Happy Wednesday!
Have you seen the new UN-approved world map? It shows country sizes more accurately. Some look much smaller than before!
Here’s what we’ve got this week:
ANIMAL FOCUS
Sea Turtles 🐢
The largest leatherback turtles can grow up to 10 feet long and weigh more than 2,000 pounds! Here are some fun facts:
Sea turtles are experienced travelers! They can sense Earth’s magnetic field, use sunlight to steer, and remember ocean routes for decades. Leatherbacks can swim more than 10,000 miles a year! 🗺️
Their shells are very sensitive! A turtle’s shell is made of over 50 bones and packed with nerves, so they can feel pressure and even gentle scratches. 🦴
The temperature decides their gender! Warm sand (above 89°F) makes more females. Because the climate is warming, many nests are producing mostly girls, which can be risky for future turtle populations. 🏖️
They can hold their breath up to 7 hours! They can slow their heart rate to stay underwater for long periods when resting! 🤿
They’re silent swimmers! Their flippers are shaped to help them glide through water smoothly, but they can still speed up to 22 mph when they want to! 🐢
Want more? Check out 10 Sea Turtle facts, including how they see in the dark but are still partly colorblind!
EVER WONDER?
What are Black holes? 🌑
Black holes are places in space with extremely strong gravity. Their pull is so powerful that not even light can escape, which is why they look completely black.
A black hole isn’t really a “hole.” At its center is a tiny, super dense object that creates all that gravity!
What is the event horizon? 🌘
It’s the invisible boundary around a black hole. Once something crosses it, escape becomes impossible because it would need to move faster than the speed of light.
Because not even light can escape, scientists can’t see the event horizon directly. However they can photography the shadow it leaves on glowing gasses around it.
Event horizons come in different sizes. Some are only a few miles wide, while supermassive black holes can have event horizons billions of miles across!
Where do Black holes come from? ⭐
When a huge star (at least 20 times bigger than our Sun) runs out of fuel, it collapses under its own gravity.
The star then explodes in a supernova, a bright blast that shoots light and energy in every direction.
After the explosion, the star’s leftover core becomes a a tiny, incredibly collapses into a tiny, incredibly dense point called a singularity. This becomes the center of a new black hole!
Want 🐘 daily animal facts & science trivia, 🥽 hands-on activities, 🧑🔬 areas to submit your own science questions, 🐳 access to all our digital books, games, and activities, and more?
BRAIN TRIVIA
Sudoku: each row, column, and 3×3 grid must contain the numbers 1-9 with no repeats.
Stefan Christmann | GDT International Nature Photography Festival 2026
Thanks for reading! Stay curious!
- Steve
P.S. Want us to feature your science or animal question? Just hit reply!