Innehållsförteckning för February 2022 / Issue 29 från News Bites

There’s a New Telescope in Town! USA On December 25 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope (or JWST) was launched into space from French Guiana in South America. This is the most powerful space microscope observatory that has ever been built and replaces the Hubble, which was launched in 1990. The JWST is named after James E. Webb, a former NASA director and head of the Apollo space programme. Its area is six times larger than the Hubble. In fact, it’s so large that it had to be made in 18 foldable sections in order to fit inside a rocket. Since its arrival in space, the JWST has been unfolded, or deployed, a section at a time. Mirrors, wings and a large sunshield, for example, all had to be unfolded…

Feb 6 1958 Busby Babes Remembered On February 6, 1958, a plane carrying the entire Manchester United team crashed while trying to take off from a slush-covered runway at Munich Airport in Germany. For fans of the team, it must have seemed like the end of the world. The crash claimed the lives of 23 people in total, including eight of United’s players. Also killed in the disaster were some of the journalists and club supporters who had been travelling with the team. The United side had been nicknamed ‘Busby’s Babes’, as they were all very young players. Matt Busby was their manager, and he was also on board the plane with them. Everyone believed that this team had a great future ahead of them. They had been unbeaten for…

Famous Feats of Engineering #29 Arc de Triomphe The Arc de Triomphe (Arch of Triumph) is one of the best-known buildings not only in France but in the whole world. It was built to remember and honour those who fought and died in the French Revolution, and to celebrate victories by French armies. Napoleon Bonaparte, the Emperor of France, ordered the building of the Arc de Triomphe in 1806. The Arc de Triomphe was designed by famous French architect Jean Chalgrin. Workers began building the Arc in 1806, but construction was halted in 1811 when Chalgrin died. Jean-Nicolas Huyot was given the job of finishing the work after Chalgrin’s death. The Arc de Triomphe was officially opened on July 29, 1836. As it turned out, Napoleon never saw the Arc.…

Tiger Hello, young human person. I am a tiger, a male Bengal tiger to be more exact. I live in India, but some Bengal tigers also live in Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. We like to live in tropical rainforests, marshes, and tall grasses. Big cat When I was born, I weighed one kilogramme, I was 45cm long and I was completely helpless. Now I’m a big cat. I am 2.5m long (that includes my tail) and I weigh 225kg. I am a mammal (so are you, I’m told) with thick, muscular legs, powerful jaws and strong teeth. My coat My beautiful coat helps me to remain camouflaged when I hunt. It is light orange in colour, while my belly and the insides of my legs are white. Black stripes run…

The Wacky World of Sport Would you try this wacky sport? Have You Tried … Giant Pumpkin Kayaking Country of origin: USA Equipment needed: A hollowed-out giant pumpkin and a paddle. Rules of the game: You carve out the insides of a giant pumpkin (yes, a real giant pumpkin), jump in and operate it like a canoe. Competitors can race on various courses, ranging from the 800-metre dash to the gruelling 5km race. Giant Pumpkin Regattas take place every year in a number of states across North America and Canada. One of the most famous regattas is the Windsor Pumpkin Regatta in Nova Scotia, a province in eastern Canada. This event attracts over 10,000 spectators who come to watch competitors tackle an 800-metre course. One local man, Leo Swinamer, dominated…

There are always a few main stories dominating the front pages and online forums. Here, we present one of the current stories, so you can be informed and form your own opinions. With Safer Internet Day happening this month (February 8), now is the perfect time to look at aspects of our online life and see if they are helping make the internet a better place. Social media has a lot of benefits – and one of them is that it’s now really easy to share our news with others. Posting on Facebook or Instagram is a really quick way to get information out – before we know it, the news may have been shared with hundreds, thousands or even millions of people. But is this always a good thing?…

11 Children, Four Special Letters A couple in Belgium have used the same four letters to create different names for all 11 of their children! It started when Gwenny Blanckaert and Marino Vaneeno chose the name Alex for their oldest son. They then chose the name Axel for their second son. They realised that the two names had the same letters, so they continued the tradition with the rest of their children – Xela, Lexa, Xael, Xeal, Exla, Leax, Xale, Elax, and Alxe! And baby number 12 – another boy – is on his way! The letters A-E-L-X can be used to make up 24 different names, so there are still plenty for Gwenny and Marino to choose from. What will they choose this time? Apes That Paint We share…

Sing 2 Two years after the first movie, Buster Moon has turned the New Moon Theatre into a local hit but has his eyes on a much bigger prize: leading a new show at the Crystal Tower Theatre in glamorous Redshore City-the entertainment capital of the world. But with no connections, Buster and his cast – including harried mother Rosita, rocker Ash, earnest Johnny, shy Meena and, of course, the hilarious Gunter – must sneak their way into the world-famous Crystal Entertainment offices, run by ruthless tycoon Jimmy Crystal. In a desperate bid to get Mr. Crystal’s attention, Gunter pitches an outrageous idea that Buster quickly runs with. They promise that their new show will star rock legend Clay Calloway (played by legendary Irish rock star Bono from U2). The…

