Author: Lisa Mungovan

Have you ever heard the ice cream truck going down the street, and rushed to get your money to buy a treat? You’d never have a chance with Paddy McGuinness at the wheel. He set a new world record, by driving an electric Mr. Nippy Ice cream van, over 80 miles per hour!

An elevated train in the Netherlands got some lucky help, from a statue. The train flew off the end of the track, and landed on a huge sculpture of a whale’s tail! The derailment happened 30 feet in the air, but no one was hurt. The train was left sitting on the tail overnight.

The H&M clothing company, has an incentive to buy new clothes made from recycled materials. They’re putting a Looop machine, right in their Swedish store! The machine shreds old clothes into fibers, then cleans, presses, and weaves the fibers into new yarn. That yarn is used to make new clothes. It’s fun to watch!

Could coughing into your phone, detect COVID-19? Maybe! Scientists at MIT have developed an artificial intelligence model, that can identify the coronavirus in people, even when they’re not showing symptoms. A forced cough from an asymptomatic infected person, sounds a little different, and AI can hear the difference. It could quickly stop the spread!

Today is Candy Day, and Sandwich Day, so use some of your Halloween candy to make a candy sandwich. It’s also World Jellyfish Day, so you could make a peanut butter-and-jelly sandwich and watch jellyfish videos. Search for ‘world jellyfish day’ on NOAA.gov, to see some beautiful and unusual jellies!

Billy Bilnasty Cowley, set a new world record in South Africa, by eating 14.8 ounces of marmite in 60 seconds. That might not sound like much, but the yeast extract spread is very salty and yeasty and strong. At one point, it got stuck in his throat, and he thought he’d vomit, but he finally succeeded!

Tomorrow is Election Day in the United States, but early voting has been going on for several weeks in some states. In Florida, a woman was so determined to vote, that she stopped on her way to the hospital. She wanted to make sure she voted, before having her baby!

A Spanish company named Bioo, is producing energy from dirt. They create batteries, that use microbes in the soil to generate electricity. When the battery in the ground receives rain, microbes feed on decaying plant matter. Their activity helps create enough energy in the battery, to power a whole house!

It’s tough to study a volcano up close. It gets pretty hot! Special drones were designed, to gather data from an active volcano in Papua New Guinea. The Manam Motu volcano is on an island only 6 miles wide, so it’s important to forecast eruptions, in order to keep the population of 9000 people safe.

Today is Look For Circles Day. Start by looking at your eyes in the mirror. Your pupils are little circles, and your irises are bigger ones. Now search your house for circles, then find circles in nature. How many can you count? If you get stuck, just open a book and look for O’s!