Kids News - Articles for Grades 4-5

With Christmas less than two weeks away, your neighborhood is probably aglow with beautiful lights. However they will pale in comparison to nature's own light show, the Geminids. Though this annual celestial display that has been nicknamed the 900-pound gorilla of meteor showers has been visible since December 4th, their best showing will be on the night of December 13th and the early morning of the 14th, until about 2.00 am local time....

The next time you eat a piece of chocolate, be sure to savor it, because according to two of the world's largest chocolate makers - Mars, Inc. and Barry Callebaut, the decadent treat may soon be in short supply. The problem? We are consuming the candy at a faster pace than farmers can grow cocoa....

After a day's delay caused by a wayward boat, bad weather, and some technical problems, NASA's next generation spacecraft Orion, blasted off to space from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 7.05 EST on Friday, December 5th. Perched atop a Delta 4 heavy rocket, it soared through the Earth's atmosphere and disappeared into space....

If you have ever tried a new sport or attempted learning a musical instrument, you are well aware that the hardest part is getting started. Once you figure out the technique, the skills return fairly easily, even if they are not used for long periods of time. Most experts attribute this to "muscle memory," which means the brain remembers the action and can recall it when needed. Now some researchers from John Hopkins University, believe there is another factor that may be as important in recalling previously learned motor skills - the errors made while learning the task....

Though the initial panic caused by Ebola appears to have subsided, the disease is still alive and well in the West African countries of Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea. As of December 3rd, the dreadful ailment has infected 15,000 people and claimed 6,202 lives. The frustrating part for experts is that most of these deaths could have been avoided had the locals been aware of the necessary precautions....

An ancient Egyptian handbook that has been in the possession of Macquarie University's Museum of Ancient Cultures in Sydney, Australia, since 1981, has finally been deciphered. According to Macquarie University professor Malcolm Choat and University of Sydney professor Iain Gardner, the book contains magical spells that residents of ancient Egypt drew upon, to make all kinds of wishes come true....

Every year, sports-related concussions affect several hundred thousand athletes - both professional and amateur. What's worrying is that despite advances in protective gear technology, the numbers are only increasing. According to CDC, emergency room visits relating to sports related injuries including concussions among children and adolescents, has increased by 60% in the last decade. While the fact that football and ice hockey players are the most susceptible to the head injury is not surprising, the high concussion rates in non-contact sports like lacrosse and soccer is certainly worrisome....

Canberra resident David Richards is well known for his stunning Christmas light displays. In 2011, he won his first Guinness World Records title with one that featured 331,038 lights. After some New Yorkers laid claim to the title in 2012, the 'crazy Christmas lights guy', as he likes to call himself, repeated the feat in 2013 with over half a million lights and reclaimed it....

As a movie that portrays young scientists as superheroes, Walt Disney Animation's latest release Big Hero 6, is all about celebrating scientific curiosity and individual potential. Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, the movie centers around a group of young "misfits" who, with the help of a compassionate robot, successfully save the futuristic city of San Fransokyo (a blend of San Francisco and Tokyo), from an evil scientist and his swarm of malignant microbots....