Articles with 200-400 Words

For people who enjoy pranks, there is no better holiday than April Fools' Day. Celebrated annually on April 1, it is the only day of the year when light-hearted tricks are not frowned upon. The origin of this fun tradition is hazy. Some maintain that it started in 1582 when the world moved from the Julian calendar — which began the new year in April — to the current Gregorian calendar. Others think it was to celebrate the onset of spring....

Easter, the oldest and most important Christian festival, will be observed on March 31, 2024. The holiday commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Many American adults mark the event by attending special church services. For children in the US, Easter means egg hunts, parades, and the Easter Bunny. But not everyone celebrates the holiday with these traditions. Here are a few fun customs from around the world....

Every spring, many fish species migrate from the Vecht, a branch of the Rhine River, to the shallow waters of the Kromme Rijn River to spawn and reproduce. However, their journey often stops at the Weerdsluis lock in Utrecht, Netherlands. The manually operated lock, designed to maintain the canal's water levels, rarely opens in the spring months. But now, thanks to an interactive "fish doorbell," the marine animals are able to reach their destination with little or no disruption....

Earth Hour 2024 will occur on March 23 from 8:30 pm to 9:30 pm local time. The event, held annually toward the end of March, encourages individuals, communities, and businesses worldwide to turn off non-essential electric lights for one hour. The voluntary rolling blackouts are also observed by landmark structures such as the Eiffel Tower and the Empire State Building. They remind us of the urgent need to protect our planet....

What if you could transform the plastic spoon you used at lunch into a cup for your water and then change it back to a spoon? That is precisely what researchers at the University of Chicago's Pritzker School of Molecular Engineering had in mind when they created "pluripotent plastic."...

A novel gene therapy is bringing hope to children born with a specific type of hereditary deafness. On January 25, 2024, researchers at China's Fudan University and Harvard Medical School (HMS) announced that the groundbreaking treatment had restored the hearing of five of the six test patients....

After being removed from the curriculum for over 14 years, cursive writing is making a comeback in some US public schools. For those unfamiliar with the term, it is the elegant form of penmanship where letters or characters are joined together in a flowing manner, generally to make writing faster....

March 5, 2024, was Super Tuesday. It was the day when 16 American states held primary elections and caucuses. This all-important day is crucial for US presidential hopefuls because front-runners frequently receive their respective political party's nomination....

An 8-year-old has become the youngest player ever to defeat a grandmaster (GM) in classical chess. For those unfamiliar with the term, GM is the highest title a chess player can attain. Ashwath Kaushik achieved the incredible feat on February 18, 2024, after beating 37-year-old Jacek Stopa in round four of an international chess competition in Switzerland. Kaushik went on to finish in 12th place, but his victory over Stopa was the talk of the tournament....