Page Type: Elementary

The world’s most active volcano has been extra active lately. Kilauea, which is on the island of Hawaii in the Pacific Ocean, has been erupting since December 2024. 

Kilauea began spewing hot, red lava over a year ago and has continued to erupt periodically, meaning the lava flow stops for a time and then begins again. As of January 13, there had been 40 “episodes” of lava flow. During that 40th episode, the lava rocketed 800 feet (240 meters) into the air! 

Witnessing a volcanic eruption is like getting a look at what’s deep under Earth’s surface. Earth’s core is so hot that it can melt rock, creating a substance called magma. The magma gets pushed upward until it rushes out of an opening in the surface called a volcano. Magma that has reached Earth’s surface is called lava.

Even though there are pauses between Kilauea’s current episodes, experts say they add up to one long eruption. The magma follows the same path each time, which means it all comes from the same source.

This is nothing new for Kilauea. The volcano has erupted many times in the past 100 years. Like the current eruption, some of the previous ones lasted for years.

Officials say the Kilauea eruptions aren’t dangerous to homes on the island because the volcano is not near them. Kilauea is located inside Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, and the area has been closed to the public for some time. But volcanic eruptions can still be unsafe. Some volcanoes, like Kilauea, produce lava that is incredibly hot because the volcanic activity begins far below Earth’s surface. Volcanoes also produce gases that can be harmful when they are breathed in. 

Still, many people are visiting the park to get a look at Kilauea’s spectacular red lava—from a safe distance. 

“You [can] see the force of the earth,” one visitor told Hawaii News Now in 2025. “There’s nothing like it.”

There are more cool photos of Kilauea in the slideshow below!

LEGO plastic building bricks haven’t changed much in more than 60 years. But the classic toy is set for a major change this year, when LEGO introduces its SMART Play system. The system’s electronic bricks, minifigures, and tiles will be able to sense and react to each other with lights, sounds, and more. 

LEGO users can add the SMART Play bricks to anything they decide to build. But unlike regular LEGO bricks, SMART Play bricks contain lights, sensors, and other technology. SMART Play bricks, minifigures, and tiles can sense and react to one another by lighting up or making sounds. 

What are some ways to use the SMART Play system? A helicopter that’s built using the system will make “whooshing” noises if it’s moved around. Two cars built using the system can react if they’re pushed to race each other. The cars will make engine noises while they’re moving and even crash noises if they flip over.

Hundreds of years ago, a bird species called the dodo went extinct. Now, experts fear that the dodo’s closest living relative, a bird species called the manumea, could also disappear. But a recent manumea sighting has scientists cheering.

Found only in a Pacific island nation called Samoa, the manumea (also called the tooth-billed pigeon) is a chicken-sized bird with red-brown and blue-gray feathers. Its name means “little dodo” because it resembles the dodo. The manumea is critically endangered, meaning it is in danger of becoming extinct. There are many reasons for this, including hunting and the loss of the forest where the birds live. But the biggest problem may be rats and stray cats that have been introduced to the area. These animals hunt manumeas and eat their eggs.

According to expert estimates, there are only about 50 to 150 of the birds left. Even worse, no one saw a manumea between 2020 and 2025, leaving many to wonder if there were even fewer birds than anyone realized. 

But recently, members of the Samoa Conservation Society went into the forest to look for manumeas and came back with great news. In just over three weeks, the organization saw manumeas five times. 

“I had goosebumps all over,” conservationist Sefuiva Moeumu Uili told the Australian radio show Nesia Daily. “Some of us were…talking and having a break from hours of just sitting and looking [for manumeas], and then all of a sudden it just appeared.”

The conservationists were unable to get any photos of manumeas, but seeing the birds gives them hope. They’re committed to protecting Samoa’s forests and telling the public about the importance of saving wildlife. With hard work, the manumea won’t disappear like its cousin, the dodo. 

Can a robot help slow the pace of climate change? Two college students named Marta Bernardino and Sebastião Mendonça believe the answer is yes. The friends have created Trovador, a robot that plants new trees in areas where fires have burned down forests. 

Bernardino and Mendonça have a special connection to forests. They grew up playing in the woods near their homes in Portugal, a nation in Europe. But since 1980, wildfires have destroyed more than a million acres of Portugal’s forests. This is because climate change has led to hotter, dryer weather in the area. Both heat and dry air can lead to more fires. 

Experts say it’s important to restore forests because trees can help reduce the effects of climate change. Tree shade helps keep the planet cool. Plus, trees help clean the air by trapping harmful carbon and giving off healthful oxygen. 

Bernardino and Mendonça were still in high school when they built the first version of Trovador. Like other inventors, they kept building new versions, each one better than the last. Trovador looks like a spider, only it has six “legs.” 

