Whizz Pop Bang Science Magazine for Kids! Issue 78: OUT OF THIS WORLD!

ISSN 2399 -2840

THE AWESOME SCIENCE MAGAZINE FOR KIDS!

Make your own astrosnacks!

How spacesuits keep astronauts safe

OUT OF THIS WORLD! Train like an astronaut!

The science of living in space

Try some gravity-defying gardening

SPACE !

SQUID

WHIZZPOPBANG.COM ISSUE 78

EXPERIMENTS PUZZLES AMAZING FACTS SCIENCE NEWS

WELCOME!

I’ve been testing gravity with my own homemade marble run!

WHIZZ POP BANG is made by:

Will humans ever live on anot her planet? What might it be like up there? We’re investig at cosmic edition of Whizz Pop Ba ing living in space inside this ng! experiment with gravity-defy Bake your own astrosnacks, ing epic astronaut training progra gardening and complete our mme. You can also find out ho w spacesuits work, read an int erview with an astronaut and craft your own model space st ation – loads of extra-terrestrial science fun!

Editor-in-Chief: Jenny Inglis Editor: Tammy Osborne Assistant Editor: Tara Pardo Designers: Rachael Fisher and Simon Oliver Illustrator: Clive Goodyer Staff writer: Joanna Tubbs Contributors: Esther Barron, Sarah Bearchell, Claire Cock-Starkey, Ella Forrest, Joe Inglis, Poppy Inglis, Isabel Thomas and Kirsty Williams

EXPERT SCIENCE ADVISERS

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As well as our writers, we also have a team of science advisers who help to ensure that our content is accurate, up-to-date and relevant. Our advisers include: palaeontologist Steve Brusatte; molecular microbiologist Matt Hutchings; robotics engineer Abbie Hutty; mechanical engineer Amiee Morgans; GP Dr Cathy Scott; astronomer Mark Thompson; physicist Dr Jess Wade; child psychologist Dr Naira Wilson.

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ISSN 2399-2840

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WHIZZ POP BANG is only available by subscription. If you haven’t subscribed yet, simply go to whizzpopbang.com and sign up for as little as £3.33 per magazine, including UK delivery. Back issues are available to purchase at whizzpopbang.com/shop With the help of Whizz Pop Bang magazine, just imagine what your child might one day discover!

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EDUCATORS

Welcome to WHIZZ POP BANG – the magazine bursting with enticing articles, mind-boggling facts and hands-on experiments to get your child hooked on science! Whizz Pop Bang is a gender-neutral magazine with plenty of inspirational male and female scientists and content that appeals to all children.

The magazine is ideal for home educators and it’s linked to the national curriculum too, for use in schools. Whizz Pop Bang will help with literacy development as well. Transform science teaching in your school with our hands-on science and reading resources. Our downloadable lesson packs link fun science experiments and reading with key curriculum topics for years 2-6. Subscribe at whizzpopbang.com/schools

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All experiments have been tried and tested by our team.

The activities should be done under close adult supervision and are done at your own risk. Launchpad Publishing Ltd cannot accept liability for damage done.

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© 2022 Launchpad Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. Reproduction of the whole or any part of the contents of WHIZZ POP BANG without written permission is prohibited. Illustrations: © 2022 Clive Goodyer

CONTENTS 6

Meet a lost penguin and a super-long dino and find out why NASA is crashing a spacecraft on purpose!

LIVING IN SPACE

Find out why astronauts seem to float, try some gravity-defying gardening and make your own astrosnacks.

ANIMAL ANTICS

12

Take a look at the tiny squid that’s been to the ISS. ISS

SILLY SCIENCE

On your marks, get set… take some PE tips from an astronaut-training expert.

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Watch gravity in action with a magnificent homemade marble run!

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EMMI’S ECO CLUB

PULLOUT

Craft a super space station model, complete with fantastic floating astronauts!

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INTERVIEW WITH A SCIENCE HERO

Meet ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti, who will make her second trip to the ISS this year!

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HOW STUFF WORKS

Learn about the awesome spacesuit technology that keeps astronauts safe.

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AWESOME NEWS AND AMAZING FACTS

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TEN AWESOMELY AMAZING…

Experiments in space, from growing food in microgravity to testing new treatments for diseases!

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SENSATIONAL SCIENTISTS

Sir Isaac Newton’s laws of motion and theory of gravity changed our understanding of the universe.

Y’S WONDER CLUB

Ask our robot, Y, your burning science questions and share all of your adventures in science with the club.

QUIZ POP BANG AND COMPETITION

I’d love to see pictures of your experiments! Send them to Y@whizzpopbang.com and ask an JOKES AND ANSWERS adult to tag us on social media Laugh out loud at some awesome jokes and find @whizzpopbangmag the answers to all of our quizzes, puzzles and riddles.

Test your knowledge with our super-duper science quiz and win a stack of brilliant books!

SPECTACULAR SCIENCE

See NASA astronaut Stephen K. Robinson orbiting the Earth on the end of a robot arm!

FIND THE SCIENCE EQUIPMENT Hidden on each double page is a piece of science equipment. Tick each one to find the complete kit!

s Awesome New cts and Amazing Fa

SPACE COLLISION!

© Anton_Ivanov / Shutterstock.com

Pingu is a lost penguin who found himself 3,000 kilometres from home. The young Adélie penguin took a wrong turn and found himself in New Zealand – a long way from his home in Antarctica.

A local resident first thought he was a soft toy! He was soon rescued, fed and released back into the wild.

A new climate award is due to be launched next year to recognise kids’ efforts to help protect and improve their environment. Like the Duke of Edinburgh Awards, the Climate Leaders Award will have bronze, silver and gold levels. In the meantime, why not apply for your Whizz Pop Bang Eco Hero badge? whizzpopbang.com/eco-hero/

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Humans crashing a robot spacecraft into an asteroid to knock it off course sounds like the plot of a Hollywood movie, but NASA is now testing whether it’s possible.

Tiny asteroids enter Earth’s atmosphere all the time – we see them as ‘shooting stars’, as they burn up before hitting the ground.

Space scientists say no large asteroids will come near Earth for at least 100 years.

But if one ever was heading our way, we’d need a way to protect ourselves. A rocket carrying a robot spacecraft left Earth in November and will arrive at an asteroid called Dimorphos in late September, crashing into it and hopefully altering the path of its orbit.

