Baseball Helps Japan Heal

Last March, a record-breaking earthquake and a huge ocean wave called a tsunami devastated Japan’s eastern coast. Entire cities were destroyed, and more than 20,000 people were killed. Some communities there have been torn apart forever. But recently, a shared love for baseball helped bring some athletes and high school friends back together again.

Baseball is a very popular sport in Japan—especially with young people. Each summer, high school baseball teams compete in a tournament for the national championship.

 But in areas hit hardest by last spring’s tsunami, many players had to evacuate, or leave the area. Teams from schools in those regions were split apart as families moved to new towns and schools far away.

One of the evacuated areas was Fukushima. The tsunami seriously damaged a nuclear power station there, causing dangerous radiation (high-energy rays) to poison the air in the region. People from a wide area had to leave for their own safety.

This summer, three schools from Fukushima reached out to former students to create one new baseball team—the Soso Rengo team. Athletes who used to play at Tomioka High School, Soma Nogyo High School, and Futaba Shoyo High School came together to practice with and play for the new team representing Fukushima.

FUKUSHIMA’S HOME RUN
Many of Soso Rengo’s players lost family and friends in the disaster. Their story of survival has touched the hearts of many in Japan.

After practicing with the same teammates for years, Fukushima students found it difficult to leave their old teams behind. But Kohei Nakamura, one of the Soso Rengo players, said, “I’m getting used to being with my new teammates, and I’m really happy playing baseball.”

Kohei used to attend Tomioka High School, which was only six miles from the nuclear reactors. This summer, he traveled more than 70 miles every weekend to practice with his teammates. During the competition, Kohei hit Soso Rengo’s only home run.

The team was knocked out in the early rounds of the tournament. But winning wasn’t the point, according to Shuji Sakamoto, Tomioka High School team manager. The players got to play again, he said, and that’s more important than winning.

“The team was put together very quickly, but its teamwork was excellent,” Sakamoto told The New York Times. “The support from others gave Kohei the power to hit a home run.”

Packing a Safe Lunch

From Time for Kids:

A new study finds many kids' packed lunches aren't being stored at safe temperatures.

By Kelli Plasket

Next time you bring lunch to school, you might want to add some extra ice packs to your lunch bag or make sure it gets refrigerated. A new study found that most of the lunches kids bring to school and day care are being stored at unsafe temperatures. This can lead to the growth of harmful bacteria that causes food poisoning.

JIM FRANCO—GETTY IMAGES According to a new study, kids' lunches stored in room-temperature locations, such as a cubby or closet, often don't maintain a safe temperature.

The study is in the science journal Pediatrics. Researchers in Texas tested lunches with perishable items at nine preschool child-care centers. They used a heat-sensing gun to measure the temperatures of sandwiches, yogurts and other items. The results were surprising: more than 90% of perishable items tested were measured at unsafe temperatures before lunchtime. While only about half of the lunches tested had ice packs, many lunches with multiple ice packs were not cool enough, either.

The average temperature of the tested foods was around 17 degrees Celsius. That temperature falls in the range considered to be the "danger zone" —between 4 degrees and 60 degrees Celsius—when harmful bacteria that causes food poisoning is more likely to grow. "This study should be an eye-opener for the public," Fawaz Almansour, the study's lead author, told Health.com.

Keeping Kids Healthy

It's especially important for kids' lunches to be stored properly because young children are more likely to be affected by harmful bacteria, such as Salmonella and E. coli. "Kids' immune systems have not adapted to these diseases," Almansour says. Schools and day-care centers can help keep lunches safe by storing perishable foods in a refrigerator kept at under 4 degrees. Lunch items that should be refrigerated include meats, milk, and sliced fruits and vegetables; hot items, like soup, should be kept above 60 degrees.

When a refrigerator isn't available, there are other tips kids, parents and teachers can follow to make sure packed lunches are good enough to eat:
• Choose insulated lunch bags to help maintain temperature.
• Use extra ice packs in the lunch bag to keep temperatures down. It also helps to freeze waters, juices and even yogurts overnight before packing. The frozen liquids can double as an extra ice pack.
• The United States Department of Agriculture provides a list of foods that don't need refrigeration. These include whole or dried fruits and vegetables, nuts, peanut butter, jelly, pickles, bread, crackers and canned meat and fish.
• Throw out perishable food that has been kept in the "danger zone" for over two hours.

Vocabulary

• food poisoning = sickness caused by harmful bacteria growing in food. Symptoms of food poisoning include vomiting and diarrhea.
• immune system = the system in your body that fights against disease and sickness
• perishable items = food that needs to be refrigerated and that can go bad or spoil if left unrefrigerated
• eye-opener = if something is an "eye-opener", people pay attention to it
• insulated = insulation keeps things at the same temperature 

Project Pyramid

From Scholastic News:

Pyramids like these may lie buried below the sand

With help from the space agency NASA, a team of researchers may have uncovered up to 17 pyramids buried below the sand in Egypt. Led by scientist Sarah Parcak, the researchers used satellites orbiting 435 miles above Earth to help spot the pyramids and make the groundbreaking discovery. "I couldn't believe we could locate so many sites all over Egypt," Parcak told the BBC news organization. "To excavate a pyramid is the dream of every archaeologist."

The satellite images may also show the underground locations of roughly 1,000 tombs and 3,000 lost settlements across Egypt. These sites may hold lost cities and buildings from the time of the pharaohs.

The discovery has excited Egyptologists the world over. Egyptologists are scientists who study ancient Egypt. Willeke Wendrich of the University of California, Los Angeles sees enormous potential in the findings. “It gives us the opportunity to get at the settlement of ancient Egypt [before] digging even a centimeter,” she told Science magazine. Scientists located 17 pyramid-shaped structures in all. The team found one of the structures in Saqqara. This old Egyptian burial ground is the location of many pyramids that have already been uncovered by archaeologists.

Satellite image (above map)

A team of French archaeologists was able to test the satellite findings. They had been digging in the ruins of Tanis, an ancient Egyptian city made famous by the film Raiders of the Lost Ark. Using the satellite imagery as a map, the team picked a structure from the satellite images and began to dig. They discovered mud-brick walls underground exactly where the images had indicated they would be.

The Egyptian government has agreed to work with U.S. researchers on a satellite-imagery project across the entire country. This will help the government monitor these unexplored sites and protect them from looters and thieves.

Vocabulary
groundbreaking = first of its kind
excavate = dig up, uncover
tombs (pronounced "tooms") = buildings where the dead are buried
pharaohs = kings of ancient Egypt who ruled thousands of years ago
looters = people who steal things from empty buildings