Universe

Sperm whales are mercilessly hunted by Russian and Japanese whalers. These giant mammals provide a type of valuable oil. So many whales are killed to get this oil that the whales are in danger of extinction. However, a small plant that grows in the arid lands of the San Carlos Apaches in Arizona may put […]

Amber is a gem that is made by trees. Amber is made of fossilized resin, a substance given off by certain trees. Usually yellow or brown, amber is a semiprecious stone, which means that it is valuable but not as valuable as a diamond, ruby, or emerald. Some of these amber gems were formed around […]

Mount Everest is five and a half miles high. Is there really a mountain somewhere that is fifteen miles high? Yes. This great mountain is called Olympus Mons, and it sits on the planet Mars. The mountain is a volcano, and the top of it is 45 miles across. How could a mountain ever get […]

Iceland’s Mount Laki is an active volcano, and it once emitted a gas called fluorine, which is a very slow-working poison. Months afterward, this gas caused the teeth of sheep to turn black and the tails of many horses to fall off. Stranger yet, many animals born after the blast of invisible gas had spiny […]

It smells like tar, and Canada has more of it than any other nation in the world. The Tar sands are a rich source of oil that lies right on the earth’s surface in parts of western Canada. There is so much oil in this tar sand that Canada may very well become the richest […]

The storm that hit India on April 30, 1888, is considered to have been the world’s worst. Hailstones said to be the size of softballs killed 246 people. Some people died because they were hit and battered by the stones, but others were knocked unconscious, buried under mounds of hailstones, and later died from the […]

On September 8, 1900, a powerful hurricane rushed across the Galveston Bay in Texas and nearly destroyed the entire city of Galveston. More than half the homes in Galveston were completely destroyed. The official death toll was 6,000, but the storm came so suddenly that whole families were swept out to sea right inside their […]

Look at the skies at night and see all those bright stars. Is it possible that man could measure the temperature of just one of them? As strange as it may sound, we can take the temperature of a star. All we need is a jet airplane, a telescope, a heat detector, and a paper-thin […]

To many people, Iceland is a strange and eerie place. It sits in the North Atlantic on top of a range of ancient volcanoes that rise from the ocean floor. It also has, from time to time, strange and mysterious pools of death. An animal walking across a pasture will suddenly fall over and die. […]

Very cold, minus 160 degrees F. to be exact. But temperatures in the stratosphere offer some surprises. The stratosphere ranges from 10 to 50 miles above sea level. At sea level, in what scientists call the troposphere, temperatures range from an average of 56 degrees F. at sea level to minus 60 degrees F. 10 […]

There is a cactus that grows only in southern Arizona and northern Mexico that has a skin around its trunk that permits it to blow up to twice its normal size. It is the saguaro cactus, a giant desert plant. This cactus can soak up 200 gallons of water when it rains, enough to keep […]

The space telescope Hubble that was put in orbit in 1990 is able to see seven times farther into space than any other telescope. The space telescope was carried into orbit by the space shuttle. It is 45 feet long and consists of five separate astronomical instruments. Astronomers expect to be able to zoom in […]

Lightning can definitely strike the same place twice. It is also true that lightning may strike the same place many times in a single storm. Lightning has been the basis for many superstitions. Certain people believe that lightning will never strike a barn in which swallows have nested. Others believe that fire caused by lightning […]

The earth is 24,902 miles around at its widest point. The furthest apart any two points on earth can be is no more than half of that, 12,451 miles. There are no two cities on earth that are exactly that far apart, but some come close. The distance between Wellington, New Zealand, and Paris, France, […]

Atoms are certainly not big. They are so small that until recently they couldn’t even be seen with the world’s most powerful microscope. An atom is so small that it is almost impossible to understand how small a single atom is. It is easier to think about how long a line of 1 million atoms […]

In that millionth of a second in which a blinding flash of lightning explodes along its electrically charged path, the air in that path is heated to incredible temperatures, sometimes five times hotter than the heat at the surface of the sun. Lightning can travel at speeds of 130,000 mph, and can reach temperatures approaching […]

Most hailstones are about the size of a golf ball. If they are not round, then hailstones are about the size of an hen’s egg. Other stones have frequently been reported to be the size of a baseball or even a small grapefruit. How would you like to be hit by one of these? The […]

According to scientists at the University of Toronto in Canada, plants produce not only electricity and hydrogen but they can produce oil. Plants are doing just that in special tanks at the university. Oil is produced by plants in two steps. In the first step, plants’ bacteria use photosynthesis to make food. A second set […]

That’s what it looks like, a big, beat up hockey puck. It is one of the moons of Saturn and it is called Hyperion. How did this moon get to look like it was run over by a truck? Voyager Two, one of NASA’s space exploring machines, gave scientists a good, close look at Hyperion […]

