Readable, teachable news.
Tuesday, March 19, 2024
Do you think you know more about science than your parents do? You could be right.
At a big science fair in England last November, 2,000 moms and dads were asked what sort of questions their kids had about science, and how they answer them.
Most of the parents said they found it hard to answer their children’s questions. A few of them said they think their kids know more about science than they do.
Since the Italian cruise ship sank off the coast of Tuscany on Jan. 13, many new facts have come out.
As you may recall from TKN’s article about the disaster, the captain of the 13-deck Costa Concordia cruise ship steered the boat too close to an island. Rocks tore a hole in the hull and the ship sank.
There were more than 4,200 people on board; some said that while they were scrambling to leave the ship, they saw the captain already in a lifeboat.
Since TKN reported on the story on Jan. 15 there have been many accusations against the captain, Francesco Schettino, who is currently under house arrest.*
He is accused of manslaughter (unintentional murder), causing a shipwreck and leave the ship when there are passengers and crew still on board.
India made history this month when it announced that there were no more cases of polio in the country.
The victory came after years of work by India’s public-health workers. They travelled to the most remote places and the poorest areas in the country. They gave vaccines—medicine that prevents diseases—to 172 million children.
Polio is a viral infection that can paralyze (stop movement in) the body, especially in people’s arms and legs. It can also make people’s breathing difficult is if they have very bad asthma. It can even be fatal.
When you go to hear live classical music, it’s usually quite a formal occasion.
The audience is respectful of the musicians.
Usually people even clap only at certain times. That’s so the beauty of the music isn’t interrupted.
The New York Philharmonic is a very famous classical music orchestra.
So you can imagine what people in the audience were thinking when, right in the middle of the soft and beautiful ending of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9 – someone’s cell phone started ringing.
There are two main political parties in the United States: the Republicans and the Democrats.
Right now, the Republicans have to choose someone to run for president against Democrat Barack Obama, in time for the presidential election on Nov. 6.
To pick a Republican candidate, every state in the U.S. holds an early election called a primary.
The front-runner in the Republican race is Mitt Romney, who was the Governor of Massachusetts and is now in business.
Yesterday, some schoolkids in Toronto learned first-hand what democracy is all about.
Toronto’s mayor, Rob Ford, was proposing some cuts to the city’s budget.
He said many of the city’s services should go on the chopping block to balance the city’s budget, including closing down services at: 10 arenas, three daycares, three shelters, a city zoo and a farm on Toronto Island.
The city also proposed cutting services like swimming lessons at five swimming pools in Toronto schools. That could potentially lead to the pools being closed in the future.
The parents and kids at those schools went into action to try to prevent the budget cuts.
In one episode of her popular talk show, Ellen DeGeneres bemoaned the fact that she couldn’t be in two places at once.
Lots of people wanted her at events, but her schedule was packed.
John Kernaghan was listening to her show that day.
He’s a Toronto-based mascot maker. His company, Hogtown Mascots, makes life-sized puppets that are used as “mascots” for companies and sports teams.
He decided to make it possible for the entertainer to be in two places at once.
John created a giant mascot costume that looked just like Ellen DeGeneres. And then he sent it to her.
It began like any other cruise, with more than 4,200 people aboard the Costa Concordia.
However, the scene became tragic on Saturday as the massive ship ran aground a few hundred metres off the tiny island of Giglio near Tuscany, Italy.
Rocks tore a 50-metre gash down one side of the hull and the ship took on water.
By Sunday morning five people were dead and 10 unaccounted for. Two of the victims were French and one was from Peru. Another 30 people were hurt; two people were seriously injured.
Others on board were from Italy, Germany, France and Britain. There were 1,000 crew members on board.
Stephen Hawking turned 70 on Jan. 8.
Cosmologists – scientists like Hawking who study the origins of the universe – gathered in Cambridge, UK, to pay tribute to him.
Hawking was a mathematics professor at the University of Cambridge for 30 years. He retired from that job in 2009. He still works for Cambridge, in cosmology research.
Hawking is a mathematical genius, who changed the way scientists think about the universe.
What do you get when you start with a white room and then give thousands of children coloured dot stickers?
That is exactly what artist Yayoi Kusama wanted to find out.
She painted a room in the Brisbane Gallery of Modern Art completely white.
The walls, floor and ceiling were white. The piano was white. The couch, TV and seats were white. Even a fern was painted white.
And then she invited thousands of children inside.
