7/28/10: After 128 days, The Plastiki, a 60-foot catamaran, and its six crew, has successfully sailed from San Francisco to Sydney, Australia. It was a journey of about 8000 nautical miles. The boat make almost entirely of 12,500 recycled plastic bottles, was a journey with a message, to raise awareness about the dangers of plastic waste to our environment and to think of creative uses for trash. The journey faced giant ocean waves, 70 mph winds, sizzling hot temperatures and torn sails. Adventure Ecology, the organization responsible for the Plastiki Adventure, wants you to rethink trash accumulating in your recycling bin and hopes you might think of these items as treasures to be used in some imaginative way...like a plastic sailing vessel!

A whopper of a star has been found in our universe. Twice as heavy of any star ever found, astronomers say it may be about 265-320 times bigger than our Sun. The bright ball of burning gas gives of more than 10 million times more light than our sun. The "monster star"called R136a1 amazed British astronomers who discovered it because scientists didn't think a star could be so large. It is located in a star cluster of the Tarantula Nebula, part of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a galaxy 165,000 light-years away from the Milky Way.Read more:

7/18/10:Have you ever had surgery? Well, Dottie just did and she's a dolphin. In fact, Dottie, who's 23 years old, is the first in the world to undergo surgery on her kidneys. Recently Dottie, who lives at Sea World, in San Diego, CA, stopped eating and doctors discovered her kidneys were failing. To save her life, the dolphin was placed on dialysis,but the treatment still didn't make her better. Surgery was performed to remove a 450 pound kidney stone using laser surgery. Now, Dottie is eating and swimming with her buddies.

Construction crews working at the World Trade Center site unearthed something very interesting...a 32 ft.ship!Thought to date back to the 18th century,it was probably a discarded ship used to build up the land area of lower Manhattan in the 1700s. Additionally, a 100 pound anchor was also found. Testing on the timber is being done to try and determine the actual age of the ship.

7/15/10:How do you move 70,000 sea turtle eggs? Answer:With extreme care. The next question is WHY would you move so many eggs from 800 nesting grounds on beaches in Northwest Florida? Answer:To protect them from the Gulf oil spill. Scientists say that when the hatchlings go into the Gulf of Mexico, the currents most likely will bring them into the waters where floating oil will most likely kill them. That's why preparations for the sea-turtle egg lift is underway. It will be slow and tedious process of hand digging the eggs from their nests. Those involved in the efforts must make sure they don't crack the eggs. They also must make sure they don't roll or change the position of the eggs as this can effect the embryo inside. Eggs will then be placed in specially made Styrofoam containers filled with sand(to feel like a natural nest) and then trucked in temperature controlled vehicles to a special area at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. When the hatchlings come out of their shells, they will be taken to the Atlantic Ocean and released. Read More:

7/10: You never know what might be under your feet but, if you have a metal detector, you just might find buried treasure! David Crisp, of Great Britain, was walking around the English countryside looking for treasure and made an amazing discovery. His detector started beeping and beeping and beeping. Digging into the ground, Crisp found some bronze and silver coins. He kept on unearthing more and more ancient coins. Crisp decided he'd better ask an expert to check out his find. Maybe, it was an important discovery. Could there be more coins? A pot belly jar was found. It was so heavy, it had to be broken. Thousands and thousands of additional coins poured out-a total of 52,500 coins. It's one of the largest collection of ancient coins ever found. The coins were mostly minted by Emperor Carausias, a military leader who rules Britain and Rome from 266-273 AD. Crisp will receive a part of the estimated $2-5 million dollar treasure! Experts don't know why the pot of coins was buried...perhaps, it was once at the end of a rainbow? Learn more:

A flying car isn't just an imaginary mode of transportation done by Harry Potter. A new flying car, more correctly called a "roadable aircraft",may soon be available for purchase! Called a Transition Roadable Aircraft,the car ,with fold up wings, turns into an airplane with a push of a button.With a speed of 65 mph on the road and 115 mph in the air,the roadable aircraft, built by Terrafugia, a Massachusetts' company, will require a sport pilot license. And,the flying car won't be cheap. You'll need about $200,000 if you'd like to purchase one. Terrafugia hopes to deliver the first flying cars to the market next year.See a video and read more at this link:

7/10:One of the stars of the World Cup 2010 goes by the name Paul, no surname. Paul is an octopus(also called a cephalopod),at the Sea Life Centre,in Oberhausen, Germany. He has correctly predicted the winners of each of the six games in which Germany has played. Presented with two boxes, each draped with the flag of the playing teams, Paul has picked his mussel treat from the box with the flag of the team that has gone on to win the game. For third and fourth place, Paul has picked Germany over Uruguay. And, in the final game of the World Cup, and for the championship honors, Paul has picked...Spain over Holland. Will he be correct? Read more:

7/02/10:Have you ever had to sit in the dentist's chair and had a filling for a decayed tooth? Maybe, you've had a root canal? Such treatments might be a thing of the past ,in the not so distant future. Scientists have developed a soft gel that when placed near a tooth with a cavity or root issue,can regenerate the cells and heal from within. No drilling needed. Remember bad choices can still result in a cavity, it's just the treatment that might be different in the future for some types of cavities and root issues. And, you still need to brush and floss!

The world's largest graveyard of dinosaur bones has been found in northern Alberta,Canada. Thousands of bones of the centrosaurus, a horned dinosaur were found. The centrosaurus ,a plant eating dinosaur, was about the size of a cow and looked like a triceratops. Why so many bones in the area of 1.43 square miles? The dinosaurs came to the area for its good climate and plentiful water and food supply. Scientists say evidence suggests that huge tropical storms created flash flooding. With no high ground to seek protection from the flooding, the herds in the area were wiped out. Read more at this link:

6/18/10:Look up into the sky. Ever wonder just what is orbiting over the Earth? Communication satellites, weather satellites,hammers, wrenches, gloves...there are over 20,000 man-made objects zooming around above us. In July, another object will be added, a probe to monitor all the space junk.The Space Based Space Surveillance will orbit about 400 miles above the earth giving scientists another way to keep track of all the object orbiting the planet.

