Posted: July 16, 2019

The red cliffs of Utah’s Zion National Park have a new lodger: a condor chick!  

Condors are making a comeback in the wild. Three decades ago, they were just about to go extinct. 

Do you remember reading about the condor comeback before? People suspected a month ago that this chick had been born. But now they know for sure. 

Park rangers believe the chick hatched in early May on the cliffs. If it survives to flying age in November, it will be the first chick to fledge at the park. (Birds fledge when they develop wing feathers large enough for flying.) 

That’s what park rangers hope for. They want to see the bird fledge, take off from its nest, and fly away safely.  

At one point, only 22 condors remained in the wild. To bring back the birds, people raised some in captivity. They released them at Vermilion Cliffs near the Arizona-Utah border in 1996. Now more than 88 fly in the two states. 

The new chick’s parents are the only identified breeding pair in Zion. People guess they have been together two years. The female was born in 2006 at the San Diego Zoo. The male hatched in 2009 in Boise, Idaho, before being released into the wild.  

The Zion chick marks 1,000 hatched as part of the program to save condors. The surviving condor population now numbers more than 500. More than half those birds live in the wild in the American West.  

Condors usually lay eggs on the floor of caves or large crevices. The parents both help keep eggs warm. Baby condors normally make their first flight after six months. But they might stay in the nesting area for up to a year while their parents feed them and teach them how to find meat. 

Look at the birds of the air: They neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? — Matthew 6:26 

A condor nesting site in Zion National Park, Utah. Biologists have confirmed that this female California condor laid an egg that has hatched. (National Park Service via AP) 

Posted: July 15, 2019

Wildlife officials have a plan: Drop 1.5 tons of rat poison on islands off The Golden State. Some Californians say, “Don’t do it!” 

You can find the Farallon Islands off the coast of San Francisco. They are full of birds. But the house mouse is taking over!

About 300,000 to 350,000 birds of 13 species live on the islands. That includes rare birds called ashy storm petrels. Marine mammal species and migrating birds also use the islands for resting and breeding. 

At some times of year, about 1,200 mice per acre can also be found there. No other islands in the world have that many mice. Sometimes so many mice cover the ground that the ground seems to be moving! The rodents feast on insects and spiders—food other island animals need to survive. The mice also attract burrowing owls. The owls in turn eat ashy storm petrels. That bird’s population is in trouble already.The mice don’t belong on the islands. They first arrived there on ships 200 years ago.

Federal wildlife officials plan to use helicopters to dump 2,900 pounds of cereal grain pellets on the islands. The grain contains rat poison called brodifacoum. It will kill the mice.

But then birds will probably eat the poisoned mice.

Officials know the plan will kill some seagulls and other species too. But they say, “Getting rid of mice will allow more birds to live in the long run.”

People in California want answers. What if poison falls in the ocean by mistake? What if poisoned birds fly to other parts of California and other creatures eat them? Isn’t there another way to get rid of the mice?

Gulls nest on the Farallon Islands National Refuge in California. (AP Photo/Ben Margot, File)

Posted: July 12, 2019

Why are these kids grinning? They’re covered in MUD! And they won’t get in trouble for it. Wouldn’t that make you smile too?

Kids 12 and under in Westland, Michigan, get to enjoy Mud Day every year. This year marked the 32^nd annual Wayne County Mud Day.

Between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. participants frolicked, bathed, and lounged in a large mud pit. Then they competed in sloppy Mud Limbo and Wheelbarrow Races.

Every year, two kids are crowned Mud Day King and Queen. This year, Phoenix Crowder and Riley Tulgetske won the titles.

But all muddy fun must eventually come to an end. A local fire department rig sprayed water to rinse off the mud-caked kids.

Mud Day Queen Riley Tulgetske, left, embraces Mud Day King Phoenix Crowder during Mud Day at the Nankin Mills Park on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Carlos Osorio)

Posted: July 11, 2019

At Olympic National Park in Washington, mountain goats are flying!

Officials this week began rounding up the goats from out-of-the-way parts of the park. Mountain goats don’t belong there—even though they’re great at climbing. Humans introduced them to the park in the 1920s. Now they must work to relocate them to the Cascade Mountains, where they do belong.

Animal capture specialists called “gunners” and “muggers” shoot some of the animals with darts to make them fall asleep. They capture others in nets. They blindfold them, pad their horns, and fly them away on slings dangling from a helicopter. Once the goats are set down, veterinarians check them. Then the goats are fitted with tracking collars so researchers can watch their movements. After all that, the goats ride in trucks to the Cascades. Then they take another helicopter ride to their new homes.

