Page Type: Elementary

November 15, 2022, was a big day for the entire planet. On that day, the world population reached eight billion!

How big is eight billion? If you write it out, it looks like this: 8,000,000,000. That’s a lot of people! Experts say the world population has grown by one billion in just the past 12 years. 

What’s causing the population to grow? Experts say people are living longer than ever before. That’s because more people have clean drinking water and other resources to help them stay healthy. Plus, many diseases have become easier to treat. Overall, the world population is healthier than ever. 

Another thing that can cause the population to grow is the birth of many babies. But experts say families have fewer children than they used to. So the birth rate (the number of babies born each year) is slower than it once was. The United Nations (UN) believes that the population will continue to grow until about the year 2080, when there will be a little more than 10 billion people in the world. 

The UN says it’s important for everyone around the world to help make sure that the planet is healthy, safe, and peaceful. That way, all eight billion people can live happy, healthy lives.

November 15, 2022, was a big day for the entire planet. On that day, the world population reached eight billion!

How big is eight billion? If you write it out, it looks like this: 8,000,000,000. That’s a lot of people! Experts say the world population has grown by one billion in just the past 12 years. 

What’s causing the population to grow? Experts say people are living longer than ever before. That’s because more people have clean drinking water and other resources to help them stay healthy. Plus, many diseases have become easier to treat. Overall, the world population is healthier than ever. 

Another thing that can cause the population to grow is the birth of many babies. But experts say families have fewer children than they used to. So the birth rate (the number of babies born each year) is slower than it once was. The United Nations (UN) believes that the population will continue to grow until about the year 2080, when there will be a little more than 10 billion people in the world. 

The UN says it’s important for everyone around the world to help make sure that the planet is healthy, safe, and peaceful. That way, all eight billion people can live happy, healthy lives.

Alejandro Buxton is pretty busy. Like any 12-year-old, he goes to school every day. Alejandro is also an entrepreneur (a person who starts a business). Before and after school, he runs his company, Smell of Love Candles. 

Alejandro began making candles to help his mom. She likes to light candles, but the scents were giving her headaches. Alejandro learned which ingredients might be causing those headaches, and he made candles with different ingredients. His mom felt so much better that Alejandro decided to start a candle business. Today, Smell of Love Candles makes candles with 26 different scents. They’re available online and at a kiosk (a stand) located in a mall near Alejandro’s home in Virginia. Alejandro’s mom helps him with the business side of things, and his younger sister, Valentina, assists with packing up candle orders.

It’s not always easy for people to explore the ocean. So scientists studying seagrass (grass that grows in the sea) decided recently to get some helpers. They attached cameras and other equipment to tiger sharks!

The team of scientists wanted to know how much seagrass is growing in an area of ocean near a group of islands called the Bahamas. They attached cameras or tracking equipment to 15 tiger sharks. The sharks were then released and swam around as they normally would. The cameras and equipment were designed to fall off the sharks within about 24 hours.

The pictures and other information captured by the equipment show that the patch of seagrass near the Bahamas is as large as 35,521 square miles (92,000 square kilometers). It might be the largest patch of seagrass on the planet!

Scientists say it’s important to know where there’s seagrass. Like forests, seagrass takes in carbon dioxide, which means it plays a big part in controlling climate change.

Before the study, scientists didn’t know how large the patch of seagrass was. In fact, there is still a lot that humans don’t know about the ocean because it can be hard to explore. Thanks to the sharks, we’re learning more. The size of the seagrass patch is good news for the climate.

Scientists in Europe have invented a robot that looks and flies just like a large bird called a falcon. The robot is an awesome flier, but it also has an important job. 

Scientists invented the robot to solve a serious problem. Flocks of birds often fly and land in and around airports. Sometimes the birds get hit by planes that are taking off and landing. Airport workers have tried different ways to scare away the birds. They’ve tried training real falcons to fly toward the birds. Falcons hunt smaller birds, so it makes sense that birds would be afraid of them. But falcons are expensive and hard to train. 

So scientists decided to create a robot that looks like a falcon. They studied a bird called the peregrine falcon to see how it moves when it flies. They made sure their robot could fly in the same way. They even painted the robot to match the colors of a real falcon. Then, they tested it with flocks of birds.

Is that lion made of LEGO bricks? It sure is!

The giant LEGO lion was built to sit at one entrance to the Chain Bridge, a famous crossing in the city of Budapest, Hungary. Normally, there are two stone lions at either entrance to the bridge, which was completed in 1849. In fact, the four roaring lions are a big part of why the Chain Bridge is famous. 

But in 2021, the bridge became lion-less. That’s when workers temporarily removed the stone lions from their posts so that they and the bridge could be repaired. The LEGO lion was a perfect substitute for one of the four lions because it looks just like the stone statues! 

When do you think people started wearing jeans? A museum in Yuma, Arizona, is home to some VERY old jeans. They were made in the late 1800s!

The seven pairs of jeans were discovered by Frank Schlichting in February 2020, in a nearby mine that is no longer in use. Schlichting explores many mines and makes YouTube videos of his adventures. The museum owns the mine near Yuma and had given Schlichting permission to explore it.  

The YouTube video of the discovery shows Schlichting and Gabe Romo, who works with him, going 250 feet (76.2 meters) underground, into the mine where they had previously discovered the jeans under some rubble. The two men then use a pickaxe to uncover the seven pairs.

The jeans would have been worn by men who worked in and around the mines. Invented in 1873, blue jeans were designed to be worn by miners because they were less likely to be damaged than other types of pants. Jeans were, and still are, made from tough denim. Rivets (those little metal things) are used to hold together the fabric and prevent tearing. Styles have changed over the years, but the jeans worn by miners looked a lot like the jeans we wear today!

Jeans from the 1800s are extremely rare, making them very valuable. In October 2022, a pair of jeans from that time period sold for $87,000.

But the jeans Schlichting found won’t be sold. Instead, they’ll be kept at the Castle Dome Museum, near where they were found.