Kids News - Science Articles

With Christmas just around the corner, your neighborhood is likely aglow with beautiful lights. But those displays pale in comparison to nature's dazzling light show — the Geminids. Nicknamed the "900-pound gorilla of meteor showers" by NASA, the Geminids outshine others with dust streams that are 5 to 500 times more massive. The "shooting stars" are also easier to spot because they travel through the skies at about 22 miles (35 km) per second. This is about half the speed of the Perseid meteors, which zip by at about 37 miles (60 km) per second every year in August....

LignoSat, the world’s first satellite made mostly from wood, reached the International Space Station (ISS) aboard a SpaceX cargo capsule on November 5, 2024. The palm-sized satellite, named after the Latin word for “wood," will be launched from the ISS into Earth’s orbit later this month. Its mission is to determine if wood can withstand the harsh conditions of space. If successful, LignoSat could pave the way for more environmentally friendly spacecraft designs....

Over the years, astronomers have managed to capture a few images of stars in galaxies beyond Earth. However, these images have always appeared as mere points of light, even when seen through powerful telescopes. Now, thanks to the Very Large Telescope (VLT), scientists have captured the first close-up image of a massive star located a staggering 160,000 light-years from Earth....

Drones have come a long way since the first model that barely lifted two feet (60 cm) off the ground was unveiled in 1907. Modern quadcopters can soar to high altitudes and perform a wide range of tasks. However, their capabilities are often curbed by limited battery life....

Full moons are always a stunning sight, but the one on November 15, 2024, promises to be even more spectacular. It will be the last of four consecutive supermoons, following August's Blue Moon, September's Harvest Moon, and October's Hunter Moon. After this, the next supermoon will not occur until October 7, 2025....

The next time you are upset about short winter days, think about Utqiaġvik (formerly Barrow), Alaska. The residents of America's northernmost town will experience their final sunset this year on November 19, 2024. They will not see the Sun again until January 23, 2025. For those wondering, that is 65 straight days, or 1,560 hours, of darkness!...

The sea robin is a bottom-dwelling fish uniquely adapted to life on the ocean floor. These fascinating creatures have frog-like eyes, wing-like fins, and six crab-like legs. Scientists have now discovered that at least one species, the northern sea robin, uses these legs both for walking and for "tasting" the sea floor for buried prey....

NASA’s latest mission takes the search for life to new frontiers — this time to Jupiter’s fourth largest moon, Europa. On October 14, 2024, the Europa Clipper spacecraft launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to uncover the secrets of this distant moon....

In mid-September 2023, a mysterious event set off earthquake sensors worldwide. However, unlike typical earthquake readings, which are quick and sharp, this data showed a slow, constant wave. What surprised scientists even more was that the rumbling continued for nine consecutive days before finally subsiding....