Bspace spring 2017 by Brainspace

WATCH THE CUTE CLOWN FISH SWIM USE BLIPPAR APP TO TRIGGER THIS COVER

Brainspace SMART INTERACTIVE PRINT MAGAZINE FOR KIDS 8-14

Tallulah

BATTLES CO2 FOR HEALTHY LAKES

C’EST LA

VIE BÉBÉS

LIFE

ANIMAUX

ON MARS?

THE 5 KINGDOMS OF

LIFE

CLASSIFYING ALL LIVING THINGS

RANDOM (BUT FUN) CANADIAN FACTS

HUMAN CLIMATE PROBABILITY FLOWER LIQUID MIGRATION ADAPTATION DISSECTION CHROMATOGRAPHY

MAKE a chromatography butterfly bouquet PUBLICATION AGREEMENT NUMBER 42642027

SPRING 2017

CAN $7.95

EXPERIMENT to see how acid erodes buildings CODE using Google Chrome to create kittens

Brainspace is fully interactive.

Enjoy the extra digital content on the pages of this magazine. First,

download the free Blippar App at the App Store or at Google Play. Once the app is downloaded, simply tap the app to scan pages with the symbol and enjoy. Read, listen, watch, experiment and think.

EDITING HOLLY BENNETT GRACE BUELER CONTRIBUTING WRITERS HOLLY BENNETT PASCALE BIDER GRACE BUELER JOHN HOFFMAN CATHERINE LITTLE GALADRIEL WATSON VIDEOGRAPHY ALEX MIDDLETON FACT CHECKING JENNIFER ALEXANDER ART DIRECTION AND DESIGN GALEXY STUDIO PUBLISHER BRAINSPACE PUBLISHING INC. PRESIDENT AND CEO NICOLE MIDDLETON

Brainspace magazine is published four times a year by Brainspace Publishing Inc., 394 Ontario Street, Newmarket ON, L3Y 2K4 PHONE (905) 830-4314 EMAIL brainspacemagazine@bell.net

SITE brainspacemagazine.com

Periodical postage paid at Canada Post, Ontario Canada. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Brainspace Magazine, 394 Ontario Street, Newmarket ON, L3Y 2K4 brainspacemagazine@bell.net LEGAL SERVICES Zaldin and Fine LLP; ACCOUNTING Kestenberg, Rabinowitz and Partners LLP.

SUBSCRIPTIONS Canada $25 • US $33 • International $60 Bulk rates for schools and libraries available Prices are subject to taxes and shipping rates

ISSN 2291-8930

If you would like to contribute to Brainspace magazine, please email brainspacemagazine@bell.net

WE ARE DEEPLY GRATEFUL TO OUR PARENT/CHILD ADVISORY COMMITTEE Laurie and Kenny Weeden; Christine Bhumgara and Tia Nguyen; Rachel and Audrie Meredith; Catherine, Jill and Delia Jansen; Valerie and Alex Brown; Julianne and Michael McKall. MISSION Brainspace magazine endeavours to produce intelligent and engaging articles for students ages 8 to 14 in a format that bridges the gap between print and digital technology to expand literacy and promote optimal learning. NOTE The opinions expressed herein are those of the respective authors and not necessarily those of Brainspace magazine or of Brainspace Publishing Inc. Brainspace magazine and Brainspace Publishing Inc. will not be liable for any damages or losses, howsoever sustained, as a result of the reliance on or use by a reader or any other person of any of the information, opinions or products expressed, advertised or otherwise contained herein. Where appropriate, professional advice should be sought.

ADVISORY BOARD: PAUL EEKHOFF, CHRISTOPHER EMERY, JANE GERTNER, ROSEMARY SINCLAIR-MUNRO, ARMANDO IANNUZZI, BRYAN MIDDLETON, NIGEL NEWTON 2 brainspacemagazine.com /BrainspaceMagazine @BrainspaceMag

c ntents page 6 Tallulah & the evil CO2

5 BRAINYACK

Notes and views from the Brainspace team

6 TALLULAH

Our superhero battles carbon dioxide

8 SPACE

Living on another planet

10 ENGINEERING

Make your own kittens with simple coding

12 MATH

Probability for everyday life

14 BIOLOGY

Ecosystems and invasive species

16 GEOGRAPHY

Climate adaptation and evolving species

18 BIOLOGY

Explaining Ernst Haeckel’s Tree of Life

20 SCIENCE

5 kingdoms of life

The types of cells for each kingdom

24 BOTANY

Dissecting flowers

26 CHEMISTRY

Yeast: A hungry monster

28 HISTORY

Human migration patterns explain how we got here

page 38 Les bébés animaux

30 MARINE BIOLOGY The ocean is our planet’s blue heart 33 ART SCIENCE

Use chromatography to make a butterfly bouquet

34 OH CANADA

Part 2 of our 150 fun trivia facts about Canada

38 EN FRANÇAIS

Nommez les bébés animaux

page 22 Cells

page 12 The math of probability

page 20 5 kingdoms of life

page 8 Might you live on Mars? brainspace SPRING 2017

Progressive new classroom resources are now available! Introducing the Entrepreneurial Thinking Toolkit for your school! Each of the 4 units are comprehensive with hands-on activities and video crash courses to support teachers in the delivery of the theme. Each kit comes with 30 student workbooks. Use Blippar on the sample page below for a demonstration!

For information or to order, please call Toll-free (844) 330-4314 4

or visit brainspacemagazine.com and click on Classroom Resources.

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

Notes and views from the Brainspace team

C’est la vie !

Brainyack

Or as the English say, “that’s life!”

2 STEAM CO NTE MC ST

Spring is in the air and as a tribute to this wonderful time of year, we’ve made this latest issue full of life. We’ve prepared fun stories, illustrations, videos and experiments about all aspects of real life. Read about the scientific classification of living things (also known as taxonomy) in our 5 Kingdoms of Life feature on page 20. Study the beautiful illustration NICKY MIDDLETON, PUBLISHER of our Tree of Life on page 18, which we’ve adapted from scientist Ernst Haeckel’s original version. He was the first to spend his time connecting the similarities among life forms by literally branching them together through illustrative diagrams. This is called phylogeny. Speaking of life forms, you can bring your own monster to life with yeast by conER N N I ducting the experiment on page 26. It can get pretty huge in your fridge so tame it W by using it to make yummy treats. On page 30, you’ll find a story about marine life Congratulations to Sarah H heroes at bluemission.org. Their founder, Dr. Sylvia Earle, has been a hero for our who told us “I would use oceans just like Chris Hadfield is for space. We chat about space on page 8 to discuss the E in STEAM so I could engineer things to do whether it is possible for us to invade other planets. Here on Earth, invasive species what I want.” Clever! can bring chaos to ecosystems. Find out why on page 14. We think baby animals are the best part about spring so we challenge you to name as many as you can in French on page 38. Finally, remember to bring these pages to life through augmented reality by using the Blippar app on your mobile device. Look for those orange “Blipp this!” circles to enjoy encrypted bonus content. Happy Spring, dear friends!

