Toys R Us Comes Back!

Storefront of a mall Toys R Us with windows showing Geoffrey the giraffe and an ice cream area with the words ice cream and a lit up ice cream cone.

Toys R Us Comes Back!

A major U.S. toy seller is back, and it says its new stores are more fun than ever.

Storefront of a mall Toys R Us with windows showing Geoffrey the giraffe and an ice cream area with the words ice cream and a lit up ice cream cone.

Courtesy of American Dream

In 2022, Toys R Us opened this store at American Dream, a shopping center in New Jersey.

Toys R Us, which once was the biggest toy seller in the United States, is making a comeback! The company has already opened several new stores, and many more are planned for 2024.

In November 2023, Toys R Us opened a large store in the Mall of America in Minnesota, two years after opening a large location at American Dream, a shopping mall in New Jersey. In the past three years, the company has also opened smaller stores on cruise ships, in airports, and inside Macy’s department stores. Toys R Us is growing—not long after many people thought it might disappear forever.

Toys R Us was founded in 1957 and was successful for many years. But six years ago, Toys R Us declared bankruptcy, which means that it owed more money than it could pay back. Many people were choosing to buy toys online or at stores like Walmart instead of Toys R Us. Hundreds of Toys R Us stores closed.

In 2021, an organization called WHP Global decided Toys R Us could be saved. WHP Global puts money into companies with the hopes of making more money—and it decided to put money into opening new Toys R Us stores. Its goal was to get people to want to shop at Toys R Us instead of other places.

One way to get people to go somewhere is to make it fun. Many of the new stores aim to do just that! For example, the Toys R Us at American Dream has a two-story spiral slide, an ice cream parlor, and places where kids can try out some of the toys.

Will the fun be enough to keep Toys R Us in business? Decide for yourself! The slideshow below shows what you might find if you visit a new Toys R Us store.

Toys“R”Us

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Fun Fact

Topical Press Agency—Hulton Archive/Getty Images

The oldest toy store in the world is Hamleys in Great Britain. Its first location opened in 1760!

Toys Through Time

If you lived hundreds or even thousands of years ago, what toys would you have had? Check out the timeline to see when some of the world’s classic toys were first introduced.

Ancient Toys

Side by side images of crude pull toys and other toys in a museum display.

Gary Todd

Did kids play back in ancient times? Yes! The photos show pull toys and other playthings that were made thousands of years ago.

Go to Britannica to learn more about how toys have changed…and try to imagine what toys might look like in the future!

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Word of the Day

destination

Part of speech:

noun

Definition:

: a place to which a person is going or something is being sent

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A new study found that practicing math before bed may help people remember it later.
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November 21, 2023
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The British rock band the Beatles just released a song called “Now and Then.”
November 10, 2023

Solve…Then Sleep

A child lies on a cloud reading a math book with a thought bubble with math problems and a moon behind him.

Solve…Then Sleep

A new study found that practicing math before bed may help people remember it later.
A child lies on a cloud reading a math book with a thought bubble with math problems and a moon behind him.
© Evgenii Naumov/Dreamstime.com

Bedtime may be the best time to learn and remember math! In a new study, scientists found that people who learned new math problems just before going to sleep remember them better than if they learned them during the day.

For the study, scientists in the United Kingdom asked 77 adults to learn multiplication problems at two different times of the day. They learned some problems during the day and other problems just before bed. About 10 and a half hours after the adults learned the problems, scientists tested them. The adults remembered the bedtime problems better.

The results of the study are similar to other studies that have been done with children. In 2015, scientists had parents of first graders tell their kids bedtime stories with a math theme. The scientists found that those first graders had higher math scores during that school year than first graders who didn’t hear math bedtime stories. 

Why does bedtime learning seem to be effective? Scientists aren’t sure. They know that the brain makes certain connections during sleep that help us lock in what we’ve learned. But it’s also possible that when we learn something during the day, it becomes harder to remember as we learn other new things later that day. When we’re asleep, our brains have nothing to lock in except what we just learned before bed.

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Did You Know?

Two hands hold a list of odd numbers up to 15 in a notebook and a speech bubble says “That’s odd.”
© denis08131/stock.adobe.com, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

It’s the perfect time for a math fact!

When written in English, every odd number contains the letter e.

