Innehållsförteckning för August 2022 / Issue 35 från News Bites

Lightyear In Cinemas NowRated: PGStarring: Chris Evans as the voice of Buzz Lightyear and Keke Palmer as Izzy HawthorneDirected by: Angus MacLane Fans of Toy Story will welcome this latest Pixar production with open arms and Lightyear wings, as the original story of Buzz Lightyear, a space ranger in Star Command, finally gets told. The movie centres around a young astronaut (Buzz) who finds himself (and his crew) stranded on a planet far from home. However, Buzz must defeat an evil adversary called Zurg if he wants to make it back to Earth alive. But in true Lightyear style, plenty of adventures, thrills, spills and mine-boggling time travel come between him and his return mission. With lives depending on the successful creation of a hyperspace fuel to power his spaceship,…

Corvette Stingray Five Fast Facts 1. The Corvette is 70 years old in 2023 but the first Stingray model is 60 years old. Buyers of the new Stingray can order a special 70th anniversary paint job with pearl white or grey metallic paint and iconic stripes. 2. Chevrolet are also building a ‘performance’ version of the 2023 Stingray. The Z06 is built for the track and has added aerodynamic features and a bigger engine producing almost 700 horsepower. It can hit 100 km/h in under 2.5 seconds. 3. The new Stingray features a Rear Cross Traffic and Side Blind Spot Alert system. This alerts the driver on the dashboard if there is a danger of colliding with another car or pedestrian. 4. Chevrolet are planning to build a hybrid version…

Sometimes things are not quite as bad as we are led to believe. We are all familiar with heartbreaking pictures of polar bears standing on melting icefloes in these times of climate change. But I bet you don’t know that there is a place where 500 polar-bear mothers give birth every year – a place biologists call the ’Polar Bear Maternity Ward’! Located in the Arctic Ocean north of Siberia, eastern Russia, its official name is Medvezhyi Ostrov, meaning Bear Island. However, on maps it’s called ’Wrangel Island’, named after a German explorer who heard about it, searched for it and failed to find it! You’ll agree the Russian name makes much more sense! On Bear Island, nature is allowed to take care of itself. It is one of Russia’s…

Celebrating Our History The International Day of the World’s Indigenous People 2022 will take place on August 9. This special day of celebration was first set up by the United Nations (UN) in 1995. There are about 5000 indigenous nations in 90 countries worldwide – accounting for possibly as many as 500 million people. They are also known as First Peoples, First Nations, Aboriginal Peoples or Native Peoples. What Does Indigenous Mean? Like any ‘ethnic’ group (such as the ones we ourselves belong to), each group of indigenous people share an identity that makes them different. They have their own special ancestry, language, traditions, religion, clothes, art and of course physical appearance. What makes indigenous peoples different is the fact that they are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants…

World’s Fastest Computer The world’s first exascale computer has been invented. Exascale means that the computer, named Frontier, can complete more than a quintillion calculations per second. A quintillion is a massive number (1,000,000,000,000,000,000) – almost too big to comprehend. The new milestone in calculation speed will allow scientists to simulate how stars explode, make predictions about new sources of energy and help create new forms of artificial intelligence. In case you’re thinking of buying one, the Frontier computer is the size of a large warehouse! Electric Fabric Scientists from Singapore have created a new stretchy waterproof fabric that can turn the energy you generate from moving your body (called kinetic energy) into electricity! In tests, bending a piece of the new fabric generated enough electricity to light up 100…

Official Name: Republic of MadagascarArea: 587,295 km2Population: 29 millionCapital: AntananarivoMountains: Tsaratanana, Andringitra, AnkaratraRivers: Betsiboka, Mangoky, Onilahy, SofiaMoney: AriaryLanguages: Malgasy and French MADAGASCAR Madagascar is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, made up of one huge island with numerous small islands off its 5,000-kilometre coastline. Its main island is the fourth largest island in the world after Greenland, New Guinea and Borneo. It is separated from the east coast of Africa by the Mozambique Channel. Mozambique and Tanzania are its nearest neighbours on the continent of Africa. History It is believed that to arrive in Madagascar were sailors from Indonesia in the first century CE. In the 7th century Arabs began setting up trading posts in the northern coastal region. The first Europeans arrived in the 1500s, and in 1896…

The Turning Torso One of the most extraordinary skyscrapers in the world is in Malmo, Sweden. The Turning Torso is near the Öresund Strait, which is the border between Sweden and Denmark. It was designed by the famous Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. The Turning Torso was commissioned by a Swedish company called HSB which specialises in providing housing. Johnny Örbäck, HSB director at the time, saw one of Calatrava’s sculptures in a brochure. The white marble sculpture called ‘Twisting Torso’ resembled a twisting human body. Örbäck set up a meeting with Calatrava to discuss a building with a similar design. Building this amazing skyscraper was a huge task, simply because a twisting skyscraper had never been built before. Work began on February 14, 2001, and finished on August 27,2005. The…