Oops! Editorial Correction: On page 5 of our Winter 16/17 issue, we incorrectly stated that 1+4=4 and 1+5=5. Of course, 1+4 =5 and 1+5=6. A big thank you to the Rocillo boys for spotting the error. “It was really Isaiah who noticed it, but Micah was looking at the magazine with him and they brought it to my attention,” says their mom. We’re grateful for your attention to detail.

IN OUR NEXT ISSUE:

BRAINY FUN Keep those brains humming this summer and read all about the physics of hummingbird movement; dog memory, rainy day fun, super hands-on science in your kitchen or backyard, and so much more! Please visit our site to comment on topics you’d like to see in Brainspace Magazine. Tell us what you think of Brainspace or post a picture on of your science experiments or maker projects on our Facebook page (facebook.com/BrainspaceMagazine) to win monthly prizes..

brainspace SPRING 2017

science

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

HTTPS://YOUTU.BE/RFIE6B96O38

Launch Blippar. Hold your device over this page to watch this video. Huge thanks to You Tubeâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Thank You Ocean channel for this expertise. Visit thankyouocean.org for more great science. Also, watch to the very end and tap on the *Experiment* button for a very cool and easy science experiment you can do to see the effects of acid rain. brainspace SPRING 2017

space

People have been dreaming and writing about going to Mars for hundreds of years. Now it seems like it might come true. NASA has published Journey to Mars, a plan to send humans to Mars by the 2030s. That’s exciting. However, there are a number of key problems and challenges that have to be dealt with before we can safely send people to Mars. Where will they live? How can we transport everything they will need to live on Mars?

BY JOHN HOFFMAN

By John Hoffman

’t have s, but we don ar M to ft ra acec need a can send a sp back . “You’d ft ra ec Right now we ac sp a rr y, of bringing u’d have to ca yo se au the capability ec b , ile you cket to do that urney and wh gargantuan ro jo e th n o d u’d nee ever ything yo to take the u’d also need o Y s. ar M n o were ff from eed to blast o rocket you’d n rocket,” e fuel for that loration Mars and all th tor, Space Exp ec ir th are D , is u p u Mars and Ear e Agency. ac en p h S w says Erick D n es ia m ad ti ords, an only true at t for the Can ths. In other w Developmen ay. And that’s n w o m ch 6 ea 2 s y th er n ev es 5 – 7 mo only come ace. ip to Mars tak ose windows tr Th e s. th it y, tl rb me to be in sp o ti en r g rr ei n th Cu lo a in ’s er at th to each o t 3 years. Th relatively close s would have to last at leas Mar expedition to

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

When scientists are looking for places that humans might be able to live in outer space two important questions are:

Studies of the astronauts who have lived on the International Space Station (ISS) have shown us some of the effects of long-term weightlessness on human bodies. For one thing, most astronauts who have spent six-month periods living on the ISS lose some of their bone density and muscle mass. That’s because they don’t get enough weight-bearing exercise. Weightbearing exercises – walking, running, lifting weights – force you to work against gravity and are essential for bone and muscle health. It’s pretty hard to get that kind of exercise in a weightless environment. That’s why astronauts run on a special treadmill for at least an hour each day, using special equipment, says Perry Johnson-Green, Senior Program Scientist, Life and Physical Sciences, with the Canadian Space Agency. “The treadmill has a special harness that not only keeps them from floating around, it also exerts a downward pressure that simulates the forces of gravity.” But even so, research shows that astronauts are not getting enough exercise. For example, Canadian scientist Richard Hughson of the University of Waterloo has shown that when astronauts come back to earth after six months at the ISS they are at greater risk for developing Type 2 diabetes. “Fortunately, most of these effects are reversible once astronauts return to earth,” says Johnson-Green. However, if we’re going to send astronauts on three-year missions to Mars we will have to develop more and better ways of making sure they get enough weight-bearing exercise.

• Is it feasible to get there?

• Is this an environment that could support human life?

Most planets in our solar system are too far away, and also far too hot or cold for humans. Mars is a lot colder than Earth, but its climate is the most human- friendly of all the planets in the Solar System.

But here’s the big thing Mars has going for it: water (in the form of ice). Water is essential to support human life. If humans are to live on Mars water would be essential, and not only for drinking. Water could also be split into its two parts - hydrogen and oxygen. Oxygen would be used for breathing and hydrogen could be used to make rocket fuel for the return journey. MARS FACTS: Average winter temperature on Mars: -63 C. In summer temperatures can reach as high as 20 C on the warmest days. However, Mars’ atmosphere is so thin, that it doesn’t hold heat very well. So even summer nights on Mars are colder than winter nights on Earth.

brainspace SPRING 2017

engineering

CODED KITTENS Who doesn’t like kittens?

You can make kittens with simple coding in a web browser. Anyone can do this and it’s super fun! First, you’ll need the Google Chrome web browser. If it’s not already on your computer, ask a parent to go to https://Google.com/Chrome to download and install the browser on your computer. With your Chrome web browser open, next open the Console. On Mac use Command + Option + J On Windows/Linux use Ctrl + Shift + J Notice the > on the left edge of the Console. This is where you type and where we’ll make our kittens. Let’s get started making kittens! First we need to write one long line of code that will make our kittens. We’ll tell the code how many kittens we want and the code will make that many kittens. Type the following: var drawKittens = function (howManyKittens) { for ( var i = 0; i < howManyKittens; i++ ) { console.log(i + “ =^.^=”); } }; Then press the Enter key. You should see the word undefined under your line of code. That means your web browser accepts your code. So let’s make digital kittens now that our code has been accepted. Type makeKittens(5) to make 5 kittens. Notice how your browser always counts from 0, not 1? That is how computers count. If you want to understand the block of code you entered, let’s take a moment to explore how it works: 10

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

SCAN THIS WITH BLIPPAR TO WATCH A STEP BY STEP VIDEO DEMONSTRATION. IT’S EASY!

var drawKittens tells the browser to create a variable. A variable is like a box you can use to store things. Our variable is to draw kittens. The = equals sign tells the browser what we want to store in the variable. A function is a procedure, which performs some operation such as draw kittens. Of course, we have to tell our function HOW MANY kittens we want to make. So after the word function we create another variable called howManyKittens. We put this variable in parentheses to help our browser to keep track of what code belongs to other code. Our first task is to set up the basic rules for making kittens. We don’t want the browser to spend forever making kittens. So we create a variable called the letter i and we set some limits. We set our variable i equal to zero. Then we say run our kitten factory code only as long as the value of our i variable is less than the value of our howManyKittens variable. So if we want five kittens, our factory will only run as long as our i variable is less than 5. Since we start with i equal to 0, that means our code will run 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 times. Last, every time our kitten factory code runs, we need to increase the value of our i variable. So we add i++ to tell the browser to add 1 to the value of i every time the kitten factory code runs. Now for the kitten making code. Type console.log(i + “=^.^=”) to tell the browser to output the value of our variable i to the left of our kitten. Here’s what they look like:

