The Buzz Zone by David Jefferis

THE

BUZZ ZONE!

Test Issue

Inside: How do Emily and Heather look after their lambs? Plus: Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s it like inside a black hole? Can we save the beautiful corals? Are robots running around your house?

Your weekly eMag on the Web

THE

BUZZ ZONE!

elcome to THE BUZZ ZONE, the eMag that brings you pictures, puzzles and information every week, via the world wide web. This first issue is packed with interest – for example, do you know how to feed a lamb? Or what a black hole in space might do to you? The answer is weird... it’s a deadly process called “spaghettification!” THE BUZZ ZONE welcomes feedback, so if you want to say hello, just write in at www.BuzzZones.com. Lastly, let me introduce “Buzzle” our busy-bee mascot, who’ll be buzzin’ around all over the place!

ach week, THE BUZZ ZONE is free, but lots of the info is from books we publish. If you want to know more about a subject, you can buy the ebook as an INSTANT DOWNLOAD, or order the ‘real thing’ from our online partner, AMAZON. It’s up to you!

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ote: in this test issue of THE BUZZ ZONE, links are not enabled.

I T ’ S YO U R

CONTENTS

OF E AS E R E TAK E C A

ANIMALS: OUR GIRLS ON THE FARM BUZZ ZONE visits Lapland Farm to see the animals! HIGH TECH: ROBOTS IN THE HOUSE Robot critters stomping around on the carpet

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ECOLOGY: CORAL REEFS IN DANGER Many coral reefs are dying, so can we help them? SPACE: WHAT IS A BLOOD MOON? Why the Moon sometimes turns red! STRANGE SCIENCE: WORMHOLE HIGHWAYS Could black holes open doorways to distant stars? BUZZLES A photo-quiz for you to solve! Hi! zzle! I ’m B u NEXT ISSUE: SPOOKY MONSTERS! Scary monsters coming to a computer near you!

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HE BUZZ ZONE goes diving to show you colorful corals in Australian waters. See page 8

A N I M A L S

mily (left) and Heather fill the bottles with a rich milk mixture to help the lambs grow strong and healthy.

ra Sc

t just three months old, lambs are nearly too big to hold. He

he farmerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s wife, Hilary, loves animals. She also keeps Henry the Shetland pony, and a tiny little dog (top picture) called Scraps!

Virtual pet

H I G H T E C H

Robotoys T

oy makers compete hard to produce top-selling gadgets. In recent years, robots have been near the top of the list at Christmas time. Ludic

។ Virtual pets came from Japan.

The Z-Pet was one of many types. In 1996 the Dutch Philips company came out with its own robotic ideas, including the Ludic “electronic friend”.

oy robots powered by clockwork or batteries have been popular since the 1950s – in fact, some of the early ones now fetch good prices in collectors’ sales. But robotoys with serious computing power arrived only in the 1990s, when egg-shaped “virtual pets” were briefly popular. These pocket-sized gadgets combined a digital clock with a range of on-screen functions that included “eating”, “sleeping”, and even going to the bathroom!

obots in the home stepped ahead in 1999, with the first of many robotic animals, mostly from Japan. The Sony company’s robodogs were among the most advanced – they had “personality” that could change according to the behaviour of their owners. Computer buffs could program their robopets to do new things, such as dancing or controlling lights.

ROBOFACTS BUILD IT YOURSELF Most robot research is carried out by teams working in hightech laboratories, but you can make a start in robotics, using fairly cheap build-it-yourself kits from model store shelves. The robot shown here is one of a series designed to show off simple principles. About an hour of careful assembly results in a walking machine that marches off at the clap of your hands. The secret lies in the sound sensor (arrowed) that sends a start signal to the robot’s electric motor.

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Roboraptor detects sound direction, using microphones on each side of its head Touch sensors in the mouth and chin allow Roboraptor to bite gently

។ The falling cost of computer chips

makes it possible to make smart robotic toys cheaply. Roboraptor includes electronic features that would have once been used only in top-flight research laboratories.

