Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 93 i The Week Junior

A number of countries in southern Asia, including India, have experienced the heaviest monsoon rains in years. More than 1,288 people have died and millions more have been forced to flee their homes. What is a monsoon? People think a monsoon is a rain storm but it isn’t. A monsoon is a seasonal wind from the sea that causes the rain. In India, the summer monsoon season takes place every year from June to September. As the season changes to summer, warm, moist air above the Indian Ocean is blown inland by the strong monsoon winds. The heat from the land forces the moisture up into the clouds, where droplets gather and then fall as heavy rain. In winter, the monsoon wind blows in the opposite direction, carrying dry air…

WINNIE-THE-POOH FANS One of the most famous bears of all time is getting his own exhibition. In December, the Victoria and Albert Museum in London will display around 230 works of art from 1920 to the present day. Fans can see previously unseen sketches by E. H. Shepard. A RARE FIND A Roman mosaic described as the best find of its kind in more than 50 years has been uncovered at a site near Boxford in Berkshire. A mosaic is a picture or a pattern created using small tiles, stone or glass. This mosaic, dating back to AD380, shows mythical characters and a winged horse called Pegasus. FOOTBALL FUNDRAISING Firefighters who battled the blaze at the Grenfell Tower block of flats in June and survivors took part in a charity…

Measuring twice the size of India, the Amazon is the world’s largest rainforest, spreading across eight South American countries, including Peru, Venezuela and much of Brazil. It is home to 10% of all the world’s known species, including 40,000 types of plants, around 3,000 species of freshwater fish and 30 million people. On 30 August, a report revealed that 381 brand new species had been discovered in the Amazon during a two-year study – that’s roughly one previously unknown plant or animal every two days. The study, which is the third in a series and covered 2014 and 2015, was carried out by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and a Brazilian environmental group, called the Mamiraua Institute for Sustainable Development. Of the 381 new species, 216 were plants; 93 were…

Scientists have discovered an important fossil… hiding in plain sight in a museum. The Ichthyosaurus (pronounced ick-thee-oh-sawr-us) is the largest of its kind ever found. Spotted at the Lower Saxony State Museum in Hanover, Germany, the fossil of the giant swimming reptile is thought to be up to 3.3 metres long. That’s about the same as two fully grown adults lying end to end. Ichthyosaurs cruised the open oceans between 90 and 248 million years ago, during the Triassic, Jurassic and Cretaceous periods. They are like nothing alive today. Their needle-nosed jaws look like they belong to a crocodile, but the beast’s streamlined body and flippers are more like a dolphin’s. Its upright tail is shaped like a shark’s tail. Ichthyosaurus’s most distinctive feature, however, is its huge round eye…

With her woollen body and wooden ears, Blossom does not look like your typical robot. That’s because Blossom is a social robot designed to bring humans together. Robots like Blossom want to hang out with you. Her rabbit ears (which can be swapped for mouse ears) bop to music. She also responds to videos. Blossom’s developers say that this ability to react in human ways to emotional cues could make Blossom a great friend for children who need help interacting with others. The researchers hope that sitting and watching videos with Blossom, as she reacts to the emotions on show, could help children learn to pick up on emotions and show compassion, although the team doesn’t yet know if this will actually work. Unlike a typical hard, shiny, plastic robot,…

The sauce awakens After an epic tomato-flinging battle, participants at La Tomatina festival in Spain pose for a selfie. Virtually real A visitor tries out a virtual-reality headset at a technology fair in Berlin. Hold steady A teeny spider balances a drop of water on its head. Hats galore A man models his windmill-themed headgear at the annual Hat Festival in Dorset. Shake your tailfeathers A participant shows off her costume at the West Indian Day Parade in New York, US. Spend a penny This bear sculpture is made from more than 200,000 Canadian and US pennies. Big bridge The Red Arrows fly over the Queensferry Crossing in Scotland, to mark the bridge’s opening.…

YouTuber Colin Furze has made everything including a hover-bike, retractable Wolverine claws and magnetic shoes for walking on the ceiling. In his first book, Colin brings together some of his favourite inventions – and challenges you to get creative yourself. There are 10 fantastic projects for you to try, including simple ideas to get you started, as well as complex challenges for more experienced makers. All the projects can be completed at home, using only a basic toolkit and low-cost supplies you can find in your local hardware shop. You can also take a behind-the-scenes look in Colin’s bunker and shed, find out more about his inventions, and learn about everything to do with engineering and electronics. Who knows – you might even be inspired to become an inventor yourself.…

