Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2017 i Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children

I am a cow-obsessed flip phone who hates cinnamon buns and is possibly going to wear an orange shirt next Thursday. A little while ago I sent my friend Joe (who might possibly be imaginary, but that’s none of your beeswax) a copy of Muse while he was on vacation on Mars with his pet cow, Bubba the Prehistoric Cow. He wanted me to ask you guys if you could write an article about cow farts and methane and such because he doesn’t know much about the subject. If you do not publish this letter, I will send my large army of rubber snakes and plastic flamingos to suck your brains out through your noses. —ALICE, THE AMAZING FLIP PHONE P.S. Could you also maybe do an article about smiles…

You’re climbing into the car for your ride to soccer practice—when you put your hand right in some fresh bird poop on the door handle. Gross! There may be more to this doo-doo disaster than meets the eye. Some birds use each other’s splatter patterns to find food. A biologist in Canada noticed that whenever her hood got pooped on during the day, she’d see a lot of birds perching near the car in the evening. She wondered whether these birds were reading some sort of information in the mess. So she and her team did a series of experiments in the lab and outdoors. They showed photos, or actual poopy cars, to common bird species and watched what the animals did next. They saw that birds use other birds’…

Many of us use mobile devices to stay in touch throughout the day. But what if you didn’t have to type a message, snap a picture, or even hit send? What if all you had to do was think to communicate? Some people, including Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg, predict that one day, we will be able to send messages to others with our thoughts. The future of communication may be telepathy. What Is Telepathy? Have you ever known what someone was going to say before he or she said it? Or perhaps you knew who was about to come through a door or contact you before it happened? You might have joked that you have a “sixth sense.” Telepathy, also known as thought transference, is the process of sending thoughts…

rly? There’s a lot of news about how texting is ruining language. Supposedly, kids can’t spell anymore, and weird abbreviations and smileys are replacing real words. However, it turns out that it’s mostly new cell phone owners using weird abbreviations such as “r u l8?” and these make up only about 10 percent of text words. Once the novelty wears off, they usually start spelling out “are you late?” just like everyone else. Some researchers think that high schoolers’ writing is actually improving—maybe because they’re reading and writing so many texts! How Do Cell Phones Work? A mobile phone transmits its signal on radio waves. An antenna on a tower receives the signal. The tower is connected to the regular telephone network. The area that a tower serves is called…

BCJH BRUNWC means “stay silent,” in a code called ROT9. That’s just one spy trick you’ll learn in this activity. Only, don’t tell anyone. Even if you aren’t a spy (you aren’t, are you?), you probably already use cryptography, or the science of secret communication, every day. For example, when you access secure sites on the Web. Or make an online payment. Or play open-access games. Being connected electronically has many advantages. But people also need to keep some information safe or private. And that’s where cryptography comes in. Let’s Talk Nonsense Every code is just that: nonsense. It’s information that’s been turned into gibberish. To turn it back (and to control who can do that), you simply need: 1. A cipher—a system for turning a message into code 2.…

W hen it comes to power, memory, and processing speed, everyone wants more. If your computer can’t store or run the apps you need, one solution is to connect to a powerful network. What if we could do the same with our brains? If an Albert Einstein and a Marie Curie tapped into each other’s brainpower, would we already have anti-gravity machines? Could four cancer researchers linked brain-to-brain find a cure faster? What about 10 researchers, or 100? It’s an interesting question and one that scientists around the world are already studying: can we make a human brain chain? And if we do, will it help us unlock amazing possibilities or just lead to more headaches? Two Heads Are Better (If They’re Linked) When neuroscientist Miguel Nicolelis thought about linking…

Take note! Twitch is intended for audiences age 13 and older. Content in live streams is unfiltered and may include strong language or scenes from video games intended for a mature audience. If your parents or guardians are looking over your shoulder online . . . they’re just doing their job. » As you read this, hundreds of thousands of people are logged into the website Twitch watching live streams of others playing video games. Some of the streamers are professional gamers competing in esports events. Others are regular people who have found an audience for their unique style of gaming and commentary. In any given month, around 2 million people broadcast themselves on the site, and over 100 million log in to watch. Maybe you’re one of them. Video…

You’ve received a gift card for your birthday, and you want to use it to buy some goodies online. You go to the company’s website and enter the number listed on the card to make a purchase. But up comes an error message. Rats! Looks like you made a mistake when typing the number. How did the website detect your mistake so quickly—without having to check a humungous list of all valid gift card numbers? To catch such mistakes, computers behind the scenes often do a quick calculation. Suppose your gift card number has eight digits. The first seven digits identify the gift card; the last digit is called a check digit (or checksum). In the instant after you enter a number, a computer does a calculation using the first…

A ROBOT in the shape of a fuzzy baby seal sat on 73-year-old Lois Simmeth’s lap. “I know you’re not real,” she whispered. “But somehow, I don’t know, I love you.” The robot, named Paro, couldn’t answer. But it could make cute mewling sounds, move its head, and blink its large, adorable eyes. Interactions such as this one are happening at some nursing homes and other eldercare facilities around the world. Supporters say that Paro and similar robots provide the same kind of comfort to elderly people as animal therapy, without the risk of allergies or the dangers of handling real cats and dogs. Opponents worry that cuddly robots will unfairly lead people with dementia to care for uncaring machines. Which side is right? Research has shown that Paro can…

IN OCTOBER 2016, scientists at the European Space Agency waited nervously as the latest Mars rover, named Schiaparelli, attempted to stick its landing. A spacecraft called the Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) had dropped the rover onto the red planet. Schiaparelli was supposed to fall first with a parachute and then use its thrusters to make a gentle landing. But the scientists, waiting for a signal that their rover had safely touched down, heard nothing. The next day, images of the Martian surface confirmed their fears. There was a brand-new crater on Mars: the remains of the poor rover. Researchers estimated it had fallen for 1 to 2 miles (2 to 3 km) before crashing and possibly exploding. All wasn’t lost, though. The TGO made it safely into orbit around Mars.…

GOOGLE MAPS doesn’t just show you how to get where you’re going. Often, you can zoom in all the way to a sidewalk-level perspective, as if you’re walking inside the map. The feature is called Street View. But it’s not available for remote parts of the world—like the Faroe Islands, a group of islands halfway between Norway and Iceland. Citizens here felt left out because there was no Street View where they lived. So they got help from some sheep. More sheep live in the Faroe Islands than people. Islanders strapped solar-powered cameras to the backs of some local sheep. While the animals wandered around, the cameras gathered footage of the islands’ hills and cliffs. After Google employees found out about the project, dubbed Sheep View, they lent the Faroe…

Q: How and why do genes mutate? —James S., age 12, Nebraska A: Every living thing has its own genome, or a long string of DNA that sits in the middle of all of its cells. That DNA is made up of four chemicals: adenine, thymine, guanine, and cytosine, represented by the letters A, T, G, and C. If you were to write out all the letters in your genome in order and compare them to the letters in your best friend’s genome, some of them would be different. In the whole history of the world, no one has ever had the exact same letter order as you do (unless you have an identical twin). Your genome is unique. But that doesn’t mean your genome remains the same throughout your…

NEW CONTEST 3 ? Þ ÿ ¥ (A Code of My Own) Send us a code made up of five to ten symbols that each represent a word, and provide a key showing how to decipher it. Bonus points if you compose a short message in your code. (But be sure to provide the English translation!) CONTEST RULES 1. Your contest entry must be your very own original work. Ideas and words should not be copied. 2. Be sure to include your name, age, and full 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. All entries must be signed by a parent or legal guardian, saying that this is your own work and no…