Want to find

្ This see-through picture shows the complex parts inside a fourlegged robot animal. Many robopet owners become quite attached to their robots, and treat them rather like real animals or even children, by smiling, relaxing, and talking quietly with them.

Main electronic parts are mounted just below Roboraptor’s back

Left leg is removed to show the complex parts inside

oboraptor is a feature-packed robot, with a computer chip that controls up to 40 functions, including walking, tail movements, and responding to touch. Roboraptor can “roar” at intruders, and follow a light-beam across a room. Robots like these reflect advancing technology. Each season’s new plaything has new features and can do a little more.

d out more? Click HERE for Instant Download. To order the book from Amazon, click HERE7

PROBLEM

E C O L O G Y

WHY ARE SO MANY CORAL REEFS DYING? ● Reefs are made by delicate organisms called coral polyps. They are very sensitive to pollution, and to changes in water temperature.

● Completely dead coral looks like this, a ghostly zone without colour.

● Sickly corals soon start to

lose their bright colours. Here some polyps survive in front of a mass of dead ones. Human-made causes of coral death include south-east Asian coral mining. The hard shells that form a reef also make a good building material that can be cheaper than stone or concrete.

Coral reefs are important because they are home to an extraordinary number of sea creatures, including sponges, worms and fish. Shallow-water reefs grow mostly in the tropics, and are made of the shell-like remains of sea creatures called polyps. These organisms are quite fragile, and whole reef systems are dying in places where the seas are polluted. Polyps do not like water that is too warm either – so many scientists think that global warming is the villain behind even more reef deaths.

BIOSPHERE STATS ● Australia’s Great Barrier Reef is the world’s biggest reef

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system. It extends for more than 1600 miles (2600 km), and many of the reefs are big enough that astronauts can see them from space (lighter areas, right).

Want to find

SOLUTION? ● Corals comes in many colours,

shapes and sizes. The rounded brain coral can grow nearly 6 ft (1.8 m) across. Hard corals have shells of calcium carbonate, similar to snail and egg shells.

CLEANER SEAS MAY HELP

There is no agreement yet on how to stop sea temperatures from rising. But we could help polyps survive by keeping the seas a little cleaner. Draining chemical waste into the water can be stopped, as can pouring in unfiltered sewage. Dynamite fishing is another coral-killer, where fishermen kill fish by blowing them up. In reef areas, coral polyps also die in the explosions.

● This healthy reef is a thriving biosphere system that supports lots of living organisms. But many coral reefs around the world are in poor shape. It’s reckoned that about 10 percent of them are already dead, and nearly half the remainder are threatened, especially by warming and acidic waters.

● Only the outer tips of a typical coral are actually alive (pale areas on diagram, right). The rest is a dying or dead shell, which new polyps use as a base to grow on. In this way, a healthy reef gradually gets bigger over time.

d out more? Click HERE for Instant Download. To order the book from Amazon, click HERE9

S P A C E

• WHAT IS A BLOOD MOON? This is a name for the Moon’s coppery-red colour when it moves into the Earth’s shadow, during an eclipse.

• In an eclipse of the Sun, the Moon passes between the Sun and Earth. During a rare total eclipse (right), the Moon covers the Sun exactly for a few minutes.

• WHAT IS AN ECLIPSE?

There are two main kinds of eclipse. An eclipse of the Sun happens when the Moon passes between the Earth and the Sun, cutting off its light. The other is an eclipse of the Moon, when the Earth passes between the Sun and Moon.

• HOW OFTEN DO LUNAR ECLIPSES HAPPEN? Lunar eclipses take place whenever the Moon passes through the Earth’s shadow. The Sun, Earth and Moon have to line up exactly, which does not happen every time the Moon completes an orbit. Even so, an eclipse occurs at least twice a year, though it may just be a WOW! partial eclipse, when there The Moon’s colour changes from is little or no change eclipse to eclipse. If of colour. there is more dust in the Earth’s air, the Moon appears a darker shade of red.

Earth’s shadow starts to move across the Moon

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Moon changes colour as it moves through the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow

Want to find

• From start to finish, a lunar eclipse can last more than six hours. However, the Blood Moon part, through the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow, is much briefer. The longest Blood Moon ever recorded lasted just over 107 minutes. It took place nearly 1700 years ago.

