Marine Archaeologists think that a ship found off the coast of the country of Kenya MAY be that of the famous Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama. In 1497, da Gama sailed around the tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope) and found a route to India. He went on to do several more voyages. It is his 1524 voyage where the Sao Jorge sank. Since da Game died on this voyage, the exact location of the ship was lost to time. The ship is just 20 ft. below the surface of the ocean and copper and elephant ivory and other items have been removed from the ship. Studying some of the few pieces of ship wood that remain will help date the age of the wreckage. Even if it isn't one of explorer Vasco da Mama’s ships, it is still a very old ship dating to the 16th century.

Photograph from Goodness Network

Photograph from New York State Museum

A stone tablet was found in the country of Georgia. Being stone, carbon testing doesn't work but it is estimated to be about 14,000 years old. Making the tablet so interesting, is the language written on the stone. The symbols, made of lines, dots and shapes, carved into the stone, are not like any symbols seen before. Whatever the message, it will remain a secret unless the language can be decoded.

Photograph from DailyMail

When you are watching a commercial about food or a cooking show, have you ever wondered about their taste? Scientists at the City University of Hong Kong are working on a virtual reality tasting device which could give a viewer the ability to taste the foods they are seeing.The device, shaped like a lollypop, contains different flavoring packs and when licked gives off different flavors.

Photograph from daily mail

An unusual satellite was recently launched into space. Called LignoSat, it is made mostly of wood. Created by scientists at Japan's Kyoto University and Sumitomo Forestry, it is hoped that wood might be the material of the future for space. Metals, when burned up on reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, release chemicals that can harm the ozone layer. Wood does not produce these chemicals making it more environmentally friendly. The lifespan for LignoSat is six months. If successful and the wood can survive the harsh conditions of space, researchers think that wood could eventually be harvested from trees grown on Mars and the Moon to develop future satellites.

Photograph from CNN

So many plastics find their way into our oceans where they can cause harm to marine life. Many plastics can take hundreds of years to break down. Some of the millions of tons of plastic that get into our oceans each year, do break down. Microplastics, tiny pieces of plastic, are even more hazardous to marine life. Scientists in Japan have developed a plastic that dissolves when introduced into sea water. They are also working on a plastic that would break down in the soil. Thus, far, researchers at the Riken Research Institute have found that their plastic totally breaks down in days when in contact with sea water and the plastic placed in dirt breaks down in about 10 days. Wow!

Photograph from Pixabay

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Mrs. Waffenschmidt

Special thanks to EducationWorld for letting me use this image of my "alter ego" as Mrs. "Waffenschmidt!

About Gail:

I retired from teaching after 33 1/2 years in the classroom. Of that time, I taught Grade 6 Social Studies teacher for 31 1/2 years.I earned my BA in early secondary education with a concentration in social studies from SUNY Oneonta, New York, and my MST in social studies education from Binghamton University in New York. In 1988, I was awarded the Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Classroom Teacher of the Year Award from the New York State Council for the Social Studies. Additionally, in 1988, I was also awarded the Outstanding Elementary Social Studies Teacher of the Year Award by the National Council for the Social Studies. I am the author of 8 books for teachers and over 35 books for children(Purple Turtle Series by Aadarsh Publishing and Odd History Series by Red Chair Press).

My work has appeared in most children's publications including:
Highlights for Children,News-O-Matic,Appleseed,,Scholastic's Super Science,,Scholastic's Science World,Jack and Jill,National Geographic World, Ranger Rick, Cobblestone, Faces, Muse Magazine,Contact Kids, US Kids,Action Magazine(Scholastic),Girls' Life,Boys' Life,American Girl, Instructor,Creative Classroom,Middle Years,Time for Kids,Scholastic News,Scholastic News Zone, Time for Kids , Ask Magazine, Dig,Calliope, Cobblestone, FACES, Studies Weekly, Glo Adventurer, and more.






Mail Gail:
Gail Hennessey

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