Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2024 i Brainspace

physics Young or old, everyone loves to fly paper airplanes. Folding paper to form a glider and competing against other flyers is a tradition that has been around for decades. Paper planes teach us a lot about how real planes stay in the air. WHo Made tHe First paper pLaNe? Some say the Japanese, who invented origami, are the creators of the first paper airplane 2,000 years ago. Others believe that Leonardo da Vinci's experiments with flying machines may have inspired the very first paper plane. However, Jack Northrop, an aviation specialist, is credited for the design of the paper airplane in 1930. WHat MaKeS a paper airpLaNe FLy? You do! With the help of aerodynamic forces: thrust, lift, gravity and drag. AerodyNaMicS Aerodynamics is the study of the forces…

climate A rain gauge is a meteorological instrument used to measure precipitation. You'd likely see one used by a meteorologist or hydrologist (someone who uses scientific knowledge to solve water-related problems) at a weather station. Other names for a rain gauge that you might hear are pluviometer or udometer. A rain gauge measures the amount of rain that has fallen in one place over a particular amount of time. Scientists use a few types of rain gauges; however, most devices use a cylinder that catches rain. In Canada, rainfall, snowfall, and other precipitation (including drizzle, freezing rain and hail) are measured using a standard Canadian rain gauge. Precipitation is funneled into a graduated cylinder that is 36.5 cm high and 12.5 cm in diameter. At principal weather stations in Canada,…

ecology Would you like a few honey-mustard crickets sprinkled over your salad? How about a tasty taco filled with spicy fried chapulines (grasshoppers)? Gabriele Curcio, age 11, voted “No thanks” when his family ordered a plate of roasted crickets at a restaurant in Mexico. “I didn't like the idea of eating something that had been jumping around in the dirt,” he says. But his mom, dad, and five-year-old brother Simon all tried them – and liked them! “Simon said they tasted like corn,” says Gabriele. His dad, Dave, says, “They were crunchy and the taste reminded me of seasoned peanuts.” In many parts of the world, eating insects is nothing new – but it's not common in North America and Europe. That may be starting to change. A few years…

It starts with Alleles Alleles are a few different versions of genes. For instance there's an allele responsible for blue eyes, one for green and another for brown. What's fun is that alleles might play a part in determining our quirky abilities too! Here are a few examples: taste buds Did you know that the ability to taste bitter phenylthiocarbamide (PTC) present in foods like cabbage and pepper is a dominant genetic trait? Sensitivity to PTC is a common genetic test used to trace family lineages and migration patterns. You can also test with cilantro or broccoli. If you taste a bitterness or soapy flavour, you are part of the 70% who have an adverse reaction. Odds are high that a parent reacts the same way you do. GENETICS OR…

biology You're probably thinking, “Ewww gross!” It's a natural response. But poop is just as natural and extremely important to our health. There are great reasons to be aware of your poop. And poop is useful to more than just humans. Read on! Tummy aches happen often for young people. A growing and changing body can feel a bit unusual at times. Often though, tummy aches are due to dehydration caused by a lack of water or the digestive system's need of fibre. But if stomach issues such as pain, constipation or diarrhea last for more than a few days, ask to see a doctor. The chart below is called the Bristol Stool Chart and it helps you to describe your poop to a doctor. It's important to check before…

biology WHY ARE CHEMISTS GREAT AT SOLVING PROBLEMS? THEY HAVE ALL THE SOLUTIONS! Funny jokes are meant to make us laugh, but have you ever thought about why and how we laugh? Let's see if laughter really is the best medicine. WHAT EXACTLY IS LAUGHTER? Laughter is the physiological reaction to finding something funny. It's made up of two parts – physical reactions, including body movements or gestures, and the production of sound. Your laugh might sound like a shriek or a giggle, and if something is funny enough, you might slap your knee or wave your hands wildly. Laughter is a spontaneous reflex, which means we do it subconsciously, or without thinking about it. It just happens! Laughter causes the involuntary contraction of 15 facial muscles, which makes you…

biology Your knee jerks when tapped; your arms feel like they're being lifted by an invisible force; you have an intense sensation of falling through the air yet you're asleep; your eye starts twitching uncontrollably. All of these are just a few of the odd and surprising bodily responses you may have experienced. Seemingly, your body is acting out without your brain's control. In some cases, it's a simple brain signal mixup. Yet, other reactions have scientific reasons, and your body is acting in your defence. It's worth listening to what your body is telling you. Here are a few examples: SLEEP DROP Have you ever been jolted awake while you were dreaming, maybe because you felt like you were falling or you got scared? There's a scientific reason for…

technology LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH THIS VIDEO In one unforgettable scene from the television series Spy in the Wild, a mother crocodile gathers her newly hatched babies into a special pouch in her mouth. She needs to carry them from dry land, where baby crocs are easy prey for predators, to water where they will be safer. It's fascinating to watch her gently scoop up the babies without hurting them with her sharp teeth. Even more amazing is that some of the footage is filmed from inside the crocodile's mouth! You know, kind of like the last thing an unlucky animal might see before it is eaten! How did they do that? One of the baby crocs was actually a camera-equipped robot! It looked so much like a real baby…

