Posted: September 24, 2020
Are there organisms living on the hottest planet in our solar system? Maybe. Astronomers found a sign associated with life high in the atmosphere of Venus. Two telescopes in Hawaii and Chile spotted phosphine in Venus’ thick clouds. On Earth, that chemical comes from life.
Phosphine is a toxic gas. It’s in ooze at the bottom of ponds. It’s in the guts of some creatures like badgers. It’s inside piles of penguin poop. A study in the journal Nature Astronomy reports that Venus has phosphine too.
Sara Seager is a planetary scientist. She co-authored the Venus phosphine study. She says that researchers “exhaustively went through every possibility and ruled all of them out: volcanoes, lightning strikes, small meteorites falling into the atmosphere. . . . Not a single process we looked at could produce phosphine in high enough quantities to explain our team’s findings.”
How could life exist on such a hot planet? Temperatures on Venus are around 800 degrees! And there is no water.
Ms. Seager wonders if life could be 30 miles above the surface of Venus. That’s where thick carbon-dioxide clouds stay around room temperature (about 70 degrees). Those clouds contain tiny water droplets. That could be where microbes (very tiny organisms) live. Scientists need proof.
David Grinspoon is an astrobiologist. He says that finding phosphine on Venus “almost seems too good to be true.” Study co-author David Clements is also excited. He says his head tells him “it’s probably a 10% chance that it’s life,” but his heart “obviously wants it to be much bigger because it would be so exciting.”
God spoke, and Venus was created. He made it unbearably hot for humans to live there. He made Earth perfect for people to call home. But still, it is exciting to learn more about the other planets.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the Moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? –– Psalm 8:3-4
Posted: September 23, 2020
Is it the USS Grenadier, one of 52 American submarines lost during World War II? The divers who found it think so. The United States Navy lost the submarine 77 years ago in Southeast Asia. Now, four divers say they have proof that they have found the sunken ship.
The divers sent photos and other evidence to the United States Naval History and Heritage Command. It will verify whether the divers found the Grenadier—or another sub.
The wreck sits 270 feet under water in the Strait of Malacca. It’s about 92 miles south of Phuket, Thailand.
Ben Reymenants is one of the divers. His team used sonar to scan the sea floor for shapes. They dived down to get a closer look at one big, unusual shape. Was it a missing submarine? The divers were curious. “And so we went back looking for clues, nameplate, but we couldn’t find any of those,” recalls diver Lance Horowitz.
They had an idea. The divers measured the boat. They compared their measurements with naval records. “And they’re exactly, as per the drawings, the exact same size. So we’re pretty confident that it is the USS Grenadier,” says Mr. Horowitz.
It’s up to the Navy command’s Underwater Archaeology Branch to confirm the divers’ discovery. That might take a few months. The Grenadier left Pearl Harbor on February 4, 1942. It completed five missions. The sub was bombed on its sixth mission. The crew abandoned ship on April 21, 1943. All 76 people on board survived the bombing and sinking. “This was an important ship during the war and it was very important to all the crew that served on her,” says Mr. Harowitz. “I’m sure it’s very satisfying for them and their families to be able to have some closure.”
Posted: September 22, 2020
Two years ago, researchers gave gray wolves two important jobs to do at Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park. First, the wolves needed to grow their families. Second, they were to reduce the park’s moose herd. Here’s their story: Home for Wolves. It’s time to check in on the wolves. They have been busy the past two years.
“They’re having no trouble finding and preying on moose, and that’s really significant,” says wildlife ecologist Rolf Peterson. He’s spent decades studying the wolves and moose on the Lake Superior island chain.
A Michigan Tech research team is tallying the wolves. They’ve spotted 12 wolves by flying a plane over the park. There could be more. There is proof that the wolves are having pups. Researchers spotted pup-sized tracks this summer. Remote cameras also showed images of pups. The growing wolf families are learning to live together. It looks like four social groups are forming. Two wolves have staked out territories on opposite halves of the main island. Other wolves are hunting on smaller islands.
As for the moose––they’re all over the place! They are damaging the park’s vegetation. The balsam fir is a moose’s favorite food in the winter. The many moose killing the fir trees. Last winter, moose munched almost all the new growth that poked above the snow in one area of the park.
