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A team of biologists recently studied rainfrogs in the forests of northern Ecuador. While doing so, they made a surprising discovery: a Mindo harlequin toad. The creature hadn't been seen alive in 30 years. The scientists couldn't believe their eyes.

"The three of us spotted it simultaneously," Melissa Costales told TIME for Kids. She's a conservation biologist. Her partners were scientist César Barrio-Amorós and reptile and amphibian guide Eric Osterman.

"It took our brains a while longer than normal to recognize that we were watching an Atelopus mindoensis!" Their findings were published in the spring, in the journal Herpetology Notes. Herpetology is the study of reptiles and amphibians.

The Mindo harlequin is the latest harlequin toad species "to come back from the dead," says Costales. Since 2003, eight others have been found, three of them in Ecuador.

Toads, Rediscovered

Until recently, 13 of the 25 species of harlequin toads in Ecuador had gone unseen since the 1980s or early 1990s. Scientists thought most of them had been wiped out by a fungal disease called chytrid. This illness is especially harmful to the harlequin toad.

Costales says the Mindo harlequin may have developed a resistance to the disease. That would explain the toad's reappearance. And it could spell good news for other harlequins. Since discovering the first one, Costales's team has found five more. They were all tested for chytrid. None had the disease. But that doesn't mean the survival of the species is guaranteed, Costales says. The harlequin toad is still endangered.

Costales is developing a conservation plan with a zoology museum in Ecuador. She wants to make sure the Mindo harlequin toad doesn't fall back into extinction.

"Each rediscovery gives us a second chance to develop better conservation strategies," she says. "Not every day do we have the opportunity to rediscover a species that we believed to be extinct."

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A team of biologists recently studied rainfrogs in the forests of northern Ecuador. While doing so, they made a surprising discovery: a Mindo harlequin toad. The creature hadn't been seen alive in 30 years. The scientists couldn't believe their eyes....

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Newsela | Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson and Dorothy Vaughan: scientists with NASA

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How three Black women changed space travel using math and science.

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Newsela | The cost to play school sports is rising and fewer students can afford it

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School sports have always been a great way to stay in shape, make friends and learn to play on a team. But fewer families can afford the rising costs of fees for equipment and travel.

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Most polar bears could disappear by the end of the century, scientists say. Global warming is to blame.

According to a study published this month in Nature Climate Change, most polar bear populations will be in serious decline by 2080. The cause is melting sea ice. Polar bears hunt seals on the ice. Without ice, the bears must roam on the shore, where they are spending more and more time away from their main food source. That means the animals could starve.

"There's not enough food on land to sustain a polar bear population," Péter K. Molnár told the New York Times. He is the study's lead author.

Lack of food leads to another problem: Mother bears may not be fat enough to produce milk for their cubs. Some bear populations could stop having babies, leading to a rapid decline in numbers.

Polar bears are the largest land carnivores on the planet. They help keep other animal populations in check. Losing them would throw habitats off-balance. "Their loss would reverberate throughout the ecosystem," Marika Holland says. She's one of the authors of the study.

Arctic sea ice usually melts in the spring and summer, then grows in the winter. But now, the ice is taking longer to grow back. Weather statistics say the Arctic is warming twice as fast as the rest of the planet. Ice in the region has declined 13% every 10 years since the 1970s.

The Arctic is home to roughly 25,000 polar bears. Scientists have long known that the animals are in danger. This study, which looked at 13 of the world's 19 polar bear populations, is the first to identify when they could disappear.

But the study also notes that it is still possible to slow Arctic melting. The world can reduce the burning of fossil fuels and lower the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change. It would have to be a drastic reduction. Bringing emissions to only a moderate level will still mean the loss of some polar bears.

Saving the bears is up to us, Holland says. "I believe that there is hope," she says. "But humans need to act quickly to turn that hope into a reality."

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Most polar bears could disappear by the end of the century, scientists say. Global warming is to blame. According to a study published this month in Nature Climate Change, most polar bear populations will be in serious decline by 2080....

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If nothing is done to stop rising sea levels, the homes of 200 million people could be underwater by the year 2100. That's according to a study published in October in the scientific magazine Nature Communications.

The global sea level has been rising for more than a century, and more quickly over the last several decades. That's because climate change is melting glaciers and ice sheets. Higher sea levels flood coastlines. If steps aren't taken to protect cities and towns, people could be forced to move inland.

One European country is especially vulnerable × vulnerable equipped × equipped PHOTOGRAPHER IS MY LIFE/GETTY IMAGES capable of being harmed (adjective) If your computer is not password-protected, it is vulnerable to cyberattacks. to flooding: the Netherlands. More than a quarter of the country already sits below sea level. But the Netherlands has developed strategies for dealing with water. For that reason, many experts believe that even though it's vulnerable to rising seas, the country is well- MATSOU-GETTY IMAGES prepared or supplied (adjective) I always carry an EpiPen so I'm equipped for an allergic reaction. to deal with them. Could other nations use the Netherlands' techniques?

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Water Problems

In the region that is now the Netherlands, people have been inventing ways to keep out water for at least 900 years. "Taking care of water is taking care of ourselves," says Henk Ovink. He works on water issues for the Dutch government.

The country is famous for its dikes, which are long walls that prevent flooding. But in recent years, experts there have developed new techniques that go far beyond dikes. Some are high-tech. For example, the Maeslantkering is a massive storm-surge barrier that protects the city of Rotterdam from seawater. It's controlled by a supercomputer. It closes automatically when Rotterdam is threatened by floods.

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Other projects look to nature for inspiration. The DakAkker is a farm located on top of an office building in Rotterdam. The building's roof holds rainwater to prevent runoff. Another example is the Floating Farm. Its designers wanted to make room for agriculture in a waterlogged city. More than 30 dairy cows live on the farm, which floats in Rotterdam's waterways. The farm generates its own energy using floating solar panels.

Ovink often advises other countries on how to solve their water problems. "It's not that our solutions are the best," Ovink says. "But your country's solutions can be inspired by us and by nature."

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If nothing is done to stop rising sea levels, the homes of 200 million people could be underwater by the year 2100. That's according to a study published in October in the scientific magazine Nature Communications. The global sea level...

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Newsela | Basketball goes super competitive with younger players

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Traveling sports teams have a reputation for being super competitive. That serious play has trickled down to kids as young as fourth-graders. But, many wonder, is that too young?

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Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of young people are taking to the streets today, urging world leaders to address climate change.

Many of the protesters are kids and teens. They're skipping school to take part in the Global Climate Strike. The event comes in advance of the United Nations Youth Climate Summit, which is being held in New York City on Saturday.

In Australia, some 300,000 protesters across 110 towns and cities participated in the strike. Organizers said the protest in Melbourne, with 100,000 people, was the largest climate-related demonstration in the country's history.

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"Adults are, like, 'respect your elders.' And we're, like, 'respect our futures,'" Jemima Grimmer told the New York Times. She's a 13-year-old who was protesting in Sydney, Australia. "You know, it's a two-way street, respect, and I'm angry that I have to be here."

Thousands of protests-some large, some small-are taking place in Australia, Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the United States alone, organizers say more than 800 events are planned across the country.

In Berlin, Germany, 100,000 people gathered near government offices. There, lawmakers were at work crafting environmental regulations. In the Philippines, protesters blockaded the entrance to an oil refinery. In Nairobi, Kenya, they wore outfits made from plastic bottles. In New Delhi, India, where air pollution is a big problem, protesters chanted "I want to breathe clean."

ARIF ALI-AFP/GETTY IMAGES

"Even though we ourselves aren't sick, the planet which we live on is. And we are protesting and fighting for it," said Siobhan Sutton. She is a 15-year-old Australian student.

This strike follows worldwide youth climate events that drew huge numbers in March. Another international climate strike is planned for September 27.

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Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of young people are taking to the streets today, urging world leaders to address climate change. Many of the protesters are kids and teens. They're skipping school to take part in the Global Climate...

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Newsela | Participation in traditional sports declines as many kids try something new

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Sports like rock climbing and mountain biking let kids be physically active without the stress of competition

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Newsela | Like Andrew Luck, kids quit sports when the joy goes away

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When the game is no longer fun, everyone quits - kids and NFL players.

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Rachel Atcheson is the Humane League's Philadelphia director. I wanted to interview her to shine a light on her incredible work as an animal rights activist and, hopefully, encourage and inspire teens to take action on behalf of animals.

Why did you decide to become an animal rights advocate?

I decided to help animals because they are the most underrepresented group of beings in today's society. Some might think that animals get sufficient attention, but cats and dogs receive the bulk of it. When we hear of a hoarder with 100 cats and none of them sufficiently nourished, we empathize with those cats. But farm animals are suffering every day in factory farms and we rarely hear their stories. I decided to help farm animals because they need a louder voice.

How did you think you would be able to make a difference?

I didn't start out thinking I could make much of a difference. I began volunteering with a local animal protection group (the group I work for now, the Humane League), but I had no idea the ripple effect my activism would have in the world. With the help of many mentors, I've been able to hone my activism skills and influence many people to be more involved in activism.

Has your life changed since you started helping animals?

My life has changed dramatically. I have become more compassionate and more empathetic toward the plight of both human and non-human animals. I have taken on the role of an activist - and I think this is the most important change in my life, because now I understand that no matter how much a person wants to change the world, it's the hard work, the elbow grease, that really creates meaningful change.

What is the main problem animals face right now?

These issues of confinement and mutilation are common for farm animals everywhere. All factory farms treat animals as if they were commodities, property, and this is, I believe, the biggest problem facing farmed animals right now.

I'd love to tell you the story of one animal in particular. Buttercup is an egg-laying hen who has lived her entire life in a cage smaller than a piece of paper. She has never met her mother. Because of her close confinement with other chickens, Buttercup's beak was seared off with a hot blade soon after she was born so she wouldn't peck any other chickens in her cage. Ever since she was young, Buttercup has lived in this battery cage. She has never been outside, never felt the sun on her feathers or the grass beneath her feet. And she'll remain there for her whole life. Her feet might become mangled in the wire mesh she stands on. If she develops an infection, she will not receive veterinary attention.

On a typical egg-laying farm, there could be 500,000 chickens, so Buttercup is just one of many chickens who will never see the outside of that warehouse.

What does it take to become an effective activist?

Be positive, set a good example, read literature on effective activism and, most of all, practice. If you want to learn more about animal activism, consider getting involved with groups such as the Humane League, Mercy for Animals, or Compassion Over Killing. All of these groups are very effective in their work.

How can we make a difference in the lives of animals?

The number-one way you can make a difference in the lives of animals is to cut back on the amount of animals you eat; consider trying Meatless Monday. And if you already do not consume much meat, consider going vegetarian. Are you already a vegetarian? Cut back on the amount of eggs and dairy you consume. And finally, try veganism.

While it may seem daunting to do anything in this list, if you take it one step at a time, one meal at a time, you'll find it easy, exciting, and fulfilling. We have an opportunity to make a difference in the lives of animals three times a day - breakfast, lunch, and dinner - and with your help, we will see changes for farm animals.

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Rachel Atcheson is the Humane League’s Philadelphia director. I wanted to interview her to shine a light on her incredible work as an animal rights activist and, hopefully, encourage and inspire teens to take action on behalf of animals.&nbs

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Climate change could soon drastically reduce the world's food supply. That's according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations. The report was created by a group of more than a hundred experts from 52 countries.

Climate change has made drought, floods, and forest fires more common. It has transformed fertile land into desert. It has also contributed to species loss.

According to the U.N. report, all these things will affect the food supply. They'll make it more difficult to produce food. "The threat of climate change affecting people's food on their dinner table is increasing," says Cynthia Rosenzweig. Rosenzweig is a NASA climate scientist. She's one of the report's authors.

Climate change has already caused the price of food to rise. And it has made some foods less nutritious. But Rosenzweig says there's still hope. "There are a lot of actions that we can take now," she says.

The report urges consumers to reduce food waste. As much as 30% of the food produced worldwide is wasted.

The report also urges consumers to eat less meat and more vegetables, seeds, and fruit. Producing those foods creates fewer of the harmful emissions that contribute to climate change.

"We don't want a message of despair," says Jim Skea. Skea's a U.N. science panel official. He's also a professor at Imperial College London. "We want to get across the message that every action makes a difference."

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Climate change could soon drastically reduce the world's food supply. That's according to a report released Thursday by the United Nations. The report was created by a group of more than a hundred experts from 52 countries. Climate change has...

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The Ocean Cleanup has been trying out a system for removing plastic from the sea. After running into several problems, the group has got the system up and working.

"I am very proud to share with you that we are now catching plastics," the group's founder, Boyan Slat, says. He spoke to reporters in the Netherlands on October 2.

The Ocean Cleanup system is a floating barrier × barrier HERO IMAGES/GETTY IMAGES an object that blocks movement from one place to another (noun) The garden was surrounded by a barrier to keep deer from eating the berries. . It uses a giant screen that hangs below the water's surface. The screen traps pieces of plastic as they float by. Marine animals can swim safely underneath.

