BBC News
BBC News helps students make sense of the world as it happens, covering current events, science, technology, the environment, culture, and more. It’s a valuable resource for building news literacy and helping students connect classroom learning to the world around them.
Ages 8–18
The Mars Moons Exploration’s mission: grab a piece of one of Mars’s moons and bring it back to Earth. Talk about a big job! No wonder this is the first time anyone’s ever attempted this.
Our inner Solar System has only three moons: one for Earth and two for Mars. Mars may have two moons, but they’re both relatively small. The smaller moon, Deimos, is about 6 miles across. Phobos is around double that, but, at 12 miles across, its diameter is still closer to the distance to your local grocery store than the size of Earth’s Moon (which is over 2,000 miles across).
Scientists want to bring a sample from Phobos back to Earth, which should hopefully help answer the question: How exactly did these Mars moons form? One possibility is that a giant impact on early Mars blasted debris into space that later became the moons. Another is that Phobos and Deimos started as asteroids that were captured by Mars’s gravity.
Until now, the only pieces of Mars that scientists have been able to study fell to Earth as meteorites, but these types of samples become contaminated as they travel through our atmosphere. A piece taken directly from Phobos, however, would be pristine.
The plan is for the spacecraft to fly past Deimos, send a rover onto Phobos, and later land to collect a sample that is expected to return to Earth in 2031. After all this, researchers are expecting a whopping… 10 grams of material. That’s the same as about two nickels! But scientists say that is enough, especially because they would be able to do several studies on each grain of material.
Need a quick fix for nature? Just add beavers! Okay, it’s not quite that simple. But a small beaver family in the UK has shown what these animals can do, turning a shallow, struggling stream into what Forestry England called a “watery wonderland.”
Don’t picture water slides. Before the beavers arrived, the stream nearly dried up every summer. The beavers built dams from branches and mud, which held water back and spread it across the land. That created wetlands, areas where shallow water covers the ground for much of the year. Those wetlands now support insects, birds, and bats, along with small predators such as stoats, weasels, and pine martens. (Pine martens are tree-climbing relatives of the weasel.)
For now, the beavers live inside a fenced area. Their success has conservation groups asking whether beavers could one day be released into the wild without fences. That takes more than opening a gate. First, conservationists need feasibility studies (research to check whether a release would work). They also need government permission and a long-term plan for managing the animals. And they have to work out how beavers and people will share the land, since beaver dams can flood farmland, roads, or gardens.
If it’s done well, the payoff could be big. Beaver wetlands can boost biodiversity, or the variety of living things in one area. They also act like sponges, helping land hold on to water during heatwaves and droughts.
“Sharing is caring” is a good motto, but winning a Nobel Peace Prize takes a lot more. You could ask Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, the South African judge named as the 2026 winner, but she may be too busy to answer. At 85, she is still hearing cases at one of the world’s highest courts.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year to a person or organization that has made an exceptional contribution to peace. That means more than good manners. Winners have often spent decades helping countries cooperate, ending wars, or defending people’s rights. Pillay’s prize highlights an important idea: peace is more than the end of fighting. It also depends on protecting rights, applying laws fairly, and holding people responsible for the most serious crimes.
Pillay grew up in a family of Indian descent in South Africa under apartheid. Apartheid was a system of laws, in place from 1948 until the early 1990s, that separated people by race and denied non-white South Africans equal rights. Despite facing discrimination, she became a lawyer. In 1995, she became the first non-white woman to serve as a judge on South Africa’s High Court.
She went on to work at the international level. She was a judge on the International Criminal Court, which puts individuals on trial for crimes such as genocide and war crimes. She then served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN’s top official responsible for protecting human rights around the world. Throughout her career, she has argued that the same basic legal principles should apply to everyone, everywhere.
Today, she is a judge at the International Court of Justice, the UN’s main court for disputes between countries. She is hearing a case in which Myanmar is accused of genocide.
Women have been flying planes since before commercial airlines even existed, so why is it that today, women make up only about 6% of pilots worldwide? Although they account for more than a third of the aviation industry’s workforce, most women work in the cabins or on the ground and are much more rarely in the cockpit.
This low (ahem, abysmal) percentage of female pilots has several possible explanations, but it shouldn’t surprise you that none of them are because women aren’t capable! More likely reasons include a lack of female role models, limited access to science and technical education, gender stereotypes, and the challenge of balancing a demanding career in aviation with family life. These are a lot to work against, but support such as scholarships, cadet programs, flexible working, and family-friendly policies could help more women enter the profession and stay in it.
