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A group of kids, teens, and young adults scored a courtroom victory in August 2023, winning a lawsuit claiming that the state of Montana was violating their right to a clean and safe environment. The trial was the first of its kind in the United States, but it might not be the last.

The group of 16 plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in 2020, when they ranged in age from 2 to 19. The case was called Held v. Montana, after the oldest plaintiff, Rikki Held. The lawsuit claimed that Montana state agencies allowed the production of fossil fuels without considering their effect on the climate. When burned, fossil fuels create gases such as carbon dioxide, which contribute to climate change. Montana’s state constitution guarantees citizens a clean and healthy environment.

In her ruling, Judge Kathy Seeley wrote that Montana residents “have a fundamental constitutional right to a clean and healthful environment, which includes climate as part of the environmental life-support system.”

“I knew that we would win because we had such a strong case. This is about protecting our basic human rights,” said Held, who is now 22. 

Austin Knudsen, Montana’s attorney general, says he will appeal the decision. This means he’ll take the case to a more powerful court and ask for the decision to be reversed. The state had argued that the carbon dioxide produced there has little or no effect on climate change because it’s a tiny fraction of all the carbon dioxide produced in the world.

Experts say Judge Seeley’s decision sets a major precedent (meaning that courts will consider it when looking at similar cases). Currently, young people are suing several states, claiming that their right to a healthy environment has not been protected. In another climate case, a group of young people is suing the U.S. government.

The outcomes of these lawsuits will answer an important question. Do governments have a responsibility to protect their citizens from the effects of climate change?

Legend has it that a monster lurks in a body of water in Scotland called Loch Ness. Could it be true? One weekend in August 2023, volunteers traveled to the loch, hoping for answers.

“We are looking for breaks in the surface and asking volunteers to record all manner of natural behavior on the loch,” Alan McKenna told the British Broadcasting Corporation. McKenna represents Loch Ness Exploration, an organization dedicated to searching for the monster. “Not every ripple or wave is a beastie. Some of those can be explained, but there are a handful that cannot.”

For two days, hundreds of monster hunters scanned the murky waters for any signs of the existence of “Nessie” (that’s the monster’s nickname). While people have been searching for the creature for generations, the chance of success is better than ever due to modern technology. The weekend’s volunteers brought along sonar equipment, which allows them to map the lake bed. They also brought thermal-imaging drones meant to detect heat (a sign of life), as well as hydrophones that can pick up sounds from deep under the water. And they had a deep faith that Nessie is real.

“I’m 90 percent convinced [the monster] exists,” Ken Gerhard, who researches creatures like Nessie, told NBC News. “I’ve never had a sighting or an observation, but if you immerse yourself in the evidence, you have over a thousand good sightings that are very consistent.”

Da’vian Kimbrough is a pro soccer player—and he’s only 13. In August 2023, Kimbrough signed with Sacramento Republic, a professional soccer team in the U.S. He’s now the youngest professional athlete in the history of American team sports.

“Da’vian’s journey with Republic FC is just beginning,” said Sacramento Republic president and general manager Todd Dunivant. “He is a remarkable talent who has committed to his dream of becoming an elite player, from competing with players in older age groups, thriving at top competitions, to stepping on to the first team training grounds.”

Da’vian started playing in Republic’s youth academy in 2021, when he was 11 years old. He scored 27 goals in his first year. Thanks in part to Da’vian, his team wrapped up that season with the best record in its age group (30 wins and one loss). In two seasons of play for MLS Next, which is Major League Soccer’s youth division, Da’vian scored 61 goals.

Da’vian’s parents, who were both athletic when they were teens, said he’s been interested in sports since he was about 3, when he would watch footage of his dad playing football.

“We are so happy and honored,” Da’vian’s mom, Jessica Cervantes, told Fox 40 News. “All the hard work that he put in, and for Republic to put their trust in him, we greatly appreciate it.”

Da’vian’s dad, Dom Kimbrough, says the family will make sure their son still gets to be a kid. Cervantes says that while Da’vian is serious on the soccer field, he also knows how to let loose.

“He’s still like a regular teenager,” she told Fox 40 News. “When we get home, he’s a regular 13-year-old boy, having fun [and] laughing with us.” 

According to the team, Da’vian is eligible to begin playing with the major league team immediately, but he will also continue to sharpen his skills by training with the team’s academy.

“We are honored that the Kimbrough family and Da’vian have chosen Republic FC to support his professional pathway, and we look forward to taking the next steps together,” Dunivant said.

The video shows Kimbrough in action!

The James Webb Space Telescope has given us some amazing images, and a few surprises. When some sharp-eyed people noticed what looked like a question mark in the background of a recent Webb image, it raised some, well, questions. Is there something in space that’s shaped like a question mark? Could this be a message from aliens? Scientists have answers.

What looks like a question mark is actually two or more galaxies that are in the process of merging, or coming together. Galaxies merge quite often, scientists say. In fact, between 10 and 25 percent of galaxies are merging at any given time. Our own Milky Way galaxy is the product of a merger.