The barrier didn't work well when it was towed out to sea last year. It floated at the same speed as the plastic it was meant to catch. Since then, an underwater parachute has been added. This slows down the barrier so it can catch the faster-moving plastics. Other fixes were made to prevent plastic from flowing over the top of the barrier.

The device is being used in an area of the Pacific Ocean known as the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Some 1.8 trillion pieces of plastic have collected there. The pollution harms animals. It also gets into the food chain. Slat hopes to get half of the trash cleaned up by 2025.

The next challenge is to make the barrier bigger and stronger, so it can gather plastic for a year, after which a ship will carry the trash away. "If the journey to this point taught us anything," Slat says, "it is that it's definitely not going to be easy."
Stop and Think! What questions would you ask Boyan Slat if you were to write an article about the Ocean Cleanup system? How would you come up with interview questions?

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The Ocean Cleanup has been trying out a system for removing plastic from the sea. After running into several problems, the group has got the system up and working. "I am very proud to share with you that we are...

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High school gamers are scoring college scholarships. But can esports make varsity?

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High school gamers are scoring college scholarships. But can esports make varsity?

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When 11th grader Jeremy Murray joined the esports team at Francis Howell Central High School in St. Charles, Missouri, his father had a natural reaction for a parent: What about homework?

Then, this past spring, six of Jeremy's teammates were offered nearly $400,000 in scholarships to play esports in college.

"That changed my mind," said Stan Murray, Jeremy's father.

A year ago, Murray wouldn't have dreamed that his son could get money for college by playing Overwatch, a kind of digital Dungeons & Dragons with laser battles. He didn't know colleges had competitive gaming teams and certainly never heard of them in high schools.

And then, before he knew it, he was calling video gaming a sport.

"Every now and then, I actually make Jeremy play for a couple of hours so he doesn't lose his abilities," Murray said. "I guess I'm just a typical sports dad."

Parents and educators across the country have been trying to make the same adjustment - and quickly. In the 2018-19 school year, some 200 colleges in the U.S. offered $16 million in esports scholarships, more than a threefold increase since 2015, according to the National Association of College Esports. Looking to boost enrollment and keep up with the latest tech-industry trend, colleges are plucking recruits from online gaming platforms as teams continue to spring up in high schools everywhere.

The demand for high school gaming has spread so quickly that state activities and athletics associations, the overseers of high school sports, are scrambling to keep up. They're asking if video gaming is a safe and worthwhile activity for students - and if they should treat it as a sport.

But esports companies aren't waiting. A number of them are already helping schools set up computer labs, organize tournaments and connect students with college recruiters. These companies are building the ground-level support for the expanding college and professional scenes, supplying not only gamers, but potential managers, marketers, data analysts and game designers.

Esports is projected to be a $1.5 billion industry in 2020, according to the research firm Newzoo.

"Esports is here to stay and should be embraced," said Chris Heintz, head publisher of High School Esports League, the oldest and biggest of the esports companies.

Heintz's company estimates that most of the $16 million offered in scholarships went to gamers participating in its online tournaments, which have drawn some 65,000 players across 1,700 high schools.

"Esports has a lot of the same benefits for students as traditional sports," Heintz said. "And eventually, as awareness grows, as we work up the chain, through teachers, through administrators, the 'aha' moment will happen for more people."

The success of theFrancis Howell High School esports team was as sudden as the rise of high school esports itself. The team formed a little over a year ago, and now six seniors are going on to play for college teams this fall with tuition money in their pockets.

The "aha" moment came for guidance counselor Kris Miller in the spring of 2018, when he was touring Columbia College of Missouri with a group of students. One of the stops was the Game Hut, a small black building with atmospheric blue lighting inside, wall-mounted flat screens and illuminated keyboards. It was the college's esports facility.

"My brain started whirring," Miller recalled. "'What is this all about?'"

Miller knew there were avid gamers among his students. What he didn't know, until that moment, was that several Missouri colleges were looking for recruits.

"I thought we'd be negligent if we didn't start an esports team at the high school," Miller said. "If colleges are offering scholarships, our kids should be competing for them."

School district rules said Miller needed 10 kids to start a club. In just a week, he got 20 - 14 boys and six girls.

Miller didn't wait around for his kids to get discovered. He invited college coaches to the school to meet the team. Central Methodist University took him up on the invite, then had two of the seniors visit its campus to play in an Overwatch tournament. Eventually, the university offered the students $100,000 in scholarships.

"I knew that if they knew who we were, they'd come looking for me when they needed players," Miller said.

The scholarships helped to give esports credibility at Francis Howell. And it helps that Miller runs the program like a sports team. Players must show up to practices and keep up their grades. They even take a few laps around the school before manning the keyboards.

Parents are getting on board. Le'Anne Schlotzhauer thought the time her boys spent online watching livestreams of professional video games was wasted. But when she found out her son, George, was joining an esports team for a chance to win money for college, her question was, "Are you good enough?"

Seeing how many colleges were offering money put gaming in a whole new light.

"There is actual communication, team play," Schlotzhauer said. "They analyze the game, watch it afterwards and look for what they can do better. There's a lot that goes into it that people don't realize."

This past spring, George was offered a total of $16,000 in scholarships.

Even as the list of colleges and state universities recruiting high school gamers grows, state athletics and activities associations have been slow to move on esports.

For one thing, activities boards aren't concerned with scholarships.

"The priority is what the kids are getting out of an activity, learning the life skills to become good citizens, not getting to college," said Stacy Schroeder, associate executive director of Missouri's sports and activities association.

Then there's the apparent absence of physical exertion. It gets athletics boards wondering if esports falls within their authority.

"There's no doubt in my mind that what kids get out of esports looks like more traditional teams," said Andy Frushour, director of brand management for the Michigan athletics association. "They're wearing uniforms. They're representing their school. They're practicing every day. But some people get caught up on, 'Is this athletics?'"

The biggest resistance is from phys ed teachers.

"They've been preaching, 'Get out and run around,'" Frushour said. "And then they see these games that don't look like the ones they grew up playing. With something so new, for an association like ours to move forward takes time."

Without official sanction, there's no organization. Any mishap - a doctor's appointment, a last-minute make-up test, a mix-up in timing - can derail a scheduled match.

This is why the National Federation of State High School Associations has stepped in. Mark Koski, the chief executive of the NFHS Network, which livestreams high school events, said that over the past 18 months, more and more member states have been looking for guidance in running esports leagues.

And they need their options sorted out. Besides High School Esports League, there are a few companies positioning themselves as the go-to esports organizer, all of them working with schools to fund equipment, set up clubs and organize matches.

"We had a number of state associations and schools saying, 'Hey, we need some kind of solution,'" Koski said.

The Federation decided it would bring its 19,500 high schools under a single esports provider. Koski interviewed the key companies, looking for a good fit.

Federation board members wanted assurance, first of all, that they wouldn't be endorsing violence. No gory, realistic first-person shooter games. (Esports companies stick to cartoonish, multiplayer strategy games like Overwatch, League of Legends, Rocket League and Smite.)

And simplicity was key. No travel events, no financial strain on the school. Teams should be able to compete just by signing onto the company's site from the school computer lab.

Though some of the more generic concerns about the effects of video games have been debunked, other more legitimate issues remain. Gaming addiction, which was recently designated a disease by the World Health Organization, regularly comes up at state board meetings.

"That's where I stress the importance of the teacher-coach," Koski said. "I would much rather students were monitored within a school setting under the direction of a teacher-coach than playing at home by themselves."

Koski has focused on keeping esports within the realm of school activities. Still, the expanding possibilities within the industry aren't lost on him.

"I visited a couple of game publishers," he said. "They had 650 employees, and they were paying an average of $75,000 salaries. That's unbelievable money for kids fresh out of high school."

When it came time to choose a company to organize tournaments for the nation's high schools, the Federation went with a relative newcomer, Los Angeles start-up PlayVS (pronounced "Play Versus"), which had a clear vision of where esports was going and how to get it there.

Under an exclusive five-year contract signed in January 2018, PlayVS has license to operate leagues in any state that wants to sign on. This past school year, it ran its first two seasons in eight states. The cost for schools was $64 per student, per season. The company hopes to build itself into a 100-million-user subscription business.

The deal was a coup for PlayVs, which only a year and a half ago was a one-person company run by founder Delane Parnell. It was also more evidence that the booming esports industry's entry into college and high schools had cracked open a new and lucrative market.

Since signing with the Federation, Parnell, with backing from a tech investment firm, has secured tens of millions of dollars in venture capital to build his company.

That puts him in a unique position to direct the course of high school esports.

"At some point soon, every gamer will reference PlayVs as they work through the experience of esports, whether they're in high school or college," he says.

PlayVS organizes interscholastic competition into seasons, the way it would be for other varsity sports. The company's software enables coaches to monitor real-time statistics, manage rosters and communicate with one another like varsity coaches. But one of the bigger selling points for the Federation was PlayVS's relationship with game publishers. It's the only company with explicit rights to use the games on its platform. Without that consent, Parnell says, other companies may be charging participation fees illegally.

PlayVS's rise has caught its competitors off-guard. Tyler Schrodt is founder of the New York-based Electronic Gaming Federation, which in 2018 helped organize the first state-sanctioned esports leagues in Connecticut and Alaska.

Schrodt said the "West Coast-oriented" approach of raising millions in venture capitalism is premature in the high school esports industry. The focus should be on educating schools on competitive gaming's social and educational benefits.

"Esports is trying to catch up to the traditional sports world, in terms of infrastructure and knowledge base. There's still a pretty big knowledge gap about what you're buying into," he said.

As for the High School Esports League, it would like to see the industry continue to grow in the organic, haphazard way it largely helped to establish.

"Esports have always been grassroots, community-driven, player-focused," said co-founder Mason Mullenioux. "Students find a teacher. The teacher sponsors a club. Then the teacher sees the awesome benefits the kids are getting and tells their teacher-friends. And it just kind of spreads like wildfire."

Without centralized organization, the league's growth depends on school teams here and there signing up to compete in tournaments, which, the company reports, has seen participation in all 50 states, as well as Puerto Rico and Canada. Since February 2018, member schools of the National Association of Collegiate Esports, the NCAA of college gaming, have mined the company's rosters for recruits.

Mullenioux and friend Charles Reilly started the league after graduating from college in 2012. It was the kind of thing they had needed in high school. "We both wanted something in school we could belong to," Mullenioux says. "We were thinking, 'We can't be the only ones like this,' and it turns out there are a ton of people like us, across the country and around the world, who long for something they can belong to."

The company still sees its mission as mainly social and educational. "We're not interested in getting $50 million and having to appease some venture capitalists who want to make the process skyrocket," Heintz said. "We're trying to find a balance between serving students and teachers, and bridging the gap between competitive gaming and education."

That gap may take some time to close, Mullenioux said, given how slow state associations are moving. For now, it will have to be the kids and enterprising coaches out there who will drive the growth of the sport.

That's the energy guidance counselor Miller hopes to bring to state board meetings in Missouri this fall. If he can drum up enough support, he'd forgo the esports companies altogether and start up a regional league that could serve as a conduit to local colleges.

As for his students, whether they take up careers in the esports industry or in some other technology field, esports is a win-win.

"It's good for a lot of people, and it's only going to grow from here," said George Schlotzhauer, who's now a freshman at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri, and weighing professional gaming against computer science as a possible career. He's got his own page on the school's sports website.

"It's going to be something big," Schlotzhauer said. "And people who made fun of it are going to look a little bit silly now."

CORRECTION (Sept 20, 2019, 4:32 ET p.m.): An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed a comment about the professionalization of a casual activity to Delane Parnell. The comment has been removed.

CORRECTION (Sept, 23, 2019, 3:04 ET p.m.): An earlier version of this article misstated the liability risk of charging fees in relation to esports leagues. The risk is with companies that organize the tournaments, not the schools.

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High school gamers are scoring college scholarships. But can esports make varsity?

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When 11th grader Jeremy Murray joined the esports team at Francis Howell Central High School in St. Charles, Missouri, his father had a natural reaction for a parent: What about homework? Then, this past spring, six of Jeremy's teammates were offered nearly $400,000 in scholarships to play esports in college.

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Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye | National Geographic

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Effects Of Video Games On Teens: The Good, the Bad and the Useful

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Effects Of Video Games On Teens: The Good, the Bad and the Useful

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As parents we have been taught (understandably) to fear video games and their effects on our teenagers. But can these games make our teenagers better people? In a word: Yes.

A few weeks ago, I got a chance to interview three gaming experts for a new PBS show called iQ:smartparent. It's airing here in Pittsburgh. I asked these experts to offer guidance about what games I should let my kids play, how often, and how video games affect children and teens. Here's what I learned:

Our first expert was Dr. Brian Primack, an associate professor of medicine at University of Pittsburgh. He's been researching the impact of media on children for years and got us started with some of the dangers games can pose. These include aggression, desensitization, isolation, and fear. Certain games increase the rates of all of these in teenagers and adults. So what should we keep in mind?

