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Love playing with LEGO? Check out top 10 LEGO facts below. Plus, find out who won our LEGO City Space competition...
LEGO City Space competition update!

We're thrilled to announce that the winner of our LEGO City Space competition is eight-year-old Dylan! Dylan's space craft, 'Space Spinner', includes a rotating bunk bed, space rock laboratory, a forested green space for growing food, and a climbing wall and karaoke machine to keep the astronauts entertained! There's even a human hamster wheel that allows the astronauts to generate their own power.

20 runners-up also also scooped LEGO City Space sets and a subscription to Nat Geo Kids magazine - cool!

LEGO-lovers! Check out these fascinating LEGO facts, below...

1. LEGO's founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen, created the name "LEGO" from taking the first two letters of the Danish words LEG GODT, meaning " play well ".

2. If you put the 340 million Minifigures produced last year next to each other in a line, it would stretch a whopping 7,900 km - that's almost the distance from London, UK to Beijing, China!

3. The famous LEGO brick that we play with today is more than 50 years old. The bricks made way back in 1958 will still fit perfectly with those you play with today!

4. The moulds used to produce LEGO bricks are accurate to within two-thousandth of a millimetre ( 0.002 mm!). Because of this high degree of accuracy, there are only around 18 bricks in every million produced that fail to meet the company's high quality standard.

5. The world's tallest LEGO tower is 28.7m high, made from with 465,000 bricks!

6. LEGO Minifigures are the world's largest population, with over 4 billion of them around the world!

7. During the Christmas season almost 28 LEGO sets are sold each second. Yikes!

8. At LEGO attractions, such as LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Manchester, people are hired as " Master Model Builders ". Cool job!

9. Laid end to end, the number of LEGO bricks sold in a year would reach more than five times round the world.

10. On average there are 80 LEGO bricks for every person on earth.

Wow! Pretty amazing, huh?

If you fancy diving into a whole load of LEGO fun, be sure to check out LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Manchester, where there are over 3 million LEGO bricks all under one roof!

You'll be able to see the famous buildings of Manchester built entirely out of LEGO, reach out and touch the stars in the 4D cinema and learn LEGO building secrets from a special Master Model Builder. Yay!

Plus, you can set out on your own LEGO adventure in an awesome off-road LEGO vehicle!...

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10 top LEGO facts! - National Geographic Kids

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Love playing with LEGO? Check out top 10 LEGO facts below. Plus, find out who won our LEGO City Space competition... We're thrilled to announce that the winner of our LEGO City Space competition is eight-year-old Dylan!

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Meet the women who inspired a new LEGO set.

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How we know so much about Velcro

"So there you have it - a guy goes into the woods, examines the burrs stuck to his dog, and voila! He invents Velcro. It's amazing and it's true!"

This is the story of Velcro: In 1948, a man named George de Mestral was walking his dog in the Alps in Switzerland. He noticed that burrs were stuck to his dog's fur. They were as also stuck to his socks, pants and jacket. Being curious, he looked at the burrs under a microscope. They were covered in tiny hooks. He realized that one hook by itself was not strong, but that lots of them together were very strong.

Inspired by the hooks on the burr, Mestral thought that maybe he could invent a new type of fastener to be used instead of metal zippers. He set out to invent a material that has hooks on one side that connect with loops on the other. It was difficult and took seven years. He tried working with other materials like cotton, but none of them worked. Finally, he discovered that nylon could be used to make the strong hooks. Finally satisfied, in 1955 he patented Velcro - which is a combination of the French words "velour" (velvet) and "crochet" (hook).

Velcro was an immediate success. Today we use it to fasten and attach many things, including sneakers, school binders, arts supplies, camping equipment and clothes.

The story of Velcro is one of the most famous examples of something called biomimicry, which basically means "copying nature." When inventors, engineers and designers use biomimicry, they look at the cool powers and properties of plants and animals and try to copy them for human purposes. Here are a few other examples:

A sporting goods company created a swimsuit design based on a shark's skin to help Olympic swimmers move more quickly through the water.

An auto company designed an aerodynamic car based on the design of the tropical boxfish: the boxfish's face is small in proportion to its overall length, and its streamlined surface encourages air to move over it.

Researchers are studying the gecko (a lizard that can climb walls and ceilings without falling off) to see what it is that helps a gecko's feet to stick to and climb smooth surfaces. Their hope is to create a new kind of sticky tape. Imagine, they might invent Spiderman gloves!

