The Science of Synesthesia by Penelope Baxter

You may have heard of synesthesia before, but do you know what it means? I have chromothesia and mathematical synesthesia myself. But what does that mean too? First, I’ll explain what it is and the science behind it, and my personal experience with it.

No, I’m not talking about the AI company. I’m talking about the neurological condition. It isn’t life threatening, it just makes your brain do wacky things when you hear or taste, or use any of your senses. According to the Cleveland Clinic, synesthesia is “when your brain routes sensory information through multiple unrelated senses, causing you to experience more than one sense simultaneously.” Or in simple words, when your brain was being formed, one sense’s (for example, smell) “wiring” got crossed with taste’s wiring, making it so that when you smell something, a taste forms in your mouth even if you’re not eating something. There are over 60 forms of this, some examples being smelling sound, tasting touch, seeing sounds, hearing smells, etc. 

So how does this happen? Let’s go back to the wire example. Each sense has a different wire connected to the brain. Sight, hearing, smelling, taste, and touch. Synthesia doesn’t add a wire, take one away, or blend two together. Instead for our tasting smell example the taste wire touches the smell one by crossing to get to the brain. So, whenever the person smells something, the taste wire gets activated too which makes them “taste” the smell.

If that’s the case, what’s chromothesia and mathematical synesthesia? And are there other forms of synesthesia? Yes, there are. And there are certain words for different kinds. For example, feeling sounds is auditory-tactile synesthesia. Colors can also become part of the picture, with all senses.

My personal experience is with mathematical synesthesia and chromosisia. When I say chromosisia, I mean grapheme-color synesthesia which is relating words to colors. I don’t say grapheme-color though because it’s hard to remember. From as far as I can think back, these have worked their way into my everyday life. 

Different examples of my chromosisia is something like hearing the word “banana” and thinking: “Banana”. That seems pretty obvious. Bananas are yellow, so the word is yellow. Same for colors. Blue is the color blue. The word polar is white, like the winter tundra and polar bears. But what if they don’t have a solid color? The name “Griffen” is always green. But if it’s the lion and eagle hybrid, it’s brown. Letters have a similar phenomenon to colors or words with a common color associated with it. A is always red, D is always brown, P is always pink, etc. These were probably associated through alphabet blocks.

Mathematical synesthesia though is entirely different. Yes, my brain thinks of different numbers as different colors (2, 4, and then if it’s double digit, it looks something like this: 65), but my brain also has an entire number line. Regular number lines never really worked for me, and I didn’t like using them. My sister on the other hand, who doesn’t seem the littlest bit neurodivergent, never had this problem in school. They worked just fine for her. It turns out that I subconsciously created my own numberline that my brain uses. It has geography. It looks like if I were to draw it out, a mountain range that forever goes up into the sky. And each set of tens has a different mood and color. For example, the numbers eleven to nineteen are in a dark and dingy cave. On the other hand, fifty to fiftynine is an ocean. I think of one hundred as a mountain top, same with one thousand. 

If you wish to know more about my experience, I will gladly talk about it. And if you would like to know more about synesthesia, I recommend the Cleveland Clinic website, which I used for the research for the first half.

Source: Cleveland Clinic

A Pair of Historic Engines About To Hit The Rails Again This Year By Danny Kim

1. Lake Superior & Ishpeming 29 (Grand Canyon 29)

29 sits quietly in the park on display. It's been out of service since 2019. (Image from Wikipedia).

An Alco-built 2-8-0 that last operated in 2019 is expected to return to service on the Grand Canyon Railway in 2026. In early December, Grand Canyon announced that Locomotive 29 had passed a Federal Railroad Administration hydrostatic test and inspection. With no boiler leaks found during the test, shop crews have been able to start reassembling the locomotive, and if everything proceeds as planned, it will be in service in the new year. Locomotive 29 was built by Alco in Pittsburg, Pa., in 1906, for Lake Superior & Ishpeming Railroad, an ore-hauling railroad in Michigan. After the locomotive was retired in the early 1960s, it was purchased along with several other LS&I steam engines by a new tourist railroad, the Marquette & Huron Mountain. Eventually, the engine was sold to the Mid-Continent Railway Museum. 

In 1989, it was sold to the Grand Canyon, along with three other ex-LS&I 2-8-0s, Nos. 18, 19, and 20. Locomotive 29 was put back into service in 1990 and became a mainstay of the railroad into the 21st century. It was later joined by former Chicago, Burlington & Quincy 2-8-2 4960. (Source: Railfan Railroad Magazine)

2. Alaska Railroad 557

Source: Railfan and Railroad Magazine

Standard gauge steam could return to the “Last Frontier” as early as next year, as the decade-long operational restoration of Alaska Railroad 2-8-0 557 enters the homestretch. This spring, the volunteer crew restoring the S160 class Consolidation is approaching a number of milestones, including a scheduled hydrostatic test in May with the Federal Railroad Administration and the installation of Positive Train Control, a necessity to operate on ARR. If everything goes according to plan, the locomotive could be running in early 2025. 

In order to make that dream a reality, the non-profit Engine 557 Restoration Company is hosting a special passenger charter on the summer solstice this June. Locomotive 557 was one of more than 2,000 S160 Class 2-8-0s built for the U.S. Army by Alco, Baldwin and Lima (557 was built by Baldwin). The locomotives were meant to be built quickly and deployed to war-torn Europe. The S160s would eventually go on to work on every continent except Australia and Antarctica. In 1944, a dozen S160s were sent to Alaska for use on the federally-owned railroad there, including 3523, which would soon be renumbered 557. Along with a new number, the locomotive got some improvements for service in Alaska, including a larger air compressor, a heated cab and a plow for seasonal use. The 557 initially burned coal but was later converted to oil. In the 1950s, Alaska began to retire its steam locomotives but 557 was retained for use in Nenana where the rivers often flooded the right-of-way. The locomotive was also used for special events. In 1964, the locomotive was sold to private individuals and moved to Washington State where it was put on display. In 2011, the locomotive returned north. Locomotive 557 arrived in Alaska in January 2012 and it was moved to Wasilla where volunteers have been working on it ever since. (Source: Railfan Railroad Magazine)

Meet Pere Marquette 1225,The REAL Polar Express by Danny Kim

Ah, the Polar Express. One of the most famous Christmas tales in the United States. But who was the real engine behind it all?