Bedtime Is Cleanup Time

As a girl sleeps, her brain holds a lock and key and a broom.
© Olga Shcherba, Xsviatx/Dreamstime.com, © StockVector/stock.adobe.com; Animation Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

How does sleep help us lock in memories? It’s all in our brains.

When you learn something new, at home or at school, the information gets stored in a part of your brain called the hippocampus. But it can’t stay there forever. Like a smartphone or a kitchen cabinet, the hippocampus has only a limited amount of space. So if you learn more than it can hold, you’re not going to remember it. Or you’ll forget something else you learned that day as your hippocampus makes space for the new information.

When you sleep, your brain does a big cleanup. It gets rid of memories you don’t need, like which shirt you wore two days ago. The important stuff gets locked into a different part of your brain, where it can stay. And the next morning, the hippocampus has space for new information.

What’s in Our Noodles?

An MRI image of a human brain inside the skull
© highwaystarz/stock.adobe.com
There’s still a lot about the brain that scientists don’t understand. What do they know? Find out at Britannica!
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cerebral

Part of speech:
adjective
Definition:
: of or relating to the brain
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In Case You Missed It

A new study found that practicing math before bed may help people remember it later.
November 29, 2023
Ten-year-old Luke Mortimer climbed a mountain to raise money for children with disabilities.
November 21, 2023
A solar-powered car just completed a long drive across the desert. No gas stations needed!
November 15, 2023
The British rock band the Beatles just released a song called “Now and Then.”
November 10, 2023

Climbing for a Cause

Luke Mortimer stands on a hiking trail and poses for the camera as several adults in hiking clothes can be seen behind him.

Climbing for a Cause

Ten-year-old Luke Mortimer climbed a mountain to raise money for children with disabilities.

Luke Mortimer stands on a hiking trail and poses for the camera as several adults in hiking clothes can be seen behind him.

Courtesy of Adam Mortimer

Luke Mortimer during his climb up a peak called Embsay Crag, on November 4, 2023.

When he was 7 years old, Luke Mortimer lost his arms and legs after an infection. Three years later, he climbed a mountain near his home to help other children with disabilities.

Luke, who lives in the United Kingdom, set his sights on the 656-foot (200-meter) peak called Embsay Crag in 2019, when his family moved into a home nearby.

“When we moved here, we were going down the road to Embsay, and I just saw the crag, and I said, ‘Mum, dad, one day can we climb it?’” Luke said before his 2023 climb. “It’s been a few years now, but I feel very determined about getting to the top and back down. I think the worst thing that can happen is probably rain.”

The climb wasn’t just a personal challenge. Luke set it up as a fundraiser—a way to help others after so many people helped him. The Mortimer family had received many donations to pay for Luke’s prosthetics, or artificial limbs, as well as for changes to the Mortimer home that help Luke get around more easily. So, Luke thought, why not use the climb to raise money for other kids with disabilities?

Luke Mortimer walks between two adults as he leads a group of hikers along a trail.

Courtesy of Adam Mortimer

Many people joined Luke when he climbed Embsay Crag.

The Mortimer family announced that anyone could join them on their climb. Forty people traveled from across the U.K. to take part. And while Luke had hoped to raise 500 British pounds (about 613 U.S. dollars), he ended up raising more than 12,000 pounds (nearly 15,000 U.S. dollars)!

“It was tiring and tough, but when I got to the top I was very proud of myself. Everybody was really kind for coming out to support me,” Luke told Metro.

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Did You Know?

A peak rises above a grassy area behind a body of water.

© Grahammoore999/Dreamstime.com

The word crag means “steep rugged rock or cliff.” Luke Mortimer climbed Embsay Crag, seen here.

That’s a Lot of Medals!

Trischa Zorn does the backstroke in a pool as 41 gold medals and some silver and bronze medals appear in the background one by one.

Aris Messinis—AFP/Getty Images, © Grondin Franck Olivier/Dreamstime.com; Animation Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The Paralympic Games is an international sports competition for people with disabilities. The Paralympics take place right after the Olympics Games, in the same host city. 

The most successful athlete in the history of the Paralympics is swimmer Trischa Zorn, who has won 55 medals, including 41 gold medals. Zorn was born with an eye condition that left her blind. She last competed in the Paralympics in 2004 and works as an attorney (lawyer) today.