“Many people think of galaxies like these little islands in space that don’t move, but nothing in the universe can be pinned down,” Matt Caplan, an assistant professor of physics at Illinois State University, told CBS News. “Stars move as they orbit the galaxy, and the galaxy—being made of gas and stars—moves whatever direction the gravity of nearby galaxies pulls it. The same is true of our Sun and Milky Way.”

Nora Luetzgendorf of the European Space Agency believes that the arc of the question mark might be a tidal tail, a shape that forms due to the gravitational interaction between two galaxies. The dot might be another, smaller galaxy.

While galaxies merge quite often, we don’t often get to see it happen—which makes this question mark special, even if it’s not a message from aliens.

Macarena Garcia Marin is a Webb project scientist with the Space Telescope Science Institute, which manages the telescope’s science operations. “I think we all enjoy finding familiar shapes in the sky; that creates a deep connection between our human-experience and language in this case (a question mark!) and the beauty of the Universe surrounding us,” Garcia Marin told National Public Radio. “To me it brings the question of how many other interesting objects are out there waiting to be explored with Webb!”

Relief workers, volunteers, and celebrities rushed to help after a fire devastated part of the Hawaiian island of Maui. The blaze, which ignited on August 8, 2023, killed at least 100 people and destroyed thousands of buildings, including many homes.

The fire left many people homeless and in need of food, shelter, and basic supplies. Local charitable organizations are helping, many of them with assistance from national and international organizations like the American Red Cross. For example, the Maui Strong Fund collects donations and distributes the money to organizations that provide shelter, food, and financial help. A group called Chef Hui brings together chefs, farmers, and others in the food industry who are willing to supply food and prepare meals for people in need.

Help has also come from the mainland. Americans from many states have sent supplies or money to Maui. Workers with the American Red Cross and other organizations have flown from their home states to the island to help in any way they can.

“They’ve lost everything,” Andrea Webb, who works with the American Red Cross of New Jersey, told CBS News in New York, after landing in Hawaii. “They need some kind of help with anything even if it’s a hug, a kind word.”

Celebrities have brought attention to the disaster as well. Actor Matthew McConaughey announced he would pay for a plane to fly supplies to Maui. Famed surfer Archie Kalepa and some volunteers are distributing supplies from the front yard of Kalepa’s Maui home. And actor Auliʻi Cravalho, who is Native Hawaiian, created an Instagram post urging fans to make donations.

If you are interested in helping, make sure your donation will get to the people of Maui. Ask an adult to help you find a trusted charitable organization.

A man found more than 700 gold coins dating back to the U.S. Civil War in a cornfield in Kentucky. Experts say the total value of the coins, which are more than 160 years old, is between one and two million dollars.

The coins were likely buried by someone who wanted to protect their money from an enemy raid. During the Civil War, which spanned from 1861 to 1865, the North fought against the South, which had broken away from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America (or the Confederacy). The root of the conflict was the South’s belief that slavery should remain legal. However, some states, including Kentucky, declared themselves neutral or remained loyal to the North even though they also permitted slavery.

The coins are U.S. money, not Confederate money. And the person who buried them probably sympathized with the North and feared a raid by Confederate troops. The person probably died before the end of the war or forgot exactly where they had hidden the coins.

The dates on the coins range from 1840 to 1863, so experts think the trove was buried in 1863. That has enabled them to identify the Confederate general who was about to invade Kentucky.

“It is entirely possible this [treasure] was buried in advance of Confederate John Hunt Morgan’s June to July 1863 raid,” Ryan McNutt, a conflict archaeologist at Georgia Southern University, told Live Science. Morgan raided Kentucky twice—once in 1862 and again in 1863. Both attempts failed to achieve their goals.

Coin experts and historians are calling the find the “Great Kentucky Hoard.” The coins are very rare, which is why they’re worth more than one million dollars.

“The importance of this discovery cannot be overstated, as the stunning number of over 700 gold dollars represents a virtual time capsule of civil war-era coinage,” rare coin dealer Jeff Garrett said in a statement.

A sun bear named Angela turned into a major influencer after a video from a Chinese zoo went viral. Scientists are hoping that the popularity of the video will shed some light on sun bears, which are little known but endangered.

The video, which was recorded at Hangzhou Zoo in China, showed Angela standing on two legs and seeming to wave to a crowd from her enclosure. The bear looked so human that many people were convinced that it was a person in a costume. Eventually, biologists weighed in on the debate. The verdict? Angela is a real sun bear. In fact, it’s not unusual for sun bears to stand on their hind legs, making them seem humanlike because of their relatively small size.

Biologists say one reason for the misunderstanding is that most people know very little about sun bears, especially compared to their larger cousins, such as grizzly bears and polar bears. So, here are some facts.

• Of the world’s eight bear species, the sun bear is the smallest, weighing 59 to 143 pounds (27 to 65 kilograms) and growing to 3.3 to 4 feet (1 to 1.2 meters) long.
• The sun bear lives only in Southeast Asian forests.
• The sun bear gets its name from the bib-shaped golden or white patch of fur on its chest.
• Sun bears help keep forests healthy by spreading seeds from the fruit they eat and by eating termites that can damage trees.