Innehållsförteckning för May 2024 från What on Earth! Magazine

START HERE Scientists discovered more than 5,000 strange holes on the seafloor off the coast of California, USA. They aren’t sure how they got there There are lakes and rivers on the seafloor – some even have their own waves Only one-fifth of the ocean floor has been mapped by scientists Marine scientists think there are more human artefacts that have sunk in the ocean than exist in all the world’s museums Some corals make their own ‘sunscreen’ by producing bright colours, which attract algae that help shield the corals from harmful rays Underwater volcanoes can form bubbles large enough to swallow a ship. Swimming or taking a boat is the only way to get to the oldest cemetery in Camiguin, in the Philippines, because the cemetery sank following a…

Send It In! We want to hear your best panda or snow leopard impressions! Record yourself making the animal noises listed here and email the file to editor@whatonearth.co.uk The top impressionist will win a copy of the new book How to Chat Chicken!…

BIONIC EYE This works in a similar way to the cochlear implant in the ear. A bionic eye, also known as a visual prosthesis, translates shapes and colours into electrical signals that are then sent to the brain, which interprets them as vision. ARTIFICIAL HEART A complex blood-pumping device can help patients with serious heart conditions stay alive until they are able to receive a heart transplant from a human donor. Scientists have yet to develop a robotic heart that can be used permanently. But they are working on it! BIOSPLEEN The biospleen, which is a human-made device about the size of a pack of cards, is able to perform the role of the spleen for people who do not have one. It filters and cleans the blood the same…

Tongues and tails Would you like to have a curly tail like a monkey? Or a giant tongue like an anteater? Lots of animals rely on their tongues and tails to do important jobs, such as catching prey or for keeping balance. Here are some of the largest and longest tongues and tails in the animal kingdom. HOW TO READ IT Tongue or tail length relative to body size: 1x = one times its body length (excluding the tail) Scale 10 cm WHAT ON EARTH! As it leaves its mouth, a chameleon’s tongue can travel at 100 km/h!…

ANIMALS 1 What is the collective name for a group of dolphins? a. A swim b. A herd c. A pod d. A leap 2 Puck the budgerigar holds the world record for having the largest vocabulary of any bird. How many words could Puck say? a. 28 b. 72 c. 172 d. 1,728 3 Which is the largest animal ever to have lived on Earth? a. Argentinosaurus b. Blue whale c. Megalodon d. Woolly mammoth 4 Which type of animal is responsible for killing the largest number of human beings each year? a. Lion b. Shark c. Snake d. Mosquito 5 Approximately how fast could an ostrich run a marathon (26.2 miles)? a. 55 minutes b. 1 hour and 5 minutes c. 1 hour and 25 minutes d. 1 hour and 45 minutes 6 Which is the most common farm animal on Earth? a. Pigs b.…

ANYONE FOR TENNIS? Famous tennis players Andre Agassi of the United States and Roger Federer of Switzerland enjoyed a friendly rally on this unique tennis court high in the sky. The court is on the helipad of a hotel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 211 metres up! THINKING INSIDE THE BOX This imaginatively designed building, which looks like a giant cube perched on a human neck and chin, is La Tête Carrée Library in Nice, France. The 25-metre-high structure is fittingly titled ‘Thinking Inside the Box’. Inside are three floors full of books! BATTLING BIRDS These two peacocks were caught in what looks like a bit of a scuffle by a photographer in Kerala, India. Male peafowl (peacocks) are known for their colourful trains of feathers. Sometimes they fight to…

WHAT IS A DRONE? A drone is an aircraft with no humans on board. Humans control drones remotely or program them with directions for where to go. The first drones were developed in Britain and the USA during the First World War, which happened between 1914 and 1918. The British Aerial Target, which was a small radio-controlled aircraft, was first tested in March 1917. After 100 years of advances and refinements, drones are now buzzing through the skies all around the world. They come in different shapes and sizes and are used to perform multiple tasks. Drones can be used to deliver parcels and to help people navigate dangerous situations, such as fighting fires. Drones are also used for fun, in drone races or to capture videos from high in…

SCIENCE WORD SEARCH Can you spot the 20 science words hidden in our jumbo word search puzzle? Good luck! CUBE IT! The six-sided shape on the left can be folded up to form a cube. Only two of the cubes at right can be made by it. Which are they? SPOT THE DIFFERENCE Can you spot all 2O differences between these two playground 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 hundredth anniversary of an important event (9 letters). Answer: Clue: a school restaurant for pupils and teachers (7 letters). Answer: Clue: a sugary fluid that bees collect from flowers to make honey (6…

OVER THE RAINBOW Nine different types of rainbow Rainbows are caused by water droplets in the atmosphere. When light passes through the droplets, it bends and spreads out, forming a band of colours.* 1 Primary rainbow The classic. The colour sequence of a primary rainbow is: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet. 2 Double rainbows This is when a faint, secondary rainbow appears above the first one. They’re caused by light reflecting twice inside the raindrop. This second reflection** causes red to be on the inner section of the arch, with violet on the outer section. 3 Twinned rainbows These are the rarest type of rainbows, when two rainbows start from the same base but then split to form a primary and secondary arc across the sky. They are usually caused by…

Forensic entomologists study insects to help the police solve crimes. Forensic entomologists can tell by examining the insects present at a human crime scene what time the crime probably occurred. They estimate the time based on the type of insects that they find and what stage of development the bugs are in. The first known use of forensic entomology to solve a crime was in 13th-century China! A teacher from Northern Ireland holds the world record for the loudest ever shout. Annalisa Wray’s record-setting shout was 121.7 decibels, which is almost as loud as a jet engine! Here are some other noisy records: the loudest human whistle was 125 decibels. The loudest burp was 112.4 decibels, which is about as loud as a pneumatic drill. There is no officially recorded…

Dinosaurs might been the most land animals o time, but there were other creatures that time as well. Many kinds of evolved during dinosaur times. They evolved earlier creatures Dimetrodon, which sail on its back that think helped it control its body temperature. But mammals went even further in developing ways to control their temperatures. The ability to keep your body warm when it’s cold outside is called being warm-blooded. While theropod dinosaurs such as Tyrannosaurus rex developed feathers, mammals developed fur to help keep them warm. The earliest mammals were mouse-like insect eaters, but by the end of the Cretaceous Period sixty-six million years ago, there were climbing mammals and burrowing mammals and mammals that glided from tree to tree. While one species was sucking down termites, another was…

Why did the go into the blackbird library? It was looking for bookworms! Question: What begins with an E and ends with an E but only contains one letter? Answer: An envelope! HA! HA! Where do generals keep their armies? Up their sleevies! What animal never stops complaining? A Whinenoceros! What do you call a man with a seagull on his head? Cliff! What are the funniest animals ona farm? Cowmedians! Question: If you drop a yellow hat in the Red Sea, what does it become? Answer: Wet! What do you get when two dinosaurs crash their cars? Tyrannosaurus wrecks! Question: I cannot be emptied but never stay full for long. What am I? Answer: The Moon! What do you call a bear that's stuck out in the rain? A…