Engineers designing buildings are studying ancient trees to understand how their deep root systems have helped them to stay standing over hundreds and hundreds of years through lots of storms.

Engineers are studying the desert beetle to learn how the design of its wings and back allow it to capture drops of water from desert fog. If they can create material that copies this special ability, they hope to use this material to help people, in dry areas with little ground water, collect water for drinking.

Airplanes are probably one of the best-known examples of biomimicry - birds inspired their design.

Check out these Web sites. (That's how we learned all of this!):

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This is the story of Velcro: In 1948, a man named George de Mestral was walking his dog in the Alps in Switzerland. He noticed that burrs were stuck to his dog's fur. They were as also stuck to his socks, pants and jacket. Being curious, he looked at the burrs under a microscope.

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1. Jefferson Thomas was a track star at his all-black junior high school. But the Little Rock Nine weren't allowed to participate in sports or clubs at Central High. He graduated from Central High in 1960. Thomas died in 2010.

2. In 1958, Ernest Green became the first black student to graduate from Central High. From 1977 to 1981, he served as Assistant Secretary of Labor under President Jimmy Carter.

3. Minnijean Brown was expelled from Central High for standing up to some of the white students who harassed her. She moved to New York City, where she graduated from high school. She attended college at Southern Illinois University.

4. At age 14, Carlotta Walls was the youngest member of the Little Rock Nine. In 1960, she became the first black girl to graduate from Central High. She went to college in Colorado.

5. Terrence Roberts completed his first school year at Central High, before moving to Los Angeles, where he finished high school. He became a college professor.

6. Gloria Ray's mother was fired from her job working for the Arkansas government because she refused to take Gloria out of Central High. After high school, Gloria studied math and science in college.

7. After high school, Melba Pattillo earned a journalism degree from San Francisco State University, in California. She became a reporter and an author.

8. After high school, Elizabeth Eckford went on to graduate from college and later served in the U.S. Army for five years.

9. Thelma Mothershed was a junior when she entered Central High. After graduating from college in 1964, she was a teacher for 28 years in St. Louis, Missouri.

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1. Jefferson Thomas was a track star at his all-black junior high school. But the Little Rock Nine weren't allowed to participate in sports or clubs at Central High. He graduated from Central High in 1960. Thomas died in 2010. 2. In 1958, Ernest Green became the first black student to graduate from Central High.

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It is one of the most famous court cases in U.S. history: Brown v. Board of Education. The 1954 ruling made segregation in public schools illegal. Last month, Linda Brown, an African-American woman whose name will be forever linked to the case, died. She was 76 years old.

Growing up, Brown lived near Sumner Elementary School in Topeka, Kansas. In 1950, when she was in third grade, her father tried to enroll her at the school. But the school was for white students only. The principal turned the Browns away.

"Later, my parents talked to me about how I would not be attending the white school with my playmates because of the color of my skin," Brown told Scholastic News in 2004.

Instead, Brown had to take a longer trip to a school for black students. She walked along railroad tracks and crossed a busy road before taking a bus.

At the time, this type of segregation was legal in many states ( see map, below). But African-American families were fed up. They knew it was unjust for their kids to be shut out of certain schools because of the color of their skin. In 1951, Brown's father joined other black parents to sue the Topeka board of education. The case made its way to the U.S. Supreme Court. It was combined with four similar cases from other parts of the country. It became known as Brown v. Board of Education.

On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court announced its decision in the Brown case. The judges ruled that separating people based on race is always unjust. The ruling led to the integration of public schools and the end of legal segregation in all public places in the U.S.

Kamala Harris is a U.S. senator from California. She is one of countless Americans who recognize Linda Brown's role in changing U.S. society.

"Linda Brown's passing is a reminder that our youth have always been our future," Harris wrote on Twitter. "Her courage at such a young age to stand up to segregated schools forever changed the fight for our civil rights."

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It is one of the most famous court cases in U.S. history: Brown v. Board of Education. The 1954 ruling made segregation in public schools illegal. Last month, Linda Brown, an African-American woman whose name will be forever linked to the case, died. She was 76 years old.

