Page Type: Middle

When 14-year-old Sirish Subash’s mom kept insisting that he wash fruit before eating it to remove pesticides, he wondered if washing produce is really very effective. Hoping to find out, he ended up inventing a helpful device.

“My [invention] is called PestiSCAND,” Sirish told USA Today. “[It’s a] device that allows everybody to check for pesticide residues on their produce at home. The pesticide residue [is] a contaminant that’s commonly found on produce items.”

Sirish’s ingenuity paid off. The 9th grader from Georgia recently took home the top prize at the 2024 3M Young Scientist Challenge, an annual competition for middle school students.

In France, the minimum age to get a driver’s license is 17, but that hasn’t stopped teens as young as 14 from getting behind the wheel of the Citroën Ami. Although the electric vehicle looks like a car and mostly drives like a car, it isn’t technically a car at all.

Now available in many European countries and parts of the Middle East, the Ami is considered a “quadricycle,” or a four-wheeled microcar. Due to its classification, a full driver’s license isn’t required to drive it—and what is required depends on the country. In France, a driver must have an AM license (a type of motorbike license), which can be obtained after a few hours of lessons.

With a maximum speed of 28 miles per hour (45 kilometers per hour), the Ami is much slower than a real car. It’s also very basic. There’s no heating or air conditioning, no floor mats, and very little storage. While there’s a USB jack, there’s no radio. Still, the Ami has more features than an electric bike or moped, and it keeps its passengers dry when it’s raining.

The Ami won’t take its driver very far. A single battery charge will power the microcar for up to 47 miles (75 kilometers). But the Ami isn’t supposed to be used on a busy road or for long trips. It’s intended for local driving—a trip to the store or a short ride to work.

John Kinsel, Sr., one of the Navajo code talkers, has died. He was 107. Like the other code talkers, Kinsel played a decisive role in helping the Allies win World War II.

The code talkers were a group of Indigenous (also known as American Indian or Native American) soldiers who used radios to transmit classified (secret) wartime information in their Native language. Most code talkers were Navajo. With Kinsel’s death, just two code talkers are still alive. In a statement, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren offered praise for Kinsel.

“Mr. Kinsel was a Marine who bravely and selflessly fought for all of us in the most terrifying circumstances with the greatest responsibility as a Navajo Code Talker,” Nygren said.

Born in Cove, Arizona, Kinsel was a young man in 1941, when the United States entered World War II. Within months, many Navajo men had gone to work in shipyards and other places where they could contribute to the war effort. Others decided to enlist in the military. Kinsel chose the Marine Corps.

Kinsel saw combat in numerous battles in the Pacific and received a Purple Heart after being wounded in 1945. (The Purple Heart is a military decoration for soldiers who are wounded or killed in battle.)

Kinsel also helped develop the military code that was based on the Navajo language and that the enemy found impossible to break. According to the Navajo Times, his contributions included “rabbit trail” for “route,” “turtle” for “tank,” and “bird carrier” for “aircraft.”

Olin Kieyoomia, the deputy director of the Navajo Nation Veterans Administration, said Kinsel was a hero to many.

“The Navajo Nation has lost a treasure, a hero, a man who shaped history by saving countless lives with our Navajo language and instilled pride within the Navajo Nation and the world,” Kieyoomia said in a statement. “He is an example of the title United States Marine. He will be forever missed and remembered.”

Video game company Firaxis has teamed up with the Shawnee Tribe to develop programmer Sid Meier’s Civilization VII, the latest in the popular gaming series that lets players build civilizations from the ground up. The Shawnee people helped ensure that the game’s portrayal of their history is as respectful and accurate as possible.

Civilization VII is the latest in a series in which gamers build a civilization while playing as famous historical leaders like Cleopatra and Napoleon. The Civilization games have been a hit since the first one debuted in 1991. 

But over the years, Firaxis has been criticized for the way the games portrayed some historical figures, including Indigenous peoples. In 2018, when the company included the Cree people in Civilization VI: Rise and Fall, a Cree leader in Canada complained that the portrayal was disrespectful and not accurate. 

“We learned a lot as time went on,” Meier told the Associated Press. Meier and Firaxis resolved to do better. So when they considered including 19th century Shawnee leader Tecumseh in Civilization VII, they asked the Shawnee Tribe for their input.

Shawnee Tribe Chief Ben Barnes was thrilled.

“I was like, ‘This can’t be true,’” Barnes told the Associated Press. “Do they want us to participate in the next version of Civilization?”

When Adrian Anantawan was in 5th grade, his teacher announced that everyone would be learning to play a flute-like musical instrument called the recorder. Anantawan knew this would be difficult for him. Born without most of his right forearm, Anantawan has only his left hand—and not enough fingers to play the recorder. Now a world-class violinist and music teacher, Anantawan is dedicated to expanding opportunities for musicians with disabilities.

Anantawan is inspired by his own journey with music. When he realized he couldn’t play the recorder, he struggled to think of an instrument he could play. Then he saw violinist Itzhak Perlman on an episode of Sesame Street. Although Perlman has the use of both hands, he requires leg braces to walk due to a childhood case of polio. Watching Perlman play the violin made Anantawan want to try it. 

