Page Type: Elementary

When Isaac Winfield got some money for his birthday, he knew just how he wanted to spend it. Isaac, who is now 11, decided to put the money toward the food bank he had started.

A food bank is a place that collects food from donors (people who give) and hands out the food to people who are hungry. Isaac, who lives in the United Kingdom (U.K.), started his food bank two years ago, in 2020. He got the idea for it when he started at a new school. Unlike his old school, this new school didn’t have a program to donate food that students brought in. Isaac had always brought food to school. How could he help now, he wondered? Isaac asked his parents if he could give out food from the family’s driveway. 

Isaac’s food bank grew quickly. Soon, someone made a post on Facebook about Isaac’s food bank, and people began to donate food. The family started a Facebook page called Friends of Isaac’s Food Bank so more people could give. Isaac got so many donations that his parents had to buy a shed to store all of the food! Eventually, a supporter bought the family a van. Now, Isaac and his parents can take food to people who need it. People can also go to the shed in front of the family’s home and help themselves.

When Isaac turned 11, he didn’t ask his friends for gifts. He wanted donations instead.

“For his 11th birthday he just wanted food bank donations and [he got a lot of them],” Isaac’s mom, Claire, told SWNS in the U.K. “He just wanted to get as many donations in as possible to help as many people as he can.”

Isaac is planning to do even more. He hopes to open a food bank in his town.

“Isaac’s always been very kind-hearted,” said his mom. “Anything he comes across, he always wants to stop and help.”

Have you ever wondered why some people get lots of mosquito bites, and other people barely get bitten? Scientists think they may have found the answer.

Scientists believe that some people produce more of a certain chemical than others. This chemical produces an odor that humans might not smell—but mosquitos do. 

“If you have high levels of this [chemical] on your skin, you’re going to be the one at the picnic getting all the bites,” scientist Leslie Vosshall told the Guardian. Vosshall was one of the scientists who did an experiment that suggested this was true.  

Scientists asked 64 people to wear nylon stockings over their arms for six hours a day over several days. During this time, each stocking picked up the scent of the person wearing it. Each stocking was then placed at the end of a long tube. Then scientists released mosquitoes to see if the insects would be more attracted to some of the stockings than others. Sure enough, the mosquitoes swarmed some of the stockings and basically ignored others.

Next, scientists looked at the chemicals that each person’s body was producing. They learned that the people whose scent the mosquitoes liked produced more of a certain chemical. Scientists call these people “mosquito magnets.” 

People can’t change how much of a chemical their bodies make. But scientists say it’s helpful to know what mosquitoes are attracted to. It could lead to the development of more products that are meant to keep mosquitoes away.

What is it like to live in Antarctica? Four people are about to find out! Clare Ballantyne, Mairi Hilton, Natalie Corbett, and Lucy Bruzzone will spend the next five months working on the cold, remote continent. 

The women will work at Port Lockroy, a part of Antarctica that is controlled by the United Kingdom (U.K.). Their jobs will last through Antarctica’s summer, which is between November and March. 

Hilton, who is a scientist, will be the wildlife monitor. Her job will be to count the area’s population of gentoo penguins and look out for the penguins’ nests and hatchlings (babies). 

Ballantyne will work as the postmaster. She will run Port Lockroy’s post office, which has been nicknamed the “penguin post office.” 

Corbett will manage the gift shop, which is in the same building as the post office. 

Bruzzone will be the base leader. She will be in charge of the group, and she’ll also manage the arrival of the ships that bring summer visitors to Port Lockroy.

This pumpkin weighs a ton! No, really. A pumpkin that was grown this year is one of the heaviest ever. The pumpkin weighs 2,560 pounds (1,161 kilograms). That’s actually more than a ton.

The pumpkin was grown by Travis Gienger, who teaches horticulture. Horticulture is the art of growing a garden. Clearly, Gienger is good at his job! 

