Articles with 600-800 Words

June 19, 2020, marks the 155th anniversary of Juneteenth — a mashup of June and nineteenth — the oldest-known celebration commemorating the end of slavery in the United States. It was on this day in 1865 when the last American slaves — a group of people in Texas — finally learned that slavery had been abolished and that they were free....

Identifying the chemical makeup of pigments used in ancient documents, paintings, and watercolors is critical to restoring and conserving the precious artworks. However, despite numerous efforts, scientists had been unable to determine the source of folium, a popular blue dye used to color manuscripts in Europe during the middle ages — from the 5th to the 15th century. Now, a team of researchers from Portugal has finally uncovered the mysterious ingredient responsible for the gorgeous blueish-purple tint that helped bring ancient illustrations and texts to life....

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) are always thrilled to welcome new crew members to the orbiting laboratory. However, the May 31, 2020, arrival of NASA astronauts Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley on SpaceX's Endeavour was particularly exciting. It was the first piloted launch from American soil since the US Space Shuttle program was retired in 2011 and the first human spaceflight performed by a public-private partnership — NASA and SpaceX....

If you are looking for an excuse to indulge in a donut or two, here is a perfect one. Friday, June 5, 2020, is National Donut Day, which means it is your civic duty to devour one — or even a dozen — of the fried treats. Observed annually on the first Friday of June, the yummy holiday was not established by donut manufacturers to boost sales but by Salvation Army volunteers to raise funds for the poor....

The Sahara Desert, which encompasses over 3.6 million square miles of Northern Africa, is one of the harshest and most inhospitable places on the planet today. However, new research conducted by a team of international paleontologists has found that millions of years ago, the area was a lush green oasis filled with a frightening line-up of ferocious carnivores, including flying reptiles, crocodile-like hunters, and aquatic dinosaurs....

The negative health impacts of plastic on both wildlife and humans have been well-documented. However, the versatile material, which is used for everything from grocery bags to drink bottles to food packaging, is hard to avoid. Experts estimate that of the 359 million tons of plastics produced annually worldwide, about 150–200 million tons end up in landfills or the environment. To make matters worse, the material derived from the small percentage of plastic that is recycled is of lower quality and can only be used a few times for items like clothing or carpets before it has to be discarded....

Though considered a waste of time by some, sleep is essential for the health and wellbeing of humans. Over the years, researchers have found sleeping allows the body to repair and restore cells, get rid of irrelevant memories, and even help kids grow taller and obtain better grades. Now, it appears that snoozing for an average of 8 hours daily enables the brain to cleanse itself and get rid of harmful toxins....

When Robert Sullivan, a research associate at the New Mexico Museum of Natural History and Science in Albuquerque, found some dinosaur bones in 67-million year-old Cretaceous rocks in New Mexico's San Juan Basin, in 2008, he had little idea they belonged to a new raptor species. More significantly, the feathered dinosaur roamed southern North America just prior to the mass extinction event, when most raptors had already disappeared from the fossil record....

Earth Day, which is celebrated annually on April 22, is usually commemorated with outdoor activities demonstrating support for environmental protection. These include planting trees, collecting roadside or beach trash, and conducting, or participating in, recycling and conservation programs....