The Michigan Tech team keeps count of moose in the park. There are approximately 1,876 moose. That’s fewer than last year. It looks like the wolves are doing their jobs. During the winter, they averaged one moose kill every other day. The wolves are helping curb the park’s moose problem.
In Genesis 1:28, God gives man dominion over every living creature. The wolf project is a way people can help keep both wolf and moose populations healthy.
Posted: September 21, 2020
Officials canceled the Chicago Marathon this year. That didn’t stop one nun from racing 26.2 miles. Sister Stephanie Baliga put on her sneakers and ran her own marathon. Where? In her church’s basement.
Sister Stephanie did it to keep a promise. She told her running team that if the official marathon was canceled, she’d run on a treadmill. Her plan was to raise money for the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels food pantry in Chicago.
A friend asked Sister Stephanie to share her run with the world. That’s exactly what she did! On August 23, the nun’s run was livestreamed on Zoom and posted on YouTube. The 32-year-old woman wore a United States flag bandanna. Friends, clergy, and family members appeared onscreen to cheer for her.
“It seems to have allowed people to have some encouragement and happiness and joy in this time of extreme difficulty,” says Sister Stephanie. As she ran, she says she prayed for people.
In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul encourages believers to have endurance. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.”
The last 30 minutes of the race were tough. “I was praying that I could make it and not fall off (the treadmill),” says Sister Stephanie. Near the end, she got a big surprise. Deena Kastor popped up on the screen. She is a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist. The running nun called Ms. Kastor her “childhood hero.”
Sister Stephanie finished her treadmill marathon in three hours and 33 minutes. She submitted her time to the Guinness World Records. “The only reason I was able to do it was because no one had ever done it before,” she says with a smile.
Posted: September 18, 2020
WORLD Watch: Top Story is a part of the newest current events resource from WORLD News Group. Each day, WORLD Watch delivers a newscast, a top news story, and a feature story. Top Story is a segment of what members will see in WORLD Watch.
WORLD Watch is a daily, 10-minute current events program for teens that delivers headline news, in-depth feature stories, and thoughtful perspective to help students develop critical thinking skills and discernment.
Posted: September 17, 2020
The pandemic is a problem for Peeps. The popular marshmallow candy is going on hiatus for several months. That means no Peep treats until Easter.
Just Born Quality Confections is the company that makes Peeps. It says it won’t make Peeps for Halloween, Christmas, or Valentine’s Day. Why? PennLive.com reports that the company needs time to get ready for next Easter. It is “peeping ahead” to the spring.
The coronavirus brought bad news for Peeps. Last spring, Just Born paused production for weeks. It slowly started back up in mid-May. Four months later, Just Born can’t make enough Peeps.
“This situation resulted in us having to make the difficult decision to forego production of our seasonal candies for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day in order to focus on meeting the expected overwhelming demand for Peeps for next Easter season,” a company representative says.
Just Born has been in business since 1923. The confectioner (candy maker) says its other seasonal candies should be back on store shelves by Halloween 2021.
Easter is one of the busiest times of year for candy makers. They know how much people love eating candy eggs, chocolate bunnies, and of course––those chewy, gummy, gritty marshmallow Peeps!
Posted: September 16, 2020
For the first time since World War II, Ohio’s Hancock County Fair is canceled. In response to the coronavirus, the county scrapped the fair. That’s sad news for Arrissa Swails. She’s a high school senior who raises goats, fancy chickens, and three dairy cows. This week, she expected to be parading her livestock at the fair. She hoped to win a grand champion ribbon in the show ring. That won’t happen.
There aren’t many county or state fairs in the United States this year. In fact, about 80 percent of fairs are either canceled or scaled down. The Association of Fairs and Expositions estimates that nearly $4 billion has been lost along with the fairs.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress are trying to help. They introduced a bill to give $500 million to agricultural fairs across the nation. The money will help, but it won’t replace the missed fair experiences.
“I just love walking the goats in. They’re so happy in the show ring,” says Miss Swails. She has great memories of fair week. It’s fun to hang out in the barns, camp at the fairgrounds, and compete.
“I call it the farmers’ family reunion,” says Jacki Johnson. She has volunteered for 41 years as a 4-H advisor in Hancock County. This year, “It’s so frustrating to see the sadness on the kids’ faces,” she says.
