Trailblazing EMTs

A group of men and women stand in front of an ambulance outside the ambulance entrance of a hospital.

Trailblazing EMTs

A Black paramedic training program in 1970s Pittsburgh set the standards for modern emergency response in the United States.

A group of men and women stand in front of an ambulance outside the ambulance entrance of a hospital.

Caliguiri and Curto Family Papers and Photographs, 2019.0215, Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center; © Gene Starzenski/Freedom House Street Saviors documentary

This photo was taken in Pittsburgh on June 16, 1968, the first day of the Freedom House Ambulance Service. Both photos in this article were featured in a 2009 documentary called Freedom House: Street Saviors.

Prior to the 1970s, ambulances weren’t the standard for transporting sick or injured people to hospitals. Police cars, or even hearses—cars used to transport coffins during funerals—would help in an emergency, but the patients would not receive treatment on the way. As a result, many people died on the way to the nearest hospital. 

The situation was even worse in the Hill District, a predominantly Black neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The city’s police force frequently ignored or delayed calls for emergency transportation to the hospital, leaving Black patients without swift care. So in the 1960s, the community decided to start an ambulance service. Called the Freedom House Ambulance Service, it was the first emergency medical service (EMS) in the United States.  

In 1967, a nonprofit organization called Freedom House Enterprises partnered with the hospital to create a paramedic training course and ambulance service to respond to emergencies in the Hill District. The program had five ambulances and recruited new emergency responders to take an eight-month course where they learned how to provide life-saving care on the way to the hospital. 

It’s estimated that in Freedom House’s first year of service, the paramedics transported more than 4,600 patients and saved about 200 lives, according to data from Peter Safar, the Pittsburgh doctor who designed the training program.

Men and women, some in street clothes and others in white coats, pose together for a photo.

Maurice Falk Medical Fund Records, MSS 207, Detre Library and Archives, Senator John Heinz History Center; © Gene Starzenski/Freedom House Street Saviors Documentary

This 1970s photo features the employees of the Freedom House Ambulance Service.

The Freedom House paramedics provided much-needed medical care and built trust with the residents of the Hill District.  

“Oftentimes, when a person would call for assistance, they would say, ‘Don’t send the police, send Freedom House,’” said John Moon, one of the Freedom House paramedics, in an interview with NPR.

The Freedom House Ambulance Service ended in 1975 because the city cut funding for the program, saying it would be part of a larger EMS department. Many of the trained Black paramedics, despite being trailblazers in the field, were forced out of the new, mostly white EMS program.

Though it lasted only a few years, the Freedom House service innovated the field of emergency care in the U.S. The program produced leaders in emergency medicine, like Moon, who went on to become the assistant chief of the EMS division in Pittsburgh. Freedom House’s medical director, Nancy Caroline, wrote the first national curriculum on emergency street medicine for the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Ronald Stewart, a medical director for Pittsburgh’s Public Safety department in the 1970s, told NPR, “They were the first true paramedic program in the world.”

Did You Know?

The word ambulance has French origins, meaning “mobile.” In the late 1700s, the French army transported wounded soldiers to hospitals on a type of horse-drawn wagon called a “flying ambulance.” 

Illustration of a man in 18th century clothing driving a horse-drawn wagon with a horseback rider behind him.

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO, NASA/JPL/Caltech/NuStar; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; IR: NASA/STScI/JWST, NASA/JPL/CalTech/SST; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, and K. Arcand

A “flying ambulance” from the 1700s

The King of Cool

Side by side photos of Frederick McKinley Jones at his drafting table and holding a model of his refrigerated car.

© Nature and Science/Alamy, © Bettmann/Getty Images; Photo composite Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

(Left) Frederick McKinley Jones works on a design. (Right) Jones poses with a model of the refrigerated railroad car he invented.

The next time you enjoy some fresh strawberries in winter, you can thank Frederick McKinley Jones, the inventor of portable refrigeration. Because of Jones, food can be shipped from around the world at any time of the year.  

Jones was a Black man born in 1893. He grew up near Cincinnati, Ohio, but by the age of 19 he made his way to Hallock, Minnesota, a city near the U.S.-Canadian border. He showed talent as a mechanic and even got into car racing. Eventually, he became a self-taught engineer and built a transmitter for Hallock’s radio station.  

In 1939, while working as the chief engineer for the U.S. Thermo-Control Company, Jones filed a patent for the first refrigerated transportation system. He improved the design in 1941, developing the Model C refrigeration unit. The U.S. military used Jones’s refrigeration units during World War II to help transport blood plasma and medicine for wounded soldiers. Portable refrigeration could keep these items cold on boats, planes, and trucks during travel. 

After the war, the agriculture industry started using the Model C to bring ripe crops to supermarkets across the country. Before the portable refrigeration unit, food was kept cool using ice and salt, which didn’t uniformly cool the food and was not always reliable. Jones’s invention cooled and circulated the air in the transportation compartment, keeping the food fresh.  

By this time, Thermo-Control Company had changed its name to Thermo King. The company is still a major temperature-control transportation company today.  

In his lifetime, Jones received more than 60 patents for his inventions, many of which were dedicated to refrigeration. Jones died in 1961, and he was posthumously (after his death) awarded the National Medal of Technology in 1991. 

Today, portable refrigeration not only keeps food fresh but is also used to transport medicine, vaccines, flowers, and art. 

Celebrate Juneteenth!

Young women wearing brightly colored clothing dance in a parade procession.

Dylan Buell/Getty Images

Juneteenth celebrations, like this one in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are held all over the United States.  

Celebrated each year on June 19, Juneteenth is a U.S. holiday that commemorates the day in 1865 that news of the Emancipation Proclamation finally reached Texas and the last enslaved people learned that they were free.

Read more about this national holiday at Britannica.  

WORD OF THE DAY

vanguard

PART OF SPEECH:

noun

Definition:

: the group of people who are the leaders of an action or movement in society, politics, art, etc. 

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In Case You Missed It

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A Mysterious Treasure

Twelve coins have been placed on a piece of paper with writing on it.

A Mysterious Treasure

Hikers discovered a box containing coins and other items.

Twelve coins have been placed on a piece of paper with writing on it.

© CTK/Alamy

Hikers discovered coins and other items in the Czech Republic. No one is sure who hid this treasure.

When a pair of hikers discovered a box of treasures in the Czech Republic, they had no idea what its origins might be. But even experts have yet to unravel the mysteries tied to the treasure. They wonder who buried the box and why.

The metal box, which was embedded in a stone wall, contained 10 gold bracelets, a comb, and other items. The most eye-popping part of the treasure was 598 gold coins estimated to be worth about $340,000. The hikers immediately took the box to the nearby Museum of Eastern Bohemia in the town of Hradec Králové. 

When museum experts looked for clues to the origin of the treasure, they noted that the newest coin was dated 1921. This indicated that the box could not have been buried more than 104 years ago. Experts also noticed that none of the coins were local. Some were from France, while others were from the Balkan region of Europe, which is south of the Czech Republic. 

Experts believe that the treasure was buried during one of many periods of unrest in Europe. During the 20th century, the continent saw two world wars, as well as other conflicts. Both world wars involved several countries and forced many people to leave their homes. It’s possible that a wealthy family hid their valuables while fleeing to safety. Another theory is that soldiers looted (stole) the items from one or more abandoned homes.