Using those legs, the lightweight robot can easily move up and down Portugal’s steep slopes—something humans struggle to do. Even the first version of Trovador could plant trees 28 percent faster than a human. The newest one can plant up to 200 saplings, or baby trees, per hour!

“We build all-terrain robots that carry baby trees on their backs and plant them [without help] across difficult [landscapes],” Bernardino and Mendonça told Smithsonian Magazine.

Bernardino and Mendonça plan to keep improving Trovador. They hope to make the robot easy to use and cheap to build so that it can be used in forests in their backyard and beyond.

Scientists are studying a “spider mega-city” in a cave on the border between Greece and Albania. Sulfur Cave is home to what may be the world’s largest spiderweb, with tons of eight-legged residents. Even more remarkably, the spiders on the web are not all the same species. 

The giant web, which is really many funnel-shaped spiderwebs put together, measures more than 1,100 square feet (105 square meters). That’s about the size of many school classrooms. It’s a good thing the web is so large, because scientists say that more than 100,000 spiders make it their home! 

There are two species on the web: Tegenaria domestica (also called the barn funnel weaver or the domestic house spider) and Prinerigone vagans. Scientists say the T. domestica spiders built the web and the P. vagans spiders moved in. 

A hungry wolf in British Columbia, Canada, helped scientists make what they believe is an incredible discovery. And all she did was find a clever way to get some food!

Here’s what happened. The Heitsuk (or Haíɫzaqv) Nation, Indigenous (native) people who live in the area, set up a camera because they wanted to find out which animal was destroying crab traps they had placed in a body of water. When they looked at the video, they saw something remarkable.

In the video, a wolf swam out to a buoy (a floating object that marked the location of the crab trap), put the buoy in her mouth, and swam back to shore. Then she used her mouth to grab the line that was attached to the buoy on one end and a trap on the other. The wolf pulled the line toward the shore until the trap came out of the water. Then she pulled the trap to the shore. Next, she broke into the cup holding the delicious fish that was meant to attract crabs and had a nice meal.

You may know Superman from the many times he has appeared in movies. But the legendary superhero first appeared in comic books almost 90 years ago. Recently, one of the first Superman comic books sold in an auction for a record-high price.

A copy of Superman #1, the first comic book dedicated to the hero known as the Man of Steel, sold for $9.12 million. The comic book, which was printed in 1939 and originally cost 10 cents, has become far more valuable over the years because it’s old, rare, and in near-perfect condition.

Three brothers from California found the comic book in the attic of their mother’s home in 2024, after she died. It had been placed in a cardboard box along with some newspapers. The brothers found other comic books in the attic, but Superman #1 stood out. Although Superman had appeared in other comic books before this one, Superman #1 was the first in which he was the main character.

How do veterinarians clean a tiger’s teeth or x-ray a tortoise? A handful of zoos around the United States are giving visitors a chance to find out by opening their veterinary exam rooms to the public. 

Denver Zoo, Oklahoma City Zoo, Nashville Zoo, and New Jersey’s Turtle Back Zoo are among the zoos where visitors can get a behind-the-scenes look at creature care. Recently, visitors to Turtle Back Zoo watched from the other side of a plate-glass window as a sulcata tortoise got a checkup in an exam room. The tortoise was a new arrival to the zoo, having recently been found on a street, according to the Associated Press. Since sulcata tortoises aren’t native to the United States, it’s not clear where this one came from. It’s possible that it was a pet that was lost or abandoned. Now, it’s safe in the zoo’s care. 

Slime is getting its time in the spotlight! The gooey stuff, which has entertained generations of kids, is now part of America’s National Toy Hall of Fame, along with the board games Trivial Pursuit and Battleship.

Each year, the National Toy Hall of Fame in Rochester, New York, honors toys that encourage creative play and have lasting popularity. Anyone can nominate a toy for the Hall of Fame by going to its website. Winners are selected by a panel of experts as well as an online voting system that’s open to the public.

In Montclair, New Jersey, many kids ride buses to school. But once a week, a growing number of the town’s elementary school students get to school using the power of their own two legs. They’re part of Montclair’s “bike bus,” a group of kids and adults who ride their bikes to school together every Friday.

Now in its third year, the Montclair bike bus includes up to 400 people who follow a 5-mile (8-kilometer) route, stopping at each of the town’s elementary schools. (Some kids join the bus along the way.) All participants wear helmets, and adult volunteers wear fluorescent safety vests. 

Traveling by bike is Earth-friendly and a great form of exercise. But in many places, the streets are too busy for kids to ride their bikes alone. With the bike bus system, there’s safety in numbers—and many kids say it’s more fun than riding on the school bus.

“It’s not like being on the bus,” said one young participant. “You’re outside, but you’re also biking to school with your friends.”

Montclair isn’t the only community that has started a bike bus. There are hundreds of others in the United States, plus more in Spain, Australia, and other countries.