March 20

Video Of The Week - Felix Baumgartner's First Test Dive From Space Is A Success!

Sometime this year, Austrian skydiver Felix Baumgartner plans to do what no human has done before - free fall from the edge of Space - 23 miles (120,000 ft.) above the surface of earth. On Thursday March 15th, the daredevil came one step closer to fulfilling his dream with a successful test dive, from a height of 13.6 miles (71,581 ft.).

Trash . . . . . In Space?

Space is where our future is - Trips to the Moon, Mars and beyond. Most people would think that aside from a few meteors, asteroids, planets, comets and stars there is little else to stand in our way. But, over the last 55 years as humans have been venturing out in space they have left so many debris that scientists are now concerned that if we don't do something to clean it up, we may all be in mortal danger.

Quick Thinking Beachgoers Saves 30 Beached Dolphins

Usually when marine mammals like dolphins and whales get stranded on beaches, people wait for experts to come and help rescue them. What usually ends up happening is that many die because of the time delay. Beachgoers in Brazil were not taking that chance - Instead, they quickly sprang to action and saved a pod of unfortunate dolphins that recently showed up along a sandy beach.

Lego Mindstorm Robots Become Lab Assistants

LEGO, an abbreviation of two Danish words LEg GOdit (play well), has come a long way since its founder Ole Kirk Kristiansen invented the first brick in his small carpenter's workshop in 1932. While the foundation still remains the original brick, the things that can be built with them now range from simple structures to fully programmable robots - Ones smart enough to help scientists perform monotonous tasks in laboratories.

Happy Pi Day!

Happy 24th Pi Day! Yes we actually set aside a day to celebrate the numerical constant that represents the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, on a flat plane surface. Why today? Because while Pi has been calculated to one trillion digits past the decimal point, we all simply recognize it as 3.14, which also happens to be, today's date!

Andres Amador Turns Sand Doodles Into Works Of Art

Like most people, 40-year-old Andres Amador likes spending hours on the beach doodling on the sand. However unlike most of us, he does not draw random scribbles, but giant masterpieces that can measure as big as 300 by 500 feet.

Origami-Inspired Paper Testing Device May Save Millions Of Lives

In order to correctly diagnose certain diseases like malaria, doctors have to send blood and body fluid samples to specialized laboratories. However, while this is possible in the western world, things are not as easy in third world countries, where labs are few and far between.

Rising Sea Levels May Force Residents Of Kiribati To Relocate

While for most of us the threat of rising sea levels caused by global warming is just a topic of discussion, for the people who live on the island of Kiribati it could be a life-threatening situation - One that could submerge their tiny nation forever. While that may not be anywhere in the near future, their progressive President is taking no chances. He already has a back-up plan in mind - Relocating his people to a different country!

Teacher's Notes

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Thanks and Happy Reading!
Mrs. Davies