=^.^=

They have whiskers on either side, pointy ears, and a button nose. That’s how we get this output in the Console of our web browser. For more details, go to this free article online https:// KidsCodeCS.com/kittens. THIS PROJECT IS FROM A BOOK CALLED JAVASCRIPT FOR KIDS PUBLISHED BY NO STARCH PRESS.

brainspace SPRING 2017

math

Odds Are

Using probability in everyday life

he math you learn in school is important. But let’s face it: you won’t often be asked to calculate the volume of a sphere or identify polygons in your daily life. Understanding probability, on the other hand, can help you make better decisions every day. Probability is a type of math that helps you figure out how likely something is to happen. You encounter it every time you play card games, watch sports and check the weather forecast!

Luck of the Draw Say you’re playing a game of Crazy Eights with a friend. What is the probability you will get an eight the next time you draw a card? First you need to remember that there are 4 eights in a deck of 52 cards. And let’s assume there are 40 cards you have not yet seen. That means your probability of drawing an eight is:

4 ÷ 40 = 0.10 Probabilities are often expressed as a percentage. You can multiply 0.10 by 100% to find the probability of drawing an eight from the deck is 10%. You can also say the odds of drawing an eight are 1 in 10, because

40 ÷ 4 = 10.

Easy Way to Multiply or Divide Decimals by 10, 100, 1000 etc. Count the number of zeros in the multiplier and move the decimal the same number of digits to the right. 12.06 x 10 there is one zero in the multiplier (10), move the decimal in 12.06 one position to the right. Answer 120.6 To divide, count the number of zeros in the divisor and move the decimal to the left in your dividend. 12

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

Step

Rightup Bolt from the

Blue

batter steps to the plate during a baseball game. What is the probability he will get a hit? You can get a clue by looking at the player’s batting average. This is calculated by dividing his number of hits by the number of times at bat. For example, imagine Peter has been to bat 1,000 times. He got 250 hits in those opportunities. What is Peter’s batting average? 250 ÷ 1,000 = 0.25 Batting averages are rounded to three decimals, and the first zero gets dropped. So Peter’s batting average would be written .250. Multiply that by 100% and you can estimate Peter will get a hit in 25% of his tries. You can also say Peter’s odds of getting a hit are 1 in 4, because

hat is the probability you will get hit by lightning? That depends on your lifestyle, of course. If you play video games in the basement all day, you have no chance of being struck by lightning. If you go camping every weekend in the summer, your odds are much higher than normal. But to keep the math easy, let’s assume everyone in Canada has an equal chance of being zapped. First you need to find out how many people are injured by lightning annually. According to Environment Canada, the answer is about 70 people. Then you need to know how many people live in Canada: that number is about 35,000,000. So the probability of a person being struck by lightning in any one year is: 70 ÷ 35,000,000 = 0.000002 Multiply 0.000002 by 100% and you’ll learn that the probability is just 0.0002%. And since 35,000,000 ÷ 70 = 500,000, that means your odds of being hit by lightning next year are just 1 in 500,000!

1,000 ÷ 250 = 4. brainspace SPRING 2017

By Pascale Bider

When invaders attack! In nature, all living things exist in delicate balance. When this balance is upset, it can have serious consequences on plants and animals alike. A new species introduced in a place where it doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t belong can be a serious threat!

What is an ecosystem? Plants and animals live together in what is called an ecosystem. All the living and non-living things in an ecosystem interact and canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t exist without one another. A lake is a good example of an ecosystem. Imagine a lake with algae growing on the sand at the bottom. These algae get nutrients from the water, sunlight, and the sand, so they are interacting with all three. Small fish in the lake eat the algae, so the fish and algae interact. Then, bigger fish come along and eat the little fish. Maybe thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s also a turtle in the lake that hides from predators in the algae. Together, the sand, water, sunlight, algae, fish, and turtle all form a close-knit community, or ecosystem. Ecosystems can be as big as an entire lake or forest, but they can also be very small. Within one single decaying log in the woods, there are countless organisms interacting with each other and with the rest of their environment, making it an ecosystem as well.

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

biology

What is an invasive species? What would happen to our lake if another species of aquatic plant started growing alongside our algae? This would mean that there would be fewer nutrients available for the algae and they wouldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be able to grow as well. What if the new plant was not as nutritious for the fish? Because there are less algae, there would be less food for our little fish. What if the new plant was less leafy, and offered less cover for the turtle? In this case, our turtle would have less camouflage and would be more vulnerable to predators. This new plant is an example of an invasive species. It is a living organism that has been transported to a new location from a different place and established a population in this new location. Invasive species can have harmful impacts on native organisms. Sometimes, an invader can even cause a native species to go extinct!

Invasive species casefile:

Burmese Python

Originally from Southeast Asia, the Burmese python is now an invasive species in the Florida Everglades. These 7-meter long snakes were introduced into the Everglades by pet owners who released them into the wild. Ever since, the python has been wreaking havoc in the Everglades, eating native species from small birds all the way to alligators!

Invasive species casefile:

Giant Hogweed

Invasive species can be beautiful too! Giant hogweed is a plant originally from Southeast Asia that can grow up to 5.5 meters tall. Today, giant hogweed has been transported to North America, where it is considered an invasive species. Because of its huge size, this plant blocks sunlight from reaching smaller, native plants. Its sap also contains a toxin that can burn your skin and leave you with a nasty rash!

brainspace SPRING 2017

geography

By Holly Bennett

The Earth contains many climates, and different animals and plants have evolved to live in nearly all of them. Camels thrive in the dry, hot desert. Snowshoe hares are designed for snow and cold. But global warming is changing weather patterns and habitats, and scientists worry that many species may not be able to survive.

Animals and plants may adapt to changing weather conditions in three ways: • they can migrate to more suitable areas • they can adapt as individuals • they can evolve as a species The big question is who will be able to adapt quickly enough to keep pace with today’s climate change?

Moving up

If your home becomes too hot, you can pack up and move to a cooler place. And some animals are doing just that. But scientists were afraid that the Quino checkerspot butterfly in California was doomed. Why? Because the caterpillars of this endangered butterfly only eat one plant, and its normal territory has become too hot and dry for this plant to grow. What’s worse, the checkerspot’s path to cooler ground is blocked by the sprawling city of Los Angeles. Recently, scientists were amazed to find that some Quino checkerspots have somehow found their way past the city to higher, cooler land. Not only that, they are laying their eggs on a new host plant – and the caterpillars are eating it!

