Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2019 i Ask Science and Arts Magazine for Kids and Children

GARDENING ON THE MOON If humans ever want to live on the Moon, we’ll have to figure out how to grow plants there. That’s a big challenge. The Moon has no soil or water—just rock and dust. It’s cold. And gravity is just one-sixth as strong as Earth’s. Even inside a shelter with soil, air, and water, could plants ever grow in such a harsh place? In January 2019, China landed a small pod on the far side of the moon. That’s the part of the moon that never faces Earth (but it does get sunlight). The pod was stocked with water, soil, and air. It also held plant seeds, yeast, and fruit flies. Once the pod landed, it watered the seeds. And safe inside the pod, tiny cotton sprouts…

Who will be the champions today? And how will they do it? Kickoff Before the game, the team captains flip a coin to see who gets the ball first. Each team stands on their half of the field, outside the center circle. Today, blue team has won the toss. When the whistle blows, Jovi plants her non-kicking foot firmly beside the ball, pointing the direction she wants it to go. Swinging her leg forward from the knee, she kicks the ball with the top of her foot, where her shoelaces are. The ball arcs across to Lily, who passes it to Lucas by kicking it sideways with the inside of her foot. Soccer players kick with the top or sides of their feet, not the toes. That makes it easier…

Their new team uniforms are a light, tough cloth spun out of fibers made from recycled plastic. Drink bottles are made from a kind of plastic called PET (short for polyethylene tetraphthalate). This is plastic #1, if you look at the number stamped on the bottom. Polyester cloth is also made from plastic In fact, it’s spun from exactly the same PET formula as bottles. On the inside, polyester and bottles have the same long molecules. So instead of throwing bottles out, it’s possible to recycle them into cloth. How is it done? 1 First, used bottles are sorted by color and shredded. 2 The plastic bits are washed and dried. 3 The clean bits are melted in a long heated tube, moved along by a screw inside. 4 The…

Cycleball Is running too slow for you? Why not give cycleball a try? This is soccer played on bikes, with only two players a side. To make it more exciting, the bikes have no brakes. Swamp Soccer If your soccer field is always muddy, why not invent mud soccer? That’s just what the Finns did. Swamp soccer is played in swamps or bogs, or backyards when you have accidentally left the hose on all night. Teams are small and games are short—playing in mud is hard work. But fun! Glacier Game In 2016, teams from Italy and Switzerland played a match on the Allalin Glacier, 11,482 feet (3,500 m) high. This holds a record for the world’s highest game, not counting space. Ocean Soccer The island villagers of Koh  Panyee…

Can robots play soccer? Every year, teams of students from all over the world gather for an unusual soccer tournament. This one is played entirely by robots the teams built and programmed. The robots at RoboCup come in all shapes and sizes. Some are human-shaped. Others look like hockey pucks. The smallest robots play with a golf ball. Mid-sized bots use a real soccer ball, though the players are short and move around on wheels. The winning team plays against humans—someday, they may even win. Human-shaped robots are usually much slower, so they play against each other by size: large, medium, or small. These robots follow most of the same rules as real soccer players. But the field is small and games short, to save batteries. There’s also a special…

This ball has a secret—it makes electricity. Inside is a small generator, similar to a “shake-to-light” flashlight. As the ball rolls around, a magnet slides around coiled copper wire. This charges up a small battery. After an hour or so of play, the ball can power a small reading light for the evening. The light plugs right into the top of the ball. The ball can also charge up a cellphone or a tablet computer. The inventors call it the “Soccket.” They hope it will help kids get light at night, for reading or doing homework. And if you don’t like soccer, they also make a power-generating jump rope. This clever ball was thought up by college students Jessica Matthews and Julia Silverman as part of a class project. Now…

Forwards or Strikers Try to get the ball to the goal and score. They are usually fast and accurate goal kickers. Mid-fielders Get the ball to the strikers and try to take it away from the other team. They do the most running and kicking. Defenders Their job is to keep the ball away from the goal and stop the other team from scoring. Goalkeeper One player stands inside the goal to keep balls out. The keeper is the only player allowed to use their hands. They wear padded gloves, because fast-moving balls pack quite a punch Referee Watches the players closely to make sure they follow the rules. The referee starts and stops the game, decides when a ball has gone out of bounds, calls fouls, and awards penalty…

Would you like a soccer ball that never goes flat? That lasts for years? That you can run over with a car, and it will still be good? Kids everywhere love to play soccer. If they can’t afford to buy a ball, they often make one out of plastic bags, trash, tape—anything that’s handy. These balls are lumpy and don’t last long. To help soccer-loving kids, some engineers started the One World Play Project. They designed a soccer ball made entirely of soft, strong foam. Air vents allow air to escape when the ball is crushed so it won’t burst. These vents also allow air in, so the ball inflates itself—no bladder or pump needed. Then they set up a company to get the balls to kids who need them.…

Wouter Kuijpers and Ainse Kokkelmans are part of Team Tech United Eindhoven, champions of the 2018 RoboCup in the mid-sized nonhuman league. We asked them a bit about their work. They are from the Netherlands, so they say “football” instead of “soccer.” What is your  favorite thing about working on football-playing robots?  It is really cool to see some new skill you have programmed in action. It is even better when it results in a goal. What is the hardest  thing to teach the robots to do? Playing together. Building a robot that can do all kinds of tricks is hard, but making sure two or even five robots play together is incredibly hard. Will robots ever beat  humans at football? Every year, the robots get better and better. They…

Dear Marvin, I have a good prank for you to play on Plush. Make a fake rule book filled with fake rules like “hippopotamuses cannot eat cupcakes or use binoculars.” Then put it somewhere Plush will see it. Prankly yours, Joseph C. and his sister, Nebraska Hey, Marvin! I know a prank! Tie a string around Plush’s doorway, causing her to trip onto pillows. Then another string leads to a wooden board with a tub of paint. Tie another string to the bottom of the can. Then, RUN! Tyler W., Illinois Dear Marvin, Maybe you could switch Plush’s spaghetti with dead worms! Henry H., age 8 Texas Dear Fellow Pranksters, Ha ha! Thanks for all the great ideas! This summer will be super fun! Marvin, King of Pranks Dear Plush,…

Next time you get out the soccer ball, take a close look at its pattern. On most balls, you’ll see patches in two shapes. There are 20 hexagons, with six equal sides. And 12 pentagons, with five equal sides. Every pentagon is surrounded by five hexagons. What arrangement of six shapes surrounds each hexagon? Why do balls have this mix of shapes? Imagine flattening out the ball cover on a table. You’d have to cut some seams to get it to lie flat. There are gaps between the patches. But when all the edges are sewn together, the shapes curve together into a round sphere. If the pattern were made up of only hexagons, it would lie flat: But a flat sheet can’t curve into a ball. (Still, some people…