Gienger’s pumpkin won the top prize at the Safeway World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-Off. The contest took place in October, in Half Moon Bay, California. About 30 growers took part. Each grower had planted their pumpkin back in April, knowing that pumpkins can take months to reach their full size. 

At the contest, officials used forklifts and harnesses to place and hold each pumpkin on a huge scale for weighing. Gienger’s pumpkin didn’t just win first prize. It also set a record for the heaviest-ever pumpkin in North America. 

What was the heaviest pumpkin ever? According to Guinness World Records, a pumpkin grown in Italy in 2021 weighed over 2,702 pounds (1,226 kilograms).

If you think your cat is big, check out Fenrir. This fantastic feline has just been named the tallest cat in the world! 

Fenrir is 18.83 inches (47.83 centimeters) tall from his paw to his shoulder when he’s standing on all four legs, according to Guinness World Records. Compare that to the average house cat, which is 10 inches (25.4 centimeters) tall from paw to shoulder! 

Fenrir is a Savannah cat. A Savannah cat is a cross between a domestic (totally tame) house cat and a serval, which is a kind of wild cat. Savannah cats are usually larger than other house cats, but Fenrir is large even for a Savannah! 

And he might get taller. Savannah cats sometimes keep growing until they’re about 3 years old. Fenrir was measured for the Guinness world record before he reached his third birthday.

Being tall comes with certain advantages. Like some dogs, Fenrir can reach kitchen countertops by standing on his hind legs. On top of that, he LOVES to eat—so his human dad, William Powers, knows not to leave any human food sitting out. 

But while Fenrir may be naughty sometimes, Powers describes his cat as “friendly and outgoing.” Powers, who is a doctor, takes Fenrir to his office sometimes. The giant cat loves to be petted, and he has a calming effect on patients who may be a little bit nervous about being at the doctor’s office.  

Fenrir spends most of his time at home, where he knows how to relax and have fun.

“Fen is a big lovable goofus,” Powers told Guinness. “He’s a very silly cat, and loves to play and run around.”  

What does it take to become an astronaut? Some people fly airplanes before they train to fly on spacecraft. That’s exactly what Nicole Mann did. Mann, a NASA astronaut, is a member of the Wailacki of the Round Valley Indian Tribes. She’s the first American Indian woman in space.

On October 5, Mann and three other astronauts (one from the United States, one from Japan, and one from Russia) blasted into space. Mann was the commander on the flight from Earth to space. 

The crew traveled to the International Space Station (ISS), where Mann will live for five months. The ISS is a spacecraft that orbits Earth. Astronauts from many countries live on the ISS for months at a time. While there, they do experiments and learn more about space and how to live in space.

“It’s incredible to be in space! Mom, look! I’m finally in space!” Mann said when the ISS crew had a live stream to say hello to people on Earth.

Ilia Malinin doesn’t just ice skate. He flies! Malinin can jump off the ice, rotate (turn) his body four and a half times, and land on one foot. This type of jump is called the quadruple (quad) axel. In September, 17-year-old Malinin became the first figure skater ever to land a quad axel in a competition. 

Malinin, who is American, landed the jump at a skating competition called the U.S. International Classic. He said he had done the quad axle many times during practice. But he wasn’t sure if he’d be able to do it during a competition, with so many people watching. 

“When I’m practicing [the quad axel], it’s pretty easy for me to figure out how to get the right timing and everything…,” Malinin told reporters. “To do it in competition is a different story because you have nerves and pressure…. So I have to treat it like I’m at home, and it feels pretty good.”

Figure skaters have been landing quadruple jumps for many years. But the quad axel is the most difficult of all the jumps. Why? Most kinds of quad jumps require the skater to rotate their body four times. With the quad axel, the skater takes off moving forward and lands moving backward. That means the skater has to rotate their body four and a half times!