The Paralympic Games

© Andre Ricardo Paes, David Webb, Celso Pupo Rodrigues, Marco Coccolella/Dreamstime.com; Photo composite Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

You can learn more about the Paralympics at Britannica!

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endeavor

Part of speech:

noun

Definition:

: a serious effort or attempt

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In Case You Missed It

A new study found that practicing math before bed may help people remember it later.
November 29, 2023
Ten-year-old Luke Mortimer climbed a mountain to raise money for children with disabilities.
November 21, 2023
A solar-powered car just completed a long drive across the desert. No gas stations needed!
November 15, 2023
The British rock band the Beatles just released a song called “Now and Then.”
November 10, 2023

Running on the Sun

On a desert landscape, a crowd of people in blue shirts cheers as two people drive a small green car.

Running on the Sun

A solar-powered car just completed a long drive across the desert. No gas stations needed!
On a desert landscape, a crowd of people in blue shirts cheers as two people drive a small green car.
Solar Team Eindhoven/Rien Boonstoppel
The Stella Terra car completed its 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) drive across the Sahara desert.

Most cars are powered by gasoline or electricity. But a group of students in the Netherlands designed a car that’s powered by the Sun’s energy.

The solar-powered car, called the Stella Terra, recently completed a 620-mile (1,000-kilometer) test drive across part of the Sahara desert in Morocco. Driving across a desert isn’t easy. There are no service stations, and the sandy landscape can be rough. But that was the point. The students, who are all in their 20s, wanted to see if the car could handle being off-road for such a long distance, getting its energy from only the Sun.

One thing the desert does have is sunshine. The Stella Terra has panels on its roof to capture solar energy, so all it needs is the Sun. But the car also has a lithium-ion battery that can provide power. The battery allows the car to drive shorter distances in places where the Sun shines less often.

But if a car can run on the power of the Sun, why aren’t more cars solar powered? Experts say solar panels are expensive. Rooftop solar panels that make electricity for homes and other buildings are very large. But car solar panels need to be much smaller, which means they need to be super efficient to make enough power. And that makes them costly.

Still, the students hope car companies will figure out how to make cheaper solar-powered cars so that people can afford to buy them.

“We hope this can be an inspiration to car manufacturers such as Land Rover and BMW to make [solar-powered cars] a more sustainable industry,” Bob van Ginkel, one of the students, told the Guardian.

Check out the slideshow to learn more about the Stella Terra’s adventures!

Solar Team Eindhoven/Bart van Overbeeke
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Did You Know?

A spacecraft with solar panels in space.
© NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) already has solar-powered spacecraft. Now, NASA is working on a rocket that’s powered by the Sun!

A Desert Record

© Olivier Meerson/Dreamstime.com; Photo illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

In 2023, drivers Gene Corbett and Ben Robinson broke a record when they drove a regular car across the Simpson Desert in Australia in 13 hours, 21 minutes, and 5 seconds.

Driving an SUV called a Mahindra Scorpio-N, the two men went over more than 1,000 sand dunes (large hills or mounds of sand) in temperatures that topped 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celsius). The trip was 239 miles (385 kilometers) long.

It takes most people a few days to cross the Simpson Desert by car.

What’s a Desert?

© anantachat—Creatas Video/Getty Images
Scorpions can be found in scorching hot deserts. But did you know that some deserts are cold? You can learn more about deserts at Britannica!
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arid

Part of speech:
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Definition:
: very dry : having very little rain or water
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In Case You Missed It

A new study found that practicing math before bed may help people remember it later.
November 29, 2023
Ten-year-old Luke Mortimer climbed a mountain to raise money for children with disabilities.
November 21, 2023
A solar-powered car just completed a long drive across the desert. No gas stations needed!
November 15, 2023
The British rock band the Beatles just released a song called “Now and Then.”
November 10, 2023

The Beatles Release a New Song

The Beatles in dark suits and black ties pose together, each one holding a medal in a small box.

The Beatles Release a New Song

The British rock band the Beatles just released a song called “Now and Then.”

The Beatles in dark suits and black ties pose together, each one holding a medal in a small box.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

This photo of the Beatles was taken in 1965. It shows (from left to right) Ringo Starr, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, and George Harrison.

The British rock band the Beatles broke up in 1970, more than 50 years ago. But in 2023, they released a new song, which they produced with the help of technology.

