Kids News - Articles with 400-600 Words

Green leaves are amongst the cheapest and most efficient creators of energy. In the presence of sunlight they are able to transform carbon dioxide and water into glucose - A process we call photosynthesis. While it sounds simple, trying to imitate this has been one of the holy grails for science for decades - Now, there may finally be a breakthrough....

While April 1st, better known as April Fool's Day, is technically not a holiday, it is a favorite day for many a child or child at heart. Some believe the light-hearted fun began in 1582, when the Julian calendar (which began the New Year in April), was replaced with today's Gregorian calendar. Other's think it was to mark the change of seasons. No matter what its origins, the day can be a lot of fun!...

Alain Robert, A.K.A . 'Spiderman' had climbed up all of the world's tall buildings except for the tallest of them all - Dubai's Burj Khalifa. On March 27th, he added that to his list too, by scaling the 2,717 ft. tall building in six hours, 14 minutes and 55 seconds, breaking the existing record by almost three hours....

Researchers from the Department of experimental psychology at England's Cambridge University recently revealed that the mighty elephant is not only strong, but intelligent too. In fact, so much so, that it has been put in the elite category of the world's smartest animals, along with the chimpanzee, dolphin and common crow. Not only that, these highly social animals are very cooperative and quick to help out fellow members in distress....

When Rinat Aruh and Johan Liden, from New York-based design studio, Aruliden offered to teach a design seminar to the eight graders at the School at Columbia University, they did not expect much. It was just their way of thanking the school for allowing them to conduct student focus group studies, for a client. So you can only imagine their surprise when the 13-year olds came up with what Ms. Aruh describes as 'mind blowing ideas'!...

While preserving or mummifying the dead is normally associated with the ancient Egyptians, it seems to have been a ritual followed by many other cultures too. Earlier this month, Chinese workers digging to expand a road near the city of Taizhou, in China's Jiangsu Province, stumbled upon an exciting discovery - three wooden tombs, which when opened not only revealed treasures from the past, but also, an amazingly well-preserved mummy - complete with face, hair and even eyelashes....

Remember Knut? That fluffy white polar bear that stole the hearts of people worldwide, when he was abandoned by his mother in December 2006? We are sad to report that he is no more. Berlin Zoo officials announced that the four-year old was alone in his den on Saturday afternoon, when he simply collapsed and passed away. A post-mortem to determine the cause of his death, will be conducted on Monday....

It took NASA's spacecraft, MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, Geochemistry and Ranging, AKA MESSENGER, six and a half years and some clever maneuvering - But on Thursday March 17th, the unmanned spacecraft made history by successfully entering the 12 hour elliptical orbit of our solar system's innermost planet, Mercury....

Happy St. Patrick's Day! It's that fun day of year when you can pinch your friends (not wearing green) without getting in trouble, run around the school yard in search of four-leaf clovers for luck and, seek out leprechauns who will hopefully lead you to that elusive pot of gold. So who was St. Patrick and how did all these fun traditions begin on the day of his death anniversary? Read on....