Photo: Meet Pere Marqeutte 1225 as it makes a dash on a winter day.

Pere Marquette 1225, the largest and most impressive piece in the Steam Railroading Institute’s collection, is one of the largest operating steam locomotives in Michigan. The 1225 was built in October of 1941 by the Lima Locomotive Works in Lima, Ohio, for the Pere Marquette Railway. The locomotive was used for 10 years between Detroit, Toledo, Flint, Saginaw, Grand Rapids and Chicago; hauling fast freight for the products of Michigan factories and farms, including war material when Detroit was the “Arsenal of Democracy,” producing huge volumes of vehicles, aircraft, and armaments. The locomotive is one of 39 2-8-4 or “Berkshire” types ordered by the Pere Marquette. The superpower design was developed between 1925 and 1934 and used by over a dozen railroads to haul freight at maximum speed and minimal cost.

 A New Life for 1225

The Pere Marquette Railway merged with the Chesapeake and Ohio in 1947, but the 1225 continued in service until its retirement in 1951 in favor of diesel locomotives. In 1957, the locomotive was saved with the help of Forest Akers; Dodge Motors’s Vice President and Michigan State University (MSU) Trustee, who saw it as a real piece of machinery for Engineering students to study. Displayed as an icon of the steam-era, it sat at MSU until 1969, when a group of students took an interest in the locomotive. The MSU Railroad Club was formed with the ambitious goal of restoring 1225 and using it to power excursion trains that would bring passengers to football games at the university. In 1982, under the newly evolved MSU Trust for Railway Preservation Inc, the donated locomotive was moved to the former Ann Arbor Railroad steam backshop in Owosso where the restoration continued until 1985 when it moved under its own power for the first in 34 years.

Why 1225?

1225 became really famous in the 2004 Warner Brothers Christmas Classic, THE POLAR EXPRESS™. 1225’s blueprints were used as the prototype for the locomotive image as well as its sounds to bring the train in the animated film to life! The 1225 was chosen due to its massive resemblance to the engine depicted in the book,despite the cover showing a 4-8-2 Mountain,Not a Berkshire.The 1225 often goes as the Polar Express for the STI’s”North Pole Express”event in December.

The Legend Today

From 1941 to 2025,1225 went through many things. From being a regular workhorse, to being studied by college students,1225 remains one of the most best-known locomotives in the United States.

Digital link to the Steam Railroading Institute website:Steam Railroading Institute. 

The Permian Triassic Extinction by Julian Nowlin

If I were to ask 100 people what the worst extinction in history was, at least 75 of them would probably say, “The one with the dinosaurs.” But there was an extinction almost 200 million years earlier that was much worse. It destroyed the world and almost ended life on Earth. 

The Permian Triassic Extinction, or The Great Dying, happened 250 million years ago. Before, Earth was flourishing. It had been over 100 million years since Tiktaalik (A prehistoric fish) walked on land. Land had plants and animals, and the oceans were full of life. But in Siberia, something terrible was about to happen. There were supervolcanoes that were about to erupt.

When those volcanoes erupted, they released lots of lava, making Siberia uninhabitable. Worse, poisonous gases entered the atmosphere and trapped heat, causing the temperature of the planet to skyrocket. These new conditions made it very hard for life to survive. It was too hot, and there wasn’t enough food to eat. On land, 7 out of every 10 species went extinct. In the oceans? 9 out of 10. 96% of Earth’s life had been killed.

But while all this was happening, an asteroid about the size of Mount Everest hit the Earth. The coastlines were also shrinking and destroying ocean habitats. This combination of death created the worst extinction event in our planet’s history. We are very lucky that life found a way to survive.

Source: https://science.nasa.gov/science-research/earth-science/the-great-dying/

Image: National Geographic

Headphone Volume and Safety by Harper Rose-Smith

Almost 50% of children to adults aged 12-35 in middle-high income areas are exposed to unsafe levels of sound. The effects of these conditions are severe. These unsafe levels of sound can cause different issues, such as Tinnitus, an incurable, uncomfortable ringing or high pitched buzzing sounds in the ear.

Not only does this exposure cause uncomfortable noises, but it also has an effect on your everyday hearing. Long-term headphone use and prolonged exposure to loud sound can cause difficulty in understanding things the people around you are saying, and trouble hearing in loud environments. Volumes such as 85dB for eight hours or 100dB for 15mins, can be considered unsafe levels of sound. Moreover, some examples of safe sound are, anything below 70dB-85dB (depending on how much time you are using your headphones), 

Students today are expected to bring headphones to school as a requirement, and use them almost everyday. Children also have higher sensitivity in their ears than adults and without the proper guidance on what volume their headphones or earbuds should be on, their ears can easily be damaged temporarily, and in some cases permanently.

Some ways to make sure you're using your headphones at a safe volume level for a safe amount of time is setting limits on your volume on your devices. Apple devices allow in settings to set your headphones volume to a certain number of decibels. You can access a similar feature on Samsung devices by setting the media volume limit in your settings. There is no way to fully limit the volume to a certain extent on Chromebooks. The best way to limit your volume currently on Chromebook devices is just to pay close attention to how much time you use the sound on your device and how loud your device is.

Dreams Rated By Callie Rockmore

Dreams. What even are dreams? Well, I don't know, and I'm not searching it up, but we're going to just be ranking dreams I've had that I can recall, since–fun fact–you dream every night; you just forget.

