Indholdsfortegnelse for March 2021 i Ask Science and Arts Magazine for Kids and Children

The Sounds of Space Pictures of stars and galaxies can be breathtaking. But looking at pictures isn’t the only way to appreciate outer space. Scientists have turned some telescope images into music. They call these musical pieces sonifications. How do you listen to a picture? Imagine a line moving across a picture of stars and galaxies. Whenever the line hits a star, there’s a “ping.” Stars at the top of the picture make high notes, stars near the bottom low notes. A steady hum represents a glowing cloud. Where the stars are brighter, the notes are louder. Scientists combine data from several telescopes to make sonifications. Each telescope “plays” one instrument. Together, they make a harmonious song. The sonifications can help people who are blind experience the beauty of space,…

The journey is about to begin. Hundreds of white seabirds fill the air. As the Arctic sun dips low over the ocean, they depart. Like many birds, they are migrating, moving south to escape the coming winter. But this is no ordinary migration. These tiny birds, Arctic terns, will fly across the world, all the way from the Arctic to Antarctica. Arctic terns look like small seagulls. They have long, swept-back wings and tails, with black caps and bright red beaks. Every year they complete the longest migration of any animal on earth. Not bad for a bird that weighs no more than a lime! The Nesting Grounds For an Arctic tern, life begins as a speckled egg, laid in a nest on the bare ground. The mother and father…

Icebergs are big pieces of ice that drift around in the ocean. Thousands of icebergs fill the Arctic and Antarctic seas. But icebergs come from the land. Land ice is always on the move, sliding slowly downhill. Where ice sheets or glaciers meet the sea, huge chunks break off and float away. The iceberg that sank the Titanic broke off the Jakobshavn glacier in Greenland. Icebergs come in all sizes and shapes. The top part you see is less than half of it. Most of an iceberg is under the water.…

Science Comics: Polar Bears by Jason Viola and Zack Giallongo If you want to know about the Arctic, why not ask someone who lives there? In this fun book, two mischievous polar bears learn the art of stalking a seal and other polar bear basics, while exploring the Arctic and its many exciting dangers. Seals, watch out! Matthew Henson, Arctic Adventurer by Phil Miller In the early 1900s, teams of explorers raced to be the first to reach the North and South Poles. Matthew Henson was a skilled sailor, navigator, and carpenter who was working as a store clerk when he joined a North Pole team in 1906. He built the sleds and found the way, and he may have been the first person to reach the pole! This cartoon…

Antarctica (South)  Summer: October to March Winter : April to September Antarctica is a rocky continent with mountains, dry deserts, and even an active volcano, Mount Erebus. Most of Antarctica is covered by an immense ice sheet, the size of the U.S. and Mexico combined. Arctic (North)  Summer: April to September Winter: October to March The ice around the North Pole is frozen ocean, not solid land. The ice is thick. But it moves with the ocean currents. So no pole marks the North Pole. A stick in the ice would drift somewhere else in a few months.…

Send your letters to Ask Mail, 70 East Lake St., Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601, or have your parent/guardian email us at ask@cricketmedia.com. Tempoist Matthias S. Sportist Chase L., age 9 Artist Marin F., age 8, Florida Arborist Julie P., age 6 Puppiologist Chelsea Y., age 9, California Logan the Artist Logan C., age 10, California Paleontologist Aubrey M., age 8, Connecticut Lepidopterist Andrew F. Serpentologist Skyla H., age 11, Washington Owlist Ruben P., age 9 The Molecule Designerist Oliver D., age 8, New Jersey Horseback Ridingist Amarachi O., age 10, New Jersey Reptilest Caylee O., age 10, New Jersey Firecrackerist Aidan P. Eaterist Daniel B., age 7, Washington Catologist Maria A., age 10, Mississippi Dear Marvin, I want to ask two questions: (1) what was the first type of…

At the poles, the sun never sets in summer. In winter, it’s dark all the time. Why? Earth’s axis is tilted a bit. This tilt means that in June the North Pole leans toward the sun. As the Earth spins around each day, that top bit is never out of the sunlight. Six months later, the Earth is on the other side of the sun and the pole points away from it. Then the top bit is always dark. The South Pole is the same, but reversed (summer when North is winter). Why Are the Poles Cold? Sunlight shines on the top and bottom of the planet at an angle. It also has to travel through more air. So the sunlight is weaker and not as warm near the poles.…

Of the many penguin species, only emperor and Adelie penguins live on Antarctica itself. Emperors are the largest of the penguins. Adults stand 3 or 4 feet (1 m) tall. Their shiny yellow and orange neck feathers stand out against the black and white of their bodies. They sometimes flop on their bellies and push with their wings to slide rapidly across the ice. This “tobogganing” is faster than walking. Emperor penguins usually live in big groups and catch fish in the ocean. But once a year, penguins molt: they grow new feathers and shed all the old ones. When molting, penguins stay on land and go off by themselves. This is what the penguin that saved Elaine Parker was doing on the day of the sudden storm.…

At the edge of Antarctica, a cliff of ice stretches a mile high. Suddenly, with a boom, a huge chunk the size of a city block breaks off and splashes into the sea. A new iceberg is born! In summer, polar ice is always breaking and melting. But now it’s happening more, and faster. That worries scientists. A Warmer World As far back as 870 CE, Vikings recorded how many days a year the sea near them was covered in ice. In modern times, satellites take daily pictures of the ice caps. Scientists can compare pictures to see how the ice changes year to year. And what they see is less and less ice. In the distant past, Earth has been both warmer and colder than it is now. A…