Current News

This week’s theme: things that glow bright. Solar Decathalons, planets with more than one sun, and cats that glow in the dark. Scientifically there’s a lot going on in our world (and beyond). Discuss any of these cool new finds with your child, and for fun? Stamp collecting, and buried treasure are more than meets the eye!

1. New Faces for Stamps

Time to update those stamp collections! Until now, many children may not have recognized the famous faces they’ve seen on US postage stamps, but USPS is hoping that the faces of living Americans (think Taylor Swift or Justin Beiber) on stamps will help generate more postage purchases.

2. Bounty Hunters Discover Treasure Trove Inside WWII Shipwreck!

A World War? Torrential storms? Robots? Buried Treasure?!?! Sounds like the making of an epic adventure, or what bounty hunters stumbled across using the Odyssey Marin Exploration Robotic Scanner. Intrigued? Read on to find out more on the world’s most valuable shipwreck.

3. 2011 Solar Decathlon

Students from around the world are helping to do their part in making our world a cleaner place. The Solar Decathlon is a ten-day competition where teams create and display model homes that harness solar energy to heat, cool, and power the homes. Pretty neat, huh?

4. Glow Kitties

Looking for a way to take top honors this Halloween? Try walking a live kitten that glows in the dark down your street. Researchers are testing a way to fight the Feline Immunodeficiency Virus, and you can tell if the test is working by turning of the lights (that’s when things get spooky)!!

5. A Planet with Two Suns

And you thought Star Wars was a fictional tale. Well, sort of. Astronomers have discovered a planet with two suns (think Luke Skywalker’s home). Does it support life? Read on to learn more.