Dimorphos never gets closer than 11 million kilometres to Earth, so it doesn’t pose a risk to us, and this test won’t change that. This is just an experiment.

© Nobu Tamura / Wikimedia.commons

NEWS FLASH

© NASA /Johns Hopk ins APL/S

teve Gribben

LOST AND FOUND

SAY CHEESE!

© ChuHan Lin / Com

edy Wildlife Photo Awa

See who jumps high

Check out some of the winning snaps from the 2021 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards.

These awards aim to help people better understand animals, their lives and the risks they face by showing them in comically human situations. The competition is free to enter and open to kids too – you’ve got until June to send in your entries for this year, so get snapping!

You could win an African safari trip! bit.ly/3r7k33Q

I guess summer’s over

© John Spiers / Comedy

Wildlife Photo Awards

© Roland Kranitz

2021

/ Comedy Wildlif

1 e Photo Awards 202

The majestic and graceful bald eagle

I got you

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Time for school

© Chee Kee Teo / Comedy Wildlife Photo Awards 2021

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© Nobu Tamura / Wikimedia.commons

© Shutterstock.com

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Ninja Prairie Dog

© Arthur Trevino

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e Photo Awards 202 1

SUPERSAURUS

American scientists say they’ve discovered the world’s longest dinosaur, and it’s a whopping 40 metres long – that’s the length of five London buses! Supersaurus was a sauropod dinosaur that lived 153 million years ago, in the Jurassic period.

rds 2021

The huge bones were found nearly 50 years ago but were mixed up with other fossils thought to belong to other dinosaurs.

Palaeontologists now think that all these bones belonged to the super-long Supersaurus!

By I

It’s already happening!

Astronauts have been living aboard the International Space Station for the last 21 years!

21 years in space!

Don’t they miss Earth?

It’s not just one crew – more than 244 different astronauts have taken it in turns to visit the International Space Station (ISS).

Some called it home for more than a year.

What is the ISS? It’s the largest spacecraft ever built – a giant, orbiting laboratory in the sky. Astronauts from 19 different countries travel there to carry out science experiments in space.

How does the ISS stay up?

400 km above Earth’s surface, the pull of Earth’s gravity is almost as strong as it is down here – gravity works over very long distances. The ISS has not escaped Earth’s gravity. It is falling back towards Earth. However, the ISS is moving so quickly, and is so high up, that the path of its fall exactly matches the curve of Earth’s surface. It keeps falling all the way around the planet!

Push of speeding space station

Path of space station when those forces balance out

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Pull of Earth’s gravity

A spare Soyuz spacecraft is always docked, ready to be used as a ‘lifeboat’ in an emergency.

Watch from the side as someone gently throws a ball underarm. You’ll see the ball take a curved path as it falls back to Earth.

Ask them to throw it harder. The ball will go higher, and the curved path will be longer. Now imagine they could throw the ball hard enough to get it travelling at 28,000 km/h! The ball would still fall back to Earth in a curved path, but the curve would match the curve of the planet so it would never actually hit the ground.

This is how a rocket ‘throws’ spacecraft into orbit!

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I can’t wait for the day when people live in space!

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LIVING IN SPACE

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This robotic arm is used to move cargo, release experiments and satellites into space and even move astronauts around on spacewalks!

Huge solar panels change sunlight energy into electricity. They are so big you can see the light glinting off them from the ground! The ISS is the third brightest object in the sky after the Sun and Moon.

A large window gives astronauts a beautiful view of our blue-green planet. The space station travels around Earth once every 90 minutes, so astronauts also see 16 ‘sunrises’ and ‘sunsets’ every day.

Why do astronauts float inside the ISS? Astronauts aboard the ISS haven’t escaped Earth’s gravity.

They are falling at great speed around the planet. The astronauts fall at the same speed as the ISS, so they appear to float inside it. This effect is known as microgravity.

Are there any other space stations?

The ISS zooms around the planet at 28,000 km/h, around 400 km above the ground.

The ISS is not alone in orbit.

China is building the Tiangong 2 Space Station, which should be ready by the end of 2022. Space stations are so big they are taken into space bit by bit and built as they are zooming around the planet! No space station lasts forever. The ISS will probably be retired and replaced in the next 10 years.

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LIFE ABOARD THE ISS Sending an astronaut into space is much harder than launching a robot probe. People need food, water and air.

Feeling space sick?

Did you know that humans can sense gravity? Tiny crystals deep inside your ears move around and settle in the direction of Earth’s gravitational pull. Your brain uses these movements to track where your body is, and help you keep your balance.

This vestibular system causes travel sickness. Most astronauts experience motion sickness in space for the same reasons. It usually stops after a few days when their brains and bodies adapt.

Double PE In microgravity, astronauts can move heavy objects around with their fingertips. They feel super strong! But in fact, they are getting weaker every day because their muscles don’t have to work as hard in microgravity as they do on Earth. To stay fit and healthy, astronauts exercise on a treadmill, bicycle and other machines for more than two hours EVERY day.

Why not try some astronaut training yourself?

See pages 14 & 15.

Astronauts’ heads get bigger in space.

Pop a few marbles r or beads into a ja and put the lid on. The marbles ystals inside are like the tiny cr e jar on to its your ears. Turn th n. The side or upside dow ttle marbles always se ion of down in the direct nal Earth’s gravitatio pull. In space, they ‘float’ would appear to The crystals around in the jar. do this too, in astronauts’ ears leaving their brains very confused!

Astronauts have taken some very strange th ings with th em to the ISS. Can you spot these th ings floating arou nd?

• Two golden orb spide rs Three bobtail squid Six slices of pizza A hamburger A ukulele Check your answers on page 34.

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Why were Moon roc the named S kets at It had a urn? nic ring to it e .

Astrosnacks Make your own dehydrated space food.

Feeling thirsty?

Like all humans, astronauts need to drink water every day. It would cost too much to transport enough fresh water by rocket, so astronauts drink the same water over and over! Their sweat, wee and even the water vapour in their breath is collected, cleaned and recycled.

You will need: • Your favourite fruits (apples, pears and bananas work well) • A knife

What you do: 1. Ask an adult helper to thinly slice the fruit.

2. Weigh the slices (in one batch). Record the weight.

3. Soak the slices in a mix of water and lemon juice for five minutes.

Feeling hungry?

