Kids News - Articles with 400-600 Words

We have heard of restaurants that sell only donuts or pastries or even a variety of beverages - But just water? That has to be a first. What's even more astonishing is that it is not some fancy water brought in from an exotic location, but just ordinary tap water that has apparently been super-purified....

Starting a bank from scratch a child's play? Absolutely, if you ask some enterprising youngsters in India, who have not only managed to establish one, but also, unlike many of the large International banks, run it successfully since 2001. What's even more impressive is that the young bankers and their 9,000 + clients are all homeless!...

While destruction of rainforests is causing concern in many parts of the world, nowhere is it worse than in the Amazon. Often referred to as the 'lungs of the planet' the 1.2 billion acre rainforest produces about 20% of the earth's oxygen and is therefore, not just crucial for its own ecosystem, but also, for the survival of all living creatures, including humans! Fortunately, the deforestation there trends are slowly but surely, starting to reverse....

Summer vacations are all about lazing around, frolicking on the beach and . . . . . . Building sand castles. However, no matter how hard we try, most of us never seem to get it right. Turns out, it's not because we are doing something wrong, but because there is a scientific method to the madness - At least that's the conclusion reached by a global team of researchers from Amsterdam, France and Iran....

Olympics spoiler alert - Usain Bolt has been outrun! How do we know this before the world's fastest man has even run the finals of his signature 100-meter dash? Because, while Usain hopes to complete the distance in 9.4 seconds, Sarah has already done it in a blistering 5.95 seconds. However, in all fairness to the Jamaican sprinter, she does have a slight advantage, because Sarah is not a two-legged human, but a four-legged cheetah!...

While to most of us ants are just tiny annoying insects that seem to come in droves whenever they sense something sweet, the household pests are quite fascinating - They have a naturally built-in GPS system that allows them to navigate their way, the ability to morph into 'living rafts' to survive floods and now it turns out that with a little help from humans, some of them can even be transformed into colorful gems....

If the current space suits worn by astronauts seem a little cumbersome and unwieldy, they are. That's because in order to protect the explorers, the suit has to be able to withstand extreme temperatures, space debris and be equipped with a rather bulky Primary Life Support Subsystem - A survival kit for astronauts that contains amongst other things, an oxygen tank, a device to get rid of the exhaled carbon dioxide, a battery, a radio and even a warning system in case the space walker needs to be rescued....

Now that the 2012 London Olympics have officially kicked off, swimming fans are in for some thrilling head to head confrontations in the pool. While most intense athletic rivalries tend to occur between athletes representing different countries, in this case, the most exciting showdown is expected to be between Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte - Both part of Team USA....

If you ever happen to visit Central Asia's Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan, you will witness a strange but breathtaking sight - A giant hole in the middle of the desert aglow with a fire that never seems to go out - And the fact is, that it has not gone out for the last forty years at least. However, this phenomenon, which has become a minor tourist destination, is not a natural wonder but the result of an accidental excavation....