When Climate Changes

brainspacemagazine.com

Too close for comfort Unfortunately, when animals are forced to move, the results are not always so good. Imagine you live on the 10th floor of a 15-storey apartment building. What if all the people who lived above you decided to move down to your floor? Your living space would become cramped. That’s what’s starting to happen in the Philippine rain forest. Rain forests are kind of like apartment buildings – there are animals that live at every level. But because the lower levels are cooler, some of the animals from the top (canopy) are moving down to escape the heat. As more and more animals move downward, overcrowding could seriously damage this habitat.

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

Time shift We think of evolution as something that happens very slowly, but that’s not always true. Take the green tree frogs that live on North Carolina’s coast. Climate change has caused rising sea levels, and that has turned some of the freshwater marshes where this frog lives salty. The problem is, frogs can’t live in salt water because the salt makes them lose water from inside their bodies. At least, that’s true of the inland frogs. When Molly Albecker, a PhD student at East Carolina University, heard frogs singing out in the salt marsh one night, her advisor first thought she must be mistaken. But sure enough there they were, living in saltwater marshes. “It’s very exciting that these tree frogs can adapt to something that is considered so deadly,” says Molly. “It makes us wonder whether some other freshwater species may develop the same ability.” Molly encourages people (including kids) to get involved in “citizen science.” One way is to use websites like inaturalist.ca to record the wildlife they spot. “Just being curious can lead to some pretty big discoveries,” suggests Molly.

Migration – when animals travel (sometimes long distances) to breed or spend the winter – is a behaviour that is written into the genes. That can be bad news if animals aren’t able to adjust their timing or their route when conditions change.

The pink salmon is one species that has been able to change the time of its migration to match new climate patterns. Salmon normally live in the ocean, but in spring and early summer they swim up freshwater streams to lay their eggs. In Auke Creek, Alaska, their spring migration has shifted earlier by about two weeks over the past 40 years. Over that same time, the stream’s water temperature has increased — so it seems the salmon have tweaked their schedule to give their eggs the best hatching temperature. It looks like it’s working: the Auke Creek salmon population is holding steady.

Human Adaptation

What can we do? Forests absorb carbon dioxide and cool the air, so protecting and renewing forests is an important way to slow global warming. Protecting forests, wetlands and other habitats, as well as green “travel corridors” for migrating animals will also give more species a chance to survive.

Climate conditions affect people too. Can people adapt to different kinds of weather? The Inuit have lived in the North American Arctic and Greenland for thousands of years. They have developed a body type that helps them survive in extreme cold. Shorter arms, legs, and fingers/toes reduce heat loss. Fat pads over the sinuses help warm the air they breathe, and a higher percentage of body fat generates more heat. In many parts of the world, humans now rely on tools and technology – like clothing, heating, and air-conditioning – to protect them against extreme climate conditions. In fact, our physical features are no longer very important to our survival.

brainspace SPRING 2017

By Ansgar Walk via Wikimedia Commons

Magic frogs

biology

Scientists have organized and categorized life forms since the early 1800s. It was Ernst Haeckel who designed the first version of a tree of life, also known as a phylogenetic tree. A phylogenetic (or evolutionary) tree is a diagram that shows what science believes are the evolutionary relationships between living speciesâ&#x20AC;&#x201D;their phylogeny. The categories are based on similarities and differences in their physical or genetic characteristics. The version of a tree of life you see here shows only a few samples of the possible branches and species that could be drawn. We encourage you to research and add your findings to this tree, or to make your own tree.

Tree of Life 18

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

Invertebrates (Protista)

Invertebrates (Animalia)

Vertebrates Animalia (Eukaryota)

Fungi/Plants (Archaea)

brainspace SPRING 2017

science

The 5 Kingdoms of Life:

BACTERIA

MONERA Kingdom Monera [approximately 10,000 species] Monera, also refered to as prokaryotes, consists of bacteria which are microscopic single-celled organisms. They do not have a welldefined nucleus. Some bacteria are important for other life forms, such as acidophilous which is in your intestines to help you digest, while others like salmonella and staphyloccus are dangerous. These can cause infections leading to serious illnesses in humans. 20

brainspacemagazine.com

VARICELLUM (MARINE PROTOZOA)

PROTISTA Kingdom Protista (Protoctista) [approximately 250,000 species] Protista cells (also know as protists) have a well-defined nucleus and chromosomes. They live in moist envoronments, such as inside other plants, animals, soils and in water. They reproduce be dividing their cells. This ability qualifies protists, as well as the rest of the kingdoms, as eukaryoticcelled organisms. Polysaccharide is a protist that comes from red algae and is used to make yoghurt and ice cream. Yum! @BrainspaceMag

FUN

Kingdom Fungi [approximately 100,0 Fungi are multi-celled o their food by dissolving their environment and spores. Fungi are decom waste, like rotting trees, useful products, like mu many are harmful and p useful to humans as foo

This group includes mu spores, moulds and fun /BrainspaceMagazine

The strange, the wonderful, and the dangerous.

MUSHROOMS

NGI

000 species] organisms. They get g substances from reproduce from mposers of organic , to produce more ushrooms. Though poisonous, some are od or medicine.

ushrooms, yeasts, ngi, to name a few.

CACTI

PLANTAE Kingdom Plantae [approximately 250,000 species] Plants consist of many cells and produce their own food by using energy from the sun. Most plants live on land; some are found in water. Plant cells have a membrane around each cell which provides strength. This group includes plants without seeds; algae, mosses, ferns, liverworts, and plants with seeds; cycads, gingkos, conifers, and flowering plants including trees.

