Public

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A robot built to mimic the movements of a cownose ray takes a dip. Credit: Norm Shafer

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Cool Jobs: Moved by life

Biologically inspired robots travel — naturally

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‘Cool’ research for the president

White House welcomes a cross-section of young scientists and engineers

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Wanted: ‘Smart’ cleaners

Active surfaces will — on their own — help remove everything from insects and germs to poisons

Nothing, not even light, can escape a black hole. Though black holes are invisible, they can create brilliant light shows. This illustration shows a black hole devouring a star. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/CI Lab

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Black hole mysteries

Scientists are just getting to know the black holes that help anchor our cosmos

Caption: Many scientists today are finding that too much time spent indoors — at least during childhood — may affect vision, making it hard to see distant objects clearly. Doctors refer to this nearsightedness as myopia. Studies have found that kids who regularly spend time on computers have an increased risk of being diagnosed with myopia. Credit: iStockphoto

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Humans & Health

Fuzzy future

Kids may suffer impaired vision from spending too little time outdoors, studies suggest

Science in Society

Intel ISEF

Eesha Khare (left), Ionut Budisteanu (center) and Henry Wanjune Lin (right) claimed the top three prizes at this year’s Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona. Budisteanu’s work toward developing a self-driving car earned the 19-year-old Romanian inventor the $75,000 top prize. Credit: Intel/Chris Ayers

The Intel® International Science and Engineering Fair® (Intel ISEF) is the world’s largest high school science competition, where more than 1,500 high school students from more than 70 countries compete for over $4 million in prizes annually. The Intel ISEF …

In the News

Salmonella bacteria (pink) invade a defense cell in the body. The severity of the infection may depend on the time of day the germs are introduced to the body, new research suggests. Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Infection time. Read More

This illustration shows a flu virus as if it were cut in half. The outside is made of protein. The inside contains genetic material. A new study suggests tiny, long-lasting airborne particles that contain this germ cause at least half of all flu cases. Credit: National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)

Flu in the air. Read More

This map shows the path of the monster twister that killed the Samaras team. It was the largest U.S. tornado on record, at one point spanning a record 2.6 miles wide. Credit: Nat’l. Weather Serv./Norman, Okla.

Tornado caught storm chasers. Read More

Old, cold moss grows again. Read More

Itchy skin sends a signal to your brain. Scientists have now identified a key player in that process. Credit: iStockphoto

An itch switch. Read More

Summer Monroe, 18, developed a copper-containing bandage that may help reduce infections in battlefield wounds. Credit: Patrick Thornton, SSP

A penny for your health?. Read More

Map showing provinces in eastern China where early cases of the new bird flu emerged in February through April 15, 2013. Credit: World Health Organization/ Western Pacific Regional Office

Killer-flu update. Read More

Carolyn Jons, 15 , developed a new type of plastic bag to help keep food fresh longer. Credit: Patrick Thornton, SSP

New bag keeps food fresh longer. Read More

New life saver

A 17-year-old from South Africa has invented a warming liner (blue cloth liner, shown on table) for life jackets. Patrick Thornton, SSP

A warming life jacket. Read More

This teen’s wind tunnel tests showed that dimpling the surface of trucks could greatly reduce drag from friction. Patrick Thornton, SSP

Smile! Dimples boost your mileage. Read More

Bennett Lee Gibson, a 15-year-old dairy farmer from Ogden, Utah, found that feeding dairy cows a costly but more digestible corn boosted milk production — and his profits. Credit: Patrick Thornton, SSP

Better chow yields more milk. Read More

Sergio Parra, a 17-year-old engineer from Hoschton, Ga., analyzed concrete made from materials likely available on the moon. His findings suggest that construction on the moon might be more economical than previously thought. Credit: Patrick Thornton, SSP

Building with moon rocks. Read More

White ball-shaped cloud structures in this satellite image point to where intense thunderstorms formed on the afternoon of May 20, 2013. The big round ball at top center is where the killer tornado developed. It ravaged Moore, Okla.Caption:
Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC

Major twister hits Oklahoma. Read More

A child’s talent for learning math may relate to the size and wiring of different parts of the brain. Credit: iStockphoto

A mind for math. Read More

Mei Kam (left), Mei Di Zhu (center) and Jia Ying Zhong (right) designed a “smart washer” that provides an alert when the nut holding the washer on a bolt comes loose. Credit: Patrick Thornton, SSP

Flagging loose bolts. Read More

Adebola Duro-Aina (left), Oluwatoyin Faleke (center) and Zainab Bello (right) designed a system that uses urine to produce a fuel. Generators that run on this fuel, rather than gasoline, would avoid spewing carbon monoxide, a toxic pollutant. Credit: Patrick Thornton, SSP

