Author: Lisa Mungovan

Do you ever give a nice long yawn? You must have a big brain. Scientists discovered that animals with larger brains, tend to have longer-lasting yawns. Bigger brains have more neurons firing away, and yawns drag in cooler air, and increase the flow of cooler blood to the brain. Yawns help brains chill out.

Paleontologists saw a preserved food chain, in a fossil from the Jurassic period. A 180,000,000-year-old crustacean, was being eaten by a squid, which was chomped by a shark. Prehistoric sharks ate the soft middles of squid, leaving the hard beak and tentacles behind. The remains fell to the ocean floor, creating a pabulite fossil.

Do you want to eat spaghetti for breakfast? Do you enjoy melted ice cream on your salad? It’s Eat What You Want Day, so go for it! It’s also Twilight Zone Day. Watch the old TV show, about strange and mysterious happenings. When something weird happens in real life, you’ve entered the Twilight Zone.

A piece of a Chinese rocket, fell back to Earth over the weekend. On April 29th, the rocket had launched the first module, of China’s new space station. The large chunk of rocket was in an uncontrolled freefall, but luckily, it fell into the Indian Ocean without hurting anything.

273,000,000 years ago, corals at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean grew on marine animals called crinoids, or sea lilies. They disappeared from the fossil record, going extinct. Recently, scientists discovered 2 different corals, growing from the stems of Japanese sea lilies. It’s the first evidence they’ve found of a coral-crinoid relationship, since the Paleozoic era.

If you’re graduating this year, plan a trip to Krispy Kreme Donuts. On May 13th, they’ll give every senior, a free box of donuts! Just wear your Class of 2021 swag, for a Graduate Dozen. Krispy Kreme also gives a free donut every day, to anyone who’s received a COVID vaccine. Bring your vaccination card.

Today is Clean Up Your Room Day. There’s nothing like walking into a nice clean room, without tripping over anything! Don’t forget to clean under the bed. If your room is extremely messy, you could be cleaning all night. It’s a good thing it’s Stay Up All Night Night!

Did you know that the ocean, produces over half of the world’s oxygen? Its currents help regulate Earth’s climate, and scientists estimate that 1,000,000 species live in the ocean. More people have walked on the Moon, than have journeyed to the bottom of the deepest part of the ocean. Happy Mother Ocean Day!

There’s a fuzzy experiment going on, at the University of California. The campus brought in sheep, to take care of the grass. Could sheep do as good a job as the current landscaping method, using lawnmowers, fertilizer, and pesticides? They eat the grass, fertilize it with manure, and they’re also cute and fluffy.

Much of the United States, will soon be filled with the sound of cicadas. Trillions of Brood X cicadas spent the last 17 years underground as nymphs. They’ll crawl out, shed their skins, and sing loudly to find a mate, starting the next 17-year cycle. They are large, harmless and amazing, so don’t freak out!