Author: Lisa Mungovan

Every 8 years in Japan, millipedes create delays on the railways. They swarm onto the tracks, causing trains to come to a screeching halt. Scientists have discovered, that they’re actually periodical millipedes, which have an 8-year life cycle. They stay underground through 7 stages of development. Different broods hatch in different years, in different locations.

Rubber duckies love to float in your bathtub, keeping you company. Today is Rubber Ducky Day, so give your ducks some extra playtime! Let them stick around for Sticker Day. If you want to see unusual stickers, just go to an arts and crafts store and look in the scrapbooking section! Wowza!

Niraj Gadher, who owns the Chai Walla eatery in Bath England, wanted to spread a little laughter, by sending a samosa to space. He attached the potato-filled pastry to a weather balloon, along with a GoPro camera and GPS tracker. The samosa eventually crash-landed in a tree in France, where an animal ate it.

Russian swimmer Yekaterina Nekrasova took a deep breath, and dove into icy Lake Baikal in Siberia, to break a world record. She swam a distance of 280 feet under the ice, before surfacing for air! The rules stated Yekaterina could wear only a swimsuit. It took her about 1 1/2 minutes to accomplish the amazing feat.

The Vienna Zoo in Austria, welcomed a trio of emperor tamarin monkey babies last month. The triplets are now 6 weeks old, and only the size of a grape, but they’re already starting to grow moustaches! Emperor tamarins have a long white moustache, so the tiny tots will soon look like little old men.

After Joe Biden is inaugurated US President on January 20th, his 2 dogs, Major and Champ, move to the White House with him. Major will be the first shelter pup to ever become First Dog! His former home is holding an online Indoguration for him on January 17th, to raise money for the Delaware shelter.

Today is Marzipan Day. Marzipan is made using almond meal, and sugar or honey. The paste can be rolled out to cover cakes, or formed into sweet edible sculptures, like tiny animals or fruits, realistically painted with food coloring. I’d like to make all the planets. You could make a pan of marzipan Marzes!

Kristen Tapping, a design student in England, created a device that cleans the air, while you ride your bike. Rolloe is a recyclable air filter, that attaches to the bicycle wheel. Ozone, CO2, and NO2 get filtered out of the polluted air as it passes through, so you can go green, and help clean!

New research shows that millions of years ago, Megalodon shark babies were bigger than a human at birth. Paleontologists believe the shark pups hatched from their eggs in the womb, growing bigger and stronger before they were born. The 6-foot newborns would grow into 50-foot long mega-sharks, and lose 40,000 teeth over their lifetime.

Today is Clean Off Your Desk Day. Find a few minutes at school, to organize your desk, and don’t forget to sanitize it! If you’re learning from home because of the pandemic, and don’t have a desk, clean off your workspace and make a clutter-free zone. Oh, you study from your bed? Make it.