A baby minke whale beached in South Australia has been saved by volunteers and rangers. Kids News investigates what is known about why whales become stranded on beaches

Astronauts on the International Space Station have taken delivery of super-muscled mice, pest-killing worms and a robot that can sense how the astronauts are feeling

Seaweed piled high on Queensland beaches has trapped at least one runner, who had to be rescued from the algae. While seaweed is not unusual, people have never seen so much at once

A tiny piece of wood that some Christians believe to be part of the baby Jesus’ manger has returned to Bethlehem just in time for Christmas after 1400 years in Rome

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight considers the downsides to a reduced halftime break at AFL matches — and they quickly started to line up

Our feature series and 50-activity workbook will help students understand the history and evolution of Christmas, the religious and cultural aspects of its celebration and how traditions vary across the world

PART 1: It’s an exciting time of year — school’s almost over, holidays are about to begin and kids around the world are preparing to celebrate Christmas or other cultural festivals

PART 2: The reasons why we hang tinsel, stars and baubles on our trees at Christmas stem back hundreds of years. Discover the stories behind our favourite decorations, characters and traditions

PART 3: Ham, plum pudding and prawns on the BBQ are all traditional Christmas foods in Australia, but how did these festive delicacies originally make their way to the Christmas table?

PART 4: Do you hear what I hear? It’s the sounds of Christmas in song. There are many interesting stories behind some of our most popular carols — one is even written in code!

PART: 5: Here’s our guide to the best Christmas movies for children. But watch out, their storylines offer a mix of laughs, wishes, hope and most feature the jolly man in the red suit

PART 6: This time of year shouldn't be about buying things we don’t need and sending rubbish and unwanted gifts to landfill. Here are 10 tips on how to have a sustainable Christmas

PART 7: Learn how to say Merry Christmas in 20 different languages and discover 10 amazing festive facts and some of the strangest yuletide world records

A fascinating new map has plotted out the most common surnames in every country in the world. Can you guess the most common last name in Australia?

As Ash Barty accepted the Newcombe Medal for the third year in a row, she admitted she’d given away all her racquets to force herself to take a break before a big summer of tennis

After reading about the experiences of child soldiers in Africa, student Elijah Lewis created a unique art piece to highlight that war is wrong and all children should be able to grow up in peace

With 1900 entries received in our short story writing competition it was a tough task for the judges to pick our winners and the top 50 finalists. See if your story was a winner here.

Scientists with an army of robotic drones and a fleet of backpack-sized inflatable pools are working to save the Great Barrier Reef as part of the world’s largest science and tourism group project

The Australian Army has said goodbye to their much-loved retiring blue heeler mascot, who makes way for two-month-old pup Private Ridgley Blue IV

Rose Pullinger. of Hobart, has won the 10 and under prize in the Kids News short story writing competition for her story about a daring rescue that threatens to ruin a family celebration

Amaeh Reed of Cairns has won the 11 and over prize in the Kids News short story writing competition for her tale about a refugee’s risky journey to flee and find a new life in Australia

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why he drew young climate change activist Greta Thunberg rowing rock band Coldplay to their next world gig

Using a bright orange heart rate machine attached with suction cups, scientists have achieved the incredible feat of measuring, in the wild, the heart rate of the world’s biggest animal

Mummified crocodiles, a mongoose, birds, cats and lion cubs are among an incredible discovery uncovered by archaeologists at Egypt’s “City of the Dead”

Earth is so big and so filled with things to see it’s hard to know where to start looking. To help you out, we’ve compiled this collection of incredible sculptures to look at and learn about

A 9-year-old Australian inventor is heading to NASA after his Hero Helmet – designed to lock the wheels of a bike, scooter or skateboard if not worn – won a national innovation award

If you are worried that Frozen II won’t live up to the hype of the original movie five years ago, you’ll be pleased to learn it is a confident and funny movie that will melt most children’s hearts

Two Australian teenagers have danced their way into the finals of the world’s largest ballet competition, the famous Youth America Grand Prix in New York

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why banning dogs in Aussie pubs and bars is a backward step and a chance to draw a bar full of dogs to make his point

A Code Red fire danger day has been declared in Victoria for the first time in 10 years as the entire country swelters through heatwave conditions and fires continue to burn

Jellyfish populations are booming and blooming all over the world. We asked a jellyfish expert to share 10 fascinating facts to know before you head to the beach or aquarium this summer

As posties get busy delivering millions of presents for Christmas, Australia Post is considering giving out hi-tech whistles to help keep staff safe from overly enthusiastic and unsafe dogs