Pee is for power. Read More

Phillipe Lothaller, a 17-year-old senior from Cape Town, South Africa, has invented a device that could save airlines big money by extending the life of tires. The metal device at left is an early mock-up of the design. A newer version (seen in white at center) has pop-up scoops instead of fixed ones. When retracted, the scoops don’t interfere with a plane’s protective wheel wells. Credit: Patrick Thornton, SSP

Avoiding ‘hot’ wheels. Read More

This image, taken with a powerful microscope, shows tiny, individual crystals of bismuth telluride. A new structure made from this material lets light travel easily and without interruption along its surface. Credit: A13ean/Wikipedia

Light dancing on glass. Read More

A new study identified compounds in honey that help bees fight off germs. Credit: Jack Dykinga, USDA Agricultural Research Service, Bugwood.org

Honey’s hidden helper. Read More

Artists and scientists worked together to create this sculpture that shows what Jane, a colonial American, might have looked like. A study of the teen’s remains indicates she was cannibalized after she died. Credit: StudioEIS, Don Hurlbert/Smithsonian

American cannibals. Read More

Scientists say pulsing corals make their motion to bring in needed nutrients. Credit: M. Kremien et al/PNAS 2013

Motion in the ocean. Read More

A mother’s arms can calm a crying infant, say scientists. The tactic works for mice, too, only those mammals use their mouth to cradle their young. Credit: iStockphoto

Perfect pacifier. Read More

A rat kidney was stripped of its cells and repopulated with human and rat cells. Researchers transplanted the organ into a rat, where it functioned to produce urine and filter impurities from blood. Credit: Ott Lab/Center for Regenerative Medicine/Massachusetts General Hospital

New life for a used organ. Read More

Deadly new flu. Read More

Scientists used DNA to build biological switches called transcriptors, which act like transistors found on computer chips. Credit: iStockphoto

A switch for a living computer. Read More

Scientists recently used a computer program to decode patterns of brain activity displayed during a dream. They found that a certain object was linked with a particular pattern, and that pattern was similar whether the object was seen while awake or asleep. Credit: iStockphoto

The stuff of dreams. Read More

Scientists tweaked the genes of a bacterium so that it requires caffeine to live and reproduce. Now, they can use this microbe to measure concentrations of caffeine in beverages such as soda, coffee and energy drinks. When the microbes are added to a water-weakened version of one of those drinks, the bacteria grow and the liquid turns cloudy — but only if the drink contained caffeine. In caffeine-free Coke (top left), no cloudiness appears. Credit: Barrick Lab/University of Texas at Austin

Microscopic caffeine fiends. Read More

Caption: This strange-looking cage can hide an object inside it from being detected by sound waves. Credit: L. Sanchis et al

Sound cloak. Read More

A recent study of forested Swedish islands found that tiny fungi in the soil store most of the carbon found in the forest floor. Credit: Photo courtesy of Karina Clemmensen

Fungi as carbon keepers. Read More

Researchers designed a way to make better batteries using supersmall sulfur particles coated with titanium dioxide. Credit: Seh et al., Nature Communications (2013)

Building a better battery. Read More

This southern cavefish is blind and, new research suggests, partially deaf. But don’t feel sorry for the little fish; it may just be adapting to a dark and noisy habitat. Credit: Matthew Niemiller

No high notes for these blind fish. Read More

This map shows the energy left over from shortly after the Big Bang, as mapped by the Planck space telescope. The average background temperature is about 2.7 degrees above the coldest possible temperature (known as absolute zero). Red spots are slightly warmer, while blue spots are slightly cooler. Astronomers hope this map can help them learn more about the history of the universe.

New, older age for the universe. Read More

This illustration depicts the planet HR 8799c (foreground) orbiting its star. Two other planets in the system can also be seen in the drawing.
Credit: Image courtesy of Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics; Mediafarm

Out-of-this-world atmospheres. Read More

A giant squid is unloaded by fishermen at a wharf in Melbourne, Australia. Credit: David Paul/University of Melbourne

Big squid: All one family. Read More

The caffeine in some flower nectar gives bees a memory boost, a new study shows. Credit: Image courtesy of Geraldine Wright

Another buzz for bees. Read More

The first sample of Martian rock drilled by the rover Curiosity. Scientists say the rock provides evidence that microbes could have once lived on Mars. Credit: NASA, JPL-Caltech, MSSS

Permission: press photo, NASA public domain

Martian microbes, maybe. Read More

Microscopic photo of the new germ, shown in false color. Credit: NIAID/NIH

Deadly new virus emerges. Read More

This photo shows HIV infecting a T-cell, which usually fights off infections in the human body. Credit: NIH/NIAID

The AIDS virus that vanished. Read More

Scientists connected the brains of two rats using computer chips and computers. One animal later signaled the other rat’s brain. Credit: K. Zhuang, Lab.of M. Nicolelis, Duke Univ.

