DiscoveryBox children's magazine #186

ÂŁ5.50 (UK only) Issue 186 September 2014 - ISSN 1366-9028

I explore t he world

Curious Inventive Genius

How is a newspaper made?

Who stole the Mona Lisa?

and LISA

LEONARDO

EXCUSE ME, MISS!

WHO, ME? YES. I’M LOOKING FOR A MODEL. WOULD YOU POSE FOR ME?

YOU CAN SIT ON THAT ROCK.

YES, LIKE THAT… NOW CROSS YOUR HANDS.

… THAT’S IT, NOW SMILE… VERY GOOD.

HERE?

SOMETHING IS NOT RIGHT…

MMYEAH… HMPF… NO…

… I THINK IT’S THE SMILE. COME ON! LET ME BUY YOU A BOWL OF POLLEN, MISS!

MISS…?

LISA… MONA LISA!

GOOD TO MEET YOU! I’M LEONARDO! 2

© Story and Illustrations: Sébastien Telleschi.

NEVER MIND…

Contents ZOOM IN

PICS & FACTS

Page

In 1911, Leonardo’s most famous painting disappeared from the museum where it was kept.

Find out what happened.

Page

4

13

INVESTIGATE!

WILD LIFE

Inside a printing works

Salamanders, little woodland dragons Find out all about these small creatures that live in woods across Europe.

© Bayard Presse – Images Doc February 2014 and December 2012 (Zoom in).

Cover illustrations: Julien Maître, Sylvain Frecon. Photo: © Marc Ollivier for Ouest-France.

Illustrations contents page: Laure du Faÿ (Games), Nathalie Desforges (Pet care).

Photo: ©Marc Olivier

Visit a printer to see all the stages that are needed to print a newspaper.

Page

22

Page

Illustration: Sylvain Frecon

Illustration: Julien Maître

Discover Leonardo da Vinci’s many talents. He was a designer, an engineer, an artist and more…

Who stole the Mona Lisa?

Photo: © Gunther/Biosphoto

My name is Leonardo and I’m a star!

26

AND MUCH MORE…

Funfacts, cartoons, pet care, games, your mail Find the results of our EAT YOUR GREENS competition from DiscoveryBox 181 on page 47.

3

My name is Leonar d I was an engineer, designing and making machines, weapons and buildings. I was also a painter, a sculptor and a musician. I never stopped!

I lived in Europe in the 15th century and worked for some of the richest and most important people of my time. I loved organising parties so that I could show off my talent as a costume maker and amuse the guests with all kinds of entertainments and special effects. Can you spot my amazing automatons*?

* old name for robots.

1452 Leonardo is born in Vinci, a small village in northern Italy.

4

1466 Leonardo studies with Andrea Verrocchio, a famous painter, in Florence.

1481 In Milan, he becomes a military engineer and party organiser.

do and I’m a star!

1503 Leonardo paints his masterpiece the Mona Lisa.

1516 Leonardo moves to France to stay with his friend, King Francis 1st.

1519 He dies aged 67 in France, in a house King Francis gave him near Amboise.

5

I designed magnificent I

dreamed of flying since the day I was born… well, almost!

I loved watching birds of prey. Seeing vultures fly gave me the idea for a machine with fixed wings that I called a ‘glider’. Bats inspired me to design a flying machine with wings that were controlled by the feet and hands of the person flying it. Once I saw seeds falling from a tree and made a drawing of a flying machine with a propeller (a turning blade).

6

I was sure that one day there would be machines that flew up into the sky!

Unfortunately, in my day we didn’t have engines powerful enough to make my inventions take off… We only had human or animal power. So instead, I invented a parachute. It didn’t fly but it allowed someone to jump from a building or mountain and slowly float down to the ground.

machines! chines a m r a w d ie d tu s o rd Leona could find about

oise castle

y book he Leonardo read ever d arms in the past. He visite war machines used was He s. ted fortification factories and inspec ing er neer and used ev yth a great military engi some amazing he learned to design idea for a chariot machines. He had an ades sticking out with huge cutting bl he drew plans from the wheels and . He even for a giant crossbow d car designed an armoure ons (in nn ca with a turret and the photo). This was the first tank.

© Model of tank, Amb

DR

©

He was a gifted mechanic Pulleys, winches, wheels, screws…

Leonardo studied how machines work and how they are put together. He drew the moving parts in great detail and tried to find ways to improve them. He thought machines could help give humans and animals more strength. He was fascinated by a new invention: the clock. The mechanism (moving parts) inside clocks gave him the idea of making automatons. These were statues with machinery inside that made them move.

