Page Type: Elementary

Monarch butterflies are beautiful! Their orange, black, and white wings look like they were painted by a talented artist. But scientists say the white spots on a monarch’s wings aren’t just pretty. They may help the monarch fly.

Each fall, some monarch butterflies migrate (travel) from Canada and the United States to Mexico. They spend the winter in the warmer climate. In the spring, they fly north again. The trip is about 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) each way. That’s a lot of distance to cover, especially for a tiny butterfly. Scientists wanted to know how monarch butterflies are able to fly all that way.

Scientists studied the monarch butterflies that were able to make it all the way to Mexico and those that were not. They found that the successful flyers had more white spots on their wings. Scientists also studied types of butterflies that do not migrate. These insects had smaller white spots than migrating monarchs.

The scientists think the white spots help monarchs because they cause sunlight to heat the wings differently in different places. This changes the airflow around the wings, making it easier to fly.

There are 63 national parks in the United States. A 93-year-old woman named Joy Ryan has been to every single one of them!

Joy wasn’t always such an adventurer. When she was 85, she told her grandson Brad that she hadn’t traveled very far from her home in Ohio. She had never seen a mountain. So Brad asked his grandma if she’d like to go to Great Smoky Mountains National Park in Tennessee.

“[He] wanted to know if I wanted to go down to the Smoky Mountains and stay in a tent,” Joy told National Public Radio. “And I said, ‘Yes, I’ll try it.’ I’d never been in one before.”

Grandma Joy surprised Brad by climbing with him to the top of a mountain!

The pair had so much fun that they decided to keep visiting national parks. Grandma Joy and Brad went zip-lining at New River Gorge National Park & Preserve in West Virginia and white-water rafting at Wrangell-St. Elias National Park & Preserve in Alaska. They stood under giant trees at Redwood National Park in California and explored caves at Mammoth Cave National Park in Kentucky. Grandma Joy even rolled down a sand dune at Great Sand Dunes National Park & Preserve in Colorado!

In May 2023, Brad and Joy visited the 63rd national park on their list. It’s called the National Park of American Samoa. (American Samoa is a U.S. territory in the south-central Pacific Ocean.) When Brad and Joy arrived, park rangers gave them certificates celebrating their special achievement.

Brad says the pair is looking for more adventures. Next, they’re thinking about visiting all seven continents!

“[Grandma Joy is] a spitfire and very, very full of life [and] adventure,” Brad told Travel + Leisure magazine.

The elephants at the Houston Zoo in Texas have a special way of exercising. They do yoga!

When humans do yoga, it includes breathing, stretching, and holding poses. Yoga is thought to be healthy for the body and the brain because it can help a person relax. The Houston Zoo trains its 12 Asian elephants to stretch and hold poses because it’s good exercise. It helps the elephants stay flexible.

How do you train such a big animal? Zookeepers start when the elephants are only a few months old. They touch the elephants’ bodies with a stick to teach them to move a certain way. Once the elephants learn all the moves and poses, the stick is not needed anymore. The elephants have learned to do things like stretching to one side while raising a leg or balancing on two feet. One elephant, named Tess, can even do a handstand! The herd likes to do the poses because they get treats like bananas and bread. 

While the elephants are doing their poses, zookeepers check their health. They look at the elephants’ skin to make sure it’s healthy. They also look for any signs that the elephants are getting aches and pains. 

“This is the time where we see everything about them,” said Kristin Windle, who is in charge of the zoo’s elephants. “We’ll get a good look at their skin, we’ll check their feet, we’ll check their mouth. But we’re also looking at…how they’re moving so we can know exactly what they’re feeling.” 

Yoga can help people stay healthy. The Houston Zoo wants the same thing for its elephants!

When Grace Mariani went to college, her service dog, Justin, was by her side all the way. So when Mariani graduated from college and got a diploma, Justin got one, too!

Service dogs are trained to help people who have disabilities. Justin helps Mariani, who uses a wheelchair, with certain tasks. The 6-year-old Labrador and golden retriever mix went with Mariani to all of her classes at Seton Hall University in New Jersey.

Mariani graduated from Seton Hall in May 2023. The ceremony took place in a large arena in front of a huge crowd. When Mariani’s name was called, she and Justin went to the stage, where college president Joseph Nyre was waiting with Mariani’s diploma—the certificate saying that she had finished college. Nyre gave Mariani her certificate, but he didn’t stop there. He then held out a diploma to Justin.

Justin looked like he wasn’t too sure what to do at first. He sniffed the diploma and then looked at Mariani. When she signaled to him, he took the rolled-up paper in his mouth. The crowd cheered. Mariani smiled, and Nyre raised his arms in celebration. Hearing the cheers, Justin wagged his tail.

Mariani is planning to become a teacher. Justin will keep on being a service dog—a service dog with a college diploma!

A man named Kami Rita has climbed the world’s highest mountain more times than anyone else in the world. On May 23, 2023, Kami Rita reached the top of Mount Everest for the 28th time!