Called “Now and Then,” the song was written by former band member John Lennon long after the Beatles had broken up. Lennon recorded the song at his home on a small device called a tape recorder in the late 1970s. It’s not a very clear recording. Lennon’s piano playing made his voice difficult to hear, and a TV could be heard in the background. Lennon never made a professional recording of the song. Sadly, he died in 1980.

Today, only two of the Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, are still alive. The other Beatle, George Harrison, died in 2001. The three of them last worked together in 1995, when they added their voices and instruments to a couple of Lennon’s other recorded songs. They tried to work on “Now and Then,” but it was impossible. They weren’t able to make Lennon’s voice clearer or erase the sound of the TV in the background.

But today, a technology called machine learning allows people to separate different sounds on a music recording. With help from music producer Giles Martin, McCartney and Starr cleaned up Lennon’s recording of “Now and Then” so that only Lennon’s voice and piano could be heard, and his voice was clearer. Then they added more sounds. McCartney played guitar and piano, and Starr played drums. The song also includes a recording of George Harrison’s guitar playing.

John Lennon’s son, Sean Ono Lennon, is a fan of the finished song.

“My dad would’ve loved that, because he was never shy to experiment with recording technology. I think it’s really beautiful,” said Ono Lennon in a short video the Beatles released.

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© Showvector, Jemastock, Lukas Stritesky/Dreamstime.com; Animation Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The new Beatles recording was made with the help of a form of technology called artificial intelligence (AI). AI can be used to write songs, a fact that has many people upset. They believe that music should be created by people, not machines.

The Best Ever?

A smartphone cycling through a playlist of the music artists with the most number one hits

Getty Images: Michael Ochs Archives, Christopher Polk, Graham Wiltshire—Hulton Archive, Phil Walter—Hulton Archive, Jeff Haynes—AFP, Gregory Shamus, Kevin Mazur—Wire Image; PRNewsFoto/Kodak/AP Images; © Cinemafestival/Shutterstock.com; © Arvind Kumar/Dreamstime.com; Animation Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

Why is a new Beatles song such a big deal? Because the Beatles were big.

The Beatles were a band from Liverpool, England, made up of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Lennon, McCartney, and Harrison started playing music together as teenagers, and Starr joined them a few years later. In the 1960s, the Beatles became the most famous band in the world.

Part of what made the Beatles so popular was their ability to write catchy songs that people could remember and sing long after hearing them. As the 1960s continued, the Beatles changed their sound. Their songs became less simple and more complex. They helped change popular music because as the Beatles changed, so did many other rock bands.

Between 1964 and 1970, when they broke up, the Beatles had 20 songs that went to number one in the U.S., meaning that for a time, they were selling more than any other song. Here’s a list of the artists who have had the most number one hits.

The Beatles (20)

Mariah Carey (19)

Rihanna (14)

Drake (13)

Michael Jackson (13)

Madonna (12)

The Supremes (12)

Whitney Houston (11)

Janet Jackson (10)

Taylor Swift (10)

Stevie Wonder (10)

The Fab Four

The early Beatles pose together wearing suits.

Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

You can read more about the Beatles, also known as The Fab Four, at Britannica!

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retrospection

Part of speech:
noun
Definition:

 : the act of thinking about the past or something that happened in the past

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In Case You Missed It

A new study found that practicing math before bed may help people remember it later.
November 29, 2023
Ten-year-old Luke Mortimer climbed a mountain to raise money for children with disabilities.
November 21, 2023
A solar-powered car just completed a long drive across the desert. No gas stations needed!
November 15, 2023
The British rock band the Beatles just released a song called “Now and Then.”
November 10, 2023

Marathon Runner Saves Kitten

Two runners wearing numbers on their tank tops stand in front of a barricade, behind which is a woman holding a kitten.

Marathon Runner Saves Kitten

Sarah Bohan stopped running in the Chicago Marathon when she saw a tiny kitten that needed help.
Two runners wearing numbers on their tank tops stand in front of a barricade, behind which is a woman holding a kitten.
Courtesy Gia Nigro

Sarah Bohan (second from left) and Gia Nigro (left) take a photo with Andrea Maldonado (holding kitten) during the Chicago Marathon.

A runner stopped in the middle of a race, giving up the chance for a record finish to help a tiny kitten!