He was fascinated with water

© Model of paddle

)

(Moselle e du Carreau Wendel

boat, Musée de la Min

of ideas for Leonardo had plenty avel for people improving water tr ned a revolving and goods. He desig uld carry bridge that armies co boat and with them, a paddle He also underwater tunnels. canals for designed a system of a river to carrying water from a clever river a town. He invented ill used today. lock system that is st

Thanks to: vinci-closluce.com

© Illustrations: closluce-education.com

7

I looked at everything

I

was one of the first people to study the human body! Up until

then, the Catholic Church hadn’t allowed anyone to cut up human corpses (dead bodies) to study them. But the Church was starting to change idea. This was good

8

news for me. I was able to look inside many bodies and draw accurate pictures.

I sketched muscles, tendons and bones.

I found that the veins our blood travels through are like a network of waterways, with small streams joining bigger rivers.

very closely Leonardo painted portraits

to show Leonardo was able in people’s the beauty or anger tails of hair, faces, as well as de how how they moved and around their clothes swirled nted that them. He was so tale awings of he made beautiful dr so liked al very ugly people. He es. doing funny caricatur

© Heads of an old man

ence (Italy) eria degli Uffizi, Flor and youth, 1495, Gall

He was able to show things in movement

As a child, Leonardo collected small, dead animals so he could draw the m. He mixed together body parts of differ ent animals and invented fantastical creatu res. As an adult, he drew sleeping cats, swoop ing bats and flying birds. He was so good at drawing that his pictures look as if they are moving.

© Le Codex des vols d’oiseaux, 1505,

He loved nature

od © Le C

vols d’ ex des

oiseau

x, 1505

He wrote from right to left and with letters the wrong way round so it was difficult to understand his notes.

You need a mirror to read them.

tour , L. Via

Leonardo was always drawing flowers, falling leaves and moving clouds. He covered pages of notebooks with his sketches.

© Study of a lily lily/The Royal Collection (Her Majesty Queen Elisabeth II)

L. Viatour

Some of my most famous K

ings, nobles and even the pope asked me to work for them

Text: C. Loizeau. Illustrations: Julien Maffre.

because I was already a great artist. The duke of Milan, Ludovico Sforza, asked me to paint a fresco on a wall in a monastery in his city. It’s a religious painting showing Jesus Christ’s last meal with his 12 disciples*. It’s called The Last Supper.

10

* followers.

It took me four years to finish. The people in the picture are full size and each one has a different expression on his face.

I used light and shadow in a clever way to make the scene look almost real. I painted the ceiling so it stretches out of the picture. When you look at it, it feels like you’re in the scene too!

works of art Leonardo was a great sculptor © Cavallo di Leonardo da Vinci/San Siro, Milan, Italy

He planned the biggest statue of a horse and rider ever made!

His clay model of the horse was 7m high. But the sculpture was never finished or cast in bronze as planned because Italy was preparing for war with France.

The bronze was needed to make cannons.

ished about Leonardo only fin were 20 paintings. They and en portraits of wom e. bl scenes from the Bi n as The portrait know La Gioconda) r (o the Mona Lisa s painting is the most famou considered in the world! It’s greatest to be Leonardo’s masterpiece.

©DR

© Louvre museu

m, Paris, France

He painted the Mona Lisa

He was an amazing architect Leonardo designed the double spiral staircase. In the photo you can see the one built at Chambord castle. People on the two staircases can see each other but never cross paths…

Leonardo also imagined towns where there were two street levels, one above the other.

One street level was for people and the other for carts.

© Chambord castle/Helac

11

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Who stole the Mona Lisa?

Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the world. Did you know that more than a hundred years ago it was stolen from the museum where it was kept?

Solve this mystery with DiscoveryBox‌

MONDAY 21ST AUGUST 1911, 7AM, THE LOUVRE MUSEUM IN PARIS

There are so many paintings here.

Nobody will notice that the Mona Lisa is gone!

13

TUESDAY 22ND AUGUST 1911

Where is the Mona Lisa? l have been waiting three hours to start copying it!

AROUND 12AM

Come in!

Oh, that’s odd…

Er… Sir… the Mona Lisa has disappeared.

Well, l don’t think she went for a walk!

So where is she?

What?

l must tell the boss!

Send the police immediately!

2PM, AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE MUSEUM

We’re closed!

Why?

Excuse me, Madam.

Can you lift your skirt?

14

There’s a water leak…

Disgraceful!

Follow me.

We must search the visitors before they leave.

Nothing to report.

How embarrassing!

What’s going on?

THE POLICE SEARCH THE BUILDING FROM THE CELLARS TO THE ROOF…

l’ve told you before!

The Mona Lisa is not a canvas. lt was painted on a special wood panel!

That canvas could be anywhere…

Sir! Come and see this!

This is the frame the Mona Lisa was in and the glass that protected it.

This museum is a shambles!

Your security is terrible!

THE NEXT DAY

Nothing on the frame…

Don’t touch anything!

We are going to look for fingerprints.

Yes! There’s a fingerprint!

lt’s from a left thumb. We have the thief!

15

THE POLICE ARE STARTING TO USE SCIENTIFIC METHODS. THEY TAKE FINGERPRINTS OF ALL THE STAFF AT THE MUSEUM.

