The Power of the Pulley

Archaeologists have discovered a 4500 year-old ramp in an alabaster quarry in Egypt, providing clues about how the pyramids were built. The ramp is surrounded by stairs with post holes. Ropes were probably wrapped around strong wooden posts, to create a pulley that could pull the 5070 pound blocks used to build the great pyramid!

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Rocket Fuel from Soil and Sky

A big problem any mission to Mars, is being able to bring enough fuel for the return trip. NASA thinks they may have a solution: producing fuel from Martian soil. A “dust-to-thrust factory” would strip the soil into hydrogen and oxygen, then combine the hydrogen with carbon from the atmosphere, making methane rocket fuel!

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Well-Loved Bookstore

The city of Southampton England loves its bookstore, October Books. When rising rent prices threatened to put it out of business, customers raised $400,000 to help buy a new location down the block. When it came time to move, 200 people formed a human conveyor belt, to pass books one by one to their new location!

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Flying, Rotting Pumpkins

Halloween’s over, so what will you do with your Jack-o’-lantern? You can always leave it outside. Birds, squirrels, groundhogs, deer, and other wild animals will enjoy eating your pumpkin! You can bury moldy pumpkins, which might even sprout if you’ve left seeds in it. Or you can build a catapult, and send it flying!

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A Good Day For Animals

Today is Go Cook For Your Pets Day, so look up a healthy recipe for your little buddy. Continue being kind to animals by celebrating World Vegan Day, and the beginning of World Vegan Month. Vegans don’t eat meat or animal products. Have a dinner tonight that has no meat, fish, or dairy ingredients!

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13 Year-Old Improves Solar Power

13 year-old Georgia Hutchinson won $25,000 in the National Broadcom MASTERS Competition, with her solar tracker. She figured out a way to make solar panels generate more electricity, by programming the exact location of the panels, so that they could rotate to point directly at the sun at all times. That’s a brilliant science fair project!

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