Sarah Bohan was running the Chicago Marathon, a 26.2-mile (42.2-kilometer) race. She had only 5 miles left when she saw the black and white kitten in a pile of leaves near the side of the road. Bohan thought maybe the mom cat would be back soon. Then again, it was also possible the mom cat wouldn’t come back. After all, the kitten was alone, with none of its brothers or sisters. Bohan decided to pick it up.

Bohan loves animals—and she has two cats of her own. Her participation in the race was even being sponsored (paid for) by PAWS Chicago, an animal shelter. 

Bohan took the 1-pound (0.5-kilogram) kitten in her arms and walked along the racecourse. Another racer, Gia Nigro, soon noticed Bohan carrying the kitten and stopped running to find out what was happening. Together, the two runners decided to find someone in the crowd who might take the kitten.

Andrea Maldonado was watching the race with her family. She promised to adopt the kitten and take him to a vet to make sure he was okay.

Bohan ended up finishing the race in just over 3 hours and 31 minutes. It wasn’t her fastest time, but Bohan is okay with that. She says she’ll try for a record again next year.

Today, the kitten—named Casper—is part of Maldonado’s family, which also includes four kids, a dog, and two other cats.

“Our girls love him,” Maldonado told Business Insider. “Our family loves him. Our dog loves him.”

You can check out more photos of Casper in the slideshow below!

PAWS Chicago/Colleen Barkley

NEWS EXTRA!

Celebrating Diwali!

Four colorful lanterns hanging and lights running along the ground with people sitting and standing next to them.

© Nikhil Gangavane/Dreamstime.com, © RBB—Moment/Getty Images, © Magdalena Kucova/stock.adobe.com; Photo illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The five-day festival called Diwali (or Divali) is observed each year in October or November. In 2023, Diwali falls between November 10-15, 2023.

Diwali originated in India and is part of the Hindu, Sikh, and Jain religions, though it’s also observed by some Muslims and Buddhists. Diwali is observed differently in each religion. In Hinduism, for example, the holiday honors Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. Homes are decorated with lights to invite Lakshmi’s presence and bring prosperity.

In general, Diwali is a celebration of the triumph of light over darkness, or good over evil. People celebrate by feasting, eating sweets, exchanging gifts, and cleaning their homes. Though Diwali lasts for five days, the main celebration takes place on November 12.

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Fun Fact

© Ole Onstad—Wirestock Creators/stock.adobe.com
Cats usually have between four and eight kittens per litter.

A Lot to Learn!

© Iryna Kuznetsova/Dreamstime.com

Kittens need to stay with their mom for several weeks after they’re born. During this time, the mother cat will teach her kittens many skills. They will learn how to hunt, what to eat, how to play nicely with the other kittens, and even how to behave around people.

For example, if a kitten plays too roughly, the mother cat might make a sound, gently swat the kitten, or walk away to show the little one that this is not the correct way to behave.

Cat Facts

A fluffy white cat bathes its kitten, which says Mom I appreciate the bath, but ouch!
© Fotosmile/Dreamstime.com; Photo illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
A cat’s tongue feels like sandpaper! Why is that? You can find the answer to this question and others at Britannica.
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brouhaha

Part of speech:
noun
Definition:
: great excitement or concern about something
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In Case You Missed It

A new study found that practicing math before bed may help people remember it later.
November 29, 2023
Ten-year-old Luke Mortimer climbed a mountain to raise money for children with disabilities.
November 21, 2023
A solar-powered car just completed a long drive across the desert. No gas stations needed!
November 15, 2023
The British rock band the Beatles just released a song called “Now and Then.”
November 10, 2023

Five New Olympic Sports

Five pentagons, each outlined in one of the Olympic colors and each showing people playing one of the new Olympic sports, including baseball, cricket, squash, lacrosse, and flag football.

Five New Olympic Sports

Officials have added five new sports to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games!

Five pentagons, each outlined in one of the Olympic colors and each showing people playing one of the new Olympic sports, including baseball, cricket, squash, lacrosse, and flag football.

© Svyatoslav Lypynskyy/stock.adobe.com, Rob Tringali—MLB Photos/Getty Images, © Mitchell Gunn, Aspenphoto, Bluiz60/Dreamstime.com; Photo illustration Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

The next Summer Olympic Games will take place in 2024, but officials are already planning for the 2028 Summer Games. The International Olympic Committee has decided to add five new sports to the 2028 Games. They are baseball/softball, cricket, squash, lacrosse, and flag football. All five are team sports.