6/16/10:Did someone lose a shoe? Archaeologists have found one shoe in a cave in Armenia. It is believed to be the oldest leather shoe ever found. It's older than the Pyramids of Egypt by about 1000 years! Remember Otzi, the Iceman, found frozen in the Alps years ago? His shoe was thought to be the oldest ever found...until now. Dating back 5,500 years, the cow-hide shoe contains grass(maybe to act as insulation or to keep the shoe shape) and is pretty tiny. How did the shoe last so long? Seems it was buried under lots of sheep dung. Archaeologists think this and the fact that the cave was cool and dry, helped preserve the shoe. See a photograph at this link:

NASA is giving those of us who aren't astronauts a chance to go into space...well, sort of, anyway. With only two space shuttle flights left, NASA is inviting people to send their photographs into space. Go to the NASA website:

6/10/10:This is very cool...a printer made with Legos! A creative computer programmer from Great Britain, named Adam,who has loved Legos all his life, decided to built a felt-tip printer using over 300 Lego pieces,including Lego work men, a Lego palm tree, two Lego horses, and a purple felt tip pen. Four paper rollers, two large flat mounting boards,three moters and some connecting wires were also used to make the printer operational. And, just what was printed on his Lego printer?"Hello, World." Check out this link to see the printer in action.

Love the taste of chocolate? Scientists have developed a new way to enjoy the taste of chocolate without swallowing. You inhale! Developed by a researcher at Harvard,you place Le Whif, an aerosol container into your mouth. It's being called the world's first breathable food. Each lipstick sized tube provides about eight to ten whiffs. Le Whifs come in coffee, raspberry chocolate, mint chocolate and also, coffee flavor. Other breathable flavors which are being developed include cheese and caviar.

A new species of male tree frog was recently discovered in Indonesian New Guinea. What makes it unusual looking is it has a pinocchio-like nose. The long nose deflates and points downward when it isn't active and inflates,pointing upwards when it is making noise to attract the female. The "Pinocchio" frog, as well as the world's smallest wallaby, a gargoyle-faced gecko and several other newly discovered species were all discovered in the Foja Mountains of the region. See a photograph at this link:

The planet Jupiter is missing something...one of its bright red rings!Jupiter, the solar system's largest planet, has two red strips, one in the Northern Hemisphere and one in the Southern Hemisphere. Recent images show that the southern red strip has disappeared! Astronomers say that it was there three months ago but is now gone. It isn't the first time the Southern Hemisphere strip has disappeared but it is rare. It's not sure why the red strip disappears from time to time but one thing is certain, astronomers are confident that the distinctive strip will return.

Today, May 15,2010, Jessica Watson,16, of Australia, sailed her pink yacht into Sydney Harbour to the cheers of thousands of spectators. She just completed a round-the world journey, the youngest to circle the globe-nonstop, unassisted and solo! Jessica's record setting adventure took her seven months to complete. Facing loneliness, homesickness,huge storms and 40 ft. waves(but also unbelievable sunrises, seeing a shooting star,and, a blue whale), the teen walked off the yacht, called Ella's Pink Lady, onto a pink carpet placed in her honor at the pier. It was the first time she'd walked on land in 210 days, after leaving Buderim, Queensland, on October 18, 2009. Watson's journey took her northeast through the South Pacific,across the equator(where she dumped water on her head to celebrate), south to Cape Horn( tip of South America), across the Atlantic Ocean to South Africa, through the Indian Ocean and around southern Australia. Although Jessica is the youngest to accomplish such an sailing,it will not go into the record books as the World Speed Sailing Record Council has discontinued its "youngest"category. Of her efforts, Jessica told spectators."People don't think you're capable of these things-they don't realize what young people, what 16-year-olds and girls are capable of. It's amazing when you take away those expectations what you can do." The Prime Minister of Australia has hailed Jessica,"Australia's newest hero". As for the title, Jessica was quoted as saying,"I don't consider myself a hero. I'm an ordinary girl who believed in her dream."

5/15/10:Perhaps you have heard the story of Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree back in the 1600s when an apple fell to the ground. This event helped spark Newton to his theory of the law of gravity. That tree, 350 years later is in the news. A small 4 inch sliver of the famous tree will be taken aboard the space shuttle Atlantis and go up into space. Piers Sellers, a British Born astronaut will be carrying the piece of the apple tree for The Royal Society of London. When in orbit, the sliver will be released to float around the shuttle for a time.

Busy Canadian beavers have constructed the world's longest dam and it was seen from space by a NASA satellite. Found on the southern edge of Wood Buffalo National Park in Northern Alberta, it's twice the size of the Hoover Dam(1244 ft), the world's largest man-made constructed dam. Measuring 2790 ft., it is believed to have taken about 20 years to construct to its current size and built by several families of the big toothed creatures. Mud, stone, and thousands of trees were all used to make the dam which is longer than eight football fields stretched from end to end!

5/10/10:Here's a "heads up"for those with hair to spare. An environmental organization called Matter of Trust, wants your extra hair and, your pet's hair! Hair, as you know, collects oils. The organization is working with salons and pet grooming businesses to donate their collected hair to make hair mats and booms to help soak up the oil in the recent Gulf of Mexico disaster. Already over 300,000 pounds of hair and lots of nylon stockings have come from states across the country to be turned into the mats and stuffed in nylon to make booms to be placed near beaches and marshes along the Gulf Coast. Australia, France, Brazil, Canada and Great Britain have also shipped hair for the collection. If you need a hair cut or your dog needs grooming,check out if your hair salon or pet grooming has signed up for the Matter of Trust Hair collection!