Eleven-year-old Payne Steffan is sad he won’t get to show off his ducks. “When you get to take them in the ring, you really get to know if your bird is any good,” he says.
Eric Davis was bummed that he couldn’t take his chickens to the fair. He thinks they’re the best ones he’s had in years. “It’s a shame. You do all that and there’s no payoff, but I know there’s going to be a fair next year,” he says. That future thinking is key to being a farmer of any type. Whether raising animals or crops, patience is required.
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. — James 5:7
Posted: September 15, 2020
Spartacus got to live a little on the wild side. The 40-pound African serval cat escaped from his home. The serval spent several days in the New Hampshire wild. Thankfully, he’s safely back home now. The Merrimack police report that the cat “was trapped near its home and is in good health.”
Dean King adopted Spartacus from a Florida zoo four years ago. The wild cat is long and lean. He is a tawny color with dark spots. (Tawny is orange-brown or yellowish-brown.) Mr. King says that Spartacus ran away after getting spooked by the family dog.
A fun photo of Spartacus has gone viral on social media. It shows him with his big paws up on the kitchen counter. He’s eyeing the coffee maker.
Serval cats are native to Africa. They are rare in some parts of Africa and pretty common in others. They aren’t much bigger than a dog. In the wild, the cats are active at day and night.
The King family owns Spartacus legally. The police confirmed that the Kings have a permit from the state’s department of fish and game. Spartacus lives inside the King home. He stays in an enclosure during the day and roams the house at night.
Lisa King posted a video of Spartacus perched in his enclosure over the weekend. She thanked people for their support. “I have a bond with this cat,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
As for Spartacus––maybe he just wanted a few days to explore the woods around Merrimack. After all, the locale is called the Wildcat Falls Conservation Area.
Posted: September 14, 2020
It’s the time of year when gardeners line their shelves with sealed glass jars full of the food they harvested. They’re making sauces and salsas from ripe tomatoes. They’re putting up beans and corn. But this year, there’s a snag. Canning supplies are scarce. That’s puts some people in a pickle!
Canning is a way of preserving food. Gardeners process fresh vegetables and fruits, and then seal them in jars. Canning locks in the nutrients and flavor of the food. It also makes it last a long time by keeping out bacteria and molds. Canned garden veggies can last between one and five years on a pantry shelf!
More people gardened this year. Now there is a boom in food preparation. But people can’t find certain-sized glass jars, the lids that seal them, or the bands that screw the lids on.
“We have been everywhere,” says Vanessa Ware. She lives in West Virginia. Ms. Ware was ready to can her tomatoes, peppers, corn, and sauerkraut. But she ran out of supplies. She went to at least six stores hoping to find what she needed.
Canning supply producers are struggling to keep up with the demand. Newell Brands owns Ball, which produces Mason jars and other supplies. The company said it has increased glass production and found additional lid manufacturers.
Ms. Ware finally got the canning supplies she needed. Her mother-in-law found them––two hours away from home!
Preserving food is one way people can be good stewards of what God gives us. Even Noah and his family preserved food for their time on the ark. Genesis 6:21-22 says, “Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them. Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”
Posted: September 11, 2020
WORLD Watch: Top Story is a part of the newest current events resource from WORLD News Group. Each day, WORLD Watch delivers a newscast, a top news story, and a feature story. Top Story is a segment of what members will see in WORLD Watch.
WORLD Watch is a daily, 10-minute current events program for teens that delivers headline news, in-depth feature stories, and thoughtful perspective to help students develop critical thinking skills and discernment.
Posted: September 10, 2020
You never know what you’ll find when you dig in the dirt. “We have about 200 mammoths, about 25 camels, five horses,” says archaeologist Rubén Manzanilla López. That’s the number of skeletons recovered at an airport construction site in Mexico City. Experts say there are even more mammoth bones in the ground. Archaeologists have also discovered dozens of tools that humans made from the extra-large bones. They’ve named the site “mammoth central.”
The new airport is constructed at a location that was once an ancient lake bed. That lake must have trapped mammoths in its marshy soil. There are so many at the site that observers accompany each bulldozer as it digs into the dirt. The spotters make sure work stops when bones appear.
Ashley Leger is a paleontologist in California. She studies fossils and bones to learn about history. She thinks it is rare to find so many mammoths in the same area. “What caused these animals’ extinction, everywhere there is a debate,” says Ms. Leger.