We're going to start with the worst dream I've ever had at 5th place.  We'll call it Robber Dream.  The part of the dream I remember is my dad and I have these big cartoony sized bags of jewelry. We're escaping the store and for some reason we're in one of those towns on water where they use boats instead of cars. And I'm swimming, but I'm a little kid so all the jewelry is sinking me and my dad doesn't even look back, like a jerk. And, I don't know how to explain it but I was drowning in dead fish. It was horrible, all the fish with those big peering eyes. A whole cartoony vibe with the fish. So this is definitely ranked last. I hated this dream so much. 1/10 

This dream, dude, this dream. I would have put it last, but it was nice at some points, so it gets 4th place. This dream we're gonna call it Churchcare Dream, because for some reason, I'm not sure if this is a dream too, but you know the church care area near the movie theaters?  Well, I used to go there and it was very empty with a brown carpet and things to play on in the inside of the building. I used to go there, but in this dream, it was like a much smaller room with a browner carpet and slightly stained walls with a staircase leading down to the room with these warm yellow lights. It was kind of nice. I just walked around and the other kids ignored me which, fair enough, it's a dream, and then this one grampa-looking guy told me something. 

"You can be anything you put your mind to, kiddo." I don't know why but that was very nice and then he left. I went into the closet and hid away from the other kids. Once I came out, I was an adult and the other kids were no longer there, and guess what?  The kind old man was literally turning to dust before my eyes!! Sounds goofy, but that's okay. Thinking back on it, it was kinda goofy. But I'm not going to lie–it kind of traumatized me in 3rd grade. 

3. Hiding Tree Dream - 3rd place. So this is a two-part dream, but it was very, VERY boring. So, basically in this dream my dad and I  were staking out in the trees watching this one random cabin in the middle of the woods with this big American flag on the outside of it. Whenever I would ask my dad what we were doing, he would shush me and I stayed in that tree for a long time. I'm pretty sure we were in Maine since, well, it looked like Maine. Now for the second part of the dream (AKA the second dream), we're still camping out in the stupid tree, and then we see this guy with a shotgun come to the cabin. Then a couple minutes later or maybe an hour, I'm not sure (you know, dream time), he gets into a stand off with the police and my dad and I are just watching. Then he gets taken away and my dad and I go down and rob his house for a yo-yo. Once we're back at home, he puts it in our mirror (our house's mirror opens to reveal medical stuff - it's a cabinet mirror), and my dad starts telling me about how his dad gave this to him and the evil man stole it from him. To be completely honest, this dream was just boring. That's why it's so low. This dream gets a 4.5/10. Really boring except the police part. Like stop yapping about your random history with this yo-yo.

So here we are at 2nd place. We're going to call it Locked House Dream. I don't know what this dream even was, but I'm in this house that kind of looked like this highschooler's named Liam's house. It looked like his dining room but more bright and there was this chunky computer on a desk with Neopets. The walls were very tan, like a muted tan, and there was a group of girls hoarding the computer. Just girls everywhere, which was very weird. I was talking to one, and she's like “She got you too?” Uh, girl, what are you even talking about? She said, “Mother.”  I didn't get to see this thing until the second time I had this dream. But that's for later. 

So for the rest of that dream I wandered around and I had found this big wide pipe in my dream that was a clear neon blue, and the kitchen had this obnoxious checkered pattern on everything except the walls, which were just a tan color like the room I started in. There was a living room that had this dark red couch and a chunky computer. And I kind of just sat on the couch and the floor until it was my turn to play Neopets, and the Neopet I had in this dream was a blue fox-looking one with stripes, but I mostly spent this dream sitting around or exploring. 

NOW, for the second part of this dream. I had the second part a year later, so I was back in the house, but about half of the girls were missing for some reason. When I went walking around the house, apparently the mother Lindsey was telling me about was there and she kind of looked like the spider version of Other Mother from the movie Caroline.  It was weird and she was like really big, which kind of explained the high ceiling. When she saw me, for some reason, she started chasing me until she killed me, and then I woke up. Very whimsical dream. I would have preferred if I didn't get brutally murdered by a random woman. So, uhhh, this gets a 5.9/10 for a rating for being nice until the second dream.

1st Place - it's Fighting Dream. I LOVED THIS SO MUCH! The dream starts off with me randomly going down this slide that was in a wall downtown. I went down it and got stuck in this yellow room with a couple other people, and one of them was a girl I went to school with. We were told that we had to fight to the death or we could choose to stay for about 31 days in the yellow box with a bed and food and water, which I was fine with. So, I didn't try to kill anyone. We started the day off by introducing ourselves. I only remember two of their names, and one of them is the girl I went to school with. I'm not going to say her name, because she still goes to the school, but the other guy's name that I can remember was Tanner. I don't really remember much about the first dream other than it being peaceful. This is a 2-parter dream. I think I forgot to mention that.  In the next part of this dream, I had like a week later. It starts with me lying in one of the beds with a TV playing footage of the Penn State Arboretum with one of the other kids from the yellow room there. Then, out of the corner of my eye, I see something, no someone, the girl I knew from school. She was about to kill me, then I forget the rest of the dream, until the end of it where I'm recalling why I was even outside in the first place. It was because I was mad at my family for throwing out a drawing of a tv show I made? Which was just really dumb of my brain to think of. AND THE WORST PART OF THE DREAM, WASN'T EVEN IN THE DREAM! I was on the playground and I was telling one of my friends that I had that girl I knew in my dream, and you wanna know what they did? They went up to the girl and told her I WAS DREAMING ABOUT HER! I was so embarrassed because either I sound like I like her or I tell her that she was about to murder me in my dream. So neither are good options so I just didn't say anything. Anyways on to the rating, I'll give it an 8.9/10

A New Country Coming Soon by Liam Scheeler

We all know the world map, right? Well, ever since 2012, it hasn’t changed one bit. But what if I told you in 2027 

(Just over a year from October 2025), it will?

Well, this change is set to happen in the continent Oceania, where a portion of Papua New Guinea will claim its own independence. The area claims the name Bougainville.

The capital city is Buka, and the soon-to-be-country’s population is 300,000 as of 2025.

The End Of The 13 Year EF5 Drought by Liam Scheeler

On May 20, 2013, an EF5 tornado struck Moore, Oklahoma, breaking records. This wasn’t considered a significant event at the time, due to EF5's twisting several times a year just around the country. But after, something changed that confused scientists for 13 years…not a single EF5 tornado stuck across the whole globe after that!

Every tornado season, scientists have been feeling let down, as there has never been another EF5 since. The drought broke records just a fraction of the way through it. That was, until October 6, 2025.

