Science

Lighter Science

LEGO Figures In Space

In August, a rocket was sent to deliver a space probe, called Juno, to Jupiter to study the planet.

The probe carried three unique stowaways.

Three special LEGO figures, made of aluminum, are accompanying Juno on its five-year mission. The figures look like the Roman god Jupiter, his sister Juno and the Italian astronomer Galileo.

Jupiter carries a lightning bolt. Juno has a magnifying glass to help her search for truth. And Galileo carries a telescope and a model of the planet Jupiter.

People at NASA approached LEGO and asked them to design the special minifigs, which cost about $5,000 each. They had to build them very carefully so they didn’t interfere with any of the probe’s sensitive instruments.

Animals Environment Science

“Extinct” Rainbow Toad Found In Borneo

A colourful, spindly-legged toad was recently spotted by scientists in Borneo.

The last time anyone had seen it was 1924, when it was reported by European explorers.

The bright green, purple and red toad is known as the Sambas Stream Toad, or the Borneo Rainbow Toad.

Many people had assumed it was extinct.

In July, three of the toads were found on three separate trees in Borneo, Indonesia which is an island off the coast of Southeast Asia. Borneo is the third-largest island in the world.

A professor at the Sarawak Malaysia University led the expedition to look for the toads.

Science

100-Year-Old Shipwreck Found In Lake Ontario

In 1906, a ship carrying 480 tons of coal sank in Lake Ontario.
The ship was a schooner, with three huge masts, and it was called Queen of the Lakes.

The ship ran into bad weather near Lake Ontario’s southern shore, and started to leak. It sank quickly.
The six crew members abandoned the ship and rowed safely to shore.

Some people, whose hobby is looking for sunken ships, located the in 2009 using a sonar machine.
The Queen of the Lakes was in water that was too deep for divers to reach her.

Animals

Toronto Elephants Packing Their Trunks

Toka, Thika and Iringa are the last three elephants living at the Toronto Zoo. They will soon be moving to a new home, but they don’t know where yet.

They are waiting for the zoo to decide the best place for them.

For many years, the elephants have been one of the most popular attractions at the Toronto Zoo.

However, since 1984 seven elephants have died at the zoo and now the last three are getting old. The zoo has decided to send them somewhere else to live out their remaining years.

News Science

Judge Looks At New 3-D Images Of Titanic

Four kilometres below the surface of the Atlantic Ocean lies the most famous shipwreck in the world.

The Titanic sank on its maiden voyage on April 12, 1912, about 650 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland.

More than 1,500 passengers and crew died after the supposedly “unsinkable” ocean liner hit an iceberg and sank.

In 2010, scientists used sophisticated equipment to take very detailed photographs of the Titanic and the wreck site.

The photos were “stitched together” to provide an incredible visual record of every centimeter of the outside of the ship. Many of the photos will eventually be shown to the public.

News Science

Scientists Discover Water On The Moon

Scientists recently found out there is 100 times more water on the moon than they thought there was.

Scientists discovered the water when they looked at some pieces of moon rock.

They found water in tiny samples of magma, which was trapped in crystal. Magma is a rock made from cooled lava.

Canadian Astronaut Chris Hadfield told Teaching Kids the News that the water is a very valuable discovery.

“It’s like finding diamonds or gold in a remote frontier,” Hadfield said.

Science

The Vesta Asteroid… Er, Planet… Er, Object?

When you want to know more about something, you check it out, right? That’s exactly what scientists at NASA are doing.

They want to know more about an object in space they call Vesta. Is it an asteroid? A planet? What exactly is it?

Two months ago, they launched the Dawn spacecraft. Its job is to orbit and observe Vesta.

Vesta is officially listed by NASA as a “minor planet,” which means that it is an object orbiting around the sun.

But Vesta isn’t really a planet at all. It’s simply an object in space.

It has also been called an asteroid, a dwarf planet (a tiny planet), and a protoplanet, which is an object that started the same way as other planets, like Venus and Mercury, but never fully developed.

Health Science

High School Student Working On Cystic Fibrosis

Thousands of young students across Canada take part in science projects to learn about the world around them.

Marshall Zhang, 16, in grade 11 in Richmond Hill, Ont., earned first place in a national science competition this year. He discovered something amazing while doing research on a disease called cystic fibrosis.

Marshall used a supercomputer network called SCINET. He had never used the network before, but quickly learned how to use it because he was already good at using computers.

“Marshall applied his interest and skills in computer graphics, which he developed while in Grade 5 and 6, to solve problems presented by cystic fibrosis,” said Tony Legault, the Toronto co-ordinator for the Sanofi-Aventis BioTalent Challenge science competition.

Environment News

BC Woman Survived In Wilderness For Seven Weeks

A woman from British Columbia, who was lost for nearly 50 days, has been found alive. Rita Chretien left Penticton, B.C. with her husband, Albert. They were going to a trade show in Las Vegas when they decided to go off-road to see some landscape. They got turned around and their van became stuck in mud on a remote road in northeastern Nevada.

The couple waited for three days before Albert set out for help.

Meanwhile, Rita survived eating a small amount of trail mix and other food the couple had in the van. When that ran out, she stayed alive by eating melted snow.

Environment Science

“Uncontacted” Tribes Found In Brazil

There are some people in Brazil who have never met a person from the “modern” world. They live in the rainforest. They don’t have houses or cars or computers. They are an “uncontacted tribe” of people.

The tribe’s people live in huts, hunt animals, and make their own tools. Photos show them with black and red dye on their bodies, holding long sticks.