Think those are too much to ask for? Take a look at India! There, around 15% of airline pilots are women — that’s almost three times the global average. Experts say this is partly because of a smaller gender pay gap and the rapid growth of their aviation industry.
Unfortunately, getting more women into piloting roles isn’t as simple as just hiring more females. Part of it starts in early education, where schools can show young women that a career in aviation is possible for them (not just the boys in their class). Organizations like governments and airlines also need to address pay, safety, and working hours.
This summer, the largest wildfire ever recorded in Spain swept across the country. But the damage doesn’t end when the flames go out. For years, Spain’s sunshine and warm weather have helped its farms and its tourism industry thrive. Now extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and floods are putting both at risk.
Over the past few months, farmers have lost buildings and animals to the fires. Rebuilding would be hard enough in good conditions, but things are getting tougher. Summers are getting hotter, there’s less rain, and the wet season is ending earlier.
Tourism is feeling the effects too. Around 100 million foreign visitors are expected in Spain this year, and tourism makes up about 13% of the country’s economy. But some travelers are now choosing other destinations to avoid extreme temperatures and frequent heatwaves. For those who do visit, tour guides are changing schedules to avoid the hottest part of the day, sticking to shady routes, and making more stops for water.
Heat isn’t the only danger. In 2024, flash floods in the Valencia region of eastern Spain killed more than 230 people and damaged hundreds of businesses. The cost of the damage was equal to about 12% of the region’s GDP, which is the total value of everything the region produces in a year.
Spain’s problems aren’t unique. Climate change shows up in different ways in different places, from heatwaves in one country to floods or drought in another, and no part of the world is untouched.
Young people learn the hoop dance, a traditional Native American dance that has been passed down for generations. The dance expresses themes of environmentalism and connects young people to their Native American heritage. This video is excerpted from BBC News.
Ever wondered how guide dogs get their start? It begins with caring volunteers who give special “super-mom” dogs a loving home while they raise future guide dog puppies! These adorable pups spend their first few weeks cuddling, growing, and being cared for by volunteers — with help from veterinarians and all supplies covered. By 8 weeks old, they’re ready to begin training to become life-changing companions for people who need them.
Taking care of these dogs is fun, meaningful, and full of puppy snuggles. Would you want to be part of something this amazing?
Think a kid can’t save the world? Think again! “Sweet Tub Teddy” is a young man who made quite the impression when he saved over 2,000 plastic tubs from going to a landfill. When Teddy heard that these tubs weren’t recyclable in the traditional sense, he sprang into action, keeping stacks and stacks of plastic from being dumped into a landfill.
As a reward, Teddy got to visit a factory that turns plastic tubs like these into outdoor furniture and dog show equipment, where he got to see what a difference he made. In fact, he collected 75 kilograms — enough to make a sturdy, full-sized bench. The factory even gifted him one of his own! It now sits at his school as a reminder of Teddy’s accomplishments and inspiration for other kids to go out and make a change.
Why did the chicken cross the road? They probably just wanted an excuse to hang out with crossing guard, Brenda!
A town recently bid farewell to a local legend of a crossing guard, Brenda, who retired after 40 years of service. She was known as a "lollipop lady," but that's because of the shape of the stop sign crossing guards carry — not because she handed out candy. Still, by all accounts, Brenda was plenty sweet!
Although Brenda made the same journey nearly every day for four decades, her final day held one big surprise. Community members gathered to applaud her years of service and presented her with a certificate in recognition of everything she'd done.
Over the years, Brenda has broken up fights and even stepped between children and moving cars, so she's not easily shaken. But she was overwhelmed by the love and support shown at her retirement. Among those celebrating were current students, adults she had safely guided across the street as children, and, of course, her own family.
Look at the sea off the coast of East Greenland today, and you’ll notice two big changes: less ice and more whales.
Greenland is a huge Arctic island between North America and Europe. For a long time, thick sea-ice along its eastern coast kept large whales away, even in summer. But as the ocean has warmed and the ice has shrunk, some of the world’s biggest whales have moved in.
Scientists combined airplane surveys, satellite tags on whales and observations from local Inuit hunters. They found that fin whales, humpbacks, and minke whales now arrive by the thousands each summer. The whales are following capelin, a small fish that has moved into the warmer water. Humpbacks weren’t spotted in the area at all until 2006.
A sea full of whales might sound like great news, but it isn’t good news for every species. Many whales can travel between feeding areas, so they can follow the food. But some Arctic animals depend on sea-ice and have fewer places to go.