On June 20, 2025, a then-considered EF4 tornado struck the town of Enderlin, North Dakota. While strong, its rural damage scar wiped it off the grid of fame. That was, until October 6, 2025. Studies later rated the twister a monster EF5 with over 210 MPH winds. But this wasn’t just a strong tornado, it ended a record-breaking drought that has been occurring since 2013. 

The 13 year period that scientists couldn’t explain has just been officially concluded.

The Animal that Went Extinct… Twice. By Serena Tian

Extinction happens to a lot of species: dodos, passenger pigeons, Balearic cave goats, Harrington’s mountain goat… but was there an animal that went extinct not once, but twice? Today, let’s uncover the secret behind the goat that went extinct… twice.

First, I’d like to tell you about another hoofed animal that’s commonly found in farms: sheep. There’s one particular sheep I’d like to talk about: Dolly.

In 1996, British developmental biologist Ian Wilmut successfully cloned a Finn Dorset ewe, which resulted in a lamb, in which he named her Dolly. In February 1997, Wilmut and his colleagues officially announced the successful birth of a cloned sheep. This was a milestone for science, as it dispelled the myth that adult mammals were unable to clone. This ignited debates on the myriad of ways that civilians could use–and misuse– cloning sciences. 

Following the success of Dolly, in 2003, another group of scientists decided to revive a recently extinct species at the time – the pyrenean ibex.

In January of 2000, the last pyrenean ibex, named Celia, was found under a fallen tree. This not only explained the extinction of the pyrenean ibex, it also created new questions. The population of ibex was once flourishing, so how did Celia die alone? Ibexes were once coexisting among humans, and it was only until the near end of the last Ice Age did the subspecies of ibex migrate to the mountains of northern Iberia and southern France. 

In 2003, a group of scientists decided that it was a good idea to try to revive the species. They successfully delivered Celia’s clone, and it seemed that the cloning was successful. The newborn had a normal heartbeat, open eyes, and actively kicking legs. One thing she couldn’t do, though, was breathe. Later, scientists uncovered that an extra lobe was grown in the left lung, which took up too much space, and impaired her ability to take in air.

All in all, the pyrenean ibex – and Dolly – may be cautionary tales to modern society’s aim to de-extinct animals from the past. With the new success of a clone that is somewhat like a Dire wolf, we must keep in mind that some attempts will definitely result in failure.

Top Three Foods in Norway by Sylvie Schef

When you get home from school, you may wonder what your dinner could be that night.. Many kids ask if they can have pizza, burgers or even ice cream. But in Norway kids beg their parents for these fantastic foods instead.

#1 Fårikål  (or better known as mutton and cabbage stew.)

This dish is actually the national dish of Norway. The stew is very hearty, and is made from layers of cabbage, peppercorn and mutton. Nothing special. 

Now you may wonder what mutton is. Mutton is the meat from an adult lamb. This is a very common meat in many Norwegian dishes.

#2 Fiskesuppe (fish soup)

This beloved dish sounds pretty gross, but in Norway it is a delicacy. Its ingredients are obviously FISH!!!! Often salmon. And made with several different root vegetables.

#3 Vafler  (waffles)

Vafler, or what we usually call waffles is a delicious treat in Norway. They are often shaped like hearts. On your waffle maybe you would put syrup, whipped cream or maybe Nuttella, but in Norway they put on unusual toppings for sure! In Norway they put on sourcream, jam and brunost . If you are wondering what brunost is, it is a brown Norwegian cheese used on a lot of famous dishes.

Animals We Once Thought Were Extinct, Were Alive By Penelope Baxter

When we think there are no more animals of a species, we consider them extinct. A great way to find out whether a creature is extinct is with the ICUN Red list, which marks the animal’s conservation status. But sometimes, animals aren’t actually extinct. We just haven't seen them for a very long time. This is a list of 15 animals that we presumed were extinct, but aren’t. 

The Australian Night Parrot

These little cuties disappeared from all records in 1912, and scientists presumed them extinct due to the foxes and cats on the island. Settlers brought them to Australia when they arrived, and they just turned loose. For 78 years we never had a second thought of the bird, and then we found one. Well, not find one alive. Someone in Queensland Australia found one dead on the side of the road. This may not sound huge, but it is important. It means these parrots were still alive. Naturalist John Young spent 15 years looking for the elusive avian, and was awarded in 2013 for photographing a live one. But in March of 2019 the evidence was questioned and the Australian Wildlife Conservancy removed the records. The Australian night parrot is presumed to be alive and is classified as Endangered despite having an unknown population. 

Coelacanth

Yes, that annoying as heck, weather-specific Animal Crossing New Horizons fish was presumed extinct. The Coelacanth was known as a living fossil, as it was alive alongside the dinosaurs. This made scientists assume that it went extinct as well. But it didn’t. In 1938 an individual was caught in the Indian Ocean near South Africa. Then again in 1998 near Indonesia. Scientists figured it out because they saw one for purchase at a market stall. After DNA testing, they confirmed it was a Coelacanth, and they are big. Six-feet long and 200 pounds, to be exact, was around how large each specimen was. 

New Guinea Big-Eared Bat

This is a quite interesting story. In 1890, a specimen of the New Guinea big-eared bat was found. In 1914 it was named,  and then never seen again for over a century. Students at the University of Queensland were studying the effect of logging on microbats. Microbats are bats like these bats and the brown eared bats. The students were collecting species until they found one they didn’t recognize. After comparing it to museum specimens, it was confirmed to be a female New Guinea big-eared bat two years later. Scientists were thrilled at this discovery, but rarely any more have been found. It is currently critically endangered.

Cuban Solenodon

Solenodons are venomous, shrew-like mammals that live on Caribbean islands. There are two species of Solenodon, these solenodons, and Hispaniolan solenodons. Cuban solenodons were declared extinct in 1970, but were rediscovered four years later. Cuban solenodons only live on the island of Cuba, and both species are at risk of extinction due to invasive Asian mongooses. 

