In October, Mediterranean fruit flies were discovered in an area of Los Angeles. California is a big farming state, and this was serious news for farmers. The solution to the problem may seem a little unusual: releasing millions more of the flies.
Published in “North America”
Paul Durietz is a 76-year-old social studies teacher from Illinois. On September 1, he set a Guinness World Record for the world's longest teaching career. Mr. Durietz has been teaching for 53 years - since he was 23 years old.
Roughly 2,000 years ago, Mount Vesuvius erupted, destroying the Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum. Now a group of scientists is working to decode one of the great mysteries of that time - the scrolls of Herculaneum.
The US House of Representatives hasn't had an official leader since Speaker Kevin McCarthy was forced out three weeks ago. Without a leader, the House cannot run. But Republicans are so divided that so far, it has been impossible for them to agree on a leader.
On Monday, the Nobel Prize in medicine was given to Katalin Karikó and Drew Weissman - two scientists whose work led to the development of mRNA vaccines. Their ideas about mRNA were a huge scientific breakthrough, and saved millions of lives during the coronavirus pandemic.
On Sunday, the Writers Guild of America reached a deal with Hollywood's top studios that has ended a 5-month strike by union writers. The strike, which has led to a major slowdown in the entertainment business, officially ended at 12:01 Wednesday morning.
On Sunday, a capsule carrying samples of a distant asteroid landed safely in the desert in Utah. The samples, collected by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, are the largest amount of asteroid material ever returned to Earth.
NASA astronaut Frank Rubio has set a new record for the longest spaceflight by an American. As of today, he has been in space for a full year, working on the International Space Station. Dr. Rubio broke the old record of 355 days in early September.
Over the weekend, people around the world turned out in huge numbers to protest the burning of fossil fuels. The protests - the largest since before the coronavirus pandemic - were meant to send a strong message to political leaders: "Take climate action now."
On Friday, thousands of workers at three of the largest US car companies went on strike. The workers are part of the United Auto Workers union, and they're looking for better pay and job security, as car companies make the move to electric cars.
Coco Gauff is a rising US tennis star. On Saturday, the 19-year-old won her first Grand Slam championship by beating Aryna Sabalenka. Gauff's win makes her the youngest American to win a major tennis championship since 1999.