Author: Lisa Mungovan

Some poor kid was trying to get a little extra sleep on the bus before school, when a deer interrupted his nap. The deer crashed through the windshield, and landed right on the sleeping student. The bus driver opened the door, to let the deer out. No one was hurt.

Chewing gum didn’t always taste so good. Scientists studied a 5,700 year-old lump of tree-pitch, which was chewed by a Stone Age woman. They were able to extract DNA from the Paleolithic gum, to find out she had dark skin and hair, and blue eyes. They also know she was lactose-intolerant, and preferred wild food.

The first helicopter on Mars, is getting ready for its first flight. NASA’s Ingenuity drone was hanging out on the belly of the Perseverance rover, which arrived on Mars in February, but has now successfully dropped, to the surface of the Red Planet. The helicopter’s first flight could happen April 11th.

Using a map app on your phone is handy. It tells you exactly where to turn. But today, on Read A Road Map Day, unfold a paper map, to get a bigger picture and see exactly where everything is. Use it to find a pizza place, for Deep Dish Pizza Day.

In the Star Trek Universe in 2063, Zefram Cochrane took his first flight at speeds faster than Warp 1, in the Phoenix. It alerted the Vulcans of Earth’s entrance into the interstellar community. Today is Star Trek First Contact Day. Watch some episodes of Star Trek, learn a little Klingon, and live long and prosper!

Kids lose their baby teeth all the time, but they’re usually pretty small. 8-year-old Luke Boulton’s tooth had to be pulled, and was an astounding 1.02 inches long! His sister Leah, said it might be the longest baby tooth in the world, and she was right. I wonder if the Tooth Fairy is jealous!

A few years ago, divers near Norway discovered a 3-foot-wide gelatinous blob, suspended underwater. Similar unexplained blobs had been seen before around Norway, and also in the Mediterranean Sea. Scientists have finally identified the bubbles as egg sacs of the Illex coindetii squid. The mucus-filled spheres hold hundreds of thousands of squid eggs!

What’s your favorite kind of rock? If you answered igneous, sedimentary, or metamorphic, you know your geology! Today is Geologists’ Day, so go rock-hounding, and try to identify what you find. Bring along some oranges, strawberries, and brussels sprouts for a snack, since it’s also Vitamin C Day. They’re good for your health.

Happy Easter! Today Christians celebrate the resurrection, when Jesus Christ rose from the dead almost 2000 years ago. New life and Spring are represented by Easter bunnies, and colored eggs! It’s also the end of Passover, celebrated last week by Jews. The festival commemorates when the Israelites were freed from slavery, more than 3000 years ago.