Brain to brain. Read More

Jonah Kallenbach (left) and Adam Joseph Bowman (right) join first place winner Sara Volz, to round out the top three places in the competition. Credit: Chris Ayers Photography/SSP

Teens win big for their research. Read More

Scientists report that bees and flowers appear to have a charged communication. In addition to a flower’s color and scent, its electric field may also bring in bees, a new study shows. Credit: Emily Krieger

Flower power. Read More

Researchers have connected exposure to high levels of pollutants called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, to a greater likelihood of having asthma and allergies. Caption: Photo courtesy of the EPA

Bad for breathing. Read More

Cordell Grant, an aerospace engineer at the University of Toronto in Canada, assembles one of his team’s nanosatellites. These are the smallest space telescopes ever sent into Earth orbit. Credit: Johannes Hirn (Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics, University of Toronto)

Supertiny satellites launched. Read More

An earthquake caused widespread damage to San Francisco in 1989. Scientists are designing a new type of seismic shield that may help protect buildings from tremors. Credit: J.K. Nakata/USGS

Quake, quake, go away. Read More

Asian-Weaver-Ants

These ants boast mighty grip. Read More

Wisdom, an albatross who is estimated to be 62 years old, tends to her newly hatched chick. She is the oldest known wild bird. Credit: John Klavitter/U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Oldest bird is new mom. Read More

A rat with an infrared-detecting sensor wired into its brain soon learned that it could find water at a door marked with an invisible infrared light.
Credit: Thomson et al., Nature Communications (2013)

Feeling the invisible. Read More

This freshwater stickleback eats the tiny animals in stream water that graze on plants and algae. This predation allows those plants and algae to collect and store carbon, rather than letting it escape into the atmosphere. Credit: Nicole Bedford, UBC

Predators as climate helpers. Read More

This streak of light shows the meteor’s entry into Earth’s atmosphere. The image was captured by a European weather satellite. Credit: EUMETSAT

Meteor explodes over Russia. Read More

Here we go! Shock waves in the clouds of gas surrounding an exploding star (as in this artist’s depiction) accelerate charged particles called protons to very high speed, creating cosmic rays.
Credit: Greg Stewart, SLAC Nat'l Accelerator Lab.

Where cosmic rays are born. Read More

This Indian fantail, one of 350 breeds of rock pigeons, has a tuft of feathers called a peak crest. Scientists recently pinpointed the gene mutation responsible for this feather formation. Credit: Michael Shapiro

Fancy feather gene. Read More

This skeleton found beneath a parking lot in England belonged to Richard III, who ruled England in the 15th century. The bones show his curved spine and reveal the injuries that killed him. Credit: Univ. of Leicester

The return of a king. Read More

A DNA molecule looks like a twisted ladder. Scientists have found a way to use the rungs of that ladder to store data efficiently. Credit: NHGRI

Genetic memory. Read More

Cats kill between 1.4 billion and 3.7 billion birds every year in the United States, according to a new study. Credit: Emily Krieger

Killer cats. Read More

Tiny patterns cut into this narrow copper strip filter microwaves. This new, simple technology makes it possible to take digital pictures faster, with less computer time required. And it could be used to help make airport scanners smarter, faster and cheaper. Credit: J. Hunt/Duke

A smarter scan. Read More

Life on the moon — but not ours. This illustration shows two large moons orbiting a giant, gassy planet (in orange). Astronomers say the right type of moon could harbor alien life. Credit: R. Heller, AIP

Home on the moon. Read More

Dino-sized poop. Read More

This 1,000-meter hose — spooled onto an enormous and very heavy container — was used as a drill to pierce deeply through Antarctica’s ice. Credit: J. Raloff/Science News for Kids

Piercing a buried polar lake. Read More

Long space flights may harm astronauts’ sleep patterns, a 520-day experiment found. Replacing fluorescent bulbs with blue lights like the ones in this photo may help avoid those problems. Credit: ESA

Sleeping in space. Read More

Newborns with a certain version of a gene are more likely to have a smaller medial temporal lobe (blue spots). This brain region is also smaller in adults with Alzheimer’s disease. People with the gene version are three times more likely to develop the disorder, which affects memory.

Baby brain, adult disease. Read More