Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2019 i Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children

When’s the last time someone gave you a lollipop? Maybe it’s been a while. But there’s a good chance it was at the bank. Right? You may have been waiting in line with your parent. You might even have your own bank account. But what exactly is a bank? People go to banks to deposit money (put it in) or withdraw money (take it out). But how does this really work? Where does your money go? All the Money in the World Check your pockets and look under the couch cushions. Maybe you score some change. How much money is really out there? A lot! If you only count American dollars, people around the world are exchanging approximately $1.70 trillion. Add in other currencies, and you’d get an even bigger…

Whitney Griffith grew up in the Caribbean nation Trinidad and Tobago. She came to the United States to study computer science at college, and she also interned twice at Microsoft as a software engineer. Griffith used her skills to create a banking app called Seamless Money. She wants to make it easier to move money between people and banks in her home region and the US. WHAT EXPERIENCE INSPIRED YOU TO CREATE SEAMLESS MONEY? I was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago, and I came to the US for the first time in August 2015. I was a student at Howard University. My family, who still lives in Trinidad and Tobago, were my main financial supporters. I had to find a way to have my parents send me money…

Parker Brothers released a complete monopoly set in the 1930s. The set included ten tokens: battleship, car, cannon, iron, purse, lantern, rocking horse, shoe, thimble, and top hat. Some playing pieces have been updated or replaced over time. Today, Hasbro owns the rights to the game. In 2017, the company announced the results of a worldwide online vote. The wheelbarrow and thimble were out, and the boot got the boot. In their place are the top three vote-getters: T. rex, rubber ducky, and penguin. What new token would you suggest for Monopoly’s next update?…

Nobel Prizes are awarded each year to honor extraordinary achievements in science, peace, and literature. In the sciences, prizes are awarded in chemistry, physics, and medicine (which includes biology). There is also a prize in economics, since studying money is a science too. In addition to many honors, winners of each prize receive a cash award. They share the award if there are several winners. Recipients can spend this money however they wish. They can further their work, support scholarships, fund charities, or even pay bills and expenses. Currently, the value of this award is 9 million kronor (the Swedish currency). That’s roughly a million dollars.…

Q: Can plants get cancer, and is it as bad for them as it is for us animals? —Ariox A: “Plants do get tumors, but cancer is not just a tumor,” says Robert Sablowski, a biologist at the John Innes Centre in the United Kingdom. A tumor is a cluster of cells growing out of control. Cancer depends on those malfunctioning cells being able to escape their original location and take up residence in new parts of the body. That process is called metastasis, and it’s what makes cancer so dangerous for mammals like humans. Plant cells, on the other hand, can’t move around because they have rigid cell walls holding them in place. So if a plant develops a tumor—which can happen because of an infection or even an…

Seeing traders bid furiously for rare flowers, some observers compared tulip mania to a kind of sickness. In one way they couldn’t have imagined, this idea turns out to be true. Scientists have finally discovered what caused the spectacular coloration in the most desired tulips. It was a virus in the Potyviridae family of plant diseases, nicknamed “tulip breaking virus.” Once the virus infects a bulb, it disrupts the bulb’s pigments. This causes normally single-color bulbs to produce intricate streaks of different colors across the petals. This infection produced Semper Augustus and other rare blooms. Ironically, bidders during tulip mania were paying incredible prices in pursuit of “sick” bulbs! This helps explain what made some bulbs so rare and valuable. Normally, inherited traits in a plant or animal can be…

Sure, you don’t recognize everyone. Sometimes you see your friend’s cousin or your mom’s coworker and don’t remember meeting them before. But in general, you’re a superstar at knowing faces. Researchers think the average adult can recognize around 5,000 people. To figure this out, scientists recruited 25 people. The subjects spent an hour listing every person whose face they knew: family, friends, teachers, doctors, and so on. People were still listing names and descriptions (like “dentist’s receptionist”) after an hour, though they’d slowed down. Then they spent another hour making a list of famous people they could recognize, such as singers, politicians, and actors. Finally, the researchers showed the subjects photos of celebrities and asked whether they recognized each one. They found that people knew many more celebrities that they…

