Indholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2025 i What on Earth! Magazine

POP-UP PENGUINS This leaping penguin in Atka Bay, Antarctica has a distinctive trail of water coming from behind its tail. This means it has released bubbles of air from its feathers in order to accelerate its leap. Now that's what we call penguin power! PHOTO FINISH This amazing picture is what is called a composite, which means it's a collection of photos put together. It was taken during the men's 100m final during the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. Combining many images allows you to relive the whole super-speedy event all at once, without missing a beat! BEARING UP This mother brown bear spotted in Lake Clark National Park in Alaska, USA, wanted to have a refreshing walk after her nap. But her two cubs had a different idea…

English speakers typically learn the alphabet when we're very young. After that, we seldom give it a second thought because using the alphabet feels so natural. But when you pause to consider it, it's pretty amazing that every sound in over 150,000 English words can be written using just 26 characters. Here's another startling fact: ours is just one of more than 100 different alphabets used around the world today. This month we're exploring some interesting alphabets and other amazing facts about how people write! DID YOU KNOW? The word alphabet comes from the first two letters of the Greek alphabet: alpha and beta. PANGRAM A pangram is a sentence that uses every letter of the alphabet. The most famous example is: The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy…

THE ORIGINS OF ICE CREAM Ancient Chinese royalty mixed snow with milk and rice to make a frozen treat, while Roman emperors sent servants to collect mountain snow, mixing it with honey and fruit for an early sorbet. ACCIDENTAL ICE CREAM CONES At the 1904 World's Fair in St Louis, USA, an ice cream seller ran out of bowls. A quick-thinking waffle vendor rolled up his waffles into a cone shape – and just like that, the ice cream cone was born! EVERYONE LOVES VANILLA! Even though there are hundreds of wild and wacky ice cream flavours, vanilla consistently tops surveys around the world as the most popular. WHO EATS THE MOST? People in New Zealand eat more ice cream per person than anyone else – over 28 litres each…

DID YOU KNOW? Snakes don't have eyelids. So they can't blink or close their eyes – even when they're asleep! We all have clocks All animals can tell the time. Or rather, animals know when it's a certain time of day, week, month or year. For example, animals know when to wake up and when to go to sleep, when to search for food and when to set off on a journey. Animals know these things because they have built-in clocks. These ‘body clocks’ are nothing like the ones in phones or by our beds! But they can be still be very accurate. We don't fully understand how body clocks work, but the scientists who study them have made some exciting discoveries. The research has shown that the ‘clocks’ operate…

JUST HOW BIG IS THE PACIFIC OCEAN? The Pacific is so vast that you could fit all seven continents inside it and still have room left over! Covering more than 165 million square kilometres, it is by far the biggest and deepest ocean on the planet. The name Pacific comes from the Latin word pacificus, meaning peaceful. When Portuguese navigator Ferdinand Magellan crossed it in 1521, the waters were calm, so he called it Mar Pacifico, or ‘peaceful sea’. But don't be fooled – it can be wild and dangerous! DID YOU KNOW? There are more than 25,000 islands in the Pacific Ocean. That's more islands than in the other oceans combined. Some, such as Hawaii and the Galápagos, are famous for their unique animals. DID YOU KNOW? The deepest…

ANIMALS 1 Which is the only one of the following types of big cat - lions, tigers, leopards (including snow leopards) and cheetahs – that cannot roar? a. Lion b. Tiger c. Leopard d. Cheetah 2 How many times a second can a woodpecker peck on a tree trunk? a. 2 b. 5 c. 10 d. 20 3 A wombat is a small marsupial. What shape is its poo? a. Cube b. Pyramid c. Sphere d. Rectangle 4 Which of the following words is sometimes used as a collective noun to describe a group of hippopotamuses? a. A yawn b. A thunder c. A parade d. A squelch 5 What is the fastest speed at which a chameleon, such as the one pictured below, can stick out its tongue to catch an insect? a. 40 km/h b. 60 km/h c. 80 km/h d. 100 km/h…

This month: Lao Tzu. WHO WAS LAO TZU? Imagine a man so wise his words still guide millions, yet so mysterious we're not even sure he existed. The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu is traditionally seen as the founder of Taoism – a spiritual path focused on living in harmony with the universe. He is credited with writing the Tao Te Ching, a brief but profound book of ancient wisdom. Regardless of whether Lao Tzu was a real historical person or a legendary figure, his ideas continue to shape the way people think about life, nature and balance. WHEN AND WHERE DID LAO TZU LIVE? Lao Tzu is thought to have lived during the 6th century BCE in China. He worked as a record keeper in the royal court of the…

$30 million The price the Codex Leicester, a collection of science writings by the Italian artist and thinker Leonardo da Vinci, was sold for in 1994, making it the world's most expensive book. 41 million The number of books in the US Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., the largest library in the world. 223 The number of different words used in The Cat in the Hat.* 160 million The estimated number of unique published books in the world today. 1 The average number of books the former US president (and speedy reader) Theodore Roosevelt read each day. 6 The number of people it takes to carry the Klencke Atlas, one of the world's biggest books.** 1,084,170 The number of words in the seven-book Harry Potter series. 13,995 The number…

Why Emily's on a mission to clean up her local streets Meet the What on Earth! reader who has launched her own anti-litter campaign. When 9-year-old Emily from Dulwich in London saw her local streets covered in rubbish and dog mess, she decided it was time to speak out. She wrote a brilliant article that begins ‘Our environment is very important so listen up please!’, and includes photos of fizzy drink cans and other litter left carelessly scattered around her neighbourhood. Emily's article makes a powerful case, and she is now sharing it with her local MP. Well done, Emily! To congratulate you on your community-spirited campaign, we've sent you a copy of It's Up to Us – a beautiful book about protecting the planet. Have any of you launched…

Clue: it's a type of building often seen in big cities. Don't worry if you get stuck – all the answers are revealed on page 42. CHANGING ROOMS Can you find your way through our maze of square rooms? Enter through the door marked with the red arrow, then try to find your way to the exit by going through the correct sequence of open doors. Good luck! HUMAN WORLD 1 Approximately how high is a regulation basketball hoop used in the NBA, shown right, off the ground? a. 8 feet b. 9 feet c. 10 feet d. 11 feet 2 Which of the following four sounds is the loudest in decibels? a. Aeroplane taking off b. Crowd in a football stadium c. Ambulance siren d. Balloon popping 3 Approximately how many different colours do carrots…