The site near Mexico City isn’t the only place giving up a large number of mammoth skeletons. Mammoth Site at Hot Springs, South Dakota, has about 61 sets of remains. It was the world’s largest find of mammoth bones—until now. The Mexico City airport site has far more. And the dig isn’t over yet.
So many bones may slow work on the new airport. But construction won’t stop. The site is so big that as bones are uncovered, backhoes and bulldozers can just work somewhere else while archaeologists study that area. The airport project should be complete in 2022. That’s when the mammoth archaeological dig will end.
Posted: September 9, 2020
One of the most beloved TV gameshows is back and better than ever. It includes long-time host Alex Trebek, three socially distanced contestants, and new producer Ken Jennings. What is the gameshow Jeopardy!?
Jeopardy! is the game that gives the answer before the question. It's returning for its 37th season. Viewers will notice a few big changes when they tune in to watch the show.
Producers cast contestants online for this season. They also spaced host Alex Trebek and the gameshow’s three participants out at a greater distance. This season’s episodes were recorded without a live studio audience.
Season 37 also brings a new role for the all-time great contestant Ken Jennings. Mr. Jennings is the highest-earning American game show contestant of all time. He won Jeopardy! 74 games in a row! Last year, Mr. Jennings took the “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” title. This year, Mr. Jennings is taking a real job with the winning gameshow. He will be a consulting producer.
Mr. Jennings will appear on-air during the game. He will host his own video categories. He’ll develop projects for the show. He will also be a public ambassador for Jeopardy!
“Though I’ve played my last round of Jeopardy! as a contestant, I’m delighted to have the opportunity to remain involved with my favorite show,” Jennings said in a statement. “I’m still in on all the action, but I don’t have to worry about phrasing things in the form of a question anymore.”
Posted: September 8, 2020
When the pandemic hit, millions of parents began working from home. At the same time, their kids started school under the same roof. Families squeezed workspaces out of all kinds of places. Closets. Porches. Living Rooms. Kitchens. Basements. It’s been six months. A new school year is here. Interior designers are helping clients make even better use of the space at home.
They’ve got great ideas. A portable desk can go from room to room so family members can share it. Some designs can turn the kitchen table into a standing desk for part of the day. A window seat makes a great place to study. Bookshelves are good for office storage.
Linda Kitson is an interior designer in New Jersey. She has clients with two daughters who each had her own bedroom. The sisters moved into the same room and put desks in the other bedroom. This created a home classroom. It’s temporary. The room can easily change back into a bedroom.
Some families like working in separate rooms. Others work well in the same space. There are all kinds of ways to make working at home––work.
Ms. Kitson helped clients create a space for recess inside their house. When they need a break from schoolwork, kids race down a hallway, walk across a balance beam, wiggle through hoops, climb over the back of a sofa, and crawl back to their desks.
With a few changes and a lot of creativity, people can make the best out of challenging situations. It can even be fun!
Posted: September 7, 2020
The winters in Antarctica are brutal. Icy temperatures drop to 40 degrees below zero. The wind blows up to 87 miles per hour. To stay warm, thousands of emperor penguins squeeze into a huddle. The huddle isn’t a random blob of birds. Why? Penguins do math.
“A penguin huddle looks like organized chaos,” says François Blanchette. He’s a mathematician at the University of California. But penguin huddles aren’t chaotic at all. They have lines, shapes, and angles. A huddle is real-life geometry! (That’s the part of math that deals with shapes.)
Here’s how it works: Each bird gets a chance to hang out at the very center of the group for a bit. Each bird’s body gives off a little heat. So the center becomes the warmest place to be. The temperature can reach 100 degrees! While birds near the inside of the huddle are warming up, birds on the outside rotate around the huddle, waiting for their turn. They push penguins in the middle closer to the center. The penguins on the inside squish to the outer edge. Over a few hours, the whole huddle rotates and changes places. Each bird gets several chances to warm up.
Researchers at Cornell University are studying penguin huddles. They’ve discovered that penguins use math. A huddle starts out as a big blob. But as penguins rotate through the huddle, it changes shape. The blob turns into a hexagon with six sides. This shape is perfect for keeping all the penguins warm. Scientists used math to study the hexagon closely. What they found out was amazing! The penguins moved almost perfectly in the huddle.