5/1/10:You probably have gone to the dentist, opened wide, and had an xray of your teeth. Reggae, 16,has had one,too, and he's a harbor seal at the New England Aquarium! Seems Reggae has a discolored tooth.The problem-how to get Reggae to sit still long enough to get a film inside his mouth. As with all the seals at the facility, trainers had to teach the seals to open their mouths so they could get their teeth regularly brushed. It took an two extra months to teach Reggae( using his favorite snacks-squid, smelt and herring treat)to get Reggae used to the idea of placing a digital film block inside his mouth so the exam could be done. Using a hand-held digital X-ray device,veterinarian dentist Dr. Laura LeVan, got the images, to determine just what is wrong with Reggae's lower canine. Now, Reggaoe is waiting to learn if he's got a cavity needing to be fill.

How many times have you forgotten to recharge your IPod or Cell phone? Well, researchers many soon change that problem in the future. They are developing a device that could be put into the sole of your shoe or even woven in your clothing that could recharges your device as you move! The technology creates energy from piezoelectric materials(like quarts,cane sugar crystals and zinc oxide). As pressure is applied to these materials, a burst of energy is produced.

4/28/10:The nation's very first offshore wind farm is being planned for the waters off of Cape Cod, Massachusetts.The 130 turbine wind farm would be located in Nantucket Sound, where there is a steady blowing breeze. It is estimated that the wind turbines,standing about 40 stores tall, could provide 3/4 of the energy needs of the 225,00 residents of Cape Cod. Some groups,such as the Aquinnah Wampanoag Indian Tribe as well as some environmental groups say they oppose such a wind farm and are threatening to sue to stop the project.

A very unusual white and black stallion was born at a horse farm in New Hampshire. Named Einstein,the stallion weighs only 6 pound and is only 14 inches in height. It may be named the smallest horse in the world by Guinness Book of World Records. The current record for the smallest miniature hose is Thumbellina, who was born weighing 8.5 pounds and measured 11 inches tall. See a photographs of Einstein at this link:

4/26/10:Kids in the mountain village of Grandados,in Guatemala, needed a new school. Their old one was crumbling and in need of repair. In fact, the existing school was basically a metal frame with a roof.The problem, the tiny community didn't have the money for concrete and steel to build a new school. One thing there WAS in big supply...trash, especially plastic soda bottles.Peace Corp volunteer,Laura Kutner, came up with a very cool idea. Why not build a two room school from the waste bottles? Students and community members first collected plastic bottles from the area. The next step was stuffing each of the approximate 6000 bottles with trash such as plastic bags and potato chip packaging. This made the bottles strong enough to be used as building material. The bottles were then wrapped with chicken wire to form building blocks. After the "walls" were put into place, a thin coat of concrete was applied. All but a small spot of the construction was left to show the interesting building materials. Then, the walls were painted a bright orange.In the process of creating building materials, the students also cleaned up their community. In fact, they did such a great job, they ran out of waste plastic bottles and had to go to neighboring villages searching for their unusual building materials! Read more at this link:

4/23/10:Perhaps, you have read the book, the Mutiny on the Butiny. Four men are trying to recreate the famous voyage of Royal Navy captain William Bligh, who in 1789, was cast adrift by his crew. Along with 18 others, Bligh sailed 4350 miles in a small boat in the South Pacific, before finding help in West Timor. They had been given 150 pounds of biscuits,16 pounds of pork, 28 gallons of water and bottles of wine. When the supplies ran out,the crew survived 50 days drinking rain water and catching fish and seabirds. They managed to find land without a compass or any charts!The modern day expedition will use a 25 ft. open top boat with two sails and hope to make the journey from Tonga to West Timor, 4350 miles, in about seven weeks. Like Captain Bligh, the men will not have any modern-day navigation equipment and will cary the same provisions aboard their sailing vessel. They will also not have any light(since Bligh's crew didn't), sleeping quarters or...toilet paper! However,the crew will have emergency satellite phones in case of severe weather. Read more at this link:

4/22/10:Riding a bicycle at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Copenhagen, Denmark, can earn you a free meal. Guests are encouraged to ride an exercise bike attached to a generator for 15 minutes. This effort will produce an estimated 10 watt hours of electricity. In return, the hotel guest will receive a meal voucher good for $36 towards a meal. The hotel which also has solar panels, says the pedal power idea will helps reduce the hotel's carbon footprint, saves money,electricity and helps promote fitness. If this experiment proves successful,the hotel chain will extend the pedal power meal deal to other hotels in their chain.

Did you know the storyteller,Hans Christian Andersen came from the country of Demark? Did you know that Legos come from Denmark? Learn about the country of Denmark at this link:

4/19/10:Have you ever returned a library book back past the due date and had to pay a fine to the library? Well, you're not alone. Seems that our first president, George Washington failed to return two books to the New York Society Library on their due date of November 2,1789. It was learned that Washington has yet to return the books,Law of Nations and Vol. 12 of the "Commons Debates". The ledger just lists the books' borrower as "president." It is estimated that the current fine on these unreturned books has reached about $300,000. At this point, the 220 year late books are all the library would like returned. The fine will be waived.

4/18/10:Within the next 15 years, President Obama hopes that man reaches a new milestone in space-sending astronauts to a distant asteroid. Since asteroids are speeding space rocks, such an attempt will be difficult. Most asteroids are less than 1/4 mile in diameter making for a difficult landing(compared to the moon's diameter which is 2160 miles in diameter). A round trip to an asteroid would be about 200 days.The moon was only eight days! Without gravity, a space vehicle couldn't land and would have to hover above the surface with astronauts during space walks down to the surface. Finally, most asteroids that might be the goal of a future space mission are about 20 times further away than the moon. So.why explore an asteroid? Asteroids might offer information on how our solar system was formed and maybe offer knowledge in how to stop a future asteroid on course with the earth. Such a mission would also offer the necessary training for an eventual space journey to Mars.

4/16/10:Using a specially made hot air balloon called the Generali Arctic Observer, Dr. Jean-Louis Etienne has become the first person to solo across the Arctic Circle. The balloon journey of 1945 miles took ten days. The French explorer started in Norway and ended in Eastern Siberia. Originally Etienne had hoped to land in Alaska but because of difficulties recharging batteries with the solar panels, he had to change course. Along the way, Etienne did some scientific studies including measuring carbon dioxide levels and studying the earth's magnetic fields. Etienne, who was also the first to reach the North Pole by himself in 1986, said he hoped that his adventure would draw attention to the shrinking of the polar sea ice and its impact on people, sea-life and planet-wide climate.