For thousands of years, people have looked, dreamed, and talked about this continent, which is said to have vanished off the face of the earth. Some experts believe that Atlantis is a myth. Others believe that it actually existed. Today, the one place that seems most likely to hold the answer to the mystery of […]

People nine miles away from the explosion heard nothing at all. No noise. Not a whisper. Yet 200 miles away, the sound of the explosion of the volcano we call Mount Saint Helens was so loud it was almost deafening. Mysteriously, when the volcano exploded, it created a ring of silence 200 miles wide. Within […]

Pepper can be either green or red. You can eat peppers raw in salads, or you can cook them. When this marvelous fruit is picked early, it is a beautiful shade of green. If the farmer lets the pepper stay on the vine for a longer time, it turns red. A red pepper isn’t at […]

The freshwater lake with the largest surface area is Lake Superior, one of the five Great Lakes, which lie on the border between the United States and Canada. These giant lakes are so big they have waves on them. They were formed by ice-age glaciers scooping out great valleys and lowlands as they moved back […]

Not only does it have a harpoon, but the harpoon is filled with a deadly poison that quickly kills its prey. Is this another meat-eating plant? No, it just looks like a plant. A tiny cactus, to be exact. That is the camouflage of this organism called the Hydra, which lives in freshwater ponds, streams, […]

They aren’t shaped like drops at all. They are perfectly round. You may have just discovered this, but a man named William Watts heard about it way back at the end of the 1700s. He made a fortune with the knowledge. He had a high tower built, and from its very top he dropped small […]

In the morning of May 18, 1980, Mount Saint Helens was the fifth highest mountain in the state of Washington. Then it erupted. It became a fierce, active volcano, and it blew 1,300 feet of its top right into the air. In the morning, it was 9,677 miles high, and by midnight it was only […]

Far in the northwest portion of Alaska, there is an amazing valley. It is the valley of the Kobuk River. Here, 40 miles above the Arctic Circle, there are sand dunes, some of which are 100 feet high! The Kobuk River Valley looks like the Sahara Desert, with great stretches of endless sand. There is […]

The power of the Amazon River is so great that its waters can be found, almost unchanged, 100 miles into the Atlantic. Dip a cup into the ocean anywhere else and try to drink the water. You can’t because it is too salty. But 100 miles off the coast of Brazil, where the Amazon flows […]

Many scientists think that the universe is getting bigger and bigger. They believe that the galaxies are getting farther and farther apart and that space is becoming more and more empty. We know stars are always being born while others stars are dying. We know that new solar systems are being formed while others are […]

Antarctica gets less precipitation than any other continent on earth, and is the Driest Continent In the world. It averages less than ten inches of snow, the same as one inch of rain, a year. Its average winter temperature is minus 94 degrees F., and 100-mile-an-hour winds are an everyday occurrence. Two-hundred-mile-an-hour winds are frequent. […]

Astronomers at the McDonald Observatory in Texas have found two very old stars that are so close together that the gravity of one is actually pulling the other apart. It is the smaller of the two stars that is being pulled apart. Some of its material is being added to the larger star, and some […]

The Atacama Desert in Chile is the Driest Place in the World. Weather bureau records show an average of three hundredths of an inch of rain per year. However, there are places farther inland, on the prairies, or pampas where not one single drop of rain has ever been recorded. There are some farms on […]

Many scientists think that sometime during the next century, the polar ice caps will melt, the oceans will rise, and many coastal cities and lands will be flooded. They call this big melt the “greenhouse effect.” They believe that man is turning earth into hothouses like the ones used to grow plants. The glass used […]

Deep in the darkness it grows, feeding itself by sucking on the damp, rotting world around it. Then, at a signal from some mysterious clock, the blob creeps upward, finally emerging into the world of daylight. Again the mysterious clock signals, and the oozing mass pauses and changes itself into bunches of cotton candy, each […]

When Johnstown, Pennsylvania, was hit by a disastrous flood in 1889, it earned the not-so-nice title of “Flood City.” Almost 100 years later, Johnstown is still having floods. In 1889, 2,200 people died in the flood. In 1936, another 30 people perished. And in 1977, 80 died when twelve inches of rain falling in just […]

Every year plants make and store ten times the energy people use. That’s why many scientists are looking at plants as a possible solution to the world’s energy problems. Energy from plants is available to us in some ways that most of us already know about, such as wood for heating our homes and corn […]

The Cuyahoga River passes through much of the industrial area that surrounds Cleveland, Ohio. For decades, factories, cities, and towns got rid of their sewage and industrial waste, by dumping them into the river. From time to time, conservationists and other people worried about pollution complained. Indeed, many people complained. The river didn’t look as […]

The Aleutian Islands are said to have the worst weather in the world. They are far to the north and lie in the Bering Sea between Alaska and Russia. They are not so far north as to be in the Arctic. There are colder places, like the Antarctic, which holds the record for both one-time […]

