Kids News - Articles for Grades 6-8

Most 20-year-olds are still trying to figure out what they want to do in life. Not Boyan Slat. Ever since he was 16-years old, the Dutch teenager has had one mission - To clean up the trillions of pieces of plastic that are polluting our oceans and killing precious marine life. What's amazing is that this young man who started with what sounded like an outlandish dream may actually be able to pull off this gargantuan task!...

As far as age goes, the 220-year-old apple tree in Krolevets, Ukraine, is a young pup. After all, California's giant sequoias and redwoods have been around for thousands of years. However, none can do what this unique tree has been able to - Self-propagate a colony of fifteen family trees that combined cover an area of 1,000 sq. meters (10,763 sq.feet)....

Mention wasps and you are bound to hear exasperated tales of picnic sabotages and painful stings. But as it turns out, humans have it relatively easy, at least compared to some poor spiders that the wasps turn into web-weaving zombie slaves....

On Sunday, September 27th, skywatchers will witness the grand finale of the rare lunar eclipse tetrad (series of four consecutive total lunar eclipses). And it promises to be quite a show. That's because this one involves a full moon and perigee. This means that the celestial body will be at its closest distance to earth, giving it a larger than life appearance. The last time the world witnessed this phenomenon was in 1982, and the next one will not be until 2033!...

Solving the Rubik's Cube in 60 seconds may not seem like a big deal. In fact, it is painfully slow considering that 15-year-old world record holder Collin Burns is able to complete it in a mere 5.25 seconds. However, figuring out the Cube during a free fall jump certainly takes some skill not to mention a lot of courage. That is why skydiver Chris Walker's recent accomplishment is pretty amazing!...

About two years ago, recreational cave explorers Steven Tucker and Rick Hunter, were crawling through the tight crevices of a popular cavern called Rising Star near Johannesburg, when they stumbled upon a hidden chamber. Inside was a plethora of perfectly preserved fossilized bones, many of which looked almost human....

Japanese fisherman Hiroshi Hirasaka has an unusual hobby. He likes to catch and eat exotic and bizarre-looking creatures.The avid hunter has even outlined his conquests in a book called "Exotic Fish Species: I Caught, Judged and Tried Eating." Hence, you can only imagine his delight when he reeled in yet another scary looking specimen off the coast of Japan's Hokkaido Island, on August 30th....

The words teenager and patience are rarely uttered in one sentence. Adolescents are well-known for being irritable, impulsive, and craving instant gratification. According to the researchers from Berlin-based Max Planck Institute for Human Development, it is not because of hormones or that teens like to "act up." It is simply because the structural connections inside their 'amygdala' or emotional center of the brain, are still developing, limiting their ability to think ahead about the consequences of their actions....

Leaving one's home country is never an easy decision. But it is especially hard when the journey is fraught with danger and uncertainty and there is no guaranty of a successful outcome. Yet, unbearable conflict or repression forces thousands of people to take the plunge each year However, over the past two years, the number of refugees has escalated to alarming levels and there appears to be no end in sight....