JELLYFISH

ANIMALIA Kingdom Animalia[approximately 1,000,000 species] Animals are made up of billions of cells. They cannot make their own food and must eat other organisms in order to survive. This kingdom is found on land, in air and in water, varying in size from microspcopic zooplankton to huge whales. This group includes 7 primary groups of non-chordata (invertebrates) and 5 classes of chordata (vertebrates). brainspace SPRING 2017

The 5 Kingdoms of Life: 8 7

6 5

MONERA 1. Cell Membrane 2. Nucleoid 3. Flagellum 4. Pilus 5. Ribosomes 6. Capsule 7. Cell Wall

brainspacemagazine.com

PROTISTA 1. Anal Pore 2. Food Vacuole 3. Oral Groove 4. Contractile Vacuole 5. Macronucleus 6. Micronucleus 7. Cilia

@BrainspaceMag

1. Golgi Appara 2. Cell Wall 3. Plasma Mem 4. Lipid Body 5. Mitochondri 6. Nucleus 7. Vacuole 8. Septum

/BrainspaceMagazine

Their cellular differences

2 3

11 9 8 6 5

ratus

mbrane

UNGI

ion

14 13

3 4

11 10

9 7

PLANTAE 1. Golgi Apparatus 2. Golgi Vesicles 3. Mitochondrion 4. Chloroplast 5. Cytoplasm 6. Vacuole 7. Nucleolus 8. Nucleus 9. Ribosomes 10. Endoplasmic Reticulum 11. Cell Membrane 12. Cell Wall

ANIMALIA 1. Cell Membrane 2. Golgi Apparatus 3. Golgi Vesicles 4. Nucleus 5. Nucleolus 6. Lysosome 7. Ribosomes 8. Microtubulles 9. Cytoplasm 10. Pincytolic Vesicle 11. Rough Endoplasmic Reticulum 12. Centrioles 13. Vacuole 14. Mitochondrion 15. Smooth Endoplasmic Reticulum brainspace SPRING 2017

botany botany

By Pascale Bider

When we think of flowers, we often think of them as beautiful, delicate, and sweet smelling. It’s easy to forget that flowers have an important job to do! Their main mission is to make seeds so that the plant can reproduce. In order to fulfill this task, each of the three main parts of the flower have a role to play. The triad includes the stamen, the ovary, and the pistil.

How do seeds travel? Fertilized seeds are fully developed in the ovary and they need to be scattered and planted in order to grow. Luckily seeds can be spread and planted in several different ways. The methods used by plants to disperse seeds is called dissemination. Here are some examples: • Aquatic plants often use water to disperse their seeds. When the seeds fall into water, they are carried away to a place where they germinate. • Plants like dandelions and maples rely on wind to blow away their seeds and drop them into the ground where they can grow. • Other plants explode their seeds almost like a sneeze when triggers like heat occur. • Ants and tunelling insects are also great seed spreaders! 24

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

The stamen is the peripheral part of the flower that looks like little antennae. Its role is to produce pollen. The anther is the part of the stamen that contains pollen, while the filament is the rod that holds up the anther.

The pistil is the central part of the flower that is responsible for growing seeds. It is comprised of the sticky stigma that catches the pollen, and the style that carries the pollen from the stigma down to the ovary at the center of the flower.

In order for pollen to travel from the anther to the stigma, the flower often needs help from pollinators. Bright, colourful petals are in fact a strategy used by flowers to attract pollinators.

The ovary contains the ovules. When the pollen reaches the ovules, the flower is fertilized and seeds begin to grow.

Animals can also help disperse seeds. Sometimes seeds get stuck in a passing animalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fur. When the animal brushes the seed off, it lands on the ground where it can grow. In other cases, animals, like birds, might eat the seeds. The seeds pass through the animalâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digestive tract before being pooped out. This way, the seed is planted and fertilized all at once!

The most famous pollinators are bees, but bats, flies, moths, and even some birds are pollinators too! Plants lure pollinators in with sweet smells and tasty nectar. As they feast on nectar, they pick up pollen on their legs and bodies. They then carry the pollen over to the stigma of a new flower, which gets fertilized. Scan this page to watch our dissection video to see the real parts of a flower and then try it for yourself!

pistil

stamen

brainspace SPRING 2017

chemistry

By Catherine Little

Did you know that there is a monster that can help you bake? Keeping a monster in your fridge can be the start of some very tasty treats. Monster Dough is a type of yeast leavening agent, and is fun to grow and bake with. Many of us enjoy chewy bread, fluffy cakes and crunchy cookies but don’t think about what gives these treats just the right texture. It comes down to using the right leavening agent – a substance that helps bakers lighten and soften dough and batters by adding gas bubbles to them.

Yeast is a single-celled, microscopic fungus. Like all living things, it grows when you feed it. When ready, a small part of each cell breaks off – or divides – to form a new cell. This method of reproduction is called budding.

Leavening agents are substances that cause expansion of doughs and batters by the release of gases. They make baked goods rise and give them their porous structure. Common leavening agents are yeast, baking powder, and baking soda. These might be found in your kitchen right now. In order to have a source of these bubbles, people would keep a special mixture in their refrigerators. They called it Monster Dough because it could grow and spill out of its container if you weren’t careful.

As it feeds on the sugar, the yeast produces carbon dioxide and ethyl alcohol as waste products. The carbon dioxide is what causes dough that has yeast in it to rise. There is evidence that the Mesopotamians used yeast to produce beer at least 5,000 years ago.

The first breads were flat like tortillas because they were unleavened. It is believed that Egyptians were the first to mix wild yeast into their bread dough to lighten it. If you have ever eaten sourdough bread, you have tried wild yeast.

Eventually, yeast was domesticated (or “tamed”). Today, you can buy yeast in packages to mix with some warm water and sugar when you want to use it. It’s much easier than keeping a monster in your fridge, however some people still do that, especially if they bake a lot. The species of yeast used in baking is called Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

Monster Dough is the name of a mixture started with domesticated yeast. A mixture started with wild yeast is called a sourdough starter. Bakers discovered that if you kept some of either mixture and kept feeding it flour and water, you could get the yeast to keep growing. Then, some of the mixture could be used to bake bread or other treats. If you kept a little of the mixture and fed it, it would grow and you would always have yeast to bake with. This was important when people – like pioneers - did not have easy access to other sources of yeast.

Make your own Monster Dough You will need: • Active dry yeast • Warm water (about 38 degrees Celsius) • Sugar • Flour 1. Dissolve 1 tablespoon of yeast into 2 cups of warm water. 2. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon of sugar over the mixture. 3. Observe the mixture for 10 minutes.

Why i t w o r k s Dry yeast is dormant until dissolved in warm water. Sugar provides the energy for it to grow and reproduce. After about ten minutes, the mixture has “proven” itself if it doubles in volume, and can be used in baking, or to start your own Monster Dough by adding 2 cups of flour. If there is no bubbling and doubling, the yeast is not active and cannot be used in the recipe.

Not all yeast is helpful Another species of yeast called Candida albicans can cause infections in humans. They are in everyone and are usually balanced by friendly bacteria. Things like health issues can cause yeast to grow uncontrollably. That’s when the yeast start to outnumber the friendly bacteria and you can end up with a yeast infection – a different kind of monster.

brainspace SPRING 2017

history

Going Places

Our ancestors evolved on one continent,

By Galadriel Watson

People are everywhere. There are over 7.3 billion of us living all over the Earth, from the freezing Arctic tundra to the scorching Australian deserts. But tens of thousands of years ago, our ancestors lived in only one place: the continent we now call Africa. When did we leave Africa? Scientists keep making new discoveries, and while they still aren’t certain, here’s one possibility.

