Innholdsfortegnelse for No. 141 i The Week Junior

On 12 August, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe blasted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the US, on a daring mission to travel closer to the Sun than any spacecraft has ever attempted before. The rocket will fly past the planet Venus before arriving at our nearest star in around 12 weeks. It is also set to become the fastest man-made object in history. What happened? At 3.31am local time, the Delta IV Heavy rocket, with the car-sized probe on board, launched into space. Thousands of spectators lined the roads and riverbanks near Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to catch a glimpse of the important mission, which has been 60 years in the making. What will the probe do? The Parker Solar Probe will dip in and out of the Sun’s…

18 August 1983 An unbreakable swimming record On 18 August 1983, Samantha Druce became the youngest girl to swim across the English Channel. It took her 15 hours and 27 minutes to swim from Dover, in England, to Cap Gris-Nez, in France. She was just 12 years old. The record cannot be beaten now because the minimum age to swim across the Channel is 16. Earlier in the day, Alison Wetherly, who was also 12, swam from France to England and held the record for just four hours. Druce was 43 days younger than Wetherly, so she broke the record.…

● 3D printing is when information is sent to a 3D printer, which then creates three-dimensional objects from materials such as plastic and metal based on the information it receives. ● 3D printing is used to make items that change people’s lives, such as artificial limbs. It is also used by NASA to make spare parts in space. ● Some people are concerned that 3D printers can be used to create weapons by anyone who has the instructions. ● The printers are becoming cheaper and you can buy a basic one for a few hundred pounds. However, top-range printers can cost more than £50,000.…

On the second Friday of August, the extraordinary figure of the Burryman wanders around South Queensferry, in Scotland, to ward off evil spirits. For the past seven years, the Burryman (also known as Andrew Taylor) has dressed from head to toe in 20,000 spiky burrs (seeds) from the burdock plant. Once covered in the burrs, and with only a small gap for his eyes, the Burryman walks through the town all day with his arms outstretched, helped by two assistants. It is thought the ritual started 900 years ago, and that if you give him money or whisky it will bring good luck for the rest of the year. Only people born in the town can become the Burryman. Taylor said, “It’s such a unique, brilliant tradition that I hope…

This park is home to the tallest waterfall in Northern Ireland. It was carved out by melting glaciers at the end of the last ice age 10,000 years ago. Ness is a remnant of ancient oak woodlands and is home to the purple hairstreak butterfly, a species that’s rarely found in Northern Ireland. You will also find a diverse range of trees, including sweet chestnut, silver fir and cherry laurel along with ponds and wildflower meadows. Find out more at tinyurl.com/TWJ-ness…

If you’ve ever caught a tummy bug you will know that it isn’t a very nice experience. The illness is caused by a group of microscopic viruses that are passed from person to person by touching something contaminated with that virus, or from sneezing and coughing. For years, scientists believed that viruses acted alone, seeking out a host body to infect, but new research suggests they like to infect their victims in packs. Researchers from the National Institutes of Health, in the US, were studying poo samples from people who were infected with rotavirus or norovirus. Rotavirus is the biggest cause of diarrhoea in children in the world, and norovirus is an extremely infectious tummy bug. What they found was virus clusters packed into fatty spheres. “It blew my mind,”…

A Chase in Time by Sally Nicholls. Illustrated by Brett Helquist (Nosy Crow) When Alex and his sister are pulled through an old mirror, they find themselves transported back to 1912. The family they meet are in need of their help, and there are car chases and treasure hunts in store as they race to find a missing historical artefact. Will they ever be able to find their way back? Peril in Paris by Katherine Woodfine. Illustrated by Karl James Mountford (Egmont UK) All aboard the train to Paris! Sophie and Lil, the heroines of the Sinclair’s Mysteries series, are back in this thrilling new adventure. On a mission for the mysterious Secret Service Bureau, they must leave London for the grand boulevards and elegant hotels of Paris, where danger…

The Prince of Egypt DVD, iTunes, Prime Video Celebrating its 20th birthday later this year, The Prince of Egypt remains a hugely ambitious telling of the story of Moses, based on the book of Exodus from the Bible. So keen were the filmmakers to accurately reflect the story, that religious experts from a range of faiths were asked to consult on the film. The result is an animated musical and went on to win an Oscar for its lead song. For a while, it was the most successful non-Disney animated films of all time. DID YOU KNOW? The Prince of Egypt was supposed to be the very first film from DreamWorks Animation – but Antz was released ahead of it at the last minute.…

