Innholdsfortegnelse for 265 i The Week Junior

On 4 January, England and Scotland announced new national lockdowns. On the same day, more than half a million doses of a new Covid-19 vaccine were made available to people in the UK. A vaccine is a medicine that can prevent people from catching a certain disease. Why is there a new lockdown? The new rules have been introduced to stop the rise in the number of people infected by the coronavirus. A new strain of the virus, which is easier to catch than the previous form of the virus, has been spreading across the country. However, although the new strain spreads more quickly, it is not thought to be any more dangerous to humans. The new lockdown means that people can only leave their homes for essential reasons such…

A monkey found on a volcano and a giant wombat-like marsupial, are among 503 new species identified by the Natural History Museum in 2020. The museum said the highlight was a new species of monkey living on the side of an extinct volcano in Myanmar. It is named the Popa langur after the sacred Mount Popa on which it is found. It was identified from skins and bones that had been in the museum’s collection for more than 100 years. Sadly, the Popa langur is already classed as critically endangered as there are only around 260 individuals left in the wild. Experts had previously confused the monkey with another species. Another remarkable discovery includes a parasitic worm found in the poo of a guttural toad. The toad was accidentally brought…

Anew Museum of Making is set to open in Derby, England, this spring. It will be on the site of the world’s first factory, which was built 300 years ago in 1721. The museum is housed in the Silk Mill at the Derwent Valley Mills World Heritage Site. “Making” means everything that involves physically creating something, from clothing to furniture. The museum’s exhibitions, workshops and events have been developed by people living in the area, to inspire others to start making things.…

Canada Astronaut to join NASA Moon mission Canada has said that it will send an astronaut to orbit the Moon for the first time. The country has signed a deal with the US to include an astronaut on the Artemis programme. The Artemis programme is a series of missions to the Moon by the US space agency NASA. The astronaut, who has not yet been named, will take part in a 10-day journey around the Moon in 2023. In 2024, it is hoped that Artemis will put the next man and first woman onto the Moon. Orlando, US Rescued pooch wins fastest dog contest Phelan, a four-year-old rescue dog, has won the American Kennel Club’s first “Fastest Dog USA” competition. The dog, a mix of Borzoi, greyhound and Scottish deerhound,…

Kangaroos can communicate with humans, according to a new study. The report is the first research of its kind to be done on marsupials – a type of mammal whose young get carried in pouches on their mother’s body. It suggests kangaroos are cleverer than previously thought. Researchers from the University of Roehampton in the UK and the University of Sydney in Australia tested kangaroos at three locations – the Australian Reptile Park, Wildlife Sydney Zoo and Kangaroo Protection Co-operative. The scientists put food in a box that the kangaroos could not open, and waited to see what the animals would do. Rather than giving up, 10 out of the 11 kangaroos actively looked at the person who had put the food in the box and then looked at the…

The number of European bison rose from around 1,800 in 2003 to more than 6,200 in 2019. Bison almost became extinct because of hunting and land clearing. There are plans to release a small number in the UK in 2022. • LIFESPAN: They can live for up to 24 years in the wild. • HABITAT: Bison are migratory animals, which means they do not stay in one place. They move between forests and grasslands in Poland, Belarus and Russia. • DIET: Grass, herbs, leaves and twigs. • FUN FACT: The European bison is Europe’s largest land mammal and can weigh up to 1,000 kilograms.…

A team of scientists at Bristol University in England have digitally rebuilt a dinosaur’s brain to uncover evidence about how the creature lived. The researchers were examining the remains of a Thecodontosaurus, a dinosaur that grew up to 2.5 metres long and lived between 227 and 205 million years ago. Thanks to a special computer program, the team could scan of the inside of the dinosaur’s head, reveal the shape of the brain and then create a model of it. This model could be compared against other specimens. The scientists found that – unlike its closest relatives – Thecodontosaurus may have eaten meat occasionally and walked on two legs, instead of four. The dog-sized dinosaur was discovered in 1834 but this kind of advanced analysis is new.…

Create a game about clean water Could you make a great game about water? That’s the task being set by a new challenge called Mobo Game Jam, which wants to use games to explore a future where everyone has access to clean water. The contest is for eight to 18-year-olds and is in association with the charity WaterAid. Organisers want to see games based on the fact that 785 million people in the world don’t live close to clean water. The question posed by the challenge is:“Games have the power to tell stories, solve problems and inspire change – how would you harness this power to create a future where everyone has access to clean water?” You can enter on your own or as part of a team. You can…