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Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

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Rosa Parks and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

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Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Get unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audiobooks, videos, & more for kids 12 and under. Try it free.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Instantly access over 40,000 of the best books & videos for kids on Epic

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Get unlimited access to 40,000 of the best books, audiobooks, videos, & more for kids 12 and under. Try it free.

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12 Incredible Facts About the Montgomery Bus Boycott

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12 Incredible Facts About the Montgomery Bus Boycott

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instant access to thousands of great kids books.

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Instantly access 40,000 high-quality books for kids

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The leading digital library for kids offering unlimited access to 40,000 of the best children's books of all time. Sign up for a free 30 day trial to instantly access high-quality online books for kids, ebooks, audio books, quizzes, videos, and more.

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1950s | Virtual Tour | Toys of the '50s, '60s and '70s

Lauren Catts on November 22 2021

Take a virtual tour of the History Center's Toys of the '50s, '60s and '70s exhibit. This stop - the 1950s! Learn more about popular 1950s toys such as Mr. Potato Head, the Sara Lee doll, and the Davy Crockett coonskin cap. Learn more about the exhibit online: http://bit.ly/1juZ5W2 Video produced at the Heinz History Center in partnership with 323 Productions.

Launched as a beta version in 2009, SafeShare has gained popularity as the safest way to watch and share YouTube and Vimeo videos, and is widely used all around the globe by educators so their students can watch educational material without the fear of inappropriate videos showing up.

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1950s | Virtual Tour | Toys of the '50s, '... - SafeShare

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Take a virtual tour of the History Center's Toys of the '50s, '60s and '70s exhibit. This stop - the 1950s! Learn more about popular 1950s toys such as Mr. Potato Head, the Sara Lee doll, and the Davy Crockett coonskin cap.

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The hula hoop has been around for a long, long time. The Greeks used hula hoops as a form of to their muscles. Around 1300, "hooping" was introduced in Great Britain.

In the 1800s, British sailors first witnessed hula in the Hawaiian Islands. The sailors noticed that the body movements of hula and hooping looked quite similar, and the name "hula hoop" was born.

The hula hoop has undergone many changes, improvements, and modifications over the years. Hula hoops were not always made of . Older hoops were made from various materials, including metal, , wood, , and sometimes even vines.

While they may not be the inventors of the hula hoop, Richard Knerr and Arthur "Spud" Melin of the Wham-O company hold the on the name "Hula Hoop." In 1958, Wham-O began manufacturing the toy out of tubing. Wham-O sold 25 million hula hoops in the first four months at a price of $1.98 each.

By the end of their second year of sales, Wham-O had sold more than 100 million hula hoops. They continue to be one of the successful manufacturers of modern hula hoops.

Today, Wham-O continues to produce a variety of well-known recreational games and toys, including the Hula Hoop, Hacky Sack ®, Slip-n-Slide, Frisbee, and Boogie Board.

In recent years, hooping has become popular people of all ages. Many people use hooping as a form of . Some adventurous hula hoopers hoop with fire hoops!

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The hula hoop has been around for a long, long time. The Greeks used hula hoops as a form of to their muscles. Around 1300, "hooping" was introduced in Great Britain. In the 1800s, British sailors first witnessed hula in the Hawaiian Islands.

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Epic Books: Early Physics Fun and Hula Hoops

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Epic Books: Early Physics Fun and Hula Hoops

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instant access to thousands of great kids books.

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Instantly access 40,000 high-quality books for kids

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The leading digital library for kids offering unlimited access to 40,000 of the best children's books of all time. Sign up for a free 30 day trial to instantly access high-quality online books for kids, ebooks, audio books, quizzes, videos, and more.

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We were putting up hay in the Wonderopolis barn the other day when we overheard an interesting conversation between a couple of the cows:

Cow 1: Hey Bessie! What are you listening to?

Cow 2: Howdy Buttercup! I just love this new song by Justin Beefer. He's my !

Cow 1: Really? I've never been a big of his.

Cow 1: I have several favorites: Lady MooMoo, Green Hay, New Calves on the Block, Fleetwood Milk, Moo Fighters, Udders 'n Hoses.

Cow 2: Wow, Buttercup! I had no idea you loved music so much!

We had no idea that cows loved music so much either! As we finished up our work in the , the cows' conversation in our minds. They seemed to prefer good old rock and roll music. Has that always been the case? And just who invented rock and roll anyway?