Some Of The Dangers Of Video Games

1. First person shooter games are the most dangerous.

These are games in which the player is creating at least some of the violence. Playing this role too often or for too long increases the chances that a person will react to conflict with aggression.

2. Witnessing a lot of violence desensitizes us to pain and suffering.

So even if our character in the game is trying to avoid the fires or bombs or mobs, just watching it happen on the screen (in games or movies or cartoons) changes the way we think about violence, makes it seem like "not a big deal," even when we see it in real life. And when the violence is accompanied by humor, that desensitization gets a lot worse, making animation a major offender.

3. Playing too much screen can lead to isolation.

However, this is much less of a problem if the game requires collaboration with other players (even ones we've never met).

4. Stressful situations in the virtual world can increase anxiety in the real world.

This is not true for everyone, so you have to know your child.

Luckily, games that meet these "negative criteria" are a small percentage of the games available.

Now onto the upsides.

Benefits Of Video Games

Jesse Schell of Schell Games (and formerly Disney Imagineering) and Nikki Navta of Zulama.com told the audience that the skills teenagers build while gaming can go far beyond excelling at the game.

Specifically, games give parents an opportunity to look critically at their teens: You might address a skill or characteristic that your teenager needs to improve. Search for games that offer challenges that he is ready to embrace in order to build that new skill.

Do you wish your teen had more resilience? Games can help kids think of themselves as problem-solvers because certain games force kids to find solutions. Any game with levels, where it is possible to "lose," encourages tweens and teens to persevere - to hit "play again." Your teenager will see that he can keep improving, even if he hasn't yet mastered a skill. This is the definition of resilience!

Do you want to raise someone who is a great team player? Consider joining a community that works collaboratively, like Minecraft, and include your teen!

Are you interested in a teen who can handle complex ethical dilemmas? For this, Schell suggested World of Warcraft together or an historical conflict game.

What I learned from this program is that it's possible to have a positive outlook when it comes to teens and video games. When we recognize that our teens will use gaming as a social or entertainment focus for years to come, we can compare video games to the way we think about food. Food and media are not always bad - or good - but amount and content matters tremendously.

If you are not sure of the content or appropriateness of a game for your family, check out Common Sense Media and see what they have to say; it's a great resource.

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Effects Of Video Games On Teens: The Good, the Bad and the Useful

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As parents we have been taught (understandably) to fear video games and their effects on our teenagers. But can these games make our teenagers better people? In a word: Yes. A few weeks ago, I got a chance to interview three gaming experts for a new PBS show called iQ:smartparent.

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Explore the history of video games, understand how the industry began and evolved, and discover the impact that electronic games have had on how people play, learn, and connect with each other in this timeline that draws on the collections of The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games, the most comprehensive collection of video game materials in the world.

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Explore the history of video games, understand how the industry began and evolved, and discover the impact that electronic games have had on how people play, learn, and connect with each other in this timeline that draws on the collections of The Strong's International Center for the History of Electronic Games, the most comprehensive collection of video game materials in the world.

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When my kids, ages 11 and 8, bang through the back door after school, often the first thing out of their mouths is: "Mom! Can we play Prodigy?"

After a quick mental calculation of how much screen time they've already had for the week and how much peace and quiet I need to finish my work, I acquiesce. After all, Prodigy is a role-playing video game that encourages kids to practice math facts. It's educational.

Right?

Though video games are increasingly making their way into classrooms, scientists who study them say the data are lacking on whether they can actually improve learning - and most agree that teachers still outperform games in all but a few circumstances.

But there is growing evidence that some types of video games may improve brain performance on a narrow set of tasks. This is potentially good news for students, as well as for the millions of people who love to play, or at least can't seem to stop playing (see infographic).

"There is a lot of evidence that people - and not just young people - spend a lot of time playing games on their screens," says Richard Mayer, an education psychology researcher at the University of California, Santa Barbara. "If we could turn that into something more productive, that would be a worthwhile thing to do."

In an article in the 2019 Annual Review of Psychology, Mayer set out to evaluate rigorous experiments that tested what people can learn from games. Though he's not entirely convinced of games' educational potential, some studies did suggest that games can be effective in teaching a second language, math and science. The hope, he says, is to figure out how to harness any brain-boosting potential for better classroom results.

Your brain on games

Some of the first evidence that gaming may train the brain came from first-person shooter games. That these oft-maligned games might actually have benefits was first stumbled upon by an undergraduate studying psychology at the University of Rochester in New York. C. Shawn Green gave his friends a test of visual attention, and their scores were off the charts. He and his research supervisor, Daphné Bavelier, thought there must have been a bug in his coding of the test. But when Bavelier took the test, she scored in the normal range.

The difference was that Green's friends had all been devoting more than 10 hours per week to Team Fortress Classic, a first-person shooter version of capture the flag. Green and Bavelier then rigorously retested the idea with people who were new to gaming. They had two groups train on different types of games: One group practiced a first-person shooter action game for one hour per day for 10 days, and the other spent the same amount of time on Tetris, a spatial puzzle game.

The new action gamers were significantly better at focusing on targets of interest in a cluttered, visually noisy field compared with the Tetris players. The team also found that the action gamers, on average, could consistently track five moving objects in a visual field, compared with the three that non-gamers could track.

Bavelier, now a cognitive neuroscientist at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, says that action gamers are better able to switch their visual attention between distributed attention (scanning a large area for a particular object) and focused attention (extracting specific facts from a video). "This is called attentional control, the ability to flexibly switch attention as time demands," she says.

Though it's not yet clear if improving this kind of attention can help kids in the classroom, Bavelier says, she does see the potential for games to help motivate students - adding a bit of "chocolate" to the learning mix.

Green, now a cognitive psychologist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, admits that the benefits of playing hours upon hours of Call of Duty may be limited in real life. "There are some people who have jobs with a need for enhanced visual attention," he says, "such as surgeons, law enforcement or the military." But, he notes, all games come with an opportunity cost. "If video game time displaces homework time, that can affect reading and math skills negatively."

In other studies, researchers found that gamers who trained on Tetris were better at mentally rotating two-dimensional shapes than those who played a control game. Students who played two hours of All You Can E.T., an educational game designed to enhance the executive function of switching between tasks, improved their focus-shifting skills compared with students who played a word search game. Not surprisingly, the cognitive skills that games can improve are the ones that players end up practicing over and over during the course of play.

But importantly, these skill improvements are very specific to the task at hand: First-person shooter games don't improve mental rotation of objects, and Tetris doesn't improve visual attention. And ironically, in assessing studies for his review, Mayer found no convincing evidence that so-called brain-training games for healthy adults such as the Lumosity suite of games succeed at improving memory, attention or spatial cognition.

The next step is to figure out how these findings may translate to the classroom, where video games are already making in-roads. Many students could benefit from an improvement in the ability to flexibly shift their attention when needed. And though first-person shooter games are not really appropriate for grade-school students, Bavelier says researchers are getting better at identifying the core features of video games that drive improved brain agility.

"It could be a game based on a doctor who has to choose the right medicine to save the world. It doesn't have to be linked to death, violence and zombies," she says.

"Making a video game that is compelling and effective is difficult," Green says. Not to mention that games designed purely for entertainment can cost as much as making a blockbuster movie. What might be more useful for classrooms, he says, is to design kid-appropriate games aimed at improving specific brain skills that will help students succeed throughout the school day.

Gaming for gains

At New York University's Games for Learning Institute, codirector Jan Plass' team is designing shooter-type, educational video games that boost cognitive skills in executive function without the violence.

In All You Can E.T., players shoot food or drink into aliens' mouths based on a set of rules that keeps changing, forcing their brains to shift between tasks. And Gwakkamolé is a "Whac-A-Mole"-style game designed to help players improve their inhibitory control by whacking only avocados that aren't wearing helmets.

"Both of these games make students practice really important executive function skills that some kids didn't fully develop in early childhood," Plass says. "Switching tasks and inhibitory control are really important for learning."

Inhibitory control keeps kids in their seats, helps them focus on a lesson and prevents outbursts that distract the entire class. Practicing this task while playing a fun computer game has an appeal that other approaches do not. "It's clear that games re-engage kids" who have turned off or tuned out, he says.

But Bavelier questions whether cognitive skills gained from gaming will transfer to other, real-world or classroom situations. "Sure people who play Gwakkamolé get better at inhibition, in that game," she says. "But it's a much taller order to show that that skill transfers to better inhibition in general."

The best classroom video games have certain characteristics, say Mayer and Plass. They focus on one specific cognitive skill and compel players to practice that skill with embedded feedback and responsiveness. The game must be adaptive, meaning the level of challenge increases as the player improves. This is key for classrooms where teachers need one game that will work well for both struggling and advanced students.

Game designers want to hook students on educational games in the same way 270 million of us are driven to play Candy Crusheach day. "Games' most salient feature is their motivational power," Mayer says. "We want to harness that."

To do that, Mayer says, brain scientists, education researchers and game designers must engage more deeply with each other to create compelling games that can sharpen cognitive skills while they entertain. Bavelier points to the power of kids' brains to do things like memorize hundreds of Pokémon characters and their special powers. Imagine if they applied that obsession to learning all the stars in the night sky, Bavelier says.

Although this research is still evolving, I'm reassured about my own kids' ever-increasing requests for screen time - especially when they beg to play games designed to help them master math.

"Our dream is exactly this," Plass says. "That kids will be dying to get to their homework."

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When my kids, ages 11 and 8, bang through the back door after school, often the first thing out of their mouths is: "Mom! Can we play Prodigy?" After a quick mental calculation of how much screen time they've already had for the week and how much peace and quiet I need to finish my work, I acquiesce.

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Playing video games can be a fun way to unwind or spend time with friends. In schools, teachers use games like Minecraft to encourage teamwork and critical thinking.

But for some players, gaming is an unhealthy habit. At night, they are glued to a screen. Schoolwork suffers. The video-game world seems a friendlier place than the real one.

Mental health experts have taken notice. In June, the World Health Organization (WHO) added gaming disorder to its list of diseases and health conditions. A person may have the disorder if gaming has damaged his or her relationships with family and friends, and if it has affected his or her daily activities.

Not all experts agree that excessive × excessive BETSIE VAN DER MEER/GETTY IMAGES more than what is usual, proper, or healthy (adjective) My mom drinks excessive amounts of coffee. gaming should be called a disorder. They say people hooked on video games may be suffering from other mental health problems. These should be treated first.

Others think WHO made the right call. Psychiatrist Clifford Sussman treats gaming addiction. He says kids often have feelings of anxiety × anxiety HIGHWAYSTARZ-PHOTOGRAPHY/GETTY IMAGES a feeling of uneasiness or worry (noun) Spelling tests give me anxiety. . They get angry when a parent pries them from a device. "It becomes a self-destructive activity," Sussman told TIME for Kids.

Taking Back Control

What makes video games addictive? Playing excites the brain's reward center. After a while, the brain becomes numb to pleasure. You feel bored without a controller in your hand. So you play even more.

Sussman advises tracking how long you play. He says you should take at least an hour-long break after every hour of play. The brain needs time to recover.

Young gamers who think they might have a problem should ask an adult for help. Sussman suggests you first answer a simple question: "Are you in control, or is the game in control?"

Stop & Think! How does the author address multiple perspectives in the article? Support your answer with evidence from the text.

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Playing video games can be a fun way to unwind or spend time with friends. In schools, teachers use games like Minecraft to encourage teamwork and critical thinking. But for some players, gaming is an unhealthy habit. At night, they...

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Part 2 of 2: Video Games-Good or Bad?

Last week: The Violent Side of Video Games

Here's some news for you to share with your parents and teachers: Video games might actually be good for you.

Whenever a wave of teenage violence strikes, movies, TV, or video games often take the heat. Some adults assume that movies, TV, and video games are a bad influence on kids, and they blame these media for causing various problems. A variety of studies appear to support the link between media violence and bad behavior among kids (See The Violent Side of Video Games).

Video games can help focus attention.

But media don't necessarily cause violence, says James Gee. Gee is an education professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. "You get a group of teenage boys who shoot up a school-of course they've played video games," Gee says. "Everyone does. It's like blaming food because we have obese people."

Video games are innocent of most of the charges against them, Gee says. The games might actually do a lot of good. Gee has written a book titled What Video Games Have to Teach Us About Learning and Literacy.

A growing number of researchers agree with Gee. If used in the right way, video and computer games have the potential to inspire learning. And they can help players improve coordination and visual skills.

Attention-getting games

A good video game is challenging, entertaining, and complicated, Gee says. It usually takes 50 to 60 hours of intense concentration to finish one. Even kids who can't sit still in school can spend hours trying to solve a video or computer game.

"Kids diagnosed with ADHD because they can't pay attention will play games for 9 straight hours on the computer," Gee says. "The game focuses attention in a way that school doesn't."