Mr. Blanchette says, “We tried to think of a better way [penguins could huddle], but it always involved an omniscient (all-knowing) being who would tell them where to go.” That’s exactly it. God tells penguins how to huddle. He gave them the gift of math!
Posted: September 4, 2020
WORLD Watch: Top Story is a part of the newest current events resource from WORLD News Group. Each day, WORLD Watch delivers a newscast, a top news story, and a feature story. Top Story is a segment of what members will see in WORLD Watch.
WORLD Watch is a daily, 10-minute current events program for teens that delivers headline news, in-depth feature stories, and thoughtful perspective to help students develop critical thinking skills and discernment.
Posted: September 3, 2020
“Take time to vote.” That’s the message many United States companies have for their employees. The leaders of these companies know November’s presidential election is important. They want people to head to the polls.
Starbucks announced it will give its 200,000 U.S. employees time to vote or volunteer at polling places on November 3. Managers will help employees schedule that time off for Election Day.
Walmart will give its 1.5 million U.S. workers up to three hours of paid time off to vote. Apple says its employees can have four hours off. Coca-Cola, Twitter, Cisco, and Uber are giving employees all of Election Day off.
“No American should have to choose between earning a paycheck and voting,” says PayPal President and CEO Dan Schulman.
This isn’t a new idea. In 1999, General Motors, Ford, and FiatChrysler began giving employees Election Day off. Patagonia started the same thing in 2016. This year, 600 companies have already pledged to help their employees get to the polls. Companies like Lyft, Airbnb, and Paramount have signed up at ElectionDay.org. They want to increase voter turnout.
Some states require employers to give workers time off on Election Day. Nora Gilbert thinks a full-day holiday would be even better. She works for Vote.org. Ms. Gilbert says long lines at polling places means two hours off from work might not be enough time.
In South Korea and Israel, Election Day is a national holiday. In Germany and Australia, national votes are held on weekends. That’s not how it is in the United States. Thankfully, some companies are making it easy for their workers to vote.
Proverbs 16:33 says, “The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.” People have the privilege to cast votes in the upcoming election. But God reigns over the election.
Posted: September 24, 2020
Are there organisms living on the hottest planet in our solar system? Maybe. Astronomers found a sign associated with life high in the atmosphere of Venus. Two telescopes in Hawaii and Chile spotted phosphine in Venus’ thick clouds. On Earth, that chemical comes from life.
Phosphine is a toxic gas. It’s in ooze at the bottom of ponds. It’s in the guts of some creatures like badgers. It’s inside piles of penguin poop. A study in the journal Nature Astronomy reports that Venus has phosphine too.
Sara Seager is a planetary scientist. She co-authored the Venus phosphine study. She says that researchers “exhaustively went through every possibility and ruled all of them out: volcanoes, lightning strikes, small meteorites falling into the atmosphere. . . . Not a single process we looked at could produce phosphine in high enough quantities to explain our team’s findings.”
How could life exist on such a hot planet? Temperatures on Venus are around 800 degrees! And there is no water.
Ms. Seager wonders if life could be 30 miles above the surface of Venus. That’s where thick carbon-dioxide clouds stay around room temperature (about 70 degrees). Those clouds contain tiny water droplets. That could be where microbes (very tiny organisms) live. Scientists need proof.
David Grinspoon is an astrobiologist. He says that finding phosphine on Venus “almost seems too good to be true.” Study co-author David Clements is also excited. He says his head tells him “it’s probably a 10% chance that it’s life,” but his heart “obviously wants it to be much bigger because it would be so exciting.”
God spoke, and Venus was created. He made it unbearably hot for humans to live there. He made Earth perfect for people to call home. But still, it is exciting to learn more about the other planets.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the Moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the son of man that you care for him? –– Psalm 8:3-4
Posted: September 23, 2020
Is it the USS Grenadier, one of 52 American submarines lost during World War II? The divers who found it think so. The United States Navy lost the submarine 77 years ago in Southeast Asia. Now, four divers say they have proof that they have found the sunken ship.
The divers sent photos and other evidence to the United States Naval History and Heritage Command. It will verify whether the divers found the Grenadier—or another sub.
