Posted: June 11, 2021

Archaeologists are digging through a grassy hill behind Plymouth Rock one last time. A park will be built there soon. It will remind people of the Pilgrims and the Native Americans who once lived there.

About 20 graduate students from the University of Massachusetts-Boston started digging this week. They are looking at Cole’s Hill in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

After the Pilgrims arrived from England in 1620, they made their first cemetery on the hill. It was a Wampanoag village for thousands of years before that.

Plans to build Remembrance Park stopped during the pandemic. Now this could be the last chance to look for Native and colonial artifacts. The team will work through July 1.

“You don’t always get the opportunity to do work at sites that are so significant,” says team leader David Landon. “Anytime you start digging in Plymouth, you find interesting stuff.”

After less than 48 hours, the team found a few Wampanoag artifacts, broken pieces of 1800s pottery, and the bones of cows and pigs—leftovers of a colonist’s dinner. They hope to find more.

Workers will start building the park late next year or early in 2023.

“We want to make it more than just a grassy, empty lot. We want to engage people,” says Donna Curtin. She’s the director of the museum that owns the land.

If the archaeologists make any fantastic finds, Mr. Landon thinks they’ll be given more time to finish their work.

“We’ll learn what we need to learn from the site before any construction takes place,” he says.

Read Joshua 4 to learn about a memorial that God commanded the Israelites to set up.

Posted: June 10, 2021

Jeff Bezos is a billionaire. The 57-year-old is considered the richest person in the world. He works hard as a businessman. Mr. Bezos founded the online company Amazon in his garage. Today, Amazon is extraordinarily successful. Mr. Bezos has announced that he will be taking an extraordinary vacation. Where’s he headed? To space.  

Mr. Bezos will be aboard for Blue Origin’s first human space flight. In an Instagram post, the businessman announced that he’s scheduled to launch on July 20. His brother and the winner of an ongoing auction will be flying to space with Mr. Bezos on the New Shepard spacecraft.

The auction is still open. Currently, the highest bid is $3,500,000 for the remaining seat. The auction concludes on June 12. Almost 6,000 people have bid. They come from 143 countries! The winning bid amount will be donated to Blue Origin’s foundation. It is called “Club for the Future.” The foundation’s mission is to inspire future generations to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

July 20 is an important day in history. It is the anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing in 1969. Apollo 11 was the first spaceflight that put humans on the Moon.

Back in February, Mr. Bezos announced that he was stepping down as the leader of Amazon. He wants to spend more time on other things. That includes Blue Origin and other new ideas. Blue Origin is an aerospace company that is developing rockets for commercial (business) use. According to the Blue Origin website, the company was founded by Mr. Bezos “with the vision of enabling a future where millions of people are living and working in space to benefit Earth.”

“I want to go on this flight because it’s a thing I’ve wanted to do all my life. It’s an adventure. It’s a big deal for me,” says Mr. Bezos.

Is not God high in the heavens? See the highest stars, how lofty they are! —  Job 22:12

Posted: June 9, 2021

AH-CH-OO! Turkey’s Marmara Sea is quickly filling with snot—“sea snot,” that is. The marine mucus is thick, slimy, and gross. The unusual film is visible above the water along the shores of Istanbul, Turkey. The country’s president promises to rescue the sea from the alarming slimy outbreak.

Turkey’s marine mucilage (that’s another word for mucus) outbreak is bigger than ever before. It looks like a slimy gray sheet sitting on top of the water. Underwater videos show coral covered with sea snot. The substance comes from compounds released by marine organisms. It’s also blooming (growing very quickly) in the Black and Aegean Seas nearby.

Istanbul is Turkey’s largest city. About 16 million people live there. Factories border the sea. Those industries create tons of waste. Companies are responsible for treating waste before disposing of it. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says that untreated waste dumped into the water has caused the sea snot bloom.

President Erdogan says he has instructed the Ministry of Environment and Urbanization to work together with community leaders. Teams are inspecting wastewater and solid waste facilities. They are looking for clues. Officials need to find the sources of pollution that are causing the goo to grow.

“We will save our seas from this mucilage calamity, leading with the Marmara Sea,” says the president. “We must take this step without delay.”

And God said, “Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good. — Genesis 1:9-10

Posted: June 8, 2021

His hard work paid off. Magawa the mine-sniffing rat gets to retire. For five years, the African giant pouched rat has sniffed out landmines in the country of Cambodia. Magawa has been the most successful rodent trained and overseen by a Belgian nonprofit company, APOPO. Now he gets to leave the rat race for retirement.