4/06/10:Do you eat the cereals Tootie Fruities,Cocoa Dyno-Bites, Frosted Mini Spooners? A high school in Utah had a different use of these cereals-they were used to create the famous Vincent Van Gogh's Starry Night painting. Using the gym floor as canvas, about 150 students used nearly two tons of the donated cereal to recreate a 72ft. by 90ft. replica of the painting. It took about one week,with groups of students using grids to help create parts of Van Gogh's work of art. When completed, the finished work was on display for people to see. Later,the cereal artwork was dismantled with the cereal donated to a local pig farm.

Today, cell phones come in all colors and sizes. Scientists are developing a new phone that uses...the palm of your hand. Called Skinput, the possible phone of the future uses a device strapped to your arm that projects a keypad onto your skin! Then, all you do is touch the number you wish to dial. A sensor in the device picks up the minuscule sound waves that result in the palm being touched. What makes this possible is that size and mass of tissue, joints and bones are actually different from one part of the skin to another. It's still in the development stage but one day, you may be able to text your BFF, call or pick a tune with just the touch of your skin.

3/28/10: Imagine a 150 pound human that could pull a whopping six double decker buses or about 180,000 pounds. Scientists have determined that a dung beetle, called Onthophagus taurus, can pull its weight equal to such a feat. It has been named the world's strongest insect. Imagine, the tiny beetle, a species of horned dung beetle, being able to pull 1141 times its body weight! Pretty impressive! If you are wondering, scientists measured the abilities by attaching a piece of cotton thread to the end of the beetles. Placed inside a little tunnel,the beetle got a tug and as it resisted, scientists measured its strength. Seems the male beetle uses its buff muscles to fight rivals trying to get it out of its hole! The Onthophagus taurus is a REAL super bug! See a picture at this link:

3/24/10:Astronauts who hope to travel on a mission to Mars will need to prepare for an extremely long space flight-about 500 days! That's because Mars is about 34 million miles away from Earth. To simulate what it would be like to be in a space vehicle for such a long time, several scientists have agreed to be locked away for 18 months! The water and food needed for the space flight will be loaded into the locked steel containers for the six scientists that will test the limits of the mental and physical challenges of such long isolation in a windowless container. Not being able to see loved ones, seeing the same couple of people day in and day out, not getting outside, will be just a few of the challenges the men will face. Each scientist will have a "room" measuring 10.5 ft. by 9 ft. and include a bed, chair, desk and shelving for personal items. The experiment will begin this summer at the Russian Institute of Biomedical Problems in the capital city of Moscow. What would be the most difficult things you think the scientists will face during their long confinement?

To call attention to the health of our oceans, adventurer and environmentalist David de Rothschild and a crew of five, have set sail on an 11,000 nautical mile journey. The vessel, aptly named Plastiki, is a 60 ft. catamaran made from 12,500 reclaimed bottles and srPET, a fully recyclable plastic. Leaving from under the Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA, on Saturday, March 22, 2010, the crew of Adventure Ecology hope to travel through the area known as the Great Eastern Pacific Garbage Patch. The estimated 100 day trek aboard the Plastiki will carry its global message to beat waste and call awareness to the troubles of our oceans, will end in Sidney, Australia. The Plastiki uses mostly renewable energy in its construction including solar panels, bicycle generators, wind and trailing propeller turbines and rain water catchment systems. It is estimated that most of the pollution in our oceans is made of plastic materials. Scientists also say that each year, an estimated 1 million seabirds, 100,000 marine animals and sea turtles die from eating plastic pollution or becoming entangled in it. Follow the Plastiki's journey at this link:

3/21/10: Peeking out of red sandstone rocks were the fossilized bones of a dinosaur.When unearthed, researchers found an almost perfect skeleton of what is thought to be a new species of dinosaur. Found in Inner Mongolia,the eight ft. dinosaur is a relative to the Velociraptor. A huge curved toe claw on each of its feet and its sharp teeth, helped the 55 pound dinosaur, named Linheraptor exquisitus, catch its prey. Paleonotolgists have identified the dinosaur as a dromaeosaurid("running lizard") which walked the planet about 75 million years ago.See a photograph at this link:

3/14/10:Katie Spotz, 22, has rowed into the record books by becoming the youngest to row solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Spotz,from Mentor, Ohio, recently(Sunday)completed the journey in 70 days, 5 hours and 22 minutes, sailing from Dakar,Senegal,to Georgetown,Guyana. She is also the first American to ever do such a record row! Spotz breaks the previous record set by Oliver Hicks, 23, who in 2005 rowed from New Jersey to Great Britain.

Imagine spending 70 days alone on a 19 ft.specially designed row boat! Her journey, covered about 3,038 miles. This was about 400 miles more than originally planned due to rough seas. Her original destination was Cayene, French Guiana. During her days, Spotz says she listened to audio books on meditation on her IPod to help keep her focused on the arduous task she had embarked on completing. There were many times when she faced boredom.To deal with such lonely conditions, her mom wrote her a letter to be opened each day. Some retold stories of Katie's childhood, others offered encouragement and the reminder that if she didn't complete the trek, no one would be disappointed in her. She did have some companionship as her boat was equipped with a satellite phone and laptop computer.(solar panels supplied the power). She also had a tiny stove where she cooked three dehydrated meals a day. Spotz also brought along some sprouts which she continued to nourish supplying her with a bit of fresh foods. At night, she tried to catch some winks on a thin foam mattress.
Spotz said she had some difficulties along the way. Crashing waves made it difficult for her to catch up on her needed sleep and she developed nasty and painful calluses and rashes from her long 8-10 hours of daily rowing. Near the end of her journey,things got more troublesome. Strong winds and currents near the continental shelf made for waves that threatened to flip her boat and her GPS tracker caught fire(the day before the end of her trip).