Overcooked 2 PS4 / Xbox One / Switch How hard can it be to run a kitchen in a popular restaurant? Based on Overcooked 2, it can be incredibly stressful, especially if your friends or family members are your fellow chefs, but it can also be brilliant fun. The game lets up to four players – either playing together in the same room or online – work together to make different recipes, from sushi to salads. You’ll be fetching plates and even flinging ingredients to one another. There are twists: one kitchen dangles from an airship, for example, while another floats along a river. It’s one of the best multi-player games of the year.…

I became interested in saving water last year when I discovered that only a small amount of water on Earth is available for people to use. There are lots of ways you can save water: have a shower instead of a bath, don’t run the water when you’re brushing your teeth and don’t waste ice cubes – if you drop them on the floor you could put them in your dog or cat’s bowl, which they might like on a sunny day. Water is the essence of life, so you don’t want to waste it.…

What you need A clean plastic bottle with a lid Coloured tape Scissors 15 kebab sticks Marbles Instructions Stick the tape around the top and bottom of your bottle, as seen in the picture. Next, cut all of your kebab sticks in half. Keeping between the coloured bands of tape, carefully pierce holes at different points of the bottle with the scissors. Push your sticks all the way though at various angles until they come out of holes on the other side. Repeat until enough sticks cross over one another to stop the marbles from falling through. Once you’re satisfied you have enough, unscrew the bottle and put the marbles inside, then screw the lid back on. To play, simply pull one stick out of the bottle at a time,…

Wythall Animal Rescue Based in South Birmingham, Wythall Animal Rescue is a shelter that rescues and houses neglected animals, such as birds, cats, dogs, guinea pigs and other small pets. The charity’s goal is to find new homes for these animals, as well as to teach the public how to become responsible pet owners so that fewer animals are harmed in the future. The shelter runs events all year round to raise funds for the animals in their care. For more information, visit wythallanimalrescue.org…

Teacher’s name: Mrs King School: Upton Noble Primary School, Somerset “I think my teacher, Mrs King, deserves the position of Teacher of the Week because she always helps children in our class gain confidence and resilience. She always has the best jokes and every day she’s kind and generous and makes boring lessons fun. She is a very trustworthy teacher and I could tell her anything that was troubling me.” Poppy, Year 4 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…

Trump toilet paper The Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland is famous for its comedies and plays, but there’s one businessman who has proved so popular during the event, you could say he’s rolling in it. Tim Baker, a 29-year-old originally from New Zealand, has been selling around 250 rolls of toilet paper a day that have the face of US President Donald Trump printed on them. Baker has permission to sell his loo rolls from a trolley in the streets and since coming up with the idea at Christmas, he has sold between 7,000 and 8,000 rolls. Bearly believable At first glance, there doesn’t seem to be anything surprising about this picture of Paddington Bear, dressed in his usual blue overcoat and famous red hat. Look again. It’s actually not…

1What is the name of the outermost part of the Sun’s atmosphere? a) Photosphere b) Chromosphere c) Corona 2In which year did the First World War end? 3True or false? A retirement home for animals can be found in Belarus. 4What is NASA using 3D printing for? a) Making toys for aliens b) Printing spare parts in space c) Creating plastic trees so they can decorate the International Space Station. 5True or false? Marie Curie was born in Poland. 6What do lemurs bite to make medicine? 7When did the transatlantic slave trade end? a) Early 1800s b) Mid 1800s c) Late 1800s 8Where has a dinosaur superhighway recently been discovered? 9True or False? A farmer has grown Buddha-shaped pears in China. 10Which country won the 2018 FIFA World Cup? a)…

This is the first NASA mission to be named after a living person: Eugene Parker. In 1958, Parker wrote a scientific paper about the existence of solar winds. His groundbreaking research helped scientists understand how stars work. A memory card carrying photos of Parker and his research has been placed on board the Parker Solar Probe with a message saying, “Let’s see what lies ahead”. After watching the rocket blast off, Parker said, “Wow, here we go! We’re in for some learning over the next several years.”…

