Author: Lisa Mungovan

Dogs love to roll in smelly stuff, but 2 canines in Florida, got in over their heads. Brenda and Bianca escaped from their yard, and ended up trapped in the neighbors’ septic tank. The dogs were swimming in sewage, with no way out. Animal Services Officer Yureisy Hernandez rescued the pooches. Time for a bath!

Understanding physics can be tricky, but 17-year-old Maryam Tsegaye does it with no problem. The Canadian teenager won the international Breakthrough Junior Challenge, by explaining quantum tunneling. She compared the behavior of electrons to how her brother cheats at video games. A real-life cheat code to walk through walls? I’m up for the challenge!

Humans domesticated dogs, cats, horses, sheep, and many other animals. Tamed animals became pets, or helped with jobs like farming, or providing food. Researchers discovered that the longfin damselfish, also domesticates animals. The fish recruit mysid shrimp, to fertilize their algae farms. Damselfish protect the shrimp, in return for their beneficial poop!

Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India, announced the building of a gigantic park. But it’s not for playing. It will be the world’s largest renewable energy park. 180,000 acres in Gujarat, will contain windmills, solar panels, and solar energy storage units. It could reduce India’s emissions of CO2, a major greenhouse gas, by 50,000,000 tonnes-per-year!

What are you eating for breakfast? Cover it in chocolate! Are you having a peanut butter sandwich for lunch? Dip it in chocolate! How about spaghetti for dinner, with chocolate syrup for sauce! Today is Chocolate Covered Anything Day, so it’s your chance to see if chocolate covered brussel sprouts are gross, or delicious!

A cloud forest in the Andes mountains in Bolivia, is home to 20 new species. An expedition discovered previously unknown species like the lilliputian frog, which is only 10 millimeters long, and the red-yellow-and-green Bolivian flag snake. Although the Zongo Valley is close to urban centers, many species thought to be extinct, are still thriving there.

Time Magazine, has named Gitanjali Rao, their Kid of the Year. The 15-year-old is a scientist and inventor. She created a tool to detect led in water when she was only 10. She’s also created apps to diagnose early-stage opioid addiction, and to spot and prevent cyber-bullying. In her spare time, she’s a student pilot!

London Christmas Tree Rental, has a fantastic solution, for people who want a living Christmas tree. They deliver a potted tree, to your house. At the end of the season, they return it to the farm. You can rent the same tree every year! When they reach 7-feet-tall, the trees get planted and retire.

Pearls form when a parasite or grain of sand, gets into an oyster or clam. The animal surrounds the irritant in a coating, called nacre, to protect itself. Many layers of nacre, form a pearl. Today is Wear Your Pearls Day, reminding us that we can create beauty, from the bad stuff in life.

Have you ever tried to get a bunch of cats to obey you? They tend to ignore you, do what they want, and make a mess. So when someone’s having a hard time getting a group of people to do something, they say, “it’s like herding cats.” Happy Cat Herders Day!