Polar bears have already been struggling as their icy habitat disappears. Now researchers say narwhals, which are specially adapted to icy Arctic waters, are having to share their home with the new arrivals, and in some places they’re being pushed out.
So the same change that’s creating a feast for some whales is shrinking the world for animals that need the ice.
For most of us, forgetting a song is just a little embarrassing, maybe at karaoke. But for one Australian bird, it’s a sign of a much bigger problem.
The regent honeyeater is critically endangered. Fewer than 250 are left in the wild in southeastern Australia. While studying the species, researchers noticed something else: some young males weren’t singing the regent honeyeater song at all.
Like humans learning to talk, many songbirds learn their songs by listening to adults and copying them. But regent honeyeaters are now so rare and so spread out that some young males can’t find an older male to learn from. So they copy the songs of other birds nearby instead.
Researchers found that about 12% of the remaining males could sing only other species’ songs, not their own. That matters because males use their song to attract mates. Fewer songs could mean fewer chicks, making it even harder for the species to recover.
To help, scientists have been teaching young birds raised in zoos the traditional regent honeyeater song, using recordings and older wild males as tutors. The song has now disappeared from the wild, so these zoo birds are the only ones who still know it. Scientists hope that when the birds are released, they’ll pass it on and help the species survive.
Not many babies can say they had surgery before they were born. Then again, not many babies can say much of anything. But Theo, a baby from London, England, is healthy and thriving after doctors operated on him while he was still inside his mother’s womb.
During a routine scan, doctors discovered Theo had a condition called gastroschisis. That means his intestines were developing outside his body, through an opening in his belly. Babies with gastroschisis usually have surgery after they’re born. But Theo’s family got the chance to join a clinical trial in Texas that would fix the problem before birth.
It took two trips. First, doctors in Belgium injected Botox, a medicine that relaxes muscles, into the muscles of Theo’s belly. Then the family traveled to Houston, Texas. There, surgeons partially exposed the womb and gently moved Theo’s intestines back inside his body using keyhole surgery. That’s a technique where doctors operate through very small cuts using a tiny camera and special tools. Compared with open surgery, it can mean less pain, a lower risk of infection and a faster recovery.
The operation was a success. About three months later, Theo was born healthy. He avoided the multiple surgeries and long hospital stay he might otherwise have faced.
Theo is only the third baby in the world to have this surgery, and it’s still experimental. Doctors hope it will one day be available in more places, including the UK, and help many more babies like Theo.
The Mars Moons Exploration’s mission: grab a piece of one of Mars’s moons and bring it back to Earth. Talk about a big job! No wonder this is the first time anyone’s ever attempted this.
Our inner Solar System has only three moons: one for Earth and two for Mars. Mars may have two moons, but they’re both relatively small. The smaller moon, Deimos, is about 6 miles across. Phobos is around double that, but, at 12 miles across, its diameter is still closer to the distance to your local grocery store than the size of Earth’s Moon (which is over 2,000 miles across).
Scientists want to bring a sample from Phobos back to Earth, which should hopefully help answer the question: How exactly did these Mars moons form? One possibility is that a giant impact on early Mars blasted debris into space that later became the moons. Another is that Phobos and Deimos started as asteroids that were captured by Mars’s gravity.
Until now, the only pieces of Mars that scientists have been able to study fell to Earth as meteorites, but these types of samples become contaminated as they travel through our atmosphere. A piece taken directly from Phobos, however, would be pristine.
The plan is for the spacecraft to fly past Deimos, send a rover onto Phobos, and later land to collect a sample that is expected to return to Earth in 2031. After all this, researchers are expecting a whopping… 10 grams of material. That’s the same as about two nickels! But scientists say that is enough, especially because they would be able to do several studies on each grain of material.
Need a quick fix for nature? Just add beavers! Okay, it’s not quite that simple. But a small beaver family in the UK has shown what these animals can do, turning a shallow, struggling stream into what Forestry England called a “watery wonderland.”
Don’t picture water slides. Before the beavers arrived, the stream nearly dried up every summer. The beavers built dams from branches and mud, which held water back and spread it across the land. That created wetlands, areas where shallow water covers the ground for much of the year. Those wetlands now support insects, birds, and bats, along with small predators such as stoats, weasels, and pine martens. (Pine martens are tree-climbing relatives of the weasel.)
For now, the beavers live inside a fenced area. Their success has conservation groups asking whether beavers could one day be released into the wild without fences. That takes more than opening a gate. First, conservationists need feasibility studies (research to check whether a release would work). They also need government permission and a long-term plan for managing the animals. And they have to work out how beavers and people will share the land, since beaver dams can flood farmland, roads, or gardens.