They are going to search our houses too!

l thought you were looking for the left thumb print?

Right hand!

QUIET! LATER…

All in order.

No painting here.

What’s in that suitcase?

l hope you find the thief!

Er… l keep my shoes in there…

A FAMOUS ARTIST IS A SUSPECT.

Name, surname, profession and date of birth…

Pablo Picasso, artist, born on 25th October 1881, in Spain.

THE STORY IS ALL OVER THE NEWSPAPERS!

Did you steal the Mona Lisa?

No, but if l had wanted to it would have been easy!

Security in that museum is useless.

END OF AUGUST 1911

We have taken 200 fingerprints, Minister.

None of them matches the one on the glass.

We have searched in London, Berlin and Brussels!

Nothing!

So are you closing the enquiry?

16

PEOPLE COME TO THE LOUVRE MUSEUM TO SEE THE SPACE LEFT BY THE MONA LISA.

What is that woman doing?

The Mona Lisa has become famous since it was stolen.

But where could it be?

She is leaving flowers where the Mona Lisa used to be.

TWO YEARS LATER, DECEMBER 1913 IN FLORENCE, TALY

Are you Mr Leonardo?

You say you have the Mona Lisa?

That’s it!

You were not lying!

What about the money you promised?

Yes, yes…

BUT THE NEXT DAY…

Vincenzo Peruggia, you are under arrest for stealing the Mona Lisa.

THE THIEF IS QUESTIONED IN COURT.

Tell us the facts, Mr Peruggia.

He called himself Leonardo, like Leonardo da Vinci…

17

l’m a glazier*…

ON THE MORNING OF THE 21ST, TOOK THE MONA LISA…

HID THE PAINTING. THE POLICE DIDN’T FIND IT WHEN THEY CAME TO MY HOUSE. THEN WENT BACK TO TALY.

TWO YEARS AGO WAS WORKING IN FRANCE AT THE LOUVRE MUSEUM.

ON THE 20TH OF AUGUST 1911, HID IN THE MUSEUM AT CLOSING TIME.

… AND LEFT THE MUSEUM WITHOUT BEING SEEN. MONDAY IS CLEANING DAY. NOBODY NOTICED ME.

But why did you steal the painting?

Because it belongs to ltaly. Napoleon stole it from us!

No he didn’t!

King Francis 1st of France, bought the painting in the 16th century!

Who was that woman?

She’s not very beautiful! Why is she so famous?

Why is she smiling?

THE END

18

* someone who cuts glass and fits windows.

Texte: Catherine Loizeau. Illustrations: Sylvain Frecon.

THE MONA LISA WAS RETURNED TO THE LOUVRE IN 1914.

YOU CAN STILL SEE IT THERE TODAY.

Secrets of the Mona Lisa

Who was the woman with the mysterious smile and crossed hands?

Read on to find out more about this painting.

Who was Mona Lisa?

When did Leonardo paint this picture?

In old Italian Mona meant ‘Mrs’.

Mrs Lisa was the wife of a rich merchant called Francesco del Giocondo. We know Francesco asked Leonardo to paint a portrait of his young wife to hang in their home.

But not everyone agrees that this is the picture.

Leonardo da Vinci started the portrait between 1603 and 1606 in Florence, Italy. He worked on it for about 4 years but didn’t finish it.

He took it with him when he went to live in France.

He may have continued to work on it until around 1617.

Leonardo da Vinci never delivered the painting to the Giocondo family. He took it to France. After Leonardo died, King Francis the 1st of France bought the painting from Leonardo’s helper.

Francis hung the painting in his castle at Fontainebleau.

It went to the Louvre museum in the 18th century.

Why is it also called La Gioconda?

In English we call the painting the Mona Lisa. But in Italian it’s usually called La Gioconda. Lisa’s family name was Giocondo, which means ‘happy’.

With an ‘a’ on the end, this word means ‘happy lady’. Leonardo da Vinci wrote about a painting of this name in his notebooks.

Why is the painting so famous?

walk visitors 20,000 Lisa a e Mon past th t ay a every d eum. vre mus the Lou

Painters have admired the Mona Lisa for a long time. But it became really famous after it was stolen in 1911. Today, artists all over the world make copies of her or funny caricatures (for example, drawing a moustache on her). Her image is printed on mugs and mouse mats.

What is special about it?

The portrait was painted using a special technique that was new at the time. Leonardo knew a lot about anatomy (the human body) so Lisa looks very real. He also used special effects to make her stand out from the background which is quite hazy. Lisa has a mysterious smile which makes you wonder what she is thinking.

Text: C. Loizeau. Illustrations: Éric Meurice. Photo © Portrait of Monna Lisa, La Gioconda, .77 x .53cm, poplar wood, INV.779 © Louvre museum, Paris. Frame: DR.

Why is the painting in France?

19

DID YOU KNOW?

