Innehållsförteckning för March 2024 från What on Earth! Magazine

ZANY FACTS…

HOW TO CHAT… American bullfrogs make a grating ‘grau-g-g-gga’ noise, while the midwife toad makes softer and more high-pitched ‘be-bi-boop-be’ sounds. These different calls are their way of telling each other what type of frog they are. That way they know who is nearby and don't waste energy talking to frogs from a different species. Frogs can make a whole range of sounds. The most common frog calls are love songs - made by males to attract females. But frogs also make ‘release’ calls when they're receiving unwanted attention and want to be left alone. Some can even scream when they are attacked by predators. WRUAAAAAK-WROOOOOOWK (I'm an Indian Bullfrog!) TRTRTRTRTRTRTRTRI K! (Leave me alone!) AKG. AKG. AKG. (I'm an Indian cricket frog!) SKIKIKI (I'm a common skittering frog!) Some…

ARE YOUR GROWN-UPS CLULESS? Does this sound familiar? ‘So what if temperatures go up a degree or two? What's so bad about that?’ Or, ‘We can't do anything about it now. It's too late to stop it.’ Or, It's time to wade to school. Pull on your Wellington boots.’ Okay, maybe not that last one. Yet. The point is, if you're like most people, you have grown-ups in your life who are clueless about climate change. But don't worry. You and your grown-ups can work together to help end the climate crisis and heal our warming world. And you're not alone in this! Over the next few months we will be giving you some information to help get the conversation started. Learn about what ‘climate change’ actually means, what causes…

INFOGRAPHICS This map gives you a good idea of how many planes are flying in the air at once, because each yellow aeroplane on it represents a real plane that was flying at 3pm on 13 July 2022, one of the busiest days for flights on record. In total, there were 17,916 planes in the sky at that time. This means that if there were, on average, 100 passengers travelling in each plane, more than 1.5 million people were in the sky at the same time! = one plane flying in the sky THE FIRST PLANE TO FLY NON-STOP AROUND THE WORLD! On 2 March 1949, an American Boeing B-50A military aeroplane named Lucky Lady II landed at Carswell Air Force Base in Texas, USA, to become the first ever…

Apes are fascinating and sometimes mysterious creatures. However, as you're about to discover, they're also quite a lot like you and me - in fact exactly like you and me! Sometimes people say ‘ape’ when what they really mean is ‘monkey’. Apes are different from monkeys in that they are larger and have bigger brains that help them to use complex language and tools. They also don't have any tails, which monkeys do. Apes play, they love their families and they make art. Does that sound like anyone you know? Read on to find out all about apes - including humans like you! What's So Great About Great Apes? All apes are great! But scientists call some apes ‘Great Apes’ to distinguish them from another group of apes called ‘Lesser…

Now take a guided tour… Explore the Taj Mahal with these 11 fascinating facts about its history and features. 1 Shah Jahan had five wives, but Mumtaz Mahal was his favourite. They had fourteen children together. Mumtaz Mahal died giving birth to the fourteenth child. Shah Jahan was overcome with grief when she died. It is said that Shah Jahan wanted to build a mausoleum for himself, in a similar style to the Taj Mahal but made of black marble. However, he was dethroned as emperor before it could be built. 2 More than 1,000 elephants helped to transport materials to build the Taj Mahal. 3 The Taj Mahal attracts between 7 and 8 million visitors each year and around a tenth of these (800,000) have travelled from outside India.…

ANIMALS 1 What is the fastest breed of dog? a. Whippet b. Dalmatian c. Greyhound d. Afghan hound 2 Which of the following four words is sometimes used as a collective noun to describe a group of hippopotamuses? a. A yawn b. A squelch c. A parade d. A thunder 3 As far as scientists are aware, which is the only mammal that cannot fart? a. Blue whale b. Sloth c. Bat d. Hedgehog 4 What is the fastest speed at which a chameleon 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 5 Which animal can survive for the longest period of time without food or water? a. Camel b. Tardigrade c. Crocodile d. Cockroach 6 How many toes does a cat typically have? a. 12 b. 16 c. 18 d. 20 SPACE & NATURE…