An engraved gold bracelet is held in two gloved hands.

© CTK/Alamy

This gold bracelet was among the items two hikers discovered in the Czech Republic.

Miroslav Novak, the head of the museum’s archaeology department, says he believes the box was hidden sometime before or after World War II, which took place between 1939 and 1945.

“It is most likely related to the turbulent period before the start of World War II, when the Czech and Jewish population was leaving the…area, or to 1945, when the Germans were leaving,” Novak told CNN.

Other experts think the coins were hidden earlier than that. Mary Heimann, a professor of history at the University of Cardiff in the United Kingdom, says the fact that the newest coin is from 1921 is important. That year, the country of Czechoslovakia (which later broke into two nations—the Czech Republic and Slovakia) was experiencing financial problems. When times are hard, people often safeguard their wealth.

“It’s not that surprising somebody would think of burying a stash of gold at that time,” Heimann told CNN.

NEWS BREAK

Faizan Zaki Is a Spelling Champ!

A teenage boy holds a trophy and speaks into a microphone being held by a man as he stands with a woman and a teen girl.

© Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

Faizan Zaki (center) holds the Scripps Cup while being interviewed about his spelling bee victory. His family appears with him.

Thirteen-year-old Faizan Zaki has won the 2025 Scripps National Spelling Bee! The three-night Scripps Spelling Bee is the biggest spelling competition in the United States. The 7th grader from Allen, Texas, came out on top at the end of a dramatic final night on May 29.

With the competition down to three final spellers, Faizan had victory in his grasp. After Sarvadnya Kadam and Sarv Dharavane misspelled their words, he was given the word commelina. If he spelled this word correctly, he would be given one more word to spell. If he spelled that final word correctly, he would win.

Faizan, a four-time Scripps participant who was last year’s runner-up, took an unusually bold approach. Most spellers ask for more information about the word they’ve been given, such as a definition. But Faizan began spelling commelina right away.

“K-A-M,” Faizan began. Then he realized he was wrong.

That wasn’t the end. The rules state that if all finalists misspell their words, a new round begins. This time, only Faizan spelled his word correctly. It all came down to one more word: éclaircissement. Spelling bee official Jacques Bailly encouraged Faizan to take his time.

“Now, let’s all of us take a deep breath,” Bailly said.

Faizan took a breath, smiled, and stated, “That did not help at all!”

Faizan didn’t take his time, but he spelled the word correctly, securing the victory and a prize of $52,500. Faizan later said he was glad he took a more relaxed approach to the spelling bee.

“I decided to have fun with this bee, and I did well, and here I am,” he told the Associated Press.

Did You Know?

Gold is created in space!

When a massive star dies, it collapses, generating incredible heat and releasing enough energy for atoms to combine into the atoms of gold and other elements. Scientists believe the gold that we mine on Earth originated from gold atoms that landed here during meteor showers. That’s why gold is so rare.

Cassiopeia A, the remnants of a supernova, appears as streams of white, purple, and orange light making an imperfect circle in space.

X-ray: NASA/CXC/SAO, NASA/JPL/Caltech/NuStar; Optical: NASA/STScI/HST; IR: NASA/STScI/JWST, NASA/JPL/CalTech/SST; Image Processing: NASA/CXC/SAO/J. Schmidt, N. Wolk, and K. Arcand

This image shows what’s left of an exploded star.

Goodbye, Penny…

A pile of pennies, some of which have designs that have been discontinued.

© Tim Boyle/Getty Images

On May 22, the U.S. Treasury Department announced plans to stop making pennies sometime in 2026. The reason? Although the penny is worth one cent, each one costs more than three cents to make. (The nickel—the five-cent coin—costs even more to make compared to its value.) 

It will likely be a long time before Americans stop using pennies. Canada stopped making its pennies in 2012, but the coin is still legal tender there, meaning it can still be used to buy things. The U.S. penny will also remain legal tender for the foreseeable future.

Searching for Gold

Several men stand at a gold panning site holding tools as two women and some children in 19th century clothing sit on the side.

State Library of Victoria, Australia (accession no. H37607)

This 1897 photo shows men, women, and children at a gold mine in Australia.

The discovery of gold can cause everything from mild interest to frenzy—and the rush to get that gold is fittingly called a “gold rush.” A gold rush can change lives, and not always for the better. You can read more about this rush for riches at Britannica.

WORD OF THE DAY

provenance

PART OF SPEECH:

noun

Definition:

: the origin or source of something

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Crossword

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In Case You Missed It

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The Tomb of the Scorpion Specialist

The entrance of a tomb has artwork on the outside and the inside.

The Tomb of the Scorpion Specialist

Archaeologists have uncovered a colorful tomb built for a doctor who treated ancient Egyptian nobles.

The entrance of a tomb has artwork on the outside and the inside.

© Franco-Swiss Archaeological Mission of Saqqara

Archaeologists discovered this ancient Egyptian tomb. A doctor named Tetinebefou was placed here 4,100 years ago.

If you got stung by a scorpion or bitten by a poisonous snake, you’d hurry to the hospital for treatment. It turns out ancient Egyptians also had at least one doctor who could treat wounds caused by poisonous animals—and more.

Archaeologists have uncovered a vibrantly painted 4,100-year-old tomb belonging to an Egyptian doctor. Based on the clues in the tomb, the doctor cared for Egyptian royals and specialized in treating snake bites and scorpion stings. 

The well-preserved tomb bears the doctor’s name, Tetinebefou, and professional titles in hieroglyphs. These titles, combined with brightly colored artwork, help paint a picture of the doctor’s life thousands of years ago.

The interior of an ancient tomb contains colorful paintings and elaborate carvings.

© Franco-Swiss Archaeological Mission of Saqqara

The inside of the doctor’s tomb contains many carvings.

The physician’s multiple professional titles, which were also written on the sarcophagus, or coffin, included “conjurer of the goddess Selket.” The ancient Egyptians believed Selket was a goddess who treated or protected people from snake bites. Tetinebefou’s connection to Selket indicates he was considered both a doctor and a religious priest.

The doctor’s association with this goddess also means he specialized in treating poisonous bites, explained Philippe Collombert to Live Science. Collombert leads the Swiss-French research team for the archaeological site and is an Egyptologist at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. An Egyptologist is someone who studies ancient Egypt between the periods 4500 BCE and the Middle Ages.

Tetinebefou’s other titles included “director of medicinal plants” and “chief dentist,” said Collombert. These many talents and titles indicate that he was likely a royal doctor.

“He was certainly the main physician at the royal court, so he would have treated the pharaoh himself,” said Collombert. Tetinebefou would have lived during the reign of Pepi II, a king during the 6th dynasty of Egypt. 

Medicine bottles with hieroglyphics on them are painted on a wall.

© Franco-Swiss Archaeological Mission of Saqqara

Medicine bottles are painted on the inside of the doctor’s tomb.

The tomb is located at Saqqara, an ancient burial site near the modern Egyptian capital city, Cairo. Saqqara was a burial site for royals and nobles and contains burial remains up to nearly 5,000 years old.

Tetinebefou’s tomb did not contain any human remains or other ceremonial burial objects, which indicates it was raided previously. Still, the research team considers the tomb itself a beautiful archeological discovery.