Mission Control It’s right that we think of astronauts as heroes – especially the early ones, who were the first to face the unknown and take the risks. What courage they had! In fact, for the Apollo 11 mission to the Moon, US President Nixon’s speechwriter had prepared an ‘In Event of Moon Disaster’ speech. If the astronauts were stranded on the Moon, the plan was that a clergyman would ‘commend their souls to the deepest of the deep’ – like in a burial at sea. The president would then make the prepared speech, ending with: ‘For every human being who looks up at the moon in the nights to come will know that there is some corner of another world that is forever mankind.’ The Control Hub But there…

Sport not to be missed this month Fulham v Liverpool August 6 Liverpool begin their Premier League season with a trip to newly promoted Fulham, who couldn’t have asked for a more difficult start. Fabio Carvalho could make his Reds debut against his former side, having moved to Anfield in the summer, while all eyes will be on fellow new signing Darwin Nunez. South Africa v New Zealand August 6 & 13 The Rugby Championship kicks off in style as New Zealand travel to South Africa to face the world champions in back-to-back fixtures. The All Blacks have dominated this competition since it was created in 2012, winning seven of the nine titles. Anthony Joshua v Oleksandr Usyk August 20 These boxing heavyweights meet in a crunch rematch in Saudi…

Inbee Park Born: July 12, 1988 Sport: Golf Titles: Seven majors, 41 career titles Inbee Park is considered one of the greatest putters in the history of golf. The South Korean only turned 34 last month yet already has seven major championship victories to her name along with an Olympic gold medal, and many of those were based on her skills with a putter. Park’s talent was spotted very early and she was aged just 12 when she travelled to the United States to work with some of the best coaches in golf. She won nine titles on the junior golf circuit in the USA, including the US Girls’ Junior Championship in 2002. Upon completing her studies in Las Vegas, Park turned professional in 2006 and claimed 11 top-10 finishes…

Dinosaur for Sale A fossilised Gorgosaurus skeleton will be auctioned off on July 28 through Sotheby’s in New York. This type of dinosaur lived 76 million years ago. Like its relative the T. rex, this dinosaur was an apex carnivore, meaning it was at the top of the food chain with no predators. But T. rex lived ten million years later. This Gorgosaurus skeleton is 3 metres tall and 6.7 metres long. It was discovered in Montana, US, in 2018. Most other Gorgosaurus skeletons found have been placed in museums, making this one going up for auction even more unusual. And one has to wonder where the private owner will keep this new ‘member of the family’! The auction house, Sotheby’s, predicts this excellent specimen will sell for almost $5…

This month in history 60 years ago! AUG 1 1962 On this day Marvel Comics’ superhero Spider-Man first appeared, in Amazing Fantasy comic issue #15. Soon the publisher was shocked to find it was one of Marvel’s highest-selling comics. A solo Spider-Man series followed, beginning with The Amazing Spider-Man #1 in 1963. It became Marvel’s top-selling series. One of the reasons for this was that young people could relate to Spider-Man. Before that, teenagers in superhero comic books were only sidekicks to the hero – but high-school student Peter Parker was himself the hero. He is now more popular than ever, with three recent live-action movies. 90 years ago! AUG 24 1932 On this day Amelia Earhart became the first woman to fly non-stop across the USA: 3,986 km (2,477…

Crossword Time Across 6 100-year-old Walter Orthmann comes from this South American country (6) 7 Are nano-robots huge or tiny? (4) 8 The world’s tallest mountain (5,7) 9 The Moon does not produce any __________ (5) 12 The richest person in the world (4,4) 13 August 27: Rock, Paper, __________ Day (8) 16 __________ Earhart became the first woman to fly non-stop across the USA (6) 17 Neil Armstrong was an American ____________ (9) 18 The Earth follows an elliptical orbit around the __________ (3) 19 A method of selling something, where bids are taken (7) 20 The name of the world’s first exascale computer (8) 21 Creator of the Spider-Man comics (6) Down 1 Treasure was often buried with the dead in Egypt because people believed they could take…

4 Good Reasons to … Listen 1. You learn If you are reading this, it means you listened well to your teachers in school – from junior infants to now. How else would you have learned your alphabet, or how to sound out words, or how to read? By listening to others, especially in school and at home, you learn how to do things well, how to act in certain situations, and how to become the best version of you. If you spend your time talking, or daydreaming when you should be listening, you may find yourself lost or in need of help when it comes to carrying out a task. 2. It makes you a better friend Listening is one of the most important things you can do with…

Big Kick-Off August 5 The Premier League returns on August 5 and it promises to be one of the most open seasons in years. The battle for the title has been a two-horse race in recent seasons. Manchester City and Liverpool have been a class above the rest and enjoyed some fantastic tussles, but season they could have some company at the top of the table. Chelsea are under new ownership and their manager Thomas Tuchel has plenty of money to spend, so expect some big-money signings at Stamford Bridge before the transfer window closes on September 1. Their London rivals Tottenham have already been busy in the transfer market. Qualifying for this season’s UEFA Champions League helped them clinch some big signings such as forwards Ivan Perisic and Richarlison…