Hello,everybody.Welcome to surf on a new Web site—SCIENCE NEWS FOR KIDS!

    Our goal is to offer timely items of interest to kids,accompanied by suggestions for hands on activities,books, articles,Web resources,and other useful materials.

    Our emphasis is on making the Web site attractive by offering kids opportunities to comment on and grade the subject matter,get ideas for science projects,and try out math puzzles.At the same time,we offer teachers creative ways of using science news in their classrooms.

    The Science News for Kids Web site,supported by several corporations and foundations,strengthens the usefulness of Science News in the middle－school classroom and offers entertaining reading and activities for students interested in science.

    A section of the Science News for Kids Web site is devoted to particular interests.At present,we have six such zones: a weekly brainteaser（难题）for those who enjoy solving and inventing puzzles (PuzzleZone),entertaining science－fiction composition exercises for those interested in writing (SciFiZone),and weekly science short description along with science project ideas and tips (ScienceFairZone).The GameZone contains a small selection of logic and memory games.The TeacherZone has materials,including question sheets related to the feature article of the week,so that teachers can bring science news topics to the classroom.The LabZone features a weekly hands on activity or science project idea.In the future,we might add additional zones,for example,for kids interested in robotics,the environment,computers,math,or veterinary（兽医的）medicine and animals.

    Contact us at editor@snkids.com.         Science News for Kids            1719 N Street,N.W.

    Washington,DC 20036                 Phone :202-785-2255             Fax: 202-659-0365

    It may appear strange to hear that crops are making headlines.But this is no ordinary produce—these fruits and vegetables have been grown in simulated（模拟的）Martian and lunar soils!

    Though the possibility of growing crops in outer space only gained widespread interest after Matt Damon grew potatoes in the movie "The Martian",scientists have been testing the idea for many years.Fresh produce will after all be the key to setting up space colonies（殖民地）.

    Among the pioneers in this effort is a team led by Wieger Wamelink,a scientist at Netherland's Wageningen University.In 2013,they planted fourteen varieties of plants in simulated Martian and lunar soils.Though the "Mars" plants did not bear any produce,they grew better than the "lunar" plants,most of which died shortly after being planted.Lack of vapor in the soil,according to the scientists,might have accounted for the failure.

    The second experiment began in late 2015.The researchers selected the same crops,while this time they used larger containers and added grass to them.In March 2016,their efforts were rewarded with a variety of produce including the vegetable that kept "The Martian" alive: potatoes.

    However,the researchers were still not sure if the produce was safe to eat.That's because the Martian and lunar soils contain heavy metals like lead and arsenic,which do not affect plants but are poisonous to humans.

    After months of testing,earlier this week,the team finally confirmed that the produce was safe for human consumption.Some of the crops even contained lower levels of heavy metals than plants grown in the "ordinary" earth soil.

    To celebrate the success,the scientists held a dinner party that centered ground the crops.While there is no word on how the food tasted,it sure looks delicious.

    AEA summer camp is an American-style day camp which follows a weekly theme. Themes are changed each week and each year to combine current trends and interests of children.

    Waikiki Sun & Sandbuckets of Fun (Week 1)

    Join Camp Adventure In a Polynesian Paradise! Come and move your toes in the soft white sand and listen to the symphony of a Seashell Band. It's great to be in Waikiki, where there's surf and sand. We'll drive and find various fish all around the island shore. It's Wet! It's Wild! It's Wonderful Waikiki Fun!

    Stars-spangled Spirit Spectacular (Week 2)

    It's a stars-spangled celebration across the nation! Join the old-fashioned ice cream social, play a double-header at the field of dreams, and learn about some heroes and founding fathers of America. Sparks (火花) will fly at your fantastic finale (结尾), as fireworks explode red, white and true blue.

    Amazing Adventures to the Outer Limits (Week 3)

    It's your time to shine as you join our Camp Adventure planetary race through outer space. See wonderful scenes as we take a spin around the solar system. Learn the order of the planets, hunt for moon rocks and chart your own course for a future space mission (任务). Join your favorite Star Wars friends as you journey on your unusual expedition to the outer limits.