Grandmother from The Witches The Witches are among Dahl’s most terrifying creations. They’re fiendish and bald, with no toes, and their only goal is to hurt children in grim and gruesome ways. Grandmother warns our nameless hero of the witches’ revoltingness, and helps him to defeat the monsters. Mr Fox from Fantastic Mr Fox This ingenious fox is unafraid of the grumpy farmers who threaten him and his family. Not only is he prepared to escape their awful clutches, but even to steal their goods from right under their noses while he does it. Billy from Billy and the Minpins Billy is one of Dahl’s less famous heroes – but not for long. Against his mother’s orders, Billy sneaks into the Forest of Sin, where he discovers the little Minpins…

What equipment do I need? You’ll need a paddle, paddleboard, life jacket and leash, which loosely attaches you to the board. You should be able to hire all this from the club. Where can I paddleboard? There are centres everywhere that teach paddleboarding – on canals, lakes, rivers or by the sea. What if I fall off? Don’t worry – your leash will keep the board near you, and you’ll be wearing a life jacket. Just climb back on. If you have good technique, the chances of falling off are slim because the board is pretty sturdy. Learn more… ● Look on this map for your nearest paddleboarding club or school: supboardermag.com/ sup-club-school-directory ● Watch a video about it: tinyurl.com/TWJ-paddleboarding…

It’s believed that dogs have up to 300 million smell receptors in their noses, whereas humans only have six million. That’s why a charity, called Medical Detection Dogs, trains dogs to identify the smell of human diseases, such as cancer. The dogs are taught to detect tiny changes in a person’s odour, in samples such as swabs, breath and urine, which would have been altered by the disease. For more information, visit medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk…

The summer is almost over, and during this time many of you may have visited your nearest beach to swim in the sea, build sandcastles and enjoy some picnic treats in the sun. Sadly, some visitors forget to take their rubbish with them after their day out. They leave litter scattered across the beach, which is a threat to the country’s wildlife. From 15–18 September, people will be gathering on beaches across the country to pick up litter, such as plastic bottles and cans. For the first time ever, many of the plastics collected from the clean-up will be recycled into shampoo bottles. To find your nearest beach clean-up event, head to tinyurl.com/TWJ-beachclean JOKE OF THE WEEK Why did the teacher have to wear sunglasses? Because her class was so…

What you need to know ● Most mobile phones come with a built-in camera. More than 80% of the UK’s population has access to a smartphone. ● In 2015, a UK study found that smartphones are far more popular tools for photography than digital cameras among young people. Almost nine in 10 people aged between 16 and 24 use their smartphones when they want to take a photo. ● A US company called InfoTrends predicted that 1.2 trillion pictures would be taken in 2017. One trillion is 10 with 12 zeroes after it. The earliest-known surviving photo was taken in 1826. It was a grainy image of the view from a window. Throughout the 20th century, photography became more and more popular, as cameras became more accessible. In 2000, a…

Francesca Servini, keeper at ZSL London Zoo Komodo dragons are thought to live up to 30 years; however, they spend seven or nine of these years maturing. As babies, these lizards spend their time in trees where they feed on insects and bugs. They stay there until they are big and strong enough to defend themselves on the ground. Do you love animals? ZSL London Zoo’s Junior Zoo Academy is a great way to learn about creatures from all over the world. Find out more at zsl.org/experiences…

The first complete Ichthyosaur fossil was excavated in around 1810, in the cliffs of Dorset’s Jurassic Coast, by fossil finder Mary Anning. Wearing a top hat and with her little dog, Tray, by her side, Anning dodged waves as she scoured the cliffsides of the Dorset coastline. She found things never seen before, but received very little praise during her lifetime. Ichthyosaur Anning was about 11 years old when she uncovered the very first complete Ichthyosaur, near Lyme Regis, in around 1810. Plesiosaur Another world first came in 1824 with Anning’s discovery of the intact remains of another marine reptile, Plesiosaur. Pterosaur In 1828, Anning found a pterosaur – the first one ever to be discovered outside Germany, and the first complete one to be found anywhere in the world.…

Between 31 August and 3 September, more than 1,600 young athletes competed in the 2017 School Games. Held at Loughborough University in Leicestershire, England, competitors were aged between 13 and 18 and came from all around the UK. Gold, silver and bronze medals were up for grabs in athletics, cycling, fencing, hockey, judo, rugby sevens, swimming, table tennis and volleyball. Girls cricket was also played for the first time. Disabled athletes competed in athletics, cycling, fencing, swimming, table tennis, wheelchair basketball and wheelchair tennis. England’s Maisie Macartney had a memorable Games. The 15-year-old swimmer won four golds and one bronze, including victories in the 200-metre freestyle and 800-metre freestyle. Barry McClements, 15, from Northern Ireland picked up three golds in para-swimming events. Pippa Earley, from Notre Dame Senior School in…

