Innholdsfortegnelse for September 2016 i Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children

Direct Dragon Messaging I am a black dragon with orange stripes (don’t laugh! I was born like that!) writing from somewhere in North Carolina. I wish I could have sent this sooner, but it took a while for me to find an envelope, stamps, and one of those stickers that shows the address of the sender. So I’m just writing to inform the grey dragon with blue swirls [Nov/ Dec 2015] that there are more of us out here. I enjoy reading (however, since I’m a dragon, I can’t use the library), drawing (mostly dragons, of course), and occasionally messing around with machine parts. (It’s SO hard to strip wires with your teeth!) Unfortunately, there is no dragon school in my general area, but I have taught myself English by…

THE ENGLISH CHEMIST SIR HUMPHRY DAVY made many important findings during the late 1700s and early 1800s. He discovered the elements sodium, potassium, and calcium, for example. But a present-day biographer of Davy has learned that at least one part of Davy’s legacy isn’t quite right. When Davy discovered element 18, he planned to call it ptoassium. (The name comes from Greek. The “p” is silent, as in “pterodactyl.”) Yet when Davy published his findings, someone at the printing press reversed the first two letters. The new element was officially described as “potassium.” By the time Davy noticed the error, it was too late. Today potassium—not ptoassium—is the mineral we value in bananas and other healthy foods.…

I’m an airplane! Wheeeee! Happy laughter fills the classroom as 4-year-olds zoom around the tables. But James doesn’t seem to notice. He’s throwing a ball at the hard floor. Again and again and again. He could listen to the sound the ball makes all day. James is my student, one of about 15 million American kids with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He has trouble with things that come naturally to most of us: talking, making friends, and playing. Behavioral consultant William J. White describes the condition as “kids who are lost in their own little world” and it’s an appropriate description of what it looks like from the outside. Instead of watching his classmates, James listens to the ball’s sound. Rather than exploring different kinds of toys, he obsesses over…

This activity is adapted from You’re Smarter Than You Think: A Kid’s Guide to Multiple Intelligences by Thomas Armstrong. It’s just for fun. To actually rank your own smarts, you’d need to take a test that would present you with challenges in each category, such as words to spell or a song to sing. However, this simple quiz will help you explore the different intelligences. To learn more about the different smarts, including how to use your strengths most effectively and how to improve your weaknesses, check out Armstrong’s book. In each category, mark the statements that are true for you. Then count the check marks. Which intelligence got the most? Which got the least? Next, test your friends and family. Can you guess which are their strongest intelligences? Can…

Math discoveries don’t often make the news. But setting a new record for the largest known prime number can get a lot of attention. In January 2016, experts confirmed that a gargantuan number created by multiplying 2 by itself 74,207,281 times and then subtracting 1 is the new record holder. The discovery made headlines around the world and across the Internet. This prime has 22,338,618 decimal digits—so many digits that you would need a strong magnifying glass to see them if they were all printed on a giant wall poster. In one way, setting such a record is no big deal. You can prove that there are infinitely many primes, so there will always be a larger one than the current record holder. But the hard part is figuring out…

SOME CHIMPANZEES have a surprising habit. They like to pick up rocks and throw them at trees, or bang on trees with them. But the apes don’t abuse all trees equally. They hit certain trees over and over with rocks, as if it’s a kind of ritual. These trees end up with piles of rocks collected around them. Researchers found at least four separate groups of chimpanzees in West Africa that hit trees with rocks. No one knows why the chimps do it. Males may use the display to show off and attract females. Or maybe the piles of rocks have some sort of meaning for chimpanzees. Sure, it’s weird. But chimps are our closest animal relatives. Is tossing stones at trees any weirder than certain human traditions—say, hurling balls…

If you know someone with autism, you may have wondered: What’s going on in his or her head? Why does he or she freak out sometimes? Why doesn’t he or she play with the rest of us? These are tough questions to answer, especially because every child with ASD is different. Some never learn to talk; others simply have trouble with social situations. If James could tell you exactly what it’s like to be him, here’s what he might say: 1. My senses are all jumbled up. Pay attention to all the little details around you. Can you hear the refrigerator whirring or cars going past outside? Are any lights blinking? What do you smell? These details that you usually ignore can be as distracting, or even as terrifying, to…

