Innholdsfortegnelse for May/June 2021 i Ask Science and Arts Magazine for Kids and Children

Panda Poop Bath Wild pandas are shy animals. There’s still a lot we don’t know about them. Including, why do they like to roll in horse poop? Scientists studying wild pandas first noticed this odd behavior many years ago. So they set up cameras in the woods to spy on the reclusive bears. They filmed them for many years. And they saw that in winter, pandas often liked to roll in fresh horse dung. After a horse passes through the woods, pandas come down to the trail to check out the pile of poop the horse leaves behind. Usually, animals avoid each other’s poop. But these pandas sniff the dung, and sometimes roll in it. Then they use their paws to rub it all over their bodies. Why do the…

Numbers are so clever, mysterious, and delicious. Do you have a special favorite? 11, because it’s so easy to multiply? 26, because it looks like a swan? For this month’s contest, celebrate your favorite wonderful number with a flattering portrait, poem, or thank-you card that lets the world know just how special it is. We’ll multiply the most magnificent 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 state 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 include a note from a parent or guardian, saying it’s…

You can call me Blockhead. Everyone else does. One day when I was just a boy, Maestro wrote out a math problem and gave us 10 minutes to solve it. I solved it in two seconds. That’s the way I am with numbers. I have loved them since I was very little. Everywhere I looked in my parents’ home, there was something to count. That day in class, the other students did their math on abacuses and wrote out their answers in Roman numerals. It was time-consuming, but that’s how we did our math back then. As I waited for them to finish, I got bored. I counted 12 birds in a tree outside. How many legs did all those birds have? I wondered. How many eyes? How many wings?…

Unless you don’t like cookies, you’ll pick the plate with three—and so would a monkey, a bird, or a dog. Animals don’t have to know the words one, two, and three, or 1, 2, and 3, to know that three cookies are yummier than one. How Much? Being able to tell more from less is one of the most basic math talents. And it’s one that a surprising number of animals have. A robin will pick the log with more mealworms. A salamander will pick the container with more fruit flies. Animals will even pick more of something when it means they get less overall. Horses, for example, will go for three tiny apples over two much larger ones. But animals don’t have math class—why would they need to count?…

See the Future with 1089 To prepare for this trick, announce that you can predict the future! With a mystical flourish, write the number 1089 on a piece of paper (but don’t show the audience what you’ve written). Seal it in an envelope and give it to someone to hold. Give a volunteer paper and pencil (or a calculator) and have her: 1. Pick a 3-digit number in which the first and last digits differ by more than 1 (so 235 is OK, but not 231). 2. Reverse the number and subtract the smaller from the larger. 3. Reverse that number and add the two numbers. The sum should be 1089 (if it isn’t, recheck the math). Now tell your friend to open the envelope and look at the paper.…

Take 1 through 9. If you put them in a square grid in just the right way…. Every row, column, and diagonal adds up to 15! The order of the numbers matters. If two numbers trade places, it won’t work any more. Squares like this where the columns, rows, and diagonals add up to the same number are called magic squares. Chinese scholars knew about the 1 to 9 square more than 2,000 years ago. They called it the Lo Shu and believed that it had magic powers. Magic squares are fun to play with. Math teacher Ron Lancaster once came up with this one using just 1 ’s and 8 ’s. The amazing thing about his square is that it remains a magic square if you turn it upside…

Long ago, people didn’t need a lot of fancy numbers. After all, you know who your children are; why would you need to know that there are “4” of them? But when small villages grew into big cities, people started to need bigger numbers to count sacks of grain, make trades, and collect taxes. The First Counters 35,000–20,000 BCE Tally marks—making a single line for each object counted—were probably the earliest numbers. Ancient animal bones scratched with tally marks have been found in Africa and Europe. This 25,000-year-old bone, called the Ishango bone, is from the Congo. Regular groups of marks on each side show that someone was counting—though we don’t know what. Antelopes killed? Days gone by? Pies? Body Counting Some Pacific Island cultures count using the whole…

There are different ways scientists can test animals’ counting ability. Some set up tasks, like choosing the correct door based on the number of spots above it, or the number of bells they hear. Scientists also study whether animals (and babies) can count by secretly changing the number of objects and seeing whether the animals notice. In one experiment, scientists placed mealworms one by one into a covered hole in a log while a New Zealand robin watched. But sometimes they sneaked a few out again. When the robin was allowed to get the worms, it looked around for the “missing” ones if the number in the log didn’t match what it saw go in—though only if at least half were missing. This shows that the robin was counting.…

In our January issue we asked you to imagine your perfect bed. Thanks to all you dreamy dozers for sharing your creations! Sweet dreams to all! Dear Whatson, Hi! How are you? I’m doing good. How many books do you read every day? What is your favorite book? Mine is The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole. Ayla T., age 9, Massachusetts Dear Ayla, Thanks for sharing! I’m glad you’re well. Me too. That looks like a good book—I’m going to start it tomorrow. Black holes certainly can be troublesome pets. That’s why I keep mine in the worm-hole jar. Your friend, Whatson Dear Marvin, I have a prank you can play on Avery. When he’s counting acorns, keep saying “oh, you missed one!” You can make him…