Rock and roll - sometimes written rock 'n' roll or rock & roll - can be hard to describe, but people know it when they hear it. Compared to other styles of music, it's more and . It's fun. It's spontaneous . It's like an uninhibited soundtrack for .

Rock and roll was born in America in the 1950s and, like America, its creation was the work of many people over many years. No one person can claim to have invented rock and roll.

Instead, rock and roll was the convergence of various simultaneously heading to the same destination. Black rhythm and blues artists alongside white pop and country artists learned from one another and began mixing their sounds.

producers and disc jockeys discovered a new audience - teenagers - and began to promote and develop a new style of music that spoke to the youth of the day. It was a new style that brought together the best of what had been brewing for years.

Many people believe rock and roll began with Elvis Presley in 1954. However, you can't give credit to Elvis without recognizing the role his producer, Sam Phillips, played in discovering this young talent in Memphis, Tennessee.

Elvis certainly made rock and roll more popular, but even he didn't claim to have invented rock and roll. He knew its roots went back farther to the people who influenced him, such as B.B. King, Ray Charles, and Ike Turner.

The new sounds developing in the early 1950s were promoted to a young audience by a variety of influential radio disc jockeys. Perhaps the most influential of these was Alan Freed of Cleveland, Ohio. His late-night radio show, The Moondog Rock & Roll House Party, helped to popularize this new genre as "rock and roll."

Freed began organizing concerts in Cleveland. The first such concert caused a riot when so many people showed up that the venue couldn't hold them all. The youth of Cleveland loved Freed's show and the new music he was promoting. Today, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame calls Cleveland home.

Other pioneers of the new sound called rock and roll included Fats Domino, Little Richard, Bo Diddley, Buddy Holly, and Jerry Lee Lewis. One other early pioneer - Chuck Berry - is given credit by rock and roll historians as perhaps the single who came closest to putting all the essential pieces together and establishing rock and roll as a songwriter's medium.

No matter who you give credit to, rock and roll evolved from a mixture of musical styles in a way that seemed inevitable. If it hadn't been Chuck Berry and Elvis Presley, it would've been others in their place. What is sure is that their contributions helped to create a new genre of music that changed music itself forever. Long live rock and roll!

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We were putting up hay in the Wonderopolis barn the other day when we overheard an interesting conversation between a couple of the cows: Cow 1: Hey Bessie! What are you listening to? Cow 2: Howdy Buttercup! I just love this new song by Justin Beefer. He's my !

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Rock and roll is a form of rock music developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Rock music combines many kinds of music from the United States, such as country music, folk music, gospel music, work, blues and jazz.

Rock and roll developed in the early 1950s from a kind of music called rhythm and blues performed by black singers and musicians. At first, this music was popular only with African-Americans. In the later 1950s and in the 1960s, rock and roll became popular across the United States and in Europe.

History of rock and roll

1950s: Rockabilly

During the early 1950s, the popularity of rhythm and blues music spread. It became very popular among young white people. They listened to this music on radio stations that broadcast across the country late at night. Some teenagers began buying rhythm and blues records as a form of rebellion.

Alan Freed had a radio show in Cleveland, Ohio in the early 1950s. He is said to be the first person to use the expression "rock and roll" to describe rhythm and blues music. Alan Freed was one of the first to play rock and roll music on his radio show, and he organized the first rock and roll concert in Cleveland in 1952.

Songs by black performers like Fats Domino and Little Richard soon became popular with teenagers. These singers recorded their records in the southern city of New Orleans, Louisiana.

Some early rock and roll music was created in the southern United States city of Memphis, Tennessee. In Memphis, a white record producer called Sam Phillips produced records by local black musicians. One day, an eighteen-year-old truck driver came to his studio to record a song for his mother. The young man was Elvis Presley. Phillips produced Presley's first real record in 1954, a song called "That's All Right."

Bill Haley and his Comets recorded "Rock Around the Clock" in 1954. It was not popular at first. Then it was used in a movie about rebellious teenagers, called "The Blackboard Jungle". The movie caused a lot of debate on the origin of rock and roll. It also made the song a huge hit. "Rock Around the Clock" became a song of teenage rebellion. The song was recorded in April, Elvis' "That's All Right" was recorded in July. However, Cecil's Grant's 'We're Gonna Rock' recorded in mid 1950 is a song that many people have forgotten that was an early influence on rock n roll. Its lyrics and music were like those that would be in later songs. The drums and bass guitar would be similar to rock and roll songs that would be made later.