APOPA trained Magawa to alert human handlers so they can safely remove explosives from the ground. Last year, he won a British charity’s top civilian award for animal bravery. That was a huge honor for the rodent. It was formerly given only to dogs.

“Although still in good health, he has reached a retirement age and is clearly starting to slow down,” says APOPO. “It is time.”

Magawa accomplished a lot in his job as top mine-sniffing rat. He has cleared more than 1.5 million square feet of land. That’s the size of 20 soccer fields! He sniffed out 71 landmines and 38 items of unexploded military weapons. African giant pouched rats like Mawaga are best suited for the job because their size allows them to walk across mine fields without triggering the explosives. They can also zip across the fields much more quickly than people.

Magawa was born in Tanzania in 2014. He began his bomb-sniffing career in 2016. Lily Shallom is an APOPO spokeswoman. She explains that as a retired rat, Magawa will live in his same cage as before. He’ll have the same daily routine, without the dangerous job of scurrying across minefields. Magawa will have playtime every day and get regular exercise and health checks.

Ms. Shallom says the rat eats mostly fresh fruit and vegetables. He enjoys sun-dried fish for protein and pellets for vitamins and fiber. He spends 20-30 minutes each day playing in a larger cage that has a sandbox and a running wheel.  

Posted: June 7, 2021

Officials didn’t have to look very far for a way to ease traffic jams in Amsterdam, Netherlands. They just looked at the canals. The Dutch capital’s canals transported people and goods long before cars clogged the narrow roads. Now self-driving, electric boats are being tested on Amsterdam’s canals.

The city has more than 60 miles of waterways. The small boats will carry passengers, run errands, and even pick up garbage. The Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are working on the Roboat project.

Stephan van Dijk is working with the project. He says self-driving boats will improve safety on busy waterways. They will also make shipping faster.

Recently, a self-driving vessel showed off its skills. The electric boat sailed past a full-size replica of an 18^th-century three-mast trading ship. Now the boat must learn how to squeeze through busy boat traffic. Private boats and canal cruises for tourists pack the waterways.

The Roboats have orange propellers. The boats can cruise at about 4 miles per hour. An electric battery powers the four thrusters.  One battery charge can run a boat between 12-24 hours. Cameras and sensors on the boat send messages to a remote computer. The computer detects objects nearby. It steers the boat safely.

Developers say it will take time to perfect the self-steering technology. That means lots and lots of practice. “It’s mostly because we want to be absolutely sure that we can navigate safely in the canals,” says engineer Rens Doornbusch. “. . . one of the next steps is to make sure that we can actually handle any kind of situation that we might encounter in the canals.”

Self-driving boats could make getting around Amsterdam much easier in the future. What a creative solution for city traffic jams!   

But there the majestic One, the LORD, will be for us a place of rivers and wide canals on which no boat with oars will go, and on which no mighty ship will pass. — Isaiah 33:21 NASB

Posted: June 4, 2021

Brothers Matthew and Nick climbed Gothics Mountain. They took packs, water, good boots, and a new must-have: reservations. Park officials put a free online reservation system in place. It’s meant to handle the hordes of visitors to the Adirondack Mountain Reserve in New York.

Outdoor reservations are not new, especially for camping spots. But now they are popping up more. Parks from Maui to Maine are using reservations. Why? One reason was to limit visitors during the pandemic. Another is to manage crowds. Many people were coming to parks even before the pandemic. Now even more people want to explore nature.

It won’t be as easy to visit. But visitors will be sure to have a parking space and more elbow room in the woods.

“I’ve been avoiding a lot of the High Peaks for years now because they’ve been so overcrowded,” says Matthew Golebiewski. “And so it’s nice that I have a guaranteed spot.”

Reservations can help protect the wilderness. The reservation system at Yosemite National Park started because of the pandemic. But it has helped fix overcrowding problems too, says Neal Desai. He works with the National Parks Conservation Association.

Around 8.1 million more Americans hiked last year than the year before. That’s the largest one-year gain on record, according to the Outdoor Foundation.

National park visits dropped last year. Fewer people could visit because of closures and restrictions. But normal crowds are expected back this year.

In His hand are the depths of the Earth; the heights of the mountains are His also. The sea is His, for He made it, and His hands formed the dry land. — Psalm 95:4-5

Posted: June 3, 2021

The United States Postal Service wants to increase the cost of stamps. The price hike could help the struggling agency. For now, first-class stamps cost 55 cents. That’s the cost to send a regular letter or a birthday card. The new cost of a first-class stamp will be 58 cents, come August 29.

