America Elects Obama as 44th Prez!

Chicago, Ill.—“If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy—tonight is your answer,” announced a triumphant Barack Obama after winning the race for the White House on Nov. 4.

In a rollercoaster of a race with Arizona Sen. John McCain, Obama became the first black person to be elected President of the United States. After casting his vote in the morning in his hometown of Chicago, Obama carried on his tradition of playing some hoops with a few of his closest friends on election day!

As results started rolling in, more than 100,000 jubilant supporters squeezed into Chicago’s Grant Park along Lake Michigan to hear the new president-elect give his victory speech. Young and old, rich and poor came to be part of this historic day. Stars like Oprah Winfrey and Jesse Jackson came to celebrate, too.

Early results from back East hinted at a landslide win. When key states like Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida went to Obama, it was clear that change was coming to the White House.

“I was doing my homework, and once I finished, I dashed for the TV to start watching,” says Rachel Freedberg, a fourth-grader at Manzanita Elementary. “It was really fun seeing all the people rooting for Obama and cheering up and down.”

Obama, 47, will be the fifth-youngest person to take office when he’s inaugurated as our nation’s 44th president on Jan. 20. When it comes to change, Rachel thinks that younger may be better. “I think it’s actually good that he’s young because he has fresher ideas,” she points out.

She and her classmate, Deven Carmichael, got to have their say in the election in a number of ways. “We voted through Kids Voting and Weekly Reader, and we did Bear Essential News a few weeks before,” Deven says. “I knew that Obama was going to win, but McCain did make more of a comeback than I thought.”

Rachel and Deven know that the next president will face major challenges from Day One. At the top of their list is our education system, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the economy, healthcare, and the environment and global warming.

“The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but…I promise you—we as a people will get there,” Obama said.

‘Dinosaur Dance Floor’ Discovered in AZ

While studying the very colorful Vermilion Cliffs up in Northern Arizona, a young geologist made an amazing discovery—more than 1,000 dinosaur tracks set in rock!

In the October issue of a paleontology magazine, Winston Seiler and his former professor from the University of Utah share this big find.

“I'm out there hiking along, making very detailed notes in my scientific notebook and recording the color changes (of the sandstone). I climb up over this rise, and I find this field about the size of a football field with all these impressions,” Seiler recalls. At first he thought they were features known as potholes, created by flowing water eroding round holes in the sandstone.

“Sandstone was originally sand that over millions of years has turned into solid stone. This sandstone (in the Vermilion Cliffs) is called the Navajo Sandstone and is 190 million years old,” Seiler continues. This stone formed during the age of dinosaurs, more specifically, in the early Jurassic period.

Seiler took a closer look at the impressions. “I started to see these patterns that made me think these are not weathering. These were formed by something walking there—by dinosaurs!” he says.

He could see where the dinosaurs had walked in wet sand, which pushed sand upward to make small mounds along the front edge. He also could see tracks on top of tracks. There are four different track shapes in all sorts of sizes. Many of the tracks show toe and claw marks. There are even tail drag marks with them!

Now paleontologists (fossil scientists) are studying this dinosaur dance floor. “Science is great for girls and boys to get out and explore their world and make their own amazing discoveries,” Seiler points out.

Is Shaq Sinking Suns?

There's a new big man in town; the Phoenix Suns are betting he's the spark they need to win the playoffs.

One of the biggest stars in the NBA universe, Shaquille O'Neal, is now wearing purple and orange. And both Shaq and the Suns have a lot to prove. Shaq, who just turned 36 and has endured knee and hip injuries, wants to show he's still a big force in the NBA. His critics say that the Diesel is too old and too slow for a high-octane, blazingly fast team like the Suns.

During the regular season, the Suns are one of the toughest teams in the West. And while fans love the Suns' exciting and high-scoring brand of basketball, led by two-time League MVP point guard Steve Nash, the team has never won the NBA Finals.

The Suns believe that Shaq is the piece that's been missing. At 7 feet 1 inch tall and 325 pounds, Shaq gives the Suns a true center who grabs rebounds, plays tough defense and passes the ball well. Up till now, Amare Stoudamire has been stuck playing center for the Suns, even though he's really one of the best power forwards in the game. With Shaq in at center, Stoudamire is freed up to do what he does best!

"Psychologically it really helps us out. Guys are much more willing to go to the boards and fight around the basket with Shaq in there," explains Head Coach Mike D'Antoni.

Fans love Shaq's superstar qualities. The big guy has won four NBA Finals and was MVP for three of them! But the Suns have lost their winning ways since Shaq started playing on Feb. 20. In the trade for Shaq, the Suns gave up All-Star forward Shawn Marion, who said he wanted to be traded at the beginning of the season. For years, Marion had been a clutch scorer. As of press time, the Suns have won just two of their last six games and have fallen to fifth place in the Western Conference. Fans wonder whether it's growing pains with the big guy or could it be a bad fit?

'Doomsday Vault' Opens for Business!

SVALBARD ARCHIPELAGO, Norway-Imagine a bank that's so far north that polar bears outnumber the people living there! The bank is located on Norway's Svalbard archipelago just 620 miles from the North Pole. As you may have guessed, it's cold there. During winter's around-the-clock darkness, temperatures can fall to -22° Fahrenheit.

The bank was blasted into the side of an arctic mountain and has reinforced concrete walls to help protect its valuable deposits from natural disasters, global warming and even a nuclear explosion. Welcome to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault-also called the "Doomsday Vault" by the press!

You can find seedbanks all over the world. Native Seeds/SEARCH is a seedbank here in Arizona. Its mission is to protect the diversity of local seed used in farming and their wild relatives. "We have nearly 2,000 varieties in our seedbank, mainly corn, beans and squash," explains Carolyn Owens, who works on grants for the seedbank. "Just like the seedbank in Norway, the seeds need to be kept cold, so they're stored in a freezer," she says. Seeds for the bank come from southwestern states and northern Mexico.

Seedbanks help protect our food supply from the "what ifs" in life-like what if there's drought; what if a disease attacks a certain kind of wheat, or what if global warming changes what can grow around here?

Modern farming has led to fewer and fewer varieties of crops. This has brought about many varieties of food crops being lost forever, and Owens says it's alarming. "It's just more cost effective to grow a single variety...but you don't know what disease is going to come along down the road," she says. A disease could wipe out an entire variety of a crop, leading to food shortages. But if there are enough other seed varieties, like wheat for instance, one of those types of wheat may turn out to be resistant to the disease.

Owens points out that a lot of seedbanks are in politically unstable areas like Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, and have been looted or destroyed. In the Phillipines, a flood wiped out the country's seedbank.

That's why the Svalbard Global Seedbank was created-to protect the diversity of seeds no matter what happens in the world. Countries can "deposit" different varieties of seeds. If a disaster jeopardizes crops, the country can make a "withdrawal" of seeds.

The vault was built by Norway at a cost of about $3 million. Because seeds are so small, the "Doomsday Vault" can hold up to 2 billion seeds!