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Sound Answers

February 22, 2012 Energy and Change

Somehow I had a scheduling glitch and the answers to the Sound quiz were never posted. Here they are, better late than never. 1. The loudest animal in the world is the Sperm whale, whose sonar clicks are about 230 decibels. Unfortunately sound works differently in the water and on land, so we can’t [...]

Wordless Wednesday – Whirlpools

February 22, 2012 Babies

I can’t say how happy it makes me that the girls love watching the whirlpool when you pull the plug out. I love seeing the two waves on top of the water – the huge influence of such a tiny flaw. A shining, silvery hole twisting and turning in the water. Excuse the scum.

Quiz – The Flower Edition

February 21, 2012 Life and Living

Beautiful and ubiquitous, but they have a serious job. When did flowering plants develop? What do calla lillies and sunflowers have in common? What is the point of flowers? What are bracts? And what’s the picture? Answers on Friday.

Kid Questions: Why do Fingers Wrinkle?

February 20, 2012 Kid Questions

We’re swimming several times a week and the little girl is fascinated that she turns into a giant pink sultana. She has to check each finger and toe when we get out to see how wrinkly it is. So why do our fingers wrinkle? I grew up with the old explanation, but I did some [...]

Cloud Answers

February 17, 2012 Earth and Beyond

After you’ve checked out this post, I strongly recommend a visit to the Cloud Appreciation Society, they have fantastic guides for cloud viewing and a beautiful gallery you can spend hours browsing through 1. Noctilucent clouds are the highest type of cloud and one of the most beautiful. It literally means ‘night shining’ and usually they [...]

Girly Construction (Boys can do it too)

February 16, 2012 Activities

Sometimes it is brought sharply home to me that I have girls. And not just girls but fairy princesses. I don’t know if this is popular culture or some sort of cosmic payback, because I’m one of the least girly women you could think of. I don’t know if I even own high heels although [...]

Wordless Wednesday – All Around Us

February 15, 2012 Life and Living

I had a couple of examples of interesting life around us on the holidays. The first was the enormous moth above – it’s as long as my finger! It’s a hawkmoth, which comes from the Yeperenye caterpillar and is an important Dreaming spirit in the Alice Springs region. It was just in a corner of the [...]

Quiz – The Cloud Edition

February 14, 2012 Earth and Beyond

Beginning of school and my head is in the clouds. What are noctilucent clouds? How do contrails form? Can you tell how much rain you will get by looking at a cloud? What is a cloud forest? And what is the photo? (Courtesy of H. Raab) Answers on Friday.

They’re out there

February 13, 2012 Earth and Beyond

Image courtesy of Luciano Mendez, a hypothetical view of moons around a giant planet in the habitable zone. Exoplanets. And if we’ve already found over 700 with just few years of looking then how many billions really exist? It’s a crowded universe. Exoplanets are planets that orbit other stars. Most we have found so far [...]

A Farm in a Box

February 9, 2012 Activities

When we were kids we, like so many others, had silkworms. It was a fun introduction to lifecycles, responsibility and the ethical dilemma of collecting the silk easily or letting them eat their way out. Now I’ve discovered there is an even easier version where you can see the pupae rather than having them tucked [...]