Page Type: Elementary

It’s celebration time at the Houston Zoo in Houston, Texas. In March 2023, the zoo welcomed three tortoise hatchlings (baby tortoises)!

The zoo’s two radiated tortoises, Mr. and Mrs. Pickles, are the dad and mom of the little ones. At age 90, Mr. Pickles is the oldest animal at the zoo. This is the first time he has become a dad. Experts say radiated tortoises can live to be more than 100 years old, but they don’t have very many young. In fact, one of the zoo’s herpetologists, or reptile experts, was surprised to see Mrs. Pickles laying three eggs.

Wild radiated tortoises live in Madagascar, which is an island country off the eastern coast of Africa. They bury their eggs in the soil to protect them until they hatch. But the soil in Houston is different from the soil in Madagascar. Experts knew that Mrs. Pickles’ eggs would not hatch without help from humans.

“The animal care team quickly went to work uncovering the eggs and getting them to the safety of the Reptile & Amphibian House,” the Houston Zoo wrote on its website.

Therizinosaurs were dinosaurs that lived between 100 million and 66 million years ago. They weighed up to six tons, making them as heavy as Tyrannosaurus rex. But the giant Therizinosaurus had something even T. rex didn’t have. Its claws were 3 feet (1 meter) long! That makes Therizinosaurus claws the longest of any animal that ever existed. 

You might think that Therizinosaurus used these claws to fight. That’s what scientists thought for a long time. But a new study shows that’s not true. Instead of being used as weapons or as digging tools, the claws were probably used to show off!

Scientists in England and China worked together to study Therizinosaurus claws. They used computers to scan the fossils of claws. Then they made computer models of the claws. These models were just like the real thing. But the scientists could study them without worrying about causing damage to them. The scientists worked to find out if the claws would have been good tools for fighting or digging. They did tests on the models. And they compared them to the claws that other animals have. What they learned is that Therizinosaurus claws were too long and narrow to fight or dig. The claws would not have been strong enough.

So, why did Therizinosaurus have such long claws? Scientists believe the claws were meant to attract mates. Today, many types of birds have bright feathers that send the message, “Hey, look at me!” The claws of Therizinosaurus probably had the same purpose.

Ryan Redington is an Iditarod champion! On March 14, 2023, Redington won the world’s most famous dog sled race, crossing the finish line in Nome, Alaska.

“I can’t believe it,” Redington told the Associated Press. “It finally happened.”

This was the 15th time Redington entered the Iditarod. It’s a hard race to win! Mushers (people who drive dog sleds) and teams of dogs travel about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) through freezing-cold Alaska. The racecourse takes them over two mountain ranges and quite a bit of ice.

The Iditarod has lots of rules. Every musher is required to take certain items meant to keep their whole team safe and warm, like a warm sleeping bag and booties to protect the dogs’ paws. There are also required rest stops so that everyone—dogs and humans—can recharge during the race.

All in all, it takes a little less than 10 days for most teams to get to the finish line. Redington did it in less than nine days. Redington is Inupiat. He is the sixth Alaska Native musher to win the Iditarod. He says he’s wanted to be the champ since he was a kid.

“It took a lot of work, took a lot of patience,” Redington told the Associated Press. “And we failed quite a few times…. But we kept our head up high and stuck with the dream.”

Every year some kids in Iceland get to stay up late. They’re not watching TV or playing video games. They’re on Puffling Patrol. They’re saving adorable baby birds called pufflings.

Pufflings are chicks that will grow up to be puffins. Puffins spend most of their lives on the ocean. In the spring, many puffins lay eggs on the cliffs of Iceland’s Westman Islands. When the chicks hatch, they fly out to sea by going toward the Moon’s light. But on one of the islands, streetlights have caused problems. The pufflings get confused and go the wrong way, toward the streetlights. That’s why they need humans to help them.