About 40,000 years ago Humans entered Europe. Another human species— the Neanderthals—had also moved there, but our species was more successful. 10,000 years later, we were all over Europe. Not long after, the Neanderthals became extinct, although scientists aren’t sure why.

From < Asia

By 14,000 years ago Humans had migrated all the way to the tip of South America. The oldest known site is Monte Verde, Chile. The people who lived there seem to have used seaweed for food and medicine, even though at the time their home would have been about 90 kilometres from the ocean.

brainspacemagazine.com

About 200,000 years ago our ancestors evolved in Africa. Over millions of years there have been about 25 species of humans, but the only one that still exists is ours: Homo sapiens.

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

so how did humans spread around the world? Why did our ancestors leave Africa?

Good question. Here are a few possible answers:

About 15,000 years ago Humans crossed from Asia into North America, probably on the Bering Land Bridge between Siberia and Alaska. Today this “bridge” is covered with water, but back then much of the world’s water was locked in ice and glaciers. This meant sea levels were much lower, exposing land that ancient humans could travel across.

• Better weather in northern Africa and Asia made it more appealing to move in that direction. • More water locked in ice and glaciers lowered water levels and made it easier to travel.

To North America >

• Our ancestors invented new technology, developed smarter brains, or underwent genetic changes that better equipped them to explore new places.

Where do we live today?

Between 80,000 and 60,000 years ago, Homo sapiens gradually left Africa and travelled into Asia. They may have crossed the Bab alMandab Strait, located between today’s countries of Djibouti and Yemen. Although Homo sapiens had temporarily left Africa before, this was the first time the migration was permanent.

About 50,000 years ago Humans arrived at New Guinea-Australia. (Back then, Papua New Guinea and Australia were attached.) To do so, our ancestors had to cross more than 72 kilometres of water— a bit less than the widest part of Lake Ontario. At the time, this was an astronomical feat.

• Sixty percent of the world’s population lives in Asia. • The most populated country is China (1.4 billion people). • The least populated country is the Holy See (Vatican City) with less than 1,000 people. • Africa has the fastest-growing population, while Europe’s population is shrinking. • Japan has the oldest population — half of the people are over 46 years old. • Niger has the youngest population — half of the people are under 14 years old.

brainspace SPRING 2017

biology

The Ocean: Our Planet’s Blue Heart by Danielle Epifani

Recently, Brainspace invited Dr. Sylvia Earle of Mission Blue to discuss her passion and the subject of her life’s work: oceans. Dr. Earle is to oceans as Chris Hadfield is to space. She is this planet’s leading ambassador for marine wildlife and what she refers to as Earth’s blue heart. “With knowing comes caring, and with caring there’s hope, ” shares Dr. Earle as she impresses on us that each and every individual has within themselves the power to make a difference. “With every drop of water you drink, every breath you take, you are connected to the sea. No matter where on Earth you live.” Mission Blue is inspired to hear from young people, 30

brainspacemagazine.com

and they believe others are too. Leading up to Earth Day 2017, they’ll be calling on youth worldwide to submit short videos about their love for the ocean. In turn, Mission Blue will share your message to the world. (See brainspacemagazine.com for contest details!) Dr. Earle reassures us that this is a good news story — really the best news of all! If she could be born anytime in history, Dr. Earle emphasizes that she would choose right now. For the first time ever, we have knowledge that enables us to better understand the issues our oceans are facing. It is this new hope that has inspired a global initiative called Hope Spots. @BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

[ less than 6% of the ocean is protected ]

This year Mission Blue is excited to be launching 3 expeditions between the North, Central, and South American migration corridor. The first expedition has been completed with a visit to the Socorro Islands in the Gulf of California Hope Spot. Here specialists were able to tag sharks in what is considered a safe haven for this marine species. Through tagging, scientists are able to gather data with hopes of learning more about sharks’ behaviours and patterns, which can in turn influence leaders and policy makers in making wise choices for long-term protection. What is a Hope Spot? A Hope Spot is any special place that is critical to the health of the ocean. It is about recognizing, empowering and supporting individuals and communities around the world in their efforts to protect the ocean. Approximately 12 percent of the land around the world is now under some form of protection (such as a national park). We defend less than six percent of the ocean. Hope Spots

allow us to plan and look beyond current marine protected areas (MPAs). The goal is that Hope Spots will create a wave of support for ocean conservation. What are Hope Spots critical to ocean health? The ocean covers over 70 percent of our planet and provides 70 percent of the oxygen in the atmosphere. It drives weather, stores carbon, and

is home to the majority of life on earth. Among Dr. Sylvia Earle’s most famous sayings are: “No water, no life. No blue, no green.” In the 1950s and 60s, we believed oceans were too big to fail, and that their abundance would last forever. In recent decades, our oceans have shown signs of concerning decline, yet there is cause for hope! Organizations around the world, communities, and governments brainspace SPRING 2017

Dr. Earle shares, “When people pull together not only with individual leaders, but as a community working together, change is possible.” contains the Cabo Pulmo marine reserve in Mexico. Dr. Earle and her team went diving with great whirlpools of jacks (as pictured on page 30), golden groupers and other fish stocks, which have grown under the new protection. Protected for 20 years, Cabo Pulmo has healed itself and flourished with an estimated 400% increase in What does it look like when marine life. However, it’s not just the we reverse the damage that fish that are important. Cabo Pulmo, has been done to our oceans? a once modest fishing community, To see a place that has declined has become a world-class wildlife over time for one reason or another destination supporting its local bounce back again gives us hope! economy through eco-tourism and One shining example is the Gulf serving as an inspiration to others of California Hope Spot, which of what we can achieve. One thing have begun to recognize the importance of our oceans, and together are now working towards a goal of 30% protection by the year 2030. When protected, say from pollution, fishing, and development, we see that these ecosystems can, and do restore themselves! In this way, nature can repair our mistakes.

brainspacemagazine.com

leads to another, and when you can see this success, it inspires people to say, “I want to do the same as what happened in Cabo Pulmo for my area – they’ve succeeded and maybe we can too!” Here is great news: Mission Blue has received over 300 Hope Spot nominations from over 75 countries. Guarding our coastal biomes give our planet’s blue heart time to heal. We kindly thank Danielle Epifanie of missionblue.org for this article. ENTER THE CONTEST Please visit brainspacemagazine.com for details on how to participate in the Hope Spots contest.