The relocations began last year. About 115 of the roughly 725 mountain goats in the Olympics were moved to the Cascades. About 65 to 70 of the moved goats survived the winter.

Why move the goats? At Olympic National Park, they can harm people. They’re attracted to the sweat, urine, and food of hikers.

Officials started their goat moving work Monday and Tuesday. They captured 17 goats to start with. One goat was just a kid—about 6 weeks old. That goat didn’t have to hang from a helicopter. It got a ride on a mugger’s lap.

The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers. — Psalm 104:18

Derrick Halsey, a “mugger,” hands off a kid mountain goat on July 9. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)

Posted: July 11, 2019

Researchers and restorers at Amsterdam’s Rijksmuseum start a huge project. For the next months, they’ll use tech to throw new light on a very old, very dark painting. Do you recognize it? It’s Rembrandt van Rijn’s Night Watch.

Conservators go to work in a specially-designed glass chamber. They study the painting carefully. Soon they will start restoring it—making it look the way it used to. (Read more about Night Watch here.)

People don’t know much about how Rembrandt made this famous painting. But now they have the technology to scan it thoroughly. They can examine its layers to discover what pigments (paints) Rembrandt used. 

Rembrandt created Night Watchin 1642. But people have restored it several times since then. The last time was 40 years ago.  That was after someone slashed the painting with a knife.

Before the latest restoration can begin, experts have to answer a question: What condition is the painting in now? They will photograph and scan the painting to decide. They will build up a detailed digital picture by putting together 12,000 separate images of the painting. They’ll also use X-ray technology to peer through the surface of the painting. An X-ray scanner started taking images on Monday. 

Researchers check equipment inside a glass chamber on July 8. They’re beginning to study Rembrandt's Night Watchmasterpiece at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, Netherlands. (AP Photo/Aleksandar Furtula)

Posted: July 10, 2019

Imagine the largest choir you can. Then add a few thousand more singers. That’s the size of the choir in Estonia this week.

Can you find Estonia on a map? It’s between Finland, Sweden, Latvia, and Russia. Tens of thousands of Estonians made a huge choir there. There were 35,000 singers, more than 1,000 choir groups, and 700 dance groups—all in the same arena! It was a huge celebration! Estonians wanted to remember when music changed their country.

Estonia has a sad story. The Soviet Union controlled the country for 50 years. The Soviets didn’t allow singing in Estonia. Many years were silent. Estonians couldn’t sing about their country. People who did were defiant. But no one could stop Estonia’s song for long.

Estonians wanted to be free. So they started to sing again. In 1991, the country had a “Singing Revolution.” Two million people in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania joined hands. They formed a 370-mile human chain. They sang. “Estonians love to say that it was singing that made us free,” says Estonian Heldur Harry Polda.

Some singers at this year’s festival were young. They don’t remember their country before it was free. But the songs they sang tell their country’s story. Estonia’s blue, white, and black flags covered the festival arena during the concert. Singers wore traditional costumes. Concert-goers cried “Eesti!” That means, “Estonia!” It was loud, beautiful, and emotional.

The festival happens every five years. People come from all over Estonia to sing.

Over and over in the Old Testament, God’s people stacked stones. (See Joshua 4:21-24.) They did that to remember God’s faithfulness. The Estonian music festival is a way Estonians have found to remember their country’s story. It’s kind of like stacking stones!

Tens of thousands of choir singers in Tallinn, Estonia, on July 7 (AP Photo)

Posted: July 10, 2019

Two Barbary lion cubs have been born in a Czech zoo. They get a warm welcome. Very few lions like them remain in the world.

One cub is a girl. The other is a boy. They were born on May 10 in the Dvur Kralove park. Their mom, Khalila, teaches them to walk. Now they have taken their first steps in their enclosure.

Barbary lions are the biggest lion subspecies. A subspecies is a smaller group than a species. For example—tiger is a species. Bengal tiger and Sumatran tiger are subspecies of tigers. Barbary lions weigh more than African lions. They have shorter legs and look more muscular. Their manes grow down their chests to the belly. 

Barbary lions once roamed northern Africa. But they were completely wiped out. Many were killed by gladiators in Roman times. Later, people hunted them. People believe Barbary lions went extinct in the wild in the 1960s.

But some Barbary lions, like these two, still live in zoos. There are probably fewer than 100 left in captivity.

Two Barbary lion cubs rest in their enclosure at the zoo in Dvur Kralove, Czech Republic on July 8, 2019. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

Posted: July 9, 2019

Earthquakes like these haven’t hit California in decades. Locals are busy cleaning up. Meanwhile, scientists warn: Get ready. The “Big One” will come someday.  