Do you like spending time with just a few friends rather than a big crowd? Is doing your homework by yourself easier than working on a group project? Do people tell you that you’re a good listener? Are you known for avoiding activities that seem a little dangerous? Do you think carefully before you speak up? Would you rather just do one thing at a time and not have to juggle many tasks at once? If you answered yes to most of these questions, you may be an introvert. DIFFERENT FROM THE VERY START Introverts often look forward to quiet time with their thoughts. Extroverts tend to enjoy nothing more than going out and meeting new people. Brain imaging reveals that there are important differences between introverts and extroverts in…

“WHAT CAN I help you with?” says a voice from an iPhone. It’s Siri, and she’s ready to follow your voice commands to search the Internet, text someone, or play a song. Siri is an example of artificial intelligence (AI), or a computer program that can think. The way Siri thinks is very different from how a person thinks. She doesn’t have a brain. Instead, she relies on code in a computer program to understand speech and answer questions. And some questions are still too difficult for her to answer. However, AI programs like Siri are getting smarter and smarter every year. In 2011, an AI named Watson defeated two human champions on the quiz show Jeopardy! Computer programs can also drive cars, perform science experiments, and produce their own…

TALK ABOUT strict parenting. Scientists have discovered a 430-million-year-old fossil creature that kept its little ones attached to its body with threads. The ancient animal was tiny, about 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) long. It probably lived on the ocean floor. It was an arthropod, a member of the animal group that today includes insects, spiders, and crustaceans such as lobsters. The critter had 15 pairs of limbs. But the most interesting thing about its fossil is the 10 miniature creatures attached to the larger animal by threads. Scientists believe these are its babies. Each miniature animal is inside a capsule. This makes the parent look like it’s flying 10 kites at once. By dragging along its young, the animal may have kept them from being eaten by predators—or getting into…

Q: Why and how do tears form? —Tanmay G. A: Physically, tears are nothing special. Lots of mammals make them to keep their eyeballs nice and moist, as well as to wash out any specks of dirt that find their way into that sensitive body part. But the tears you’re asking about—the ones triggered by emotions, not physical irritation—are much more unusual. As far as scientists can tell, humans are the only animals that make emotional tears. Ad Vingerhoets, a psychologist at Tilburg University in the Netherlands, wondered why. He decided to study how crying affects both the crier and the people around him or her. Sometimes people report feeling better after a good cry, but Vingerhoets says it’s far from a universal response. Whether you feel better after crying…

Matthew Billington WHAT DOES it mean to be smart? Standardized tests in school tend to measure kids’ skills in a couple of areas, typically math and language. But there are so many other ways to learn about and understand the world. Musicians key in on sounds and melodies. Athletes focus on reflexes, strength, and agility. Designers think in pictures and patterns. Should musical, athletic, or artistic ability qualify as intelligence too? Howard Gardner, a professor at Harvard University, thinks so. Eight Ways to Excel In 1983, Gardner challenged the traditional idea that intelligence is just one thing that something like an IQ test can accurately measure. Instead, he theorized that people have multiple intelligences, each with its own level of strength or weakness. Someone who is a genius at math,…

It was his first day of class on the University of Hawaii campus, and Mark Berman, a 27-year-old biologist-in-training, was stoked to learn about bugs in the tropical island ecosystem of Oahu. He strolled across campus in search of the zoology building when something familiar caught his attention: an enormous bush, almost like a multi-trunk tree, with clusters of purple flowers and large, pale-green leaves whirring with insect activity. It was a giant crown flower plant, part of the milkweed family. Caterpillars striped black, yellow, and white, as long and thick as Berman’s finger, were going to town on those fuzzy leaves, stripping the juicy crop bite-by-bite while orange and black butterflies darted among the branches, searching for mates. Berman recognized the caterpillars and orange and black butterflies right away.…

FRIENDS AND gentlestudents! Thank you for your patience as the judges make their final decision. Soon I will announce this year’s winner of the Most Amazing Talent Show! If you’ve been with us all afternoon, you know that we have seen an incredible, mind-boggling range of talent. It has left us all thinking, “Wow. Just wow” We’ve seen one young man patting his head while rubbing his tummy. Then—one young woman patted her head extremely slowly while also rubbing her tummy! We saw a pair of girls patting each others’ heads and rubbing each others’ tummies! Ah! But here it is. The judges have delivered to me the envelope containing the names of the winners of this year’s contest. Friends and gentlestudents, the prize for third place goes to JAIMEE…