The wreck sits 270 feet under water in the Strait of Malacca. It’s about 92 miles south of Phuket, Thailand.
Ben Reymenants is one of the divers. His team used sonar to scan the sea floor for shapes. They dived down to get a closer look at one big, unusual shape. Was it a missing submarine? The divers were curious. “And so we went back looking for clues, nameplate, but we couldn’t find any of those,” recalls diver Lance Horowitz.
They had an idea. The divers measured the boat. They compared their measurements with naval records. “And they’re exactly, as per the drawings, the exact same size. So we’re pretty confident that it is the USS Grenadier,” says Mr. Horowitz.
It’s up to the Navy command’s Underwater Archaeology Branch to confirm the divers’ discovery. That might take a few months. The Grenadier left Pearl Harbor on February 4, 1942. It completed five missions. The sub was bombed on its sixth mission. The crew abandoned ship on April 21, 1943. All 76 people on board survived the bombing and sinking. “This was an important ship during the war and it was very important to all the crew that served on her,” says Mr. Harowitz. “I’m sure it’s very satisfying for them and their families to be able to have some closure.”
Posted: September 22, 2020
Two years ago, researchers gave gray wolves two important jobs to do at Michigan’s Isle Royale National Park. First, the wolves needed to grow their families. Second, they were to reduce the park’s moose herd. Here’s their story: Home for Wolves. It’s time to check in on the wolves. They have been busy the past two years.
“They’re having no trouble finding and preying on moose, and that’s really significant,” says wildlife ecologist Rolf Peterson. He’s spent decades studying the wolves and moose on the Lake Superior island chain.
A Michigan Tech research team is tallying the wolves. They’ve spotted 12 wolves by flying a plane over the park. There could be more. There is proof that the wolves are having pups. Researchers spotted pup-sized tracks this summer. Remote cameras also showed images of pups. The growing wolf families are learning to live together. It looks like four social groups are forming. Two wolves have staked out territories on opposite halves of the main island. Other wolves are hunting on smaller islands.
As for the moose––they’re all over the place! They are damaging the park’s vegetation. The balsam fir is a moose’s favorite food in the winter. The many moose killing the fir trees. Last winter, moose munched almost all the new growth that poked above the snow in one area of the park.
The Michigan Tech team keeps count of moose in the park. There are approximately 1,876 moose. That’s fewer than last year. It looks like the wolves are doing their jobs. During the winter, they averaged one moose kill every other day. The wolves are helping curb the park’s moose problem.
In Genesis 1:28, God gives man dominion over every living creature. The wolf project is a way people can help keep both wolf and moose populations healthy.
Posted: September 21, 2020
Officials canceled the Chicago Marathon this year. That didn’t stop one nun from racing 26.2 miles. Sister Stephanie Baliga put on her sneakers and ran her own marathon. Where? In her church’s basement.
Sister Stephanie did it to keep a promise. She told her running team that if the official marathon was canceled, she’d run on a treadmill. Her plan was to raise money for the Mission of Our Lady of the Angels food pantry in Chicago.
A friend asked Sister Stephanie to share her run with the world. That’s exactly what she did! On August 23, the nun’s run was livestreamed on Zoom and posted on YouTube. The 32-year-old woman wore a United States flag bandanna. Friends, clergy, and family members appeared onscreen to cheer for her.
“It seems to have allowed people to have some encouragement and happiness and joy in this time of extreme difficulty,” says Sister Stephanie. As she ran, she says she prayed for people.
In 1 Corinthians 9:24, Paul encourages believers to have endurance. “Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.”
The last 30 minutes of the race were tough. “I was praying that I could make it and not fall off (the treadmill),” says Sister Stephanie. Near the end, she got a big surprise. Deena Kastor popped up on the screen. She is a 2004 Olympic bronze medalist. The running nun called Ms. Kastor her “childhood hero.”
Sister Stephanie finished her treadmill marathon in three hours and 33 minutes. She submitted her time to the Guinness World Records. “The only reason I was able to do it was because no one had ever done it before,” she says with a smile.
Posted: September 18, 2020
WORLD Watch: Top Story is a part of the newest current events resource from WORLD News Group. Each day, WORLD Watch delivers a newscast, a top news story, and a feature story. Top Story is a segment of what members will see in WORLD Watch.
