Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children July/August 2016

Three Huge Coincidences There is a group of Greek gods called the Muses, which is coincidence #1. Polyhymnia, mentioned in one Muse Mail, is the Muse of hymns, while Urania is the Muse of astronomy. That is coincidence #2. The Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, which is supposed to be the name of the school in Parallel U, which is coincidence #3. I think there should be an article about Greek mythology, because there are so many stories, even though there are only 14 gods and a bunch of other characters. Like others always do, I’ll put in a warning for what will happen if my letter doesn’t get published. If you don’t publish this, I’ll, um . . . send the Greek gods Dionysus and Poseidon…

My sister and I have been getting Muse since 2009. When the November / December 2015 issue came, I was happy! I love parallel universes. . . universi? Universus? I’m writing a trilogy of novels about a girl who gets trapped in a parallel universe where zeppelins are powered by solar electricity and the world wars never happened . . . it’s set in 2115! I love all futuristic and sci-fi stuff. Well, not all, maybe, since Star Wars isn’t very popular in my household. Abbey H. in the aforementioned issue: I used to code, and I don’t know what got into me to stop! Probably some evil, code-hating, non-corporeal alien villain. I love Star Trek and Doctor Who! —RIKA B.-W. / Wisconsin, USA, the World,…

One of these stories is false. Can you spot which one? The answer is hidden in this issue. PHYSICS Gravitational Wave Discovery Makes a Splash A CENTURY AGO, Albert Einstein described an idea he had about waves in space. He thought that when massive objects collide or explode, the impact should send little ripples of gravity outward through the universe. These waves would be extremely hard to measure. But in February 2016, scientists announced that they had finally found them—proving Einstein right yet again. The experiment required two detectors. One is in Louisiana and the other is in Washington State. Together the detectors are called the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, or LIGO. Each detector is shaped like a giant “L” made from two tubes, both 2.5 miles (4 km) long.…

For the first time in human history, more people live in cities than don’t. Now megacities cities are on the rise! A megacity is an urban area with a population of 10 million citizens or more. But the word “mega” doesn’t seem to do these places justice. “Monster” is more like it. In 1950, only two cities qualified as monsters: Tokyo, Japan, and New York, New York, USA. By 2015, the number of monster metropolises multiplied five times to a grand total of 10. By 2015, that number had tripled. In 2016, more than 30 thriving monster cities are scattered around the planet. As the world’s urban areas continue to grow, some will become grossly gargantuan in size. A population of 10 million is just entry level for a monster…

Picture yourself in a skyscraper of the future—one that’s twice the height of any building that exists today. Imagine the amazing features such a building might have: farms that thrive above your head. “Smart” walls, floors, and appliances. Views that stretch into the next state. Incredibly awesome elevators. Hang on. Elevators? Okay, maybe they aren’t the most exciting things to contemplate. But think about it: would you want to take the stairs to the 200th floor? Without incredible elevators, those futuristic skyscrapers wouldn’t exist. MEGA BUILDINGS Cities of the future will be a lot taller than they are today—they’ll be megatall. According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat, the number of “supertall” and “megatall” skyscrapers (yes, those are official categories) in big cities is on the rise.…

The phrase above may seem to refer to a fight between superheroes, but they’re really categories the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat uses to describe buildings. Skyscrapers are “supertall” if they’re over 984 feet (300 meters) and “megatall” if they’re over 1,968 feet (600 meters). The tallest building in the United States is supertall. One World Trade Center in New York City is 1,776 feet (541 meters) high. The tallest building in the world, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, is 2,716.5 feet (828 meters) high. (Now that’s megatall.) Construction has begun on what will soon become the new tallest building in the world—the Kingdom Tower in Saudi Arabia. It is forecast to be the world’s first kilometer-high building. That’s 3,281 feet—almost double the minimum height for a megatall…