The captivating power of video games might lie in their interactive nature. Players don't just sit and watch. They get to participate in the action and solve problems. Some games even allow players to make changes in the game, allowing new possibilities.

And kids who play computer games often end up knowing more about computers than their parents do. "Kids today are natives in a culture in which their parents are immigrants," Gee says.

In his 2 to 3 years of studying the social influences of video games, Gee has seen a number of young gamers become computer science majors in college. One kid even ended up as a teaching assistant during his freshman year because the school's computer courses were too easy for him.

Screen reading

Video games can enhance reading skills, too. In the game Animal Crossing, for instance, players become characters who live in a town full of animals. Over the course of the game, you can buy a house, travel from town to town, go to museums, and do other ordinary things. All the while, you're writing notes to other players and talking to the animals. Because kids are interested in the game, they often end up reading at a level well above their grade, even if they say they don't like to read.

Now being developed, the educational computer game "Revolution" brings kids to colonial America. Players become characters in a small Virginia town in 1773.

Education Arcade

Games can inspire new interests. After playing a game called Age of Mythology, Gee says, kids (like his 8-year-old son) often start checking out mythology books from the library or join Internet chat groups about mythological characters. History can come alive to a player participating in the game.

Even violent games have a positive side, Gee says. " Grand Theft Auto 3 does not exist to get off on shooting people," he says. When the game begins, your character has just been released from jail. You need to figure out how to make a living, but the only people you know are criminals. Along the way, you might end up fighting or killing people, but you don't have to.

"The game offers you a palette of choices," Gee says. Players must confront moral dilemmas, develop social relationships, and solve challenging problems that might apply to real life, he says. "How compelling would a game be if you only had good choices?"

Improved skills

Video games might also help improve visual skills. That was what researchers from the University of Rochester in New York recently found.

In the study, frequent game players between the ages of 18 and 23 were better at monitoring what was happening around them than those who didn't play as often or didn't play at all. They could keep track of more objects at a time. And they were faster at picking out objects from a cluttered environment.

"Above and beyond the fact that action video games can be beneficial," says Rochester neuroscientist Daphne Bavelier, "our findings are surprising because they show that the learning induced by video game playing occurs quite fast and generalizes outside the gaming experience."

The research might lead to better ways to train soldiers or treat people with attention problems, the researchers say, though they caution against taking that point too far.

Says Bavelier, "We certainly don't mean to convey the message that kids can play video games instead of doing their homework!"

In the educational video game "Supercharged," players can use magnetic fields to navigate mazes. Players also see electric field lines, which can help guide them through the course.

Education Arcade

If Gee gets his way, though, teachers might some day start incorporating computer games into their assignments. Already, scientists and the military use computer games to help simulate certain situations for research or training, he says. Why shouldn't schools do the same thing?

"Kids are beginning to see school as really out of step with culture," Gee says. Making computer technology part of the learning experience could change all that.

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have started a project they describe as the "Education Arcade." The project brings together researchers, scholars, game designers and others interested in developing and using computer games in the classroom.

Some kids already go to educational Web sites where they can interact with other kids and help solve problems. At Whyville ( www.whyville.net/), for example, kids from all over the world can chat, build an online identity, and learn math and science as they roam a virtual world.

Looking at the bright side of video and computer games could also help bring kids and adults closer together. Playing games can be a social activity, during which kids and adults learn from each other. By opening up lines of communication and understanding, maybe one day we'll praise video games for saving society, not blame them for destroying it.

On the one hand, there's still a lot more to learn about how video games really affect us. On the other hand, there's also a lot to learn about how to harness them for our benefit.

Part 1 of 2: The Violent Side of Video Games

Word Find: Video Games and Learning

Additional Information

Questions about the Article

Comments:

It is true that I learn easier when I can actually do something with what I learn-like figuring a math problem to unlock a door or to execute an attack!- Zachary, 13

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Part 2 of 2: Video Games-Good or Bad? Last week: The Violent Side of Video Games Here's some news for you to share with your parents and teachers: Video games might actually be good for you. Whenever a wave of teenage violence strikes, movies, TV, or video games often take the heat.

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Video games called a "great equalizer" for people with special needs

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Video games called a "great equalizer" for people with special needs

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Newsela | Video games called a "great equalizer" for people with special needs

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Video game makers provide more accessibility features for people with disabilities.

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Move over football and basketball, esports gains foothold in high schools

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Move over football and basketball, esports gains foothold in high schools

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Newsela | Move over football and basketball, esports gains foothold in high schools

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Esports, a video game competition, is gaining popularity on high schools and college campuses.

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Major League Baseball (MLB) has a home-run problem. The number of home runs increased sharply in 2015 and has continued to rise. In 2017, batters hit a record-setting 6,105 homers, and this year's number will be even higher. There have already been more than 5,500 home runs in major-league ballparks, putting the season on track to break the record.

More homers means fewer balls in play, and for many fans, that means less-exciting games. So what's going on? Some say it's a case of "juiced," or altered, baseballs. They wonder if the balls are being made differently so they'll fly farther. The league denies this.

One thing is certain: Something is different about the ball. "We don't yet know exactly what," says University of Illinois physicist Alan Nathan, one of a team of 10 experts who are studying the issue. Nathan doesn't think the ball was changed on purpose. "Whatever the answer is, it's something very subtle × subtle TOSHIRO SHIMADA-GETTY IMAGES hard to notice or see; not obvious (adjective) My sister and I are identical twins, but there are subtle differences in the way we look. ," he says. "It's a wonderful physics problem to try to figure out."

Spin Matters

To solve the mystery, the experts tested baseballs used since 2015. They took some apart and looked inside, and they fired others from an air cannon, to see how fast they flew.

One thing the experts tested was bounce: The more a baseball has, the faster it leaves the bat and the farther it flies. But bounce tests showed consistency among the balls.

Then the experts turned to studying the "drag" of the baseballs. As a ball spins through the air, the air pushes back. This causes drag, which slows down the ball's spin, often enough to keep it in the park. Any feature of the ball's surface can increase drag. Take the stitching, for example: Those raised edges catch the air and reduce spin.

Sure enough, drag had decreased over the years. Baseballs cut through the air more easily, and they just kept going. The experts aren't ready to say which feature of the ball has changed to reduce drag, but Nathan is sure of this: "The amount by which it changed could account for the change in home runs."

Variations are bound to happen, Nathan adds. Baseballs are handmade, and no two are ever the same. MLB could change the ball-intentionally, this time-to the way it was before 2015. Should we just make baseballs more uniform × uniform LAURI PATTERSON-GETTY IMAGES always the same in form or appearance (adjective) Contestants were challenged with creating 20 cookies of uniform size and shape. , as golf balls are? "You could do that," Nathan says, "but then it wouldn't be a baseball."

Made to Order

By MLB rules, all game baseballs

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Major League Baseball (MLB) has a home-run problem. The number of home runs increased sharply in 2015 and has continued to rise. In 2017, batters hit a record-setting 6,105 homers, and this year's number will be even higher. There have...

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On March 8, all 28 members of the United States women's soccer team filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The players say that for years, American soccer's governing organization has discriminated × discriminate ARIEL SKELLEY-GETTY IMAGES to unfairly treating one group of people differently from another group (verb) It is illegal for a business to discriminate based on an employee's race. against female athletes. It pays them far less than it pays male athletes.

The suit involves some of the world's top soccer players, including captains Alex Morgan and Carli Lloyd. This summer, the team will defend its championship title at the Women's World Cup, in France.

Players say that discrimination also affects coaching, medical treatment, and how the team travels to the games. The women play more matches than the men, and they win more often. Still, the suit argues, they are paid less.

"Each of us is extremely proud to wear the United States jersey," Morgan said in a statement. "We also take seriously the responsibility that comes with that. We believe that fighting for gender equality in sports is a part of that responsibility."

The suit continues a long battle. In 1999, after winning the Women's World Cup, the team skipped a tournament and won higher pay. In recent years, athletes from the U.S. women's national hockey team and Women's National Basketball Association have also sought equal pay.

"It's bold and brave," former team captain Julie Foudy said of the suit, on pioneer × pioneer PBS NewsHour. "They understand that their role is to BRUCE YUANYUE BI/GETTY IMAGES to go somewhere or do something new so that others can follow (verb) The artist Pablo Picasso pioneered a new style of painting. for other female athletes."

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On March 8, all 28 members of the United States women's soccer team filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Soccer Federation. The players say that for years, American soccer's governing organization has discriminated against female athletes. It pays them far...

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Alex Lin (Courtesy of Alex Lin) Living on Earth interviews Alex Lin, who won the Brower Youth Award for his pioneering work on electronic waste. Lin recycled and refurbishes computers for kids in the U.S. and around the world.
Transcript

CURWOOD: One kid who needs no New Year's resolutions on the environment is 14-year-old Alex Lin. When he was 11 he came across a newspaper article about the massive piles of E-waste-that's waste from electronics and computers that's generated around the world.

When the electronic devices we use every day get taken apart or dumped, toxic substances, like lead, leech into the environment. Alex decided to attack E-waste, starting at home. He founded WIN - Westerly Innovations Network (named after his town of Westerly, Rhode Island).

And this year he received the prestigious Brower Youth Award for young environmental leaders. Alex Lin, welcome to Living on Earth.

LIN: Thanks a lot.

CURWOOD: So one day you're reading the newspaper. You see this article about E-waste and you decide to do something about it. What was it that grabbed you? What made you decide to make this your mission?

LIN: I think what helped me choose to do this was that it's such a little known problem, really. When we started our project in our town, like, when we found out how many people knew about it, it was just less than 15 percent. It was like, ten percent or so of residents even knew what E-waste was, so I mean, just the fact that it's so little known and that by raising awareness we could just do so much to help it. That kind of grabbed our attention when we started the project.

CURWOOD: So how many computers are you guys recycling?

LIN: Recycling-wise we're not really sure about the amount. We just kind of hear back from CR2 Recycling because they weigh the trucks and they let us know how much we've been recycling every month or so. Because whenever a container fills up, the people at the transportation station they call them and they'll send down a truck to bring it to the facility in Massachusetts.

CURWOOD: So it's what-5,000 pounds a month or something like that?

LIN: Something like that. I mean it varies between month and month. I mean, some months it's like 25 hundred, some months it's a lot more. It all depends.

CURWOOD: Now you're working internationally. You've taken the whole thing that you started in Westerly, Rhode Island and you've taken it to people around the world. How's that working?

LIN: Yeah, it's working really well right now. Right now one of our contacts and friends in Cameroon-Rosemary-and she's been helping us to establish WIN teams in Africa and she's been looking around in Kenya, Tanzania, Cameroon. Right now we have two definite set-up WIN teams in Kenya and Cameroon and the rest are on the way. And she's also helped us a lot by looking for schools that need computers so that computers in the U.S. used by companies in large numbers can be reused and sent to people across the world who really need these computers to help better their lives. And we have a Mexican WIN team who's raising awareness. And right now I think Rosemary's been talking with a team in the UK about starting a group there and we're just kind of dealing with it as it comes because it's been coming pretty fast for the past couple of months. But we're going to have to do the work and we're ready to do it, I guess.

CURWOOD: Hey, Alex. Can you tell me a story of where you know one of your computers helped change somebody's life?

LIN: Yeah, I definitely have a pretty good one that we did. You know, after the tsunami in 2004 there was a lot of shortages of computers, learning equipment, schools, teachers. We actually had a local pediatrician from our area-she went to Malaysia and Sri Lanka I think at the time to help out and she met an English teacher there and he contacted us saying there's a need for computers over there and we ended up sending five computers and a laptop. And it was really cool because he sent us some pictures afterward of the children singing to like Barney software and other educational stuff that we put on there and afterwards they named the school the WIN learning center after our team and that was just like really cool that we could have such an impact on the other side of the world.

CURWOOD: By the way, how do you find the time to do all this work on top of what-homework, sports, piano, and well, let's face it, being a kid?

LIN: Yeah. I don't know. It kind of just depends. Like it's more of a-I remember one of my friends I met at Brower in Boston-Carlos. He said it's more of a lifestyle and I totally agree with him. Environmental justice community work is like a lifestyle. You kind of incorporate time to do it into every day and if not every day, definitely on a regular basis because I mean, sure there are times where I would have projects, reports, tests the next day. Or, even sports games and stuff that I need to get with, but usually I'm able to find time during the week to do the work.

CURWOOD: Alex Lin's organization is called WIN, Westerly Innovations Network. Alex received the prestigious Brower Youth Award for young environmental leaders. Congratulations Alex, and thank you so much for taking this time.

LIN: Thanks a lot, Steve.

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Living on Earth interviews Alex Lin, who won the Brower Youth Award for his pioneering work on electronic waste. Lin recycled and refurbishes computers for kids in the U.S. and around the world.

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What is climate change? What could happen? Get all the facts you need to know.