Many other rock and roll singers became popular in the 1950s. They included Buddy Holly, Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry and Bo Diddley. Each performer created his own kind of rock and roll. Chuck Berry's music was a mixture of country and rhythm and blues. In 1955, his song "Maybellene" was one of the most popular songs in the country.

Before Bill Haley, Hank Williams Sr recorded "Move It On Over" in 1947, however similar version of the song was recorded by blues artist Jim Jackson called "Kansas City Blues". The melody is similar to both "Move It On" and "Rock Around Clock", but latter has different tonal subtleties and chords.

1960s: From Motown to Folk Rock

Motown: African-American popular music

In the 1960s, black music and musicians became recognized as an important part of the music industry in America. This was because a company in Detroit, Michigan, called Motown Records that produced some of the most popular songs in American music. Berry Gordy started Motown Records. He presented "black" music in a way that both black people and white people would like. One of Motown's most successful groups was the Supremes, led by Diana Ross. One of their hits was "Come See About Me".

A different kind of rock and roll music called surf music was being made in Southern California. Five young men from Los Angeles formed a group called the Beach Boys. Brian Wilson wrote, performed, and produced the group's records. The Beach Boys' songs had complex music and simple words. The words were about the local teenage culture. The group sang about riding surfboards on the ocean waves. One of their most popular songs was "Surfin' USA," which used the same musical track as Chuck Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen."

In the 1960s, rock and roll music began to change. The words became as important as the music. Bob Dylan began writing folk rock songs that many young people considered to be poetry. Dylan was influenced by folk singers and songwriters like Woody Guthrie. Dylan's early songs were about serious social issues. He wrote about war and racial injustice. Some of his songs were used as protest songs for the anti-war and civil rights movements in America. Later, Dylan wrote more personal songs. One of his most popular songs was "Mister Tambourine Man," which many people thought was a song about drug use.

In 1964, a new rock and roll group from England called The Beatles visited the United States. The Beatles were very popular. They completely shaped the sixties pop era along with the The Rolling Stones. They were icons, and still to this day could be considered icons.

1970s: From Psychedelic Rock to Punk and Disco

Rock and Psychedelic Rock

By the 1970s, rock and roll was often just called "rock". In the 1970s, rock music bands such as Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith and the The Rolling Stones played huge, loud concerts in outdoor stadiums. Rock music from the 1970s was usually louder and harder than the rock and roll from the 1950s.

In the early 1970s, many rock bands played psychedelic rock, a type of rock music which had words that described the use of legal drugs.

Progressive rock

Another type of rock music from the 1970s was progressive rock. Progressive rock bands such as Pink Floyd and The Moody Blues played music that was more complex. Some progressive rock bands used strange instruments, or created music that sounded weird. Other progressive rock bands include: Electric Light Orchestra, Pavlov's Dog, King Crimson, Caravan, Jethro Tull, Genesis, Gentle Giant, The Nice, Yes, Gong, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Soft Machine, Steve Hillage, Barclay James Harvest, Magma, Camel, Can, Rush and Faust.

In the 1970s, a harder form of rock music called " Heavy metal" was invented. Bands such as Cream and Led Zeppelin played loud rock music based on blues music. Other bands such Deep Purple and Black Sabbath played even louder, harder heavy metal rock music.

In the late 1970s, groups such as Donna Summer, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Barry White, Gloria Gaynor, and CHIC, developed a pop music style called disco. Disco was dance music with a strong beat. A popular disco band was The Bee Gees, who wrote the music for the movie Saturday Night Fever.

Another rock music style from the 1970s was punk rock. Punk rock was crude, loud, simple music. Many punk rock songs were rude or used bad words. Punk rock musicians often dressed in ripped or torn clothes, leather jackets, and black leather boots. Punk rock musicians sometimes had strange hairstyles, such as hair "spiked" with hair gel or shaved off. Well-known punk musicians were The Clash, Ramones, Patti Smith, Blondie and Black Flag.

In the late 1970s, another type of rock called New wave music became popular. Bands such as INXS and Midnight Oil from Australia became popular. In the United States, New Wave bands such as Talking Heads and Devo played. In the 1980s, New Wave music bands such as Duran Duran, A Flock of Seagulls, Psychedelic Furs, and the Eurythmics were popular. These bands used the synthesizer keyboard a lot in their songs.