QUICK: WHAT’S the largest living thing on Earth? Are you picturing a whale? Blue whales are the planet’s biggest animals. But the heaviest single organism on Earth is a plant. Thanks to hungry deer, though, it’s shrinking. This gargantuan growth doesn’t look like just one plant. It seems like a whole forest of aspen trees. But underground, the trees are all connected, making up one giant organism. New trees spring up from the roots of others. All the trees in the grove have the same DNA. The grove, called Pando, may have been growing in Utah for hundreds or even thousands of years. Pando covers more than 100 acres and is estimated to weigh 13 million pounds (5.9 million kg). Pando is slowly shrinking, and scientists fenced off parts of…

Seamless Money uses a technology called blockchain to make its bank transfers more secure. When a bank or company stores its data on a single server, that information can be stolen if the computer is hacked. Instead of one server, blockchain uses many computers in a network. When data is spread over multiple computers, it’s practically impossible to hack them all. Also, before a transaction concludes, each computer in the system has to agree that everything about the exchange is correct. Computers check the identity of the person making the transfer, whether the funds are available, and so on. A transaction happens only if all the computers verify it. This cuts down on scams. Companies other than banks are also researching and testing blockchain. Hospitals and doctors could use it…

In “Money as Art” (p. 20), you invented a design for a brand new kind of money. Bravo! Take a look back at the notes under your design and then tell us more about the place your money comes from. What is is called, and who lives there? How do its citizens use money in their everyday lives? Tell us all about this realm in 200 words or fewer. (We’d love to see your currency too!) 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.…

PIGS ARE known for being intelligent animals. No one realized until now, though, that they were smart enough to be bankers. A farmer in Kentucky liked to give her pigs fresh apples and grapes for special treats. But last year she noticed that although the pigs were still taking the fruits, she never saw them eat any. She investigated the pens and found hidden stashes of apples and grapes. She also saw some of the pigs rolling the fruits toward others with their snouts. Convinced something weird was going on, the farmer called a biologist from the nearest university. Researchers came to the farm and started observing the pigs’ behavior with cameras. It seemed that the pigs might be trading fruit for favors, such as a good spot at the…

Lots of apps help kids manage their money. Do you get paid for doing chores at home? Then Yuby could be a good app for you. Yuby has a chore list where you can keep track of the tasks you complete and how much you earn. It also has space to monitor your spending. Looking for something a bit more involved? Bankaroo and RoosterMoney will help you track your spending, develop a budget, set savings goals, and set aside money for a charity or organization you’d like to support. Believe it or not, the Bankaroo app was developed by an 11-year-old named Dani Gafni and her dad. Bankaroo can even be used in a classroom. Unlike actual bank accounts, these apps don’t contain real money. They work as digital helpers.…

In the past, people went to the store, paid for a video game, took it home, and played it. But the internet and smart-phones changed everything. App store customers are more likely to download a game that’s very cheap or even free. So game companies have to get creative if they want to earn enough money to survive. Some games offer a free version including ads. These earn money every time someone watches an advertisement. People who try out the game and like it can choose to pay for a smoother, ad-free experience. Other free-to-play games, like Fortnite, rely on in-game purchases, also called microtransactions. In games like Fortnite, microtransactions get you cool extras that don’t affect game play. In other free games, you have to unlock levels or items…

Three cheers for all you talented writers and artists—and especially for these winners of Karen Romano Young’s science comics challenge [November/ December 2018]. What were our guest judge’s criteria? Young reports, “Successful science comics exhibit a coordinated relationship between pictures and words that, together, invite the reader in.” She adds that accuracy is important. So is layering art and text to both show and tell a story. “The writing should be simple and accessible, with plain language, not jargon,” says Young. “All this combines to make the reader feel supported and involved—the state of mind you need to be in to discover something new.”…