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A breakthrough deal to attempt to limit global temperature rises was agreed at a conference of world nations in December 2015. These charts from the time show how and why the Earth's climate is changing.

1. What is the problem?

The world is getting warmer

The average temperature of the Earth's surface has increased by about 0.85°C (1.4F) in the last 100 years. Up until 2015, 13 of the 14 warmest years had been recorded in the 21st Century. 2015 then became the hottest year on record, but was surpassed by record-breaking 2016.

10 warmest years

10 coldest years

20th Century average temperature

Hotter

Colder

Source: NOAA

2. Why is this happening?

Greenhouse gases, mainly carbon dioxide

Scientists believe that gases released from industry and agriculture (known as emissions) are adding to the natural greenhouse effect, the way the Earth's atmosphere traps some of the energy from the Sun.

Human activities such as burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and natural gas are increasing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2), the main greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Carbon-absorbing forests are also being cut down.

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere is now higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years and reached a record high in May 2015. But 2016 marked five consecutive years of CO2 increases of at least two parts per million.

Scripps CO2 Program, data from the Mauna Loa Observatory

3. What are the effects?

Arctic sea ice melt

Higher temperatures, extreme weather events and higher sea levels are all linked to a warming climate and could have a drastic effect on the world's regions.

Since 1900, sea levels have risen by on average about 19cm globally. The rate of sea-level rise has accelerated in recent decades, placing a number of islands and low-lying countries at risk.

The retreat of polar ice sheets is an important contributor to this rise.

Arctic sea ice is also shrinking because of higher temperatures, though it makes little contribution to raised sea levels.

An area of sea ice roughly 10 times the size of the UK has been lost when the current day is compared with average levels from the early 1980s.

Arctic sea ice min. extent: 1980, 7.8 million sq km. 2015, 4.6 million sq km

Source: National Snow and Ice Data Center

4. What does the future hold?

Higher temperatures and more extreme weather

The scale of potential impacts is uncertain.

The changes could drive shortages in freshwater, bring about major changes in food production conditions and cause a rise in the number of casualties from floods, storms, heat waves and droughts.

This is because climate change is expected to increase the frequency of extreme weather events - however linking any single event to global warming is complicated.

Projected temperature change (1986-2005 to 2081-2100)

If greenhouse gas emissions peak between 2010-2020 and then decline substantially (RCP2.6)

If greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise throughout the 21st century (RCP8.5)

Source: International Panel on Climate Change - Fifth Assessment Report (AR5)

5. What can be done?

World's top ten greenhouse gas emitters

The top 10 greenhouse gas emitters make up over 70% of total emissions

Source: Carbon Brief, figures are for 2012

6. Limiting the damage

By the end of October 2015, 146 countries had submitted national climate plans on curbing emissions that are expected to form the cornerstone of a binding, global treaty on climate change.

According to a UN report, submissions in their current form point to a rise of 2.7°C above pre-industrial levels by 2100.

Scientists have determined that if temperature rises surpass 2°C, this will lead to substantial and dangerous climate impacts, which will hit the world's poor in particular.

Average warming (°C) projected by 2100

Source: Climate Action Tracker, data compiled by Climate Analytics, ECOFYS, New Climate Institute and Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.

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Six graphics that explain climate change as world leaders gathered in Paris for COP21.

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How to make your kid hate sports without really trying - CNN

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With 70% of kids leaving organized sports by the age 13, coaches and parents say something needs to change to keep children in the game.

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What really happens to the plastic you throw away?

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We’ve all been told that we should recycle plastic bottles and containers. But what actually happens to the plastic if we just throw it away? Emma Bryce traces the life cycles of three different plastic bottles, shedding light on the dangers these disposables present to our world. [Directed by Sharon Colman, narrated by Addison Anderson, music by Peter Gosling].

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For decades, animal welfare advocates have been working to end the testing of makeup and personal care products on animals. See how far we've come and how you can help support the Be Cruelty-Free campaign, our global effort to end cosmetic cruelty.
Read the FAQ 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2000-2012 | 1980-1999 | 1938-1979
2021

November: New Jerseypasses a ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

June: Maine passes a ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

July: Hawaii passes a ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

May: Maryland passes a ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

March: Virginia passes a ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

January: New cosmetics regulations go into effect in China opening a potential pathway for import of ordinary cosmetics, such as shampoo and mascara, without the need for new animal testing.

2020

December: Chile introduces a bill to ban cosmetics animal testing and sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

August: Colombia passes a law to ban cosmetics animal testing and sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

March: The Mexican Senate passes a bill to ban cosmetics animal testing and sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

January: Laws banning the sale of animal-tested cosmetics go into effect in California, Illinois and Nevada.

2019

November: The federal Humane Cosmetics Act, legislation to prohibit cosmetics animal testing and the sale of animal-tested cosmetics, is reintroduced in the U.S. with support from the cosmetic industry.

November: The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) approves a new non-animal test method for eye irritation.

September: Illinois passes a ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

June: Nevada passes a ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

June: The OECD approves new non-animal test methods for eye irritation, skin irritation, skin allergy and phototoxicity.

June: Estée Lauder announces its support for the #BeCrueltyFree campaign.

April: Avon announces its support for the #BeCrueltyFree campaign.

March: Australian government passes a ban on the use of new animal data for cosmetics safety.

February: P&G announces its support for the #BeCrueltyFree campaign.

2018

October: Unilever announces its support for the #BeCrueltyFree campaign.

September: California passes a ban on the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

July: Minais Gerais, Brazil passes a ban on cosmetics animal testing.

June: The OECD approves new non-animal test methods for skin allergy.

June: Canada Cruelty-free Cosmetics Act, legislation to ban cosmetics animal testing and the sale of animal tested ingredients, passes the Senate.

2017

December: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil bans cosmetics animal testing and the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

December: South Africa introduces legislation to ban cosmetics animal testing and the sale of animal-tested cosmetics.

October: The OECD approves new non-animal test methods for eye irritation and skin allergy.

June: The Humane Cosmetics Act, legislation to prohibit cosmetics animal testing and the sale of animal-tested cosmetics, is reintroduced in the U.S.

February: Guatemala becomes the first country in the Americas to ban cosmetics animal testing.

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For decades, animal welfare advocates have been working to end the testing of makeup and personal care products on animals. See how far we've come and how you can help support the Be Cruelty-Free campaign, our global effort to end cosmetic cruelty.

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Newsela - One benefit of using “organ-on-a-chip” technology: no more animal testing

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Zoë Trisha Prinsloo sees all sorts of plastic trash during her beach cleanups in Cape Town, South Africa. The teenager has collected plastic bottles, food containers, straws, and more. Lately, Prinsloo has noticed an increase in a certain kind of…

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Clinton Lexa loves to play video games. But doing so hasn't always been easy. Lexa was born with a disability. It affects a person's hands, which means Lexa usually does tasks and activities, such as playing video games, left-handed. "I taught myself," Lexa told TIME for Kids. "There was no guide."

Today, Lexa is a professional gamer with nearly 20,000 followers on the Twitch streaming platform. Lexa is one of many people working to make video games more accessible × accessible Developers × developer MJ0007/GETTY IMAGES able to be entered, reached, or used (adjective) They lowered the water fountain so it would be accessible for students in wheelchairs. . TOM WERNER-GETTY IMAGES a person who creates software (noun) Studying computers now will help me to become a game developer when I grow up. are helping, by creating games with settings and modes that increase accessibility. And companies and organizations are designing special controllers so people with disabilities can play.

Games for All

When not gaming, Lexa works as an accessibility consultant. This means giving feedback to developers about making video games accessible to people with disabilities. One project is a difficult adventure game called Celeste. It has an "assist" mode that allows players to modify the game's settings. Lexa suggested an update to the mode's introduction so more people would feel encouraged to use the mode. The result is challenging while being "more inclusive," Lexa says. "Everyone does have different needs."

Can I Play That? is a website that reviews video games. It's run by Courtney Craven. According to Craven, games are changing thanks to the efforts of accessibility advocates like Lexa. Craven hopes that one day, developers will be so focused on accessibility that advocates won't be needed: "We want to not have to exist."

Getting Connected

Mark Barlet is the founder of the AbleGamers Charity, which works to make gaming more inclusive. He says people with disabilities can sometimes feel alone or isolated. "Social isolation is a pandemic," Barlet says. "Video games are this shared experience that allows us to build friendships."

AbleGamers creates these shared experiences. It helps people with disabilities find and build controllers that enable them to play. "Our mission is about combating social isolation," Barlet says. Tools such as the Xbox Adaptive Controller, which AbleGamers helped design, make this possible.

Craig Kaufman is senior director of community and inclusion at AbleGamers. "We basically had to make sure that the industry was paying attention and focused on including players with disabilities," he says. "Because for the longest time, most people didn't."

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Clinton Lexa loves to play video games. But doing so hasn't always been easy. Lexa was born with a disability. It affects a person's hands, which means Lexa usually does tasks and activities, such as playing video games, left-handed. "I...

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Should High School-Age Basketball Players Be Able to Get Paid? (Published 2021)

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A new league proposes to pay $100,000 salaries for 16- to 18-year-olds as an alternative to college basketball. Would you want to join — even if it meant forfeiting your ability to play high school or college ball?

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Cruelty to animals refers to treatment or standards of care that cause unwarranted or unnecessary suffering or harm to animals.

Sometimes if someone harms animals they get a fine and in more serious cases can go to jail.

Some ways people could abuse an animal would be locking it up, keeping it tied to a chain, giving it little or no food or water, kicking and hurting it, yelling and scaring it or leaving it outside in cold or hot weather for a long period of time.

Some people say that factory farming, fur farming or animal testing is also cruel to an animal's welfare.

Laws against animal cruelty

Many countries around the world have laws which forbid cruelty to some animals. These laws provide the minimal requirements for care and treatment of animals, but do not require optimal treatment or mandate kindness or love. They require that animals be provided shelter, food, water and medical treatment and that animals not be tortured, or killed in an inhumane manner.

Some traditional practices, such as the treatment of animals at a rodeo or at a circus, are sometimes given exemptions to the laws.

In a few jurisdictions, notably Massachusetts and New York, agents of humane societies and associations may be appointed as special officers to enforce statutes outlawing animal cruelty.

In the USA ear cropping, tail docking, the Geier Hitch, rodeo sports and other acts perceived as cruelty in many other countries are still allowed. Penalties for cruelty are minimal, if pursued.

In Australia, many states have enacted legislation outlawing cruelty to animals. Whilst the police deal with criminal matters, in many states officers of the RSPCA and other animal welfare charities are given authority to investigate and prosecute animal cruelty offences.

Most jurisdictions simply depend on law enforcement officers who may not be knowledgeable in the area or assign it a high priority.

In the United Kingdom, cruelty to animals is a criminal offence and one may be fined or jailed for it for up to five years.

In Mexico, animal cruelty laws are slowly being implemented.

Images for kids

Captured sea turtle at Jamestown, Accra, Ghana

In Spanish: Crueldad hacia los animales para niños

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A jaguar paces at the edge of a rainforest in Brazil. The big cat once roamed through a jungle packed with trees, but now part of its home is a working farm with herds of cattle that have taken over the jaguar's territory.

A hundred years ago, jaguars ranged from the southwestern United States to Argentina, in South America. Today their territory has shrunk by more than half, and they live mostly in the Amazon rainforest. And jaguars aren't the only animals losing their homes-according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, habitat loss is the main threat to about 85 percent of all endangered plant and animal species.

LIVING ON THE EDGE

Tropical rainforests cover only about 7 percent of Earth's land, but they're home to an estimated half of all known plant and animal species. Most experts agree that about 80,000 acres disappear every day when trees are cut down for lumber and land is cleared for farms. Trees also play an important role in absorbing the carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change. Fewer forests means that more greenhouse gases remain trapped in the atmosphere.

Grasslands, underwater habitats, and wetlands are also at risk of habitat loss. For instance, the World Wildlife Fund estimates that about half of the world's wetlands have disappeared in the last hundred years due to being drained for farmland or other industries. That means less space for animals to feed, breed, and raise their young.

SHARING WITH WILDLIFE

Finding a balance between what humans and animals need will help prevent habitat destruction. Some scientists think that if we put aside half of Earth's land and water for nature, we could save up to 90 percent of all species. In the meantime, your everyday actions can build a better planet. Check out these tips to find out what you can do to protect Earth's wild places.

Habitat: The area where a plant or animal lives

Wetland: A habitat where water doesn't drain well-think swamps and marshes.

Grassland: A habitat where the majority of the plants are grasses

Sustainability: Using Earth's resources in a way that doesn't permanently harm the planet. For example, sustainable paper likely is made from trees that will be replaced in their environment.

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Clearing trees and and draining wetlands destroy habitats and affects the animals that live there. Here's how you can help.

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A green sea turtle glides through the Great Barrier Reef off the northeastern coast of Australia. Millions of species live in and around coral reef ecosystems, where these plants and animals rely on each other for survival. Scientists call this mix of different species biodiversity.

