Page Type: Elementary

Researchers at the University of Geneva in Switzerland found that dogs have an easier time understanding humans who speak slowly. This is because dogs process, or take in, information much more slowly than people do.

The researchers studied the vocal sounds of 27 humans speaking to other people and 22 humans speaking to dogs. Some of the humans spoke English. The others spoke one of four other languages. The researchers also looked at the vocal sounds of 30 dogs. (Dogs make vocal sounds—like barks, whines, and growls—to communicate.) 

They found that people speak at a rate of about four syllables per second. But when dogs are making vocal sounds, it’s at a rate of just two sounds per second. In other words, dogs communicate much more slowly than humans do.

Microscopes can save lives. These scientific instruments can magnify tiny bacteria and other organisms that people can’t see with only their eyes. But since many people around the world can’t afford microscopes, harmful bacteria and diseases aren’t always detected. That’s why Manu Prakash, a bioengineer at Stanford University in California, invented an inexpensive paper microscope called Foldscope. 

Foldscope comes in a kit and is easy to put together. There are three parts—a piece of paper, stick-on magnets, and a glass lens to magnify things. To assemble the microscope, you just fold the paper according to the instructions and use the magnets to keep the folds in place. Finally, you pop the lens into a hole that’s been punched into the paper.

The assembled foldscope can magnify up to 140 times and is small enough to put into a pocket. The paper is waterproof and doesn’t tear easily, sort of like paper money.

Saber-toothed cats are best known for their giant canine teeth. But what did they really look like? A newly discovered mummy of a saber-toothed cub is providing some answers.

The cub, which was found in 2020 in Siberia, Russia, died at least 35,000 years ago of unknown causes. It was about three weeks old. The cub’s body was well preserved because it was in a layer of permanently frozen ground called permafrost. Its face, neck, and front legs, as well as part of its torso, are all in excellent condition, and so is its dark brown fur. Amazingly, it still has whiskers and claws. 

“It’s a fantastic feeling to see with your own eyes the life appearance of a long-extinct animal,” researcher Alexey V. Lopatin told CNN. “Especially when it comes to such an interesting predator as the saber-toothed cat.”

The cub was of a species called Homotherium latidens. There were several varieties of saber-toothed cats, including Homotherium and Smilodon. They all had enormous upper canine teeth that, for Smilodon, could reach 8 inches (20 centimeters) in length. (Homotherium teeth were closer to 3 inches in length.) Not surprisingly, these big-toothed big cats were carnivores (meat eaters). All varieties of saber-toothed cats were extinct by about 10,000 years ago.

When Jimmy Just Augustin found out he was losing his sight, he gave up something he loved—playing soccer (football). Then, in 2020, he learned that there’s a soccer format for players who are blind. Now age 24, Augustin is the captain of the Kator Blind Football Club in Juba, South Sudan, where he’s earned the nickname Messi after legendary soccer player Lionel Messi.

“Now I play like Messi, Cristiano Ronaldo, like anyone else,” Augustin told Juba in the Making. “As if we weren’t visually impaired, we manage to control the ball, shoot, and score goals.”

The Kator Blind Football Club is one of four blind soccer teams in South Sudan. Together, they make up the nation’s Blind Premiere Football League, which is supported by Light for the World, an organization that works for disability rights. 

As fun as it is to listen to, music is even more enjoyable when you sing along. Singer Ella Jenkins, who made a career out of inviting children to sing along with her, died on November 9. She was 100 years old.

Known as the “first lady of children’s music,” Jenkins recorded more than 40 albums of folk music aimed at young audiences and traveled the world performing for kids and adults. She not only sang traditional songs, like “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” but also wrote many songs herself. Jenkins loved all kinds of music, introducing her audiences to sounds and stories from the United States, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and more.

