Innholdsfortegnelse for 511 i The Week Junior

Researchers are asking hikers in the Scottish Highlands to keep their eyes peeled for fragments of space rock. What’s the coolest thing you’ve ever found when out on a walk? Read more about the meteorite on page 16. A new report has found that women are poorly represented in history lessons and exam questions. Can you suggest important women who should be studied in history lessons? Read about the research on page 7. Young photographer Jamie Smart’s photo of a stag features in a wildlife photography show. If you could snap any animal in the wild, what would it be? Jamie shares her tips for photography on page 11. The big debate Should children help around the home? Page 10.…

On 21 September, the UK Government announced that it formally recognises the state of Palestine. Recognising a state means agreeing that it exists and having official connections with its government. A recognised state can become a member of the United Nations (UN), an organisation of 193 countries that work together on the challenges facing humanity. What is a state? A state is a country or territory. The UK is an example of a state. Most of the time, a state is defined by particular features – for example, a state usually has a permanent population, a defined area of land with borders, a government, an army and a capital city. However, a state doesn’t need all these features to be recognised by other countries. Palestine doesn’t have all of these…

Ten-year-old Jamie Smart from Llandrindod Wells, Wales, started snapping animals at the age of six, but her passion for wildlife began with dinosaurs. “I realised I’d never get to see a real one, so I took an interest in birds because they are the closest relatives of dinosaurs,” she said. Jamie’s talent has earned her recognition among the top 100 entries in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, selected from more than 60,000 global contenders. Her image, Rutting Call, was “highly commended”. It shows a red deer stag (male) bellowing at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire, England. Jamie has also won awards for photos of a shark and her pet turkey, Frederick. She said wildlife knowledge helps her photography. “Put the camera down and learn about your subject – this…

Scientists have discovered that octopuses prefer to use certain arms for particular tasks. The animals’ eight arms have no bones in them and are mainly made of muscle – similar to your tongue. Octopuses’ arms are among the most flexible limbs in the animal world. They have four main movements – octopuses can make them shorter, longer, bend them and twist them. The new study is the first time that scientists have linked octopus arm movements to behaviour in the wild. They analysed video clips of 25 wild octopuses – three different species – filmed between 2007 and 2015 at six sites including Vigo in Spain, Florida in the US and the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean. The scientists noted an octopus’s behaviour and what it was doing with its…

A genius is someone who thinks in clever and unusual ways. Some geniuses are amazing at maths, science, computing or chess. Others are brilliant at writing stories, painting pictures or composing music. Being a genius isn’t just about having a super brain, it’s exploring new ideas that help us understand the world better. Experts have tried to measure what makes a genius. One way is to take a test set by Mensa, a society (club) for super clever people that was formed on 1 October 1946. What is Mensa? Mensa was founded in England by scientist Dr Lance Ware and Roland Berrill, a lawyer. They were interested in intelligence tests and created a club where very clever people could meet and share ideas. Today, Mensa has more than 150,000 members…

Scientists have created a “cassette tape” that is capable of storing every song ever recorded. A team from the Southern University of Science and Technology in China have done this by printing synthetic (human-made) DNA onto a plastic tape. One hundred metres of the new DNA tape can hold more than three billion pieces of music. DNA is a complex chemical that is found in all living things. The tape is coated in a protective substance, which means it could store data for centuries. Enjoy these stories? Find more in this month’s The Week Junior Science+Nature magazine sciencenature.theweekjunior.co.uk…

Do you like making someone smile? A study shows that doing one kind deed every day for a week can boost your happiness, so try the kindness challenge and find out. What does kindness mean? Kindness means doing a good deed for other people because you want to, and without expecting anything in return. Katie Piper supports the NSPCC Kindness Challenge for schools (see panel) and has written a children’s book about kindness called Your Greatest Gift. She says it means “treating people the way you’d like to be treated”. Even small actions can make a big difference. “Smiling at someone, including them in a game or listening when they need to talk” are all kind acts, Piper explains. However being kind doesn’t mean you always have to give in.…

A Poem for Every Question by Brian Bilston. Illustrated by Joe Berger (Red Shed) How many stars in the universe exploded today? Who invented football? Hilarious poet Brian Bilston covers topics ranging from unicorns to pyramids. Each poem answers a different quirky question and has an explainer packed with more information. I Hear the Trees by Zaro Weil. Illustrated by Junli Song (Hachette Children’s) Award-winning poet Zaro Weil’s latest collection takes us on a wild journey through nature. There are poems about everything from trees to the Sun, Moon and stars; from wolves to mice – plus beautiful illustrations by Junli Song. You’ll also find notes aiming to inspire you to write your own nature poems. Poems From a Witch’s Pocket by Laura Theis. Illustrated by Kate Lucy Foster (The…