On Christmas Eve, the UK and the European Union (EU) finally reached an agreement on how the two sides would work together after Brexit. What is Brexit? On 23 June 2016, the UK voted for “Brexit” – to leave the EU. The EU is a group of 27 countries that trade together and follow some of the same rules. The UK officially left the EU on 31 January 2020. Since then, the two sides have been trying to work out exactly how to work and trade together. Trade refers to how countries buy and sell goods and services to each other. An agreement was reached just days before the deadline of 31 December 2020. The document setting out the deal is more than 1,200 pages long. What is in the…

The ancient Babylonians (a group of people who lived in what is now Iraq) are thought to have been the first people to set New Year’s resolutions. They made promises to the gods that they would return any objects they had borrowed from others. If they did this, then it was said that the gods would protect them in the year ahead. Since then, resolutions have changed from promises to the gods to promises to ourselves and others. That could be starting a new hobby, trying to be healthier or learning a new language. Given the difficulties that many people have in keeping their New Year’s resolutions, though, should people wait a little longer before deciding what they’ll be? Is January the right time to set New Year’s resolutions? Yes…

Kate Greene is one of the few people who might know how it feels to live on Mars. In 2013, she spent four months in a large dome on the slopes of a volcano in Hawaii, US. Although there would be less gravity if the dome was on Mars, the other conditions inside were similar to those that astronauts would face there. Greene has now written a book about her experience called Once Upon a Time I Lived on Mars. Greene lived in the dome with five others. They were not allowed phones, had no access to fresh fruit or veg, and had to wear spacesuits outdoors. In the book she says it was difficult to readjust to life after living in the dome. “Sometimes, leaving is the only way…

Cuddling cats Two kittens form a heart in this photo by 12-year-old Katherine Walton. Baaaa-llerina Molly Tolson, aged 14, won the 12–15 category with this leaping lamb. Stepping out Jake Kneale, aged 17, was the overall winner, with this photo of a deer taken in lockdown. Keen eye An alert fox takes in its surroundings in this photo by Ben Harrott, aged 16. Up close Thomas Easterbrook, 12, was commended for this photo in the Small World category. A leap of faith A spaniel tries to go diving in this picture by Heidi Harrison, aged 17. RSPCA YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHER AWARDS 2020…

In 2020, streaming made up more than 80% of people’s music consumption in the UK, according to new data. People listened to 139 billion songs on audio streams last year, on services such as Apple Music and Spotify. This compared to 114 billion in 2019. Blinding Lights by The Weeknd was the most-streamed song, and Lewis Capaldi’s Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent was the most-streamed album for the second year in a row. Capaldi, Dua Lipa and Harry Styles each earned nearly half a billion streams.CD sales fell by 31%, but physical copies of music are still popular. Sales of vinyl records and audio cassettes both rose because lots of people h started collecting them. The most popular audio cassette of the year was Lady Gaga’s album Chromatica. WOW!…

Whether you were lucky enough to get away from home or not, last year’s summer holidays feel like a long time ago. For now, because of coronavirus, trips to paradise islands will have to be virtual for most people. That’s where a new game called Alba: A Wildlife Adventure comes in. It’s available for Apple devices through the Apple Arcade subscription service and for PCs through the Steam downloads store. In the spring, it will also come out for Nintendo Switch and the PlayStation and Xbox consoles. Alba is the name of the game’s hero. She’s visiting her grandparents on an island in the Mediterranean Sea with her friend Ines for the summer. As she explores, Alba realises that the island is full of animals that need her help. The…

If you’re lucky enough to own a dog, or you have a friend or family member with a dog, becoming their training buddy is a really fun and rewarding experience. There are lots of opinions on the best way to train a dog. The most popular methods involve a rewards system. Every time your dog does the right thing, they get lots of praise and a reward. This would usually be an edible treat, so it pays to work out which tasty morsels your dog finds irresistible. Small pieces of meat are usually the most popular, although many dogs also respond well to a cube of cheese. Dogs are intelligent animals that love to learn, which can make them excellent students. Unfortunately dogs are also easily distracted by sights, sounds…