The Olympics take place in a different city each time. The 2028 Summer Olympics are set to occur in the American city of Los Angeles, California, so it’s fitting that three of the new sports were invented in North America. Here’s a bit more about how each of the sports is played.

Baseball/Softball

In professional sports, baseball is usually played by men while softball is usually played by women. The two sports have similar rules. A hitter hits a ball with a bat and then tries to run around three bases and back to home plate to score before someone from the other team has a chance to tag the player with the ball. If a player from the other team catches the ball before it hits the ground, or if the hitter is tagged while running around the bases, they are out and don’t score.

Cricket

As in baseball, cricket players try to hit a ball with a bat, but there are many differences between baseball and cricket. In cricket, the game area is a rectangle called a pitch. A batter stands on each end of the pitch in front of small wood structures called wickets. Someone from the other team, called a bowler, throws the ball to one batter. If the bowler knocks down a small stick that rests on top of the wicket, the batter is out. If the batter hits the ball, the two batters run to switch places (and their team scores). They keep batting until the other team’s players recover the ball.

Squash

In squash, two players stand on one side of a four-walled indoor court and use rackets to hit a ball against the wall in front of them. Each player tries to keep the other one from getting control of the ball when it bounces back.

Lacrosse

Lacrosse is a bit like field hockey. Players use sticks to try to get a ball into the other team’s net, which is guarded by a goalkeeper. But unlike a hockey stick, a lacrosse stick has a basket on the end. A player can scoop up the ball into this basket and use their stick to throw the ball toward the net.

Flag Football

In football, players try to get the ball toward the goal while the other team tries to stop them. In professional American football, players try to stop their opponents by tackling them, or knocking them down. In flag football, players have flags hanging off the waistbands of their uniforms. One player can stop another player from running with the ball by getting that player’s flag.

NEWS EXTRA!

Rangers Win World Series

Members of the Texas Rangers smile and embrace one another on the field.

Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images Sport

The Texas Rangers are World Series champions! The Rangers beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 5-0 in Game 5 of the series. It’s the Rangers’ first World Series title ever.

“It’s just awesome,” Rangers shortstop Corey Seager told the Associated Press. “It’s a really special moment.”

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Fun Fact

Michael Owens/Getty Images Sport

Mark Andrews (number 89) of the Baltimore Ravens runs with the ball during an NFL flag football game in February 2023.

Flag football will be one of the events at the 2028 Summer Olympics. There’s a chance that the U.S. flag football team might be made up of professional football players from the National Football League!

Sports That Came and Went

Aerial view of a stadium in which athletes stand in rows on the field and spectators fill the stands.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

This photo was taken at the first modern Olympics in 1896.

The very first Olympics Games took place around 3,000 years ago in ancient Greece. The modern (newer) Olympic Games began taking place in 1896. Over the years, different Olympic sporting events have come and gone. Here are a few events that were once part of the Olympics. Would you want to try any of these?

 

Croquet

Year it was last part of the Olympics: 1900

How it’s played: Use a mallet (a kind of stick with a head on it) to hit balls through a series of hoops that are stuck into the ground.

 

High jump for horses

Year it was last part of the Olympics: 1900

How it’s done: Ride a horse as it jumps over a high wall.

A horse and rider jump over a hurdle.

La Vie au Grand Air, 1900

This rider and horse won the last “high jump for horses” Olympic event in 1900.

Swimming obstacle course

Year it was last part of the Olympics: 1900

How it’s done: Swim while trying to get through or over obstacles (things that are in the way). In the Olympics, people had to swim in a river and climb over a row of boats.

 

Plunge for distance

Year it was last part of the Olympics: 1904

How it’s done: Dive into water and glide as far as possible without using any part of your body to push yourself forward.

 

Tug-of-war

Year it was last part of the Olympics: 1920

How it’s played: With a team, pull on one end of a rope as another team pulls on the other end. See if you can pull the other team toward you.

Meeting of Frontiers/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., "The Olympic Games, 1904" (06003479)

Meeting of Frontiers/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., “The Olympic Games, 1904” (06003479)

This tug-of-war contest took place in 1904.