“Despite evidence of ancient looting, the tomb’s walls remain intact, offering a rare glimpse into daily life and cultural practices during the Old Kingdom,” said Egypt’s Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities in a Facebook post about the tomb. “This incredible find adds to Saqqara’s rich legacy as one of Egypt’s most significant archaeological sites.”

Did You Know?

The Nile is the longest river in the world. It runs through 11 countries, starting in Tanzania and emptying into the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt. 

Sailboats are on the Nile with high rise buildings in the background.

© Grant Faint/Digital Vision/Getty Images

The Nile River flows through the city of Cairo in Egypt.

A Museum of Treasures

A woman stands on a large staircase on which seven large statues of pharaohs sit.

© Sayed Hassan/Getty Images

A woman walks past statues of pharaohs that are displayed at the Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt.

The ancient Egyptians left all sorts of objects behind, from a massive statue of the pharaoh Ramses II to the treasures of King Tut. Many of those artifacts are now in one place—with a bonus view of the great Pyramids of Giza. The Grand Egyptian Museum in Giza, Egypt, which has been under construction for two decades, is finally set for a full opening on July 3 of this year.

The museum plans to display more than 100,000 artifacts, about 20 percent of which have never been displayed publicly before, reports Vogue Arabia.

The Grand Egyptian Museum has been partially open to the public since October of last year, slowly opening some galleries for viewing while preparing other galleries. The final museum galleries to open are dedicated to the treasures of Tutankhamun, also known as King Tut.

Tutankhamun is one of the most famous Egyptian rulers thanks to the discovery of his tomb, which was found in 1922 almost completely intact. Tut, who is known as “the boy king” because of his early death at age 19, was buried with more than 5,000 artifacts.

The new museum plans to display the entirety of the tomb collection together, including Tut’s golden burial mask, sarcophagus, and ceremonial throne. This will be the first time all the artifacts will be shown in one place.

In May, 163 of Tut’s artifacts were carefully transferred from their previous location at the Egyptian Museum in the capital city of Cairo to their new home in Giza. More pieces will be transported in the coming weeks as the museum nears its final reveal.

Discover Ancient Egypt!

Nine seated men appear in three panels while a fourth panel shows a barber tending to another seated man.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1930 (30.4.40), www. metmuseum.org

This ancient Egyptian tomb painting shows men waiting to have their hair cut. The barber is on the lower left.

Today we have a clear picture of ancient Egyptian civilization thanks to monuments, paintings, and writings that have lasted for thousands of years. Discover more about the ancient Egyptians at Britannica!

WORD OF THE DAY

antiquity

PART OF SPEECH:

noun

Definition:

: ancient times

Definitions provided by
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Sudoku

O
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In Case You Missed It

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Teen Discovers New Asteroid

The Haleakala Observatory in Maui

Teen Discovers New Asteroid

Fourteen-year-old Daksh Malik spotted an asteroid floating between Mars and Jupiter. 

The Haleakala Observatory in Maui

© Stan Jones/stock.adobe.com

The Haleakala Observatory in Maui, Hawaii, is a telescope that observes objects in space. Daksh Malik, 14, used information from the telescope to identify a new asteroid.

Humans have been mapping the cosmos for thousands of years, and now a teenager in India has added a new feature to our expanding space map.

Daksh Malik, a 14-year-old from the city of Noida in northern India, has discovered a new asteroid floating between Mars and Jupiter. Asteroids are rocky space objects that orbit the Sun. Daksh, who has been hunting for asteroids for years through an international astronomy program, will get to name the asteroid when it’s officially added to the asteroid and comet database.

“I thought maybe I could call it ‘Destroyer of the World’,” Daksh jokingly told the Economic Times. “Or since it’s an asteroid, maybe ‘Countdown’ would be a catchy yet ominous-sounding name,” he said more seriously.

NASA, a U.S. agency responsible for space research, is completing a process to verify the new asteroid before Daksh can officially name it. For now, the asteroid is temporarily called “2023 OG40.”

Asteroid Hunting

Daksh’s astronomy journey began in 2022 when his class at school joined a citizen science program under the International Astronomical Search Collaboration (IASC). The IASC is an international group that encourages people to search for moving objects in space. Citizen science is when people who are not scientists participate in scientific research.

Through the program, people like Daksh learn to use astronomical software to analyze NASA data and time-lapse images from telescopes to hunt asteroids. The program participants comb through the data and track bright, moving objects.

Three images show an oblong asteroid in space.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/GSSR/NSF/GBO

The asteroid in these images was observed by a giant telescope in the U.S. state of West Virginia. Scientists first identified it in 2003.

When a potential asteroid is found, the coordinates are submitted to NASA, where professional astronomers check to see if the object is indeed an asteroid. Many detections do not turn out to be asteroids after all.

However, when NASA does confirm an asteroid detection is accurate, the object is labeled a provisional asteroid and given a temporary name. This is the stage 2023 OG40 is in. Further research will verify the asteroid’s orbit. Finally, the provisional asteroid can be named and added to the Small-Body Database, a catalog of asteroids and comets in space.

Since the IASC program started in 2006, participants have identified 3,800 provisional asteroids. Of that number, only 120 have been added to the catalog.

While Daksh is still waiting to learn if his asteroid will get an official name and go into the database, he said he enjoys being a young astronomer.

“It was a lot of fun to just do this exercise,” he said. “When I was looking for asteroids, I felt like I was working at NASA myself.”

Did You Know?

Most meteorites—space rocks that survive the hot, high-speed journey through Earth’s atmosphere and land on Earth—are pieces of shattered asteroids. According to NASA, the majority of meteorites range in size between that of a pebble and a fist.

Peter Jenniskens stands in a desert landscape. On the ground in front of him, there are small pieces of meteorites a little larger than his hands.

NASA/SETI/P. Jenniskens

NASA astronomer Peter Jenniskens stands near meteorites he found in the Nubian Desert in Sudan.

Why Is Mars Red?

Image of red Mars taken from space.

© ESA & MPS for OSIRIS Team

Mars is often called the “Red Planet” due to the red hue of the rocks and dust covering the planet’s surface. How it got this red color has been a bit of a mystery, but new research may have identified the cause.

Mars is a very dry and desolate planet. It has no water on its surface. For that reason, scientists had long theorized the planet’s red hue came from the presence of hematite, an oxidized iron that can form without water. This would make sense on a very dry planet.

However, researchers here on Earth got a different answer when they replicated (created a copy of) Martian dust in a laboratory. The results indicate a different mineral, ferrihydrite, is the culprit. Ferrihydrite is also an iron oxide, but it is produced when iron reacts with oxygen and water. The presence of ferrihydrite on Mars would mean the planet was not always so dry.

“Our understanding of why Mars is red has been transformed,” Adomas Valantinas, a scientist at Brown University who led the research, told CNN.

If this new discovery holds true, it helps paint a picture of the Red Planet’s distant past. It means that at one point—billions of years ago—Mars was a water-rich planet with oxygen. When the iron in Martian rocks reacted with the water, it created rusty-red ferrihydrite. Then slowly, as the years passed, the ferrihydrite broke down into dust, explained Valantinas.

“As Martian winds spread this dust everywhere, it created the planet’s iconic red appearance,” he said.