At no point did Spotz worry that she wouldn't complete her journey rowing across the Atlantic. She's been doing endurance events for a number of years. Spotz was the first person to swim the entire length of the Allegheny River, ran her first marathon at the age of 18, biked across the country,and ran 150 miles through the desert! In addition to successfully accomplishing the feat, Spotz raised over $70,000 money forthe Blue Planet Run Foundation,a group that funds clean drinking water projects around the world.

3/13/10:Researchers have built a race car from items usually found at the grocery store and, it's fueled by leftover chocolates! Called Lola,the WorldFirst Formula 3 racing car was built by scientists at Warwick University in Great Britain. The "green" racing car is made recycled materials and from fruit and vegetable products. Its steering wheel is made from carrots, the body of the car from potatoe products, its seat from soybean oil foam and flax fiber. And, the fuel...chocolate, mixed with carrots,flax and vegetable oils! The WorldFirst Formula 3 has a top speed of 135 miles per hour and can zoom down the raceway from zero to 60 in 2 1/2 seconds.

Seventy-one dog teams have begun this year's famous Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race.Leaving from Willow Lake, on Saturday, March 6th,the final destination is Nome, Alaska. Over the years, racers have endured sub-zero temperatures, high winds,blinding snows and wind chills to -100 F covering the 1161 mile race route. The Iditarod Trail,began as a mail and supply route to mining towns in the interior of Alaska. In 1925, part of the trail was used to helped save the city of Nome suffering a diphtheria epidemic. Needed medicine was brought in by mushers and their hard working dogs. The Iditarod honors this history of the state of Alaska.Lance Mackey, three-time champion of the Iditarod,is hoping for his fourth consecutive win.And,in a first for the race, begun in 1973,...a musher from the Caribbean island of Jamaica!UPDATE: Lance Mackey WON!!!!!This site has lots of great information:

Can you walk and chew gum at the same time? Not, if it's on the streets of the island nation of Singapore! For the past 18 years there has been a ban on the sale and import of chewing gum. With a ban on chewing gum, the streets of Singapore are clean and you don't see wads of old gum on furniture or stuck to the bottoms of your sneakers. Recently, some lawmakers in Singapore wanted to have the law changed,that it was a freedom to be allowed to chomp on gum. The government didn't agree. The ban on chewing gum for recreational purposes will continue to stick to the books of Singapore!

You may have heard about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch where tons and tons of garbage, especially plastics) have accumulated. About the size of the state of Texas, an estimated 3.5 million tons of trash are swirling around and around. Pink and blue toothbrushes, plastic bags, yellow plastic rubber duckies, sneakers and baby pacifiers are just some of the junk located in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Located between Hawaii and San Francisco,California, this massive patch of trash was discovered by Charles Moore, in 1997. Scientists say they've discovered another similarly large garbage dump in the Atlantic Ocean!
Stretching from Virginia to Cuba, billions of similar plastic junk is located hundreds of miles off the coast of North America. With little movement in these areas but surround by strong currents, the discarded rubbish spins around and around, accumulating but not dispersing throughout the ocean. Scientists call these areas gyres. For the past 22 years, scientists have conducted 6100 tows of the North Atlantic. The nets have turned up lots and lots of teeny plastic pieces, called "mermaid tears" or "nurdles". Such a large concentration of plastic bits,200,000 pieces of debris per square kilometre,(about 1/4 sq. mile) suggest the Atlantic Garbage Patch is similar in size to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch... a sad badge of honor for another of earth's oceans.

2/25/10:You probably know when St. Patrick's Day is celebrated, but do you know when World Maths Day is held? It is Wednesday, March 3rd. There aren't any World Maths Day cards to be mailed or chocolates in the shape of numbers to give to your friends. It's a huge online math game to play,lasting 48 hours! And. it's free. Kids from 5-18 from around the world can compete in real time answering math questions at different ability levels. Each game takes 60 seconds and you can test your brain for up to 500 different math challenges. Those kids answering the most questions, get honored in the World Maths Day Hall of Fame. Last year, about two million students from 204 countries answered an amazing 452,681,681 math questions. Organizers say the goal of World Maths Day is to unite young people around the world in numbers. They are hoping that this year's World Maths Day(begun in 2007)sets a Guinness World Record for the largest online maths competition. If you wish to try your math abilities in the online math competition, sign up by Monday, March 1st at this site:

If you live where there's been lots of snow this year, you probably have built a snowman or two. You may have also built an igloo. Paul Steckart, of Bellevue,Wisconsin, and his neighbors have built a whopper of an igloo. It may melt away the current record holders set in 2008 by some people in Canada. Steckart's Bigloo, as it's called, beats the current record of 25 ft. 9 inches and 13 ft.8 high. The Bigloo is 27 ft.4 inches wide and 17 ft. 6 inches high. It took about nine weeks to construct the Bigloo that is built like a traditional Inuit shelter. When snow got used up, the "gloo-crew"went door to door asking neighbors for their snow, carting the white stuff back to the work site. When done, Steckert set a flag atop the highest point so that all seeing photographs of the Bigloo would know who built it. The "gloo-crew" whose motto was go big...or don't bother,is waiting to hear from Guiness World Records if their efforts set a new world record.

2/23/10: Have you ever given your dog a bath? Not an easy job and you probably have gotten a bit wet yourself in the process as your pet shakes off the bath water-on you! The Dog-o-Matic may be an easier way to give your pet a bath. It's a washing machines for dogs (and cats). Vending machines to get your pet squeaky clean are popping up in France, Great Britain and Japan. For about $30 your pet gets washed and blow dried in 33 minutes. Just like a regular washing machine for your clothes, you pick the cycle you'd prefer: small/large pet and washing cycle. Then, you place your pet into the doggie washing machine and hit "start". The cycle begins with a warm water wet-down,then lathering jets apply non-detergent soap. Rinsing jets are followed by a temperature controlled dry cycle. The clear glass enables your pet to watch you during the entire process which is said to be perfectly safe. It's yet to be determined what dogs and cats think of the washing machines!

