Tag: science

Science

Did You See The Super Moon?

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Last Saturday night you may have seen something in the sky that only happens every 18 years. It was a super moon.

A super moon looks a lot bigger and about 30 times brighter than the moon normally is. That’s because it’s closer to the Earth than normal. Its official name is a super “perigee moon,” but people just call it “super moon.”

The moon moves around the Earth in an oval shape, not a perfect circle, so there are times when the moon is closer to the Earth or farther away from it. On Saturday, the moon was really close to the Earth.

People all over the world could see the super moon on Saturday, including Australia, Russia, Canada and the United States. According to NASA, the last time a super moon like this was visible was 1993.

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Breaking News News

What Is Happening In Japan Now?

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Recently, Japan suffered the fifth largest earthquake in history. Although Japan is extremely well prepared for earthquakes, nothing could have prepared the country for something this big. And that’s not even counting the tsunami (giant wave) that was created by the quake.

You may be hearing news reports about “radiation” and “nuclear reactors.”

Normally, nuclear reactors are very safe. They supply clean energy and can create a lot of electricity. For a country like Japan, that is relatively small but uses a lot of electricity, nuclear energy has been important.

However, the buildings that house the reactors have been damaged by the earthquake and the tsunami.

The earthquake damaged four enormous buildings that supply power to Japan. They are called “nuclear reactors” and they supply nuclear power that creates electricity for the country.

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Entertainment Technology

Humans Take On Computer In Jeopardy!

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In 1997, there was a very famous chess match. The world champion chess player, Gary Kasparov, went up against a special challenger: a computer. The computer was called “Deep Blue” and it was built by IBM just to play chess. Deep Blue won the six-game chess match.

This year, IBM came up with a new challenge. They decided to build a computer that could match wits with two humans on a game show called Jeopardy!. The computer is called Watson, and its “brain power” is equal to thousands of home computers.

Playing chess is something computers can do very well because it relies on quickly deciding between different moves. However, answering questions and understanding English is not something computers do well. In Jeopardy!, the questions may include riddles, puns and cultural references. These are things humans are good at, but computers are not.

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News

Self-Control Key To Healthy Adulthood

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A new study shows that kids who have excellent self-control are more likely to grow into healthy, successful adults.

Having self-control means (among other things) having the ability to wait your turn, be neat and tidy and plan ahead.

Not having a lot of self-control doesn’t mean you won’t be successful as an adult. But the study showed that the kids who had greater self-control were less likely to become dependent on drugs, have health problems or commit a crime.

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Martin Edmonds "acting" ill
Arts Health

Acting Like A Real Pain

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When someone is studying to become a doctor, he can learn a lot from professors and textbooks. But there are some things he will have to actually experience, in order to learn them.

Like diagnosing a patient, for instance. Figuring out what’s wrong with someone when he comes into the emergency room complaining of a “sore stomach” or a “severe headache.” Those two symptoms could have many different causes—anything from a gas bubble to appendicitis.

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Science

Write Your Worries Away

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Students who are anxious about a test can improve their scores just by writing about their fears, according to a new study.

Researchers took 47 university students who were nervous about an upcoming exam and divided them into three groups. The first group was told to write about their fears 10 minutes before they took a math test. The second group was told to write about what they did the day before. And the third group relaxed for 10 minutes before the test.

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