Name: Abby Nina Peanut: Epic World Tour Era by Sarah Bowie “Funny, exciting, colourful. A laugh out loud book – five stars. The Nina Peanut series is great even if you don’t normally enjoy books.” YOUR TURN Please email your book review to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk. If it is printed in the magazine you will receive a Roving Reporter badge. Describe your chosen book in three words, tell us what you liked about it and why you would recommend it to others. Don’t forget to include your name and address.*…

What you need • Cardboard plates• Scissors• Masking tape or sticky tape• Plastic bags• Small stones, gravel, sand or dried beans• Paints/paintbrush• Jars or containers• Newspaper• Card• Paper• Glue Autumn is a lovely time to go on a woodland walk but it’s also a great time to snuggle up indoors with a book. This activity means you can bring a little bit of the outside inside by making nature-inspired book ends. The steps below show you how to make a fox and an owl, each perched on a tree stump. However, the basic shapes you’ll create can be made into any of your favourite creatures. You can create different animals by taping newspaper pieces to make heads, noses, feet and tails, and cut out card for wings or ears. The…

Teacher’s name: Mr Solomon School: Chorlton CofE Primary School, Chorlton, Manchester “Mr Solomon helped organise incredible workshops all about fossils, where we got to see real shark teeth and ammonites from Manchester Museum. We even won a special commendation from them for our ‘Fossil Stories’ workshops, which were part of the national Being Human Festival! He’s a great athlete and created a brilliant “wake up shake up” routine to get us pumped and ready for the day. He is the best teacher ever!” Freddie 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 JOKE OF THE WEEK “How do you get Pikachu…

“This is me and my bunny chilling in the sun reading The Week Junior.”Tara “We went for a walk in St James’s Park in London and came across very wet and shivering pelicans and helped to shelter them from the rain. Over 40 pelicans live in the park.”Joshua and Elliot “In August me and my little sister Robyn made the seaside scenes from issue 506. We love making art!”Orla “We have been collecting The Week Junior for the past five years and we have more copies so I buried my sister Matilde in them!”Alex We’re proud to be plastic-free The Week Junior is delivered without a wrapper. This decision was made in response to requests from our readers who wanted us to reduce waste. Since removing the wrap in 2018…

I love the spirit of curiosity and openness behind the Voiced festival (page 22), which celebrates endangered languages. The artist behind Voiced, Sam Winston, says it’s an opportunity for people to learn about different cultures and explore the “big and beautiful world out there”. This spirit also shines through in our interview with award-winning writer and climate campaigner Dara McAnulty, about his new book A Wild Child’s Guide to Nature at Night (page 25). Dara wants everyone to explore what he calls the hidden realm of wildlife at night, and see that “the world is a magical place” and should be treated with respect. The curiosity of scientists meets the magic of wildlife in our cover story (page 12), reporting on a study of how octopuses use their limbs, and…

A BABY BONOBO Twycross Zoo in Leicestershire, England, has welcomed the birth of the UK’s only baby bonobo. Bonobos are primates, similar to chimpanzees, and are closely related to humans. The baby was born on 11 September and can be seen by visitors. WINNING GOLD On 21 September, Botswana won the men’s 4x400 metre relay race at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan. It is the first time an African country has won the event. Botswana’s President Duma Boko has declared 29 September a public holiday to celebrate the team’s achievement. A ONE-OF-A-KIND PEARL A pearl found inside a mussel in 1967 near Scotland’s River Tay has gone on display in Edinburgh at the National Museum of Scotland. Pearls are created when a piece of grit or a grain…

During US President Donald Trump’s visit to the UK from 16 to 18 September, the two countries agreed a deal on technology. They agreed to work together to develop technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), a computer system that can perform tasks that usually require human intelligence. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the partnership would “deliver good jobs, life-saving treatments and faster medical breakthroughs for the British people”.…

Archaeologists (experts who study ancient objects to understand history) have found evidence that people in the late Bronze Age travelled around Britain to attend great feasts. These food festivals took place more than 2,000 years ago and people brought animals such as cows and pigs along with them. Scientists studied the period from 900BC to 500BC, when the Bronze Age was becoming the Iron Age. They tested animal bones from six ancient rubbish mounds, called middens, in Wiltshire and the Thames Valley in England. The largest, in Potterne, Wiltshire, is the size of five football pitches, with 15 million bits of bone. The bones were studied using a method called multi-isotope analysis, to work out where the animals came from. This works because each area has its own mix of…