As people in Sydney are being warned to stay inside due to “hazardous” air quality from bushfire smoke blanketing the city, we look at why it’s bad for your health to breathe in smoke

Vegemite’s recipe and flavour has not changed, according to the makers of the famous Aussie spread, keen to reassure worried local customers ahead of its historic global launch

Researchers have invented a way to create characters that could talk to and interact with us, using speakers that whiz a tiny bead around faster than our brains can track

UPDATE An abandoned puppy with a tail on his head is being called a “magical unicorn”. He will continue to live with the rescue group and he’s not having the tail removed any time soon as being different is okay

By the 1950s, no one wanted to buy a special sort of dough to clean wallpaper. But some creative thinking saved the failing dough company and we all got to play with Play-Doh

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight captures the helplessness of drought-affected Australian communities now caught in the path of catastrophic bushfires

With bandaged paws, singed ears and scorched fur, Anwen is one very lucky koala, receiving good care and on the mend after her home was burned in bushfires

A tiny, deer-like creature that “seemingly only existed as part of our imagination” has been found in a forest almost 30 years after the last official sighting

Scientists have discovered a new kind of invisible ink that we all use every day that’s virtually free. Unfortunately, to get it to work, you also need a super-hi-tech piece of coated paper

Ice eggs the size of footballs have engulfed an entire beach in Finland in a rare weather event that requires ice, wind, water and freezing temperatures

Ellyse Perry is one of Australia’s greatest female cricketers. Here she talks about how having dreams as a kid, being resilient and how always believing in yourself can help you reach the top

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why he added an Aussie tradition to his Melbourne Cup drawing after local horse Vow and Declare finished first past the post

Rainbows, aurora australis and massive, fluffy clouds that make you want to bounce on them star in the year’s best weather photos, as judged by the Bureau of Meteorology

The Melbourne Cup is coming home to Australia after local horse Vow and Declare, ridden by jockey Craig Williams, finishes first in a tight contest at Flemington Racecourse

Archer was a big horse with a funny running style and a habit of hanging his tongue out. But in 1861, no horse was better than the NSW import when he took home the very first Melbourne Cup

There’s a story that McDonald’s burgers last forever, so one fan kept a burger and fries from 2009 to see if it was true. Today, they still look fine to eat, with no sign of mould or decay

Astronauts on the International Space Station are getting a special delivery: an oven for baking choc-chip cookies. The dough is already up there waiting to be cooked and eaten

A Nepalese mountaineer has climbed the world’s 14 highest peaks in just 189 days, his incredible feat smashing the previous record by more than seven years

Phil Leitch lives in a castle, wears a suit of armour and is the current World Jousting Champion. He’s also a real, professional, full-time knight known as Sir Reynard. True story!

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight explains why he drew Uluru as an indigenous character dreaming of a life without interference on spiritual land

An Australian-led team of scientists has identified the exact place in northern Botswana that was the home of the earliest ancestors of everyone alive today

NASA’s Curiosity robot is hard at work on the surface of Mars, taking selfies and conducting chemistry experiments in the portable lab inside its belly

Danielle Ridgway has only been a zookeeper for just over a year but she has already coached a lazy, cheating cheetah to sprint and worked towards saving critically endangered native species

Daredevil Australian Dave Warby is preparing to break the world water speed record of 511kmh. If he succeeds, there will be no one prouder than his dad, current record holder Ken

A new water-safety program designed to prevent drownings uses 360 degree, lifelike, interactive videos to place kids inside virtual rips and teach them how to escape and survive

Tenterfield — battling drought and, recently, bushfires — has struck it lucky with the discovery of underground water only 126 days before the town’s supply was due to run dry

With the Kids News short story writing competition closing on October 31, we asked children’s author Jackie French for tips on adding colour and imagination into stories. So … get writing!

New research has exposed the “gross” hygiene habits of some Australians, with some admitting they don’t always wash their hands after going to the toilet or before touching food

Check your change and empty your money box! You may be the owner of coins that contain minting mistakes or imperfections that makes them worth thousands of dollars

Fireballs from Halley’s comet are lighting up the Australian night sky this week as the Orionid meteor shower reaches its peak, putting on a show we can see without a telescope

Scientists have found the fastest ant in the world — the Saharan silver — which takes 47 steps a second to cover about 90cm, the equivalent of a human running 579kmh

A Paris zoo has unveiled a mysterious new organism, nicknamed The Blob, that looks like a fungus, acts like an animal, eats porridge, can move and can heal itself if cut in half

NASA astronauts Christina Koch and Jessica Meir have completed a seven-hour spacewalk to do important repairs, leaving the four male astronauts back in the ISS