Jenkins was born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1924 and grew up in Chicago, Illinois. She surrounded herself with music from a young age, whether from her harmonica-playing uncle or recordings by 20th-century musicians like Cab Calloway. Calloway was famous for “call-and-response,” which means he would call out a lyric and get the audience to repeat after him. Jenkins would later use this same technique with her young audiences.

In the 1950s, as a young adult, Jenkins got a job directing activities for teens at a community center called the YWCA, or Y.  Jenkins, who played the ukelele, harmonica, organ, and many percussion instruments, began teaching music at the Y. This led to an offer to appear on a TV show once a week and, eventually, a recording contract. Jenkins’s first album, Call and Response: Rhythmic Group Singing, was released in 1957. 

Jenkins performed on every continent—even Antarctica, where she played her songs for children of the researchers who were working there.

“I had my harmonica. The penguins were very curious about me,” she told the Chicago Sun-Times.

When Jenkins went on tour, teaching and performing weren’t her only goals. She also wanted to learn. Jenkins had a never-ending curiosity about cultures around the world. She would take a recording device on the road so she could keep track of phrases she heard. Some of them ended up in her songs.

In addition to touring the globe, Jenkins appeared on many TV shows during her career, including Sesame Street and Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood. Fans who loved to sing along with Jenkins felt a connection with her. 

“I get all kinds of hellos at airports and bus stations,” she once said, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. “Wherever I go, children want to shake hands.”

Gridiron football is popular in the United States, but it has its limitations. The sport, which is also known as American football, is open to male athletes but offers fewer playing opportunities to girls and women.

But there’s another version of football—flag football—that’s gaining popularity, and it’s not limited to boys. 

Here’s how flag football works and why it could be the key that opens football to everyone.

Two Types of Football

There are many differences between gridiron football and flag football, but the most notable one is the level of contact (touch) between the players. In gridiron football, players can tackle each other, which means they can knock and push each other down to get possession of the ball.

Flag football players wear flags at their waists. Instead of tackling to stop the person who has the ball, members of the opposing team must pull that player’s flags off.

As a no-contact sport, flag football is safer than gridiron football. And because helmets and padding aren’t required for flag football, it can be less expensive for players to get involved.

Flag Football for Everyone

Gridiron football has long been much more popular than flag football in the United States. The sport is played in high schools and colleges across the country and, of course, in the National Football League (NFL). Women make up about half of America’s NFL fans. But there’s no professional women’s football team in the United States. There are few female players on high school football teams, and there are no women’s college football teams. Very few women have a chance to play gridiron football.

But women and girls have played flag football for decades. Many countries (including the U.S.) have men’s and women’s national flag football teams, and more and more U.S. high schools have made flag football an official sport. 

“It’s so important for girls to have the opportunity to play in high school,” Stephanie Kwok told Reuters. Kwok is the NFL’s head of flag football. She was hired as part of the NFL’s effort to promote flag football, partly to invite more people into the sport.

Flag Football at the Olympics

Flag football has grown so much that it will be included at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, California. For the first time, men’s and women’s teams from around the world will have the chance to compete for Olympic gold. Kwok hopes the excitement over the Olympics will bring more girls to flag football.

“[Flag football] provides such an opportunity for new people to come to the game of football and experience it firsthand,” Kwok told Reuters.

When the University of Florida’s basketball team, the Gators, opened their season on November 4, one player stood out. Although 18-year-old Olivier Rioux didn’t get a chance to participate in the game, it was his height that got people talking. At 7 feet, 9 inches (2.4 meters), Rioux is the world’s tallest teenager. He’s even been certified by Guinness World Records!

Rioux says that people have been asking him about his height ever since he arrived at the university a few months ago. But he doesn’t mind the curiosity; he’s used to it. Rioux, who grew up in Quebec, Canada, was tall from an early age. By the time he was in 5th grade, he was already more than 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall. When he was 15, he was 7 feet, 5 inches (2.3 meters). Both of his parents are over 6 feet tall.

