Indholdsfortegnelse for February 2024 i Ask Science and Arts Magazine for Kids and Children

Again Ahoy In the old days, ships traveled the seas using big sails to catch the wind. Sailing by wind took skill and luck, and ships sometimes had to sit and wait for a breeze. So when engines were invented in the 1800s, ships ditched sails for more reliable steam power. But now, sails are making a comeback on big ships. Shipping companies have discovered that getting a boost from free wind can be a great way to save money on fuel and reduce pollution. Modern sails don’t look like the old-fashioned kind. Some are metal and fold up into tall columns. Some fly like kites to pull the ship along. These ships still have engines, but put the sails out when the wind is right. Engineers are testing different…

Togo Saves Nome In January 1925, people in the town of Nome, Alaska, were sick with a serious illness called diphtheria. There was a medicine that could treat it, but Nome didn’t have any. So sled dog teams set out to get the medicine from another town, 674 miles (1085 km) away. They set up a relay, each team passing the medicine on to the next, to get it there faster. A dog named Balto became famous for leading the team on the last leg into Nome. But another dog, Togo, lead the team that ran the longest stretch, 260 miles (420 km). Thanks to all the dogs, the serum reached Nome in time to save the town. Seaman Saves Lewis When Meriwether Lewis and William Clark set out to…

Send your letters to Ask, 1 East Erie Street, Suite 525, PMB4136, Chicago, IL 60611, or have your parent/guardian email us at ask@cricketmedia.com. Dear Marvin, What is your favorite color? Mine is blue. And what is your favorite animal? Mine is the harpy eagle. My favorite forest mammal is a raccoon. What is yours? I bet I know, raccoon. What is your favorite food? Mine is macaroni and cheese. Can I be on your team as a roadrunner? Drew S., 8, Missouri Dear Drew, Cool drawing! Of course, it helps to have exceptionally good-looking models. We’d love to have a roadrunner on the team, you could run down the road and get more mac & cheese. Rats likes blue too, especially blue cheese. I myself am partial to safety orange.…

At the site of one of the earliest human settlements in northern Israel, archaeologists found the skeleton of a woman buried 12,000 years ago. The remains of a puppy seemed to be cradled in her hands. Not far away, scientists discovered a man from the around the same time, buried with two dog-like animals. Dog fossils have been found in China, Germany, Italy, Russia, and Iraq, dating back at least 14,000 years. And some scientists who study the origins of the dog by looking at its DNA (cell codes) think that dogs might go back much further, perhaps 135,000 years. One thing we know for sure, dogs are our oldest animal friends. Before horses, cows, pigs, goats, sheep—and way before cats, which first became pets in Egypt about 5,500 years…

You may have heard of dogs protecting houses, people, or a flock of sheep. But what about a big, fluffy dog that protects little, fluffy penguins? Little Birds Under Attack Middle Island, just off the coast of Warrnambool in southeastern Australia, has long been home to a colony of little blue fairy penguins. Unless you’re a fish, fairy penguins are gentle creatures. They are the world’s smallest penguin. They spend about half the year at sea. Adult birds waddle back onto solid ground in late winter or spring to breed and raise their chicks in shallow burrows along the coasts of Australia and New Zealand. Though they are great swimmers (their scientific name, Eudyptula minor, means “good little diver”), on shore fairy penguins are comically clumsy. In the 1900s, foxes…

Science Comics: Dogs by Andy Hirsch I love reading comics, and it’s even better when they are full of interesting facts and animal science, like this one. A friendly dog hosts a tour through the history of dogs and people, and shows off some of dogs’ amazing abilities. I wonder when they will make a book about moles? Conservation Canines by Isabelle Groc Can dogs help save nature? The super canines in this volume say, sure! They’ve been trained to sniff out the scat (poop) of endangered species, find smuggled animals and birds, and even protect animals in the wild. And they are helping in other surprising ways, like by chasing elephants away from fields and wolves away from sheep. Our heroes! The Dog Encyclopedia by Tammy Gagne If you…

Fur A furry coat keeps the dog warm. Some dogs have two kinds of fur, a woolly undercoat and a long outer layer. Tail Dogs use their tails for balance and to let other dogs (and us) know how they’re feeling. Play Bow When a dog bends down its front legs with its tail wagging in the air, it’s an invitation to play and means, “Let’s be friends!” A small bow can also say, “OK, you’re the boss” to other dogs. Feet Dogs walk on their toes. Tough pads protect the bottoms of the feet. Thick toenails help grip the ground and are useful for digging. Ears Dogs have sharp hearing and can move their ears in different directions to locate sounds. They can hear high-pitched sounds that we can’t.…

The year is 1995. At the edge of a wire enclosure on a wooded slope in Yellowstone National Park, a gray wolf raises her shaggy head and pricks up her ears. She lifts her muzzle to the sky, closes her golden eyes, and sings out a howl. Nearby, one of her new pack replies. AH-OOOOOOO! It’s a sound that hasn’t been heard in Yellowstone for 70 years. But now, the wolves are back. The War on Wolves Gray wolves once roamed throughout North America. That changed when European settlers pushed west in the 1800s. Farmers cut down forests and plowed prairies, removing the habitats where wolves and their prey lived. Ranchers killed wolves to keep them from hunting sheep and cattle. When Yellowstone National Park was founded in 1872, there…