A time of new

Leonardo lived at a time of exploration and discovery.

European sailors travelled the world. Artists and scientists developed new ideas.

1454

A German called Gutenberg invents the printing press.

Books can be made quickly.

1492

Italian navigator Christopher Columbus sails to a continent that was new to Europeans: America.

1498

Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama sails around Africa to India.

Illustrations: Fred Sochard. Photos Š (In date order): Self-portrait/DR; Jean Clouet/Louvre museum, Paris/A. Dequier-M. Bard; Tiziano Vecellio (Titian)/DR; National Portrait Gallery.

I invented the printing press!

20

1534

Frenchman Jacques Cartier explores Canada and claims it for France.

1520

Suleiman the Magnificent rules the huge Ottoman (Turkish) Empire.

1520

The Spanish invade the Aztec Empire in Central America.

1539

King Henry VIII has the Bible translated into English and allows it to be used in churches.

1543

Polish astronomer Copernicus discovers that the Earth goes around the Sun.

1558

Queen Elizabeth I rules England and Ireland.

1559

Catholics and Protestants are at war across Europe.

Queen Elisabeth becomes Governor of the Church of England.

discoveries 1500

The Spanish make better ships so they can sail further and more safely.

1503

Leonardo da Vinci starts painting the Mona Lisa.

1508

Italian artist Michelangelo paints the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

1515

Francis 1st becomes King of France.

1519-1522

1519

Portuguese navigator Magellan is the first to sail around the world.

Charles V becomes Holy Roman Emperor, ruling Spain, Holland and parts of Germany. He is the most powerful ruler in Europe.

1562

1609

English sailor John Hawkins takes slaves from Africa to America, starting the Atlantic slave trade.

Italian scientist Galileo invents a new, better telescope.

1519

Leonardo da Vinci dies in France.

1616

William Shakespeare, the famous English writer, dies at the age of 54.

He wrote over 35 plays, including Romeo and Juliet and many poems.

E

AR

E ESP

K

SHA

21

Inside a printing works Violet wanted to know how newspapers and magazines are printed.

So DiscoveryBox took her to visit a printer.

Maya

22

Violet, aged 9

Violet meets Maya by one of the printer’s five rotary presses.

These huge machine s are each as tall as a 3-storey building. Th ey print 17 newspapers per second!

1 Before going to press

Maya shows Violet the large computer screens David works on. When the journalists and designers have finished working on the newspaper, they send all the pages to him.

David checks everything and sends the computer files to the plates department.

David

Each plate is the size of a newspaper page.

Christopher

2 The plate-making room

Plates are special aluminium sheets that are sensitive to light. A laser beam is used to burn them so that they show what needs to be printed and where.

“The lighting in this room is yellow so it doesn’t get in the way of the laser’s action,” says Christopher.

of This is the black plate ox. a page of DiscoveryB at th ing yth er It shows ev in ed int pr needs to be black.

3 Preparing to print Erwan

Erwan places a plate in the rotary* press.

The machine wets the plate but the water only sticks to the areas not marked by the laser beam. Then the machine inks the plate.

The ink is oily so it only sticks to parts of the plate with no water. These are the areas marked by the laser. * turning or rotating.

23

4 You need paper to

Ludovic

make a newspaper!

Arounsac

k

Ludovic and Arounsack move a roll of recycled paper on a special trolley.

The huge roll weighs over 1 tonne (1,000kg)!

The press works all night long and the men have to make sure it always has paper in it.

This roll is 17km lon g and can be used to print 25 ,000 copies of a newspaper!

Christopher

5 You also need ink

to print a newspaper!

Christopher shows Violet the tank for black ink.

“We have 7 of these,” he says.

“Each one contains 5.5 tonnes of ink. We also have tanks for the coloured inks.” rs you see on All the different colou de from just 4 inks: a printed page are ma d (magenta), and black, blue (cyan), re te has to be made yellow. A separate pla ing what needs to for each colour, show . be printed in that ink

6 In the control room

Luke has started up the rotary press.

He keeps an eye on the level of ink in the tanks.

I can control the speed of the press.

Luke

24

It’s going really fast!

Christopher

Offset (or blanket) cylinder

The plate transfers the ink to a roller (cylinder) wrapped in rubber (which is why it’s called a blanket cylinder).

“When the paper passes between the cylinders, it picks up the ink,” says Christopher.

The plate and the paper never touch, which is why this process is called offset printing (offset means ‘a little way away from’).

Plate

Ink White pape r

8 Print quality checks

Patrick

Patrick checks the print quality throughout the night. “I take regular, random samples of the pages as they come off the press,” he tells Violet. “If I notice anything is not quite right, I can adjust the ink controls.”

Text: Nathalie Tordjman. © Photos : Marc Ollivier for Ouest-France.