biology As humans evolved, our sense of taste helped us choose which foods to consume and which ones to avoid. Taste begins as soon as food breaks down in your mouth. As you chew, enzymes in saliva reduce food to identifiable molecules. The job of analyzing those molecules falls to the taste buds, flower budlike receptors found within papillae (puhpil-ee), those tiny bumps found on the tongue and throughout the mouth. Receptors in your mouth identify five specific tastes: savoury, sour, sweet, bitter and salty. TASTE BUDS are made up of about 10 to 15 cells grouped together in bunches similar to orange segments. Tiny finger-like hairs stick out from the cells, reaching out to direct molecules into taste pores where they are analyzed. Once a molecule has been identified,…

space Protecting everybody on Earth is a hard job for our atmosphere. When solar storms threaten us, the Earth defends with a secret weapon all its own. Imagine this: You're sitting by the window watching a thunderstorm. You can hear the pounding of the rain and the whooshing of the wind. You see a bright flash of lightning come out of nowhere. Any second, there will be thunder… bang! Space doesn't have thunderstorms but it does have something similar: solar storms. Thunder and Lightning The lightning from a solar storm is called a flare. A flare occurs when the Sun spits out much stronger X-ray radiation than usual. X-rays travel at the speed of light and arrive on Earth without any warning. Just like lightning, you never really know when…

geography Did you know that there are mountain ranges under the ocean? These underwater mountains are called seamounts. Scientist Erin Easton, a professor at the University of Texas, studies the animals and other organisms that live on and around seamounts. She co-led an international team of scientists and students on two recent expeditions on the Schmidt Ocean Institute's research vessel, Falkor (too), to map and explore the Salas y Gómez and Nazca Ridges. These underwater mountain chains stretch 2,900 kilometres, from the coast of Chile towards Rapa Nui (Easter Island). LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH THIS VIDEO SO MUCH NEVER-BEFORE-SEEN LIFE This area, explains Dr. Easton, has a very unique environment with many different habitats and conditions, so the exploration team expected to find some new species. But, she says, “we…

biology RULES OF PLAY Go outside, in a park, at home, or in your neighbourhood, and check off as many of the living creatures on this page as you can. Play with friends by downloading this Bio-Bingo card at brainspacemagazine.com. Choose a bingo goal: vertical line, horizontal line, diagonal line or full card. Now hunt! No need to pick flowers, tear leaves or disturb any living thing – simply list where your finds were spotted on the back of the card. The greatest fun is that the game changes every day. So play again and again. USE ZAPPAR TO LINK TO PRINTABLE BINGO SHEET…

engineering Since ancient times, scientists such as Aristotle have observed birds and animals to record and interpret the mysteries of the natural world. In recent years, however, that observation has improved dramatically with advances in technology. Animal tracking devices are lightweight and much more effective, allowing scientists to track more species. These devices can also transmit additional measurements, such as the speed at which an animal is travelling, the temperature of its body and its environment, and even its heart rate. Research Using Space Artificial intelligence is used to quickly process the tracking device data. Data about migration, the availability of food or the surface temperature of the sea assists scientists to determine how the environment is affecting animals. Tracking seed dissemination Tracking animals also shows the effect they have…

biology Do you have strong likes or dislikes when it comes to the foods you eat? Maybe you're a picky eater. Or maybe you belong to the quarter of the population who are supertasters! For a supertaster, flavours in food taste much stronger than those experienced by other eaters. That's because supertasters have more taste buds than most. They often find foods that other people enjoy to be too bitter. FACT We have anywhere from 2,000 to 10,000 taste buds in our mouths and these numbers vary from person to person. While taste buds are the only part of the nervous system that can completely regenerate, they do become less sensitive as we age. That may be why foods you don't like as a child become more acceptable as you…

physics Rest an egg on the top of a bottle. There's no way that egg is going to fit inside, right? Let's try an experiment using temperature and pressure to find out. LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH THIS VIDEO You will need • A hard-boiled egg (without its shell) • A heat-proof glass bottle with 1.5 - 2 inch opening • A sheet of paper towel • A lighter or match • Adult supervision Method 1. Take the piece of paper towel and stuff it into the bottle, keeping a small tip of the paper out for lighting. Keep the bottle tipped so the paper doesn't drop to the bottom, yet. 2. ADULT ASSISTANCE: Using a lighter or match, light the paper and set the bottle upright so the paper falls…

geology BLUE HOLE VS. CENOTE A CENOTE (SAY-NO-TAY) IS ON LAND. A BLUE HOLE IS ON THE OCEAN FLOOR. LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH THIS VIDEO HOW DEEP IS IT? Scientists don't actually know how deep this hole is, because they haven't yet reached the bottom! Sonar is commonly used to calculate the depth of water. But when scientists sent a sonograph signal into Taam Ja’ in 2023, the signal got “swallowed up” 274 metres below sea level. The likely reason is that it reached a pycnocline: a sharp boundary where the water density changes, which can scatter acoustic signals. In 2023, another attempt was made to measure the depth of Taam Ja’ by dropping a line into the middle of the eye. At its end was an instrument for measuring…