In the 1980s, a new type of rock and roll was invented, called glam metal. Glam metal rock bands mixed pop music with heavy metal music. Glam metal bands such as Mötley Crüe, W.A.S.P. and Ratt became popular. Glam metal rock bands had long hair and the men wore make up and leather pants and boots. In the late 1980s, groups such as Guns N' Roses were very successful.

Alternative music

Another rock music trend from the 1980s was alternative music. Bands such as R.E.M., Sonic Youth, The Smiths, Pixies, Hüsker Dü, The Cure, and others were popular with teens and young adults. The most immediate type of alternative music was "grunge," a combination of punk, rock and metal. Proponents of grunge included Nirvana, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden and Pearl Jam with themes of sadness and loneliness.

Related pages

Rockabilly, an early form of Rock and Roll from the 1950s

New wave, a form of pop music from the late 1970s

Disco, a popular dance music style of music from the 1970s

Heavy metal music, a loud, aggressive form of rock from the 1970s and 1980s. It continued in the 1990s and 2000s.

Hardcore punk, a louder, more aggressive form of punk rock, from the 1980s

Pop-punk, a popular music from the 1990s which blends pop music with punk rock

Hip-hop, a popular music from the 1990s and 2000s

Images for kids

Bill Haley and his Comets performing in the 1954 Universal International film Round Up of Rhythm

Tommy Steele, one of the first British rock and rollers, performing in Stockholm in 1957

"There's No Romance in Rock and Roll" made the cover of True Life Romance in 1956

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Rock and roll is a form of rock music developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Rock music combines many kinds of music from the United States, such as country music, folk music, gospel music, work, blues and jazz. Rock and roll developed in the early 1950s from a kind of music called rhythm and blues performed by black singers and musicians.

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Do you enjoy getting shots? What? No way! Who would answer "Yes!" to that question? Probably no one, right? That's how we imagine most kids would answer that question.

And it's understandable . Getting shots is not an experience . Although it's usually not as or as we anticipate it might be, it's still not fun to be with a piece of metal.

Unfortunately, shots are a part of life for most kids as they grow up. Even if you're very healthy and never need a shot to help cure an illness, you still need a variety of vaccinations early in life to a wide range of diseases.

Are all those vaccinations really ? Doctors think so, and you will, too, after you learn more about a terrible disease that's been mostly eliminated thanks to vaccines.

In the years following World War II, there was one disease that people feared more than any other: polio. In fact, historians believe the fear of contracting polio was only second to the fear of widespread nuclear war.

Polio (also known as poliomyelitis) is a contagious viral disease that's been around for thousands of years. However, its worst outbreak in the United States occurred in the first half of the 20 th century.

In 1952, at the height of the polio outbreak, there were about 60,000 cases of polio in the United States, with approximately 3,000 deaths as a result of the disease. It's easy to understand why people were so scared.

Polio is an interesting disease in that it produces no symptoms in about 95% of cases. When it does produce symptoms in its worst form, known as paralytic polio, the polio virus enters the bloodstream and attacks the nervous system.

In particular, the polio virus would attack the nerves that control the muscles involved in breathing and movement, causing paralysis and respiratory trouble. One standard treatment for respiratory problems was to place polio patients in a large machine called an "iron lung," which would push and pull the chest muscles to make them work.

Although most people with less severe types of polio could make a full recovery with no long-term consequences , people with paralytic polio were often left handicapped and many died. Thanks to a man named Jonas Salk, however, polio soon became a thing of the past.

Dr. Salk developed a vaccine for polio in the early 1950s. He began testing the vaccine in 1952 in what would become one of the largest clinical trials in medical history. His vaccine was finally approved for general use in 1955, and it had an immediate and dramatic impact.

Cases of polio began to decline rapidly. In subsequent years, other versions of the polio vaccine were developed. Historians believe polio was effectively eliminated from the United States by 1979 and the entire Western Hemisphere by 1991.

Unfortunately, polio still exists in some parts of the world, including Africa and Asia. Health organizations around the world continue to administer polio vaccines in areas with polio outbreaks to try to eliminate the disease worldwide.

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Do you enjoy getting shots? What? No way! Who would answer "Yes!" to that question? Probably no one, right? That's how we imagine most kids would answer that question. And it's understandable . Getting shots is not an experience .