“You get asked questions every day,” Rioux told the Associated Press. “You don’t have a single three seconds to yourself when you’re outside, which I was fine with because my brother and my dad are tall. And, as a family, we used to go out. That’s just how it was, and you can’t change that because people are curious.”

Being tall has its challenges. Rioux must duck to get through doorways, and it can be hard to find size 20 shoes. But on the basketball court, height is an advantage.

Rioux started playing basketball when he was 5. He later played in a few games with the Canadian national team. By the time Rioux was almost finished with high school, many college basketball teams were interested in having him play for them. He chose the University of Florida.

Gators coach Todd Golden isn’t ready to give Rioux a lot of playing time. Just before we posted this story, in fact, Golden announced that Rioux wouldn’t play at all this school year. In college basketball, a player can skip a year of games and start over the next year as a freshman (a first-year player). Rioux will spend this year improving his skills. 

But the coach says he sees signs of greatness. Rioux has an amazing hook shot and can dunk the ball without even jumping. 

“He has flashes in practice where he’ll make some plays and you’re like, ‘Whoa,’” Golden told the Associated Press. Plus, Golden says, Rioux is friendly, patient, and kind. He may be different, but he loves what makes him different.

“It feels great being the height I am,” Rioux once wrote for Guinness World Records. “I love it.”

What can a jungle hide? Sometimes it can hide an entire city! Using special technology, an anthropologist has discovered the remains of thousands of buildings that were part of the ancient Maya civilization.

The Maya lived in parts of Mexico and Central America between about 200 CE and 900 CE. They built large cities with huge populations, but their civilization eventually declined for reasons that are still unclear.

Some ruins of the Maya civilization are covered over by thick jungles, making them difficult to find. But thanks to a technology called lidar, experts have been making many discoveries. Lidar uses a laser to scan the ground and detect three-dimensional shapes, like buildings. Lidar surveys have revealed thousands of ancient Maya buildings in the nation of Guatemala.

Anthropologist Luke Auld-Thomas, who works at Northern Arizona University in the United States, wanted to use lidar to find Maya ruins in southeastern Mexico. An anthropologist is a scientist who studies human cultures. Auld-Thomas learned that people had used lidar technology in the area for other purposes. So he looked at the results to see if there were any signs of Maya ruins. That’s when he found the lost city, which he named Valeriana.

A teenager from Nepal is the youngest person ever to climb to the top of the 14 highest mountains in the world. Nima Rinji Sherpa, 18, checked number 14 off the list on October 9, when he reached the summit of Shisha Pangma, a 26,335-foot (8,027-meter) mountain in Tibet.

Nima began his quest in September 2022, when he reached the top of Manāslu, a 26,781-foot (8,163-meter) mountain in Nepal at age 16. He has spent the past two years climbing the rest of the 14 peaks, including Mount Everest, which at 29,032 feet (8,849 meters) is the tallest mountain in the world.

The 14 peaks are known as “eight-thousanders” because they are all more than 8,000 meters (26,245 feet) high, making them dangerous to climb. The human body struggles at altitudes above 8,000 meters because the air contains less oxygen. The low temperatures and high winds make it even harder for climbers to gather the strength they need. 

Unlike many other climbers, Nima did not always carry a tank of oxygen with him, a decision that he said is not what experts recommend. He and his climbing partner also faced avalanches, slippery ice, and stomach cramps, which can occur when a climber doesn’t drink enough water.

“Regardless of the beauty of the mountains [and] the success of the summit, it’s always going to be a dangerous sport,” Nima later told CNN.

Thousands of years ago, kings called pharaohs ruled over ancient Egypt. They built giant palaces, temples, and pyramids. They had statues made to look like them. When a pharaoh died, their body was placed in a sarcophagus (coffin) painted to look like them and buried with jewelry and other priceless gold objects. Egypt has a larger-than-life history, and it’s now being told at the enormous new Grand Egyptian Museum outside Cairo, Egypt.