Innholdsfortegnelse for July/August 2022 i Muse: The magazine of science, culture, and smart laughs for kids and children

Hi! Howdy! Greetings! Bonjour! Hola! These are synonyms for “Hi” or “Hello.” I always wait for your magazine to come in the mail, and when it does? Oh boy, my face looks like the Sun, but even brighter! You may be asking yourself, “Wait, is she a queen or an alien of some kind?! And more importantly, does she have an army of some kind?” My answer to both of those questions: No. I’m just a girl who loves theatre, especially Hamilton. I love writing. And acting. Here’s a poem that describes your magazine. Shining, almost as brightly as the Sun. When I flip and whip the pages. My eyes explode wide, as I read and discover. I am inspired to learn more about our world to help. As I…

SCIENTISTS DISCOVERED A NEW KIND OF DINOSAUR FOSSIL IN CHILE, ON SOUTH AMERICA’S WEST COAST. This dinosaur was pretty small when it was alive—only about two meters (seven feet) long. But it was no joke. The dinosaur’s tail had a flat, bony end covered in blades. Talk about cutting edge. The researchers named the new dinosaur species Stegouros elengassen. It’s not the only dinosaur that carried weapons on the end of its tail. Most Ankylosaurs had bony clubs on their tails. The Stegosaurus had four tall spikes on its tail called a thagomizer. But the weapons that Stegouros carried were unique. This dinosaur lived in the late Cretaceous period, more than 70 million years ago. Scientists aren’t sure what the creature used its axe-like tail for. But it was probably…

Beth Flint lives in Honolulu, the capital of Hawaii located on the island of Oahu. She is the seabird coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at the Pacific Islands Refuges and Monuments Office. She keeps track of the millions of seabirds in the U.S. Marine National Monuments and works to ensure their survival. Since 1990, she has designed and run many projects that have helped seabirds. In 2019, Flint received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Pacific Seabird Group, an organization that studies and protects seabirds and their habitats. This group honored her for her work in habitat restoration and conservation, and for mentoring hundreds of other seabird biologists. WHAT DO YOU DO AS A WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST? As a wildlife biologist in the National Refuge System, I count…

Totora Rafts These artificial islands float in Lake Titicaca, a body of water high in the Andes Mountains between Peru and Bolivia in South America. Living on the islands are a native people called Uros. These days, most Uros live on the mainland. But those who remain on the lake host a parade of tourists who are eager to glimpse their unusual lifestyle. Makes about four dozen islands. Small islands can hold a few families; larger islands may hold a school. Phumdis Loktak Lake, a large body of water in northeastern India, is chock full of drifting islands called phumdis. These spongy rafts carry local fishermen and their huts. Serves about 4,000 people. Ingredients Loktak Lake vegetation fish sangai deer waterproof boots Ingredients Lake Titicaca large supply of totora reeds…

In Western North America, two massive mountain ranges dominate the region. To the north are the Rocky Mountains that extend from Alaska to New Mexico. To the south are the Sierra Madre Occidental, a towering range that makes up the backbone of Mexico. Connecting these two different worlds is a scattered network of small mountain peaks that rise from vast oceans of desert and grasslands. These are the Sky Islands, one of the most biodiverse regions on the planet. Spanning southern Arizona and northern Mexico, the Sky Islands are home to 450 bird species—nearly half of North America’s bird species —along with more than 3,500 species of plants. More than 100 species of reptiles and amphibians and a similar number of species of mammals live in the Sky Islands. These…

IT MAY SEEM LIKE THE INTERNET AND CELL PHONE SERVICE ARE EVERYWHERE. But they’re not. On remote islands, it may be difficult or even impossible to go online or use your phone. Some people long for a break from technology. Are you one of them? Or, do you never let your phone out of your sight? If you had to choose, which of these low-tech islands would you visit? Tristan da Cunha According to Guinness World Records, Tristan da Cunha is the most remote inhabited island in the world. It’s located smack in the middle of the South Atlantic Ocean. The closest city is Cape Town, South Africa, which is 1,500 miles (2,400 km) away. People grow potatoes and catch lobsters to eat. The 241 people who live here are…

A few years ago, researchers found an unusual fossil bed in North Dakota. The fossilized animals had all died at once. Scientists think what killed these animals was the same asteroid that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs. That asteroid hit the ocean near what is now Mexico about 66 million years ago, leaving a crater called Chicxulub. Even across the continent, the ground shook from the impact, and bits of glass rained from the sky. Recently, scientists learned more about that fateful day by studying the North Dakota fossils. They took a close look inside the bones of fossilized fish. As the fish grew each year, lines had formed in their bones, similar to tree rings. Based on how quickly the fish were growing when they died, the…

