Innehållsförteckning för May 2025 från What on Earth! Magazine

CHILE - THE LONGEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD If you overlaid Chile in South America on a map of Europe, it would stretch from the top of Norway all the way down to North Africa! Measured north to south, Chile is 2,653 miles long – which is more than three times longer than the UK. Yet at its narrowest point, the world's longest country is only 40 miles wide! THE AREA WHERE MOST PEOPLE LIVE Because it is so long, Chile has an extremely varied geography. There are deserts in the north and snowy mountains in the south. Most people live in the temperate region in the middle, including in Chile's capital city, Santiago. DID YOU KNOW? Chile sits on the volcanic region at the edge of the Pacific called…

Does this puppy make you gigil? Do you ever feel that something is sooo cute it is almost too much to bear? The Oxford English Dictionary has added a new word for this very feeling! Gigil (pronounced ghee-gill) means ‘a feeling so intense it gives us the irresistible urge to clench our hands, grit our teeth, and pinch or squeeze whomever or whatever it is we find so adorable’. Why do giraffes have spots? Baby giraffes use their spots to hide from predators in the dappled light of bushes. But adult giraffes are much too big to hide in bushes! So what are their spots for? Researchers in Switzerland have found that a giraffe's spots may be linked to temperature regulation. Male giraffes with smaller spots have better chances of…

What if… Harold had won the Battle of Hastings? 1066 is an important year in English history. An army from what is now northern France and led by William, Duke of Normandy, crossed the Channel and defeated an Anglo-Saxon army led by King Harold at the Battle of Hastings. Legend has it that Harold died after being shot by an arrow in his eye. However, there is no firm evidence. The story was inspired by a figure in the Bayeux Tapestry with an arrow in his eye near to the words ‘Harold is dead’, but it's unclear if the figure is Harold or one of his soldiers. If Harold had won the battle, England could have developed very differently. English would not have been influenced by the thousands of French…

ANIMALS 1 A hummingbird, pictured above, is the only type of bird that can do what? a. Fly underwater  b. Fly backwards c. Catch insects in mid-air d. Hum to attract a mate 2 Which of the following words is sometimes used as a collective noun for a group of bears? a. A band b. An assembly c. A sloth d. A slumber 3 What does the word orangutan, which originates from the Malay language, mean in English? a. King of the jungle b. Orange-coloured ape c. Person of the forest d. Orange tree-dweller 4 Which of these animals has the largest number of legs? a. Millipede b. Woodlouse c. Caterpillar d. Centipede HUMAN WORLD 1 How are Maglev trains – including the high-speed train in China pictured below – propelled forward along the track? a. Steam b. Lithium batteries c. Solar energy d.…

DID YOU KNOW? scientist estimates there is enough gold in Earth's core to cover the surface half a metre thick! 1. THE CRUST There are two types of crust: oceanic and continental. Oceanic crust is about 6 kilometres thick. Continental crust is about 30-40 kilometeres thick 2. THE MANTLE The mantle lies below the crust and is up to 2,900 kilometres thick. It's made of semi-solid rock called magma, and the crust ‘floats’ freely on top of it. 3. THE CORE The core is the centre of Earth and has two parts: the liquid outer core and the solid inner core. The inner core is solid because of the immense pressure of all the rock pushing down on it from the surrounding layers. HOW DID EARTH FORM? Earth formed about…

In Japan, the end of April and first week of May is a special time when families go on holiday and celebrate together. It is known as Golden Week. One of the key moments of Golden Week is Kodomo no Hi, or Children's Day. Although it's only been a national holiday since 1948, some version of Children's Day has been celebrated for centuries! Traditionally, the 5th May holiday was a time when samurai (Japanese warriors) would put their swords and armour on display in the hope of protecting their children. Over time, families started to display samurai dolls for the same reason. Today, because many people live in flats and other smaller living spaces, it is more common to display miniature helmets. Another Children's Day tradition is to fly colourful…

Sound is a fascinating thing, partly because it's a mix of matter and energy. It is caused by matter (such as your vocal cords or a musical instrument) vibrating, and it travels in pulses of motion energy called sound waves, which can go through solids, liquids and gases. When sound waves hit our eardrums, the energy causes them to vibrate, too, and nerves pass those signals to our brain. Speaker Speakers and microphones are essentially the opposite of each other. In a speaker, electrical impulses cause a voice coil inside a magnet to move back and forth. The coil is attached to a diaphragm that pushes against the air, producing sound waves that move out through the speaker towards your ear, where they vibrate your eardrum. If the sound was…

How do crystals form? Crystals often start out in pools or droplets of water that have tiny bits of mineral in them. These pools might exist in teeny gaps deep within the Earth, in cracks on Earth's surface or even in little gaps inside rocks. Sometimes the bits of mineral stick to the nearest rough surface and start to join up. But this isn't any old muddly clump! They join up in a beautifully neat pattern. This is the start of a crystal. The crystal grows as more bits of mineral join the organised little gathering. Crystals can also form when rock gets very hot and the tiny particles inside it rearrange themselves into that neat crystal pattern. DID YOU KNOW? Ice, salt and sugar are also types of crystal!…

23 enough to power a light bulb! The power in watts the brain can generate – 11,400 The weight in kilograms of all the poo the average human will produce in a lifetime. That's roughly the weight of two African elephants! 2.5 The distance in kilometres from which someone with good eyesight can see a candle flame. 0.01 The time in seconds it takes a nerve impulse to travel from the spinal cord to your big toe. 100 The average number of head hairs that are lost and replaced each day. 6 billion The estimated number of individual bacteria living inside your mouth. 206 The typical number of bones in an adult human skeleton.* 60 The percentage of DNA** that a human being shares with a banana! 128,000 The distance…

Your photos: from puzzling pooches to a giant fig tree! Find out what fellow What on Earth! readers have been up to this month… Congratulations to intrepid wildlife photographer Rufus, pictured right, who took this spectacular photo of the Curtain Fig Tree in Queensland in northern Australia. This famous and historic tree is a popular tourist attraction in Queensland. It is estimated to be around 50 metres high and at least 500 years old. Great photo, Rufus! Where will you read your What on Earth! this spring? As you can see in these fantastic photos, our readers love to enjoy their What on Earth! magazines in some pretty exciting and unusual places. So whether you are climbing a mountain, stalking a tiger or going on a family camping trip this spring,…