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A Science Odyssey: On The Edge: Paralyzing Polio: 1 of 9

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What Is Polio?

Polio is an infection caused by a virus, called the poliovirus. It was once very common in the U.S. and feared, because it caused paralysis and could be deadly. After doctors started giving a polio vaccine in the 1950s, the number of cases fell rapidly. No new cases of polio have started in the U.S. since 1979. But it is still a problem in parts of Asia and Africa.

What Are the Signs & Symptoms of Polio?

Most people who get infected with polio (short for poliomyelitis) have no symptoms.

Some people have only mild flu-like symptoms, so they may not even suspect that they have polio. These symptoms can include:

Rarely, the virus affects the brain and spinal cord, causing much more serious symptoms, such as:

Meningitis. The polio virus can infect the meninges, which are the membranes around the brain and spinal cord. This causes a severe headache, a stiff neck, and sensitivity to light (when light hurts or bothers the eyes).

Muscle weakness or paralysis. The virus can destroy the nerve cells that control muscles. When this happens, the muscles get painful and weaker until they stop working. When a person can't use their muscles, their body becomes floppy and can't move - known as paralysis. This can be life-threatening if it affects the breathing muscles and a person can't breathe.

Is Polio Contagious?

Polio is very contagious. The virus enters the body through the mouth and grows in the throat and intestines. It then spreads to other people via saliva (spit) or feces (poop). People can come into contact with the virus when:

They have direct contact with the poop of an infected person, or touch an object contaminated with the poop.

An infected person coughs or sneezes on them.

They eat foods or drink liquids contaminated with the virus. This can happen if they share food or utensils with an infected person. It also can happen if sewage water contaminates the food or drink.

An infected person can have the virus in their throat for 1-2 weeks, and in their poop for up to 6 weeks or longer. Even someone who has no symptoms can pass the virus to other people.

How Is Polio Treated?

There is no cure for polio, only treatments to manage symptoms. Mild cases usually are treated with plenty of fluids and bed rest.

Someone who has muscle pain or weakness will get medicine to treat the pain, and physical therapy to keep the muscles moving. If their breathing muscles are affected, they might need help from a mechanical ventilator (breathing machine). The ventilator moves air in and out of the lungs until the person can do it on their own.

How Long Does Polio Last?

People who have milder polio symptoms usually make a full recovery within 1-2 weeks. People whose symptoms are more severe can be weak or paralyzed for life, and some may die.

After recovery, a few people might develop "post-polio syndrome" as long as 30-40 years after their initial illness. Over time, they develop pain or weakness in their muscles or joints, and might feel very tired.

Can Polio Be Prevented?

Polio is a preventable disease. The best way to protect children is to make sure they get a polio vaccine. The vaccine makes the infection-fighting immune system create antibodies against the virus. The antibodies will fight the virus if it ever enters the body.

Inactivated Poliovirus Vaccine (IPV)

In the U.S., kids get the inactivated poliovirus vaccine (IPV) when they're 2 months, 4 months, 6-18 months, and 4-6 years old. IPV contains an inactive form of the virus, so it can't cause polio.

Oral Polio Vaccine (OPV)

In other parts of the world, kids might also get oral polio vaccine (OPV). This liquid vaccine is cheaper and easier to give to many people. Because it's not an injection, it doesn't have to be given by a trained health care provider.

OPV will be in the spit and poop of those who get the vaccine. So it can spread to other people the same way the virus does. If it spreads to someone who isn't vaccinated, it can trigger that person's immune system to create antibodies. They'll be immunized even though they didn't get the vaccine directly.

OPV contains a weak form of the live virus, so very rarely it can cause polio. That's why it is no longer used in the U.S.

OPV doses given before April 2016 can count toward a child's U.S. polio vaccination requirements. Doses given after that will not count.

What Else Should I Know?

Health groups are working to wipe out polio throughout the world, with much success. But several countries still have polio. If you plan to travel outside the U.S., particularly to Africa and Asia, be sure that you and your kids have gotten all your needed polio vaccinations.

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Polio is an infection caused by a virus, called the poliovirus. It was once very common in the U.S. and feared, because it caused paralysis and could be deadly. After doctors started giving a polio vaccine in the 1950s, the number of cases fell rapidly. No new cases of polio have started in the U.S.