WORLD Watch is a daily, 10-minute current events program for teens that delivers headline news, in-depth feature stories, and thoughtful perspective to help students develop critical thinking skills and discernment.
Posted: September 17, 2020
The pandemic is a problem for Peeps. The popular marshmallow candy is going on hiatus for several months. That means no Peep treats until Easter.
Just Born Quality Confections is the company that makes Peeps. It says it won’t make Peeps for Halloween, Christmas, or Valentine’s Day. Why? PennLive.com reports that the company needs time to get ready for next Easter. It is “peeping ahead” to the spring.
The coronavirus brought bad news for Peeps. Last spring, Just Born paused production for weeks. It slowly started back up in mid-May. Four months later, Just Born can’t make enough Peeps.
“This situation resulted in us having to make the difficult decision to forego production of our seasonal candies for Halloween, Christmas, and Valentine’s Day in order to focus on meeting the expected overwhelming demand for Peeps for next Easter season,” a company representative says.
Just Born has been in business since 1923. The confectioner (candy maker) says its other seasonal candies should be back on store shelves by Halloween 2021.
Easter is one of the busiest times of year for candy makers. They know how much people love eating candy eggs, chocolate bunnies, and of course––those chewy, gummy, gritty marshmallow Peeps!
Posted: September 16, 2020
For the first time since World War II, Ohio’s Hancock County Fair is canceled. In response to the coronavirus, the county scrapped the fair. That’s sad news for Arrissa Swails. She’s a high school senior who raises goats, fancy chickens, and three dairy cows. This week, she expected to be parading her livestock at the fair. She hoped to win a grand champion ribbon in the show ring. That won’t happen.
There aren’t many county or state fairs in the United States this year. In fact, about 80 percent of fairs are either canceled or scaled down. The Association of Fairs and Expositions estimates that nearly $4 billion has been lost along with the fairs.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress are trying to help. They introduced a bill to give $500 million to agricultural fairs across the nation. The money will help, but it won’t replace the missed fair experiences.
“I just love walking the goats in. They’re so happy in the show ring,” says Miss Swails. She has great memories of fair week. It’s fun to hang out in the barns, camp at the fairgrounds, and compete.
“I call it the farmers’ family reunion,” says Jacki Johnson. She has volunteered for 41 years as a 4-H advisor in Hancock County. This year, “It’s so frustrating to see the sadness on the kids’ faces,” she says.
Eleven-year-old Payne Steffan is sad he won’t get to show off his ducks. “When you get to take them in the ring, you really get to know if your bird is any good,” he says.
Eric Davis was bummed that he couldn’t take his chickens to the fair. He thinks they’re the best ones he’s had in years. “It’s a shame. You do all that and there’s no payoff, but I know there’s going to be a fair next year,” he says. That future thinking is key to being a farmer of any type. Whether raising animals or crops, patience is required.
Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. See how the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient about it, until it receives the early and the late rains. — James 5:7
Posted: September 15, 2020
Spartacus got to live a little on the wild side. The 40-pound African serval cat escaped from his home. The serval spent several days in the New Hampshire wild. Thankfully, he’s safely back home now. The Merrimack police report that the cat “was trapped near its home and is in good health.”
Dean King adopted Spartacus from a Florida zoo four years ago. The wild cat is long and lean. He is a tawny color with dark spots. (Tawny is orange-brown or yellowish-brown.) Mr. King says that Spartacus ran away after getting spooked by the family dog.
A fun photo of Spartacus has gone viral on social media. It shows him with his big paws up on the kitchen counter. He’s eyeing the coffee maker.
Serval cats are native to Africa. They are rare in some parts of Africa and pretty common in others. They aren’t much bigger than a dog. In the wild, the cats are active at day and night.
The King family owns Spartacus legally. The police confirmed that the Kings have a permit from the state’s department of fish and game. Spartacus lives inside the King home. He stays in an enclosure during the day and roams the house at night.
Lisa King posted a video of Spartacus perched in his enclosure over the weekend. She thanked people for their support. “I have a bond with this cat,” she wrote in a Facebook post.
As for Spartacus––maybe he just wanted a few days to explore the woods around Merrimack. After all, the locale is called the Wildcat Falls Conservation Area.