Terror Skink

The terror skink was first discovered in 1867 when a fossilized skeleton was unearthed. Scientists presumed it was extinct until 1993. In 1993, one was spotted in New Caledonia. There were soon more and more sightings; one in 2000, then one in 2003, another in 2009, again in 2013, and the most recent sighting was in 2018. The reason there are not as many sightings is because the terror skink is thought to only live on two islands of New Caledonia, the island’s size together being 0.35 square miles. 

Fernandina Island Tortoise

 Believed to be extinct for 100 years, only recently was the Fernandina Island Tortoise rediscovered. In 2019, a 50 year old female tortoise was discovered and was then taken to live in the Galapagos National Park Tortoise Center. Even greater news is that it is believed that there are two more tortoises on the island. 

Takahe

These New Zealand ground birds were first discovered by the Maori people and were hunted by them. Europeans on the other hand took 50 years after they arrived. And this is an easy to find bird. It is quite colorful, with its beak being bright red and having a white tail. They are hard to miss in deep swamps. After a specimen was collected in 1898, they seemed to disappear. Most people thought all the dogs and cats ate them, but one was found 50 years later. 

Gracilidris Ants

Quite a blast from the past, this little one. They were first discovered in a piece of amber that dated back 15 million years. Most scientists presumed the little insect was far dead, and it was immediately pronounced extinct. But in 2006, the most peculiar thing occurred. In South America, one was found. It turns out they are still alive and well. The reason we didn’t find one for so long is because they burrow deep underground, and only come out during the night. And they are tiny. Less than a centimeter long. 

Bermuda Petrel

When Europeans got to Bermuda, they deemed it the island of demons because of the loud avians. Europeans did also play a role in their extinction. They brought the usual dogs and cats, which did most of the dirty work. And the explorers ate the eggs. Great teamwork. But this did end-up making them quote un quote “extinct” in 1620. Thankfully though, over 300 years later 10 nesting pairs were discovered in southern Bermuda. There are an estimated 250 left, but it is everything compared to some animals. 

Cross River Gorilla

How could we lose a gorilla, you may be wondering. Well it is quite stupid really. They were found in 1904, then weren’t looked for again and people were like, “Guess they are gone now!” But a group was rediscovered in 1987, with photographic evidence backing it up in 2009. 

Attenborough’s Long Beaked Echidna

If you don’t know what an echidna is, it is the other, less popular, monotreme. The hedgehog one. It is also what Knuckles from Sonic the Hedgehog is based off of. This little critter was first discovered in 1961, and wasn’t seen since. Until incredibly recently. In November 2023, one was caught on camera in the Cyclops Mountains of Indonesia. Indonesia! That is incredibly far from Australia, where all other monotremes are found. 

Victorian Grassland Earless Dragon

Another Australian creature rediscovered in 2023. It was considered critically endangered in 1960, with the last sighting being in 1969, and being officially called extinct in 2019. But just 4 years later they reappeared, and now we have 16 in the Melbourne Zoo with a breeding program all set up. 

Chacoan Peccary

A peccary for those who don’t know is basically a large pig. And shockingly enough, it was only known from fossil records for the longest time. But in 1971 one was found in Argentina! But, we didn’t. Native cultures had known for a long time that it was still around. And Western science didn’t. So is that really a rediscovery? 

Wallece’s Giant Bee

And boy is it big. 4 times larger than a European honey bee. It was thought to not even be around for 38 years until 2019 when a female was recorded. The species is at risk for actual extinction though if palm oil production keeps up.

Antioquia Brushfinch

When a birder was on his way to his Sunday mass in 2018, he was shocked to see this little bird. The antioquia brushfinch was thought to be extinct for 50 years, and so it immediately hit newspapers. 

There are some creatures that we hope are alive, even though they most likely are extinct. These our the honorable mentions:

Megalodon

The Megaledon was the largest shark ever to live. It ate whales, and other large creatures. Its closest relative is the great white, and it lived during the time of the dinosaurs. Yes you read that right. Dinosaurs. Why do we think that this prehistoric creature is still alive today? Well, it is a popular conspiracy theory. But it is highly unlikely that it still roams the Earth today. 

Ivory-Billed Woodpecker 

The largest woodpecker in history, with a two foot wingspan. And still, probably, alive. There have been many sightings of it after its extinction. Bobby Harrison has searched for the bird, even after being called extinct for the second time in 2021. In 2020, he got a video of one. He has searched for the bird everyday in Arkansas for 2020 years in 2023. And scientists have a recording of a call that was confirmed to be an ivory bill's. There has been a lot of documentation, and it is one of the believed creatures to bounce back. 

Thylacine

The most popular extinct creature predicted to come back. It is also known as the Tasmanian Tiger. Their range extended from New Guinea, Australia, and Tasmania. The reason they weren’t in New Guinea and Australia is because they were forced out by dingos. Settlers brought dogs over that evolved into dingos. The dingos never got Tasmania though, and the species thrived. Until Europeans came and killed them all out of fear for their sheep. Again, great job Europeans. There have been many sightings, though a lot turn out to be foxes infected with mange, a disease. And then there is Colossal. Colossal is a company that is trying to revive and create their own thylacine. They are doing this so that Tasmania’s food chain can be back in balance, as the Tasmanian Tiger was the apex predator. So, this has the most hope of all. 

But there is something important to note in every one of these back from the dead animals. They are still at risk. Yes they may be alive, but how many are there? There could be as many as a million, or as little as 500. All these creatures need help, and it is important that they are still around. We don’t want any repeats of the thylacine. And then there are creatures that are at risk to be completely wiped out. Vaquitas tonkin snub-nosed monkeys, Chinese pangolins, all of these creatures are at high risk of extinction. Vaquitas have only 6 left. 6. We don’t want to lose anymore animals, and so try to support them. 

Sources: BBC Wildlife, AZ Animals, Garden & Gun.

Ransomware by Ky Dingman

Ransomware is a type of malware that infects your computer with the intent to harm it but unlike other pieces of malicious code this one has a strategy to profit from their attack. If you get infected with this type of malware it will most likely start messing with your computer moving files, tabs and other stuff around.  It will also probably delete your core files and encrypt them. In some way they will tell you to pay a certain amount of money if you pay that amount of money they will stop messing with your device and restore all your files. It also might threaten to leak your files usually with big companies. 