The request to change the cost of stamps was filed with the Postal Regulatory Commission. The request includes price hikes for first-class mail, magazines, and marketing mailers. They are part of the Postmaster General’s plan to reduce the Postal Service’s debt. The Postal Service could lose $160 billion over the next 10 years.  

The Postal Service has struggled financially for years. Over the past 10 years, mail volume has dropped. People just aren’t mailing letters like they used to. They choose email or texting to communicate. First-class letters have dropped by 47 percent! That means the flow of letters in the mail is about half what it was 10 years ago.

People still mail packages, but they don't always use the Post Office for delivery. These days, the Postal Service faces fierce competition from FedEx, UPS, and Amazon, when it comes to package delivery. 

Louis DeJoy is the U.S. Postmaster General. It is his job to lead the Postal Service. He says that stamp cost increases are necessary. The extra money stamps bring in will help the Postal Service continue to serve the United States.

Sometimes leaders have to make important choices for the people they lead. The Postal Service Board Chairman Ron Bloom has a big compliment for Mr. DeJoy. He says that Mr. DeJoy “in very difficult circumstances is doing a good job.” The Bible talks a lot about leadership. Godly leaders trust the Lord to guide their decisions. Proverbs 16:9 says, “The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.”

Posted: June 2, 2021

Zhang Hong is a Chinese mountain climber. He is also blind. He just became the first blind Asian to reach the top of Mount Everest.

Mr. Zhang is 44 years old. He is the third blind climber in the world to make it to the highest peak. Mr. Zhang reached the summit on May 24. A team of guides and Sherpas helped him get there safely. Sherpas are skilled Himalayan mountain climbers. They assisted Mr. Zhang on the slippery, icy trails as he climbed. 

A blind American climber who scaled Mount Everest in 2001 inspired Mr. Zhang. That climber’s name is Eric Weihenmayer. A climber from Austria was the second blind person to reach the peak.

“Today I sit here and think about Eric (Weihenmayer), who inspired me to have such a dream and work all the way, and eventually I achieved it,” says Mr. Zhang. “So, I would think there are so many other visually impaired people around the world and also in Asia, and I hope what I did can be an inspiration for them.”

Mr. Zhang trained for five years before taking on Mount Everest. He carried bags packed with 66 pounds of weight up the staircase of the hospital where he works. He also prepared to summit the mountain by climbing several smaller peaks in China.

Mr. Zhang lost his eyesight when he was 21 years old. He had an eye disease called glaucoma. Today, he lives in Tibet with his wife. What’s next for the accomplished climber?

“Personally, I plan to try the ‘grand slam’ in the next few years––the seven summits around the world on seven continents and the North and South Poles,” says Mr. Zhang.

God, the Lord, is my strength; He makes my feet like the deer’s; He makes me tread on my high places. — Habakkuk 3:19

Posted: June 1, 2021

Everybody enjoys a change of scenery from time to time. Maybe alligators do too. A young gator was sunning on sandy Malaquite Beach in South Texas. (That’s about 25 miles southeast of Corpus Christi, Texas.) Officials traced the alligator’s home hundreds of miles away. It came from the state of Louisiana.

Padre Island National Seashore officials announced that National Park Service rangers found the large reptile. Rangers carefully examined it. They looked for clues about where it came from. The alligator had tags on its rear feet. Those tags helped rangers determine that the reptile’s home was in Louisiana.

How the alligator got to South Texas remains a mystery! If it traveled by sea, its journey was at least 500 miles. But that would have been an unusual trip through the Gulf of Mexico. Alligators can tolerate salt water for only a few hours. Sometimes, they can survive in salt water for a couple of days. But they are primarily freshwater reptiles. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration website, alligators live in swampy freshwater areas such as rivers, streams, lakes, and ponds.

Crocodiles, on the other hand, live in both fresh water and salt water—for a time. They can’t live in the ocean, but they tolerate it for longer periods than alligators do. Officials are sure the reptile vacationing on the Texas coast is an alligator, not a crocodile.

Too bad he didn’t get to take in the rays for long! The gator’s spring break ended abruptly when rangers found it. They took it to a rehabilitation center. It will recover from its journey there.

Posted: May 31, 2021

In observance of Memorial Day, the WORLDkids offices will be closed on Monday, May 31, 2021.

Today we set aside time to give thanks to God in appreciation, in mourning, and in memory of those in the United States military who gave their lives in service to our nation.