If it’s done well, the payoff could be big. Beaver wetlands can boost biodiversity, or the variety of living things in one area. They also act like sponges, helping land hold on to water during heatwaves and droughts.
“Sharing is caring” is a good motto, but winning a Nobel Peace Prize takes a lot more. You could ask Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, the South African judge named as the 2026 winner, but she may be too busy to answer. At 85, she is still hearing cases at one of the world’s highest courts.
The Nobel Peace Prize is awarded each year to a person or organization that has made an exceptional contribution to peace. That means more than good manners. Winners have often spent decades helping countries cooperate, ending wars, or defending people’s rights. Pillay’s prize highlights an important idea: peace is more than the end of fighting. It also depends on protecting rights, applying laws fairly, and holding people responsible for the most serious crimes.
Pillay grew up in a family of Indian descent in South Africa under apartheid. Apartheid was a system of laws, in place from 1948 until the early 1990s, that separated people by race and denied non-white South Africans equal rights. Despite facing discrimination, she became a lawyer. In 1995, she became the first non-white woman to serve as a judge on South Africa’s High Court.
She went on to work at the international level. She was a judge on the International Criminal Court, which puts individuals on trial for crimes such as genocide and war crimes. She then served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN’s top official responsible for protecting human rights around the world. Throughout her career, she has argued that the same basic legal principles should apply to everyone, everywhere.
Today, she is a judge at the International Court of Justice, the UN’s main court for disputes between countries. She is hearing a case in which Myanmar is accused of genocide.
Women have been flying planes since before commercial airlines even existed, so why is it that today, women make up only about 6% of pilots worldwide? Although they account for more than a third of the aviation industry’s workforce, most women work in the cabins or on the ground and are much more rarely in the cockpit.
This low (ahem, abysmal) percentage of female pilots has several possible explanations, but it shouldn’t surprise you that none of them are because women aren’t capable! More likely reasons include a lack of female role models, limited access to science and technical education, gender stereotypes, and the challenge of balancing a demanding career in aviation with family life. These are a lot to work against, but support such as scholarships, cadet programs, flexible working, and family-friendly policies could help more women enter the profession and stay in it.
Think those are too much to ask for? Take a look at India! There, around 15% of airline pilots are women — that’s almost three times the global average. Experts say this is partly because of a smaller gender pay gap and the rapid growth of their aviation industry.
Unfortunately, getting more women into piloting roles isn’t as simple as just hiring more females. Part of it starts in early education, where schools can show young women that a career in aviation is possible for them (not just the boys in their class). Organizations like governments and airlines also need to address pay, safety, and working hours.
This summer, the largest wildfire ever recorded in Spain swept across the country. But the damage doesn’t end when the flames go out. For years, Spain’s sunshine and warm weather have helped its farms and its tourism industry thrive. Now extreme heat, drought, wildfires, and floods are putting both at risk.
Over the past few months, farmers have lost buildings and animals to the fires. Rebuilding would be hard enough in good conditions, but things are getting tougher. Summers are getting hotter, there’s less rain, and the wet season is ending earlier.
Tourism is feeling the effects too. Around 100 million foreign visitors are expected in Spain this year, and tourism makes up about 13% of the country’s economy. But some travelers are now choosing other destinations to avoid extreme temperatures and frequent heatwaves. For those who do visit, tour guides are changing schedules to avoid the hottest part of the day, sticking to shady routes, and making more stops for water.
Heat isn’t the only danger. In 2024, flash floods in the Valencia region of eastern Spain killed more than 230 people and damaged hundreds of businesses. The cost of the damage was equal to about 12% of the region’s GDP, which is the total value of everything the region produces in a year.
Spain’s problems aren’t unique. Climate change shows up in different ways in different places, from heatwaves in one country to floods or drought in another, and no part of the world is untouched.
Young people learn the hoop dance, a traditional Native American dance that has been passed down for generations. The dance expresses themes of environmentalism and connects young people to their Native American heritage. This video is excerpted from BBC News.
Ever wondered how guide dogs get their start? It begins with caring volunteers who give special “super-mom” dogs a loving home while they raise future guide dog puppies! These adorable pups spend their first few weeks cuddling, growing, and being cared for by volunteers — with help from veterinarians and all supplies covered. By 8 weeks old, they’re ready to begin training to become life-changing companions for people who need them.
Taking care of these dogs is fun, meaningful, and full of puppy snuggles. Would you want to be part of something this amazing?