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

engineering

Hereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a fun experiment that visually demonstrates how some colours can move faster or slower depending on their weight and density! Chromatography is a method used to separate compounds. Colours are compounds that are often made of various parts. The colour purple, for instance, is made of blue and red pigment. When purple is used in liquid chromatography, the blue and red pigments are separated. Try this easy experiment to see chromatography in action and to create a pretty butterfly bouquet. You will need 3 tall drinking glasses Water Food colouring (many colours) Coffee filters (flat-bottomed style) Scissors Pipe cleaners

1. Pour water in a glass until it is approximately a third full. Repeat with the other 2 glasses. 2. Add 5-6 drops of various food colouring to each of the glasses. Remember that primary colours (blue, red, and yellow) do not separate. Be sure to mix primary colours. For example, mix blue with yellow to create green. 3. Cut a 1-inch wide strip up to the centre of the coffee filter. 4. Place the filter flatly on top of the glass. Gently bend a the strip so that it sits just into the top of the coloured water. 5. Watch as the filter draws the water up towards the centre of the coffee filter. 6. Leave your glass undisturbed for at least 20 minutes. 7. Remove the filter and place it on a paper towel to dry. 8. To make a butterfly bouquet, pinch the filter in half and wind a pipecleaner around the spot youâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ve pinched to keep it in place. 9. Trim the unwanted white edges (optional.) 10. Arrange in a vase. brainspace SPRING 2017

Canadian National Railways is the only trans-continental railway in North America. Formed in 1919, this system joined together the Canadian Northern Railway, Intercolonial Railway, Grand Trunk Railway, and Grand Trunk Pacific Railway. CN owns about 33,000 kilometres of track in eight Canadian provinces, and 113 kilometres in the Northwest Territories.

Canoes were used by French Canadian voyageurs to transport furs during the Fur Trade in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Montreal canoe, one of many standard sizes available, travelled on the Great Lakes and the Ottawa River. Carried by four men on portages, they weighed 600 pounds, and held around 65 ninety-pound packs called ‘pièces’.

Bennett Buggy, a term used to describe a horse-drawn, engineless car, was coined during the Great Depression. Named for then-Prime Minister of Canada Richard Bennett, these ‘buggies’ were considered to be a result of the nation’s poverty during Bennett’s time in office, from 1930 to 1935. Laura Secord: Born in 1775, Laura Secord is a famous heroine of the War of 1812. After hearing of plans that the Americans had to carry out a surprise attack on the British troops, she walked approximately 32 kilometres to warn her confederates.

Led part of the way by Mohawk warriors, Secord successfully carried out her warning to the British Lieutenant FitzGibbon, preparing them for their eventual success in the Battle of Beaver Dams.

brainspacemagazine.com

Jennie Kidd Trout: The first woman to legally become a medical doctor in Canada. After moving to Stratford, Ontario from Scotland in 1847, she earned her M.D. at the Women’s Medical College Pennsylvania. Trout returned to Canada to become its first licensed physician, teaching in Stratford, and gave significant funds to help open the Women’s Medical College in Kingston, in 1883.

Viola Desmond: The first person in Canada to be granted a ‘posthumous pardon’. In 1946, after being refused admission to the ‘whitesonly’ section of a movie theatre in her native Nova Scotia, she was imprisoned for a night and fined. Desmond fought this charge, and was awarded her muchdeserved pardon and apology in 2010 (45 years after her death) by Nova Scotia’s LieutenantGovernor Mayann Francis.

Rose Fortune: Escaping slavery in Virginia, Rose Fortune emigrated to Nova Scotia in 1784 when she was just ten years old. She later started her own business of transporting luggage between ferry docks and neighbouring homes and hotels, eventually becoming responsible for the safety of nearby warehouses and wharves. Many consider her to be Canada’s first female police officer because of her dedication to security and peacekeeping.

Agnes Macphail: Born in 1890, is the first woman to be elected to Canada’s House of Commons, serving from 1921 to 1940; but she didn’t stop there! Praised for her representation of the working class, she was elected to the Ontario legislature twice, in 1943 and 1948, and was one of the first members of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation, which later became a part of Canada’s current New Democratic Party. @BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

The Letters Patent of 1947 are a collection of letters passed by then-King of England, King George VI in 1947, which expanded the duties of the Governor General. They allow the Governor General to perform an increased number of duties usually restricted to the Canadian Royal Family; only the Queen may revoke this privilege.

The Pacemaker In 1950, the first ‘pacemaker’ was invented by Canadian Dr. John Alexander Hopps. This heart aid electrically stimulated heart muscles using an external machine, as opposed to today’s implanted pacemakers. By Daderot, via Wikimedia Commons

In 1931, three Canadian doctors at Sick Kids Hospital in Toronto, Ontario invented Pablum, a special cereal for babies packed with essential nutrients. This helped to prevent rickets, a disease previously common in infants that caused softening of the bones.

Childproof medication cap: After establishing the Ontario Association for the Control of Accidental Poisoning in 1962, Dr. Henri Breault invented the childproof medication cap while observing the high number of children overdosing on pills during his time as a doctor in Windsor, Ontario.

By Sunzi99, via Wikimedia Commons

Blood-forming stem cells: In 1961, Dr. James Till and Dr. Ernest McCulloch discovered ‘bloodforming’ stem cells at the Ontario Cancer Institute in Ontario. Their discovery lead to the practice of bone marrow transplants, which were used to treat people with leukemia.

The Montreal Procedure: Dr. Wilder Penfield invented the Montreal Procedure in the 1930s, a way of eliminating epileptic seizures. Penfield would give his patient an anesthetic, and remove a piece of his subject’s skull to expose their brain! He would then probe different areas, waiting for the still-conscious patient to describe how they felt. Penfield would identify and remove the areas that caused the patient’s seizures.

The Statute of Westminster: Passed by the British Parliament in December of 1931, the Statute of Westminster took away Britain’s ability to make laws for Canada and its other Dominions, except in cases of the Dominion’s request and approval.

The Canada Act of 1982 is dedicated to ‘patriate’ Canada’s constitution, giving Canada the right to change its Constitution without the British Parliament’s consent. Fought for by then-Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, it is written in both English and French, and was signed into law on April 17th, 1982.

Canadians are crazy for mac and cheese! We eat roughly 55% more of it each year than our American neighbours, and purchase 1.7 million boxes out of the 7 million sold around the world each week. Canadianborn founder of Kraft Foods, James Kraft, was the first to patent a process of powdering cheese to give it a longer shelf life, and released the first box of Kraft Dinner in 1937.

The film format IMAX was invented by a group of four Canadian men: Graeme Ferguson, Roman Kroitor, Robert Kerr, and William C. Shaw. An acronym for Image Maximum, this film has much better image resolution because of its large size of 70mm, while most movies are made using 35mm film. When IMAX movies are running, 103 metres of film moves through the IMAX movie camera per minute!

By Texasfoodgawker, via Wikimedia Commons

By Cda stitch, via Wikimedia Commons

brainspace SPRING 2017

By Notman & Son , via Wikimedia Commons

BONUS FACT: The beaver was made Canada’s national symbol in 1975 after a bill introduced by Sean O’Sullivan, was passed in the House of Commons.