Climbing a mountain that’s more than 29,000 feet (8,800 meters) high can be very dangerous. Kami Rita, who is part of an ethnic group called the Sherpas, grew up in the mountains and learned how to climb by doing so with experienced guides. He first reached the summit (top) of Mount Everest in 1994. Today, he’s a guide who climbs Everest with people who rely on his knowledge and experience to keep them safe.  Helping them is how he earns his living.

There are many Sherpa guides who help visiting climbers—but none is as accomplished as Kami Rita. Still, he might not hold the climbing record for long. He’d set a record of 27 climbs the week before, only to see another guide, Pasang Dawa, match that record a few days later. It may not be long before Pasang Dawa climbs Everest for the 28th time.

But that’s okay with Kami Rita. He’s planning to retire soon. While Kami Rita became a climbing guide like his father, he says his kids are planning other careers.

What’s the perfect summer treat? It may just be the ice pop, or Popsicle. An ice pop is cold, refreshing, and a lot easier to make than ice cream. In fact, the very first ice pop was made by accident. And its inventor was 11 years old!

In 1905, a kid from San Francisco, California, named Frank Epperson decided to make himself a soft drink. Back then, soft drinks could be made by mixing a sugary powder with water. Epperson made the drink in a cup, mixing the ingredients together with a wooden stirring stick. At some point, he forgot about it and left it on his porch overnight. 

The next morning, Epperson discovered that the liquid had frozen with the stirring stick inside. Using the stick as a handle, Epperson pulled the whole thing out of the cup and began to lick it. It was a delicious treat! Epperson named his invention the Epsicle. The name was a combination of his last name and the word icicle.

Vernon Jackson gives free haircuts to children with special needs at his barber shop, Noble Barber and Beauty. The Cincinnati, Ohio, barber says it’s his way of giving back to the community.

Jackson started giving the free haircuts in 2021, through what he calls the Gifted program. He had learned that some kids struggle with the loud sounds in a barber shop, making it hard for them to get haircuts. So he decided to open his shop on his day off, when the shop is calm and quiet. This would allow kids to get used to the shop environment. 

“There [are] no other barbers or stylists in the shop, and I [can] give them the full attention they need,” Jackson told CBS News.

What’s the scariest thing about a Tyrannosaurus rex? Probably its gigantic teeth! But a group of scientists say they don’t think the T. rex’s teeth could always be seen. They found evidence that the T. rex had lips that covered its teeth.

Scientists studied the teeth of a Daspletosaurus, a dinosaur that was related to the T. rex. They found that the teeth were in pretty good shape. They hadn’t rotted very much. This suggests that the Daspletosaurus was able to cover its teeth when its mouth was closed, keeping the teeth from dry air that can damage them. Since Daspletosaurus and T. rex were similar in many ways, scientists now believe that both types of dinosaurs had lips.

Zaila Avant-garde has done some incredible things. She’s a world-record basketball dribbler She’s a spelling champ. And now, she’s an author! Avant-garde’s new book is called It’s Not Bragging If It’s True: How to Be Awesome at Life.

The book’s title comes from Avant-garde’s mom, Alma, who told her to be proud of the things she’s done. “It’s not bragging if it’s true!” Alma reminded her. Avant-garde holds three world records related to basketball, including a tie for dribbling the most basketballs at the same time. In 2021, she won the Scripps National Spelling Bee, a spelling contest for kids from all over the United States and a few other countries.

In the book, Avant-garde shares stories about her life and offers advice for kids. She writes that she sets goals for herself and then works to reach those goals. 

“It’s a lot of hard work,” she told CBS Mornings. “But it’s easy to do the hard work because it’s fun.” 

One of Avant-garde’s tips for kids is to help others. Another is, “Don’t be afraid to ask for help.”

Are you right-handed or left-handed? Most people are better at using one hand than the other. Experts say dogs are the same. Some are right-pawed, and others are left-pawed.

Scientists learned this by doing tests on dogs. They had dogs do things like stop a rolling toy, get a treat out of a container, or give a paw to shake hands with a human. Scientists also watched dogs as they began walking to see which paw the dogs put forward first. The tests showed that most dogs used the same paw every time—either the right paw or the left paw.

Scientists also found that about half the dogs were right-pawed and half were left-pawed. That’s different from humans. Only about one out of every 10 people is left-handed. For reasons scientists still don’t understand, most people are right-handed.

Scientists have found that many animals have a hand, foot, or paw they’re more likely to use. Here are a few ways to find out if your pet is a righty or a lefty.

• Watch your pet walk. See if it uses its right foot or left foot first.
• Wave a toy in front of your pet. See if it bats the toy with its right or left paw. (This works best with cats.)
• Before your dog lies down, it may turn in a circle a few times. If it turns to the left, it may be left pawed.

Seeing your pet use one paw one time isn’t enough to figure out which paw they prefer. You’ll need to see them use that paw many times before you know it’s their favorite.