AN INCREDIBLE FIND When Ben Bishop from Somerset found what he thought was a can’s ring-pull while out metal detecting, he had no idea that it was actually a rare piece of jewellery, thought to be 500 years old. The ring will be auctioned next month and could fetch up to £10,000. DISCOVERING A MOUNTAIN Miller Moss, a hill in the Lake District, has been reclassified as a mountain. At 609 metres, it was one metre too short to qualify as a mountain – until Graham Jackson and John Barnard decided to remeasure it. They found that it stands at 610.1 metres, enough to make it the 446th mountain in England and Wales. A BRILLIANT RECOVERY A teenager from Glasgow who was given a 1% chance of fully recovering from…

This month, Marie Curie was voted in BBC History magazine as the woman who has had the most significant impact on world history. She was a pioneering scientist known for her research in radioactivity and was the first woman to win a Nobel prize – and the first person to ever win it twice. These annual prizes are among the world’s most important science awards. Curie was born Maria Skłodowska in Warsaw, Poland, on 7 November 1867. When she was 24 she moved to Paris, the capital of France, to study physics (a branch of science that focuses on how forces affect objects) and mathematics at Sorbonne University. It was there that she met her future husband, the professor of the School of Physics, Pierre Curie. Together, they investigated radioactivity…

Francesca Servini Keeper, ZSL London Zoo A chameleon can change its colour by rearranging microscopic crystals beneath the surface of its skin, so that only certain colours of light are reflected off it. If these crystals are close together, then only blue and green colours are reflected. When the chameleon makes the crystals further apart, other colours, such as yellow, orange and red, can be seen. 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…

A virus is a very small organism – many times smaller than bacteria – but it is not considered a living cell. This is because viruses cannot reproduce or thrive without a host body. Once a virus gets inside a person’s body, it burrows into a cell. It then replicates itself thousands of times until the new viruses burst out from inside the cell before travelling through the bloodstream, infecting more and more cells. The symptoms you get from tummy bugs, such as vomiting, are not only caused by the virus. They are also caused by your body’s response to get rid of the virus.…

Robots have the potential to help humans do their jobs better, but what about a human-machine hybrid? Car maker Ford has given its employees robotic suits that allow them to lift heavy objects without getting injured, and stop workers from getting too tired while doing tasks such as reaching up with power tools. Workers at Ford factories around the world are constantly moving and lifting heavy objects while they build vehicles. The company says that, for some workers, it is the equivalent of lifting a bag of flour or a watermelon above their head 4,600 times a day. The suit, called EksoVest, is mechanical, wraps around the wearer and uses springs to provide assistance when they are lifting.…

Demelza and her new best friend Nessa set out to discover the legendary treasure of the Penfurzy Knights in this exciting adventure story. In their quest around the sleepy Cornish island of Penfurzy, the girls are aided by their goose sidekick, Captain Honkers, and their noble steeds, otherwise known as their bikes. With the help of Demelza’s mum’s old notebook, can they solve the puzzles and find the lost treasure? They’ll need all their bravery and ingenuity if they’re going to face down the danger that lies ahead – not to mention a crazy assortment of frisbees, water balloons and even a toilet plunger! With a great central friendship between Nessa and Demelza, this is a story that is full of heart, as well as a huge amount of fun.…

If you could go back to Roman London for the day, what would you want to do? I’d like to walk through the streets and take in all the sights and smells. It would be great to visit someone’s home and see how they lived. What can Roman skeletons tell us? Chemicals from drinking water are locked into a person’s tooth enamel (the outer layer of teeth) during childhood, and chemicals from local soil and rocks are incorporated into bones throughout a person’s life when they eat meat, seafood, fruits and vegetables. Experts compare these chemicals to maps of the world showing areas of different soil and rainwater to work out where people spent their lives. How did the arrival of Romans and their inventions transform Britain? The Romans introduced…

Christopher Robin At cinemas nationwide Christopher Robin is all grown up: he’s got a new life, a great job and a loving family, yet he can’t help but feel lost. That’s until he bumps into his old friend, Winnie-the-Pooh, who’s lost his friends and needs help getting back to the Hundred Acre Wood. Spirit Riding Free: season 6 Available now on Netflix Saddle up for more episodes of Spirit Riding Free, the series based on the 2002 film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. Join ex-city girl Lucky and her four-legged pals, including a wild Arabian stallion, as she finds more adventure. Saving Planet Earth Fixing a Hole 8pm on 18 August, Channel 4 This documentary explores what is happening to our planet’s climate and looks back to the environment’s first…