Do you watch television on a school night? Malia and Sasha Obama do not. Their parents, the President and First Lady say that watching television on a school night is something the girls can not do. And, there is no wiggle room on this issue. The first thing Malia and Sasha do when they get home from school is do their homework. If they are finished early with their homework, the girls can read a book or find other things to do. The no television during the school week policy was in response to a question about what parents to can do to promote their children's education.

Have you seen a 3D movie where you got to wear those cool glasses? What if you could wear 3D glasses and be in your classroom? That's the new technology that is coming to schools. 3D projection technology uses special projectors to gleam out images onto whiteboards. Wearing the special 3D glasses lets students see biology, astronomy and anatomy lessons in a different interactive way, up close and personal!And,imagine having a geography lesson and flying over the Grand Canyon wearing your 3D glasses! Or, walking inside the Roman Coloseum with your 3D shades on your face. People walking by a classroom with students using this new technology will see lots of arms extended outward as the students attempt to touch the images in front of them.

Do you watch television on a school night? Malia and Sasha Obama do not. Their parents, the President and First Lady say that watching television on a school night is something the girls can not do. And, there is no wiggle room on this issue. The first thing Malia and Sasha do when they get home from school is do their homework. If they are finished early with their homework, the girls can read a book or find other things to do. The no television during the school week policy was in response to a question about what parents to can do to promote their children's education.

2/15/10: If you watch the Vancouver Winter Olympics, specifically the ski jumping competition, at Whistler, B.C, you might notice something missing...women. Did you know that women aren't allowed to participate in ski jumping at the Olympics? Since 1998, the IOC(International Olympics Committee) has been asked to change the ban on women ski jumpers, but it has yet to do so. A ruling in 1991 by the IOC said that all future Olympic sports MUST be open to both men and women BUT it only applies to future sports not those that already exist! The only other olympic competition that is men's only is the Nordic (but that includes ski jumping!) Women indeed are good at ski jumping. In fact, world ski jumping champion, American Lindsey Van, holds the North American distance record with a jump of 171 meters (563 feet) for both men and women, done at Whistler. Maybe,the 2014's winter olympics in Socchi, Krasnodar Krai, Russia, will be different with women able to show their ski jumping talents!

2/12/10: A clump of 4000 year old hair discovered in Greenland was used to create a picture of what the stone age owner of the hair must have looked like. Nicknamed Inuk, scientists used the DNA found in the hair clump to learn that the hair belonged to a dark-eyed, darker skinned man. Inuk also had the gene that would have made him deal with baldness and he even had dried ear wax suggesting he suffered from ear infections! A member of the extinct Saqqaaq culture that lived in western Greenland about 1700 years ago, his DNA suggests that his closest relatives were from the area of Siberia and not Native Americans and the Inuits as first thought.That suggests that people made treks across the Bering Strait in Kayaks or walked the ice pack about 5500 years ago!Read more at this link:

2/11/10:Scientists in Australia think they can learn a thing or two from termites, specifically their wings. The insects is able to fly in rainstorm and not fall to the ground from the extra water weight because their wings have the ability to repel water. Being able to fly in rain also acts as camouflage from predators as the water droplets hid their flight! Inspired by the termite's two tiered star-like structures and grooved hair shaft that makes the wings an anti-wetting surface, scientists are trying to imitate nature and replicate such surfaces. Such a water repelling surface from the design of a termite's wing may help create better self-cleaning surfaces.

2/8/10:Have you and your friend left footprints in the sand while running along a beach? Scientists have recently found more than 3000 dinosaur footprints near Zhucheng City,China. It's unusual to find so many dinosaur tracks of at least six different species in one area. It is also rare to find such a large amount of dinosaur tracks in one location. What's even more interesting is that the tracks, ranging from about 4 inches in length to 31 inches in length,dating back to about 100 million years old, are all facing the same way. Paleontologist (people that study dinosaurs)think the dinosaurs were in some sort of mass run, a panic of sorts. But, paleontologists don't know from what the Tyrannosaurus,Coelurosaurs,Hadrosaurs and the other dinosaurs were running!

2/03/10:Ever hear a bunch of prairie dog barking up a storm? Scientists say that these barks are actually a very complex language! The prairies and semi-desert grasslands of northern New Mexico, southwest Colorado and Arizona are where the prairie dogs call home. Living in colonies in underground burrows,the prairie dogs communicate with squeaks squeals and barks. With just one bark, researchers says a prairie dog may be describing the color, size and direct of an approaching predator. Their noises of rhythmic chirps and different intonations also shares with those in their colony whether the creature is a badger, hawk or coyotes. Researchers have found that just like in humans, each prairie dog has their own unique tones but that the language conveyed is the same. Wonder if prairie dogs talk about each other?

1/30/10:Think your books are heavy? Just be thankful you don't have to lug the Klencke Atlas around to your classes! It wouldn't fit in your locker, either. The book, 5.7ft by 6.2 ft, is the world's largest book. Presented to British King Charles 11 in 1660, the 350 year old atlas needs six people to carry it because it stands 6ft.tall. The atlas,of 37 maps showing European countries and world continents,was given to the king by a Dutch merchant Yohannes Klencke. It has never been displayed with its pages open. That will change this spring when the Klencke Atlas will be part of an exhibit of maps at the British Library in London, England. See a picture at this link:

Are you a Harry Potter Fan? Would you like to enter into the Great Hall or walk down Privet Drive? Warner Bros wants to open Leavesden Studios, outside of London,to public tours. It is at Leavesden Studios, where these original sets have been used for the past ten years to film the Harry Potter movies. If approved by the city council,fans might soon get a chance to see where Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint and Emma Watson and the other cast members, filmed the Harry Potter films. And, in case you haven't heard, the last two Harry Potter films, Deathly Hallows: Part 1(to be released November 19) and Deathly Hallows: Part 2(to be released July 15,2011) will be in 3 D. You'll get to don those cool 3-D glasses to watch the flicks!

