Kids News - Articles for Grades 11-12

When two German hikers stumbled upon a dead body buried in ice in the Italian Otzal Alps in 1991, they had no idea that the pristine remains were those of a male who had inhabited Earth almost 5,300 years ago. Named Ötzi after the mountains where he had lain for thousands of years, the Iceman is Europe’s oldest-known natural human mummy....

Stargazers, get ready to witness the longest total lunar eclipse of the 21st Century. On July 27, our moon will transform into a red orb for 1 hour, 42 minutes, and 57 seconds! The entire event, from the moment Earth’s shadow starts to fall upon the moon’s edge to the time when the bright full moon emerges, will take almost 4 hours. In comparison, this century’s shortest total lunar eclipse, which occurred on April 4, 2015, lasted a mere 4 minutes and 48 seconds, with a total duration of 1 hour and 40 minutes....

When it comes to brain power, bottlenose dolphins are second only to humans. The highly social animals are known to teach one another to tail walk, to help fellow dolphins in distress, and to even carefully prepare their food instead of instantly devouring it like most animals. Now, a new study indicates that male bottlenose dolphins maintain unique whistles, or ‘names,’ to enable them to recognize friends and rivals within their social group....

On Tuesday, July 10, 2018, the world watched with bated breath as an international team of rescuers safely extracted the two remaining members of the Moo Pa, or, Wild Boar, soccer team from a flooded cave in Thailand. The twelve boys, aged between 11 and 17, along with their coach, Ekkapol Ake Chantawong, had been trapped inside the intricate seven-mile long Tham Luang Nang Non cave system in northern Thailand's Chiang Rai Province for over two weeks....

If the recently released Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom has you yearning to see the ancient creatures in real life, you are out of luck. That’s because to resurrect the animals, researchers would need a complete set of dinosaur DNA, which is impossible to obtain. However, if Nikita and Sergey Zimov have their way, a prehistoric Ice Age ecosystem may soon become a reality. Their motive is not to attract tourists but to stop the thawing of the Arctic permafrost....

Most animals only perform tricks when bribed with treats. However, Kim, the world’s first spider to learn a skill, needs no incentives to do what she loves — jumping from different heights and distances — upon the bidding of a team of scientists from the University of Manchester....

For most climbers, professional or amateur, summiting Mount Everest — Earth’s highest mountain above sea level — once is a crowning achievement. However, don’t tell that to Kami Rita, who scaled the peak of the treacherous mountain for the 22nd time on May 16, 2018 breaking the previous record of 21 successful ascents he shared with two fellow guides. And the veteran mountaineer is not done yet! Prior to embarking on the recent climb, the 48-year-old announced, “My goal is to reach the summit of Everest at least 25 times. I want to set a new record not just for myself but for my family, the Sherpa people and for my country, Nepal.”...

Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego — Spanish for fire volcano — came alive on Sunday, June 3, billowing gas, fire and ash more than 15,000 feet in the air. The volcano’s most violent eruption since 1974 caused widespread chaos and destruction. The initial death toll of 110 increased to over 300 on June 17 after officials, citing dangerous conditions, abandoned the search for the 200 residents who have been missing since the deadly incident. In contrast, Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, which has destroyed over 700 structures since it began erupting on May 3, has yet to result in any casualties. Experts say the reason Volcán de Fuego is deadlier than Kilauea has to do with the formation of the two volcanoes....

Unlike other professional sports organizations such as the NBA, NFL, or MLB, FIFA, the governing body of association football, or soccer, has traditionally been resistant to adopting technology on the field. "We shall rely on human beings," former FIFA President Sepp Blatter said in 2002. "Players make mistakes, coaches make mistakes and yes, sometimes referees make mistakes. But football is passion, football is emotion. Football has a human touch."...