If you’ve been taught about the environment in school, you might have learned about the importance of water. It’s crucial for so many of the everyday things we do: cooking, drinking, washing and, of course, flushing the toilet. However, although it might always be there whenever you turn on the tap, water is a limited resource. If it doesn’t rain enough we can run out, so it’s important that we only use the water we need. “You might think we don’t need to worry about saving water as it rains so much in this country, but some parts of the UK get less rain than parts of Australia,” says Trewin Restorick of environmental charity Hubbub. “The water we use is normally collected over the autumn and winter and lasts through…

What you need Spongecutinhalf height ways) Paints Permanent pens Scissors Ruler Paintbrushes Instructions Begin by drawing a waffle shape onto your sponge – use a ruler to keep the lines straight. Then, following the lines you’ve drawn, cut the sponge into a waffle shape. You can ask an adult to help cut out the holes if it’s too tricky. Paint the waffle beige all over, adding lighter or darker colours on top to make your waffle look more realistic. Add dark brown paint to create the illusion of chocolate sauce and white paint for the cream. Finally, add a few colourful dots of paint on top to add the sprinkle effect. Your squishie will look good enough to eat (but honestly, don’t – it will taste nothing like a…

Follow The Week Junior on Popjam@TheWeekJunior. You can download the free Popjam app from the App Store or Google Play. We asked you if the age limit of Fortnite should be raised. You said… “Fortnite is far too violent for young kids to play so the age limit must be raised” @carnival987 “It does not matter as people of lower ages will still play it” @craftingdino Our Popjammers have been busy making banana milkshakes. Here’s what they had to say about them… “Me and my brother loved it!” @shadow07 “I might exchange the cinnamon for cocoa powder because I don’t like cinnamon” @sing6 “I love milkshakes” @Aerukid Tell us what you think of this week’s issue. We’ll give you a shout-out if your post is printed here. The Week Junior…

World records have been smashed after a new generation of elite athletes scooped gold medals at the European Championships, which ended on 12 August. Russia emerged victorious with 31 golds, followed by Great Britain in second place with 26. Italy finished in third place with 15. The new competition, co-hosted by Glasgow and Berlin, lasted 11 days and brought a range of individual sports together for the first time. The organisers set out to attract a big audience for the contest by creating what they describe as a “must-watch, must-attend experience” and “the most captivating multisport event possible”. Team GB sprinter Dina Asher-Smith stole the show with three gold medals. The first was for the 100-metre sprint and the second for the 200-metre sprint, in which she also broke her…

The former Foreign Secretary, Boris Johnson, could be expelled from the Conservative Party after saying that Muslim women who wear niqabs and burqas (veils that cover most of the face) “look like letterboxes”. The comment has angered many people and Johnson has been accused of Islamophobia. What is Islamophobia? Islamophobia is the term for unfair, unequal or unkind behaviour towards people because they are Muslims (people who follow the religion of Islam). Threatening or attacking someone because of their race or religion is a hate crime in the UK, meaning it is against the law. What did Johnson say? On 5 August, Johnson wrote a newspaper article criticising Denmark’s decision to ban women from wearing niqabs and burqas. A niqab is a veil that covers all of the face except…

A2.75-metre-long blue shark has been spotted in St Ives harbour, in Cornwall. This species isn’t commonly seen off the Cornish coast in such shallow waters; they usually stay further out to sea. Blue sharks are thought to be the most wide-ranging species of shark, travelling vast distances and visiting UK waters in the summer months. “To see a free-swimming blue shark close to shore like this is a real privilege,” said John Richardson from The Shark Trust.…

Earless pygmy toad A new species of earless pygmy toad has been discovered around 1,500 metres above sea level on a mountain in Angola, Africa. The amphibian, which has no ears, has been given the Latin name Poyntonophrynus pachnodes, which roughly means “frosty pygmy toad”. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo Five animals at a zoo, in Colorado in the US, died after being bombarded by baseball-sized hailstones. A Cape vulture, a duck, two peacocks and a meerkat pup died during the freak storm. Twenty-one visitors were injured, and 300 cars were wrecked or badly damaged by the ice.…