1/24/10:You've probably read about the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that cause massive loss of life and destruction on the island of Haiti. The estimate death toll (and sadly growing) is over 150,000 for this country,the poorest of all nations in the western hemisphere. Its capital city, Port-au-Prince, was devastated in the quake. Perhaps, your school might wish to take up a collection and make a donation to the American Red Cross or other relief organization:

Otters like frolicking in mud and swimming underwater(able to hold their breaths for up to four minutes hunting underwater for their food). Mo,a female North American River otter at the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust in Great Britain has started doing something new. The four year old((a teenage in an otter's lifespan) has taken to shimmying up a 15 ft.tree above her holt. Very unusual behavior for a river otter! Scientists aren't sure just what caused Mo to "go climb a tree", but she seems to have taken to the activity, climbing higher and high each time, perching on branches to kick back and relax. Could it be she wants to just get away from her baby siblings, Minnie and HaHa?

1/14/10:Imagine learning about the biology of a fish without having to dissect it. That's just what Japanese scientists hope will be the case with a see through goldfish. The goldfish, called the "ryukin" goldfish, were bred to have no pigment or coloring. You can see its organs through its translucent skin and watch as its different organs work. Wouldn't it be cool to see a beating heart or see the working brain? See a picture and read more at this link:

1/06/10: Hold on to your hats if you are traveling on China's new train which went into operation the last week of 2009. And, don't expect to have much of an opportunity to view the scenery as you travel along your journey. That's because China has started a high-speed train that travels an average speed of an amazing 217 mph! At times,the Harmony Express, can max out at 245 mph. The new train,the fastest in the world, cuts a train ride from the city of Wuhan to Guangzhou,from eleven hours to less than three. The ticket price is twice the cost of a regular train but,think of all the extra time you'd have once you get to your destination! Did someone say,"All Aboard"? Read more and see a photograph this link:

Imagine a building which towers more than 1/2 a mile into the sky. Now,that's not a building for those afraid of heights. Abu Dubai,(Arabic for Dubai Tower) just had its opening ceremony this week, and enters the record books as the world's tallest building. Located in the Gulf emirate of Dubai(near the Persian Gulf),the building,begun in 2004, is a whopping 2716 ft. tall! With 160 floors and 28,000 glass panels,you can treat yourself to a panoramic view from the world's highest observation deck, on the 128 floor. The leader of Dubai, Sheikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum described the record structure as"the tallest building ever created by the hand of man." Just in case you are wondering what building was the tallest before Abu Dubai,it was the Taipei 101,at 16,667 ft. tall.

1/4/10:Where might astronauts traveling to the moon, unpack their backs for a long visit? Building a shelter would take time.Scientists think that a recent discovery on the moon might help provide shelter for astronauts,it's a collapsed lava tube. Found on the near side of the moon,the deep hole, as big as a city block and about 289 ft.deep, could be a home away from home for astronauts.It would protect the astronauts from the many meteor showers that hit the surface of the moon as well as from radiation. Add the recent discovery of water and NASA is excited about the prospect of a future long term lunar expedition being possible.

12/17/09:A medieval castle made of popsicle sticks was recently unveiled at the Mattatuck Museum in Waterbury, Ct. The castle, with an archway opening and drawbridge,took Stephen Guman, about a year and a half to construct. Using 396,000 popsicle sticks and 4 gallons of Elmer's Glue,the 12ft. wide and 16ft.deep castle may be the tallest popsicle stick structure in the world. Guinness Book of World Record will announce if it has broken the record in the coming weeks. See a video of the popsicle castle at this link:

A coconut shell is like an RV for the veined octopus that lives off the coasts of Bali(Indonesia) and Northern Sulawesi.Seems the blobs of jelly use their eight tentacles to carry discarded coconut shells back to their home base. Some actually stacked two shells and carried them away to use later as protective shelter, in an area where there is little else to use for protection from prey. Octopi with one coconut shell, scoot under the shells, but those fortunate to have two halves, first put the halves back together and,then, slip inside. Although many mammals and birds have been found to use tools,this is the first time scientists have found an invertebrate animal using tools.See a video of an octopus in action at this link:

12/10/09:It began with a blue -green light forming over the night skies of Norway. Stopping in mid-air, the light began moving in circles. A spiral began to take shape. Within seconds, a perfectly swirling beam of light was covering the night sky. Spectators baffled by the pattern then saw a blue beam of light shoot down from the spiral. The spectacular light show lasted for about 12 minutes before vanishing. The Norwegian Meteorological Institute isn't sure what may have caused the strange light display. They don't think it was connected to the northern lights(aurora borealis) that entertain sky-watchers in the northern parts of the earth at this time of year. Was it a cool meteor fireball? Alien activity? Or, a rocket that fell from its orbit in space? Whatever it was...it was an amazing light display! See a photograph at this link:

12/10/09:A whopping 12 mile long iceberg is floating toward Australia.More than twice the size of New York's Manhattan Island,the mountain of ice is about 54 sq. miles. It is very unusual for an iceberg to drift so far north from its home-base in Antarctica. In fact, the last sighting of an iceberg about 1000 miles off the coast of Australia occurred in the 19th century. Called B17B, it is also unusual for the iceberg to have been moving from where it broke from an ice shelf 10 years ago, and still be as large as it is. About the size of the island of Hong Kong, it continues to move north and, as it does, B17B will melt, breaking into many smaller bergs.