The Amazon Rain Forest is the Biggest Forest in the World. And because plants and trees supply our atmosphere with the oxygen all animals need to stay alive, this huge forest is very important to all of us. The Amazon rain forest supplies one-fifth of the world’s oxygen. It is often called the “Lungs of […]

It is called the “Savage Mountain,” and it is located in Pakistan, not far from Mount Everest, the tallest mountain in the world. The real name of this mountain is Godwin Austen, but it is known as K2. While it is 778 feet less high than Everest, it has been climbed many times. Those who […]

It happened in Egypt’s Sahara Desert. During the 1950’s, a cow was being trucked from one oasis to another. Unknown to the driver, the cow fell out of the truck and soon died from the intense heat. Its body did not decay and rot. This can only happen when there a microbes in the air, […]

Our sun is over 2.5 million miles around at its equator. If an airplane could stand the heat and fly close to its surface, it would take six months of flying day and night to travel around the sun. In fact, 109 earths could fit along the diameter of the sun. Our sun is really […]

A hurricane watch is a warning issued by meteorologists at the U. S. Weather Bureau. When a hurricane is headed toward a coastline, it is considered a threat to that area and the inland regions bordering it. A hurricane watch is then issued. This doesn’t mean that the area will definitely be hit by the […]

Every single month, an area of tropical forest or jungle equal in size to Massachusetts disappears from the earth. Few countries take as good care of their forests as do Europe, Canada, and the United States. Many countries allow trees to be cut down for lumber without new ones being planted to take their place. […]

The sand at White Sands National Monument in New Mexico looks as though you could make snowballs out of it. It is as white and sparkling as a fresh snowfall. White Sands is the largest desert of its kind in the world. Its sand is made of fine grains of a mineral called gypsum, the […]

You bet! There are desert sandstorms in the United States that can do that. In the great Sahara Desert of North Africa, the sand storms are even worse. Tales are told of whole caravans of men and camels disappearing forever in the thick swirling sands of a fierce desert storm. Sometimes a sandstorm can be […]

On a clear night, away from the lights of a city, you can see between 2,000 and 3,000 stars. To the human eye, all the stars appear to be the same distance from earth, but actually some are nearer than others. Without the aid of a telescope, you also will be able to see other […]

The continental shelf is part of each continent that is submerged under the sea beyond the coast line, and was part of the continent during the glacial periods. The three major oceans of the world can be very deep, in some places as deep as six miles! But near the coast of a continent, such […]

A volcano in Oregon did just that. Where it was, there now exists Crater Lake, the deepest lake in the United States. Crater Lake is a caldera lake and is famous for its deep blue color and water clarity. The lake fills a nearly 1,958 foot deep caldera that was formed around 7,700 years ago. […]

Like gold, silver comes in many different forms. It comes as pure silver when it is found as nuggets, slabs, and in wires. The wires are sometimes thick, but sometimes they are as fragile and thin as the electric wires you have in your house. This is supposedly the finest silver you can find. However, […]

Near Hillsboro, Ohio, is a large mound of earth that stretches a distance of a quarter of a mile. It seems to be just another of the burial mounds built in the Midwest by the Indians who lived in the area long before the white man came. It isn’t. There is something very special about […]

No. They can’t move. “Dead Men’s Fingers” are a form of coral that looks exactly like a hand with outstretched fingers. They may even be colored like a hand, although they can also be orange or white. The “fingers” are a form of soft coral that do not have the ability of stony coral to […]

If they did not have flowers, they would not be able to reproduce. If trees didn’t have flowers there would be no seeds, and if there were no seeds, new trees wouldn’t come up each year. And if new trees didn’t come up each year, there wouldn’t be forests. Every single tree in the world […]

Not snowdrifts, but dust storms and dustdrifts. They came as a result of the great dust storms that occurred between 1933 and 1937. The first huge storm arrived in the dry areas of the center of the United States in November of 1933. Though the storms started in the Midwest, so much dust was raised […]

Vanilla comes from a beautiful plant called the mexican orchid. This orchid is not grown for its beautiful, greenish-yellow flower. Few people give a hoot how pretty it is. This plant is grown because of the pod that appears after the flower dies. These pods taste so good, we put them in ice cream, cakes, […]

Many deserts have very little sand, or at least not what you’d expect. Most deserts are made up of dusty, crumbling earth, tiny pebbles, uncovered rock, and a little sand. Even the great Sahara Desert, which in the movies looks as though is consists of nothing but miles and miles of huge white sand dunes, […]

Water witching is what some people call the finding of underground water with the use of a divining rod. Water Witching is sometimes called Dowsing, divining, or doodlebugging. Certain people, including many scientists, do not believe in divining rods, but others are equally sure that they work. What happens is this. A person called a […]

When the Vikings first visited the west coast of Greenland they found that the Eskimos who lived there used heavy stones to anchor their boats. The Vikings were amazed to see that when these stones were dropped in the water, they became nearly invisible. Today this mineral is called Cryolite. Greenland is the only place […]