1. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND THE ELECTION

With artificial intelligence, or AI, technology becoming so advanced, it can be hard to know if what you’re looking at online is real or fake. With a presidential election coming up, many people are worried that AI will be used to create fake images or videos of candidates, which would mislead voters. To help with this and to stop people from falling for misinformation, Meta (the company that owns Facebook and Instagram) is going to label political ads that use AI-created images. The labels will appear whenever a user clicks on an ad about any social issue, political candidate, or election that includes a realistic picture of a person or event made using AI. Still, some people say this isn’t enough to keep people from using AI in damaging ways during the election. What do you think? Is it hard to tell what’s real or what’s made up online? How can you be sure what you’re looking at is a real image, not altered or completely fake? Write down some ideas of ways you could figure it out. Then, share your ideas with your classmates.

2. BIG CAT CLASHES

Lots have animals have been affected by climate change in different ways, whether their habitats have shrunk or the foods they eat are less available. Cheetahs live in the grasslands of Africa and typically hunt their prey during the day. However, as temperatures rise, the large cats are hunting in the early morning and late evening. This means they’re competing with nocturnal, or nighttime, hunters like lions and leopards. If one of those big cats comes across a cheetah eating its prey, they try and take that food, and the much smaller cheetahs will walk away rather than fight for it. This could mean less food for the cheetahs and they may continue to have to change their behavior in order to survive. Cheetahs are the rarest big cat in Africa—they are considered endangered and there are are less than 7,000 of them in the wild. From what you read, write a short summary that explains the main point of the story, what caused it, and what the effect is.

3. ISLAND TIME

It’s rare to find out that a new island has been discovered. It’s even more rare to see that a new island has been created. An undersea volcano off the coast of Japan erupted in October, creating a new island out of ash and rock. It’s about 328 feet wide, a little longer than a football field, and rises 66 feet above sea level. Experts don’t expect the island to last very long, as it’s made of crumbly material that is easily washed away by waves. Look at photos of the new island as it was being formed. Then, draw a comic strip that shows the island’s creation.

4. A DIVER’S DISCOVERY

A diver off the coast of Sardinia, an Italian island, spotted something metallic in some sea grass while exploring the Mediterranean Sea. What he unearthed turned out to be tens of thousands of coins that appear to be from the fourth century. When the diver spotted the coins, he alerted Italy’s culture ministry, who sent art protection and undersea archaeology divers to retrieve them. They haven’t been counted yet, but the ministry estimates there are between 30,000 and 50,000 coins, and officials say they might be from a shipwreck. Write a story that summarizes the facts you learned here and draw a picture to go along with it.

5. MUSIC AWARDS

The nominees for the 66th Grammy Awards were announced recently, with female artists leading many of the major categories. In fact, for record and album of the year, there is only one male nominee. The soundtrack from the summer blockbuster “Barbie” earned 11 nominations, including four of the five nominations in the visual media song category. This year also marks the first time there will be an award for best pop dance recording, best African music performance, and best alternative jazz album. Try your hand at writing your own song! Start by outlining what your song will be about, what genre of music it would be, and what it will be called.