Impacts on Companies

There are many huge companies that have been affected by ransomware. For example on November 21, 2024 Blue Yonder the software company that runs many big companies like Walmart, Apple, Starbucks, Walgreens and many more got attacked by a fairly new ransomware called Termite Ransomware. When Blue Yonder got attacked the people behind the code were asking for around $40 million dollars to stop messing around with the computer. They had gotten a hold of 680 GB of files and storage and had over 200,000 files with insurance information and records. They were threatening to release this to the public and leak all the information. It is still unknown if they had paid the money or not.

How to protect yourself

You should not be very worried about ransomware since it mostly goes for big companies so they can have more profit from their attacks. Especially if you have one computer that you just use for nothing other than gaming, schoolwork,  or other random stuff. If you're working in a big business or medium sized business or any business in general you should always be skeptical on what you're downloading or clicking on. To stay safe from ransomware you should also download an antivirus program such as CrowdStrike which detects malware in general. 

Neurological Reason Behind Delayed Phase Preference by Tara Gopalan

Have you ever wondered why you can’t manage to get up in the morning? Many just assume teenagers are staying up too late or being lazy, but there’s actually a neurological reason behind your skewed sleep schedule! It turns out that teenage brains are vastly different from child brains, and you’re changing faster than you know. 

As kids grow up, their sleep patterns change. Young babies need periodical naps, small children have early bedtimes, and now, you can’t get up at 6:00 A.M. no matter how hard you try. This is called delayed phase preference: A shift in your brain that sets your biological clock apart from everyone else. Delayed phase preference isn't well-studied by scientists, so we don’t know much about it. To address this, the National Institute of Medicine conducted a study on 183 sixth-grade boys and 275 sixth-grade girls, making them complete questionnaires every morning and evening. Their stage of puberty, school environment, and birth order were also taken into account. They found a significant difference in delayed phase preference development between boys and girls. 

Delayed Phase Preference happens because of changes in our circadian rhythms. This could of course be because of changing social demands and academics, but many teenagers express that they can’t sleep early even if they have the time. The likely cause is instead because of puberty. Puberty causes a shift in the hormones that are released in your brain, including an increased production of estrogen, testosterone, and melatonin. As kids get older, melatonin has a delayed release in their brains, leading to daytime sleepiness. When examined by physicians, daytime sleepiness was shown to be prolonged because of melatonin lingering in the body instead of becoming inactive immediately after waking up. 

For the past couple decades, teens complaining about sleepiness was attributed to increased workload and irresponsibility with sleep schedules. However, these new studies show that it’s not entirely the teen’s fault. School, work, and afterschool activities tire out teens more and more as they get to higher grades. It’s a well-known scientific fact that sleep deprivation doesn’t resolve itself - it builds up. Our current method of handling sleepy teens is to wake them up and scold them for staying up so late, but schedules aren’t tailored to their needs. Teens need accommodations in their schedules if they are expected to be fully awake in the morning. Instead of assigning blame, let’s listen to science - there’s a neurological reason behind delayed phase preference, and the only thing we can do is be understanding and accommodating. 

https://schoolstarttime.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/carskadon-et-al-association-between-puberty-and-delayed-phase-preference.pdf

Pure Plastic by Jack Puts

Some people like enjoying nature, maybe go to the beach, swim in the ocean, or enjoy a nice walk through the woods. You’re taking a swim in the ocean, but then you notice that you’ve found out that the fish that you're looking at isn’t a fish, it's actually a candy wrapper, or the shiny rock that you just found is a water bottle! 

That scenario is in fact possible because according to, “What Happens to Plastic in the Ocean | The Mystery of Missing Plastic | ENDEVR Documentary” on Youtube.com there is a possible MOUNTAIN of plastic increasing over time. And according to Google.com  by 2050 the plastic in the ocean will outweigh all of the fish in the ocean. Fish could also attempt to eat the ocean’s plastic, killing many fish that way similar to how the endangered species known as the Sea Turtles sometimes consume plastic bags which they mistake for their common prey, jellyfish. Also according to Google.com, “Litter, improperly discarded waste, significantly harms the environment by causing pollution, harming wildlife, and impacting public health. It can contaminate soil, water, and air, and negatively affect ecosystems and the overall quality of life.” This shows that plastic plastic in the ocean and in other environments can be very harmful and even dangerous. So remember to not litter!  

How Growing Your Own Food Could Save You Thousands by Liam Scheeler

Photo By: Kitchen Gardens

Introduction

It’s true - many vegetable growers report saving hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars by growing your own food. For example, you can get a tomato carton at the store for the price of a seed packet, while you can harvest ten or more cartons for the price of that seed packet. Growing your own food is a huge example financial efficiency, and here’s how:

How Much Do You Actually Save?

Say you can grow 25 plants from the seeds in your veggie. Chili peppers cost about a dollar each at the store. Each pepper plant produces 30, which means you’ll harvest 750. Those 750 cost you $0, while it would cost you $750 from the grocery store. You just saved $750 dollars by growing pepper plants. Mind-blowing, huh?

If you grew several types of veggies this way, just imagine how much money you would be saving overall.

How Do You Do It?

It’s true, the more you do for the plant, the more you’ll harvest. Many ways to achieve this would get pricey, saving you less, but if you get creative, you won’t have to spend any further than that two dollar seed packet. Here’s how:

• Fertilizer

Simmer fruit and veggie scraps from your kitchen for a liquid fertilizer.

Or, feed with leftover coffee. Coffee supports leaf growth.

• Frost Protection

Cover with an old cloth or half of an old plastic water bottle.

• Weed Control

Layer the ground around the plant to prevent weeds from growing around it. 

‘Havoc Beyond Wreaked’ Natural Disasters To Start Soaring By Liam Scheeler

New Expectations Set

On March 16, 2025, communities from Texas to Pennsylvania witnessed some of the worst thunderstorm squalls on record. What they thought was an “uncommonly powerful thunderstorm” might become a new normal. 