But Valantinas and his research team will need to wait before they can confirm that there is ferrihydrite on Mars. Right now a Mars rover, called Perseverance, is collecting mineral samples on the planet. One day a future mission will pick up the rover’s samples and bring them back to Earth. Only then can scientists analyze the samples to see what minerals are there, said Jack Mustard, another researcher who took part in the study.

“When we get those back, we can actually check and see if this is right,” said Mustard.

Explore Mars!

The Perseverance rover is on the Martian surface with hills in the background.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

NASA’s Perseverance rover used a robotic arm to take this selfie in 2021, during its Mars mission.

Of all the planets in our solar system, Mars is the closest to Earth and the most Earth-like. Still, the dry red planet is quite different from Earth. Read more about our space neighbor at Britannica!

WORD OF THE DAY

detection

PART OF SPEECH:

noun

Definition:

: the act or process of discovering, finding, or noticing something

Definitions provided by
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Criss Cross

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In Case You Missed It

Hikers discovered a box containing coins and other items.
June 5, 2025
Archaeologists have uncovered a colorful tomb built for an ancient Egyptian doctor.
May 29, 2025
Fourteen-year-old Daksh Malik spotted an asteroid floating between Mars and Jupiter.
May 15, 2025
During World War II, Japanese American citizens were imprisoned by their own country. A field where they played baseball is a symbol of strength and resilience.
May 8, 2025

A Field of American Dreams

During a baseball game, a player dives into a base as the ball approaches the baseman’s glove.

A Field of American Dreams

During World War II, Japanese American citizens were imprisoned by their own country. A field where they played baseball is a symbol of strength and resilience.

During a baseball game, a player dives into a base as the ball approaches the baseman’s glove.

© Brian van der Brug—Los Angeles Times/Getty Images

Dan Kwong (number 12) and Logan Morita (number 3) during a game that reopened the restored baseball diamond at Manzanar National Historic Site.

A baseball field with a painful past is getting a historic revival. In October 2024, baseball players from across the West Coast of the United States gathered to play on the restored field at Manzanar, California, where thousands of Japanese American citizens were once imprisoned. Despite the baseball field’s dark history, many people consider it to be a symbol of strength and resilience.

During World War II, the U.S. government forced 120,000 Japanese Americans to relocate to prison camps. The government justified this by claiming that Americans of Japanese descent might be reporting U.S. secrets to Japan, which was then an enemy nation. Despite their loyalty to the U.S., these Americans swiftly lost their rights. Whole families were forced to move into camps. These prison camps became known as Japanese American internment camps.

One of these camps was at Manzanar. The camp was located near Death Valley, a desolate place where temperatures range from severely hot to very cold. People lived in barracks behind barbed wire fences. Guards watched them and would not let them leave.

A boy swings a bat at a ball as a catcher is poised behind him, with other children and some adults, as well as barracks, in the background.

National Archives, Washington, D.C

In this 1943 photo, 6th graders play a game of softball at recess from school at the Manzanar War Relocation Center.

However, the Americans imprisoned at Manzanar were resilient. They began to do things to make life at the camp a little more tolerable.

“Baseball played a few different functions in camp,” Dan Kwong told Smithsonian magazine. “One, it was a piece of their normal life that they were allowed to keep. Two, it gave them something to do in the face of crushing boredom. And then three, perhaps most profoundly, it was symbolic of being American.” Kwong is a baseball player in a Japanese American league. His mother was imprisoned at Manzanar with her family when she was a young woman.

Despite being mistreated by their government, the Americans at Manzanar remained devoted to their country. Baseball was an outlet that connected them to their community while also passing the time and making them feel a bit more normal amid war.

“There were people who said, ‘…We know we’re Americans. Our country has rejected us, but we are not rejecting our country,’” said Kwong, who helped lead the restoration of the Manzanar field.

Several adults and some children stand outside a barracks building that has a cross and a sign that says it is a Catholic church.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Ansel Adams

People gather outside a church at the Manzanar War Relocation Center during World War II.

The war ended in 1945, and the government let the prisoners return to their lives. The internment camps were torn down. In 1992, Manzanar was designated as a historical site, and restoration began. But it wasn’t until 2023 that they began restoring the baseball field.

The October 2024 game took place after a year of restoration work. Four Japanese American baseball league teams played a ceremonial doubleheader—two games in one day—to celebrate the restoration. The first game was between amateur teams called the Little Tokyo Giants and the Lodi Templars, which are the longest continuously active teams in California. The second game was the North versus South All-Star Game, in which the players wore vintage-style baseball uniforms. Several of the players were descendants of those imprisoned in Manzanar or other internment camps. Another doubleheader is planned for later this year.

“The…purpose of this baseball field and baseball game is for the Japanese American community itself,” said Kwong. “It represents a will to thrive and flourish no matter what conditions you are put under.”

A baseball game is held in front of spectators who are wearing 1940s clothing, with barracks in the background.

Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.; Ansel Adams

A baseball game is played at the Manzanar War Relocation Center in 1943.

Fun Fact!

Baseball was introduced to Japan in the 1870s and became a massive hit. Many Japanese immigrants who moved to America during and after this time brought their love of baseball with them. Baseball is still popular in Japan today!

© Steph Chambers/Getty Images

Team Japan celebrates winning the gold medal after a 2–0 victory over the United States at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan. Fans were not permitted in the stadium due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stories to Savor

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month.

The School Library Journal (SLJ) has selected eight books that capture the richness and the challenges of the AANHPI experience for their 2025 Asian/Pacific American Awards. These three are for readers between the 4th and 8th grades. Check them out!

Continental Drifter, by Kathy MacLeod

Kathy moves back and forth between living in Thailand and the United States. There are many things she loves about both places, but she struggles to feel like she fully belongs in either one. Cultural differences and the friendships she makes in each place make her feel that sometimes “the outside doesn’t match what’s inside.” At times Kathy even feels lonely in her own family, especially when her sister becomes distant. Writing in her diary helps Kathy sort through feeling split between two cultures and figure out a path that navigates both.

A girl in a circle is surrounded by images of a lobster, an oar, a seagull, and other things.

First Second

A girl stands with a pensive expression with a child to her right and to her left, as well as flowers and a ukulele.

HarperCollins

Clairboyance, by Kristina Kahakauwila

Clara is a Hawaiian preteen who has a magical power: she knows what boys are really thinking! Her “clairboyant” gift comes from a power of listening that has been passed down through her family. After some hilarious rocky starts, Clara learns how to use her new gift to help the boys around her manage their unspoken insecurities. Clara’s journey also helps her navigate community and her native Hawaiian culture, giving her confidence as she learns about the power of vulnerability and trust.

Mabuhay! A Graphic Novel, by Zachary Sterling

Siblings JJ and Althea feel frustrated that they are not more like “regular” American kids. Reminders of their Filipino heritage surround them as they are made to listen to their mom’s folklore stories and help with the family food truck. Suddenly, JJ and Althea notice something strange happening: the characters from their mom’s stories appear in real life. Now everyone is in danger! Can the siblings save their family—and the world—from these characters?

A girl and a boy stand in front of a food truck. Three other people are on the food truck.

Scholastic

Asian American Trailblazers

© Jamie Squire/Getty Images, © Bernard Bisson—Sygma/Getty Images, Johnson Space Center/NASA, © Scott J. Ferrell—CQ-Roll Call, Inc./Getty Images, United States Office of War Information

May is Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander (AANHPI) Heritage Month in the United States. It’s a great time to learn and celebrate AANHPI culture and history. 

