Indholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2025 i Ask Science and Arts Magazine for Kids and Children

HOW TO BOIL AN EGG What’s so hard about boiling an egg? Just stick an egg in boiling water and cook until done. But often when the yolk is cooked, the white is overcooked and rubbery. And when the white is just right, the yolk can be too raw and runny. That’s because the yolk and the egg white need to cook at different temperatures. But now a team of scientists at the University of Naples, Italy, has come up with a recipe for the perfect boiled egg. To do so, they calculated how heat transfers from the water into the egg and how different water temperatures and cooking times affect the yolk and white. They tested different cooking methods and asked experts to taste and rank the results. Eggs…

Whether you watch it on TV or read it on a phone, the news brings you short, true, important stories about what’s going on right now. Was there a fire at City Hall? Are bus schedules changing? Is there a new president of France? It’s all news. News Crews There are many people behind the scenes who help get the news out. Reporters (also called journalists) find out the news. People call them up with tips. Reporters interview people and check things out. Some write stories for newspapers. Others record news stories for radio, TV, or the internet. Many reporters specialize in one area, called a “beat.” They might cover a particular city or a subject like science or sports. Mobile news vans take camera crews and reporters to where…

One morning in 1734, John Peter Zenger picked metal letters from a tray. He was spelling out the headline for the next edition of a newspaper called the New-York Weekly Journal. With stained fingers, he rolled sticky black ink onto the letters and laid a sheet of clean paper on top. Zenger was a printer. He had learned his craft from one of the first printers in the American colonies, William Bradford. Now Zenger printed whatever people needed—newspapers, books, posters for lost dogs. Arrested! As Zenger finished stacking the printed newspapers, the front door slammed open with enough force to rattle the windows. Men swarmed in. The sheriff’s men. They grabbed the newspapers and headed back out the door. Zenger tried to stop them, but two men held him. They…

As you’re walking along a street, you might see metal lids that cover holes in the ground. Most of these covers are round, never oval or square. Why is that? It’s all about safety. If you’re covering a hole in the street, you don’t want the cover to fall in by accident. That makes a circle the best shape for the job. No matter which way you turn it, a round cover won’t fall into its manhole. A circle has the same width all the way around. An oval, on the other hand, is longer than it is wide. It’s possible to slip an oval lid through an oval hole. That’s also true for squares. So, do all manhole covers have to be round? No! It turns out that a…

A photographer named Lewis Hine calls to the night workers. He asks them politely to stand together for a photo. Flash! The dark mine fills with light. Hine’s photos are published in magazines. These are not pictures of America’s mighty workers. These are pictures of children. Hine shows these children proud and hardworking. He also shows the terrible place where they work. He hopes that his photographs will change the laws that let children from poor families work in factories and mines. These children are not stupid or lazy. They are just like other children, like you—but because they are poor, they often don’t go to school. Instead, they have jobs. 1911, New York City A mother in a run-down apartment calls her children to the dining room table piled…

VOL. CLXVII Thursday, May 1, 2025 Free Newspapers and news sites have different kinds of stories. Some are straight news. Others share opinions. And some are ads pretending to be news. Can you spot what’s what? Plain News Lunch Served by Justus Facts Lunch Tuesday at Elmwood School was spaghetti with tomato sauce and a side of peas, with banana pudding for dessert. Third-grader John J. (8) said, “The peas are kind of mushy.” Investigative Report Where Does Your Lunch Come From? by Luke N. Intooit Do you ever wonder where your lunch comes from? The school district buys food for all the schools in the city at once. That saves money, but there’s not a lot of choice. The school is supposed to get fresh vegetables every day, but…

Send your letters to Ask at ask@cricketmedia.com. In our November/ December issue we asked you to share your proudest creation with us. Thanks to all you magnificent makers, clever crafters, ingenious inventors, and dazzling DIY-ers. Dear Ask, I’m writing about the gluten article on page 12 of the January 2025 Ask. The article talks about corn containing gluten, but corn is actually a naturally gluten-free grain/vegetable. It went on to talk about people with celiac disease and how gluten can make them sick. It listed some gluten-free grains but did not include corn, even though corn is great for people with gluten allergies! Sincerely, Norah C., age 10 P.S. You’re still my favorite magazine! Dear Norah, Yikes! You are absolutely correct. Corn is naturally gluten free. I’m sorry for our…

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