An environment works well with a wide variety of species. Here's an example: Green sea turtles love to chomp on sea grass-but they can't hang out in one spot for too long because tiger sharks patrol the area, hunting for sea turtles. Without tiger sharks, sea turtles would eat all the best sea grass, destroying that habitat for all the other animals that depend on it. If one species-turtle, shark, or sea grass-disappears, other plants and animals that are connected to that species could go extinct too. Losing just one species can harm many others.

MIXING IT UP

There are possibly billions of different species of plants, animals, bacteria, and other living things throughout the world-but we've only documented about two million of them. Many of these known and unknown species have uncertain futures though. Climate change, pollution, poaching, and habitat destruction change the number of plant and animal species that live in a habitat, known as declining biodiversity.

Due in part to declining biodiversity, almost one-third of Earth's animals are at risk of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

STAND UP FOR WILDLIFE

By preventing the decline of biodiversity, you can help keep Earth safe. Some animals such as sharks are especially important to protect. Scientists call these animals keystone speciesbecause they're the key to keeping whole ecosystems healthy. So if you save animals like sharks, you protect other critters. Check out all the ways to protect biodiversity in your backyard and beyond.

Biodiversity: The variety of species of plants and animals that live in one environment

Invasive species: Plants, animals, and other living things that show up in a habitat where they don't normally live, potentially changing their new ecosystem

Ecosystem: All the living and nonliving things in an area working together as a system

Poaching: The illegal killing of animals

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Plants and animals depend on each other for survival. Find out why this biodiversity is so important-and why it's in trouble.

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Meet Huang Shunjie. He might have the best job in the world. The 24-year-old is a panda photographer and zookeeper. Huang spends each day caring for 18 panda cubs at the Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, in China. He prepares their meals of bamboo and milk formula. He checks on their growth and health. And he carries these two-tone fluff-balls between their sleeping pens and their public enclosure.

The best part? "I can get very close to the baby pandas, which makes many people jealous," Huang told TIME. "I get to hug them all the time."

There are, of course, bad parts to any job. In Huang's case, it's the regular bites and scratches he gets from the 45- to 55-pound bears. But it's a small price to pay to spend each day among the pandas' roly-poly cuteness. They tumble around, balance on their heads, and bop around like furry toddlers. "I'm a full-time daddy for these fluffy baby pandas," says Huang.

He-He and Mei-Mei

Two of the pandas Huang cares for are known worldwide. He-He and Mei-Mei celebrated their first birthday on July 25. They are the only twin pandas born from a wild father and captive mother. This helps widen the animal's genetic pool, which means a better chance at survival. Pandas were among the world's most threatened animals until recently.

"Mei-Mei is very cute and clingy," says Huang. "But her brother is very naughty. He is one of the wild kids. He loves making trouble."

Giant pandas are native to China. For many years, they were one of the world's most endangered creatures. Their natural habitat, in bamboo forests, has been destroyed by construction. Pandas must eat 30 to 85 pounds of bamboo every day.

But populations have recovered in recent years. That's thanks to programs to help pandas breed. Today, there are 1,864 pandas in the wild. That's up from only 1,114 in the 1970s, according to China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration. Two-thirds of them live in nature reserves.

Panda Diplomacy

As the number of pandas goes up, China is able to send more of them overseas. This is called "panda diplomacy." It began in the seventh century, when China sent a pair of pandas to Emperor Tenmu, of Japan. Today, more than 50 pandas live in 18 countries.

Most famously, China sent a pair of pandas-Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing-to the United States after President Richard Nixon's historic visit to China, in 1972. More recently, two pandas were sent to the Moscow Zoo, in Russia, just last month.

China usually sends pandas to other countries for 10 years. It charges about $1 million per year for the service. Any offspring remain China's property. The loans often take place along with international trade deals that China's involved in. But if a deal goes sour, China may take the pandas back.

Huang doesn't think about money or politics, though. He thinks about the fact that the pandas he cares for end up bringing joy to millions of adults and children around the globe. "I'm really proud of that," he says.
Reporting and video by Zhang Chi, in Chengdu

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Meet Huang Shunjie. He might have the best job in the world. The 24-year-old is a panda photographer and zookeeper. Huang spends each day caring for 18 panda cubs at the Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, in China. He...

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On June 10, at 8 p.m., more than a hundred people were gathered in a tent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were there to play video games. But they wouldn't be playing on any ordinary gaming system. Instead, they were gearing up to play games that would be displayed on a glass skyscraper called the Cira Centre. "There was a really great energy in the tent that night," Ainsley Soulchin, 13, told TIME for Kids.

Ainsley's a seventh grader at the Upper Merion Area Middle School, near Philadelphia. She participated in Skyscraper Video Games for Kids. It's a program that teaches middle school students how to code video games.

In the program, Ainsley coded a game. She calls the game Dot Man. In Dot Man, a player has to pass through a maze without getting caught by a dot. On June 10, the public got to play Dot Man and other other student-made video games on the outside of the Cira Centre. Ainsley was proud of her accomplishment. "When you see your game on the building," she said, "you're like 'Wow. I made this.'"

Game Changer

Frank Lee founded Skyscraper Video Games for Kids. He's a professor of digital media at Drexel University, in Philadelphia. He wanted to initiate others in the joy of playing video games. So he found a way to make that happen.

"Years ago, I was driving past the Cira Centre," Lee told TFK. "I thought, 'Wouldn't it be cool to make a game out of that building?'" He noticed there were LED lights embedded between the skyscraper's floors. Lee knew if he could access the building's computer system, he could manipulate the LED lights. This would allow him to display video games on the skyscraper. People could play these games using a joystick. The joystick would be connected to a computer outside the building. And the computer would send wireless commands to the skyscraper's internal system.

On April 19, 2013, Lee arranged for Pong, a video game inspired by table tennis, to be played on the Cira Centre. It scored a Guinness World Record for World's Largest Architectural Video Game Display. In 2014, Lee arranged for Tetris to be played on the same building. It broke the 2013 record. At 119,600 square feet, the Tetris display was twice the size that Pong had been.

Now Lee shares his passion for game design with kids. With funding from Intel, he trains educators to create video games. The educators then teach their students those same skills.

DREXEL UNIVERSITY

Christian Johnson is one such educator. He teaches at Ainsley's middle school. "Having the students' video games be shown on such a large, public display can give them motivation to keep creating," Johnson told TFK.

Ainsley plans to continue coding. "I've always loved to build stuff," she says. "Coding is just another opportunity to build something and make it my own. And I really like that."

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On June 10, at 8 p.m., more than a hundred people were gathered in a tent in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They were there to play video games. But they wouldn't be playing on any ordinary gaming system. Instead, they were gearing...

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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A long, scaly creature slithering alone through the grass-that's how we usually picture a snake. But a new scientific study could change that image. Snakes can be long. And they're certainly slithery. But they may not be the loners we thought they were.

Morgan Skinner and Noam Miller, the scientists who led the study, found that snakes actively search for other snakes to spend time with. Simply put, snakes have friends.

"Like us, they seek out social contacts," Skinner told National Geographic.

Miller and Skinner did the study at Wilfrid Laurier University, in Canada. They published their findings last month, in the journal Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology. Their study joins a growing body of research showing that friendships among animals could be more common than we thought.

The scientists conducted an experiment using 40 eastern garter snakes. This species is often found in the southeastern United States.

The snakes were tested for personality traits such as boldness and shyness. Scientists then put them into an enclosure, 10 at a time. The enclosure had four little house-like structures in it. For eight days, Miller and Skinner watched the snakes traveling from house to house. Occasionally, they removed a snake from the enclosure, then put it back in different a structure. The researchers noticed something interesting: No matter where they put the snakes, the creatures found a way to rejoin their "friends."

Snakes "have sophisticated social cognition," or understanding, Miller says. "They can tell others apart."

"And they're choosy about whom they socialize with," Skinner adds.

Why would snakes need friends? It could be for protection. And it "may have nothing to do with the reasons humans have friends," Miller says. In other words, it's unlikely they're looking for buddies to play video games with. It'd be hard to hold the controller without hands, anyway.

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A long, scaly creature slithering alone through the grass-that's how we usually picture a snake. But a new scientific study could change that image. Snakes can be long. And they're certainly slithery. But they may not be the loners we...

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Earth Day is April 22. It's a day when people around the world work to help the planet. But many people, including kids, are passionate about protecting the Earth and its inhabitants every day. TIME for Kids spoke with a few of them. Read here about five Kid Heroes for the Planet. Maybe they'll inspire you to take action, too!

Speaking Out

Jaysa Hunter-Mellers (above) is a 14-year-old from Bridgeport, Connecticut. In 2016, she spoke at Bridgeport City Hall to ask leaders to shut down the last coal-fired power plant in her state. It was just two miles from Jaysa's house.

"I had an asthma attack when I was 6," Jaysa told TFK. This inspired her and her mom to research how coal gas can cause and worsen health problems. "I didn't think that people would listen to me because I was a kid," Jaysa says. But after her speech, the company that owns the coal plant promised to close it.

Now Jaysa's working to raise awareness about the importance of civics education. Civics teaches about the rights and duties of citizens. "I learned to speak to my local government at a young age," she says. "But a lot of people, not just kids, don't know how to do this." -By Constance Gibbs

Helping Butterflies

AZUMI YUKI ART STUDIO LLC

When Aiden Wang was 6, his teacher taught him about the monarch butterfly and explained that it's in trouble. Monarchs need milkweed plants to survive, but these plants have been disappearing because of weed killers called herbicides. So Aiden started growing milkweed at his home in West Windsor Township, New Jersey. The plants attract monarchs, and the insects lay eggs on them. Aiden cares for the caterpillars and releases them when they become butterflies.

Aiden's now 13. "It's not easy taking care of monarchs, but I like taking care of things," he told TFK. In 2019, Aiden released 399 monarchs. He thinks others should grow milkweed, too. "That might really help," he says. -By Karena Phan

Doing Good for Gorillas

COURTESY SARAH BARRETT

Addy Barrett, from Germantown, Maryland, has a favorite animal: the mountain gorilla. When she was in first grade, she read a book about mountain gorillas. Addy was surprised to learn that they're endangered because of poaching and habitat loss. She wanted to protect them. That's why Addy started Gorilla Heroes. The group raises money for the animals with lemonade stands and a Gorilla Gala.

Addy's now 12 years old. So far, Gorilla Heroes has raised more than $11,000 for the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund and the Ellen Fund. Why does Addy care so much about mountain gorillas? She says it's because the species "is so remarkably intelligent and shares many of the same emotions that we do."

She adds, "The feeling of making a positive impact on the world is like no other. It feels so good to know that I am making a difference." -By Ellen Nam

Educating the Youth

COURTESY AFFECTED GENERATION

In fourth grade, Jeremy Clark (left) and Charlie Abrams saw an image of the Statue of Liberty up to her waist in water. The image, on the cover of National Geographic, was a projection of what the statue would look like if all the ice in the world melted. "That's not what we wanted for our generation or for future generations," Jeremy told TFK.

The boys, who are now in high school in Portland, Oregon, have teamed up to fight climate change. In 2019, they founded Affected Generation, a nonprofit organization that encourages young people to get involved in climate activism. The group has other goals, too. One of them is to push Portland Public Schools to teach a climate-change curriculum. Why is that mission so important? "Because you can't take action on an issue if you don't know about it first," Charlie says. -By Rebecca Mordechai

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Earth Day is April 22. It's a day when people around the world work to help the planet. But many people, including kids, are passionate about protecting the Earth and its inhabitants every day. TIME for Kids spoke with a...

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The Amazon rain forest is home to millions of plant and animal species. Ecologist Daniel Nepstad calls it an "exuberant expression of life gone wild." But deforestation is a rising threat. During last year's wildfires, "you could really imagine that 'Boy, we could lose this thing,'" he told TIME for Kids.

EARTH INNOVATION INSTITUTE

Take a look at some of the species that ecologists are working to protect.

RICARDO FUNARI-BRAZIL PHOTOS/LIGHTROCKET/GETTY IMAGES

TOWERING TREES The seedpods of a Brazil-nut tree are the size of a baseball. When ripe, they drop to the ground. A rodent called an agouti cracks them open with its teeth, exposing the nuts. The animals bury the nuts for later, and new trees grow. "These are iconic trees, illegal to cut," Nepstad says.

WOLFGANG KAEHLER-LIGHTROCKET/GETTY IMAGES

FOREST GARDENERS Leaf-cutter ants harvest leaves and bury them in big underground chambers full of fungus. This makes the soil more fertile. "It's a tiny animal that has an over-the-top influence on how the forest grows," Nepstad says.

RICARDO OLVEIRA -AFP/GETTY IMAGES

COLOSSAL FISH The pirarucu (pee-ra-roo- koo) is a giant, ancient fish. It can weigh 300 pounds. "It's fascinating because it needs to breathe air," Nepstad says. People capture the pirarucu when it comes up for air. The fish is strong enough to tip a canoe over as it lashes about.