Last year, the earth faced its hottest year on record. Record-breaking hurricanes slammed the Gulf Coast, causing catastrophes in the southeast. One of the worst tornado seasons on record broke out. Some of the largest wildfires spread throughout Los Angeles. What we thought was a “bad weather season” might have actually just been the start of the new expectations for natural disasters. 

Natural Disasters Only To Get Worse

Predictions state that every year, temperatures and severe weather will climb a bit more than the previous year, and every year that goes by, the climb between the two will be more significant. No matter where you live, natural disasters will become more present and stronger. More heat means stronger hurricanes and longer tornado seasons. Hurricanes depend on warmth, and a warming ocean is just giving them what they want to get stronger. 

Foods Affected

A world with more disasters also could limit or at least worsen our food productions. Farms face damages from severe storms, and the crops can go under heat stress. Many crops fail to produce food when temperatures exceed 90 degrees F. For example, southern states now have to grow many vegetables (such as peas and onions) during the winter time because the regular growing season is becoming too hot for several crops. An off-season frost can kill farms in that area, also damaging food production. 

This winter, we faced a very poor orange season because the trees were stressed due to the poor and varying weather conditions.  

Money Loss 

Imagine you walk up from your basement to find your house torn apart by the tornado. Or to find your entire town in pieces from hurricanes. These are real things that happen all the time, and they’re only becoming more common. Up in the smoky mountains, the tail of North Carolina seems to be the last place you’d expect a hurricane tragedy, at over 300 miles from a coastline. However, last September, almost all 100,000+ residents from Asheville were devastated and nearly three hundred casualties reported. The area is not likely to recover anytime soon.

A similar story starts in South Carolina, where areas from Myrtle Beach to Savannah saw thirty inches of rain in a day. Keep in mind the hurricane made landfall 500 miles away in Florida. 

In 2013, the world's largest tornado broke out on the outskirts of Oklahoma city, nearly three miles wide. The city of Moore faced a scar from it that is still visible from above today. 

Photo By: Adam Orgler

The Strange Evolution Birds of Paradise: What Happened? - By Tara Gopalan

Birds come in all shapes and sizes, but perhaps some of the most stunning birds are the Birds-of-Paradise. Birds-of-paradise live exclusively in Papua New Guinea, the Indonesian islands, and northeastern Australia, making them hard to find and mysterious. In total, there are 39 different species that each have unique characteristics. Unlike other avians, their plumage is vibrant, large, and seemingly useless. These birds are well known for their strange dances and calls that put on a splendid show, loud enough to be heard by any predator- so why did they evolve to be like this if it has no evolutionary advantage? Well, it turns out that scientists have found the reason, and it’s not what you might expect. 

Birds-of-paradise certainly put on a show. Birds like the Superb Bird-of-Paradise use their beauty to put on extravagant shows for females, showcasing their iridescent blue feathers. Nicknamed the “psychedelic smiley face bird”, their routine can be described as beautiful yet haunting. They clear the forest floor until there’s only bare dirt, and then proceed to hop around in a calculated pattern, singing rhythmically. This whole routine is meant to impress female Superb-birds, who are certainly hard to please!  Although the females are usually brown and dull in color, they steal the show even more than males, making all the  decisions for them and effectively controlling their lives.  This is perfect, right? The males impress the females and the population continues. However, the male’s beauty can cause serious problems. 

With a bright blue belly, the male can be seen clearly at night and during the day, making it extremely difficult for them to hide from predators. This doesn’t just apply to Superb birds- take the Raggiana Bird of paradise or the Golden Pheasant for example. Their brightly colored plumage and insanely heavy feathers make it difficult to move, fly, or do anything except impress females. This is dangerous for their populations, especially since Birds-of-paradise live in such limited areas of the world. So why do they have these features? Surely, there’s better ways to put on a show. Well, it turns out that there’s no evolutionary reason for these features- they instead evolved because of the females.

If you’ve ever heard of Darwin’s theory of evolution, you know that it attributes new traits in a species to natural selection and mating selection. In natural selection, specific traits are passed on through an animal’s genes by survival of the fittest- whatever heightens their ability to fight stays and all other traits die out. Of course, birds of paradise don’t need to fight each other to survive. However, their dance routines are a form of survival- attracting a mate. So whichever traits the females preferred were passed on, and the birds who weren’t chosen simply died out and couldn’t continue their genes. This theory ties together with mating selection, where everything is up to the females. In the dense jungles where these birds live, there are a few predators, but there is also a lot of food and shelter. Since the danger level is low, females do not need males to protect them, so they can afford to be picky with their mating choices. The choice is now less about strength and more about how much the male impresses the female, which explains why looks are prioritized over safety.

In conclusion, the reason birds of paradise have such vibrant yet impractical plumage is due to generations of picky females and perfect living conditions. Although this may seem silly to us, the male birds still put all their energy into their performances! Birds of paradise are elusive and beautiful creatures from whom we still have a lot to learn. Maybe someday we can learn all their secrets, but until then, they will remain in the forests of Papua New Guinea, singing, flying, and dancing. 

https://www.birdsofparadiseproject.org/

https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/birds-paradise-beauty-kings/5th-grade/

Why Giraffes' Tongues are Blue by William Petersen

Giraffes are tall majestic creatures and are known for roaming the African plains. Giraffes are known for their tall necks and spots. However, there is one feature of the giraffe that not many people know. Their tongues are BLUE. But why are they blue? This is because of a couple of reasons, including the sun, holding items, and thick saliva.

Giraffe tongues tend to be a darker color, including dark blues, purples, and black. One reason is because of the sunlight in Africa. Africa is on and close to the equator. This means it gets the most amount of direct sunlight year-round. This makes it hard for giraffes to grab leaves with their tongues without getting lots of burns. However, dark colors naturally absorb sunlight, making it easier for them to grab the leaves off the trees without getting burns on their tongues and having them dry out.

Also, Giraffes have a “prehensile” or grabby tongue, as stated in “What's the Color of a Giraffe's Tongue? Here's Why It Looks That Way.” by Kori Williams. The tongues are made to be able to flex many times a day, due to them needing to grab leaves off of tall trees. Imagine trying to reach your tongue up all the time, just to eat!