    As an old saying in China goes, “The days of the Sanjiu period are the coldest days.” “Sanjiu period” , which is in Minor Cold, refers to the third nine-day period (the l9th to the 27th day) after the day of the Winter Solstice(冬至). There are many different customs related to Minor Cold in China.

    Eating hotpot

    During Minor Cold people should eat some hot food to benefit the body and defend against the cold weather. Winter is the best time to have hotpot and braised mutton with soy sauce. But it is important to notice that too much spicy food may cause health problems.

    Eating huangyacai

    In Tianjin, there is a custom to have huangyacai, a kind of Chinese cabbage, during Minor Cold. There are large amounts of vitamins A and B in huangyacai. As huangyacai is fresh and tender, it is fit for frying, roasting and braising.

    Eating glutinous rice (糯米饭)

    According to tradition, the Cantonese eat glutinous rice in the morning during Minor Cold. Cantonese people add some fried preserved pork, sausages and peanuts and mix them into the rice.

    Eating vegetable rice

    In ancient times, people in Nanjing took Minor Cold quite seriously, but as time went by, the celebration of Minor Cold gradually disappeared. However, the custom of eating vegetable rice is still followed today. The rice is steamed and is unspeakably delicious. Among the ingredients (原料), aijiaohuang (a kind of green vegetable), sausages and salted duck are the specialties in Nanjing.

    Are some people born clever, and others born stupid? Or is intelligence developed by our environment and our experiences? Strangely enough, the answer to both these questions is yes. To some extent our intelligence is given to us at birth, and no amount of special education can make a genius out of a child born with low intelligence. On the other hand, a child who lives in a boring environment will develop his intelligence less than one who lives in rich and varied surroundings. Thus the limits of a person's intelligence are fixed at birth, but whether or not he reaches those limits will depend on his environment. This view, now held by most experts, can be supported in a number of ways.

    It is easy to show that intelligence is to some extent something we are born with. The closer the blood relationship between two people, the closer they are likely to be in intelligence. Thus if we take two unrelated people at random (随机地) from the population, it is likely that their degrees of intelligence will be completely different. I f on the other hand we take two identical (完全相同的) twins they will very likely be as intelligent as each other. Relations like brothers and sisters, parents and children, usually have similar intelligence, and this clearly suggests that intelligence depends on birth.

    Imagine now that we take two identical twins and put them in different environments. We might send one, for example, to a university and the other to a factory where the work is boring. We would soon find differences in intelligence developing, and this indicates that environment as well as birth plays a part. This conclusion is also suggested by the fact that people who live in close contact with each other, but who are not related at all, are likely to have similar degrees of intelligence.

    If you're feeling overwhelmed by all the features and apps available on smart phones these days and miss the good old days when mobile phones were simple communication tools, you'll probably love Light Phone 2, a stylish " dumb phone" designed to remove time-wasting distractions(使人分心的事物) from your life.

    The original Light mobile phone could only be used to make and take phone calls, but its creators recently decided that in order to improve its usefulness while still keeping users safe from smart phone distractions, it needed a few extra features. They recently announced Light Phone 2 is just as tiny and stylish as the original ones, but also features text messaging functions and an alarm clock.

    Data from company Flurry shows that people in the US spend around five hours a day on their smart phones, while a study from the firm Asurion found that Americans check their phones an average of 80 times per day. Those are some pretty alarming numbers, and to make matters worse, scientists report that too much screen time has a bad effect on our brains, especially those of children.

    Light Phone 2 will never replace your Apple phone, but it can at least help you mitigate the effects of smart phone addiction by allowing you to "go light" every once in a while. You can stay in touch with the important people in your life, but you'll be free from the apps distracting you from the wonders of the colorful world.

    But becoming free of smart phone distractions doesn't come cheap. The Light Phone 2 is expected to be priced at around $400, which is far more expensive than some smart phones. However, a lot of people seem to think the phone and what it promises to do are worth the price, as evidenced by the success of Light's latest crowd funding(众筹) campaign. With 24 days left until deadline, the company has already raised $360,000, blowing past its $250,000 goal.