A magnitude 6.4 earthquake hit California Thursday. A magnitude 7.1 quake hit Friday. They were both centered 11 miles from the small town of Ridgecrest. That’s about 150 miles from the large city of Los Angeles.

Good thing the quakes didn’t happen closer to the city! The quakes buckled highways. They ruptured gas lines that sparked house fires. But no one was seriously injured. What a blessing! People were likely safe because the quake happened in a place where not many people live. A quake like these in San Francisco, Los Angeles, or San Diego could collapse bridges, buildings, and freeways.

But now people plan for other quakes. California officials spend more than $16 million on quake-detecting sensors. Those big buys should buy time. They will give trains precious seconds to shut down before the shaking starts. 

People are more mindful of being prepared. They map out emergency escape routes. They prepare earthquake kits with food, water, and lights. 

California hasn’t had a magnitude 6 earthquake in 20 years. That’s very unusual. Big quakes normally come to California every few years. Right now, people clean up flooded or burned homes. It’s also hotin California right now—around 100 degrees. The National Guard brings water for people who need it. 

There’s a good chance the huge earthquakes are finished in California for right now. But thousands of smaller aftershocks may continue over the next several days.

Did you know that people have been getting ready for “The Big One”for years? 

Visitors cross highway 178 next to a crack left on the road by an earthquake on July 7 near Ridgecrest, California. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)

Posted: July 8, 2019

These iguanas don’t belong in South Florida. They multiply fast. So workers at a wildlife agency give people instructions: “Kill the iguanas!”

Iguanas aren’t dangerous or aggressive to humans. But they can dig long tunnels. These tunnels damage seawalls, sidewalks, and landscaping. And male iguanas can grow to at least five feet long. Yikes! The reptiles also reproduce fast. Females can lay nearly 80 eggs a year!

Iguanas come from Central America, South America, and some Caribbean islands. But they’re also very cozy in South Florida’s warm climate. That’s all well and good . . . until an iguana leaves droppings all over your porch and pool—or worse: shares its salmonella bacteria.

How did this invasive species get to Florida? Some iguanas were probably brought as pets. Others hitchhiked on ships. (Another invasive species, the Burmese python, is making big trouble in the Everglades.)

The iguana population in Florida just keeps growing. When it gets suddenly cold, the heat-loving animals often drop from trees. They appear dead. But don’t be fooled. If people leave them alone, the lizards will wake up again.

Officials at a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission say people should destroy the iguanas. What they don’t say is how people should kill them.

Iguanas gather on a seawall in the Three Islands neighborhood of Hallandale Beach, Florida. (Mike Stocker/South Florida Sun-Sentinel via AP)

Posted: July 5, 2019

The land around Oklahoma’s Canton Lake was dry, dry, dry. Now it’s soaked!

Donnie Jinkens owns cabins next to the lake. Few customers traveled to his cabins as a long drought sucked the lake dry. But now Mr. Jinkens is reeling lodgers in. One of the wettest springs on record has pushed Canton Lake about 10 feet higher than its normal level.

The rain wasn’t easy on everyone. It caused severe flooding throughout the Midwest. People there will have to pay for billions of dollars in damage to farmland, businesses, and homes. But people living in Oklahoma, Kansas, Arkansas, and most of Texas sighed with relief when they saw the rain. They had been living in drought for more than two years. Finally, the drought was done!

“It’s helped our business,” says Mr. Jinkens. Now his cabins are almost all the way full. During the drought, they were only about a quarter of the way full.

Since January 1, Oklahoma has received an average of about 27 inches of rain. That’s almost eight inches above normal. That much rain has fallen there only a few times in the last 100 years.

He gives rain on the earth and sends waters on the fields. — Job 5:10

Kamee Sander, left, and Kyah Sander, right, splash in the water beneath the dam at Canton Lake in Canton, Oklahoma on July 1. (AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki)

Posted: July 4, 2019

This fox took a loooong walk. It traveled more than 2,737 miles! It started in northern Norway. It ended in Canada’s far north. The trip took four months.

Workers at the Norwegian Polar Institute were watching the journey. They say the young female arctic fox left her birth place on Norway’s Svalbard archipelago on March 1, 2018. She reached Canada’s Ellesmere Island on July 1, 2018. To get there, she traveled through Greenland.

That was more than a year ago. But the researchers just reported the long trip. They say no one has ever recorded an arctic fox journey so long. The fox was looking for a place to settle down and breed.