A gripping action shot that captures “the perfect moment” between a Tibetan fox and a marmot has won its photographer the title of Wildlife Photographer of the Year

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight remembers the joys of footy swap cards in the schoolyard and how it mirrors the competitiveness of AFL trade week

A technology company has begun a global search for a real face to replicate on its personal assistant robots, offering the chosen human a payment of $190,000

A child health specialist is urging parents and kids to properly clean and inspect lunch boxes, drink bottles and toys for hidden mould after the revolting results of a parent survey

Australia had its own Willy Wonka long before Roald Dahl wrote Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the real one every bit as eccentric and a genius as the fictional version

Wildlife officials believe a giant python skin may have been smuggled into Australia after it was found in a Queensland park, while in NSW the search is on for a boa constrictor on the loose 

Scientists have found 20 new moons around Saturn, giving the ringed planet a total of 82. The finds put Saturn ahead of Jupiter’s 79 moons — though none as massive as Ganymede

Astronauts have grown beef in a laboratory up on the International Space Station by 3D printing meat from cells harvested on Earth and sent up into orbit on a rocket

There are more than 7.7 billion human belly buttons on Earth, yet few of us know much at all about this funny-looking squiggle on the middle of our middle. Kids News explains belly buttons

Barbie and Ken have new friends, but, unlike feminine Barbie and masculine Ken, these dolls are gender neutral and are “designed to keep labels out and invite everyone in”

One of the world’s rarest and most endangered monkeys has been born in Australia. The baby’s distinctive bright orange hair is making him a standout at Sydney’s Taronga Zoo

The biggest release of $1 coins will feature 26 Australian animals, food and cultural items including meat pies, didgeridoos, Weet-Bix and thongs. Can you find them all in the Great Aussie Coin Hunt?

The fossilised bones of a winged reptile — nicknamed the Iron Dragon — which flew above Queensland during the age of dinosaurs has been uncovered in the outback

The Sydney Roosters have held off an attacking Canberra Raiders to win historic back-to-back NRL titles, but the referees are copping criticism over a mistake just before the winning try

Filmmakers have recorded the dramatic colour changes of a sleeping octopus, suggesting it is dreaming about preying on a crab, catching it and then settling down to eat it

It’s school holiday time which means Kids News is taking a short break. But you should grab some popcorn and see one of the great movies on the big screen. Here’s our guide to the best

A toy monkey from an Australian kindergarten has had an unexpected big adventure at Buckingham Palace, getting lost, then found, then going to work with palace staff

What is the lifespan of Australian banknotes? Like most things, our polymer money has a use-by date and the answers for how long each note lasts might surprise you

One in six Australian teenagers consumes at least 5.2kg of sugar each year from sugary drinks, according to a new health survey. Though that’s an improvement, it’s still too much sugar

There were once at least 250 indigenous Australian languages — now, there are just a few. A project combining cutting-edge technology with ancient stories aims to stop the decline

Fremantle captain Nat Fyfe has become the 15th player to win multiple Brownlow Medals after taking home the AFL’s best and fairest award

In an incredible, top-secret adventure like something out of a storybook, an Australian illustrator was picked from all the illustrators in the world to complete an unfinished Dr Seuss book

There’s a saying that a tiger never changes its stripes but it seems zebras can — a dotted zebra foal has been photographed for the first time at Maasai Mara National Reserve in Kenya

In our weekly series, award-winning cartoonist Mark Knight shows some sharp wit when deciding how to draw Hugh Jackman receiving his Order of Australia medal

Critically endangered mountain pygmy-possums need your help to solve the mystery of the missing Bogong moths that have disappeared somewhere between Queensland and Victoria

Australian Reading Hour is today, so get involved! Pick up a book or check out one of six great book extracts in this article. Or watch our video with four top authors reading their books aloud

When Kids News recently visited Derinya Primary School in Victoria to talk about the media, fake news and how to become a reporter, it had an inspirational effect on the students

Jillibalu Riley does incredible acrobatics as a performer with Circus Oz, tricks he started practising as a little daredevil kid mucking around with his cousins

Robots served ice cream to excited kids on day one at Australia’s first robotic shop, in a move said to be about enhancing the customer experience rather than taking humans’ jobs

If you see a rat disappearing around a corner one day, try not to freak out — scientists have discovered it may just want to play and could even be laughing at the fun of it all

The Eels have smashed the Broncos 58-0 and broken a 75-year-old NRL finals record as two AFL stars sweat on tribunal results and the Boomers finished fourth in the basketball world cup

For more than 250 years, we thought there was only one species of electric eel on Earth. Scientists have discovered two more species, one of which can shock its prey with 860 volts