Posted: September 14, 2020
It’s the time of year when gardeners line their shelves with sealed glass jars full of the food they harvested. They’re making sauces and salsas from ripe tomatoes. They’re putting up beans and corn. But this year, there’s a snag. Canning supplies are scarce. That’s puts some people in a pickle!
Canning is a way of preserving food. Gardeners process fresh vegetables and fruits, and then seal them in jars. Canning locks in the nutrients and flavor of the food. It also makes it last a long time by keeping out bacteria and molds. Canned garden veggies can last between one and five years on a pantry shelf!
More people gardened this year. Now there is a boom in food preparation. But people can’t find certain-sized glass jars, the lids that seal them, or the bands that screw the lids on.
“We have been everywhere,” says Vanessa Ware. She lives in West Virginia. Ms. Ware was ready to can her tomatoes, peppers, corn, and sauerkraut. But she ran out of supplies. She went to at least six stores hoping to find what she needed.
Canning supply producers are struggling to keep up with the demand. Newell Brands owns Ball, which produces Mason jars and other supplies. The company said it has increased glass production and found additional lid manufacturers.
Ms. Ware finally got the canning supplies she needed. Her mother-in-law found them––two hours away from home!
Preserving food is one way people can be good stewards of what God gives us. Even Noah and his family preserved food for their time on the ark. Genesis 6:21-22 says, “Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them. Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him.”
Posted: September 11, 2020
WORLD Watch: Top Story is a part of the newest current events resource from WORLD News Group. Each day, WORLD Watch delivers a newscast, a top news story, and a feature story. Top Story is a segment of what members will see in WORLD Watch.
WORLD Watch is a daily, 10-minute current events program for teens that delivers headline news, in-depth feature stories, and thoughtful perspective to help students develop critical thinking skills and discernment.
Posted: September 10, 2020
You never know what you’ll find when you dig in the dirt. “We have about 200 mammoths, about 25 camels, five horses,” says archaeologist Rubén Manzanilla López. That’s the number of skeletons recovered at an airport construction site in Mexico City. Experts say there are even more mammoth bones in the ground. Archaeologists have also discovered dozens of tools that humans made from the extra-large bones. They’ve named the site “mammoth central.”
The new airport is constructed at a location that was once an ancient lake bed. That lake must have trapped mammoths in its marshy soil. There are so many at the site that observers accompany each bulldozer as it digs into the dirt. The spotters make sure work stops when bones appear.
Ashley Leger is a paleontologist in California. She studies fossils and bones to learn about history. She thinks it is rare to find so many mammoths in the same area. “What caused these animals’ extinction, everywhere there is a debate,” says Ms. Leger.
The site near Mexico City isn’t the only place giving up a large number of mammoth skeletons. Mammoth Site at Hot Springs, South Dakota, has about 61 sets of remains. It was the world’s largest find of mammoth bones—until now. The Mexico City airport site has far more. And the dig isn’t over yet.
So many bones may slow work on the new airport. But construction won’t stop. The site is so big that as bones are uncovered, backhoes and bulldozers can just work somewhere else while archaeologists study that area. The airport project should be complete in 2022. That’s when the mammoth archaeological dig will end.
Posted: September 9, 2020
One of the most beloved TV gameshows is back and better than ever. It includes long-time host Alex Trebek, three socially distanced contestants, and new producer Ken Jennings. What is the gameshow Jeopardy!?
Jeopardy! is the game that gives the answer before the question. It's returning for its 37th season. Viewers will notice a few big changes when they tune in to watch the show.
Producers cast contestants online for this season. They also spaced host Alex Trebek and the gameshow’s three participants out at a greater distance. This season’s episodes were recorded without a live studio audience.
Season 37 also brings a new role for the all-time great contestant Ken Jennings. Mr. Jennings is the highest-earning American game show contestant of all time. He won Jeopardy! 74 games in a row! Last year, Mr. Jennings took the “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” title. This year, Mr. Jennings is taking a real job with the winning gameshow. He will be a consulting producer.
Mr. Jennings will appear on-air during the game. He will host his own video categories. He’ll develop projects for the show. He will also be a public ambassador for Jeopardy!
“Though I’ve played my last round of Jeopardy! as a contestant, I’m delighted to have the opportunity to remain involved with my favorite show,” Jennings said in a statement. “I’m still in on all the action, but I don’t have to worry about phrasing things in the form of a question anymore.”
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