On 21 September, the 2025 World Athletics Championships finished and two sprinters made big headlines. Melissa Jefferson-Wooden won her third gold medal of the competition by helping the US win the women’s 4x100 metres relay race. In the same event, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce finished second with the Jamaican team. It was the final competition for Fraser-Pryce, who has ended her career as one of the most successful sprinters of all time. The World Athletics Championships is the second biggest athletics tournament after the Olympics. It took place in Tokyo, Japan, over nine days. Jefferson-Wooden, who is 24 years old, won gold in the 100 metres, 200 metres, and the relay. The only other woman to have achieved this is Fraser-Pryce in 2013. Fraser-Pryce had already won 10 gold medals at the…

On 1 October, a festival called Voiced will open at the Barbican, an arts centre in London. A big focus of the festival is languages that are endangered, because very few people still speak them. There will be opportunities to listen to some being spoken, but festival organiser Sam Winston says Voiced is about much more than that. “You’re going to see different ways that people dress, different ways that people live, different ways that people cook, different ways that people get married,” he told The Week Junior. “What we’re really talking about is that it’s a big and beautiful world out there.” The main part of the festival, The Creative Voice Exhibition, is free and it’s a space where poets, writers and artists will be bringing languages and stories…

This autumn, as the days are shortening, award-winning author and environmental campaigner Dara McAnulty is on a mission to encourage young people to embrace the wonders of nature at night-time. McAnulty’s new book, A Wild Child’s Guide to Nature at Night, is illustrated by Barry Falls. Both McAnulty and Falls are from Northern Ireland, and together they present the magic of nature at night found across Britain and Ireland. McAnulty says he’s always loved night and nocturnal creatures (ones that are active at night), “I think it’s like a sort of hidden realm,” he tells The Week Junior. The book is filled with intriguing snippets of information about species, including McAnulty’s favourite – bats. His dad was licensed to look after bats and McAnulty shared his room with sleeping bats…

Battle of the black puddings In Ramsbottom, England, the World Black Pudding Throwing Championships took place on 14 September. At this fun event, black puddings – a type of sausage – are thrown at a raised platform holding 12 giant Yorkshire puddings. The person who knocked over the most puddings this year was Ged Flanagan, who has come second in the competition four times in the past. The contest is said to date from a battle in 1455, where the two sides ran out of ammunition and started throwing food at each other instead. A passion for collecting prams In Coventry, England, a pair of great-grandparents have built up a collection of more than 50 vintage prams which could now fetch up to £10,000 at auction. Shirley Bromwich, who owns…

1 What is the UK’s biggest airport? ☐ a) Manchester ☐ b) Heathrow ☐ c) Edinburgh 2 True or false? James Bond is a fictional spy for MI5. ☐ True ☐ False 3 Which country recently celebrated the 50th anniversary of its independence? 4 What is the most common chore children do around the home, according to a Parentkind survey? ☐ a) Tidying their bedrooms ☐ b) Sweeping the floor ☐ c) Washing the car 5 True or false? Singer Jade Thirlwall recently performed at the famous Angel of the North sculpture in Gateshead, England. ☐ True ☐ False 6 What are octopus arms mainly made from? 7 What does IQ stand for? ☐ a) Impressive qualities ☐ b) Interesting quiz ☐ c) Intelligence quotient ANSWERS ARE ON PAGE 33…

29 September 1829 Metropolitan Police officers begin patrolling Before an official police force was formed, there was no proper system for law enforcement in London. In 1822, Robert Peel, who would later become Prime Minister, was appointed as Home Secretary, making him responsible for security and crime reduction. In June 1829, the Metropolitan Police Act was passed, establishing an organisation of officers to police the capital. On 29 September that year, the first officers began their patrols. Police forces for other regions followed over the next few decades.…

On 20 September, hundreds of flights were cancelled or delayed across Europe following a cyber attack. This is when computer systems and networks are attacked by criminals who want to steal, disrupt or destroy data and services. Several airports were affected, including London Heathrow, which is the UK’s biggest airport and also Europe’s busiest. Technology used at check-in desks was targeted, which affected automatic check-in and boarding systems. As a result, airline staff had to hand-write boarding passes, there were longer queues and some passengers missed their flights. It is not yet known who was behind the attack, but Europe’s cyber security agency, ENISA, said the criminals used ransomware. This is when criminals disrupt online systems and then demand a ransom (sum of money) to be paid to undo the…

On 19 September, the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service launched an online messaging platform with the aim of recruiting new spies. The UK’s Secret Intelligence Service is also known as MI6. What does MI6 do? The aim of MI6 is to gather information that can be used to help protect the UK from people, countries or organisations who wish to harm it. It collects this information, known as “intelligence”, from outside the UK. Another organisation, MI5, is responsible for gathering intelligence within the UK. Both MI5 and MI6 are Government agencies. MI6 recruits people as spies and keeps their identities secret. The spies give information to MI6, which then analyses the information and passes it to the Government who use it to keep UK citizens safe. MI6 has been included in…

