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MAVEN Spacecraft Takes Off For Mars

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This week, a “robotic explorer” left Earth on its way to Mars.

It should get there next September. Mars is more than 700 million kilometres away.

The explorer is going to Mars to try to solve some of the planet’s mysteries.

For instance, why is Mars now a cold, dry planet when it started out warm and wet?

The Associated Press reports that “the early Martian atmosphere was thick enough to hold water and possibly support microbial life.”

Scientists at NASA want to know what happened to change that.

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News Technology

Word Of The Year: Selfie

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“Selfie” has been named the word of the year.

Oxford Dictionaries chose the word because its usage increased by 17,000 per cent over last year.

A “selfie” is a photo that a person takes of himself, usually with his smart phone.

Have you ever seen a picture of a person that he took by holding his phone out in front of him? That’s a selfie.

A selfie can also be taken in a mirror or with a webcam.

Another term for selfie is “self portrait.”

The term was first used in 2002, in an online chat in Australia.

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Kids News

Adorable Batkid Cleans Up Gotham City (San Francisco)

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The good people of San Francisco, California can sleep a little more soundly.

Last Friday, their city was been made safer by a very special superhero.

Batman and a special Batkid spent the day patrolling the streets and battling crime.

Batkid’s real identity (ssssh, don’t tell anyone!) is five-year-old Miles.

Miles has been winning his own battle, ever since he was just one year old—against a disease called leukemia, which is a form of cancer.

Miles’s leukemia is in “remission,” which means that he is doing very well now. In fact, he started kindergarten this year.

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Entertainment News

What Does The Fox Say? — The Picture Book

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The latest viral music video is being turned into a children’s picture book.

“What Does the Fox Say?” is a catchy music video that’s been seen by more than 200 million people.

Never heard of it? Read the TKN article about it here.

It was created by two Norwegian brothers, Bard and Vegard Ylvisaker, collectively known as Ylvis.

The video was meant to be silly and almost meaningless. But the tune was so darned catchy, it caught on, big-time.

Now, it will be a picture book called “What Does The Fox Say?”

Publisher Simon & Schuster is launching the book next month. It was written by Ylvis and has illustrations drawn by Svein Nyhus.

The brothers had thought of the idea of creating a picture book from their song even before they uploaded it to YouTube.

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News

Painting Sold For $142-Million

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On Tuesday, someone paid more than $142-million for a painting.

It’s the most anyone has ever paid for a painting sold in an auction.

The painting is called “Three Studies of Lucian Freud,” by an Irish-born painter named Francis Bacon.

It’s actually three paintings that go together. That is known as a “triptych.”

The sale took just six minutes.

Because it was an auction, people had to bid for the painting.

Some people were bidding in person, and some people were bidding over the telephone.

The auction house is not saying who purchased the painting.

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News Politics

Assembly Of First Nations Chief Visits NWT Community, Leaders

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Last month the Canadian community of Behchoko received an important visitor.

National Chief Shawn A-in-chut Atleo, of the Assembly of First Nations, travelled to the remote northern community on Oct. 30.

There, he met with the leaders of the Tłı̨chǫ government and toured the Chief Jimmy Bruneau and Elizabeth Mackenzie schools.

Behchokǫ is 100 kilometres northwest of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories.

The Tłı̨chǫ government is one of several First Nations governments created in Canada through a modern treaty negotiation process between the First Nations and the Government of Canada. The Tłı̨chǫ government was established in 2005.

Chief Atleo had a full day of activities in Behchokǫ, beginning with a lunch at the Chief Jimmy Bruneau High School with Tłı̨chǫ chiefs and advisors.

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News Science Sports

Olympic Torch Arrives Back From Outer Space

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The Olympic torch has been to outer space and back.

The torch has even been on a spacewalk.

It’s the first time that has ever happened.

The torch will be used to light the flame that will launch the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, hosted by Russia.

On Nov. 7, a spacecraft called the Soyuz TMA-11M left Russia carrying three crew members and the Olympic torch.

It was bound for the International Space Station (ISS), which is in orbit around the Earth.

Two Russian cosmonauts on the ISS received the torch. Later, they brought it outside and symbolically handed it off to each other in open space. The hand-off took about an hour.

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Environment News

Philippines Hit By Massive Typhoon

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There has been a terrible storm in the Philippines.

The Philippines is a country in southeast Asia.

Because it is an island in the Pacific Ocean, the Philippines often gets very bad weather, including earthquakes, volcanoes and typhoons.

However, Typhoon Haiyan is perhaps the worst natural disaster to ever befall the country.

The typhoon hit the Philippines last Friday.

Its winds of up to 300 kilometres an hour whipped up the ocean waves.

The storm also caused flooding and landslides.

The country’s National Red Cross has launched a huge program to help the people whose houses were destroyed by the typhoon.

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News

Charity Gives Money Directly To World’s Poorest People

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What would you do with a thousand dollars? You can probably think of a lot of fun ways to spend that much money.

But what if your family didn’t always have enough to eat? Or what if you lived in a house with a dirt floor and a thatched roof? A thousand dollars could change your life.

That’s the idea behind a charity called GiveDirectly, which puts money in the hands of poor people and lets them spend it however they choose.

GiveDirectly was founded in 2008 by four American university students. Paul Niehaus, Michael Faye, Rohit Wanchoo and Jeremy Shapiro were studying economics in the developing world. They wanted to find the best way to help the poorest people.

Traditional charities work by raising money from donors and spending it where they think it can do the most good. Charities often support major projects like building schools, hospitals, roads, wells and irrigation pipes, or providing medical care for people in need.

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Environment Science

Pollution Shuts Down Chinese City

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The air pollution was so bad in Harbin, in China, on October 21 that the city was forced to close roads and schools, and to cancel hundreds of flights from its airport.

News reports said the smog (a mixture of smoke and fog) was so thick that people couldn’t see more than 10 or 20 metres in front of them.

According to unofficial reports, people could not even see the person standing next to them.

The city’s website said: “You can’t see your own fingers in front of you.”

Residents said there was a “burning” smell in the air.

Many people covered their noses and mouths with scarves or masks.

The pollution was blamed on several factors.

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