Think a kid can’t save the world? Think again! “Sweet Tub Teddy” is a young man who made quite the impression when he saved over 2,000 plastic tubs from going to a landfill. When Teddy heard that these tubs weren’t recyclable in the traditional sense, he sprang into action, keeping stacks and stacks of plastic from being dumped into a landfill.
As a reward, Teddy got to visit a factory that turns plastic tubs like these into outdoor furniture and dog show equipment, where he got to see what a difference he made. In fact, he collected 75 kilograms — enough to make a sturdy, full-sized bench. The factory even gifted him one of his own! It now sits at his school as a reminder of Teddy’s accomplishments and inspiration for other kids to go out and make a change.
Why did the chicken cross the road? They probably just wanted an excuse to hang out with crossing guard, Brenda!
A town recently bid farewell to a local legend of a crossing guard, Brenda, who retired after 40 years of service. She was known as a "lollipop lady," but that's because of the shape of the stop sign crossing guards carry — not because she handed out candy. Still, by all accounts, Brenda was plenty sweet!
Although Brenda made the same journey nearly every day for four decades, her final day held one big surprise. Community members gathered to applaud her years of service and presented her with a certificate in recognition of everything she'd done.
Over the years, Brenda has broken up fights and even stepped between children and moving cars, so she's not easily shaken. But she was overwhelmed by the love and support shown at her retirement. Among those celebrating were current students, adults she had safely guided across the street as children, and, of course, her own family.
Look at the sea off the coast of East Greenland today, and you’ll notice two big changes: less ice and more whales.
Greenland is a huge Arctic island between North America and Europe. For a long time, thick sea-ice along its eastern coast kept large whales away, even in summer. But as the ocean has warmed and the ice has shrunk, some of the world’s biggest whales have moved in.
Scientists combined airplane surveys, satellite tags on whales and observations from local Inuit hunters. They found that fin whales, humpbacks, and minke whales now arrive by the thousands each summer. The whales are following capelin, a small fish that has moved into the warmer water. Humpbacks weren’t spotted in the area at all until 2006.
A sea full of whales might sound like great news, but it isn’t good news for every species. Many whales can travel between feeding areas, so they can follow the food. But some Arctic animals depend on sea-ice and have fewer places to go.
Polar bears have already been struggling as their icy habitat disappears. Now researchers say narwhals, which are specially adapted to icy Arctic waters, are having to share their home with the new arrivals, and in some places they’re being pushed out.
So the same change that’s creating a feast for some whales is shrinking the world for animals that need the ice.
For most of us, forgetting a song is just a little embarrassing, maybe at karaoke. But for one Australian bird, it’s a sign of a much bigger problem.
The regent honeyeater is critically endangered. Fewer than 250 are left in the wild in southeastern Australia. While studying the species, researchers noticed something else: some young males weren’t singing the regent honeyeater song at all.
Like humans learning to talk, many songbirds learn their songs by listening to adults and copying them. But regent honeyeaters are now so rare and so spread out that some young males can’t find an older male to learn from. So they copy the songs of other birds nearby instead.
Researchers found that about 12% of the remaining males could sing only other species’ songs, not their own. That matters because males use their song to attract mates. Fewer songs could mean fewer chicks, making it even harder for the species to recover.
To help, scientists have been teaching young birds raised in zoos the traditional regent honeyeater song, using recordings and older wild males as tutors. The song has now disappeared from the wild, so these zoo birds are the only ones who still know it. Scientists hope that when the birds are released, they’ll pass it on and help the species survive.
Not many babies can say they had surgery before they were born. Then again, not many babies can say much of anything. But Theo, a baby from London, England, is healthy and thriving after doctors operated on him while he was still inside his mother’s womb.
During a routine scan, doctors discovered Theo had a condition called gastroschisis. That means his intestines were developing outside his body, through an opening in his belly. Babies with gastroschisis usually have surgery after they’re born. But Theo’s family got the chance to join a clinical trial in Texas that would fix the problem before birth.
It took two trips. First, doctors in Belgium injected Botox, a medicine that relaxes muscles, into the muscles of Theo’s belly. Then the family traveled to Houston, Texas. There, surgeons partially exposed the womb and gently moved Theo’s intestines back inside his body using keyhole surgery. That’s a technique where doctors operate through very small cuts using a tiny camera and special tools. Compared with open surgery, it can mean less pain, a lower risk of infection and a faster recovery.
The operation was a success. About three months later, Theo was born healthy. He avoided the multiple surgeries and long hospital stay he might otherwise have faced.
Theo is only the third baby in the world to have this surgery, and it’s still experimental. Doctors hope it will one day be available in more places, including the UK, and help many more babies like Theo.