4. Spread the slices out on a baking tray lined with baking paper and bake on a very low heat (around 50 °C) for 4 to 6 hours. When they are no longer sticky or wet, they are ready.

Food taken up to the space station is often dehydrated (has the water taken out of it). It takes up less space and is much lighter to transport. Dehydration also preserves the food, so it lasts longer and doesn’t have to be kept in a fridge (the microbes that make food go bad are living things that need water to survive!). The dried food is rehydrated with hot water just before it is eaten. Astronauts have to slurp it from the pouch it comes in, so it doesn’t escape and float around the cabin!

Watch ESA astronaut Tim Peake rehydrating scrambled eggs aboard the ISS: bit.ly/3CTIhkU

• Weighing scale • Lemon • Baking tray and baking paper

5. When the fruit is cool, weigh it again (in one batch).

You should find: The fruit becomes lighter! Living things (like fruit) are mostly water. You have removed this water by drying them out. How do your astrosnacks compare to the fresh fruit? What happens if you add some water to rehydrate them?

Take it further: Can you design an experiment to find out how long dried fruit lasts compared with fresh fruit?

Space dinners are like school dinners.

Astronauts use Velcro tabs to make sure their food and cutlery don't float away!

Has anyone seen my knife and fork?

Go on a virtual tour of the ISS! Ever wondered how astronauts wee and poo, sleep and brush their teeth in microgravity?

Find out here bit.ly/3rLyUBl

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INTO THE UNKNOWN What astronauts have learned about life in space is helping scientists to plan exciting future missions to the Moon… and beyond!

Moon station The next space station to be built may be orbiting the Moon rather than Earth!

Gateway will be a base for astronauts visiting the Moon, as well as a place to prepare and refuel for longer trips across the solar system.

Beyond the Moon Robot probes have visited every planet in our solar system. But sending humans on long-distance journeys will be much more difficult. As well as food, water and air, humans need room to exercise. Rockets and spacecraft carrying humans need to be bigger and heavier, which makes them much more expensive.

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This explain it’s not imp t u b – e c a sp ISS in holidays in visited the e v a h ts s ce touri open it to Seven spa s plans to a h A S A N ticket nd ture. Each the past, a fu e th in ts onau nd each private astr 5 million, a 5 $ d n u ro tonnes will cost a up to 272 e s a le re l il nch w osphere! rocket lau to the atm in e id x io d of carbon

Fake gravity On long journeys across space, far from any star, planet or Moon, astronauts will barely feel any gravitational pull at all. Their bones and muscles will get weaker. Spacecraft could create artificial gravity by making astronauts fall towards the floor of the spacecraft.

There is currently only one way to do this, and you can recreate it at home!

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Tie a long string handle on to a paper cup (that’s your spacecraft). Pop a minifigure in (that’s your astronaut). Find a big open space and spin the cup around in large circles.

Your astronaut doesn’t fall out because they’re pinned to the bottom of the cup! Rotating spacecraft could create fake gravity in this way.

Topsy turvy gardening

Gardening in space

Carry out your own gravity-defying gardening experiment!

Even a trip to our nearest neighbour, Mars, would take nine months in each direction.

It would be difficult to carry enough fresh food to keep astronauts healthy. They would have to grow fruit and vegetables as they travelled.

You will need: • Quick-growing seeds such as radish or cress • Two old, clear CD cases

What you do: 1. Stack several pieces of tissue and cut them to the shape of the CD case.

To get ready for gardening in space, scientists have been growing seeds aboard the ISS to see how they cope.

On Earth, plants sense gravity and use it to grow roots downwards (to find water) and shoots upwards (to find light). In space, this system is messed up by microgravity.

2. Place them in the open case and sprinkle with water to make them damp.

3. Place three or four seeds in different places on the tissue in each case. Close the cases so that the seeds are trapped between the tissue and the plastic (add more tissue if they’re not).

4. Draw a compass rose on each case, but instead of north and south, mark ‘up’ and ‘down’. Mark one case ‘experiment’ and the other ‘control’.

CD case Tissue

Shoot Seed

• Kitchen roll • Marker pen

5. Put the cases in a dark place, standing on their sides, with the up arrows pointing upwards.

6. Every day, visit the cases and keep the tissue damp. Every 2-3 days, turn the case marked up ‘experiment’ 90° so the next arrow is pointing down Experiment up. Leave the case marked ‘control’ standing se upright the whole time.

Compass ro

Root

You should find: Compare the seeds as they germinate. You can use your marker pen to draw the path taken by the roots on the plastic cases. Which direction do the roots grow in when the direction of Earth’s gravitational pull keeps changing in relation to the seeds?

Did you know it would cost £10,000 to take a cat to the ISS? It’s a cat astro fee!

Home sweet home Astronauts agree that one of the best things about life on the ISS is gazing down at Earth. Being in space helps them to realise just how special and fragile our planet is, and how important it is for us to look after it.

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AL ANIM S TIC

AN

Hawaiian bobtail squid

Our intrepid vet Joe Inglis is sharing his spacecraft with some tiny sea creatures as they orbit the Earth on a super-science mission.

Animals in orbit Hawaiian bobtail squid are the latest animals to join humans on missions into space. Ever since a dog called Laika first orbited the Earth in a Russian satellite called Sputnik in 1957, many astro-animals, from monkeys to frogs, have blasted off in the name of science.

The biggest squid ever recorded was over 400 times as long as a bobtail squid

© RobJ808 / Shutterstock.com

Armed and dangerous Hawaiian bobtail squid are tiny creatures (about 3 cm long) found in shallow seas around the Hawaiian Islands in the Pacific Ocean. Like other squid, and their cousins the octopuses, they have eight super-flexible arms covered in suckers. They hide in the sand and then ambush little shrimps, grabbing them with two tentacles. Then they hold them with their arms while they eat them up with their sharp beak.

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Super squid As well as being hunters, bobtail squid are also hunted – by seals and lizardfish.

However, they have a couple of squid superpowers up their tentacles to help them survive. They can squirt a cloud of ink into the water to confuse predators, and a water-powered jet propulsion unit allows them to zoom away at high speed.

d

2-3 months How long bobtail squid live for in the wild

Glow-in-the-dark squid Another amazing power is their ability to glow in the dark, called bioluminescence – and this is the reason why they’ve been sent up into space.