Posted: May 28, 2021

Eric Carle wrote and illustrated books. He died this week at age 91. Millions of kids (and adults!) loved the stories he told and images he created.

Mr. Carle used simple words and bright colors. Some of his books are Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, Do You Want to Be My Friend? and From Head to Toe.

One of the most well-known is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. It was published in 1969. It tells the story of a caterpillar who eats through 26 different foods and changes into a butterfly. The book has sold more than 40 million copies and has been translated into 60 languages!

Mr. Carle wrote and illustrated over 75 books in all. He sometimes partnered with Bill Martin, Jr., or other authors.

It was Mr. Martin who spotted Mr. Carle’s talents. Mr. Carle was working for an advertising agency at the time. Mr. Martin had just written Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? He needed an illustrator.

“While waiting for a dentist appointment, I came across an ad he had done that featured a Maine lobster,” Mr. Martin said in 2003. “The art was so striking that I knew instantly that I had found my artist!”

How did Mr. Carle make his images? He painted tissue paper with various colors and textures. Then he cut out shapes and made pictures with them.

Mr. Carle’s father introduced him to the wonders of God’s little creatures. “When I was a small child, as far back as I can remember, he would take me by the hand and we would go out in nature,” he told The New York Times in 1994. “And he would show me worms and bugs and bees and ants and explain their lives to me.” (Read Proverbs 30:24-28 for some observations about insects.)

He would later write about bugs in books like The Very Busy Spider, The Very Quiet Cricket, and The Very Lonely Firefly.

Posted: May 27, 2021

A new park opened at the site of a crumbling pier on the Hudson River. The New York City park is called Little Island. That’s fitting since it looks like the park is floating above the water. Little Island’s unusual design makes it unique among other parks in the city.

Little Island’s flowers, trees, and performance spaces rest on 132 concrete pots. The park’s creators call the pots “tulip pots.” They sit on big concrete posts that are different heights. Paths wind through the park. They can be reached by two bridges.

Thomas Heatherwick designed Little Island. It looks to some people like an enchanted forest. “All of it is an oasis of everything fun, whimsical, playful that we can conjure,” says Barry Diller, the park’s developer. (Conjure means to bring to mind or imagine.)

For years, New Yorkers and visitors have watched Little Island as it was assembled, piece by piece. The concrete tulip shapes that support the park were made in upstate New York. They floated by barge down the Hudson River to their permanent location in the park. Once the tulips were in place, planting began. The park’s landscape was designed to look like a leaf floating on water. It features 35 different kinds of trees, 65 species of shrubs, and 290 varieties of grasses, vines, and perennial flowers.

The park’s human-made hills provide views of the Hudson River on one side and the city on the other. But of course, the park feels like its own little world. “I think it’s going to represent for New York a place to come to rest and restore but also ignite their imaginations and remind us all that we’re creative,” says executive director Trish Santini. “My hope is that people come back time and time again because they realize every time they come, there’s always something new and fun to do.”

Posted: May 26, 2021

A lawn at the University of California, Davis, looks a little bit silly. That’s because sheep are munching on the grass. They’re part of an experiment. Sheep versus lawn mower.

“Half of this field is being turned over to the sheep for three days and the other half is going to be maintained conventionally by lawn mowers and the University of California Davis ground-crew,” says project lead Haven Kiers. The project is starting out small. To begin, there will be 25 sheep hanging out on a one-acre spot on the university campus.

Researchers are looking at several things during the experiment. They want to know if the sheep help new plants grow on the lawn. Remember, as the animals graze, the seeds and plants they eat return to the soil through their waste. Scientists wonder if sheep manure will fertilize the ground. They will also watch to see if the sheep aerate the soil with their hooves. When soil is aerated, it is broken so that air and moisture can get deep into the soil. Some people use machines to aerate soil. Researchers think sheep hooves might do a better job. Of course, all eyes will also be checking the grass length and health. Which side of the lawn will look better?

Hunter Ottman is a 23-year-old landscape architecture major. He has a fun job for the project. Researchers hired him as a shepherd. He says that sheep are natural lawn mowers. They could cut down on the need for fuel-powered mowers.

Ms. Kiers enjoys seeing people excited about the project. “Anytime I mention the sheep project, people get really excited. They want to watch the sheep. They want to come see.” As for the sheep, well. . . they seem happy to just be munching on some grass.