7 We’re printing!

Printed paper

9 Final stages before delivery

When the printed sheets come off the rotary press, they pass through other machines to be folded, cut and put in the correct order. A rotary press prints 50,000 to 60,000 newspapers per hour! The newspapers are loaded onto lorries to be delivered overnight so they’re at the newsagent’s first thing in the morning.

25

Wild life

Salamanders,

little woodland dragons

26

Š F. P. Fietz/Biosphoto

Fire salamanders look like little dragons but they really exist! These brightly coloured creatures are shy and hide in woods.

Fire salamanders spend most of their days under dead leaves or in a little burrow. They only

come out in the evening and are active for part of the night. But this one is out and about during the day.

What is it looking for?

27

© Grenet and Soumillard/Biosphoto © D. Heuclin/Biosphoto

28

The salamander has come out of its hiding place after a rain shower. It moves slowly. The damp air cools its skin. Suddenly something moves in front of it. Hmm, it smells like a slug… The salamander catches it and gobbles it up! But will that be enough food?

Nearby, an earthworm has popped out to enjoy the dampness.

Bad move! The salamander is still feeling a bit peckish. It spots the worm, pulls it out of the ground and swallows it.

Š J. P. Delobelle/Biosphoto

Then the salamander heads for a stream.

Will it dive in? No, it can’t swim very well. Will it have a drink? No, the animals it eats are juicy enough to quench its thirst. Its gleaming skin also absorbs (takes in) water from damp moss and grass. The salamander is following an interesting smell‌ 29

Our salamander is a male.

After mating, the two salamanders don’t stay together. The male has fertilised the eggs inside

the female’s body. Eight weeks later she dips the back part of her body into a stream. She pushes out between 10 and 30 little brown larvae*.

30

* you say ‘lar-vee’. They are baby animals that don’t look anything like their parents when they are born.

© D. van Dijck/Biosphoto

© M. Loup/Biosphoto

The smell was a female salamander.

Now that he has found her, he will try to mate with her.

Š B. Borrell/Biosphoto

Salamander larvae have four legs like their parents and are active at night.

Š D. van Dijck/Biosphoto

But unlike their parents, they live in water.

They have a fin on their tail and gills on their head to breathe. They hunt tiny animals that live in the water.

The larvae grow underwater for three months. Then yellow

patches begin to appear on their skin and their body starts to change. In less than two weeks they turn into adult salamanders that live on land and breathe air through lungs.

31

DID YOU KNOW?

Special salamander!

CT FILE

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15 to 20cm

: fire mandra N NAME COMMO andra sala , except m la a S : E AM rope LATIN N across Eu. s t s re fo S: e UK ADDRES and in th

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Weight: 50g

Rounded tail

Salamanders live on land when they’re adults.

They can’t swim very well with their rounded tail.

Short legs

Salamanders move slowly.

They step one front leg forward at the same time as the opposite back leg.

Then they move the other front leg with the opposite back leg. They have 5 toes on their back feet and 4 on their front feet.

Salamanders are amphibians.

The word comes from the Greek word amphibios which means ‘both kinds of life’. Amphibians, such as frogs and fire salamanders, lead two lives.

They live in the water when they are larvae and on land when they become adults.

Fantastic and fiery salamander

In ancient Egypt

The Egyptians had a hieroglyph shaped like a salamander that meant ‘man who has died of cold’. This is because salamanders spend the winter sleeping.

32

Long ago in Europe

People believed salamanders could walk through fire. This is because they hide in log piles in winter and crawl out when the logs are put on the fire.

Smooth skin

A salamander’s skin is covered in a sticky liquid that stops it drying out and protects it from diseases. Its skin has to be damp to absorb (take in) oxygen from the air and water from dew on plants.

Colourful reminder

If a predator tries to eat a salamander, it gets a taste of the poisonous liquid and lets go.

It will never forget that this yellow and black creatures tastes horrible!

In Leonardo da Vinci’s time

Today

Leonardo wrote that the salamander “gets no food but from the fire” and other people in his day thought salamanders breathed fire, like dragons.

The Pokemon character Charmander (formed by replacing ‘sala’ in salamander with ‘char’, meaning to burn) has a flaming tail and likes hot things.

Text: Nathalie Tordjman. Illustrations: Fred Sochard.

When it’s around 18 months old, the salamander’s yellow patches take on their permanent shape.

Salamanders change their skin several times a year for the rest of their lives, but their patches don’t change.

Salamanders have special glands that produce a white toxic liquid. When the salamander is in danger, it squirts this liquid out through little holes at the side of its head and along its back.

© M. Gunther/Biosphoto

Special markings

Poison glands

33

Š F. Lamouroux/DR

34

1 a spacecraft all lit up

2 the double spiral staircase at Chambord castle

3 a warning sign for radioactive materials

4 an alarm signal flashing in a tunnel Answer on page 51.

Tusko Livingroom Leopold Stanley

Tarzine Hey! We found these tiny eggs clumped together in jelly in the river… Can we make an omelette with them?