Bobtail squid glow with the help of tiny bacteria in their bodies. Researchers on the International Space Station are trying to understand how space flight affects the relationship between animals and the bacteria that they share their bodies with.

Space science We’re ink-redible!

Like squid – and all other animals – we have billions of microbes in our bodies (mainly in our guts where they help digest our food). It has been found that microgravity can affect these friendly bugs in astronauts. The scientists studying the bobtail squid on the ISS hope they can find out what’s going on – and help future space travellers keep their microbe partners fit and healthy.

All of these animals have been to space!

Work out where each name fits into the grid to reveal the name of an animal that can survive for at least 10 days in the vacuum of space. We’ve done one for you.

Check your answer on page 34.

BEE BRINE SHRIMP CRICKET FROG

JELLYFISH MEDAKA FISH NEMATODE SNAIL

W

O

R

M

SPIDER WORM

ASTRONAUT T Jonathan Scott Head of the New Ideas and Technologies Team within the ESA Space Medicine Team

Astronauts train to make sure they’re as fit as possible before they blast off into space. Once they get back to Earth, they do more exercises to regain their strength and balance. Your mission is to train like an astronaut, with some help from Jonathan Scott from the European Space Agency!

The ‘base station walk-back’

Balancing act!

Astronauts have to be fit enough to walk 10 km (6.2 miles) in a spacesuit in case they become stranded while exploring the surface of the Moon or Mars! Training for the ‘base station walk-back’ will help keep your heart, lungs and leg muscles healthy.

Your mission: Every day, walk, run or ride a bike!

Challenge: Record the distance you walk, run or cycle each week in a mission log and try to gradually increase it. If you can, it’s a great idea to walk or cycle to school.

Jon says: Astronauts use an exercise bike, but it has no saddle or handlebars!

Try these animal-inspired exercises to improve your balance and flexibility.

Your mission: 1. The flamingo – stand on one leg with the other leg bent. Hold this position for as long as you can. You could lightly hold the back of a chair and time how long you can let go for. Repeat on the other leg.

2. The crab – stand with your feet wide apart and bend your knees (your knees should be no further forward than your ankles). Stay in this pose for as long as you can!

3. The cobra – lie flat on the floor on your stomach with your hands underneath your shoulders, then lift your head and shoulders off the floor, straightening your arms.

Hold the pose for ten seconds.

Challenge: 1 and 2 – stretch your arms up or to the sides to make these exercises harder.

3 – repeat the pose five times.

Jon says: While in space, astronauts lose the ability to balance. Back on Earth, this makes turning corners, climbing stairs and even Watch Scott Kelly walking in a straight line learn how to very difficult until their balance again: balance comes back! bit.ly/3oQUW3A

Keeping a mission log will help you see how you're improving.

Improve your dexterity Astronauts do lots of experiments and have to look after and fix their equipment, so they need to be good with their hands! Sometimes they perform space walks – going outside in a spacesuit to do maintenance and repairs.

Your mission: Put on a pair of gloves and pick up a pencil or undo a zip.

Challenge: Try something harder, like doing a jigsaw puzzle!

Jon says: In some computer games you have to carefully control the motion of something using a joystick. That is similar to some tasks that astronauts do on the ISS, and will likely do in the future to control robots on the surface of the Moon or Mars.

Watch Chris Hadfield control the robotic arm that grabs cargo: bit.ly/3IQ5x75

T TRAINING CAMP! Build brilliant bones In microgravity, astronauts can move heavy objects easily, without their bones and muscles having to work hard. Over time, this causes their bones to lose mass and become less dense. They become weaker and more likely to fracture.

Your mission: Do ten star jumps or skip with a skipping rope for five minutes or play a game of hopscotch!

Challenge: Whichever exercise you choose, jump as high as you can!

Jon says: Hopping and jumping are ideal exercises for strong bones because they create big forces when you hit the ground. Hopscotch is good as you have to jump in different directions, which means the forces are always changing.

Astronauts can’t jump in microgravity because they don’t have body weight and can’t come back to the ground again.

We’re testing a new exercise device that will make jumping in microgravity possible!

Mighty muscles ‘Resistance training’, where you push or pull against some type of resistance (an opposing force), helps to build strong muscles. The opposing force can be gravity, weights or the weight of your own body.

Your mission: Do these exercises regularly to keep your muscles strong.

1. Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart and your back straight and do five squats. Your muscles and bones are working together to push against the floor to lift a load (your body).

2. Lie face down on the floor with your hands beside your shoulders and do ten push-ups.

Improve your coordination Astronauts need to be ready to respond to anything!

Hone your reaction skills with these activities. You’ll need another astronaut-in-training to help.

Your mission: Throw and catch a ball with a partner, seeing how many times you can do it without dropping the ball.

Challenge: Keep practising! You should notice that you can throw and catch the ball more times.

Jon says: Astronauts returning to Earth have to ‘re-learn’ how heavy objects are and how gravity affects them when they let go. In space, when you let go of an object it stays exactly where it is and if you throw it, it will travel in a straight line (making it very easy to catch!). Astronauts have to ‘un-learn’ this behaviour of objects when they come back to Earth.

3. Roll over, lie on your back and slowly lift one leg up and down five times. Repeat with the other leg.

Challenge: 1 – repeat the squats while holding a cushion or a football straight out in front of you. For harder squats, you can turn them into frog jumps! 2 – increase the number of push-ups or lift one leg behind you while you do them. 3 – instead of lifting one leg at a time, try slowly lifting both legs together.

Jon says: In space, a resistance training machine has to push down on you to make exercises hard enough to be effective. Because exercises like squats produce very large forces, the resistance training device effectively ‘floats’ in mid-air to stop the forces being transferred to the space station.

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b... clu O C E

Emmi's

MAKE A MARBLE RUN Grab an old box and some cardboard tubes from your recycling box and get ready to make a marble whizz down a maze!

1

Make a hole in the top right-hand corner of the box which will fit your marble through easily. Cut one of the sections out of an egg box and trim the end so the marble runs through. Cut slits in the bottom, bend them outwards and attach it to the top of the box with masking tape.

3

• A cardboard box, at least 25 cm by 29 cm • Cardboard tubes (e.g. kitchen roll tubes or toilet paper tubes) • Pencil

• Scissors • An egg car ton • Masking tape • Paint • Paintbrush • Marbles

2 Cut your cardboard tubes in half to make a run from where the marble drops to the other side. Attach in place with masking tape.