Many kids and their parents go on Puffling Patrol. At night, they look for lost pufflings under cars and behind garbage bins. They pick up any pufflings they find and take them home. The next morning, the kids take the pufflings to the cliffs, by the ocean. Sometimes they toss the pufflings into the air. Other times they just put the chicks on the ground near the edge of the cliff. Either way, the pufflings do what they’re supposed to do. They fly out toward the ocean, where they belong.

The Puffling Patrol is very important. The puffin population has fallen in recent years because of climate change. By saving the pufflings, kids are giving them a chance to grow into adults. At some point, those same puffins will probably return to the Westman Islands to lay eggs, so new puffins can be born.

Mia Brookes is a snowboarding champion, and she’s only 16! Brookes, who is from Great Britain, pulled off an amazing trick at the 2023 Freestyle Ski and Snowboarding World Championships in the nation of Georgia on February 27. She’s now the youngest world champion in her sport.

In snowboarding, a person stands on a board and slides down a surface that’s covered in snow. In the sport of snowboarding, athletes do tricks as well. Brookes is a slopestyle snowboarder. In slopestyle, snowboarders slide down a slope, or steep hill. Along the way, they go up ramps and rails, which sends them flying into the air. While in the air, the snowboarders do flips, spins, and other tricks and try to land on their feet.

At the event in Georgia, Brookes did a trick called the CAB 1440 double grab. She flew off the ramp and spun four times, grabbing her snowboard twice as she did the trick. It was the first time anyone had successfully done the CAB 1440 in a women’s competition.

“I actually can’t believe [I did the CAB 1440],” Brookes later told GB Snowsport. “When I did it, I wasn’t sure I’d managed it. But I thought about it and was like…yep, I’ve done a [1440]!”

This was Brookes’s first time in a world event at this level—the highest level in her sport. And she’s just getting started. Look for Mia Brookes at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy!

What time is it on the Moon? Scientists say there is no set time on the Moon, and that could make things confusing when astronauts spend more time there.

On Earth, people have agreed on the time. For example, we all know when it’s 10 in the morning. Earth also has time zones for different parts of the planet. When it’s 10 a.m. in New York, it’s 9 a.m. in Texas. And it’s 4 p.m. in France. 

So, how do people work out the time in space? When astronauts go to space, they decide what time it is based on the time on Earth. For example, if they launched into space from Texas and it’s 9 a.m. in Texas, then it’s 9 a.m. in space, too!

But that won’t always work. Many trips to the Moon have been planned by people from different parts of the world. If people from different countries work together on the Moon, they will need to agree on what time it is. Why? Think about how hard it would be to get through a day if everyone at home or at school thought it was a different time! 

It won’t be easy to set a Moon time. First, nations will need to agree to one. Second, time doesn’t work the same way on the Moon that it does on Earth. If you put a clock on the Moon, it would go a tiny bit faster than it would on Earth. This has to do with the Moon’s distance from Earth’s gravity. But scientists will work on these problems together.

If it sounds tough to come up with a Moon time, here’s another question to think about. What time is it on Mars?

Wow! A scientist in the U.S. state of Arkansas discovered a giant insect that hasn’t been seen in the eastern part of North America in more than 60 years.

The discovery took place in 2012. Michael Skvarla, who is an entomologist (a scientist who studies insects), was at Walmart to buy some milk. He spotted the winged insect on the wall of the building and took it home with him. Skvarla thought he had found a type of insect called an antlion.

In 2020, Skvarla was teaching a class online and decided to show his class the insect he found at Walmart. He put the insect (which was no longer alive) under a microscope so his students could study it. He told his students it was an antlion. But as Skvarla studied the insect closely, he realized it wasn’t an antlion. In fact, it was a very rare giant lacewing.

“We all realized together that the insect was not what it was labeled,” Skvarla said. “Here we were, making a true discovery.”

Giant lacewings have been around for much longer than humans. They first appeared during the Jurassic Period, which began 200 million years ago! That means giant lacewings were flying around while dinosaurs roamed Earth.