The transatlantic slave trade is the term used to describe the horrific system in which Africans were bought and sold, much like items in a shop, by European and American people who forced them to work for free. This slave trade ran from the 1500s until the early 1800s. It is thought that around a fifth of all slaves taken from Africa died on their journeys across the Atlantic ocean. Triangular trade route The first stage of the trade route took European goods such as weapons and alcohol to Africa in exchange for slaves. The Africans were then taken to the Caribbean and the Americas (the continents of North and South America) where they were exchanged for local goods such as sugar, coffee and tobacco. These were sent to Europe.…

To sleep, you need to feel sleepy. Your body releases a hormone (body chemical) called melatonin that helps you on your way to the land of nod. Melatonin release is controlled by a few things, including the type of light around us. Different colours affect the release of melatonin in different ways. Blue light slows the release of melatonin more than any other colour. So, when blue light levels are low (as they are around sunset), melatonin release is high, making you feel sleepy. The trouble is that we don’t rely on just natural light any more. Screens produce lots of blue light. This means when you look at a screen at bedtime, the blue light slows melatonin release and stops you from feeling sleepy. Email questions to hello@theweekjunior.co.ukwith the…

England Test cricket team They beat India at Lord’s Cricket Ground in London to take a 2-0 lead in the series. Lauren Hemp She scored three goals for the England Under-20 football team in a 6-1 win over Mexico at the FIFA Women’s Under-20 World Cup. Brooks Koepka The US golfer became the US PGA champion on 12 August. Koepka also won the US Open in June. Jakob Ingebrigtsen The 17-year-old from Norway won gold at the European Championships in the 5,000-metre and 1,500-metre races. His older brother Henrik won silver in the 5,000-metre event.…

What was your favourite adventure when you were a child? My best adventures were always on my granny’s farm in Ireland. There was a very spooky overgrown wood. Me and my cousin decided to go in and beat a path through the brambles to conquer our fear of it. We thought we were there for about an hour, but when we came out it was hours later and everyone was looking for us. My granny said it was because we sang while walking widdershins (anticlockwise) so the fairies came and took us to their world for a while. What super power do you wish you had? To fix anything with a snap of my fingers, from things that don’t work and broken bones to problems caused by politicians’ bad decisions.…

Premier League – Official App Android / iOS (Free) After a break of, ooh, at least three weeks, football has returned for the 2018–19 season. If you’re following a Premier League team in England or Wales, there is an updated official app ready for the new season. You start by choosing your favourite team, with promoted clubs Cardiff City, Fulham and Wolverhampton Wanderers all included. The app sends news notifications from your club if you want – but you can say no to this option. There is a mixture of news stories, fixtures and league tables, statistics, and – if you’re playing – the option to sign in to the official Fantasy Premier League game to select your own squad and check your weekly points tally. The app also lets…

How do I get started? Get inspired and kick-start your water-saving habits by watching the 5 Days of Water Saving video on YouTube (tinyurl.com/TWJ-savewater). It has lots of helpful tips, such as timing yourself while in the shower by listening to a four-minute song. How do I get my family involved? It’s great to get the whole family involved in saving water. Let your parents know that they can get free water-saving gadgets from the local water company to help save as much water as possible. What else can I do to help? Flushing the toilet uses six to 13 litres of water per flush. “In the morning, if you only need a wee, hold off flushing until the rest of the family has used the toilet,” says Trewin. ”If…

One of the most popular pages in The Week Junior is our weekly Big debate. This feature tackles a whole host of topics – some very serious and others a bit silly. Its purpose is to get you thinking and talking about things, to introduce you to new ideas and to demonstrate that both sides of an argument need to be carefully weighed up before you make a decision. We love hearing about our readers engaging their friends and families in robust discussions inspired by our Big debates, so it was interesting to learn that scientists have found that talking about things with adults can give young people a big advantage. Research published last week shows that children who have frequent and regular conversations with adults…

To celebrate the birthday one of the world’s best-loved storytellers, Roald Dahl, Young Writers is holding a competition for budding authors to create a short story or poem inspired by the famous author. The shortlisted writers will have their work published, and the winner will receive a Golden Ticket to The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre for two adults and up to three children. The competition opens on 13 September and closes on 31 October. Head to youngwriters.co.uk/competitions/phizz/index.php…