Family gets 1,000-mile lift Canadians are well known for their friendliness, and that was proved once again when a man called Gary Bath drove a stranded US family 1,000 miles from Canada to Alaska in the US. Lynn Marchessault, her two children and three pets were travelling from Georgia (in the south-east of the US) to see her husband in Alaska (a US state located to the north-west of Canada). Their journey took them into Canada, where they became stranded in the snow. After a call for help was put out on social media, Bath, who teaches Canadian soldiers how to survive in the Arctic, said he’d drive them the rest of the way. World’s longest-ever photo exposure is found A photograph has been found that took more than eight…

On 4 January, World Braille Day was marked by the UN. The UN is an organisation of 193 countries that takes action on human rights, peace and climate change. The braille communication system is a remarkable invention that allows blind and partially sighted people to read. The first World Braille Day was observed by the United Nations (UN) in 2018. It was the day its inventor, Louis Braille, was born in 1809, in France. Braille is a system of raised dots that are used in different combinations to represent letters, words, numbers and punctuation. A person is able to touch the dots with their fingertips and work out what is written without seeing it. Braille himself was injured in an accident when he was three years old and went blind…

An open-air swimming pool, known as a lido, in Bedfordshire, England, proved very popular this winter. The Woburn Lido is usually open from May to September, but this year it stayed open to swimmers throughout the autumn and winter months too. Until the lockdown for England was announced on 4 January, outdoor pools were allowed to remain open. “Demand has taken us by surprise,” said Murray Heining, a volunteer at the Woburn Lido. Over Christmas and New Year, the lido had to offer extra slots to keep up with the demand from swimmers. Cold-water swimming has grown in popularity in the UK over the past few years. A survey found that 7.5 million people in England had swum in outdoor pools, as well as lakes, rivers and the sea, in…

Captain Joyce Wairimu Beckwith is a hot-air balloon pilot from Kenya in east Africa, and the first black African woman to hold a hot-air balloon licence. She is better known to passengers as “Captain Smiles”, because of her cheery nature. Beckwith became interested in ballooning by watching the hot-air balloons that fly over Kenya’s famous Maasai Mara nature reserve. She got her pilot’s licence in 2018, after studying for four months at a balloon flying school in the US. Now, she is giving people a bird’s-eye view of the animals. Speaking to the BBC, Beckwith said people “should be brave and go out of your comfort zone to find something that you love”. In 10 to 15 years’ time, Beckwith says, she might open her own balloon school.…

With exciting moves, fantastic music and competitors using cool names, breaking is a sport like no other. Also known as breakdancing, it was recently announced as one of the sports that will be part of the Olympics for the first time when the Games are held in Paris, France, in 2024. In breaking, dancers are known as B-girls and B-boys. The UK female champion is 14-year-old B-Girl Terra from Wolverhampton, England. “I’m really excited that breaking will be at the Olympics. I really want to win the gold medal,” B-Girl Terra tells The Week Junior. “It’s great that it will raise awareness for people who don’t know about breaking. I have been breaking since I was one and a half, after my sister started teaching me.” In a breaking competition,…

The start of the new year marks the beginning of a new era for the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). After 23 films, its superhero characters are now coming to television, with lots of new shows on the Disney+ streaming service. Some of these will connect with Marvel’s next cinema releases, bringing together the worlds of film and TV. The first of these programmes is WandaVision, which focuses on the characters of Wanda Maximoff, also known as Scarlet Witch, and Vision. Set after the events of Avengers: Endgame film, released in 2019, WandaVision starts with these two characters living a peaceful life in the town of Westview. However, they soon realise that things aren’t what they seem. Beyond that, the plot is shrouded in secrecy. Marvel fans are particularly interested to…

This method of weaving is popular in Mexico, where it is used to create items called ojo de dios (which means “eye of god” in Spanish). These are made as protective and spiritual symbols to help people connect more deeply with the natural world. Colourful string is wrapped around a cross of sticks, building up mesmerising patterns. The technique is simple once you’ve got the hang of it, and you can have lots of fun designing your own. What you need • 3 wooden lolly sticks • PVA glue • Coloured string or wool (we used three colours but you can use as many as you like) • Coloured pens • Scissors 1 Glue the lolly sticks together in the arrangement shown above. When the glue has dried, colour in…