SYLVAIN CORDIER-GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY

SHY CREATURE The sloth lives high up in the trees. Its fur is covered with tiny organisms, such as algae and fungi. These camouflage it from predators and protect it from disease. About once a week, the sloth comes down to the forest floor. "They're concerned about being found," Nepstad says.

YASUYOSHI CHIBA-AFP/GETTY IMAGES

FAVORITE FRUIT The cacao (ka- kow) plant, native to the Amazon, is the source of chocolate. Its seeds have long been used as medicine, Nepstad says. Some farmers are planting cacao to bring back native plants to deforested areas. This helps restore forest ecosystems for other plants and animals.

SYLVAIN CORDIER-GAMMA-RAPHO/GETTY IMAGES

PLAYFUL IN PINK The Amazon river dolphin lives in the waters that flow through the rain forest. It's believed that the male dolphin's color protects it from predators by helping it blend in with muddy water. The animal's pink tone might also be the result of scars from playing rough with other dolphins.

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The Amazon rain forest is home to millions of plant and animal species. Ecologist Daniel Nepstad calls it an "exuberant expression of life gone wild." But deforestation is a rising threat. During last year's wildfires, "you could really imagine that...

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Patty Garvey-Darda loves pikas, which are small mammals related to rabbits. "I think they are about the cutest animals alive," she told TIME for Kids. Garvey-Darda is a wildlife biologist with the United States Forest Service. She wants to protect pikas and other creatures from a common threat: . The Federal Highway Administration says more than a million roadway accidents involving animals happen each year in the U.S. These collisions hurt wildlife and people.

CLIFF GRASSMICK-DIGITAL FIRST MEDIA/BOULDER DAILY CAMERA/GETTY IMAGES

One solution to this problem? Wildlife crossings. In the U.S. and around the world, bridges and underpasses are being built to help animals safely cross roads.

Global Solution

Banff National Park, in Alberta, Canada, is home to some of the most successful wildlife crossings. Completed in 2014, the crossings include 38 underpasses and six overpasses, or bridges. They prevent the park's animals, such as grizzly bears and cougars, from being struck while trying to cross the Trans-Canada Highway, which the park. According to Parks Canada, Banff's crossing system has reduced collisions with wildlife by more than 80%.

JOHN MORRISON-GETTY IMAGES

"People study the effectiveness of the crossings in Banff" as a guide for new construction projects, says Rob Ament. He works for the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University. Ament notes Banff's "high quality of design," which includes fencing to direct animals away from roads.

EDUCATION IMAGES/UNIVERSAL IMAGES GROUP/GETTY IMAGES

Ament is using his expertise on wildlife crossings for a project in Assam, India. One of the state's highways is on the border of Kaziranga National Park. Elephants, rhinos, and tigers live there. "Animals leave the park to go up a dry hill during season," Ament says. "That means they have to cross the highway." Plans are in the works for a safe pathway beneath it.

Under Construction

Safe pathways for wildlife have been built in several U.S. states, including Arizona, Utah, and Wyoming. In Washington State, Garvey-Darda is part of a major project. She's helping to design a set of about 20 wildlife crossings. "Banff has been the best model for us," she says. The Washington State crossings are being built along a 15-mile stretch of Interstate 90 (I-90), one of the country's longest highways. This section of the highway cuts across the Cascade mountain range. It has disrupted the migration patterns of animals in the area.

CHASE GUNNELL-CONSERVATION NORTHWEST

Construction of the 20 crossings is expected to be completed by 2029. So far, six underpasses and one overpass have been built. Garvey-Darda says these crossings have already made a difference for migrating animals. "We now have close to 5,000 deer and elk going through the undercrossings," she says. "All of these animals were potential accidents."

This spring, Washington locals can volunteer to plant vegetation on the I-90 overpass. Garvey-Darda says the plants will encourage animals, including her beloved pika, to use the crossings. "It's important to be ," she says, "and not wait until a species is endangered."

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Patty Garvey-Darda loves pikas, which are small mammals related to rabbits. "I think they are about the cutest animals alive," she told TIME for Kids. Garvey-Darda is a wildlife biologist with the United States Forest Service. She wants to protect...

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A ban on single-use plastic bags went into effect in New York State on March 1. New York is one of several states to forbid stores from handing out plastic bags at checkout. California was the first. Many cities and counties across the country have put in place similar laws.

New York governor Andrew Cuomo proposed the ban last year. "For far too long, these bags have blighted × blight BRZOZOWSKA-GETTY IMAGES to damage (verb) Fungus blighted the lemon trees. our environment and clogged our waterways," he said.

Officials say the ban will make people more aware of their shopping habits. Until now, New Yorkers used 23 billion plastic bags each year. The litter is harmful to birds and marine × marine GLOBAL_PICS-GETTY IMAGES of or related to the sea (adjective) Dolphins are marine mammals. animals. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says some communities spend $1 million each year cleaning up litter. Much of it is plastic grocery bags.

Starting April 1, New York businesses could pay up to $500 for breaking the law. Paper bags are still allowed. But they may cost shoppers 5¢ each.

New York State leaders say people should keep reusable bags handy in their car or backpack. For small purchases, shoppers can help the environment by saying "No, thank you" to a paper bag. They can carry the item instead.
Stop and Think! Why might news about a law in one state be of interest to people across the country? Could such a story influence other states to pass a similar law? Why or why not?

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A ban on single-use plastic bags went into effect in New York State on March 1. New York is one of several states to forbid stores from handing out plastic bags at checkout. California was the first. Many cities and...

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In 2012, Topher White visited a wildlife sanctuary in Indonesia. He and his fellow volunteers were hiking through the rain forest when they came across a man cutting down a huge tree.

They were watching illegal logging in action. Illegal logging is a big problem in rain forests around the world. It contributes to climate change and destroys habitats × habitat WOLFGANG KAEHLER/LIGHTROCKET-GETTY IMAGES the place where a plant or an animal normally lives (noun) The emperor penguin's natural habitat is in Antarctica. for rain-forest creatures.

The logger fled the scene, but the experience bothered White. He knew the wildlife sanctuary employed rangers to watch out for illegal loggers. But the guards hadn't known about the man White saw. How did they miss him?

White, a trained engineer, thought technology could be part of the solution in the fight against deforestation × deforestation JASON ONDREICKA-GETTY IMAGES the process of clearing an area of forest (noun) The animal's numbers had shrunk due to habitat caused by deforestation. . "The rain forest is a noisy place, but it's also a noisy thing to cut a tree down," he told TIME for Kids. "It struck me that there had to be a way to hear this."

All Ears

Over the next few months, White created a device he calls a Guardian. It's a recycled smartphone powered by solar panels. Guardians can pick up the sound of a chain saw from two-thirds of a mile away. They are mounted on trees, high in the rain-forest canopy.

When a Guardian detects a chain saw, it sends an alert to rangers, indicating where the sound is coming from. The rangers then set off to stop the illegal activity. "If you go that early, if you really respond the moment you get the alert, there's a chance that you can show up before much of the tree has even been cut," White says.

Working Together

White installed the first Guardians in Indonesia, at the wildlife sanctuary where he got the inspiration for the project. Two days later, the devices helped rangers interrupt a logger. "That convinced me others could use this too," White says.

Since then, White has started a nonprofit group called Rainforest Connection to create and install Guardians all over the world. Rainforest Connection now covers 90,000 square miles of rain forest in 10 countries. Guardians also help protect animals against poaching.

White says he couldn't have done any of this without local partners. "We're just tech support for them," he says. "The people who are really making a difference and fighting climate change are on the ground in the rain forest."

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In 2012, Topher White visited a wildlife sanctuary in Indonesia. He and his fellow volunteers were hiking through the rain forest when they came across a man cutting down a huge tree. They were watching illegal logging in action. Illegal logging is a big problem in rain forests around the world.

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Now there's good news: Tigers could be making a comeback. There are currently about 4,000 tigers worldwide. In July, India announced that its tiger population had reached nearly 3,000. That's a 30% rise in just four years. India has 70% of the world's tigers, making it the biggest, and maybe the safest, habitat for the species.

At a press conference in July, India's prime minister, Narendra Modi, spoke about the country's renewed efforts to save tigers. "Once the people of India decide to do something," he said, "there is no force that can prevent them from getting the desired results."

DAVID CALLAN-GETTY IMAGES

Keeping A Promise

The WWF estimates that the number of tigers in the world has dropped by 95% over the past century. In 2010, 13 countries where tigers live made a pledge to double their tiger populations by 2022. India is on track to reach that goal. The animal's fate depends on other countries reaching it too.

Nilanga Jayasinghe works for the WWF. "We have made significant strides in tiger conservation," she told TIME for Kids. "But the threats to tigers remain. All 13 range countries need to work together to secure a future for tigers."

MILE HIGH TRAVELER/GETTY IMAGES

Challenges Ahead

COURTESY SHARI RODRIGUEZ

Most people are willing to move. In India, "there is a lot of national pride surrounding tigers," says wildlife expert Shari Rodriguez of Clemson University, in South Carolina. "We cannot save wildlife without the cooperation of the people." Tigers are India's biggest attraction, she adds. Villagers benefit from jobs in India's national parks or from selling crafts to tourists.

But challenges remain for tigers all over Asia. They are poached for their skin, and their whiskers and teeth are sold in China as medicine. "They're still in peril," Rodriguez says. She draws hope from India's success: "This is a small, small victory in a long war against extinction."

SOURCES: IUCN RED LIST, PANTHERA

Stepping Up

Tiger habitats are shrinking. Nearly all of the animal's historical range is gone.

India and 12 other countries have vowed to step up conservation efforts. Bhutan, Nepal, and Russia have also increased their tiger populations. WWF is working to reintroduce tigers to Cambodia, where the cat was declared extinct in 2016.

Looking for the cover quiz? After you sign in, click on the Resources tab to search Teaching Resources for printable versions of all our quizzes.

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In 2010, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) issued bad news: The world tiger population had hit an all-time low. Poaching and habitat loss had taken their toll. There were just 3,200 tigers left in the wild, about half as many...

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The giraffe may soon join the lion and elephant on the endangered-species list. In April, the United States Fish and...

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Students today have never lived in a world without social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are a few of the most popular social-media websites and apps. They can be a fun way to connect with friends and family, especially those who live far away. Sometimes, people use social media to find jobs. But social media also attracts cyberbullies and trolls × troll hackers × hacker INTI ST CLAIR-GETTY IMAGES a person who tries to make people angry by posting upsetting messages on the Internet (noun) When using social media, it's best to ignore trolls. who seek to anger or annoy people. And TOM WERNER-GETTY IMAGES a person who breaks into a computer system in order to steal information or cause harm (noun) Be sure to use a secure password for your online accounts to protect them from hackers. use social media to steal people's personal information. Here, six TIME for Kids readers answer our debate question: Is social media good for society?

YES!

COURTESY DEEPIKA GROVER
Akshat Chakrabarti, 8 Manalapan Township, New Jersey
Social media is a great way to connect with people who you may not see all the time. It's also great for making friends. Social media helps you build connections with kids who have the same interests. It is a quick way for people to get to know each other, even if they're living across the world from one another.

NO!

WARREN BOND PHOTOGRAPHY, COURTESY HINA NOORANI
Rania Noorani, 11 Duluth, Georgia
Although social media is somewhat fun, we've gotten to the point where people can't put down their phones. Social media is changing our world completely. It causes people not to be their true selves and to pretend to be happy, just for public approval.

YES!

COURTESY MARTINA ARNOLD
Matthew Wrigley, 10
Farmington, Maine

Social media is good for society because it lets you write to people if you need help. You can interact with other people and have fun. You can learn from people who live in different countries. If you have a question, you can ask someone. There is cyberbullying, but you can block people who post mean comments.

NO!

COURTESY ALEX AND GRACE ONG
Katie Ong, 10
Los Angeles, California

When children use social media, they post stuff that parents may not want others to see. This may affect their privacy. Also, when kids use social media, they may be anxious that their friends' lives are better than theirs. Some people only post the good parts of life. This can lead others to jealousy or depression.

YES!

COURTESY LAWANDA COSBY
Jada Mosley, 10 Carol Stream, Illinois
In a world that is sometimes boring, social media offers incredible benefits. It can be entertaining. It can spread positivity and kindness. Furthermore, social media can introduce peers and children to new content and positive ideas.

NO!

PHOTO HAVEN, COURTESY PAYAL AGGARWAL
Sia Satish, 10
West Windsor Township, New Jersey

Students can be enticed by their friends to follow trends on TikTok or Snapchat. They try to portray themselves as cool, to fit into a group. Sometimes, social media promotes bad practices or harmful activities. This can hurt people physically and mentally.
The next debate: Should cities be car-free? Email your opinion to tfkeditors@time.com by March 17, 2020. Your response might be featured in an upcoming issue.

