Author: Lisa Mungovan

Gardener Solomon Leyva, is sharing his prized flower with the public, at an abandoned California gas station. It’s a corpse flower that blooms once every 7 years, and smells like rotting flesh! The 8-foot tall flower only lasts 48 hours, and opens at night. 1400 people have visited the Titan Arum, and marveled over the awful stench!

A man in England stepped in to give some swan parents a helping hand, when he saw them build their nest in a bad spot. Rob Adamson knew from experience, that the location would flood and destroy the eggs, so he carefully placed the whole nest on a raft. 9 baby swans will thank him!

A new study reveals how fossils from animals in South America, ended up in the Antilles Islands in Central America. Apparently, there were land masses that disappeared into the ocean. Shifting tectonic plates, and shifting glaciers, could have provided land bridges for wildlife to travel over, as opposed to swimming across the Caribbean Sea.

John Bozinov leads Polar tours, through Antarctica’s Ross Sea. A bold penguin must have wanted to see what everyone was looking at, because he jumped onto the tourist boat, to enjoy the view above the water. He stayed aboard for 10 minutes, riding alongside the passengers, and giving them a firsthand look at local wildlife.

What would you like to do today? Travel to a new place? Fill a cooler with food for a picnic? Do both, for Road Trip Day and Cooler Day! Don’t forget, Friday is also Don’t Fry Day. Make sure you use sunblock if you spend time in the sun, so you don’t fry!

The Girl Scouts’ annual cookie sale, has suffered during the pandemic. Google’s delivery service, Wing, flew in to help a troop in Virginia, as well as inspiring interest in technology. Now, scouts are selling and delivering cookies, by drone. Your emergency delivery of Thin Mints will fly through the sky, directly to your door!

The Puerto Rican crested toad, is a critically endangered species. At one point, they were even believed to be extinct. ZooTampa in Florida, is part of the Species Survival Plan, and they’re helping return crested toads to their native habitat. A special delivery of thousands of tadpoles, was just sent to Puerto Rico.

Periodical cicadas are singing their songs, and they’re loud! The brood 10 cicadas spent the last 17 years underground as nymphs. Now they’re singing as loud as a motorcycle, to find a mate. The volume can reach over 90 decibels! The big bugs are harmless, so hold one on your finger and get a closer look.

On a hot summery day, you need 2 things: an icy snack, and skin protection! It’s Grape Popsicle Day, and Sun Screen Day. 11 year-old Frank Epperson invented popsicles in 1905, when he left a stick in his grape soda and it froze. They were originally called Eppsicles. Apply your sunblock, then enjoy popsicles in the sun!

Today is Cellophane Tape Day. Invented in 1930, clear tape does more than seal packages. Artist Mark Jenkins, uses tape to make sculptures! You might be lucky enough to come across his figures in unusual situations, on the streets in your city. Learn how to use his tape-casting method at tape-sculpture.org, and make your own!