Today's news for Grades 9–10

1ScienceStanford, California

Bleached Corals Recover in Seven Weeks After Touching a Healthy Clone

Marine heat waves are driving coral bleaching around the world. Corals get most of their energy from algae living in their tissues. When the water gets too warm, they lose those algae, turn white, and begin to starve. Even when bleached corals survive, recovery can take months or years.

A study published October 14 in Science Advances describes a much faster recovery. Researchers at Stanford University paired bleached coral fragments with healthy fragments from the same colony. Because most corals reproduce by cloning themselves, pieces of one colony are genetically identical.

In five of the ten pairs, the fragments touched; in the other five, they were separated by only a few millimeters. Every bleached fragment in contact with its healthy twin fully recovered within seven weeks, the fastest recovery from bleaching ever documented. Every separated fragment died.

The key is that genetically identical corals recognize one another and fuse their tissues, giving algae a route into the bleached partner. During the second week of contact, the algae doubled roughly every four days, about ten times faster than in wild corals. “While bleached corals may be dying, they are not dead yet,” said lead author Danny Collins, a Stanford PhD student.

Sources: ScienceDaily / Stanford, Smithsonian

2AmazingRhode Island

The First 3,000-Pound Pumpkin Is Also the Largest Fruit on Record

Rhode Island grower Ron Wallace has broken one of competitive gardening's great barriers. On October 10, his pumpkin weighed in at 3,156 pounds, making it the first ever to exceed 3,000 pounds and setting a world record.

The previous mark, a pumpkin of nearly 2,857 pounds grown by British grower Ian Paton, had stood for just one week. Wallace beat it by roughly 300 pounds, more than 10 percent.

Because a pumpkin is botanically a fruit, developing from a flower and carrying seeds, Wallace's pumpkin is also the largest fruit ever recorded.

Sources: Smithsonian

3WorldAlberta, Canada

Alberta Rejects a First Step Toward Separation

Voters in Alberta, Canada's oil-rich western province, overwhelmingly rejected a move toward independence in Monday's referendum. With more than 1.8 million votes counted, about 75 percent backed remaining in Canada and 25 percent supported starting a process toward separation, according to unofficial results from Elections Alberta.

The referendum was not a direct vote on independence. A yes would have put Alberta on a path toward a future separation vote, which one voter called a “referendum on a referendum.”

Resentment toward the federal government in Ottawa runs deep in Alberta, where many feel the province gives more than it gets back. Some voters said they chose yes to signal frustration rather than a desire to leave. Separatist parties have traditionally drawn only 1 or 2 percent of the vote, according to former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney.

Prime Minister Mark Carney called the outcome “a great result for Canada.” U.S. President Donald Trump's trade war and his threats to make Canada the 51st state have helped Carney rally support, even in Alberta, where his Liberal Party has historically been unpopular. Separatist leaders say their movement will continue.

Sources: NPR / AP

4AnimalsWyoming

Wyoming Fossils Reveal the “Fattest” Belemnite Ever Found

Two rare fossils from Wyoming have revealed a new species of belemnite, an extinct squid relative that lived about 160 million years ago during the Jurassic Period. The species, Wyoteuthis linsterorum, has the thickest internal skeleton of any belemnite known.

Belemnites are among the most common fossils on Earth, usually found as bullet-shaped internal structures called rostra. Wyoming's Sundance Formation, left by an ancient inland sea, has produced millions of them. Typical ones there are 5 to 10 centimeters long and just 1 to 2 centimeters across. The new species' rostrum is about 10 centimeters long but 6 centimeters wide.

CT scans let the team study the fossils' insides without damaging them. The scans linked the animal to a belemnite family scientists thought had died out millions of years earlier. The researchers estimate that the living animal reached about 60 centimeters long, and its bulk may have helped it hunt smaller belemnites.

The name honors Cliff Linster, who found one of the two fossils. He died in June, before the study was published in Papers in Palaeontology.

Sources: ScienceDaily / University of Manchester

5SportsNew York City

76ers Beat the Champion Knicks in LeBron James's Philadelphia Debut

The New York Knicks spent the start of opening night celebrating, raising a banner for last season's NBA title, their first since 1973. The Philadelphia 76ers spent the rest of it ruining the party, winning 106–100 at Madison Square Garden.

The game marked LeBron James's debut with the 76ers, his fourth NBA team, as he began a record 24th season. Knicks fans greeted the 41-year-old with chants of “We don't want you!” James and his agent had said New York would have been his first choice in free agency if the Knicks hadn't won the title.

James finished with 14 points and admitted he “could be a lot better” after just over two weeks with his new teammates. Tyrese Maxey led the Sixers with 28 points, and Jaylen Brown, newly arrived from Boston, scored 19. Jalen Brunson led the Knicks with 21.

Sources: BBC Sport, NPR / AP