Those are salamander eggs, children. You can see the little larvae through the clear jelly.

How long do you think they will take to hatch?

Long ago, people used to think that salamanders could live in the flames of a fire. Let’s see if it’s true or not.

Oh! There we go!

The salamanders are hatching!

Hmm…

At that heat, I would say 3 minutes, like a boiled egg.

Wow! The little salamanders are eating the burning wood!

Look! They are growing bigger and bigger!

They’re farting fire!

Ha, ha!

CH CRUN

CH CRUN

CH CRUN

That’s more than friendliness guys…

That’s a burning love!

Text and illustrations: Corcal.

Hey! Looks like they want to play with us!

Such friendly animals!

CRU N CH CRU N CH

35

© B. Scholtz/explore.com

© L. Quinn/Sanders

Island

Penguin or razorbill?

Razorbills are very good at flying.

They spend most of their life in the air and only come to land to lay their eggs. Razorbills live in the northern hemisphere. You can spot them along the coast, especially near cliffs, in North America and northern Europe.

Human life on other planets In our solar system, we could live on the Moon and on Mars as they are close to the Earth.

We could also live on Ganymede and Europa, two of Jupiter's satellites. But it would be very complicated because there’s no atmosphere or water on any of these planets or satellites. By 2045 there will probably be a few astronauts living on a base on the Moon.

36

I like living on the Moon.

But the rent is astro-nomical!

Illustration: P. Corcal.

Penguins and razorbills are both sea birds and look quite similar but they don’t belong to the same family and they never meet! Penguins can’t fly. They use their wings as fins to swim. They live in the southern hemisphere, mostly near Antarctica.

Royal numbers

A compass always points North Are you happy now?

Can we, please, go home?

The centre of the Earth is like a giant magnet and it works even 65,000km out in space! It attracts the steel needle in a compass and makes it point North.

The needle in a compass is a magnet too – a very thin one. It's balanced on a pivot (or pin) so it can swing round as the Earth's magnet pulls on it. The needle always points towards the North. South is in the opposite direction, West and East are to the left and right.

Seven and eight!

Dinner is ready!

This tower was built in Italy in the 12th century.

The ground under it was soft and damp and the tower began to lean to one side soon after it was built. It has leaned further and further over the years. Recently there has been a major building project to stop it leaning… and it’s working!

The tower has been straightened a little so that it's safe and should stay as it is for at least another 200 years.

© G. Pizano Arroyave/DR

The leaning tower of Pisa

Henry and Henry!

Illustration: P. Corcal.

Illustration: Benjamin Lefort.

Great! So you have found the North Pole…

In the past, noble families often gave children the same name as their parents.

When a king died, one of the children would become king or queen. They might have the same name as the ruler before them. People started to use numbers to tell them apart.

37

Meteorite

© Ria Novosti/AF

P

a ball of fire in

the sky

ugh fire shot thro ise f o ll a b a , 013 at 9.20AM north of Russia. The no th of February 2 the ng 15 On the sk, a town in panes shattered, injuri in b a ly e h C into r the sky ove s of window te exploding d ri n o a e s t u e o m h e T . n g on phere! was deafenin ople. It was a 10,000-t arth’s atmos e E p e f h o t s d d re re e d t hun it en agments as millions of fr What colour do you think it shoud be?

Citrus fruit ant-ics!

© H. Lenain/Hemis.fr

This giant sculpture of an ant is 10m tall and was made of hundreds of citrus fruit.

The display of oranges, lemons and limes was made for a festival.

38

Yellow pee When red blood cells in your body become old they are broken down in the kidneys so the body can get rid of them. The waste matter produced from the blood cells is yellow and it’s what gives urine (the scientific name for ‘pee’) its colour. Long ago people thought maybe pee was yellow because it was made of gold!

Sporty idea!

Pant! Pant! nt! Pant! do Pa When t

© DR

I ge ee my fr ? ? t e k c i t

Treasure on Mont Blanc

Pant!

Pant!

During the 2014 Winter Olympics in Russia the city of Moscow’s transport company gave away free train tickets to encourage the public to do some sport.

You had to do 30 squats on a special mat in front of the ticket machine to get your free ticket!

A climber found these precious stones on a glacier on this mountain in the Alps. The stones came from an Indian plane that crashed on Mont Blanc in 1966. The climber will be allowed to keep the stones if nobody else comes forward to claim them.

A clam called Ming How old are you?

Umph!

Shush!

It might clam up!

Umph!

Cosy bird Reed buntings have 2,600 feathers in February and only 1,500 in the summer!

© F. Desmette/Biosphoto

The extra feathers trap more air, like a duvet, and keep the bird warm in winter.

Text: Marc Beynié, Pascale Bouchié, Nathalie Tordjman. Illustrations: Philippe Corcal.

Old Ming was 507 years old! This clam was found in 2006. Sadly, the scientists who were studying the clam killed it when they opened its shell. They didn’t know that it was one of the oldest living animals in the world!