What was your most embarrassing moment? Once I was standing on top of a float in the local festival, basically messing around on top of a lorry. We were going through a crowd when we went through some trees. I got whacked in the face by a load of branches, and a heap of pollen went up my nose and into my mouth. I went bright red and couldn’t stop coughing, and was on top of a truck with hundreds of people looking at me wondering what I was doing up there. It was a bit embarrassing but also quite funny. What’s your favourite invention ever? The bicycle! Bicycles are the best – you can do all sorts of cool stuff. You can ride it round the world, it’s super…

Mind Yeti Android / iOS (Free) Life can be stressful, whether the cause is homework, friends, annoying siblings or a combination of the lot. Luckily, there is a growing number of “mindfulness” apps that aim to help you think calmly and positively. Mind Yeti is the latest example. It’s designed for users aged five to 12 (“and their adults”) to use for a few minutes every day, watching and listening to its meditations. You start by choosing a topic: options include Calm Down, Focus, Get Along and Go To Sleep .. You can then choose from the different meditations in each category; 15 are included in the free download of the app. You can set favourites, too. They will download to your phone for offline listening. The app is free,…

What you need ● Paper ● Pencil I like my illustrations to provide emotions for the reader, whether that’s making them laugh, or making the adventure even more exciting. One of the main characters in The Wizards of Once is an enchanted spoon. To draw him, I take a pencil, and I draw a round bowl at the top of the spoon, and a long handle, and I add little Iron Age twirly details because this spoon is from that time period. The most important thing is the expression on the spoon’s face. If you turn the eyebrows up and put lines on either side of the face and little lines under the eyes, the spoon will look anxious, as in the top left of the picture (right). If you…

“My little sister, Lucy, my parents and I have spent the last four years driving around the world. We only have seven days left of our travels before we arrive back to the UK. We’ve been to 58 countries so far, in seven different continents. We like to sleep out in the wild in our 4x4 truck camper. We wiggled across the Andes; slept out on the ice in Antarctica (with no tent); slept by elephants and lions in Africa; drove across the Australian outback; squeezed through Indian bazaars (the most stressful thing ever); and even drove up to the base camp of Mount Everest. My sister has been travelling for half her life. We are returning to the UK so I can go into Year 8 at school. My…

“I was very excited when I saw the typewriter article in the latest The Week Junior. Here is a picture of me on my 8th birthday with my 1970s typewriter, which I use mostly to write scripts. I love it.” James, Year 4 “I love The Week Junior and read it every week! This is me reading the latest issue during the bank holiday weekend in the sunshine at my granny and grandpa’s.” Charles, Year 4 “This is my salad dressing. I made it from The Week Junior’s recipe.” Poppy, Year 5…

1 What was the asteroid that passed Earth on 1 September nicknamed? a) Florence b) Freddy c) Fiona 2 In which year did McDonald’s open its first UK restaurant? 3 Where in the world have popsicles been created to show the pollution problem in that country? a) Turkey b) Tanzania c) Taiwan 4 True or false? A US company has predicted that 1.2 trillion photographs will be taken this year. 5 Why will Princess Mako lose her title when she gets married next year? 6 What is the Nazca booby’s main food source? a) Octopus b) Sardines c) Turtles 7 On which day is UN International Day of Democracy? 8 What does exoskeleton mean? 9 What is the biggest tomato fight in the world called? a) La Tomatina b) Las…

The Japanese royal family is said to be able to trace its ancestry back 2,600 years, but in 2018 it stands to lose a key member. Princess Mako is the Emperor’s eldest granddaughter, but after her marriage she will no longer be a princess. In Japan, female royals lose their status when they marry a commoner – someone who isn’t also a member of the aristocracy. The princess doesn’t seem too fussed, however. “I’ve been aware since my childhood that I would lose royal status once I married,” she says. “While I’ve worked to help the emperor and fulfil duties as a royal family member as much as I can, I’ve been cherishing my own life.” What she means is that she has made sure that her life doesn’t just…

Recycling in Wales The Welsh government announced that Wales has met its target for 64% of its waste to be recycled four years earlier than scheduled. Environment secretary, Lesley Griffiths, said that Wales should be “extremely proud”. The Welsh government hopes that by 2050 all waste will be recycled. Nazca booby A study has found the Nazca booby, a seabird that lives on the Galápagos Islands in the Pacific, is under threat from the ocean’s rising temperatures. Experts believe the sea will become too hot for the birds’ main food source – sardines – to survive, putting the Nazca booby population at risk.…

