Tag: grade 8

Animals News Science

Giant Pandas Arrive In Toronto

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Two giant pandas arrived in Toronto on March 25 to begin a 10-year visit to Canada.

The pandas will spend five years at the Toronto Zoo, and then move to the Calgary Zoo for another five years. They are on loan to Canada from the Chinese government.

The pandas travelled by plane from their native China, along with several kilograms of bamboo shoots, boxes of apples and their favourite toys. The trip took 15 hours.

The pandas were greeted at the airport by a large crowd, including Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Zhang Junsai, the Chinese ambassador to Canada. A high school band played “O Canada” as the pandas’ crates were unloaded.

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News Politics

Change Comes 55 Years After the Cuban Revolution

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Sirens. Security alarms. Sales pitches: “Taxi? Good restaurant! Best music CD? My art studio?”

These are the new sounds of Havana, Cuba.

This is my sixth time in Cuba–I am here on vacation; this year, I hear and see change.

It is almost 55 years since Cuba became a socialist country. In Cuba, socialism means that each Cuban has the same rights, the same salary and the same education as everyone else in the country.

Fidel Castro, former President of Cuba, brought socialism to the country in 1959 when he and his rebel forces took over the government. Now Cubans receive free education, free health care and most jobs have been protected by the government.

But the Cuban government is running out of money to pay for everything.

Things have to change.

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Entertainment Science

Playing Video Games Can Make You A Better Searcher

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Want to be a great doctor or scientist? Make sure you play video games.

New research shows that certain video games can help people “find things” better and faster.

For instance, if a doctor is looking for something on an x-ray, or if a scientist is looking at a satellite image—they may be able to do it better if they’ve “trained” by playing video games.

Certain video games, like driving games, can improve a person’s “visual search skills.” That’s the ability to see something that’s hidden in the middle of a confusing field of things. Like finding “Waldo.”

Researchers at the University of Toronto studied three groups of people: 20 people who played a shooting game called Medal of Honor, 20 people who played the driving game Need for Speed, and 20 people who played a puzzle game called Ballance.

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Kids News

Malala Yousafzai Attends Her First Day Back At School

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Yesterday, Malala went back to school.

For girls in many countries — for instance, Canada or the United States — that statement would not be very startling.

But Malala Yousafzai is a 15-year-old Pakistani girl who was attacked for trying to get an education, and for speaking up for other girls who wanted an education.

She became known around the world as a hero for her courage in fighting for the rights of girls in Pakistan.

In Pakistan, a militant and terrorist group known as the Taliban believes that girls should not be educated. In 2009 they issued a ban that said girls are not allowed to go to school. Last October, when Malala was travelling to school, members of the Taliban attacked and seriously injured her. She was taken to a hospital in Britain, where doctors saved her life.

It has been a long road back to recovery for Malala, but yesterday she went back to school, this time in England.

Her father walked her to her first day at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham.

She said it was the most important day of her life.

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News Science

Commander Hadfield’s Son, Evan, Helps Bring Space To Earth

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Chris Hadfield is the Canadian astronaut living and working on – and commanding – the International Space Station.

He’s the first astronaut to bring the “space experience” to Earthlings in the form of regular tweets, photos, Facebook posts, videos and even songs.

Hadfield lets us know what experiments he’s working on, what the Earth looks like from his vantage point and what it’s like to live in space.

Hadfield has three children, Kyle (30), Evan (27) and Kristin (26).

Evan lives in Darmstadt, Germany.

He has been helping his father communicate with Earth, via Twitter and other social media websites such as Facebook, tumblr and Soundcloud.

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News

Pope Francis A Lover Of The Poor

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The new pope has been chosen; he will be known as Pope Francis.

The pope was selected by cardinals of the Roman Catholic Church in Italy last Wednesday.

In a special meeting known as a “conclave,” the cardinals voted to elect Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio from Argentina to be the new pope.

The pope is the leader of the Roman Catholic Church and its more than a billion followers around the world. It is the first time a pope from Latin America has been chosen.

The new pope was chosen after the last pope, Pope Benedict XVI, resigned. It was the first time in 600 years a pope had resigned.

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Entertainment News

A New Meme: The Harlem Shake

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There’s a new dance that has become popular through the Internet called the Harlem Shake.

Millions have people have watched the original Harlem Shake video on YouTube and there have been thousands of tribute videos made.

It’s hard to describe the crazy-looking dance, which is done to a happy, goofy sounding song of the same name, written by an American DJ and electronic musician named Baauer. Wikipedia describes the song this way:

“The uptempo song incorporates a mechanical bassline, Dutch house synth riffs, a dance music drop and samples of growling-lion sounds. Baauer added a variety of peculiar sounds to the song so that it would stand out.”

The videos—the original and the thousands of tribute videos that have been made since—start with one person or several people dancing. Then there’s a jump-cut to a roomful of people in costumes, helmets and masks all awkwardly jerking their bodies and happily flailing their arms.

The Harlem Shake has become a “meme” (pronounced meem). An Internet meme is a video, photo or idea that spreads from person to person and is altered or combined with other videos and photos.

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Entertainment News

Canada Loses Its Troubador – Stompin’ Tom Connors Dead At 77

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Some people say that Canada has two national athems: “O Canada” and “The Hockey Song” by Stompin’ Tom Connors.

The Canadian icon passed away on March 6, at the age of 77, leaving a hole in the heart and soul of the country.

Connors was a folk musician and a fierce Canadian patriot. He made his way up and down the country, documenting every square inch of every little Canadian town in his songs. He got his nickname because as he played and sang on stage, he stomped his cowboy booted left foot in time to the music.

The songs Stompin’ Tom wrote and sang were songs that Canadians connected with and which drew them together. They were simple, singable and relatable. Songs like “The Hockey Song,” which recounts a hockey game, inning by inning. Or “Bud the Spud,” about a trucker driving a load of PEI potatoes across Canada. Or Sudbury Saturday Night, which tells the tale of ordinary folks enjoying themselves in an Ontario town.

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News Politics

Hugo Chávez, President Of Venezuela, Remembered For Social Reforms

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Hugo Chávez, the charismatic president of Venezuela, died on Tuesday. He was 58.

Chávez had been the president of the South American country since 1998.

Chávez grew up in a very poor family. He dreamed of becoming a baseball player, but instead he studied at a military academy and then joined the army.

As a student and a soldier, Chávez read many books and became interested in politics and the problems affecting poor people in Venezuela. He believed that the people running the government at the time were dishonest, and were taking money that should have been used to help the whole country.

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News Science

Dragon Brings Fresh Supplies To International Space Station

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Did you ever wonder how the astronauts who are living on board the International Space Station get fresh supplies, like food, medicine and materials for their research?

A cargo capsule called SpaceX Dragon was recently sent up to the ISS to bring the astronauts fresh supplies.

Dragon was loaded with more than a thousand kilograms of science equipment, food and other materials.

It left Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Friday.

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