Pagani Huayra Roadster BC 5 Fast Facts 1. The Roadster BC is named after the initials of Pagani’s first ever customer, Benny Caiola. Pagani was founded in 1992 by Benny’s good friend, Horatio Pagani. 2. The Roadster BC takes just 75 milliseconds to change gear. That is twice as fast as the original Huayra model. 3. It is an exclusive version of the Huayra with just 40 owners worldwide. Each one paid over €3 million for the car! 4. The Roadster BC is so fast it needs a blown diffuser like the one used in a Formula 1 car. This is a funnel fitted under the exhaust pipe. It takes in the air and gases passing over it and pulls the car onto the road to increase downforce through corners.…

18th Century Breakthroughs (Part 2) As the 18th century progressed, astronomers were as busy as beavers discovering all kinds of new things about the skies above us and about the Earth itself. Many of them were trying to use the ideas of Isaac Newton on gravity and those of Johannes Kepler on the laws of planetary motion. Of course, they were also enormously helped by the new, larger, telescopes that were being made at that time. The Earth’s wobble As a child, English astronomer James Bradley (1692-1762) lived with his uncle who was a keen astronomer and knew famous astronomers like Edmund Halley. Young James heard all about their astronomical investigations, and he grew up to make significant discoveries of his own. One of his important discoveries was ‘nutation’. This…

Match of the Month FIFA Club World Cup Final February 12 The biggest prize in world club football is up for grabs in Abu Dhabi. There has never been an Asian winner of the FIFA Club World Cup – although Asian teams have reached two of the last five finals. Could Asian Champions League winners Al Hilal or UAE side Al Jazira be the ones to make the breakthrough? Al Jazira face Tahiti’s AS Pirae in the opening game on February 3, with Al Hilal facing the winners three days later. European champions Chelsea await the winner of that second-round match. South American giants Palmeiras are on the other side of the draw. Bite Sized! Chelsea reached the FIFA Club World Cup final in 2012, losing 1-0 to Corinthians of…

Snappy Science Not everyone can snap or click their fingers, you know? If you are one of those who have yet to learn, we have good news: scientists have recently discovered the secret of the finger snap with the help of high-speed video. Friction is the answer, it seems – creating the right amount of grip between your two fingers. If you don’t press your fingers together hard enough, you won’t make a snap. But if you push your fingers too hard, the excess friction will also fail to deliver the sound. Are you a finger-clicking maestro? Try it out and see. Bite Sized! The speed of a finger snap is around 20 times faster than the blink of an eye. This places it as one of the fastest movements…

F is for … Finland Official Name: Republic of Finland Population: 5,518,962 (July 2021 Estimate) Capital: Helsinki Area: 338,440km² Mountains: Halti Mountain (1,324m), Sanna Lapponia (1,029m), Yllaastuturi Lapponia (718m) Major Rivers: Kemijoki River 522 km, Lijoki River 330km, Ounasjoki 298km Money: Euro Finland, called Suomi in the Finnish language, is a big country in northern Europe. It borders Sweden, Norway and Russia. Finland also has 1,250km of coastline along the Baltic Sea, the Gulf of Bothnia, and the Gulf of Finland. Finland’s history In the 12th century, the Kingdom of Sweden took control of Finland and ruled the country for almost 700 years. Swedish is still an official language in Finland, although most people use Finnish. In 1809, Russia took over and Finland only became an independent country in 1917. Finland’s…

Game: Madden NFL Creator: EA Tiburon Developer: EA Sports Released: June 1, 1988 Available on: All platforms Madden NFL 1. This popular American football video game was created by former player John Madden in 1984. However, it didn’t hit the shelves until 1988 as he wanted to refine it to make it as realistic as possible. 2. Madden NFL has run a computer simulation of the Super Bowl 17 times to try and predict the winner. It has been right 11 times, including in 2020, when it predicted the Kansas City Chiefs would beat the San Francisco 49ers. 3. The Madden video game . is older than most of the players currently playing in the NFL. Almost 60% of those playing today weren’t even born when the game first came…

CROSSWORD TIME ACROSS 1 The number of families getting dogs ___ during the COVID lockdowns (4) 4 A camel stores this in its hump (3) 7 The word ‘listen’ contains the same letters as the word ___ (6) 10 Jean ___: designer of the famous Arc de Triomphe in Paris, France (8) 11 The name given to the world’s first cloned sheep (5) 12 February 8: Safer ___ Day (8) 14 Gaming Zone’s featured gaming classic (6,3) 16 We share 98.6 per cent of our DNA with these creatures (4) 17 Esports will be one of the 37 sports to be played at the 2022 ___ Games (5) 19 The country where you will find the world’s first hotel built out of snow and ice (6) 20 One of the…

People Working in the Community A Fundraising Manager A fundraising manager is someone who collects money for charities, sports clubs or other organisations that rely on donations from the public. This could be an animal shelter, a school or even a museum. The manager tries to find supporters who will make donations. They also organise events so people can learn about all the good work they do. The job can also involve organising media coverage for the client. This could be in the form of an article in a newspaper, an interview on TV or radio, or a campaign through social media. This is called public relations, and it is very important in helping to raise awareness about what the organisation is doing and how someone’s donation can help. Although…