To watch the fox, they used a satellite tracking device they fitted her with in July 2017. At first, she stayed close to home. Little by little, she ventured out. Finally, she left the island on March 26, 2018.

Norway’s arctic foxes can travel across ice to reach Greenland and then North America. No one knows why they leave home to find places to breed. Arctic foxes have thick fur to survive in cold homes. They live to about age four. Scientists guess this fox is around two years old. Like other arctic foxes, she lives on fish, sea birds, and lemmings. During the journey, she moved about 28.7 miles each day. That’s some serious speed! It shows God’s awesome design for this little carnivore.

The polar fox is fitted with a satellite tracking collar in Krossfjorden, Svalbard, a Norwegian Arctic archipelago, in 2017. (Elise Stroemseng/Norwegian Polar Institute via AP)

Posted: July 4, 2019

Alert! Federal officials raise a warning for the world’s largest active volcano, Hawaii’s Mauna Loa.

Mauna Loa last erupted in 1984. But the area keeps having more and more earthquakes. Officials change the volcano’s status from “normal” to “advisory.” That’s the second of four alert levels. It’s another way of saying, “watch and wait.”

Scientists are closely monitoring Mauna Loa. It has a reputation for changing fast and sending lava far and wide. Lava can travel from the volcano’s crack all the way down to the ocean in just a couple hours.

Mauna Loa has erupted 33 times since 1843. During its last eruption, lava flows came within 4.5 miles of Hilo, the Big Island’s largest city.

What will happen if the volcano becomes more active? Officials will change their alert to “watch!” Next comes, “warning!” “Warning” means a dangerous eruption is on its way.

Officials think carefully before changing the alert level. They want people to know about real danger. But they don’t want people to panic if they don’t need to.

Right now, Mauna Loa has 50 to 75 earthquakes a week. The ground bulges. That means magma is entering the volcano’s plumbing system.

That sounds like a lot of earthquakes! But right before an eruption, scientists would expect to see 50 to several hundred earthquakes each day!

Is Mauna Loa waking up? Maybe. But it isn’t ready to blow—yet.

Did you know scientists did a big project at Mauna Loa? They practiced for traveling to Mars!

The mountains melt like wax before the Lord, before the Lord of all the Earth. — Psalm 97:5

Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano towers over the summit crater of Kilauea volcano in Hawaii in April. Is Mauna Loa about to erupt? (AP Photo/Caleb Jones)

Posted: July 3, 2019

Will you be traveling through Ohio this summer? If so, will you be using a map? Either way, it’s time you met Bruce Hull.

Mr. Hull is the guy who’s been making Ohio’s road maps for almost two decades. Mr. Hull’s work has appeared on millions of maps. These maps help drivers navigate Ohio—which has the busiest highway system in the United States after California, Texas, and Florida. Mr. Hull picks out the images, the design, the paper, and even the type of fold that’s used on the maps. (To choose the fold, Mr. Hull slaps a piece of blank paper folded in an accordion or trifold into a co-worker’s hand. He watches the person try to unfold it. The least clumsy fold wins.) One of Mr. Hull’s maps featured Ohio emblems, such as the state mammal, bird, insect, and flower. Other versions have featured Ohio’s scenic byways and Ohio’s Native American tribes.

When he first started, map photos were black-and-white. Film was developed in labs. Layouts were done by hand. Color was added by using sheets of film cut to fit.

Around 2001, Mr. Hull wanted to add a picture of a kid in a car seat to his map. He found one—but it cost $160 to use. “So I thought, well, I’ve got a 6-year-old,” says Mr. Hull. “I’ll just throw her in the back of the van and take her picture.” Ashley Hull has appeared in every state map since! Most Ohio map users don’t know it, but they’ve been watching her grow up—in photos while camping, biking, driving, or laughing with high school friends.

Now Mr. Hull’s daughter is 25. Most people her age and younger almost never use maps. They use GPSs. But, with a Dad who’s the state mapmaker, abandoning paper wasn’t an option for Ashley. “When she first got her car, she wanted a GPS,” says Mr. Hull. “So I said, well, you learn to read this first.” He gave her one of his paper road maps.

During the state’s bicentennial year, in 2003, Mr. Hull decorated the map with a timeline of Ohio history. That included another sly family reference: a photo of his great-grandmother, Sophia Mitchell. She was the first black woman to serve as a mayor in the state.

Mapping has changed a lot since years have passed! Read Map: From Noun to Verb.

Bruce Hull points to an image of his daughter on a state map in Columbus, Ohio. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)

Posted: July 3, 2019

Fishermen in New England watch. Uh-oh. They might be headed for a lobster lull.  

