In 2020, it is easy to overlook other scientific discoveries with COVID-19 totally dominating everyone’s minds. However, on Oct. 6, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry was won by two female scientists for their amazing work involving CRISPR-Cas9. Emmanuelle Charpentier, a French professor and researcher in the fields of microbiology, genetics, and biochemistry, and Jennifer Doudna, an American biochemist, won. This marked a great advancement in gene editing technology, and also was the first time two women were laureates for the chemistry Nobel Prize.

 Have you ever wondered why leaves change color in the fall? Have you ever noticed that when they change color they flutter to the ground? Well, behind all the color changing there is some science involved.

First, the pigments (yellow, orange and other colors in a leaf) have been there the whole time, but the chlorophyll (the green color in a leaf) takes over and the pigments become invisible because green is the strongest color. In fall, the chlorophyll breaks down and you can see other colors or pigments.

The newspaper has come a long way. In fact, the newspaper has changed a lot during the years. Before, the newspaper was very different from how it is today. For example, the newspaper would only be available in paper, but now you can find it online.

Bear Essential News , however, has continued to give out their articles in paper, but if you go to Bear’s website you can see the stories there as well. Bear isn’t the only newspaper that continues to print, many other big publishers also publish in paper and online.

 I enjoyed interviewing a veteran and I learned a lot. In the military, he is known as Chaplain (Major) Danny Hughes, United States Army. One becomes a veteran after they have served a deployment. A deployment is serving the military in a different country. This can be a war zone, where fighting is taking place.

Chaplain Hughes is active duty (still in the Army), has served in the Army for 12 years and was deployed for one. He served in Jordan, Syria and Kuwait. His call to serve was in response to the 9/11 attacks in 2001. He wanted to help defend his country.

 Halloween is traditionally scary with masks and monsters, but due to the pandemic of COVID-19, many people are starting to wonder what Halloween will look like this year.

Dr. Shad Marvasti, a Valley doctor, says we need to come up with creative ways to stay connected to family and friends. If you leave candy out for trick-or-treating ghouls and goblins, he suggests that you leave out pre-packaged candy in small allotments so kids are not reaching their hands into the same bowl.

 Being a Bear Essential News Young Reporter is teaching me to be creative, have a strategy, and to use my time wisely. I learned that you can use these same tools in chess when I joined A Tale of Two Kings, a chess academy in Tucson.

It offers individual and group lessons, chess camps, tournaments and now with coronavirus, it also has online options. Chess is almost 1,500 years old but it is still a very popular game around the world.

 I am going to write about the festive spirit of the season of fall (not capitalizing the word “fall” is actually proper grammar!). So, let’s get into some fall-themed fun!

 Currently during the COVID-19 pandemic, masks have been a suggestion by scientists and health officials to help prevent the spread of the virus, along with hand washing and socially distancing. Here is information regarding the science of how mask wearing helps prevent the spread and which materials are best. The information included is from the Center for Disease Control (CDC) and other relevant websites.

 Girls in 6th-12th grades are invited to join a free “Girls Who Code” club hosted by Women in Science and Engineering (WISE) at UArizona. This year the club will meet online, so girls anywhere can join. “Students with all levels of coding experience are welcome, though the program is designed as a first introduction to coding,” explained Amanda Bertsch, the Lead Facilitator of the club.

 Think you know everything there is to know about light rail? Think again! Late last year, I went on a tour of the Valley Metro Operations and Maintenance Center, guided by Debby Thacker, assistant manager of Rail Operations. My first glimpse of the OMC was from a conference room with a huge glass window looking down on a giant mechanics shop. I was so amazed to see a whole train inside the building, along with a lot of fascinating machinery that does many incredible jobs.