4 Make two holes in the side of the box, leaving a gap of at least 6 cm. This is important to make sure the marble has enough momentum to keep moving. Push a cardboard tube through from the inside and attach it to the second half of the tube inside the box.

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You will need:

Top tip: Keep testing your marble run and adjust it so it runs faster and more smoothly!

Cut another tube in half and then cut a rectangle measuring 2 cm by 3 cm out of one end. Fold the two sides over towards the middle and attach the ends so they close the tube. This will stop the marble from flying out. Push this through the second hole from the outside in.

Continued on page 21 ➜

PULLOUT

LIVING IN SPACE

PULL OUT PAGES 17-20 AND GET MAKING!

SPACE STATION SCENE

Make a space station scene, complete with floating astronauts and a viewing window. Stick a photograph of yourself onto the extra astronaut suit and you can join them aboard the ISS!

What you do: 1. Cut out the diorama background on pages 18 and 19, then fold along the dotted lines and unfold.

You will need: • The diorama (model) background and the astronauts over the page • Card or cardboard • A tray or shoebox lid • Scissors • Glue • Sticky tape • Cotton thread • Needle Optional

• A see-through plastic pot, such as a pudding pot • A black marker pen • Anything else you want to add!

Find a printable version of the pullout here: bit.ly/3lR7bLD

2. Stick the diorama background onto some card or cardboard to make it stronger and cut it out.

3. If you want to create your own Cupola window, place the open end of your plastic pot onto the picture of the window and draw around it. Cut out the hole, cutting just inside the line so the hole is a tiny bit smaller than the pot. Push the pot through the hole from the inside and then stick into place with sticky tape if needed. Draw some lines on the pot for the window frames.

4. Stick the tabs A and B to the sides of the diorama to make a box shape and then stick tabs C, D and E to your tray or shoebox lid so that it stands up.

5. Push a needle and thread through the top of the diorama and stick the thread in place with sticky tape.

6. Cut out the astronauts and attach them to the dangling end of the thread with sticky tape so they are floating in your scene. Cut out a photo of your own face and stick it to the third astronaut, or you could draw in your face. Now you can add yourself to the scene!

whizzpopbang.com 17

A

C 18 whizzpopbang.com

D

B

E whizzpopbang.com 19

your answers Riddles Checkon page 34.

1. What goes up and down but never moves?

2. What five-letter word has six left when you take two away? u say it?

3. What breaks when yo

These are all parts of the ISS. Circle any that you find in the grid and check your answer on page 34.

The ISS has a dome-shaped module called the Cupola with seven windows – six around the sides and one on top. It helps astronauts get a really good look at the outside of the space station so they can monitor spacewalks and docking operations. It also gives them a spectacular view of Earth! The seven windows are made of special silica and borosilicate glass panes.

They all have shutters to protect them when they’re not being used from micrometeoroids and the harsh space environment.

When do astronauts get hungry?

At launch time!

20 whizzpopbang.com

AIRLOCK

GYM

BATHROOM

MODULE

CARGO

PAYLOAD

COMPUTERS

ROBOTIC ARM

CREW QUARTERS

SOLAR ARRAY

DOCKING PORT

SOYUZ

EXPERIMENTS

WINDOW

D S M W O Z H W K G R C O T C O M P U T E R S R C N S A O O X M O O M E K E O I C R D F Y A R W I M L R W I H U K W A Q N I A L S I Z T L P C U G R R O L S N R A E I A P E A C I N M D R B T R O P R K A Z M Y O Q O T R X R J F R Y S G W B E T E A J Z P G G W E O R P A Y L O A D O N S R S

5

Make a third hole the other side of the box. Attach a tube which connects to the tube on the other side of the box.

I’d love to see your marble run! Take a photo and ask an adult to tag us on social media @whizzpopbangmag and email it to Y@whizzpopbang.com

6

ECO

More

Photos @ Jenna Williams

Cut a slit into the lid of an egg box about 9 cm from the end. The slit should go about three quarters of the way across the lid. Slide it onto the box, underneath the tube, and attach with masking tape. Now it’s time to test your marble run! Make any adjustments you need to make and then decorate it!

Don’t forget to add start and finish signs.

ideas...

Single-use plastics are bad for the environment as they often end up in our oceans, rivers and landfill.

Try to reuse some plastic in your marble run. You could reuse a plastic bottle by cutting the top off and adding a longer funnel at the top where you drop your marble in.

Would this make your marble go even faster?

Continued from page 16

It’s up to us to save the planet. Lots of small actions can make a BIG difference!

The plastic trays that mushrooms sometimes come in often can’t be recycled so you could reuse one in your marble run. It would make a great collection pot at the end.

Buying lots of new plastic toys is bad for the environment as they often end up in landfill. Do you have plastic toys you don’t play with any more? To help the environment and cut down on plastic waste, you could arrange a toy swap with friends or neighbours.

whizzpopbang.com 21

➜

Interview with a SCIENCE HERO

In my job I get to... work in space!

Samantha is an astronaut with the European Space Agency (ESA). She flew to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014, staying on board for 200 days.

“

© ESA

“

It’s quite intense on board the ISS because every minute is scheduled. But it’s also very fun!

Samantha C European Space ristoforetti Agency astrona ut

Basic training before a space mission takes one year.

”

Training involves learning about spaceflight, gaining a detailed overview of all Space Station systems, survival training, and practising how to conduct a spacewalk. You also learn some special skills, like speaking the Russian language and robotic operations.

On the ISS, we start work at about 7.30 am and our first task every morning is a call with international control centres in Europe, Russia, the US and Japan to talk about the day’s activities. After that, we go off to our assigned tasks, which might include science experiments, maintenance work, loading and unloading of cargo in the supply vehicles or, occasionally, special activities like spacewalks or operations with the robotic arm. When I finish my daily tasks, I join the crew and we hang out and have dinner together. My crewmates were all wonderful people and we laughed a lot together. Sometimes in the evening I would relax in the Cupola and take photographs of the Earth passing below. It is an incredible view.

“

”

Dealing with weightlessness can be challenging, especially at the beginning.

m the Cupola

Samantha taking photos fro

© ESA

22 whizzpopbang.com

”

Being weightless is an incredible feeling of joy and freedom! While floating is very fun, it also means that everything has a tendency to float away, and it’s really easy to lose things!

