What’s the furthest distance you have ever swum? A few lengths of your neighbor’s pool? From one end of the swim area at camp to another? There have been some people throughout history who have swum some pretty remarkable distances. American Sarah Thomas has swum across the English Channel four times. A team of six...

While actual treasure hunts don’t usually roll around every day (or ever), you can give yourself a thrilling crystal-digging experience by visiting a gem site near you. There are several of these sites scattered across the U.S. where you can mine natural crystals and gems for your keeping.  The south in particular is spotted with...

Many Americans love bald eagles. After all, this symbolic bird is the national emblem of the United States and has been since 1782. The bald eagle was chosen as the national emblem for the US because they were long-lived, strong, and majestic in appearance. At the time, they were believed only to live in North...

Fireflies, also called lightning bugs, are little nocturnal winged insects the size of paper clips. Many people can spot them in warm environments and on summer evenings, often in humid regions in the Americas and Asia. Those who have never seen a firefly in person have been introduced to them by the character Ray in...

When I was younger, I loved dandelions. When someone told me “they are just weeds,” I took that as a personal offense. After all, they’re just a pretty shade of yellow and they are the only “flowers” on the lawn my parents won’t get mad at me for picking and weaving into my hair. It...

Home is wherever you feel accepted, loved, and safe. It may not be the best or the most luxurious of places, but you love it all the same. In 2017, Bonnie the cow was born on a beef farm in Holland, New York. When she was only four months old, and not far off from...

Paleontologists found a partial animal skull at Australia’s Riversleigh World Heritage Area in Queensland, Australia. At first, the fossil was assumed to be a part of a group of marsupial lions that had died out about 35,000 years ago. Then they discovered it was an entirely new genus, which they called Lekaneleo roskellyae, or Leo...

Max Pazak and copywriter Kayli Vee Levitan of M&C were standing on their office balcony watching all of the people walking by. Then the idea of Street Store came to them, a nonprofit movement where volunteers set up a ‘store’ on a sidewalk to give away clothes to the homeless. It’s a rent-free, pop-up clothing...

Polar bears are an iconic creature, their white fur, and giant size is unmistakable. But humans have been taking these creatures for granted for far too long. To say that the polar bear is in trouble is a bit of an understatement. According to the IUCN red list, polar bears are considered vulnerable [1]. In...

Clean water and power are both necessities, and this ingenious company found a way to provide both at once.  The LucidPipe Power System was incorporated into Portland, Oregon, in 2014, and it creates electricity through the water flowing through the city’s pipes. This is a way to get the benefits of hydropower without any environmental...

There’s no doubt that humanity has had a detrimental impact on our planet’s wildlife. Sadly, scientists now estimate that human activity has caused the death of 86 percent of all wildlife and half of all plants. Statistics like these are not just disheartening- they are downright devastating. While Mountain lions, antelope, bald eagles, lions, and...

Scientists have recently determined that humanity has killed 83 percent of all wild mammals and half of all plant species. Experts have estimated that the rapid loss of species we are seeing today is one thousand to ten thousand times greater than the natural extinction rate (ie- the rate of extinction if humans did not...