SEND IT IN! To celebrate Draw a Dinosaur Day on 30th January (be sure to mark your dino calendars for next year!), we invited budding young artists to send in their pictures of dinosaurs and other prehistoric creatures. As you can see here, the response was magnificent! We received almost one hundred entries which would be enough to turn the Natural History Museum in London into an art gallery! So huge congratulations to everyone who took part. We didn't have room to show all the drawings but here is a selection of our favourites. A special round of applause must go to our three category winners: 9-year-old Harrison, 7-year-old Benji and 5-year-old Freya, who each win a subscription to What on Earth! Magazine and a copy of our roar-some Nature…

Making the world's biggest machine Researchers in Switzerland are planning a new mega-machine that is designed to smash atoms together for scientific research. Switzerland is already home to one such machine, the Large Hadron Collider (pictured right). It whizzes atoms around its 27-kilometre-long circular machine at nearly the speed of light, and then smashes the atoms together for scientific tests. Using the LHC, scientists have discovered important new types of subatomic particles, which are particles that are even smaller than atoms! They hope that this new collider, which will be about too kilometres around, will help them to find out more about dark matter and dark energy, two of the greatest mysteries of modern science. Can owls really turn their heads 360°? Scientists and bird watchers have known for a…

Just Like Us! Non-human apes are more like us than you think… • Apes can be tickled - and they laugh while they're being tickled, too! • Apes can get stressed - and when they're stressed, much like humans, they may pace or even turn to less-healthy foods for comfort! • Some apes have very good memories - and maybe even better than humans! A study in Japan found that a chimpanzee was more successful at remembering a sequence of numbers than humans were. • They can tell right from wrong. Some studies have suggested that apes have a sense of morality, which means they know right from wrong. If something happens that is unfair, they get angry. • They can go to war. For instance, sometimes chimpanzees will plan…

SPACE WORD SEARCH Can you spot the 24 space terms hidden in our jumbo word search puzzle? Good luck! ASTRONAUT BIG BANG CERES DEIMOS EXOPLANET FULL MOON GALAXY HALLEY'S COMET INTERSTELLAR JUPITER KUIPER BELT LIGHT-YEAR MARS NASA OLYMPUS MONS PLUTO QUASAR ROCKET SPUTNIK TELESCOPE UNIVERSE VENUS WHITE DWARF ZENITH CUBE IT! The six-sided shape on the left can be folded up to form a cube. Only two of the cubes to the right can be made by it. Which are they? SPOT THE DIFFERENCE Can you spot all 20 differences between these two alien planet illustrations? WORD WHEEL Use the word wheel to help find the answers to the five clues below. All the answers contain the middle letter, and each letter can only be used once. Clue: a type of pasta made of long strings (9 letters) Answer: Clue: a person who doesn't believe in the existence of God or gods (7…

INFOGRAPHICS The first steam locomotive, which was invented in Wales in 1804, travelled only slightly faster than the average human's walking speed. HOW TO READ IT Maximum speed: Miles per hour, mph The black arrow points to the fastest speed that the train or car achieved. 5 HIGH-SPEED TRAINS STEPHENSON'S ROCKET 1829, UK This train won the Rainhill trials, a race to see which of five early steam locomotive designs was the fastest. MALLARD 1938, UK In 1938, this train set the record for fastest steam locomotive - a record it still holds today. TGV 1981, FRANCE This train held the record for world's fastest train between 1981 and 1988. CRH380BL 2010, CHINA This train set a new world record travelling between Beijing and Shanghai. SERIES LOMAGLEV 2015, JAPAN The…

Which king invented fractions? Henry the Eighth! Which dinosaur has the largest vocabulary? A thesaurus! How do rabbits keep fit? Hare-robics! LOL! Question: What runs but never walks? Answer: A tap! Question: I have keys but no locks, space but no room and people can enter but never go inside. What am I? Answer: A keyboard! What is a cat’s favourite breakfast cereal? Mice Krispies! How do you make an Octopus laugh? With ten-tickles! What protects Lord Cheeses's castle? The moat-zarella! HA! HA! Question: What word becomes shorter when you add two letters? Answer: Short! What do you call a frog that looks on the bright side? A hoptimist!…