With time, though, you learn to keep track of things and to position and anchor your body as needed to get things done.

“

Exercise is really important because weightlessness causes the human body to lose bone and muscle.

© NASA

Interview with a SCIENCE HERO

”

We use the gym every day on the ISS, as a few hours of exercise helps us keep our muscles strong and our bones healthy.

There is a treadmill, an exercise bicycle and a specialised machine that allows us to do a ‘weightlifting’ routine in weightlessness.

“

Samantha in her sleeping quarters on the ISS

Our private quarters are small and that’s where I keep my personal items.

”

My items include my clothes, some snacks, water and a flashlight (you never know when you might need it). When I’m ready to go to sleep, I get into my sleeping bag and make myself cosy.

Some astronauts like to tie the bag to the wall before sleeping, but I prefer to float.

ed resistive Samantha using the advanc e ISS exercise machine on board th

om space

“

SA

”

You can enjoy seeing the Sun rise and set 16 times a day, if you are not too busy that is! It is amazing to see the beautiful Earth; the natural landscapes of our home. Then there are the auroras (you may know them as the Northern and Southern Lights). I captured a few on camera to share with the world. My favourite place to look down on is Italy, where I am from.

It is beautiful to see from space; it is so bright at night, it’s quite an amazing sight.

A view of Italy fr

I am currently busy training for my next mission!

”

© ESA/NA

“

You have the most amazing view of planet Earth from the ISS.

© ESA/NA SA

I’m heading back to the ISS this spring to my ’home away from home’ to continue to pursue scientific discovery. I can’t wait to go back and share new stories and images with everyone.

whizzpopbang.com 23

HOW STUFF

WORKS

1 2

Spacesuits

Floating in space might sound wonderful, but without a spacesuit for protection, you couldn’t survive for more than a few seconds. The temperature outside the space station can vary from -160 ˚C to +120 ˚C, there’s no oxygen to breathe, no pressure to keep our bodies together, millions of tiny micrometeorites travelling at the speed of a bullet and high levels of deadly radiation.

Here’s how these amazing protective suits work…

The spacesuits worn outside the International Space Station were designed in the 1980s and are known as Extravehicular Mobility Units.

Spacesuits are white to reflect the Sun’s heat.

They’re made of a high-tech material that is bulletproof, water resistant and fire resistant.

3 4

SA © NA

The inner layer is a cooling garment – a stretchy suit with water tubes running through it which cool the astronaut when working in direct sunlight.

Spacewalks can be thirsty work, so there is an in-suit drinks bag containing around half a litre of drinking water inside the helmet.

A lightweight fibreglass hard upper torso section fits over the astronaut’s chest and supports the rest of the spacesuit. It provides some protection against micrometeorites.

5

Under their spacesuits, astronauts wear space nappies called Maximum Absorbency Garments.

Like babies’ nappies, these contain a powdered chemical that absorbs 300 times its weight in water (or wee!).

24 whizzpopbang.com

6

The lower torso assembly protects the legs and feet and is securely sealed to the upper torso section. A waist bearing helps the astronaut turn.

7

The super-strong helmet contains communication equipment and has a see-through visor coated in a super-thin layer of gold that protects against harmful ultraviolet radiation from the Sun. There is a small foam block for astronauts to scratch their noses on if they have an itch!

8

Attached to the back of the spacesuit is the Primary Life Support System, a high-tech backpack which contains oxygen for breathing, suit pressurisation, ventilation and cooling. It also removes waste carbon dioxide that the astronaut breathes out and provides electricity to power the suit, as well as water, a chiller and a pump for the cooling garment.

9

Flexible arm assemblies and gloves attach to the upper torso. The gloves are heated to keep astronauts’ fingers warm and are designed so that they can move their fingers and pick things up.

10

A WRIST MIRROR allows the astronaut to see the displays and control module on the front of the spacesuit. All the words and numbers have to be written backwards!

12

A nitrogen-powered

jetpack can be used

in emergencies. If a spacewalking astronaut became separated from the space station, this could help them get safely back inside.

11

A secondary oxygen pack is an emergency supply of oxygen in case the main supply fails.

whizzpopbang.com 25 © stockphoto mania / Shutterstock.com

g... in z a m A ly e m o s e w A 0 1

I S T N E M I R E P EX

been of the science that’s Find out about some ion… at ternational Space St happening on the In

1

Astronauts are growing vegetables in their own space garden aboard the ISS, providing them with fresh, healthy food, and helping them learn about how plants grow in microgravity.

2 3

5

Images of natural disasters (like hurricanes, fires and floods) taken from space allow us to study how they develop.

They can be used to forecast future storms.

Without the influence of gravity, astronauts can do experiments that would be impossible on Earth, providing new insights into diseases like asthma and cancer and testing new treatments.

4

Scientists on the ISS have managed to study fire in space.

The fire was very different to fire on Earth – it burned at a slower rate, at lower temperatures and with less oxygen.

Engineers have designed human-like robots to help astronauts explore space. The Robonaut can do all kinds of jobs and even move its hands and fingers just like a person!

E C A P S N I S

6

By studying astronauts’ health, scientists have developed special exercises and diets to help reduce the bone and muscle loss that astronauts experience when they stay in space for a long time.

3 is The OCO- he t mounted on e ISS f th underside o

7

The OCO-3 (Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3) is orbiting Earth to measure carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas linked to global warming) in Earth’s atmosphere.

8

Photographs of Earth taken from space give scientists important information about changes in Earth’s ecosystem. This image shows heat radiating from the Pacific Ocean.

9 10

Changes in the human body can happen faster in space. Scientists are using tissue chips containing human cells to study changes that would take months or years to happen on Earth.

All photography © NASA

We can understand more about the universe from space. Tools on the outside of the space station are giving scientists important information about black holes and pulsars (spinning neutron stars).

whizzpopbang.com 27

Sensational Scientists

Sir Isaac Newton

By Claire Cock-Starkey

Isaac Newton was one of the most important scientists in history. His laws of motion and theory of gravity changed how we understand the universe.

S I R I S A A C N E W T ON W A S BOR N I N 1643 I NH I R E. WO NS OL S T H OR P E , L I N C OL

Isaac was born in a time of great instability – England was in the midst of a civil war and there was the constant threat of plague.