Did you know scientists count baby lobsters? This year, numbers are low. That means trouble for U.S. fishermen. Large numbers of the shellfish family are on the move. Baby lobsters are scurrying deep in the sea off Canada’s coast. But New England’s lobster-filled waters have lost the little guys. What’s the big deal about baby lobsters? And why are they saying good-bye to Maine?

Baby lobsters look like tiny bugs. They are smaller than crickets! But they don’t stay small for long. They grow quickly, shedding their shells when they need more space. Lobsters are crustaceans. A shell protects their bodies. Shedding their shells is called “molting.” A young lobster might molt 25 to 30 times before it turns seven years old. Young lobsters settle down in the ocean bottom. That’s where they grow and grow and grow. They never stop growing or molting! Scientists think some live to be 100 years old.

Baby lobster numbers tell scientists about future fishing. Will there be plenty of lobsters? Where will the best place to catch them be? It probably won’t be off the Gulf of Maine. The babies seem to want to hang out in Canada instead. Marine scientist Rick Wahle thinks the low numbers of lobster babies has “raised concerns over the future of this region’s fishery.”

Simon Peter said to them, ‘I am going fishing.’ They said to him, ‘We will go with you.’ They went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. — John 21:3

Count those babies! A marine biologist holds a young lobster on Friendship Long Island, Maine. Low baby lobster numbers spell trouble for the shellfish population. (AP Photo)

Posted: July 2, 2019

Get ready to see another world from the eyes of a dragonfly—at least, a robotic one.

NASA officials make new plans. They’re sending a drone called Dragonfly to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. The drone will use propellers to fly. It will land on several spots on the icy moon. What is Dragonfly looking for? Scientists want it to find out if teeny tiny microbial life could survive on Titan.

If you had rockets and astronauts and the latest tech on hand, what part of space would you explore? NASA workers suggested nearly a dozen different projects, including collecting samples from a nearby comet. Dragonfly beat them all.

Scientists are really thinking ahead. The drone is supposed to launch in 2026. It should arrive at Titan in 2034. The plan is to land on some of Titan’s dunes. Later, Dragonfly will visit a crater. The trip will cost a lot of money—$850 million!

Lori Glaze is the director of NASA’s planetary science division. “What really excites me about this mission is that Titan has all the ingredients needed for life,” she says. Titan is a haze-covered world. It has a thick atmosphere. Saturn's largest moon is dotted with lakes of methane and mountains of ice. An ocean hides below the surface. Titan has its own seasons. Wind and rain have made rivers and seas of ethane and methane there . But the average temperature is negative 290 degrees! That doesn’t sound like a good home for people! Could a microbe survive there?

(The more scientists explore other worlds, the more they realize Earth is a sweet spot—with a climate just right for life!)

Titan was last studied on the international Cassini-Huygens mission. The Cassini spacecraft explored for two decades. In 2017, it went out with a bang—just what scientists planned. It plunged into Saturn!

An artist’s idea of what the Dragonfly drone will look like. The image shows Dragonfly doing what NASA astronauts plan—exploring more than one spot. (NASA via AP)

Posted: July 1, 2019

Want to step inside a seven-foot eyeball? If so, the Children’s Museum of Illinois is the place to go.  

The Decatur Herald & Review reports about the new exhibit, called “Peek Inside.” Dr. John Lee, a local ophthalmologist, had the idea for the giant eyeball. He designed it. He hopes that if people know more about the eye and eye diseases they’ll be able to spot those diseases in time to protect their sight.

Dr. Lee has treated a lot of eyes. But he has never built one. So he asked for help from welding students at Richland Community College. They built a metal frame. Then they added 4,000 small squares of Styrofoam, two layers of fiberglass, and six coats of paint. The lens is made of Plexiglas. It matches the exact dimension of a cornea and eye lens. (The cornea is the transparent layer at the front of the eye.)

Dr. Lee has helped a lot of people who have an eye disease called glaucoma. Glaucoma happens when the optic nerve gets damaged. Glaucoma can be prevented. Dr. Lee wants more people to learn about the disease so they won’t get it in the first place. Buttons inside the huge eye show what certain diseases can do to the eye.  

Did you know the shape of your face protects your eyeballs? Read about some things you can do to protect your sight in Take Care of Your Eyes. And don’t forget about your other set of eyes—your spiritual eyes!

Brooklyn Watson, 9, visits the Children’s Museum of Illinois in Decatur, Illinois. She peeks inside the giant eyeball. (Clay Jackson/Herald & Review via AP)