They named it Ming because it was born when the Ming kings ruled China.

39

How do locks work? clay l need: You wielts of modelling

●

Locks allow boats to travel canals and rivers that are on different levels.

Leonardo was fascinated with water transport and developed a new kind of lock. This experiment will show you how brilliant these water lifts are!

3 pack in bars ay arge tr er ●1l on ontain c o p d s o a o ● te astic f of a pl ● lid e r to me glu uck togethe ● so st atches rge ●m b a a make ter ● wa

Build a lock

1

2

Lay out 4 bars of modelling clay as in the photo to make the different levels of your lock. Use the back of the spoon to stick the blocks together. (If your clay is not in bars, make 4 rectangles all the same size.)

Make one wall of your lock by flattening 3 bars of modelling clay into a sort of long triangle. It should be a bit longer and higher than your lock. Do the same thing with another 3 bars for the other wall.

3

4

Lower gate

Place the walls around the lock as in the photo. Use the spoon to stick the modelling clay firmly together. Your lock must be water-tight!

40

Upper gate

Place your lock on the tray. Cut 2 rectangles 6cm by 4cm out of the plastic top. These are the lock gates. Push them into the clay as in the photo. Your lock is ready.

Work your lock 2

1 Higher canal Canal

Lock chamber

Fill the lower canal and lock chamber with water.

Put your barge on the water. Fill the higher canal.

3

Lower gate

Upper gate

Higher canal Canal

Lock chamber

Canal Canal

Put your barge in the lock chamber.

Then close the lower lock gate.

4

Lock chamber

Open the top gate and wait for the water to pour into the lock chamber.

Canal Canal

Lock chamber

When the water level of the chamber is the same as the higher canal your barge can move off.

When you close the lower gate (2), your barge is trapped in the lock chamber. When you open the upper gate (3), you let water from the higher canal into the lock chamber. The water level inside the chamber starts to rise – raising the barge with it – until it’s at the same level as the higher canal. Water always flows down to fill an empty space. This raises the barge up. Cool, isn’t it?

© H. Lenain/Hemis.fr

: © A. Houdou.

Concept and text: Marc Beynié. Photos

What happens?

There are hundreds of locks on the UK’s 3,000 miles of navigable* waterways. * that can be used by boats.

41

Krogg and Alienna

The truth at last!

The truth about flying saucers

This one is actually a weather forecasting balloon.

with Professor Now all

I’m now going to show you some photos of what we call ‘flying saucers’.

Here we have a flock of wild geese.

I can’t believe he said it’s just a hat!

He really knows nothing! ?!

This one’s just a hat! The picture has been touched up.

42

© Bayard Presse – Astrapi September 2010. Text: P. Martin. Illustrations: N. Hubesch.

This is a cloud that has a strange shape...

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47

Welcome to America!

In the 16th century European explorers landed in a faraway place they didn’t know anything about.

Help them in this new country.

1

ead the speech bubbles R and match each Native American A with their canoe.

B

C D

l only eat fish.

My wife loves the sea.

1

3

2

l take my family everywhere l go.

2

44

4

Atishoo!

here are 4 things in this chest T that didn’t exist in the 16th century.

Can you spot them?

E

F G

H

I

Ju uppl vt nboz npouit boe b mpu pg ibsetijq up hfu ifsf.

Cvu uijt mboe mpplt sjdi.

Nz ljoh xjmm cf ibqqz xifo J ufmm ijn xibu J ibwf gpvoe.

3

rite the correct words W in the grid. The letters in yellow boxes spell a hair style copied from Native Americans.

3

6

2

5

4 1

7

Textes : Pascale Bouchié. Illustration : Laure du Faÿ.

4

ork out the code to read out W what the captain of the expedition is saying.

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

feather leggings loincloth moccasins papoose tattoo tunic

Answers on page 51.

45

My hamster is bored.

What can I do?

Hamsters are not like dogs. Even if they don’t move much, it doesn't mean they are unhappy.

Don't wake your hamster up in the day

Happy on its own

Your hamster is quite happy on its own in its cage. It means it doesn’t need to defend its territory. If you put another hamster in the same cage, they might fight… to the death!

Buy your hamster a big cage

Your hamster will be happier in a big cage.

Spread several centimetres of special hamster litter on the bottom of the cage so your hamster can dig tunnels. Also put a wheel in the cage so it can exercise without hurting its back. The wheel should have a diameter of at least 20cm.

Make sure your hamster has a varied diet

Hamsters love eating! They like moving food around and making food stores.

Give your hamster seeds, grass, vegetables and even some hard boiled egg. It should always have fresh water too.

Wait until the evening to play with your hamster. It will be in a better mood. Once it gets to know you it will start to feel comfortable with you. It might even learn to climb onto your hand. But don’t force it to if it doesn’t want to!