As a baby, Isaac was so small that he was not expected to survive, but he grew into a curious and intelligent boy. His father died before he was born and his mother had remarried.

Isaac didn’t like his new stepfather, but he escaped his unhappiness by reading books on mechanics and technology.

He liked to set himself difficult projects, like designing sundials.

When he was a teenager, Isaac’s mother took him out of school to run the family farm.

But Isaac wasn’t interested in farming. He missed learning and was eventually allowed to go back to school.

In 1661, Isaac went to Cambridge University. There he began to tackle more advanced mathematical problems.

Unfortunately, a few years into his studies, the university closed because of the plague.

Isaac headed home where he was free to concentrate on the work that interested him most.

He spent a lot of time thinking and observing nature, trying to find the answers to some of the biggest questions of the universe.

28 whizzpopbang.com

Later in his life, Isaac said that it was during this ‘lockdown’ that he realised that white light was made up of all the colours of the rainbow. He also worked out his three laws of motion, created a new way of describing the physical world through equations, which we now call calculus, and came up with his famous theory of gravity.

One day, Isaac was sitting in his garden thinking when he saw an apple tumble from the tree. He wondered why the apple fell straight down and not sideways. He realised that there must be a force acting between the falling object and the Earth.

Draw some apples falling out of these trees. Which direction will they fall in, and why?

Check your answer on page 34.

Even though he came up with lots of new theories, Isaac admitted that he was only able to do this because of the work and ideas of great scientists before him.

If I have seen further, it is by standing upon the shoulders of giants.

Isaac had always kept his work to himself.

But when his great rival, the German mathematician Gottfried Leibniz, claimed to have invented calculus, Isaac was horrified!

He rushed to find his old notes to prove it was he who had made the great discovery.

Today, historians agree that both men came up with the idea independently.

This incident encouraged Isaac to start publishing more of his ideas. In 1687 he wrote a book called Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.

In it he outlined his laws of motion and his theory of universal gravitation. It revealed new ways of describing the universe in mathematical terms and laid the foundations for modern physics.

It is now thought to be one of the most important science books ever written.

gravity Isaac’s theory of derstand helped people un the Sun, why planets orbit

ts the why the Moon orbi e Moon’s Earth, and how th . orbit affects tides

Not to scale

Email me at Y@whizzpopbang.com

der Club!

Welcome to Y’s Won to share your This page is for you with our adventures in science hizz Pop Bang robot, Y, and other W atured on readers! Everyone fe an this page will receive e! enamel pin badg

D E A R Y When I’m in bed, it is silent, but I can, hear this faint buzzing sound in my head. Why is this?

From Ro se, aged 10

F oR

CURIoUS K I DS

We loved all the eco-inventions you sent in, inspired by Save our Planet (Issue 74)...

Ben, aged 9, s drew up plan ain tr et ll u b a r fo lot that solves a l ta en m n of enviro s. m le b ro p

I think you are describing what we call tinn itus – a ringing or buzzing noise that you can hear inside your head.

Scientists don’t completely understand why we hear sounds which aren’t there, and often doct ors don’t find a cause when people visit them with tinn itus – in those cases, we think that the nerve cells are stim ulated by the cochlear (a spiral-shaped structure deep in your ears, which changes sounds into nerve messages and sends them to your brain). Tinnitus is less of a problem in the daytime because there are other sounds around and our brains can filter out the noise. You could try liste ning to music or recorded ‘white noise’ if tinnitus both ers you at night.

If you have tinnitus in just one ear, if you are finding it hard to hear, or if the buzzing is worrying you, you should contact your GP. Your grown-ups might like to have a look at this for more information bit. ly/3 FBC k KG

Anna, aged 11, invented a new kind of renewable energ y and a way to reduce pollution.

Noah, aged 8, designed an eco-plane. out Everything ab the plane is eco-friendly.

as Ella, aged 6, h g in az made this am ch at p monster ) to (from Issue 74 gs, in g g le er h d men hole. which had a

Y’s Wonder Club Badges Help local wildlife to earn your Wildlife Watcher badge.

Investigate scientific questions to earn your Super Scientist badge.

Collectable enamel badges for you to earn!

Help save the planet to earn your Eco Hero badge.

E

It is great to see that so many of you have been cleaning up the environment near you. What a fantastic effort – well done everyone!

d her Lily, aged 9, an ra and Sa y, p p friends Po r 8, spent thei Will, all aged ing their Sunday clean -Wales.

Mid local beach in e bin bags re th They filled caps, ropes, full of bottle shoes! nets and even

AS K Y, Why doesn’t wet paper make a sound when you rip it but dry paper does?

James Atkin, aged 6

S TA RE R L ET T

ve You’ a n wo er! bind

Paper is made from long fibres – under a microscope it looks like squashed spaghetti! When you rip dry paper, the fibres snap and rub against each other. This causes vibrations (shaking movements) which make sound. The bigger the piece of paper, the louder the sound, because the paper acts a bit like a speaker (try it!). Wet paper has water molecules in between the fibres. This helps to soften them, so they break quietly and slide apart more easily.

The water molecules also absorb some of the vibrations, helping to make the sound even quieter.

Lily, aged 10, organised a big litte r pick at her local riv er walk helped by her tw brother George. Toge in ther with 20 other child ren, they collected 10 lar ge bags of rubbish in ab out an hour and a half!

Joe, aged 7, and Yves, aged 5, did some colourful experiments at home.

Alice, aged 10, did the greenhouse effect experiment from Issue 74. The chocolate in the ‘greenhouse’ melted faster.

H I, Y ! Why does it longer to get dark in take summer and quicker in winter?

7, Darcie, aged ft ra d se u o made a m m ro (f er d exclu h old Issue 74) wit and s n o tights, butt celet ra b ip a friendsh for the tail.

Connie, aged 10

Did you know that the North Pole isn’t at the top of the Ear th? Our planet actually leans over by 23.4 degrees! In a UK summer, the Northern Hemisphere is tilted towards the Sun. This makes the Sun rise earlier in the morning and set later at night.

The longest day is called the sum mer solstice, which falls around the 21st of June. The opposite happens in winter: the winter solstice, falling around the 21st of December, is the sho rtest day. The difference in day length is mo re extreme closer to the poles.

In polar regions, you get 24 hours of light or 24 hours of dark at the solstices.

Get problem solving to earn your Epic Engineer badge.