In addition, they need to hold leaves in their tongues when they eat because of how tall the trees are around them. Their tongues are also used to navigate around the plains where they need to find acacia trees. Their tongues have many uses, but that does not affect their color.

Finally, giraffes have thick saliva that affects the color of their tongue a little. It is supposed to help with thorns so they don’t poke into the giraffe's tongue and hurt them. It also makes the leaves stick to their tongues a little better when they grab them off of trees.

A Brief History of Medicine (from FREE-VECTORS.NET) By Penelope Baxter

A lot of humans take medicine, vaccines, and pills for granted. But not so long ago, they did not exist. We will go through 5 most taken-for-granted medicines and cures and a bit of history about them. 

1. Band-Aids

The company Johnson & Johnson manufactures this product. It started when a cotton supplier for Johnson & Johnson's wife kept cutting herself. But in those days even a papercut could lead to infection. So, the supplier partnered with Johnson & Johnson to create a special type of bandage. It was a 18 x 3 strip of Band-Aid. The idea was to cut off what you needed. This became very popular, and soon it was sold in 1 x 3 in little boxes. You might have heard the jingle. It's along the lines of: “Stuck on Band-Aid Brand ‘cause..” Fun fact, this jingle was written by Barry Manilow. You also might have seen that it is “Band-Aid Brand” instead of Band-Aid.  Johnson & Johnson really wants to push that it is a brand, and not to become commonplace words like “Popsicle” and “Q-Tip”. Unfortunately, it is. 

2. Penicillin

Penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928. He was growing Staphylococcus in his lab when he left on a vacation to Paris from Russia. When he came back, a mold was growing on his petri dishes. The mold kept the Staphylococcus from growing out and around. Fleming studied it more over another few months. He soon patented it as penicillin. The first use of penicillin was in 1943 when Albert Alexander was shot. The story usually has it that Albert Alexander pricked his finger on a rose and got infected. But according to his daughter, Sheila LeBlanc, it turns out that Alexander had been shot and got the staph infection. If you’re wondering about how they got enough mold (90 gallons), the answer is from a cantaloupe. Charles Fletcher had his assistant go to the store and buy the moldiest cantaloupe there. And it worked. 

3. Surgery 

Surgery is a long concept over thousands of years. In this section we will go from bleeding and cupping to now. Starting with bleeding and cupping, this treatment involves the four humours. If you don’t know about this theory of medicine, this is the basic idea. You have four bodily substances, phlegm, blood, black bile, and yellow bile. The amount of it you have determines your medical condition. Bleeding and cupping is when you take a knife, cut someone opposite of their pain, and bleed them. That is it. And we believed this would work for, and this is crazy, 2,000 years. Next up is amputation. This is just taking a knife and fully slicing off a leg or something. Eventually we evolved to surgery. But in this case, there is no sleeping gas. Instead you do it quickly with the patient still conscious. We then got to adding the sleeping gas. Fun fact, for a long time it was taboo to work on the heart. In fact, the first heart surgery was done with a pump that did the heart's job while we sliced it open. 

We hope you learned something today about the cures and medicine we all take for granted. 

Sources:

“Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine” Podcast by Justin and Sydnee McElroy, “Wow in the World” by Guy Raz and Mindy Thomas, The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green, 

Pigeons: A History of a Very Cool Bird by Penelope Baxter

When you hear the word pigeon, you probably think of a pest. A pooping city bird that steals your fries. But it turns out that pigeons are all that. In this article, your mind will be changed about the rock dove. 

Starting with the first point. Doves are pigeons, and pigeons are doves. Yes, those pretty white wedding birds are pigeons. Why do we like these, and not the humble city pigeon? To prove this point, it is time to bring in taxonomy, or the categorization of organisms. It goes in the order Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Spesies. All doves and pigeons belong to the family Columbidae. And, if we love doves so much we have them at weddings, why not pigeons? 

For the second point, there are multiple species of pigeons. The species you probably think of is the rock dove or common pigeon. You’ve also probably also heard of the extinct passenger pigeon. And the dodo was the largest member of the family Columbidae. But, some other pretty pigeons are the Jacobson pigeon, Victoria Crowned pigeons, and bleeding heart doves. Victoria Crowned pigeons don't even look like pigeons. You’d think they are peacocks. But they are pigeons, and they eat poop. And, people will breed pigeons, as well as pigeon beauty pageants. 

Point number 3. A history. Pigeons go way back. Back when we were primarily farmers, and the internet was not a concept. Originally, pigeons had roost and nested on rocky cliff faces. And humans were storing their grain in barns. Pigeons would fly away to eat the grain, and eventually humans realized that they always knew where it was and how to get back home. So they domesticated pigeons, or kept them as pets. Which means ancient humans wanted them around. They were used as messengers, and slept in dovecotes. But then, phones and other more efficient messaging came along, and pigeons were forgotten. Cities were built, and the pigeons came too, thinking they were still of use. We have erased this, and hate them now. They just want to be with us and survive. As a side note, it is estimated that all pigeons you see are feral. All their ancestors were domesticated, and now that they are released, they are feral. 

Point number 4. Not just pigeon breeders like pigeons. Nikola Tesla said about a pigeon: “I loved that pigeon as a man loves a woman, and she loved me. As long as I had her, there was a purpose to my life.” Charles Darwin loved pigeons, and they helped him understand how evolution worked. 

Point number 5. There are famous pigeons too. We’ll showcase the story of Cher Ami. Cher Ami was a soldier. During World War II, multiple pigeons were enlisted in the army as messengers. Cher Ami was one of them, alongside other pigeons such as Mary, Paddy, and G.I. Joe. There was a group of Allies soldiers trapped, and the Allies were planning on bombing the place where the soldiers were being held. The soldiers had Cher Ami send a message. But the pigeon had to cross an active battlefield. The pigeon suffered many blows, as well as one through the chest, but they survived. Cher Ami got the letter to the Allies, and the soldiers were rescued and safe. 

Extra Pigeon Facts:

• Pigeons can count to 10.

• Pigeons can spell some words.

• Pigeons can tell the difference between a Mone painting and a Picasso painting.

• Pigeons are the only bird to produce milk. 

• People eat baby pigeons, called squab.