Click through the slideshow above to read about just a few of these trailblazers. You can learn more at Britannica!

WORD OF THE DAY

internment

PART OF SPEECH:

noun

Definition:

: the act of putting someone in a prison for political reasons or during a war

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Crossword

O
O
O
O
O
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In Case You Missed It

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U.S. Wins Hockey World Championships

Renata Fast and Kendall Coyne are on the ice and looking at a puck while positioning their hockey sticks to take possession.

U.S. Wins Hockey World Championships

The United States and Canada took the top two spots at the championship.

Renata Fast and Kendall Coyne are on the ice and looking at a puck while positioning their hockey sticks to take possession.

© David W Cerny/Reuters

Renata Fast of Canada (left) and Kendall Coyne (right) of the United States battle for the puck at the 2025 Women’s Hockey World Championship.

Which women’s ice hockey team will take the gold at the 2026 Winter Olympics? If the results of the 2025 Women’s Hockey World Championship are anything to go by, it will be a tight contest between the United States and Canada. The U.S. won the championship on April 20, defeating the Canadians 4–3.

Tess Janecke scored the winning goal for the U.S. with less than three minutes remaining in overtime. As cheers erupted, Janecke threw her stick into the air and hugged one of her teammates.

“Just shows how strong we are as a group and how much we can persevere through anything. I wouldn’t want to do it with any other group,” Janecke later told The Sports Network (TSN).

It was a nailbiter of a match. The U.S. scored the first two goals in the second period for a 2–0 lead, but Canada tied the game quickly with two goals of their own. The U.S. secured another goal in the third period, only to be matched by Canada for a score of 3–3. With a tie at the end of the third period, the match was forced into overtime.

Three hockey players wearing gold medals hold up a trophy as their teammates reach up to touch it.

© David W Cerny/Reuters

The U.S. team celebrates after winning the 2025 Women’s World Hockey Championship.

“The margins for error are so small,” Canadian head coach Troy Ryan told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. “Multiple times in that overtime or even in the third, either [team] could have won it.”

The United States and Canada have dominated the Women’s Hockey World Championship for 35 years. Each year, with one exception, the two nations have taken the top two spots in the standings. So far, Canada has 13 gold medals and the U.S. has 11. 

Similarly, the two nations have battled it out for hockey gold at the Winter Olympics ever since women’s icy hockey became an Olympic event in 1998. Canada has won gold five times, while the U.S. has taken gold twice. Canada, the reigning Olympic champion, will defend its gold medal in 2026.

Did You Know?

Hayley Wickenheiser of Canada is widely considered the greatest female hockey player of all time. The four-time Olympic gold medalist is Canada’s all-time leader in international goals (168), assists (211), and points (379).

Hayley Wickenheiser waves her stick during a hockey match.

© Richard Wolowicz—Freestyle Photography/Getty Images

Caught on Camera!

A young colossal squid with tentacles and a transparent body swims in the dark water.

© Courtesy of the Schmidt Ocean Institute

This is the first colossal squid ever to be filmed in its natural environment.

The colossal squid is so elusive that it has never been filmed in its natural environment—until now. In March, scientists captured the first-ever footage of a colossal squid in the deep sea. 

The squid was filmed by a remote underwater vehicle in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 2,000 feet (610 meters) under the water’s surface. It was a juvenile (young) member of the Cranchiidae family, otherwise known as a “glass squid,” measuring about 1 foot (0.3 meters) in length with an almost entirely transparent body. Eventually, it could grow to up to 23 feet (7 meters) long.

“We could think of this maybe as a teenager squid,” Aaron Evans, a Cranchiidae expert, said during a news conference. “It’s not quite an adult. It hasn’t fully matured yet. It’s still got a lot of growing to do. But it’s not a baby either.”

The colossal squid is different from the giant squid. Colossal squids live only in the waters near Antarctica, while giant squids are more widespread. Colossal squids were discovered about 100 years ago and have been seen mainly in the stomachs of whales and other animals that prey on them.

Equipment is used to bring a cube-shaped remote submersible out of the water and onto a ship.

© Courtesy of Alex Ingle/Schmidt Ocean Institute

This underwater vehicle was used to film the colossal squid deep under the ocean’s surface.

With so much available observation equipment, it’s hard to believe no one had ever filmed a colossal squid in its home. But Kat Bolstad, associate professor at the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, said there’s probably a good reason for that. The animals likely shy away from remote vehicles because their large eyes, which are adapted to the darkness of the deep sea, are sensitive to bright lights.

“It’s exciting to see the first in situ [on site] footage of a juvenile colossal and humbling to think that they have no idea that humans exist,” Bolstad said in a press release.

Calling All Hockey Fans!

A hockey team made up of young women in their teens is lined up on the ice in uniform with their equipment in front of them

© Jeanette Dahlström—Bildbyran/Reuters

Members of Iceland’s under-18 hockey team celebrate a victory in 2025

Who invented ice hockey, and how does the sport work today? Learn about the ins and outs of hockey at Britannica!

WORD OF THE DAY

elusive

PART OF SPEECH:

adjective

Definition:

: hard to find or capture

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Word Flower

O
O
O
O
O
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In Case You Missed It

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May 8, 2025

Dancing Sea Turtles

A hatchling loggerhead turtle on a sandy surface

Dancing Sea Turtles

Scientists have discovered that loggerhead sea turtles dance when they expect to find food.

A hatchling loggerhead turtle on a sandy surface

Courtesy of © Ken Lohmann/University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

A hatchling (baby) loggerhead sea turtle moves across a sandy beach toward the ocean.

If you’re happy and you know it, flap your fins! If it’s mealtime and you know it, flap your fins!

While this isn’t an actual turtle song, scientists have discovered that loggerhead sea turtles do a joyful dance—spinning around and flapping their fins in the water—when they expect to find food. Scientists discovered this cute and unexpected turtle behavior while studying the way young loggerhead sea turtles memorize favorite feeding sites in the wild.  

Loggerhead sea turtles begin their lives hatching from eggs buried in the sand and then using their little flippers to run to the ocean. The hatchlings go on to spend their lives in the open ocean, migrating to coastal locations to find food and grow larger. Adult loggerheads are known to migrate hundreds or even thousands of miles for food before making their way back to the beaches where they hatched to mate and lay eggs. After laying eggs, the turtles return to the ocean to find these feeding spots again.

But the open ocean doesn’t have road signs, and sea turtles can’t use GPS or a map to return to their favorite foraging spots. So how do they remember where to go?

Some scientists think that turtles use Earth’s magnetic field to memorize the “magnetic signatures” of these feeding spots. Memorizing these signatures is like marking a favorite restaurant on a map. Scientists think the turtles might have a sense, like an internal compass, that helps them to remember and then return to these feeding sites in the future.

To test this theory, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-Chapel Hill) in the United States took 62 young loggerhead turtles and put them in large bowls of water surrounded by electromagnets. The electromagnets could produce different magnetic signatures, like what the turtles would experience swimming to a spot in the ocean. When certain electromagnetic signatures were turned on, the scientists would give the loggerheads food so that they would learn to associate a meal with the signature.

A hatchling loggerhead turtle is held between a person’s thumb and fingers.

