Three happy, true stories for today. Read them together with a grown-up!
🐍 Animals
A Little Snake That Rolls Like a Wheel!
In the forests of Southeast Asia lives a tiny snake called the dwarf reed snake. It is not much longer than a pencil. Most snakes slither from side to side. But when this little snake gets a surprise, it curls up and rolls like a wheel! Scientists at Toho University in Japan filmed the snakes on a little racetrack. They saw each snake push off with its tail and swing its body, flipping from one side to the other. Its head stays steady and looks forward the whole time.
🤩 Wow fact: Rolling is about four times faster than the snake's normal slithering!
💭 Think about it: If you could roll like a wheel, where would you roll to?
For grown-ups: sources: ScienceDaily · Smithsonian Magazine
🚀 Space
A Mars Rover Breaks a Driving Record!
Perseverance is a robot car, called a rover, that explores the planet Mars. On October 11, it broke a big record! It has now driven about 28 miles on Mars. That is farther than any rover or car has ever driven on another world. The old record belonged to another Mars rover named Opportunity. Perseverance can often drive itself! It makes a 3D map of the rocks around it and picks a safe path. Scientists use it to study very old rocks and learn about Mars long ago.
🤩 Wow fact: Opportunity took almost 15 years to drive that far. Perseverance did it in about five and a half years!
💭 Think about it: If you could drive a rover on Mars, what would you look for?
For grown-ups: sources: NASA · Sci.News · ScienceDaily
🔭 Space
Did Scientists Spot a Faraway Moon?
Our Moon goes around the Earth. Do worlds far, far away have moons too? Scientists think they may have spotted one! Far beyond our solar system, a big, dim ball called a brown dwarf goes around a star. A brown dwarf is bigger than a planet, but too small to shine like a star. Astronomers used a giant telescope in Chile to watch the brown dwarf wiggle a tiny bit. Something pulling on it could be a huge moon! Scientists still need to look more before they are sure.
🤩 Wow fact: This maybe-moon is about as heavy as Jupiter, the biggest planet in our solar system! It takes about 170 days to go around once.
💭 Think about it: If you found a new moon, what would you name it?
For grown-ups: sources: ScienceDaily · Sci.News · Earth.com