In 1997, about 50 kilometres north of Medicine Hat, Alberta, scientists discovered the largest dinosaur bonebed ever recorded! At approximately 2.3 square kilometres, the thousands of bones found from the dinosaur Centrosaurus apertus provided evidence that herds of the horned dinosaurs were much larger than previously believed.

Where the Atlantic Ocean meets the coast of Newfoundland, the water freezes, which residents take advantage of by playing hockey on the dense, icy surface.

Covering about 5 million square kilometres, the Canadian Shield is made up of pieces of the Earth’s crust, pushed together and upwards more than 3 billion years ago. The Canadian portion runs south from Nunavut and the Northwest Territories to Ontario, then turns east before extending north again, this time through Quebec and back into Nunavut. BONUS FACT: The Shield is composed primarily of two kinds of rock, Precambrian igneous and metamorphic.

By Green slash, via Wikimedia Commons

Wood Buffalo National Park, located in Alberta, is home to the world’s largest beaver dam. At about 850-metres long, it was so large that it was first discovered in a satellite photo of the area in 2007.

By Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada, via Wikimedia Commons

At 31 letters long, Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik Lake in Manitoba holds the title of longest place name in Canada. A fresh water lake, its name means “where the wild trout are caught by fishing with hooks” in the Cree language.

The Act to Limit Slavery of 1793 was the first bill passed in Canada (then under the British Empire) by then-Lieutenant-Governor John Simcoe that limited enslavement. It prohibited people from bringing slaves into Upper Canada, and called for the release of children born to enslaved women after 1793, once they reached 25 years of age. These children were to be considered free upon their birth.

brainspacemagazine.com

Sable Island, a small land mass southeast of Halifax, Nova Scotia, is home to more than 500 feral horses. When it was proposed that the horses be shipped off the island for work and food in the 1950s, then-Prime Minister John Diefenbaker amended the Canada Shipping Act (in 1960) to protect these horses from export or harm.

Fort Malden in Ontario, near Windsor, was claimed as a chief place of entry into Canada for slaves seeking freedom by abolitionist Levi Coffin. After 1850, roughly 30 fugitive slaves a day were escaping to Fort Malden in steamboats.

The North Star, part of the Big Dipper, was used to help guide slaves north to Canada, which was sometimes referred to as ‘Heaven’ or ‘The Promised Land’.

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

By Derek Hatfield, via Wikimedia Commons

By Sebastian Bergmann, via Wikimedia Commons

By Jack Dykinga, via Wikimedia Commons

The Bison provided the Plains people with food, clothing, shields, and thread. They even used their dried dung for fuel for fires to cook and keep warm!

The First Nations people of the Northwest region of Canada, such as Haida, Squamish, Cowichan, and Nootka, had rigid social class systems with nobles, commoners, and slaves. Slaves sometimes made up a third of the populations, and were usually prisoners of war.

By Charles Biro, via Wikimedia Commons

Canada’s flag has been to the world’s highest point and beyond! In 1982, Calgary-born skier Laurie Skreslet took the flag to Mount Everest. Then, just two years later, it travelled to outer space with Canadian astronaut Marc Garneau.

Crime comics: It is written in the Criminal Code of Canada that it is illegal to possess, print, or publish a ‘crime comic’ (a comic depicting a crime), if you are suspected of planning to sell it. However, this law has largely been overlooked – the last time it was enforced was in 1987.

Among the First Nations people of Canada, there are currently eleven language units: in the North, they speak Eskimo-Aleut, on the Prairies and the Rockies they speak Siouan, and Iroquoian is spoken in Eastern Canada, to name just a few.

The first people to settle in Canada are considered by many archeologists to have migrated from Siberia (in eastern Russia) over the Bering Land Bridge. This bridge was more than 2,000 kilometres at it widest point, and connected what is now Siberia to Alaska.

The Iroquoian peoples lived in ‘long houses’, housing 10-30 families in individual apartments. Some of these houses were half the length of a football field, and would be built anew every 10-15 years when the Iroquois moved after exhausting their soil and resources.

The Plains people of Alberta and Saskatchewan developed a sign language as a way of communicating with other First Nations people who were also hunting the vast herds of bison living there.

Contest for Canada’s flag design: Sparked by then-Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson, Canada assembled a committee of its Members of Parliament in 1964 to design its own national flag (moving away from Britain’s Union Jack). An excited public submitted their own ideas too, with 5,900 designs received. Our current flag of red, white, and the iconic maple leaf, designed by George Stanley, was voted for 15-0 by Parliament.

Queen’s Canadian flag: Queen Elizabeth II has her own flag for when she is visiting or representing Canada. There are six personal flags for members of Canada’s royal family, known as The Royal Standards. The Queen adopted her flag, which was protected under the Trade-marks Act, in 1962.

Any act or intension to alarm the reigning Queen of Canada is listed as a Prohibited Act in the Criminal Code of Canada.

boo!

Big snowmen: In Prince Edward Island, it is illegal to build a snowman over 30 inches tall. This law is specific to residents who live on corner lots, and also prohibits these snowmen from being made to look too ‘monstrous’.

brainspace SPRING 2017

1. bébé baleine : _____________

7. bébé canard : _____________

8. bébé ours : _____________

13. bébé cheval : _____________

14. bébé poule : _____________

2. bébé lapin : _____________

9. bébé cochon : _____________

15. bébé rhinocéros : _____________

3. bébé dauphin : _____________

10. bébé cygne : _____________

16. bébé vache : _____________

C’est la

C’est le printemps et la saison de naissance pour plusieurs animaux . Peux-tu nommer les bébés animaux sur ces pages? Fait référence à la légende sur page 35 si tu as besoin d’aide. Ou, utilise Blippar pour entendre le nom de chaque bébé animal.

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine

5. bébé pingouin : _____________

11. bébé chat : _____________

17. bébé oiseau : _____________ 18. bébé crapeau : _____________

vie!

6. bébé singe : _____________

12. bébé phoque : _____________

19. bébé âne : _____________

20. bébé zèbre : _____________

1. baleineau, 2. lapereau, 3. delphineau, 4. éléphanteau, 5. poussin, 6. guenuche, 7. caneton, 8. ourson, 9. cochonet ou porcelet, 10. cygneau, 11. chaton, 12. blanchon, 13. poulain, 14. poussin, 15. rhinocéron, 16. veau, 17. oisillon, 18. crapelet, 19. ânon, 20. zèbreau

4. bébé éléphant : _____________

brainspace SPRING 2017

LEARNING

MADE EASY Be a Youtube star, be a video game designer, and start something great.

Only

$9.99 each!

brainspacemagazine.com

@BrainspaceMag

/BrainspaceMagazine