Courtesy of © Ken Lohmann/University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

A University of North Carolina scientist holds a hatchling sea turtle during research on turtles’ navigation systems.

When the turtles received the food, the scientists witnessed the “turtle dance.”

“When they get really excited, they stick their heads out; they slap their flippers wildly; they spin in place sometimes,” Kayla Goforth, the lead researcher for this study, told UNC Chapel Hill’s news site.

When the scientists turned on the food-related magnetic signatures but withheld the food, the turtles still did a happy turtle dance. The scientists could tell that this joyful dance indicated that the turtles remembered the magnetic signature meant food should come soon. The turtles even remembered—and danced for—the same magnetic signatures months later!

Though the scientists have confirmed that sea turtles have a type of magnetic memory, the creatures remain somewhat mysterious. It is still unknown how these animals sense magnetic signatures.

“The big question is always the mechanism,” Goforth said. “What’s the mechanism and what is the sensor? We know that for the visual sense, you have eyes; for the sense of smell, you have a nose; and for hearing, you have ears. But no receptor like that has been identified for the magnetic sense, and the mechanism remains unknown.”

The video below shows a hatchling turtle dancing when it senses a food-related magnetic signature!

Courtesy of © Ken Lohmann/University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill

Fun Fact!

The leatherback sea turtle (Dermochelys coriacea) is the largest sea turtle in the world. An adult can weigh up to 2,000 pounds (908 kilograms). The species has remained unchanged since the age of the dinosaurs!

A child stands on a beach as a large leatherback sea turtle makes its way into the surf.

© Irina K./stock.adobe.com

Teen Leads Coastal Cleanup

Three people walk on a clean sandy beach on which there is also a stone sculpture.

© Patricia Marroquin/Moment Mobile—Moment Mobile ED/Getty Images

Butterfly Beach in Montecito, California, is clean—thanks to the efforts of 16-year-old Pyp Pratt.

Plastic and other trash doesn’t just ruin a day at the beach. It can also harm the animals and plants that call the beach home.

One teen who is making a difference is Pyp Pratt, from Santa Barbara, California. He has been participating in local beach cleanups near his home since he was 9 years old. Now 16, Pratt oversees the cleanup of Butterfly Beach in the city of Montecito, California. He’s the youngest coastal cleanup site captain in the state.

“We tend to see tons of microplastics and cigarette butts. That’s the main trash that we collect here,” Pratt told KSBY, a local news station. “For a coastal cleanup day at Butterfly Beach, we usually collect about 70 pounds of trash on average every year.”

This effort makes a difference at Butterfly Beach. Thanks to Pratt and the other volunteers, the area is kept clean and is a popular destination for visitors, swimmers, and surfers.

Cleaning up plastic and other pollutants can also help wildlife. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says that many ocean creatures, such as fish and whales, will accidentally eat microplastics, which contain chemicals that can make them sick. Other kinds of trash, like plastic bags or rope, could cause animals to get tangled and no longer be able to swim or catch food.

Disposing of trash properly can help prevent it from harming animals in the ocean or ending up on a beautiful beach. Pratt said that limiting the amount of plastic we use can also help keep it out of the ocean.

“I think that if we limit the amount of single-use plastics and change our habits, this can lead to [fewer] detrimental effects on the environment,” Pratt said.

On the Move

A flock of flamingos feeds from a body of water as two of the birds appear to take flight.

© Shikhadeep/stock.adobe.com

Flamingos are known for their pink feathers. Many of these colorful birds migrate from around Asia to India, where they spend the winter.

Many animals migrate, or travel, around the globe to find food or a safe place to have young. Learn more about different kinds of animal migration at Britannica!

WORD OF THE DAY

current

PART OF SPEECH:

noun

Definition:

a continuous movement of water or air in the same direction

Definitions provided by
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Criss Cross

O
O
O
O
O
O

In Case You Missed It

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Brazilian Students Plant Mini Forests

A group of children and adults hold tree saplings while standing in front of a building.

Brazilian Students Plant Mini Forests

Bit by bit, children are helping to restore the Brazilian Atlantic Forest and its ecosystem.

A group of children and adults hold tree saplings while standing in front of a building.

Courtesy of SUGi

Students and adults listen to an orientation before starting to plant a mini forest.

Schoolchildren are bringing back the Brazilian Atlantic Forest one tree at a time and one mini forest at a time.

A project called Formigas de Embaúba helps schoolchildren in Brazil’s city of São Paulo plant mini forests of native plant species to reforest parts of the city landscape and connect young people to nature. Formigas de Embaúba is funded by the SUGi Project, a nonprofit organization that works with communities around the world to plant native forests. 

The Formigas program gets its name from ants that live in the embaúba tree, also called the trumpet tree. The ants live inside the tree’s hollow trunk, which provides protection from predators and sweet sap to eat. If other insects or animals come to eat the tree’s leaves, the ants will swarm out and bite the attacker, causing it to flee. In this way, the ants and the tree live in a symbiotic relationship, meaning they work together to protect and take care of each other.

This little but mighty ant is the symbol for the mutual benefit humans and trees can achieve. When people work together to take care of trees and the environment, they also reap the benefits of nature, explained Rafael Ribeiro, who is the cofounder of the Formigas program.

“We are rebuilding an ecosystem of species that evolved together, one protecting the other. The plants attract birds and butterflies. A habitat is created for fauna that don’t have space [elsewhere] in the city,” Ribeiro told Folha de São Paulo, a local newspaper. “Despite being on a small scale, it is in fact a forest.”

Several children and adults plant tree saplings on a piece of land behind some buildings.

Courtesy of SUGi

Students plant a mini forest near their school in São Paulo, Brazil.

As of 2024, children in the program have planted 15,000 trees and created 23 forests. These mini forests range from about 1,600 square feet (150 square meters), which is a little smaller than a tennis court, to 16,000 square feet (1,500 square meters), which is about the size of an ice hockey rink. 

“It was the first time I planted a tree, and I am really happy and proud,” said one of the students in a short documentary about the program. “I discovered that the plants and the city can exist together. It can improve human lives and make the air fresh.”

The students are also learning about environmental care and human impacts on local ecosystems. While Brazil’s Amazon Rainforest is known worldwide, the Atlantic Forest is another important rainforest ecosystem that spans the country’s east coast. The Atlantic Forest is home to many animals, like the golden lion tamarin and the red-tailed parrot. Unfortunately, about 88 percent of the forest has been lost to deforestation from human activity, according to World Wildlife Fund, a global conservation group. 

São Paulo is situated in the Atlantic Forest biome and is home to over 12 million people. Its sprawling urban landscape experiences a lot of excess heat because concrete and asphalt absorb and store the Sun’s energy. This is called the urban heat island effect, and it can put people’s lives at risk if the city becomes too hot.

Fortunately, trees and vegetation are known to reduce the heating effect. Plants can absorb and convert the Sun’s energy in a process called photosynthesis. Trees also provide shade and oxygen while supporting water filtration.

Though the Formigas program faces a mountain of work to turn back the impacts of city sprawl, the trees in the mini forests are growing and providing the benefits of nature. More schools are joining the program, increasing the number of forests.

“It is a laborious effort to, little by little and together with the school communities, bring the Atlantic Rainforest back to the city,” Ribeiro told the city environmental department.

