Page Type: Elementary

The U.S. gymnastics team had an amazing run at the 2024 Summer Olympics, winning team and individual medals. The gymnasts couldn’t have done it without support from families, coaches, and one very special dog named Beacon.

Beacon, a 4-year-old golden retriever, is the first official therapy dog for the U.S. gymnastics team. His job title is “Goodest Boy.” Gymnastics is a difficult sport, and gymnasts can sometimes feel stressed and worried about competitions. Beacon’s job is to be there for the athletes, whether they want to pet him, rub his belly, chat with him, or just hang out with him.

Beacon and his human, Tracey Callahan Molnar, attended the Olympic Gymnastic Trials earlier in 2024. This is the competition that decides who will compete in the Olympic Games. 

Officials in Thailand say that one of the country’s tiger populations is growing. It’s a little bit of good news for these big cats, which have disappeared from many parts of the world.

Officials say the tiger population in Thailand’s Western Forest Complex (WEFCOM), which is made up of 11 national parks and six wildlife sanctuaries, grew from 41 to 143 between 2007 and 2023. Some of this forest’s other endangered species, including a few that tigers prey on, are also doing well.

Officials say WEFCOM’s tigers have been well protected from their main threat, poaching (illegal hunting). The forest’s managers use GPS to figure out where poaching is taking place and then patrol those areas. They also use cameras to keep an eye on the area and the tigers that live there. WEFCOM currently has Thailand’s largest tiger population.

The Paisleys have big plans. Brad Paisley, a country music star, and Kimberly Williams-Paisley, an actor, say they want to open a new free grocery store in Nashville, Tennessee. This will be their second one.

The Paisleys opened their first store, which is called The Store, in Nashville in March 2020. The Store lets people who are hungry and unable to afford groceries get them for free. It’s set up like any grocery store, so shoppers can choose what they like. The Store sits on land that is owned by Belmont University, which Brad Paisley attended. It pays for everything with some government money and donations from the public.

A pair of best friends from England and Ireland just raced from California to Hawaii—not in a plane but in a rowboat! Jessica Oliver and Charlotte Harris triumphed over rough weather, big waves, and aches and pains. They even broke some speed records in the process.

The Pacific Challenge

Beginning on June 8, Oliver and Harris rowed 2,800 miles (4,500 kilometers) from Monterey Bay, California, to Kaua‘i, Hawaii, along with other teams in a race called the World’s Toughest Row – Pacific Challenge. Oliver and Harris’s team, called Wild Waves, was the fastest pair, completing the race in 37 days, 11 hours, and 43 minutes. They beat the existing record for a pair of rowers by two days. Overall, Wild Waves finished the race in second place, faster than most of the teams of three and four rowers!

Oliver and Harris said the race was “absolutely grueling,” which means very, very tough. Freezing cold winds caused massive waves that tossed their boat around. In the first week, the boat’s automatic steering system broke. They had to steer by hand, which meant they got little sleep. But their friendship and ability to work together helped them get through these challenges.

“We can read each other so well,” Harris told Good News Network.

Going For It!

Like many beaches, the one in Scarborough Beach State Park in Scarborough, Maine, has a team of lifeguards trained to rescue any swimmers that are in trouble. Most of the lifeguards are human, but two of them are dogs!

Beacon and Buoy are the first canine (dog) lifeguards in the United States. They’re trained to go into the water with human lifeguards when someone needs to be rescued and help get that person back to land as quickly as possible. The dogs wear life jackets that give them extra help when they’re swimming. Each jacket has a handle along the spine so the human lifeguard, along with rescue equipment, can get a ride out to the rescue site.

Imagine you’re out late at night when a streak of light shoots across the sky…then another…then another. Is this an alien invasion? No! It’s a meteor shower. Scientists say two meteor showers will occur at the same time this summer. Delta Aquariids meteor shower and the Alpha Capricornids meteor shower are both set to peak on July 30. 

A meteor shower looks like many shooting stars racing across the night sky. But what some people call “shooting stars” are not stars. They’re meteors—pieces of rock that have broken off from comets or asteroids (large space rocks) and are falling to Earth. Meteor showers occur several times a year. What makes this summer’s event so special is that it’s a double meteor shower. If conditions are perfect, viewers could see up to 25 meteors per hour during the peak. 

It’s easiest to see a meteor shower in a very dark sky, away from city lights and without a lot of moonlight. The sky is darkest between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m., making this the prime time for meteor shower viewing. Since our eyes take time to adjust to darkness, scientists recommend going outside at least 30 minutes early. 

Scientists say the best place to see this event is in the Southern Hemisphere, as well as in parts of the Northern Hemisphere that are close to the Equator. But people in other parts of the world may also be able to catch a glimpse!

The Los Angeles Lakers just signed a new player with a familiar last name. Bronny James, whose dad is NBA legend LeBron James, will play for the Lakers alongside LeBron. The pair will be the first father and son to play as teammates in the National Basketball Association, or NBA.

Bronny, who plays in the guard position, was a valued member of his high school basketball team. In his last year of high school, he averaged 13.8 points, 5.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.8 steals. He went on to play at the University of Southern California (USC) for one season before the NBA drafted him. At 19, Bronny is one year older than LeBron was when he got drafted into the NBA more than 20 years ago.

Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James (right) celebrates with Bronny James (left) in 2023 after breaking the NBA’s all-time scoring record.

A dad, his two sons, and their cousin discovered a rare Tyrannosaurus rex fossil during a hike in 2022—and then got to help excavate the fossil, or dig it out of the ground. The fossil is now on display at a museum.

Liam and Jessin Fisher, then ages 7 and 10, were hiking with their dad, Sam Fisher, and their 9-year-old cousin Kaiden Madsen in an area of North Dakota called the Badlands, which is known for being rich with fossils. The boys were already experienced fossil hunters, so when Liam spotted a “white thing” in the ground, they agreed that it might be a dinosaur fossil.

(Left) Kaiden Madsen, Liam Fisher, and Jessin Fisher pose in front of the leg bone of a T. rex they discovered. (Right) Liam lies next to the fossil to show its size.

Would you like butter with your ice cream? Probably not, but that’s what one McDonald’s customer got when she tried to order a caramel sundae without caramel at the restaurant’s drive-through window. The order had been taken by a robot that uses artificial intelligence (AI). After multiple customers reported problems ordering with AI, McDonald’s announced that it would stop using the technology—for now. 

McDonald’s began using the AI ordering system at more than 100 of its restaurants in 2021 to test whether to install the technology permanently. Many people were concerned that AI could end up replacing human workers, causing McDonald’s employees to lose their jobs. But the robot has made more mistakes than human workers, often misinterpreting what customers are asking for. Some of these misunderstandings are pretty major. 

Many customers have posted videos of themselves at drive-through windows, trying to get the food they want. In one video, a customer starts laughing as the robot adds more and more Chicken McNuggets to her bill, for a total of 280 nuggets.

“The McDonald’s robot is wild,” the customer’s comment reads. 

Another customer said she ordered one sweet tea and ended up with nine teas on her bill because AI added someone else’s order to hers.  

McDonald’s will get rid of its AI technology by the end of July 2024. But that might not be the end of the story. The company says it hasn’t ruled out bringing AI back sometime in the future.