Get to Know the Games

Getty Images: Alexander Hassenstein, Cameron Spencer, Ryan Pierse, Jed Jacobsohn, Mark Ralston—AFP, Houston Chronicle—Hearst Newspapers; Dreamstime: Ukrphoto, Celso Pupo Rodrigues, Pniesen; © pleclown (CC BY-SA 2.0); Animation Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

There are both Summer Olympics and Winter Olympics, and each one features different sports. You can learn more about Olympic events at Britannica!

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stalwart

Part of speech:

adjective

Definition:

: physically strong

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The Return of the Bison

A bison stands alone on a plain with mountains in the background.

The Return of the Bison

Little by little, bison (or buffalo) are returning to American Indian homelands.
A bison stands alone on a plain with mountains in the background.
© Holly Kuchera/Dreamstime.com

Once, there were millions of bison (or buffalo) in North America. Bison were important to the cultures of many American Indian groups. But by the 1880s, the bison were almost gone. Today, the bison are back. And American Indians are rebuilding their ties with these animals.

The relationship between American Indians and bison started thousands of years ago. The Yuchi, the Sioux, and other American Indian groups relied on bison. The animals provided food, shelter, and clothing. They are still part of American Indian stories, traditions, and beliefs. But when white people began to settle in the West, they killed so many bison that the animals nearly died out.

During this time, white settlers and the U.S. government also forced many American Indians to leave their homelands. Many parts of American Indian culture were lost.

In the late 1800s, the U.S. government started taking steps to save the bison. There were only a few bison left. Officials rounded them up and put them in national parks so that they would be protected. Since then, the bison population has grown to almost 500,000.

And now, steps are being taken to reconnect bison with the American Indian groups that once relied on them. Little by little, some of the bison that live in America’s parks are being returned to American Indians.

In March 2023, dozens of bison were moved from a park in Colorado to the Yuchi of Oklahoma, as well as other American Indian groups. Richard Grounds of the Yuchi people said the return of the bison is helping to restore Yuchi culture.

“We’ve lost that connection to the buffalo,” Grounds told the Associated Press. “So we’re saying, we Yuchi people are still here and the buffalo are still here, and it’s important to reconnect and restore those relationships with the land, with the animals, and the plants.”

Did You Know

Prints and Photographs Division/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-pga-01894)
Experts believe there were once 30 to 60 million bison in North America. By the 1880s, only a few hundred were left.

Many Stories

November is American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month. (It’s also known as Native American and Alaska Native Heritage Month.) One way to learn about American Indian cultures is to read books by American Indian authors. Here are just a few you might want to check out.

A boy in a jacket and with a backpack on his back stands outside a subway entrance.
Puffin Chapter Books
Eagle Song, by Joseph Bruchac

Fourth grader Danny moves to New York City from a Mohawk Nation reservation. Danny is homesick and having trouble fitting in, but he soon realizes he can settle in his new home without letting go of his cultural traditions.

A girl with a backpack on her back looks back as she runs toward an erupting volcano.
Penguin Random House

Lei and the Fire Goddess, by Malia Maunakea

Twelve-year-old Anna is getting tired of hearing her grandmother’s stories from her Native Hawaiian culture. She just wants to fit in with the other kids at school. But when one of her friends needs help, Anna realizes just how much her culture is part of who she is.
HarperCollins

Healer of the Water Monster, by Brian Young

On a visit to his grandmother’s home, a Navajo boy named Nathan gets lost in the desert and finds that the Water Monster needs his help. Can Nathan be a healer to the monster and to the people he loves?

American Indian and Alaska Native Heritage Month

Animated GIF with different summer and winter Olympic sports flashing on and off the screen.
Alamy: photo-fox, Pictorial Press Ltd.; Getty: Keystone—Hulton Archive, grandriver—E+,Carl Iwasaki—The Chronicle Collection, Joseph Prezioso—AFP; Pete Souza—Barack Obama Presidential Library/National Archives, Washington, D.C.; © Jose Gil/Shutterstock.com; Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (digital no. cph 3b32945); Robert Markowitz—Johnson Space Center/NASA; Animation Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

American Indians are sometimes called Native Americans or Indigenous peoples. Did you know that the first Indigenous people arrived in North America thousands of years ago?

You can learn more at Britannica!

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Word of the Day

custom

Part of speech:
noun
Definition:
: an action or way of behaving that is usual and traditional among the people in a particular group or place
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