There are lots of different chores that need doing around the home. These include washing the dishes, drying up, taking out the bins, emptying and stacking the dishwasher and laying the table for meals. According to the charity Parentkind, more than half of children under the age of 15 don’t do any of these household chores. Yet Jason Elsom, the head of Parentkind, believes that children benefit from doing age-appropriate chores. “Chores are not punishment; they are the first lessons in teamwork, responsibility and self-reliance,” he said. However, some people argue that children have lots of other things they need to do, such as homework, activities and clubs, which doesn’t leave much time for chores. What do you think? Should children help around the home? Yes – it can be…

These birds, also known as bearded reedlings or bearded parrotbills, are neither bearded nor members of the tit or parrot family, although males do sport black facial markings. October is the best time to spot bearded tits, found in the south, east, or north-west of England. At this time of year they stop eating insects and start eating reed seeds, flocking to wetlands to find them. The long-tailed birds fly around reedbeds, making a nasal “ting” or “ping” sound. They eat small bits of grit too, which helps them to digest their food. Bearded tits are around 12 centimetres long and a red-brown colour, with a grey head and a yellow bill and eyes. Females are less colourful and do not have black face markings. Thanks to conservationists looking after…

Researchers are asking people to keep their eyes peeled for fragments of a space rock, known as a meteorite, which fell to Earth in the Scottish Highlands in July. Early in the morning on 3 July, a meteor (also called a shooting star – see panel) entered the earth’s atmosphere over the north of the UK. It exploded into a blazing fireball, which was visible across much of Scotland. Researchers from The UK Fireball Alliance collected information from videos of the fireball that people posted online. They combined this with data from special meteor-hunting cameras. The alliance includes scientists, members of the public who help with research, and a group of camera networks that record meteors and fireballs. It also tries to recover meteorites that land in the UK –…

Canada and England women’s rugby union teams Canada caused a big surprise by beating New Zealand in their Rugby World Cup semi-final. In the final they will play England, who beat France. Aggie Beever-Jones Beever-Jones scored for Chelsea as they beat Leicester City 1-0 in the Women’s Super League. Great Britain’s Para Swimming team They won nine medals on the first day of the World Para Swimming Championships in Singapore, including a gold for Alice Tai (pictured). Worcestershire and Lancashire cricket teams In the One Day Cup finals, Worcestershire won the men’s title and Lancashire were the women’s champions.…

Every year, games company EA promises that its new football game is the best one yet. This year is no different, but the reasons for it are more interesting than usual. When the first “reveal trailer” for EA Sports FC 26 came out in July, it surprisingly featured comments from players complaining about the previous version of the game’s slow passing, dodgy goalkeepers, unpredictable tackles and more. The message of that video was that EA’s developers have fixed all of these problems in the new game. From 26 September – or a week earlier for anyone who pre-ordered FC 26 early enough – players will find out whether that’s true or not. The signs have been good, though. The preview version of the game had much smoother dribbling and passing,…

Wordsearch Can you find all of the words listed? They are hidden horizontally, vertically or diagonally and may read forwards or backwards. ARCH ARROW CIRCLE CROSS CUBE CYLINDER DIAMOND HEART HEPTAGON LOOP OBLONG OCTAGON PENTAGON POLYGON PYRAMID RHOMBUS SPHERE SQUARE STAR TRIANGLE Shortcode Eight letters of the alphabet have been replaced by numbers. Crack the code to find the words. Word fill in All these words fit in the grid. Can you work out where each word goes to complete it? 4 letters MILK SALT 5 letters COCOA CREAM HONEY SPICE 6 letters BUTTER GINGER TOFFEE 7 letters CARAMEL COCONUT OATMEAL VANILLA 8 letters MARZIPAN SULTANAS ANSWERS ARE ON PAGE 33 Number tower Place a number in every circle to complete the tower. The value in each circle is the…

Cygnets Art Awards The Cygnets National Art Awards is a competition celebrating children’s creative talent. It is organised by Cygnets Art School, which has taught fine art to children for 10 years. In the competition, children aged five and over are invited to explore their creativity and submit an artwork for the chance to gain national recognition, win prizes and share their talent with a wider audience. The closing date for entries is 31 October. With an adult, find out more and how to enter at tinyurl.com/twj-cygnets WIN A BADGE! Email your news, views and pictures to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk Please include your full name and address so that we can send you a Roving Reporter badge if your contribution makes it onto the page. We will only use the details you…