NEWS EXTRA

Back from the Dead?

Two white dire wolves are in a snowy landscape.

Courtesy of Colossal Biosciences

Colossal Biosciences produced two wolves called Romulus and Remus, seen here in January. Are they really dire wolves?

Last week, we wrote about a company called Colossal Biosciences, which is attempting to bring certain species, like the woolly mammoth, back from extinction. Scientists at Colossal recently announced that they had “de-extincted” the dire wolf, a species that died out more than 10,000 years ago!

To do this, the scientists took ancient DNA from dire wolf fossils and then used that genetic information to alter the genetic information of gray wolf cells. They transferred those cells to the eggs of domestic dogs to create three puppies.

That’s amazing, right? Well, maybe not quite as amazing as it sounds.

Some experts say Colossal Biosciences hasn’t really brought the dire wolf back from extinction.

Dr. Nic Rawlence is a paleogeneticist from the University of Otago in New Zealand. Rawlence told the BBC that bringing back an extinct species would require cloning (copying) its DNA. However, ancient DNA is too old and damaged to be cloned. That’s why Colossal had to use the dire wolf’s living relative to create the puppies. As remarkable as they are, Rawlence says, the puppies aren’t truly dire wolves.

“So what Colossal has produced is a gray wolf, but it has some dire wolf–like characteristics, like a larger skull and white fur,” Rawlence told the BBC. “It’s a hybrid.”

Fun Fact!

Rainforests exist on every continent except Antarctica! More than half of the world’s plant and animal species live in rainforests, making this ecosystem the most biodiverse habitat on Earth.

Side by side photos of a golden lion tamarin and a red-tailed parrot.

© Edwin Butter/stock.adobe.com, © diegograndi/stock.adobe.com; Photo composite by Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

The golden lion tamarin (left) and the red-tailed parrot both live in South American rainforests.

An Otter Victory?

Closeup of a small-clawed otter in which the face and chest are visible.

© Michael Pabst/Dreamstime.com

A small-clawed otter

People in Nepal are celebrating the first official sighting of a native otter species that was thought to be locally extinct. The Asian small-clawed otter (Aonyx cinereus), the smallest otter species in the world, has not been seen in Nepal since 1839.

“The sighting of an Asian small-clawed otter after 185 years is a remarkable discovery for conservation in Nepal, ending concerns that the species may have been extinct in the country,” wrote a group of wildlife experts in a scientific journal called the IUCN Otter Specialist Group Bulletin.

Nepal is a small, mountainous country in Asia that lies between its larger neighbors, China and India. Historically, Nepal has been home to three species of river otter. The smooth-coated otter (Lutrogale perspicillata) has healthy populations, but the Eurasian otter (Lutra lutra) population appears to have declined rapidly in the past few decades. The Asian small-clawed otter seemed to be gone for good.

That was until November 2024, when Nepalese forestry workers found a young, injured otter near a river at the country’s western border. The workers rescued the animal and nursed it back to health. Unsure about what kind of otter they had picked up, the workers sent photos and videos to an otter specialist group for identification. The results confirmed that it was indeed an Asian small-clawed otter!

The forestry workers released the healed otter back into the wild. The wildlife researchers are now calling for a more detailed study to confirm the species status and for the Nepalese government to start conservation initiatives that could help the Asian small-clawed otter make a successful comeback to the region.

Celebrate Earth Day!

A group of middle school students wearing t-shirts reading “Volunteer” put plastic bottles into bags on a sandy beach

© Sutthichai Supapornpasupad—Moment/Getty Images

Earth Day is celebrated globally, usually on April 22, to raise awareness about the importance of Earth and the environment. Some people participate by doing something for the planet, such as picking up trash or planting trees.

Learn more about Earth Day at Britannica!

WORD OF THE DAY

symbiosis

PART OF SPEECH:

noun

Definition:

: the relationship between two different kinds of living things that live together and depend on each other

Definitions provided by
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Word Search

O
O
O
O
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In Case You Missed It

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Scientists Create Woolly Mice

Two mice with long golden fur sit with a white background.

Scientists Create Woolly Mice

Scientists have created woolly mice in a lab as part of a project that aims to recreate an extinct animal called the woolly mammoth.

Two mice with long golden fur sit with a white background.

Courtesy of Colossal Biosciences

Genetics company Colossal Biosciences created “woolly mice.”

Hundreds of thousands of years ago, a giant hairy animal roamed the Earth—the woolly mammoth. Though mammoths are now extinct, a genetics company says it is one step closer to bringing them back with the creation of a much smaller animal—the woolly mouse.

Scientists at Colossal Biosciences in the United States have created “woolly mice” with the shaggy, golden-brown hair of mammoths. The scientists altered the genetics of the mice to give them the same woolly trait that mammoths had.

“We ended up with some absolutely adorable mice that have longer, woolly, golden-colored coats,” Beth Shapiro, chief science officer at Colossal, told NPR.

Colossal is a company that hopes to use genetic modification to bring back extinct species like the mammoth. The woolly mice are the first step in this process.

Changing Mouse Genes

Genes dictate all of an organism’s physical and biological traits, like body size and eye color. Altering an organism’s genes can lead to changes in these biological traits, but it is a complicated and difficult process. 

Scientists can alter genes through adding, modifying, or replacing the DNA of an organism. Genetic information collected from mammoths found frozen in ice and permafrost has allowed researchers at laboratories like Colossal to identify which genes cause mammoth traits like shaggy hair. They can then make changes in other organisms, like the mice, to give them mammoth-like traits.

“This is the way that we’re going to create mammoths for the future,” Shapiro told NPR.

Is It a Mammoth?

Colossal aims to eventually alter the genes of Asian elephants, which are the mammoth’s closest living relatives. By starting with lab mice, scientists could first try genetic modification on a much smaller scale.

“The Colossal Woolly Mouse marks a watershed moment in our de-extinction mission. This success brings us a step closer to our goal of bringing back the woolly mammoth,” said Ben Lamm, the cofounder of Colossal.

However, other scientists are skeptical that genetic modification can be used to return the mammoth from extinction. Tori Herridge, a scientist from the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom, told CNN that it will be much more challenging to make genetic changes in elephants than in mice. Changing these traits to an elephant’s DNA will create something that resembles a mammoth but will not be the real thing, she said.

“You are never going to ‘bring back’ a mammoth,” said Herridge.

The scientists at Colossal are focusing on bringing back not just the mammoth, but other extinct species as well. One of these species is the Australian thylacine—also called the Tasmanian tiger—which humans hunted into extinction in the early 1900s.

Did You Know?

Flutes made from mammoth ivory, or tusks, are some of the oldest musical instruments archaeologists have found. Some mammoth ivory flutes, found in a cave in southern Germany, are nearly 43,000 years old!

An ivory flute in two pieces is against a black background.

Courtesy of University of Tubingen

This flute, which is tens of thousands of years old, is made of mammoth ivory.

The Mammoths of Wrangel Island

Illustration of a woolly mammoth on a snowy landscape with mountains and trees in the background.

© Orla—iStock/Getty Images

Woolly mammoths went extinct about 10,000 years ago. Or did they?

The discovery of an isolated population of woolly mammoths that existed for another 6,000 years has changed what we know about mammoth extinction. On an island off the coast of Siberia, a region in modern-day Russia, mammoths continued to thrive long after the rest of their kind died off on the continents.

