Articles for Grade 7

With plans underway to lasso asteroids, establish settlements on Mars and send tourists out for quick jaunts, the fact that our future lies in Space is indisputable. However some of these dreams will be left unfulfilled unless we do something about all the junk we have abandoned in Space in the last 55 years....

North Carolina resident Jonathan Trappe has a fun hobby - He 'flies' around the skies seated in an office chair that is attached to a cluster of helium balloons. In 2012, at the Leon International Balloon Festival in Mexico, he even 'pulled' a Carl Fredericksen by flying a replica of the house that was featured in 'Up'....

Nadal has experienced a wide range of triumphs and tribulations in 2013. After being forced to withdraw from the year's first grand slam - the Australian Open due to a stomach virus, he came back with a vengeance in May to win his eighth French Open title. Then in June, he along with many other top players, suffered a stunning loss in the initial round at Wimbledon, only to bounce back strong in the last major tournament of the year, the US Open....

While to most of us 13 is just a number, there are some people that consider it to be a bad omen. This is the reason office and residential towers often skip having a 13th floor altogether. However when the 13th happens to fall on a Friday, the fear factor escalates to a whole new level! Today happens to be the first of the two fearful 'Friday the 13th's' that we will have to encounter in 2013!...

How cool would it be if instead of learning about exotic animals like Patagonian maras (large rodents that resemble rabbits) and bearded dragons from textbooks you could do it by touching, feeling and maybe even breeding them? That is how the students fortunate enough to be taught by Michael Bechtel at Saydel High School in Des Moines, Iowa experienced biology for many years....

It took five attempts, but on September 2nd, 2013, U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad accomplished the dream she has been harboring since 1978 - Become the first person to swim from Cuba to the Florida Keys without a protective 'shark' cage....

A few weeks ago, scientists reported that climate change might actually be helping California's ancient redwoods thrive. Now there seems to be more positive news - This time about the coral in our oceans whose population has been severely impacted in last few decades by rising temperatures and ocean acidification, disease and human carelessness....

With its distinctive shape, large public viewing deck and three floors of sky gardens as well as prime Central London location, 20 Fenchurch street, a 37-story commercial skyscraper affectionately called 'walkie talkie', was destined to be the pride and joy of the city when completed in 2014. However, a slight design snafu has turned the building into a heat-trapping magnet or as the public now like to call it, a 'walkie scorchie'....

If you have been listening to the news lately chances are you have heard about the escalating tension in Syria and the heated debate between nations about whether it may be time for other countries to intervene and help the rebels. So what exactly is the crisis that has the entire world up in arms and how did it get to this stage? Read on . . ....