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Which Logo Will Be Chosen For Canada’s Sesquicentennial (150th)?

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In 2017, Canada turns 150.

That’s a “milestone” birthday–known as a sesquicentennial–and the government will be doing a lot of special things to celebrate that year.

In anticipation of 2017, the government tested five different logos to decide which one would best represent the country’s 150th.

The logos were designed by the Department of Canadian Heritage, a department in the Canadian government that is responsible for programs relating to the arts, culture, official languages and multiculturalism.

Each logo features the colour red and has a maple leaf, like the Canadian flag.

And each logo features the number 150 and the word Canada.

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Lighter News

Amazon Testing “Octocopters” For Half-Hour Delivery Times (But Not Anytime Soon)

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Lots of people buy books and products from Amazon, an online seller.

They order and pay over the Internet and the books are shipped through the mail or a delivery service like FedEx.

One day, people could get their Amazon deliveries from an “unmanned aerial vehicle” — a tiny flying vehicle that looks like a toy helicopter.

And instead of waiting days to get the parcel, it could be at the buyer’s home in half an hour or less.

The company is working on a fleet of tiny vehicles they call “Prime Air.”

The vehicles are also known as “octocopters.”

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News Sports

Olympic Torch On An Eventful Journey Across Russia

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It’s customary for the country that will host the Olympic games to send the Olympic flame on a vast relay.

The flame is passed from person to person, travelling around the country, often accompanied by cheering crowds watching the runners along the route.

For the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014, the torch is on a journey like no other.

It has moved by runner, troika, reindeer sleigh, dragon boat, go kart, snowmobile, skier, snowboarder, ice-swimmer, speed skater and even on a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker (ship).

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News Sports

Hockey Players Suing NHL Over Concussions

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Some former professional hockey players are suing the National Hockey League.

In this case, it means they are asking the NHL to pay them money.

Two hundred former players say the NHL didn’t do enough to protect them from concussions.

They say they have brain injuries because hockey is so rough, and they want the NHL to pay for their medical treatment.

The players say they should have been told how dangerous repeated brain injuries are.

They say the NHL waited until 1997 to put a “concussion program” in place, but the league should have known long before that how dangerous concussions are.

The players say the league should have changed the rules of hockey to make it less likely that players would get concussions.

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Lighter News

Rare Book Sells For $14.2-Million

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How much would you pay for a book? $15? $20?

How about more than $14-million?

That’s what businessman David Rubenstein paid for one on Tuesday.

It’s the most expensive book ever purchased in an auction.

It is believed to be the first book ever printed in what is now the United States of America.

It’s called the Whole Book of Psalmes, or the Bay Psalm Book for short.

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News Science

The “Comet Of The Century” Set To Put On A Show

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Comet ISON is about to put on a show.

Scientists around the world are watching as ISON streaks, ever-faster, towards the sun.

NASA has been studying ISON since December, when it was more than 800 million kilometres away.

Experts are calling Comet ISON as “the comet of the century.”

What is a comet? Here’s how astrophysicist Julie Abraham describes a comet: “It’s basically a big ball of dirty ice in orbit around the sun that gradually melts or burns up, spewing out debris and water in a plume blown out behind it.”

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Animals Environment News Science

Scientists Find 60 New Species In Suriname Rainforest

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Scientists have discovered 60 species of previously unknown plants and animals living in a remote rainforest in southeastern Suriname.

Suriname is a small country on the northeastern coast of South America, just north of Brazil.

It is located in a geographic area called the Guiana Shield, which contains more than one-quarter of the world’s rainforest.

An expedition of 16 field biologists spent three weeks in Suriname in 2012, exploring the remote, mountainous rainforest region.

Thirty indigenous men helped transport their food and equipment by boat and guided team through the forest.

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Lighter

Door Knobs A Thing Of The Past?

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Think of some of the things that used to be very popular, but which practically don’t exist anymore. Like vinyl records. Or fax machines. Or… door knobs?

Door knobs may become a thing of the past, with door levers taking their place.

That’s because Vancouver, a large city in British Columbia, recently changed its building code to say that new buildings will be built with levers instead of knobs.

The city’s building code is changing to levers because they are easier to open. People with arthritis, for instance, often find door knobs difficult.

Using levers will make doors as accessible to as many people as possible.

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News Science Technology

MAVEN Spacecraft Takes Off For Mars

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This week, a “robotic explorer” left Earth on its way to Mars.

It should get there next September. Mars is more than 700 million kilometres away.

The explorer is going to Mars to try to solve some of the planet’s mysteries.

For instance, why is Mars now a cold, dry planet when it started out warm and wet?

The Associated Press reports that “the early Martian atmosphere was thick enough to hold water and possibly support microbial life.”

Scientists at NASA want to know what happened to change that.

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News Technology

Word Of The Year: Selfie

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“Selfie” has been named the word of the year.

Oxford Dictionaries chose the word because its usage increased by 17,000 per cent over last year.

A “selfie” is a photo that a person takes of himself, usually with his smart phone.

Have you ever seen a picture of a person that he took by holding his phone out in front of him? That’s a selfie.

A selfie can also be taken in a mirror or with a webcam.

Another term for selfie is “self portrait.”

The term was first used in 2002, in an online chat in Australia.

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