And you are my sheep, human sheep of my pasture, and I am your God, declares the Lord God. — Ezekiel 34:31

Posted: May 25, 2021

Wildfires are common during Greece’s hot summers. A fire broke out last week. Many people had to evacuate (leave the area). It kept firefighters very busy. The blaze tore through rugged forest terrain. It damaged dozens of homes. A huge cloud of smoke and ash rose over southern Greece.

The wildfire started about 45 miles west of Athens. It started outside the resort town of Loutraki. Fire department officials said 17 water-dropping planes and three helicopters were used to fight the blaze.

Authorities ordered people in 18 settlements to move to safety. Residents and renters on vacation had to leave. Officials also evacuated two monasteries and a convent.

The fire destroyed power lines. This caused electricity blackouts. Dangerous smoke and flames reached the nearby coastline. They damaged several fishing boats. The Civil Protection Authority activated a cell-phone-enabled alert service to help people escape from fire-threatened areas.

Fire department spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis says more than 180 firefighters worked together to stop the blaze. He says that a lull in high winds finally helped firefighters get control over the wildfire. Thankfully, the fire didn’t cause any human injuries.

In Acts 20, we read about Paul’s time in Greece. He traveled to the Athens. It was a much smaller city then than it is now. Athens was a well-known and popular center for learning. God gave Paul opportunities to preach the gospel many times during his stay in Athens. 

Posted: May 24, 2021

They’re B-A-C-K! Swarms of cicadas have begun popping up from the ground. The red-eyed bugs are emerging after 17 years below the surface. They’re invading thousands of American backyards this summer. Maybe they’ll show up in kitchens too.

Cicadas make protein-packed snacks. They are also gluten-free, low-fat, and low-carb. People around the world munch on them.

“You could make stir fry. You can mix them into dough to make bread—make banana bread, let’s say. You can batter them and deep fry them, which I think would be my favorite way,” says David George Gordon. He’s the author of The Eat-a-Bug Cookbook. The “Bug Chef,” as people call him, says people need to get over our dislike of insects. That's because God packed insects with loads of nutrients. And then He made insects plentiful around the world. Some could have a chance to sample a natural delicacy during this summer’s cicada invasion. 

When the soil warms up, beady-eyed cicadas emerge from the ground. They shed their exoskeletons, attach to branches, mate, and lay eggs before dying. It all takes about six weeks.

That leaves a little over a month for people to snack on cicadas. When eating them, it’s best to pull the wings and legs off. That reduces the crunchiness. Chef Gordon tells people to cook cicadas young, before their body armor hardens. They’re much softer and chewier as babies.

Chef Gordon pops cicadas into the freezer. Once defrosted, they make good pizza toppings or pasta additions. He says they taste like asparagus. Maryland entomologist Mike Raupp says, “They have a buttery texture, a delicious, nutty flavor, probably from the tannins, from the roots of the trees on which they fed.”

Cicadas don’t hang around for long. But other insects also can be tasty snacks, according to Derek Medico. He co-owns Newport Jerk Company. His store sells bags of dehydrated crickets, grasshoppers, and silkworms for just $9.99. Are you game to try some?

Posted: May 21, 2021

People flocked to sniff a big, smelly flower in Alameda, California. The giant plant is called a corpse flower because of the stench of its blossoms. It smells like something that has died and is decomposing. Owner Solomon Leyva decided to share the “delightful” bloom with his neighbors.

Mr. Leyva owns a plant nursery in Alameda. He deals in rare plants. He had been posting on social media about his morbidly scented posy.

When he saw a lot of interest in the giant blooming flower, he decided to wheel it to an empty gas station. A line of people waiting to see the plant stretched down the block for most of the day on Monday.

“I grabbed my wagon, went down to my greenhouse, put it in with the help of a friend of mine, dragged it down here to this abandoned building, and people just started showing up,” Mr. Leyva says.

Mr. Leyva relaxed in a camping chair at the old Art Deco gas station. He patiently answered the same questions again and again. He guesses that by four o’clock p.m., at least 1,200 residents had visited the flower.

Corpse flowers are rare. They can grow taller than a person. They are native to Sumatra, an island in Indonesia. It can take years for the plants to store up enough energy to bloom. And the flower lasts for only a day or two.

Why does the flower smell like rotting meat? God gave it that smell to attract beetles and flies. Those bugs pollinate the plant.

“Everyone is commenting to me that the last time they’ve seen this was in San Francisco, and there was a barrier,” Mr. Leyva says. “They had to wait for hours, and they weren’t allowed to get near it.” People were excited that they could “walk up and wiggle it and smell it.”

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. — Isaiah 40:8