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Students today have never lived in a world without social media. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and TikTok are a few of the most popular social-media websites and apps. They can be a fun way to connect with friends and family, especially...

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More than half of teens learn about the news from social-media sources and YouTube videos. That's according to a 2019 Common Sense Media survey. But the information on those sites is not always trustworthy.

"There's more misinformation out there than ever," Jordan Mamone says. He works as a fact-checker at TIME for Kids. Mamone believes people should be careful about where they get their news. "It's really important to learn about your sources and to think about where you're consuming information," he says.

Like fact-checkers at other news organizations, Mamone works with writers and editors to make sure people can trust what they read.

Getting It Right

Before an issue of verifies × verify TFK is published, Mamone JEFF MCCOLLOUGH-EYEEM/GETTY IMAGES to prove that something is true (verb) When you travel to another country, you must show your passport in order to verify your identity. all of the facts included in it. How does he do this? First, he reads each article. He underlines information that can be proven. Examples include numbers, historical details, and the spelling of proper nouns. He then looks for a primary source to confirm the information. A primary source is a firsthand account, such as an official website or autobiography.

If Mamone can't locate a primary source, he'll look for three secondary sources to confirm a fact. Secondary source describe or analyze what a primary source says. They include newspaper articles and books. But Mamone can't rely on every secondary source he finds. He avoids those that are outdated or biased × biased Family watching american football match on television at home prejudiced for or against someone or something (adjective) I live in Pittsburgh, so I am biased when it comes to football and always root for the Pittsburgh Steelers. . He also skips sources that might not have been fact-checked, such as personal blogs.

Merrill Fabry is a fact-checker for TIME magazine. She says paying attention to even the smallest details is an important part of the job. "For example, if someone writes 'a stack of books' in an article, I need to find out if it's really a 'stack' or if it's just a couple of books," Fabry says.

All in a Day's Work

Sifting through multiple sources to verify one fact can sometimes be tough. But the job comes with perks. "I really enjoy getting to work with writers and editors," Fabry says. "It can be very collaborative × collaborative SDI PRODUCTIONS/GETTY IMAGES involving two or more people working together (adjective) Group science-fair projects are a collaborative effort. ."

Mamone sees another advantage: "The topics that you're researching are constantly changing," he says. "Today I'm researching Popeyes chicken sandwiches for an article, and tomorrow it could be hurricanes. So you're always learning!"

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More than half of teens learn about the news from social-media sources and YouTube videos. That's according to a 2019 Common Sense Media survey. But the information on those sites is not always trustworthy. "There's more misinformation out there than...

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Newsela | Kids are the stars of their parents' social media - and they have opinions about that

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Should parents share pictures of their kids on social media?

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Black Scientists Use Social Media to Spread Info

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Black Scientists Use Social Media to Spread Info

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Newsela - How Black scientists and nature-lovers are using social media to elevate their voices

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## Black Outdoor Enthusiasts Raise Awareness

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Time Kids magazine

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Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of young people are taking to the streets today, urging world leaders to address climate change.

Many of the protesters are kids and teens. They're skipping school to take part in the Global Climate Strike. The event comes in advance of the United Nations Youth Climate Summit, which is being held in New York City on Saturday.

In Australia, some 300,000 protesters across 110 towns and cities participated in the strike. Organizers said the protest in Melbourne, with 100,000 people, was the largest climate-related demonstration in the country's history.

ASANKA RATNAYAKE-GETTY IMAGES

"Adults are, like, 'respect your elders.' And we're, like, 'respect our futures,'" Jemima Grimmer told the New York Times. She's a 13-year-old who was protesting in Sydney, Australia. "You know, it's a two-way street, respect, and I'm angry that I have to be here."

Thousands of protests-some large, some small-are taking place in Australia, Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the United States alone, organizers say more than 800 events are planned across the country.

In Berlin, Germany, 100,000 people gathered near government offices. There, lawmakers were at work crafting environmental regulations. In the Philippines, protesters blockaded the entrance to an oil refinery. In Nairobi, Kenya, they wore outfits made from plastic bottles. In New Delhi, India, where air pollution is a big problem, protesters chanted "I want to breathe clean."

ARIF ALI-AFP/GETTY IMAGES

"Even though we ourselves aren't sick, the planet which we live on is. And we are protesting and fighting for it," said Siobhan Sutton. She is a 15-year-old Australian student.

This strike follows worldwide youth climate events that drew huge numbers in March. Another international climate strike is planned for September 27.

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Across the globe, hundreds of thousands of young people are taking to the streets today, urging world leaders to address climate change. Many of the protesters are kids and teens. They're skipping school to take part in the Global Climate...

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Newsela | Issue Overview: Should we have zoos?

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A jaguar paces at the edge of a rainforest in Brazil. The big cat once roamed through a jungle packed with trees, but now part of its home is a working farm with herds of cattle that have taken over the jaguar's territory.

A hundred years ago, jaguars ranged from the southwestern United States to Argentina, in South America. Today their territory has shrunk by more than half, and they live mostly in the Amazon rainforest. And jaguars aren't the only animals losing their homes-according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature, habitat loss is the main threat to about 85 percent of all endangered plant and animal species.

LIVING ON THE EDGE

Tropical rainforests cover only about 7 percent of Earth's land, but they're home to an estimated half of all known plant and animal species. Most experts agree that about 80,000 acres disappear every day when trees are cut down for lumber and land is cleared for farms. Trees also play an important role in absorbing the carbon dioxide that contributes to climate change. Fewer forests means that more greenhouse gases remain trapped in the atmosphere.

Grasslands, underwater habitats, and wetlands are also at risk of habitat loss. For instance, the World Wildlife Fund estimates that about half of the world's wetlands have disappeared in the last hundred years due to being drained for farmland or other industries. That means less space for animals to feed, breed, and raise their young.

SHARING WITH WILDLIFE

Finding a balance between what humans and animals need will help prevent habitat destruction. Some scientists think that if we put aside half of Earth's land and water for nature, we could save up to 90 percent of all species. In the meantime, your everyday actions can build a better planet. Check out these tips to find out what you can do to protect Earth's wild places.

Habitat: The area where a plant or animal lives

Wetland: A habitat where water doesn't drain well-think swamps and marshes.

Grassland: A habitat where the majority of the plants are grasses

Sustainability: Using Earth's resources in a way that doesn't permanently harm the planet. For example, sustainable paper likely is made from trees that will be replaced in their environment.

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Clearing trees and and draining wetlands destroy habitats and affects the animals that live there. Here's how you can help.

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Tom Brady is a famous American football quarterback for the National Football League (NFL). In this text, Jacqueline Pratt-Tuke describes the job of Alex Guerrero, Tom Brady's athletic trainer.

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CommonLit | High Hopes and Extreme Plans to Save Northern White Rhinos

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Jacqueline Pratt-Tuke is a science and humanities teacher based in Washington, DC. White rhinos are large land mammals that live on the continent of Africa. These amazing animals are in danger of going extinct, or no longer living on Earth. In this informational text, Jacqueline Pratt-Tuke describes the work that scientists are doing to save these animals.

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Newsela | This teenager is developing a video game that assesses your mental health

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Rasha Alqahtani, an 18-year-old from Saudi Arabia, is determined to help her peers learn about their anxiety — in the wildly popular setting of ”Minecraft.”

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Brown cows roam the meadows of a farm in the Netherlands. They are Limousins, a breed known for the quality of its meat. Every few months, a veterinarian makes a tiny cut in a cow's flank, removes a sample of muscle, and stitches the cow back up. A dab of painkiller on the skin means this doesn't hurt much.

At a nearby lab, scientists put the samples into steel containers with a nutrient broth. The cells grow and multiply. This process creates new muscle. And from that, something like hamburger meat is produced. It's a lot like the stuff you buy at a supermarket.

RICARDO CASES FOR TIME

By 2030, meat grown in a lab could account for .5% of the world's meat supply, according to a recent report. One day, it might even replace factory farming, in which many cows are raised in small spaces. This could solve one of the big problems of our time: how to feed a growing global population without increasing greenhouse-gas emissions.

Every year, raising livestock for food causes up to 14.5% of the planet's greenhouse-gas emissions. That system is unsustainable × unsustainable VIEWSTOCK/GETTY IMAGES unable to be continued without doing permanent damage (adjective) Working long hours every day of the week was unsustainable for Johnny. , biologist Johanna Melke says. She works for a Dutch company called Mosa Meat. It grows meat in a lab. "People want to eat meat," she says. "This is how we solve the problem."

RICARDO CASES FOR TIME

An Easier Choice

Nine years ago, Mosa cofounder Mark Post helped introduce the first lab-grown hamburger. Today, more than 70 companies are making lab-grown meats that include beef, chicken, tuna, shrimp, and even mouse (for cat treats). (See "Something Fishy.") According to the World Resources Institute, global demand for meat will nearly double by 2050. Lab-grown meat could soon be a $25 billion industry.

RICARDO CASES FOR TIME

Post says a half gram of cow muscle could possibly be used to make up to 4.4 billion pounds of beef. That's more beef than Mexico consumes in a year. Growing meat could be as effective as solar and wind energy are at fighting climate change, he says.

"I can't give up meat, and most people are like me," Post says. "So I wanted to make the choice for those people easier: to be able to keep on eating meat without all the negative [consequences]."

In Development

So far, no company has figured out how to produce large amounts of lab-grown meat and bring down costs. Three chicken nuggets by the company Eat Just cost about $17 at a restaurant in Singapore. That's a lot more than regular nuggets cost at McDonald's.

RICARDO CASES FOR TIME

Cattle ranchers also stand in the way. The United States Cattlemen's Association asked the government to set rules. Ranchers want the terms beef and meat used only for products that come from animals raised in a traditional manner. That could make it harder to sell meat from a lab. "The terms you can use make a critical difference," says market researcher Michael Dent. "Who's going to buy something called 'lab-grown cell-protein isolates × isolate PAUL HENNESSY-NURPHOTO/GETTY IMAGES a small part separated from something larger (noun) The scientist analyzed isolates of a virus strain in his lab. '?"

Still, Mosa says its product can win people over, whatever it's called. "It was so intense-a rich, beefy, meaty flavor," says scientist Laura Jackisch, who gave up eating animal products years ago. "I started craving steak again."

Something Fishy

Some of the fish we eat is caught faster than it can be replenished. Overfishing can wipe out whole species.

ARIA CHEN AND ABHISHYANT KIDANGOOR FOR TIME

Avant Meats makes fish meat in a lab. This includes fish maw, a part of the fish that's popular in China. Lab-grown maw feels like real fish before it's cooked, chef Eddy Leung says. "But when you eat it, it doesn't yet have the kind of stickiness the real ones do." -By Amy Gunia for TIME, adapted by TFK editors

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Brown cows roam the meadows of a farm in the Netherlands. They are Limousins, a breed known for the quality of its meat. Every few months, a veterinarian makes a tiny cut in a cow's flank, removes a sample of...

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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In this informational text, Andrew Matthews discusses women throughout American history who fought to be a part of change.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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CommonLit | Katie Sowers is the first woman to coach in a Super Bowl. Her goal: 'Make sure I'm not the last.'

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Katie Sowers shattered glass ceilings as the first woman to coach in a Super Bowl. She shares her story of what led her to this tremendous accomplishment, and how she hopes to pay it forward to other women.

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

CommonLit is a nonprofit that has everything teachers and schools need for top-notch literacy instruction: a full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and formative data.

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CommonLit | The Concussion Gender Gap: Why Girls Suffer More Head Injuries

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser. CommonLit is a nonprofit that has everything teachers and schools need for top-notch literacy instruction: a full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and formative data.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser.

CommonLit is a nonprofit that has everything teachers and schools need for top-notch literacy instruction: a full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and formative data.

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CommonLit | Farms of the Future by Tracy Vonder Brink | CommonLit

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser. CommonLit is a nonprofit that has everything teachers and schools need for top-notch literacy instruction: a full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and formative data.

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CommonLit | Young Atlanta Artist on the Rise Through Social Media

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Musicians have been discovered in many different ways. However, with the rise of social media, many amateur artists are using online platforms as a way to get their talents to a wider audience. Celso Miguel grew up inspired by the natural beats around him in Brazil.

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CommonLit | Oregon teen sets sights on becoming first female to compete in Professional Bull Rider's elite circuit

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For full functionality of this site it is necessary to enable JavaScript. Click here for instructions on how to enable JavaScript in your web browser. CommonLit is a nonprofit that has everything teachers and schools need for top-notch literacy instruction: a full-year ELA curriculum, benchmark assessments, and formative data.

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There is a disproportionately large number of boys who participate in math competitions and pursue math-related careers later on in life. Where are all the girls? In this informational text, Rachel Crowell discusses researchers' attempt to answer this question.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | Leading retailers turn to social media to attract young shoppers

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Retailers, struggling to woo shoppers, turn to YouTube and a host of modern influencers.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.