Parliament is where big decisions are made about things that affect us – like hospitals, schools and the environment. When you think of Parliament, you might think of the House of Commons where Members of Parliament (MPs), elected by the public, meet to discuss important issues. You might also think of the House of Lords. Members of the House of Lords are not chosen by the public; most are chosen by the Prime Minister, based on their knowledge and experience. They question the Government and study new laws. The job of Parliament is to make sure that the Government’s decisions are fair and sensible. They do this by checking the facts and asking questions. This is sometimes known as scrutiny, and one place this happens is in select committees. What…

Beyond the Sky: You and the Universe by Dara O’Briain. Illustrated by Dan Bramall (Scholastic) Comedian Dara O’Briain has a passion for making science fun. His latest book invites you to travel with him on a journey into space. Travel beyond the sky to explore our universe, and find out more about what being an astronaut is really like. The Usborne Official Astronaut’s Handbook by Louie Stowell. Illustrated by Roger Simo (Usborne) How do you get to be an astronaut? What’s it like living on the International Space Station – and how do astronauts go to the loo? If you think you’d like to become an astronaut one day, this brilliantly informative book will give you an idea of whether it’s the job for you. Cosmic by Frank Cottrell Boyce.…

Puzzle Bobble Journey Android / iOS (from £4.79) The first Puzzle Bobble game, known as Bust-a-Move in some parts of the world, came out as long ago as 1994. It’s been reappearing ever since on different game devices, with this new mobile game the latest example. It puts you in the shoes – well, claws – of two cute dinosaurs, who have to shoot coloured bubbles at other coloured bubbles to make matches that pop them. The game is easy at first, to get you used to the controls, but with more than 270 levels, there’s plenty of time for it to get tricky. It’s a fun puzzler that makes you think before you shoot.…

“INSTEAD OF SITTING ON THE SOFA, BORED, TRY THIS!” Lucaa loves watersports and lives by the beach in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire, where his mum has a paddleboarding business called Ebb & Flo. “We run a kids’ club where you can try paddleboarding. You don’t have to be really good. I wasn’t that great when I started,” he says. “My tip is to stay calm. If you start panicking, the board will move more. And bend your knees slightly.” It’s great fun, he adds. “Instead of sitting on the sofa, bored, try this!” It’s the hottest craze right now. Even Hollywood stars are spending their summer holidays standing up on what look like giant surfboards, blissfully paddling themselves across the sea. This popular watersport is called stand-up paddleboarding, or SUP for short.…

At the end of last term, The Week Junior joined forces with Explore Learning and KidZania to ask our readers what they dream of doing when they grow up. We wanted to get you thinking about the skills you might need, the interests that would inspire your career choice and what you hope you might achieve by doing it. There are some fantastic prizes up for grabs – and just one week left to enter for your chance to win them. We’ve already received lots of amazing entries but it’s not too late for you to take part too. Simply head to theweekjunior.co.uk/  whenigrowup to find out more. Most of you will now be back at school, and the summer holidays may already seem a distant memory. We’d love…

Teacher’s name: Mr Grigg School: Belmont Primary School, London I would like to nominate my teacher, Mr Grigg, because he was kind to us this year. He explains what we have to do very well and always makes sure we understand. Mr Grigg helped me with my spelling and now I can spell very well. He was an Australian footballer and has inspired us to be healthier by eating well and playing more sports. Charlotte, Year 5 If we pick your teacher as Teacher of the Week, we’ll send your school three free issues of The Week Junior. Send your nominations, along with a picture of your teacher and your school’s full name and address to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk GET INVOLVED Email your news, viewsandpictures to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk Every reader who…

Follow The Week Junior on PopJam @TheWeekJunior You can download the free PopJam app from the App Store or GooglePlay. A Russian tanker has sailed through the Arctic without using an icebreaker for the first time in history. You said… “Shows what global warming is doing to the world” @luckyseagull2007 “That’s worrying. I don’t want penguins to become extinct” @aquapenguin123 “It just shows that global warming isn’t cool at all” @coolerthanicecream Bei Bei, a giant panda, has just turned two years old. To celebrate, his keepers threw him a party. “The keepers must have really bonded with him” @lovelaughlive1980 ‘Happy birthday!” @HankZipzer “Ace” @Benny_Farmboy517 “Aww! Pandas!” @stanrocks100 Tell us what you think of this week’s issue. We’ll give you a shout out if your post is printed here.…