At the 2022 Winter Olympics in February, Japanese skater Yuzuru Hanyu tried a quad axel. Hanyu had been able to complete the jump in practice, but he fell when he tried it in the competition. Malinin was impressed that Hanyu tried the jump. It made him want to try it, too. 

Skating fans are excited about Malinin. He won the silver medal at the U.S. National Championships last season. He’s also a junior world champion. Could the 2026 Olympics be next?

November 10 will be a big day for people who love toys. That’s when the Strong National Museum of Play will choose which toys to put in its National Toy Hall of Fame!

The museum, which is located in Rochester, New York, is all about play! There’s a giant game board, a pinball machine room, a butterfly garden, and a ropes course. 

The museum is also home to the National Toy Hall of Fame. Toys that are selected to go into the Hall of Fame must be among the best of all time. Some were first sold many years ago and are more likely to be familiar to parents or grandparents. Others are newer. You might recognize some of them!

Seventy-seven toys are already in the Hall of Fame. Here are a few:

• LEGO
• American Girl dolls
• Monopoly
• The Atari 2600 video game system
• Sand
• The teddy bear

So far this year, the Hall of Fame has chosen 12 toys as finalists for the Hall. The games on the list include bingo, Catan, Phase 10, and Rack-O. The toys include Lite-Brite, Breyer Horses, Masters of the Universe action figures, piñatas, Nerf toys, Pound Puppies, Spirograph, and the spinning toy known as “the top.” 

Out of these 12 toys, only three will be chosen for the Toy Hall of Fame. The public voted for their favorites. (Voting ended on September 21.) A special committee (group of people) will make the final choices, which will be announced on November 10.

Which toys should win?

A school in Georgia coated its playground with a type of coating that reflects sunlight. Now, the playground doesn’t get as hot—making it much more fun to use!

The idea to paint the playground came from an experiment. Students at a school called SAE knew that their school’s playground and parking lot were covered in black asphalt. Asphalt gets very hot because it absorbs (takes in) the Sun’s heat. The students wanted to see if the special coating would make a difference. So they covered one spot in the parking lot with the coating. Then, they measured the ground temperature of that parking spot. They compared it with the temperature of the rest of the parking lot. The parking spot was 12 degrees (Fahrenheit) cooler! 

What made the coated parking spot cooler? The coating the students used reflects sunlight. That means the Sun’s heat bounces off the paint instead of soaking into it. This gave the students the idea to put the coating on their playground. 

“It’s been really cool to find out…the different temperatures you see different days,” eighth grader Paris Howard told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “It’s definitely made me think more…of how our climate is changing.”

The people of the Muscogee Nation once called Georgia home. Now, a piece of land in central Georgia, with lush forests and green plains, may become a national park. 

Leaders from the Muscogee Nation are working with the U.S. government on a plan to set aside this land as Ocmulgee National Park and Preserve. Creating the park isn’t just a way to protect the forest and wildlife. It’s also a way to help keep Muscogee culture alive.

People have lived around the Ocmulgee River, which runs through the parcel of land, for 17,000 years. The Muscogee people lived in the area for hundreds of years. Then, in the 1820s and 1830s, the U.S. government drove them out. The government forced the Muscogee people to settle in Oklahoma (which was not yet a U.S. state). Today, the Ocmulgee is still a very important part of Muscogee history and culture.

“Our history is here,” David Hill, principal chief of the Muscogee Nation, told Voice of America. “Our ancestors are here. Our stories started here.”

Part of the area has been a national monument since 1936, but if the U.S. government approves the plan for a national park, more of the land will be protected. That means it won’t be built on. 

A national park would also attract visitors. They can go hiking, boating, and fishing, or just enjoy the land and wildlife. They can also learn about the history of the area—how American Indians, including the Muscogee people, lived on the land for thousands of years.

“This is lush, gorgeous land. The rivers are gorgeous here,” said Tracie Revis, whose Muscogee ancestors once lived here. “We believe that [our] ancestors are still here, their songs are still here, their words are still here, their tears are still here.”