But that’s not the only amazing thing about this discovery. Giant lacewings were last seen in eastern North America in the 1950s. Scientists thought that the whole eastern North American population of giant lacewings had died out. 

So, why was a giant lacewing hanging around Walmart in 2012? Skvarla isn’t sure. It might have hitched a ride on a ship. But it’s possible that there are still some giant lacewings in eastern North America—they just haven’t been found yet!

Electric vehicles (EVs) are getting more popular. One reason for this is they don’t pollute the air. But EVs aren’t always the best choice for long road trips. EVs need to be plugged in so their batteries can recharge, and plugging stations can be hard to find. That’s why a company called Aptera is making an EV that is solar powered. That means the car can run on power it makes from the Sun. 

Aptera’s new car, called the Launch Edition, has solar panels on its hood, roof, and back end. Just like solar panels on a house, the panels on the Aptera car capture the Sun’s energy. That energy is then used to power the car’s battery. Aptera says that on a sunny day, the car can drive for up to 40 miles (64 kilometers) using only the Sun’s energy. The car doesn’t need to be plugged in, so it uses less electricity than other EVs. 

What if it hasn’t been very sunny? That’s no problem. Like other EVs, Aptera’s Launch Edition car has a plug, so drivers can power their battery with electricity. A fully charged car can go for hundreds of miles before it needs to be plugged in or sit in the Sun for a while.

Aptera says it plans to start selling its Launch Edition later in 2023. However, making the cars will cost a lot of money. If Aptera can raise the money, these unusual-looking cars might be coming to a road near you!

Straws are a big problem. Most of them are made of plastic, which is harmful to the planet. A new company called The Ice Guys is aiming to solve the straw problem. They invented a straw that’s made of ice.

The Ice Straw is the first straw that’s all ice. It keeps drinks cool and then melts away, just like an ice cube.

The Ice Guys don’t actually sell straws made of ice. What they sell is a mold. To make ice straws, you just fill the mold with water (or juice) and put it in the freezer for at least 30 minutes. The mold is shaped so that the liquid freezes into straws.

Ice Straws can be used instead of plastic straws. Every year, people throw away millions of tons of plastic. This includes straws, wrappers, bags, bottles, and other containers. Plastic lasts for a long time. And a lot of it ends up in oceans, where it is harmful to ocean life. Experts say plastic straws are a very small part of the plastic problem. But anything we can do to use less plastic will help keep our planet cleaner and safer.

Many types of straws can be used instead of plastic. Some people use metal or glass straws. And some people decide not to use straws at all!

Imagine rowing a boat across an ocean. That’s just what a woman named Miriam Payne did. And she did it in less than two months!

Payne, who is 23, rowed across the Atlantic Ocean in 59 days, 16 hours, and 36 minutes. She did this as part of a race called the Talisker Challenge. People in the race can do it solo (alone) or in teams of up to five people.  The race starts at the Canary Islands, which are off the coast of Africa. Rowers travel west to Antigua, which is an island in the Caribbean Sea. The race is 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) long!

During the race, rowers must do everything themselves. They take their own food and water, and if anything happens to their boat, it’s up to them to fix it. (Two ships follow along, in case a rower or rowing team needs to quit the race.) Rowers do take breaks. Their boats have sleeping cabins, and special equipment that lets them know their location in the ocean. 

Payne said rowing under the hot Sun made her very tired. The last 10 miles (16 kilometers) were the toughest, even though she knew she was near the end of the race. 

“I was so tired. I just wanted to get to the end of the race so I could stop rowing,” she later told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). But as she got close to Antigua, she could hear her family and friends cheering. They were waiting to greet her! This gave Payne the energy she needed to finish the race.

Payne arrived at Antigua on February 10. As she arrived, people in the crowd called out, “Way to go, Miriam! That’s it, you’ve done it!” Payne had finished the Talisker Challenge faster than any solo woman ever had before.