But while the stringed instrument requires only five fingers to play, it also requires the player to move a bow with their other hand. So Anantawan and his parents went to a hospital near their home in Toronto, Canada, and asked specialists there to make an adaptive cast for Anantawan. The cast the specialists made, called a spatula, allows Anantawan to use his right shoulder muscles to move the bow of his violin. 

“A lot of times, we let fear get in the way of trying anything,” Anantawan told Good Morning America. “For me, my story has always been a result of just trying something, being okay with failure, and then just seeing what the results are.”

It took Anantawan some time to get used to maneuvering the bow. After a while, he says, “my body sort of figured it out on its own. You start from the sound, and a student who is passionate will figure it out.” Anantawan eventually had several teachers, including Itzhak Perlman.

Anantawan has performed at the White House, the United Nations, and two Olympic opening ceremonies.  He’s also a professor at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. At Berklee, he runs the Music Inclusion Ensemble. Made up of students with disabilities, the ensemble works to ensure that all students have the accommodations they need to play their instruments.

“My duty and job is to use this platform in some way to show folks what a person with a visible disability can do,” Anantawan told Good Morning America. “And it’s always an honor to do that.”

Should cell phones be allowed in classrooms? The answer to that question has been debated for years. But a new study suggests that taking very short “phone breaks” could help increase students’ test scores.

The study took place over the course of a semester (about 15 weeks) at a U.S. university. Some of the participating students were given one-, two-, or four-minute breaks during their classes. They were allowed to use their phones during these breaks. The other students were the “control group.” They were also given breaks but weren’t allowed to use their phones. Instead, they could ask questions during this time.

The researchers found that the students who were allowed to take phone breaks were less likely to look at their phones when the class was going on. These students also did better on tests than the students in the control group.

Researchers also wanted to know if the length of the phone break mattered. They found that the one-minute phone break was more effective than the longer phone breaks.

Why are shorter breaks best? Researchers think one minute is just long enough to read and reply to a single text without getting into a long texting conversation.

But this doesn’t necessarily mean that teachers should let students take short phone breaks. Other studies have found that even short breaks make it harder for students to remember what they learned, resulting in lower grades.

The debate continues!

There’s good news for people who love to sprinkle their messages with emojis. Eight new emojis are coming to phones and computers worldwide. The designs, which include a purple splat and a tired face, are set to hit devices in 2025.

Emojipedia recently unveiled its new sample designs for the emojis, which were then approved by Unicode Consortium, the organization in charge of maintaining global emoji standards. They’re called sample designs because Apple, Google, and other tech companies will be allowed to create specific versions for their devices.

The emojis include a tired face with bags under its eyes, a human fingerprint, a purple paint splatter, a root vegetable, a dead tree, a small harp, a shovel, and the flag of Sark (an island in the English Channel).

As with all emojis, users will be able to interpret and apply them however they wish. But at least one of the new designs has a purpose. The dead tree is meant to raise awareness about drought, which is one effect of climate change.

“Drought is a natural part of [the] climate cycle, [and] for millions of years trees have adapted to these harsh conditions,” said Brian Baihaki, who submitted the design to Unicode for approval. “But the climate is changing, [and] drought [has] become more frequent, severe, and even spread to other places in [a] short amount of time.”

But the tired face may end up being the most popular of the new lineup, having won “Most Anticipated Emoji” at the World Emoji Awards in 2024 with more than 62 percent of the vote. The paint splatter came in second, followed by the shovel.

If the names Zelda and Super Mario Bros. mean anything to you, you’re probably a Nintendo fan. Now, the video game company that has entertained generations of gamers has opened the Nintendo Museum.

The museum opened on October 2 in Uji, Japan, in the building complex once occupied by the company’s factory. Visitors can learn about Nintendo’s long history, which began in 1889 when the company made playing cards, and see displays of nearly all the company’s products. In addition to massive hits like Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong, Nintendo shows off prototypes (models) of products that never made it to stores. Visitors also get to see what Nintendo’s famous games from decades ago would be like if they were made using modern technology.

If you’ve ever gotten into a car on a hot, sunny day, you know it’s not a pleasant experience. A sweltering car is not only uncomfortable but also potentially unsafe. Now, auto company Nissan Motor Co. has come up with new automotive paint that can keep a car’s exterior and interior dramatically cooler. 

Nissan tested the paint at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport, which receives abundant sunlight, by parking two cars next to each other—one coated with the cooling paint and one coated with regular auto paint. At the end of the test, the vehicle with the cooling paint was up to 22 °F (12 °C) cooler on the outside and up to 9 °F (5 °C) cooler on the inside than the other vehicle.

All over the planet, kids and teens are finding creative ways to help other people and the environment. The Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes highlights a few notable examples by honoring 25 young people in North America who are making the world a better place. The top 15 honorees each win $10,000, which they can put toward their service work or a college education.

Here are a few of this year’s inspiring winners.