• HOW LONG DOES A LUNAR ECLIPSE LAST? The Moon is moving constantly in its orbit around the Earth, and passes through the Earth’s shadow at about 2240 mph (3600 km/h). At this speed, its journey through the darkest part of the Earth’s shadow – called the umbra – normally lasts about an hour. • WHY DOES THE MOON TURN SHADES OF RED? It‘s because much of the eclipsed moonlight is absorbed by Earth’s dusty air. We see what’s left of the light as reddish tones. It’s the same effect that causes golden-red sunsets.

Sun

Moon’s orbit

Earth

Penumbra

Umbra

• The Earth’s shadow is divided into two parts, the umbra and penumbra. In the deep shadow zone, called the umbra, there is no direct sunlight at all. In the outer shadow zone, the penumbra, the Sun’s rays are blocked only partially.

Moon moves through Earth’s shadow zone

d out more? Click HERE for Instant Download. To order the book from Amazon, click HERE 11

S T R A N G E

WORMHOLE HIGHWAYS

ould humans ever travel through a black hole, using it as a tunnel through space?

C ។ A wormhole

transport system might look like this future travel agent’s store, offering vacations that need just one step to get there!

ome theories predict that a black hole could be more than just a bottomless pit – it might continue as a ‘wormhole,’ opening out at another point in space and time. However, until recently it was thought that the gravity forces would stretch you in a deadly process known as ‘spaghettification.’

Black hole

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Wormhole

Long way round through normal space ៑ Here is what

future astronauts might see as their craft heads into a wormhole. The hole’s huge gravity distorts starlight into shining blurred streaks. Short-cut through wormhole

។ A black hole may tunnel through space,

providing a wormhole between two points. This would give travellers a short-cut route.

atest ideas show that entering a large rotating black hole might not mean instant doom. Rather like a fairground wall-of-death ride, the outward spinning motion could be enough to balance the gravity pulling you the other way.

Want to find

STARS OF THE SCREEN

Black holes have long been a favourite theme for sci-fi stories, both in books and in movies. Probably the most popular idea is to use the black hole wormhole as a quick way for astronauts to zip across the universe to where the action is. If the story then involves strange new worlds and meetings with weird and wonderful alien creatures, so much the better!

្ A 1979 movie that featured a giant spacecraft parked in space, near a black hole. The movie had a good try at showing what it might be like if you really did plunge into a black hole.

្ This 1994 movie

featured wormholes that linked many worlds in a vast galactic ‘highway’ system. Lots of action, a clever plot and nasty aliens made it a big success, and a TV series soon followed.

្ A thoughtful 1997 movie that had accurate science and good special effects. The plot used a wormhole as a way for a scientist to meet a kindly alien race, keen to help humans develop in peace.

ome people think a black hole journey could be the route to another universe. Others think it would be a shortcut to other parts of our own universe. It might even be a one-way time travel ticket. The truth is, no one knows if any of these ideas is correct.

d out more? Click HERE for Instant Download. To order the book from Amazon, click HERE 13

What are these strange forms, and where would you expect to find them?

B U Z Z L E S ach week, BUZZLES give you a new view of the world, and itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s up to you to find out what the pictures are. When you know the answers, visit www.BuzzZones.com and fill in the form. The winner gets a prize!

This sleeping animal looks rather familiar. But where was it when this photograph was taken?

What is the man doing in this strange blue chamber?

Where are these scientists, and what are they about to do?

This picture dates back more than half a century. What is the machine that these ladies are working with?

THE BUZZ ZONE NEXT ISSUE...

W e i r d Weird

Q u e s t

Quest Weird

Looking for the Abominable Snowman and other Man-Beasts

Quest

Searching for Flying Saucers and ETs from Other Worlds Searching for Mystery Apparitions from Beyond the Grave

Seeking out the Loch Ness Monster and other Denizens of the Deep

SPOOKY MONSTERS! 16

Want to find out more? Weirdness will be coming your way in THE BUZZ ZONE next week!