Scientists believe that sea ice connected Wrangel Island to the continental mainland and that mammoths migrated between the island and mainland for some time. When the sea ice melted, a small group of mammoths were stuck on the island. The size of the island is about 2,900 square miles (7,600 square kilometers), which is just a little smaller than Yellowstone National Park in the United States.

The Wrangel Island mammoths survived the rapid climate change that caused their mainland relatives to lose their habitat. The island mammoths maintained a relatively healthy breeding population for another 200 generations. This means that mammoths still existed while humans were building the pyramids in Egypt!

Sadly, extinction eventually came for Wrangel Island mammoths too. Researchers estimate that this population met its demise about 4,000 years ago.

“What happened at the end is a bit of a mystery still—we don’t know why they went extinct after having been more or less fine for 6,000 years, but we think it was something sudden,” said Love Dalén to BBC. Dalén is one of the researchers studying the Wrangel Island mammoth genes.

While researchers like Dalén work to solve this extinction mystery, Wrangel Island’s story is far from over. Today the island has the highest density of polar bear dens, approximately 400 every year. Mother bears give birth and raise cubs there during the summer while they wait for the Arctic Sea ice to freeze.

Wrangel Island, the last refuge for the mammoth, may be helping yet another vulnerable species keep extinction at bay.

Mammoth and Mastodon

One man stands on a ladder working on a reconstructed mammoth skeleton while two other men stand on the floor holding the mammoth’s tusks.

© Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

How are today’s elephants related to the extinct woolly mammoth? Learn about this—and another extinct relative, the mastodon—at Britannica!

WORD OF THE DAY

extinct

PART OF SPEECH:

adjective

Definition:

no longer existing

Definitions provided by
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Sudoku

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In Case You Missed It

Hikers discovered a box containing coins and other items.
June 5, 2025
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Wave Whiz

Erin Brooks stands on a surfboard atop a wave.

Wave Whiz

At 17, surfer Erin Brooks is at the top of her sport.

Erin Brooks stands on a surfboard atop a wave.

© Manel Geada—World Surf League/Getty Images

Canada’s Erin Brooks surfs during World Surf League’s MEO Rip Curl Pro Portugal in March 2025.

Erin Brooks doesn’t live the life of a typical 17-year-old. While most kids her age are going to school and maybe looking for a summer job, Brooks travels the world as a competitive surfer. 

Born in Texas in 2007, Brooks didn’t even think about surfing until her family moved to Hawaii, where the huge Pacific waves are ripe for riding. Then 9 years old, Brooks took a surfing lesson and decided she wanted to dedicate her life to the sport. 

“From the first wave, I knew that’s what I wanted to do for the rest of my life,” Brooks told Olympics.com in 2024. “It was in Lahaina, Maui, at a wave called Breakwall. I was like, ‘Wow, this is so cool, and people get to do it every day.’ And that’s what I do now, so it’s cool.”

It took a while for Brooks to develop her skills, but hard work paid off. By the time she was 12, it was clear that she had developed an unusual talent, especially with aerials. An aerial is a difficult surfing trick that involves jumping into the air from atop an ocean wave, surfboard and all. Soon, Brooks was competing in surfing competitions all over the world, accompanied by her parents, who by then had retired from their jobs. 

Erin Brooks smiles and holds her surf board on a beach with the ocean in the background.

© Manel Geada—World Surf League/Getty Images

Erin Brooks smiles after a March 2025 competition.

Today, she’s at the top of her sport, competing against the very best surfers—all of whom are older than she is. Though Brooks was born in the United States, both her parents have Canadian ancestry; this inspired her to represent Canada (she became a Canadian citizen in 2024) in international events. 

Brooks is living her dream, but she has also faced challenges in her personal life. In 2023, her mom, Michelle, was diagnosed with cancer. In 2024, Brooks’s family home on the Hawaiian island of Maui was destroyed by wildfires.

Brooks says life is a little calmer now. Michelle is doing better, and the family has a new house in British Columbia, Canada. Brooks, who was homeschooled, has graduated from high school. When she’s home, she likes to skateboard and hang out with her dog, Jimmy.

At press time, Brooks had made it to the semifinals of the World Surf League’s Championship Tour, an international competition involving a series of events over the course of many months. Although she competed on this elite tour last year, in what’s known as a “wild card” slot, she’s now one of its full-time competitors—another sign that she’s reached a new level in her career. Brooks is also the first Canadian to qualify for full-time status on this tour.

“I love surfing so much, so it’s amazing that I get to do something that I love for my job,” Brooks told World Surf League. “I’m just so grateful to be part of it.”

NEWS EXTRA

Earthquake Shakes Two Asian Nations

Eleven workers in hard hats stand amid the rubble of a collapsed building.

© Lillian Suwanrumpha—AFP/Getty Images

Rescue workers stand near a building in Bangkok, Thailand, that collapsed during the March 28 earthquake.

On Friday, March 28, a powerful earthquake shook parts of the Asian nations of Myanmar and Thailand. The quake, which measured 7.7 on the Richter scale, was followed by several strong aftershocks. Multiple buildings were destroyed, and the total number of casualties is still not known.

Several countries have flown food, medical equipment, and other supplies into both Myanmar and Thailand. But rescue efforts have been especially tough in Myanmar, where the earthquake’s epicenter was located. Damage to the nation’s airports has made it difficult for planes to land. In addition, Myanmar is currently in the middle of a civil war, and its government has lost control of some of its cities. On March 29, both sides of the war agreed to a cease-fire (a temporary period of peace) so that rescuers can work safely.

Did You Know?

Surfing dates to at least the 1700s, when European explorers observed men and women in Hawaii and Polynesia (a group of Pacific islands) enjoying the sport.

Duke Kahanamoku stands on a surfboard atop a wave.

© Underwood Archives —Archive Photos/Getty Images

This 1929 photo shows Duke Kahanamoku, who won five Olympic medals in swimming and helped make the sport of surfing more popular.

What’s Your Sport?

Two teen girls do a karate pose during a karate class.

© Phynart Studio—E+/Getty Images

Karate and other martial arts can help build strength and confidence.

Erin Brooks found her sport. What’s yours? With so many sports to try, and variations for people with disabilities, there’s something for everyone. While some sports require equipment, others need only a willingness to try.

Here’s a short guide to help you find your next sport. If…

You like being part of a team: baseball, basketball, football, soccer, hockey, lacrosse

You like individual sports: track and field, gymnastics, martial arts, tennis, pickleball, swimming

You live near water: swimming, canoeing, kayaking, rowing, water skiing

You love nature: hiking, cycling, rock climbing

You climbed all over the furniture when you were little: gymnastics, rock climbing

The Land of the Maple Leaf

A body of water is seen in front of the Toronto skyline.

© espiegle/stock.adobe.com

Toronto, the capital of Ontario, Canada, is located on Lake Ontario.

Erin Brooks represents Canada in the sport of surfing. Canada is home to a considerable number of comedians, the world’s largest moose population, and a French fry–and–cheese curd dish called poutine.

You can learn more about Canada at Britannica!

WORD OF THE DAY

panache

PART OF SPEECH:

noun

Definition:

: lots of energy and style

Definitions provided by
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Crossword

O
O
O
O
O
O

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