Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2015 i Ask Science and Arts Magazine for Kids and Children

SNEAKY SNAKES The arachnid-tailed horned viper has a clever trick for attracting its dinner. Its curious tail looks amazingly like certain scorpions or spiders, especially to a hungry bird. If a bird comes to check it out, the snake wags its tail to make it look even more convincing. When the bird tries to eat the “spider,” the snake strikes and nabs the bird instead. These snakes live in remote regions in the Middle East. For a long time, scientists only had one to study. At first they thought the tail was a tumor or defect, but when a second spider-tailed snake turned up, researchers realized that its odd tail is perfectly normal—and very useful. Turn Off the Lights! Animals in wildlife preserves and national parks are mostly safe from…

Shipworms start nibbling while the ship is still afloat. They are not worms at all, but long, thin clams that dig into wood with two small shells near their heads. Baby shellfish and corals latch onto the wood and start to grow. Gribbles are crustaceans (like shrimp) about the size of a grain of rice. These odd sea dwellers eat mainly wood—even though no trees grow in the ocean! All their food comes from the land. Sponges are simple animals that look like plants. They filter food out of water flowing through their hollow bodies. Sea urchins and anemones anchor on. Conches and crabs hide under the wreck and eat the seaweed. Moray eels hide in holes and ambush fish and other small reef animals. Corals spread. Coral animals (called…

If you were shipwrecked on a deserted island somewhere, what five things would you most want to have with you? Since this is an imaginary island, we’ll imagine rescuers will find you soon. Send us a picture of you on your island with your favorite things, and we’ll assemble an archipelago of them in an upcoming issue of Ask. Contest Rules: 1. Your contest entry must be your very own work. Ideas and words should not be copied. 2. Be sure to include your name, age, and address on your entry. 3. Only one entry per person, please. 4. If you want your work returned, enclose a self-addressed, stamped envelope. 5. Your entry must be signed or emailed by a parent or legal guardian, saying it’s your own work and…

Call in the engineers! Why ships float (or don’t) Any object will float if it weighs less than a block of water the same size. But if it weighs more than a block of water the same size, it will sink. This ball of clay weighs more than a ball of water the same size, so it sinks. But if you shape the clay into a boat, it floats. Why? It floats now because the boat and the air inside it weigh less than a boat-plus-air-sized chunk of water. Big, heavy ships can float as long as they have enough air or light things inside. But if you load them up too full, or if a leak replaces the light air inside with heavy water, they will sink. How to…

The white light that comes from the sun and light bulbs is actually a mix of all different colors of the rainbow. When our eyes detect all the colors at once from the same place, they see that all-color as “white.” When we see a red apple or green grass, it’s because just the red or green waves of light are bouncing off, while the rest of the colored waves in the white light are sucked in (or absorbed) by the object. What colors get absorbed or bounced depends on the molecules in the object. Milk is a mixture of tiny particles of fat, protein, sugar, salt, vitamins, and minerals, all floating around in water. Each of these particles reflects a different color of light. So when light hits milk,…

An Ordinary Voyage In early November 1872, two small, sturdy sailing ships, the Mary Celeste and the Dei Gratia, set out from New York bound for Genoa, Italy. The autumn had been stormy, but both captains expected a routine voyage. Captain Benjamin Briggs of the Mary Celeste and Captain David Morehouse of the Dei Gratia were friends and dined together before they set sail. They would never see each other again. The Mary Celeste had a crew of seven. She had just been repaired and was in tip-top shape. On this trip, the hold was packed with 1,701 oak barrels of nondrinkable alcohol for use in industry. Accompanying Captain Briggs was his wife, Sarah, and their young daughter, Sophia. Sarah brought along her sewing machine and a small piano. Their…

Dear Marvin, I love raccoons and pranks! I have got a good one for you. You know the bags that hold the cereal in the cereal boxes? Switch the bags around and laugh out loud! Do you have any good pranks I could use on my brother? Prankster raccoons forever! Gabrielle H., Colorado Dear Gabrielle, Ha ha! That is a great prank, thanks! I’m starting a campaign to make the first day of EVERY month a pranking day, not just April 1. One day a year is not nearly enough. Especially if you have brothers. Have you tried the Jello juice? Or paper wads in shoe toes? Happy Mayhem, Marvin Dear Elvis, I hear you like dried meal worms. You might have the appetite of a hedgehog. I petted a…

What you’ll need Two of the same coin with heads or other pictures on them What to do Set two coins face-up side by side. Ask your audience what they predict will happen if you roll one coin around the top of the other so it sits on the other side, like this: Will the head be right-side-up? Or upside-down? Most people will say it will be upsidedown—after all, it’s only gone halfway around. But you know better. Now for the trick! Say you can bend space—and you’ll prove it! Say the magic word . . . Abracadabra! Now roll the coin around the top. What do you know, it’s right-side-up! What?!?!?? How did that happen? What’s going on? What’s going on here is not magic at all—just a fun…