Catalina Island’s Intertidal Zone On Catalina Island, 20 miles (32 km) off the coast of Southern California, much of the intertidal habitat is rocky and rough. I worked as a teacher at Catalina Island Marine Institute, an outdoor marine science school that students from fourth grade to twelfth grade visit to learn about the ocean. I loved taking my classes to investigate our constantly changing intertidal zone. Let’s explore this wondrous environment between the tides! First, listen to the constant rhythm of the intertidal world: a whoosh as blue-green water pours into cracks around the rocks, a gargle as the frothy water is sucked back out. If we watched one patch of intertidal rock all day, we’d see water swirl over it at high tide, the Sun bake it at…

Dredgers pumped sand from the seafloor off the coast of Miami, Florida. Out of the warm, choppy waters of Biscayne Bay, the human-made island of Rivo Alto started to take shape. It was eventually joined by five more islands. They were all lined up and connected to downtown Miami by bridges. Since the late 1920s, the Venetian Islands have enticed tourists and celebrities with their tree-lined streets and tranquil atmosphere. But artificial islands have been around for centuries. For example, sprinkled throughout the lochs of Scotland and Ireland are hundreds of bushy mounds called crannogs. These small, flat pieces of land were built thousands of years ago by placing heavy stones on top of logs driven into shallow water. Why they’re here isn’t exactly known. Some believe wealthy families built…

A light beam skims the surface of a table strewn with geometrical objects. As the glowing bar passes over each object in turn, you hear eerie sounds related to the shape and placement of the object. You can even create your own weird music by shifting the rectangles, circles, and other everyday shapes into new positions. Golan Levin is an artist at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He created this audiovisual installation, which he calls Scrapple. Levin’s system is essentially a scanner that reads and interprets the positions and shapes of objects. It works a bit like a musician converting the notes they see on a sheet of music into a sequence of sounds. In this case, the table and its objects are not only the score but also…

IN GABON, A COUNTRY IN AFRICA, SCIENTISTS NOTICED WILD CHIMPANZEES DOING SOMETHING STRANGE. Sometimes a chimp who had a scrape or cut would snatch a fly out of the air and briefly press the bug between its lips. Then the animal put the bug inside its wound. The chimps seemed to be using the insects as a kind of medicine to treat their injuries. Researchers don’t know what kinds of flies the chimps use. They also don’t know if it actually helps. But they saw chimps treat their wounds this way dozens of times. Sometimes—like a caring human doctor, nurse, or parent—chimps even put bugs into each other’s cuts.…

IN A FEW YEARS, NASA WILL LAUNCH A ROBOT INTO SPACE IN HOPES OF REFUELING A SATELLITE. That satellite, Landsat 7, orbited Earth for more than 20 years. It snapped photographs of various places on Earth before it ran out of fuel. When the satellite came to a halt, so did its picture-taking. No satellite has ever been refueled in space. Unlike cars, satellites have a lifespan limited to only one tank of gas. Once their tanks are empty, they become space junk. If NASA can successfully refuel Landsat 7, then perhaps the thousands of other satellites now in orbit around Earth can be made to work longer, too. But this mission won’t be easy. The robot will have to use its mechanical arm to grab the satellite before pumping…

Lush grasses bend over windswept cliffs, which give way to the churning ocean. High above, a snow-capped volcano towers over it all. What is this place? It’s Great Sitkin Island, in Alaska’s Aleutian chain. A string of rugged islands in Southwest Alaska, the Aleutian chain was formed by volcanoes in the Pacific Ring of Fire. The weather here can be ferocious. There are high winds, thick fog, and bitter cold—but also gorgeous sunny days. The islands and their waters comprise one of America’s largest marine wildlife sanctuaries, the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge. More than 40 million seabirds nest here. Sea lions and fur seals gather in huge numbers, while sea otters and whales frolic in the swells. WORLD WAR II BATTLEGROUND This wild region has a surprising history. It’s…

Zoom in and you’ll find that the Bahamas is made up of more than 700 islands, cays, and islets. Cays are small, sandy, low-elevated islands with coral reefs. Islets are usually tiny islands with no human inhabitants. Big Major Cay is neither big nor major. But it is special. Less than a mile (one km) long, it is one of the 360 islands that make up the Bahamas’ Exuma Cays. While it has no human inhabitants, it is home to an established colony of feral pigs. People call it Pig Island. The dozens of pigs range from adorable piglets to Big Momma, the largest and oldest of the group. They can be found waddling together along the beach and swimming in the usually warm seawater. Against the advice of many…