46 46

Text: Nathalie Tordjman. Illustrations: Nathalie Desforges. © M. Gunther/Biosphoto.

Hamsters are nocturnal creatures. They sleep during the day and are awake at night.

They spend the day in their nest but this doesn’t mean they’re bored. If you wake your hamster it might get aggressive.

Competition results Winners

will receive ok a Kindle e-bo r reade

Well done to everyone who sent in pictures of their favourite brassicas (DiscoveryBox 181). Here are some of our favourite entries.

Winner over 8s

Evangeline

Charlotte

Amber

Winner u nder 8s

Miriam

47

Evelyn

Jolie

Flavia

Stephanie

Lucia

Justine

48

Sylvia

Lily

Roma

Risa Dana

Alexandrea

Merenzel

Arthur

Marissa

49

mail us Send or e ings etc... s, draw your joke

bayardcontact@ s.co.uk magazine

What did e the gnome com home with?

Eliza

Hannah

Gnomework

Keith

How many teachers does it take to screw a lightbulb?

None, the students do it.

ep

Where do fish ke their money?

In a river bank

!

Clara Adeline

Casey

A robot goes to school without a bag. What will the children call him?

Ha! Ha!

P RO F E SS O R B A TT Y ’s mad machines

Story and illustrations: Patrick Cerf.

This is a mini time-travel machine.

50 50

We are going to travel 60 seconds into the future.

Blip!

Well?

Be patient, it will only take a minute!

In your next issue of

PICS & FACTS © Illustrations: Olivier Nadel (submarine), Patrick Debeulbeiss (Pirate)

Blackbeard the pirate

WILD LIFE

Green sea turtles ZOOM IN

Exploring the ocean depths

Answers What can you see? (p.34) No.2: the double spiral staircase at Chambord castle. It was built from a design by Leonardo da Vinci.

Illustration: Laure du Faÿ.

Welcome to America! (pp.44–45) Game 1: 1C 2E 3A 4H Game 2: gun, watch, cd player and torch.

Managing publisher: Christophe Mauratille.

Editor in Chief: Simona Sideri.

Art Director: Pat Carter.

Text and research: Liz Shepherd.

Sales and promotion: Andréa Chhan.

Budget Controller: Elda Frey.

For editorial queries please contact: Bayard Magazines, PO Box 61269, London N17 1DF, UK. For a subscription in Switzerland: Edigroup SA - 39, rue Peillonnex - 1225 Chêne-Bourg (Switzerland) - tel: (0041) 22 860 84 02 - fax: (0041) 22 349 25 92 email: abobayard@edigroup.ch

DiscoveryBox is published by Bayard Presse Asia – Le Grain de Sénevé Publishing Co. Ltd, located at Room 8, 9/F, Block A, Hong Kong Industrial Centre, 489491 Castle Peak Road, Cheung Sha Wan, Kowloon, Hong Kong. Printers: PENTACROM Artes Graficas.

C/ La Fundición, 14 Pol.Ind.Santa Ana 28529 RivasVaciamadrid (MADRID) and Allion Printing Co. Ltd, Hong Kong. ISSN: 1366-9028.

Game 3: the captain of the expedition says, “It took us many months and a lot of hardship to get here. But this land looks rich. My king will be happy when I tell him what I have found.” (In the speech bubble, a=z b=a c=b) Game 4: 1 moccasins 2 tattoo 3 feather 4 loincloth 5 tunic 6 papoose 7 leggings. The word in the yellow boxes is MOHICAN – it’s a shaved head with a long crest of hair in the middle. Native Americans used this hairstyle which is still copied today and the name comes from the Mohawk people, who were also called Mohicans. Although the Mohawks did not usually wear their hair like this, Hollywood films made the name and the hairstyle popular.

Quiz (back cover): 1B 2A 3B 4A 5A 6C 7C 8A.

All rights reserved to the publisher © Images Doc, Astrapi – Bayard Presse.

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51

Quiz 1 Salamander larvae live in:

2 The Mona Lisa was stolen from:

A trees

A the Louvre Museum in Paris

B water

B Chambord castle

C nests

C the Sistine Chapel

3 Mona Lisa was:

4 Leonardo da Vinci lived in:

A Leonardo da Vinci’s wife

A the 15th century

B a young Italian mother

B the 5th century

C a man disguised as a woman

C the 21st century

5 Leonardo was keen on water travel and invented a canal:

6 Salamanders give off:

A lock system

A fire

B barge

B glue

C speed boat

C poison

7 Razorbills are sea birds that:

8 Newspapers are printed on:

in Rome

A a rotary press

B never land

B a trouser press

C live in the Northern

C a revolutionary press

hemisphere

Answer this quiz from 1 st September at www.bayard-magazines.co.uk

Text: P. Bouchié. Illustrations: Philippe Corcal.

A can’t fly

I hope this is the Arctic!

Oh no!

My salamander glue tube is empty!