Write a report or a review to earn your Science Reporter badge.

science books Read any good any cool recently? Done rite to experiments? W com g. an pb Y@whizzpo them! t ou ab l al to tell us Send your experiments, ideas, photos, reviews and questions to Y@whizzpopbang.com or Y, Whizz Pop Bang, Unit 7, Global Business Park, 14 Wilkinson Road, Cirencester, GL7 1YZ. Don’t forget to include your name, age and address. We can’t return any post, sorry.

To find out how to earn your badges, go to whizzpopbang.com/wonder-club. Schools can get involved too! Find out how here: bit.ly/39xNQ Q qV

whizzpopbang.com 31

um/ Test your M igrade Dad/pet tard

How much can you remember from this issue?

what they know! to see

1

Test your knowledge with our super-duper quiz. Just tick the answers you think are correct, mark them using the answers on page 34 and then add up your score. If you need some help, check out the hints at the bottom of the page.

What was the first animal to orbit the Earth?

2

a) It is mostly recycled from their sweat, wee and breath

a) A squid named Ink

y

b) A human named

3

Yuri

c) It is all brought up from Earth on a rocket

What was Stephen K. Robinson NOT the first astronaut to do?

4

a) Live on the ISS

o an in-flight repair b) D to the outside of a space shuttle

5

b) They collect condensation from the outside of the ISS

c) A dog named Laika

ake a podcast c) M from space

On the ISS, what is the name of the dome-shaped module with seven windows?

What helped Isaac Newton come up with his theory of gravity?

a) A helium balloon floating up to

the sky

d b) A feather being carried by the win c) An apple falling from a tree

6

a) Canadarm b) C upola

Why is NASA crashing a spacecraft into an asteroid?

a) To destroy the asteroid b) To test whether they can change its orbit ecause they’ve run c) B out of fireworks

c) S oyuz

7

An engineer tried to explain to me how the ISS was built, but it went way over my head!

Where do ISS astronauts get their drinking water?

S What does the IS -3 do? instrument OCO

me system a) It is a video ga rs to play for crew membe

8

What is an astronaut’s ‘maximum absorbency garment’?

S travelling b) It keeps the IS eed at the correct sp

a) A space nappy

c) I t measure mosphere in the Earth’s at

c) A space flannel

s carbon dioxide

b) A space mop

Need a hint? Find the answers by reading these pages…

1) Page 12 2) Page 9 3) Page 35 4) Page 29 5) Page 20 6) Page 4 7) Page 27 8) Page 24

Answers on page 34.

I scored: ..........

1-3: Blast off!

4-6: Out of this world!

7-8: Intergalactic!

W !

IN

Cosmic creation!

We’ve got some super space-themed books to give away. To be in with a chance of winning a bundle of five books, we want you to raid the recycling box and make a model of a space station. You could make a model of the ISS, like ours, or you could come up with your own design!

Read all about Tim Peake’s amazing experiences on the International Space Station here: bit.ly/3qCEdSS

Out-of-this-world books Five winners will receive one of each of these awesome space books from hatchettechildrens.co.uk

Space Explorers

by Libby Jackson is a collection of amazing real-life stories about space exploration and adventure.

WINNERS

The Book of Bok by first man on the Moon Neil Armstrong reveals the adventure of the first Moon landing, and how the Earth and the Moon came to be.

Secrets in the Skies by Giles Sparrow delves deep into the life and discoveries of the world’s most famous stargazer, Galileo Galilei, and the star-studded history of astronomy.

Issue 76 competition winners Thank you to all of you who sent in your entries to our Stone Age competition. The answer was a woolly mammoth! These three lucky winners will each receive a National Geographic Rock Tumbler kit from shopdisney.co.uk Rasti Sultan, age 10 George Ainger, age 5 Lilia Peterson, age 8

Swarm Rising, the brand-new book by astronaut Tim Peake and Steve Cole, is an exciting action-adventure in which all humans are in danger from a super-advanced hive mind called the Swarm.

The Cosmic Book of Space, Aliens and Beyond! is an intergalactic activity book. Sketch spacecraft and aliens, colour in out-of-this-world drawings, cut out awesome alien masks and lots more.

Send a photo of your model to win@whizzpopbang.com with ‘Space station’ competition as the subject of your email. Alternatively, post your entry to Space station competition, Whizz Pop Bang, Unit 7, Global Business Park, 14 Wilkinson Road, Cirencester, GL7 1YZ. Please don’t forget to include your name, age and address.

Deadline: February 8th 2022. UK residents only.

Full terms and conditions available at whizzpopbang.com

whizzpopbang.com 33

What was the first animal in space?

The cow that jumped over the Moon!

JOKES

What’s an astronaut’s favourite tea?

Gravitea!

How do astr onau get to sleep? ts They drift o ff !

What do you call an almond in space?

An astronut!

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How do do astronauts ? g their cleanin um!

With a vacu

Where do astronauts train?

At universe-ity!

Page 8 – True/Untrue

Page 13 – True/Untrue

TRUE: Without gravity pulling blood down towards their feet, their heads get a little bigger. Astronauts even get taller during their time in space!

TRUE: The longest squid ever recorded was a 13 m long giant squid – which is 433 times as long as an average bobtail squid, at just 3 cm in length!

Page 8 – ISS objects puzzle

Page 13 – Space animals puzzle

Answers Page 20 – ISS wordsearch

The animal that can survive in the vacuum of space for at least 10 days is a tardigrade.

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Page 32 – Quiz 1) c 2) a 3) a 4) c 5) b 6) b 7) c 8) a Whoops! In issue 77 we said the answer to the puzzle on page 20 was 12 triangles, when in fact there were 16. Well done to any eagle-eyed readers who spotted the correct number!

What a view!

NASA astronaut Stephen K. Robinson is attached to the International Space Station’s robotic arm by foot restraints in this picture from 2005. He became the first person to perform an in-flight repair to the outside of a space shuttle, which was docked with the ISS. Stephen removed two fillers from the space shuttle Discovery’s heat shield, which were sticking out and could pose a danger during re-entry. On the same mission, Stephen made the first podcast from space and took one of the first space selfies during his spacewalk!

R A L U C A T C E SP

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“It was one of the most fantastic experiences of my life… just incredible to be way out there on the end of that arm all by myself.”

Stephen K. Robinson

© NASA

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