Kids News - Articles for Grade 7

At the end of the spring semester in May, students taking Georgia Tech’s online Knowledge-Based Artificial Intelligence course received some stunning news. Jill Watson, one of the nine teaching assistants (TA’s) that had helped them navigate the challenging course for the past five months was not a “she,” but an “it” — an intelligent robot to be precise!...

Sunday, September 11, 2016, marks the 15th anniversary of the most daring and deadliest terrorist attack on American soil. Planned and executed by Islamic extremist organization Al Qaeda, the unprovoked act of violence is what led to our ongoing "Global War On Terrorism” and changed life as we knew it, forever....

It may appear strange to hear that crops are making headlines. But this is no ordinary produce — these fruits and vegetables have been grown in simulated Martian and lunar soil! While that in itself makes them special, what makes this batch even more so is that it is safe for human consumption!...

On Wednesday, August 24, the residents of the Apennine regions in central Italy were jolted awake at 3.36 a.m. by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake. To make matters worse, it was followed by over 80 aftershocks, including a 5.5 magnitude tremor that hit Umbria an hour later, at 4.33 a.m....

Scientists have long suspected that the elusive Greenland sharks lived for a long time. It turns out they were right! A new study has revealed that the world’s second largest carnivorous fish may have a lifespan of as long as 400 years. To put it in perspective, that is about twice that of the previously known longest-living vertebrate, the Bowhead whale, which is known to live for up to two centuries....

Do you spend hours studying for a test only to draw a blank when you see the questions? It turns out you are not the only one. For though the human brain may be more powerful than a computer, recalling information is a problem experienced by even the most prepared of students. The lapse in memory can be attributed to various factors, including fatigue, distraction, and nerves....

While your pet fish may appear to be oblivious of your presence, chances are it knows you extremely well and can probably even identify you from a crowd of humans! At least, that is the conclusion reached by scientists the University of Oxford in the U.K. and the University of Queensland in Australia, following an extensive study of the archerfish, a species of tropical fish that can be found all the way from India, to Indonesia, the Philippines, and Australia....

With more than 16,000 jumps to his credit, professional skydiver Luke Aikins has performed many heart-stopping stunts, but his latest feat tops them all. On July 30, 2016, the 42-year-old daredevil became the first man in the world to leap off a plane from an altitude of 25,000 feet without a wingsuit or parachute! Instead, he relied on a net that measured 100-by-100-feet, or less than one-third the size of a football field, to break his fall and help him land safely....

Remotely Operated Vehicles (ROVs), have been used to conduct undersea tasks, deemed unsafe for humans, for many years. But while they have been very successful at tackling projects like oil rig repairs, the vehicles lack the finesse and dexterity required to handle fragile missions like monitoring coral reefs. Their traditional boxy shape also makes it difficult for the robots to penetrate small areas without damaging the surrounding flora. Now thanks to Stanford University's mermaid robot, OceanOne, these shortcomings may be a thing of the past....