12/7/09:An out-of-this- world trip will soon give an opportunity to people who'd love to become space tourists. The world's first commercial space ship that can take passengers for a trip of a lifetime was just unveiled. Sir Richard Branson,Virgin and Virgin Galactic founder,showed the first spacecraft this week at the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California. Branson said,"It's incredible to think only 450 people have ever been into space." His company hopes to change that when the mother ship, The SpaceShipTwo, begins launches from the Spaceport in 2011. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson were on hand for the christening of Virgin SpaceShip (VSS) Enterprise. The name for the 60 ft.long,white with blue-and-black designs space vehicle, was given by Branson's daughter, Holly. The SpaceShipTwo will have a capacity to take up to six passengers into a suborbital flight into space, just above the Earth's atmosphere. But, such a journey will not be cheap. A ticket will cost a whopping $200,000 per person! The space trek will last about 2 1/2 hours after passengers are rocketed into space at four times the speed of sound. Traveling at about 3,000 mph to heights about 62 miles above Earth, passengers will be in for an eye popping view of space. Passengers will wear spacesuits and helmets. They will be able to float around the cabin and do somersaults during the six minutes of weightlessness they will experience zero gravity. At the end of the flight, the craft will take off and on a runway in New Mexico. About 300 people have already made reservations to have a seat on the SpaceShipTwo when it starts up in 2011. For those who don't have $200,000 to purchase a ticket,the company hopes to have a contest to give an opportunity to win a seat aboard the spacecraft. Branson has high hopes for his latest plans. "[It] is just the start of what we believe will be a new era in the history of mankind-one day making the affordable exploration of space by human beings a real possibility," he said. It is hoped that within the first year of operation, 1000 new space travelers will travel on the first commerciall spaceship and that the price will eventually go down.

Read more and see great photographs at this link:

12/06/09:Making a sort of highway map of our sky is what the WISE(Wide-Field Infrared Surfvey Explorer) project's main task will be. Launched aboard a rocket this Friday, from Vandenberg Air Force Base,in California, the NASA space telescope will orbit about 325 miles about the Earth and will circle the Earth 15 times a day. Using infrared wavelengths, 7500 images will be taken each day. Scientists hope that the sky mapping project will help them create the most up-to-date map of the cosmos!

11/23/09: Dumbo, a octopod with large ear-like fins, a beautiful orange colored fish, a golden copepod(that looks like a golden artifact from the past),a transparent pinkish sea cucumber, a "yeti" crab(so named for its furry looking claws), and a whalebone-eating worm, are just a few of the breathtakingly unique new sea life found living about 3 miles below the ocean surface. The ten year project,called Census of Marine Life ,found a thriving sea of thousands of life forms living in the dark,frigid depths of our oceans. Scientists used deep-towed cameras and sonar to explore the deep levels of the oceans ,which at one time was thought to be uninhabitable for life. To date, 17,650 different species of life have been identified. Take a peek at some of the really cool looking newly discovered sea-life at this link:

Dogs can sniff out lots of things. With a sense of smell 10,000-100,000 times greater than humans,dogs have been trained to sniff for lots of different things. Some dogs are trained to use their noses to find hidden drugs. Other dogs, specifically beagles, work for the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Beagle Brigades. Wearing spiffy green vests, the Beagle Brigade inspecting luggage for agricultural products. Now, dogs are being trained to sniff out something new... poo, specifically that of the VERY endangered javan rhino!It is hoped the poo patrol pooches can help scientists track the very rare one-horned Javan rhinos and learn how many are left in the wilds of Vietnam. Until 1988, when hunters found and killed one, it was thought that the Javan rhino was extinct on mainland Southeast Asia. One of the sniffer canines named Chevy,successful hit his mark, tracking down several deposits left behind by rhinos. Biologists hope to collect the dung, test it for DNA, with hopes of learning just how many of this very rare creature remain.

11/20/09:A crew of two set sail this past summer on a raft made of plastic bottles and an old airplane fuselage. It took them 88 days to sail from California to Hawaii. The point of the junk raft was to crate awareness to the problem of plastic which is polluting our oceans. Go to this site to see photographs and read about their journey.

Learn about Great Garbage Patch with this cartoon:

11/15/09: Ask you parents to list three facts they grew up knowing about the moon. They might say they learned that the moon has little gravity, no atmosphere and no water. Well, times have changed and NASA has just announced that they found significant water on the moon! You may remember that back in October, scientists crashed a two-ton rocket and a sensing satellite named LCROSS(Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite),onto the moon. It was hoped that the KABOOM might kick up evidence of water. The experiment worked. NASA announced that they found evidence of about 26 gallons of water in the Cabeus crater(located at the moon's south pole).The water is in the form of ice and vapor. Finding water on the moon is a big deal. Water could be used by future astronauts for resupplying drinking water, and for helping to create rocket fuel. Studying the moon's water might also help scientist learn more about the history of our solar system.

Read lots of interesting facts about the moon at this link:

Sailing alone in her pink, 34 ft. yacht,Jessica Watson,16, hopes to make history. She began a 26,000 mile journey from her home in Australia, where she hopes to set a record as the youngest to solo around the word. The trip will take about eight months and you can follow her journey at her website:

10/08/09:Walk into the U.S. Capitol and you will see lots of statues honoring people from the fifty states. A new statue has been added to what is called Statuary Hall. It is a bronze sculpture of a young seven year old girl,her hands under a water pump. The young girl... Helen Keller. You might remember that the young blind and deaf girl came to realize the "game" her teacher Anne Sullivan was playing was actually spelling out words. It was W-A-T-E-R that unlocked the meaning of language to the young Helen. The statue, representing the state of Alabama, is the first of a child and the first showing someone with disabilities. Read more about this story at this link:

You probably already know that there are rings around the planet Saturn. Do you know how many? NASA says that the second largest planet in our solar system has 7 main flat ice and dust particle rings...make that 8 rings around Saturn. Scientists using the Spitzer Space Telescope have found another ring, the biggest yet. It is so big, scientists estimate that 1 billion Earths could fit inside of the ring-now, that's HUGE! The gigantic ring circling Saturn is almost invisible. Without much reflected light and due to its size,(3.6 million miles from the planet and extending more than 7.4 million additional miles in length), it took a special telescope to spot the whopper ring. Read more at this link:

A whopper of a jack-o-lantern may be the world's largest pumpkin ever grown. It tips the scales at 1725 pounds. Grown by a math teacher in Ohio, it grew eventually was growing more than 33 pounds a day!The secret to growing such a titan of a pumpkin? Christy Harp says lots of compose, cow manure and coffee grounds. Harp won $2500 for her pumpkin's first place at the Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers annual pumpkin weigh-off. That's lots of money to buy more pumpkin seeds for next season! See the pumpkin at this link: