Whizz Pop Bang Science Magazine for Kids! Issue 100: SCIENCE PARTY

PL W A R F LY S T

ISSN 2399 -2840

THE AWESOME SCIENCE MAGAZINE FOR KIDS!

A N ES

Welcome to our

S C I ENCE PARTY !

Celebr ating

100

Bake planet cake pops

1 2 B E ST

PART Y E X PE R I M E NT S

ines z a g a m Whizz Pop Bang

The f o e c n Scie ! g n i c n Da Colour g Changin Icing WHIZZPOPBANG.COM ISSUE 100

EXPERIMENTS PUZZLES AMAZING FACTS SCIENCE NEWS

WELCOME!

Woo-hoo – we’re celebrating 100 issues of Whizz Pop Bang!

Riley

WHIZZ POP BANG is made by:

We’re supe r proud to pres spectacular 100t h edition of ent our Whizz Pop Bang!

We’re immense

Gakk

aders!

I’ve made a roar-some upcycled costume!

Emmi

GET IN TOUCH hello@whizzpopbang.com whizzpopbang.com facebook.com/whizzpopbangmag twitter.com/whizzpopbangmag pinterest.com/whizzpopbangmag instagram.com/whizzpopbangmag

This mon th we’ve got some awesom e science s tars joinin g in the ce lebration s!

Look out for their fav ourite facts…

tiktok.com/@whizzpopbangmag

Since the Big Bang, close to 14 billion years ago, the universe has been expanding outwards.

This means that galaxies are travelling farther apart and away from us, as the space in between them expands.

Where you see this symbol, use a QR code reader on a phone or tablet to visit a relevant web page.

!

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 Aimee Morgans; GP Dr Cathy Scott; astronomer Mark Thompson; physicist Dr Jess Wade; child psychologist Dr Naira Wilson.

To find out more, go to whizzpopbang.com/about

Sharks have been swimming in the oceans longer than trees have been rooted on the land.

These misunderstood animals have personalities, just like you and I.

Megan McCubbin zoologist, conservationist and TV presenter

One in every 2,000 babies is born with a tooth!

ill Vinita Marwaha Madh ineer s eng British space operation

© This is Engineering

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.

Greg Foot

science presenter and pro ducer

Unit 7, Global Business Park, 14 Wilkinson Road, Cirencester, GL7 1YZ Printed in the UK by The Magazine Printing Company using only paper from FSC/PEFC suppliers www.magprint.co.uk

© 2023 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: © 2023 Clive Goodyer

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Happy expe rimenting, de ar re

EXPERT SCIENCE ADVISERS

©S

ly grateful for your unwave rin g support on this incredible journe y. Your he ar t-warming photos, let te rs and emails ne ve r fail to bring joy to our days. Over th e past eight re mark able ye ar s, we’ve de lved into a myriad of capt ivating subje cts, from mindbo ggling spac e adve nture s to the unfor ge ttable Plop-tastic Poo ed iti on!

This mont h, join us in a grand ce lebration of science wit h a glut of se nsational sc ience activities!

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: Sarah Bearchell, Anna Claybourne, Joe Inglis, Owen Inglis and Hannah Wood

CONTENTS

AWESOME NEWS AND AMAZING FACTS

4

Discover resurrected spiders, movies you can smell and a toilet that recognises your bottom!

SCIENCE PARTY!

6

12 party experiments – fly straw planes, bake planet cake pops, pops make colour-changing icing and more!

ANIMAL ANTICS

Let’s find out about the largest primates on the planet – gorgeous gorillas. ©S

SILLY SCIENCE

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Get ready to solve a party-load of celebration puzzles!

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EMMI’S ECO CLUB

Turn an old pair of joggers into a dinosaur tail – perfect for parties and festivals!

PULLOUT

Make a Gakk puppet that can bust some moves as you discover the science of dancing.

INTERVIEW WITH A SCIENCE HERO Brilliant baker Ravneet Gill shares how she uses science in her cooking.

24

22

HOW STUFF WORKS

Have you ever played laser tag? Find out how this fun technology works.

100 AWESOMELY AMAZING…

26

I’d love to see pictures of your experiments! Send them to Y@whizzpopbang.com and ask an adult to tag us on social media @whizzpopbangmag

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12

Discoveries since Whizz Pop Bang began!

©

Sh

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Y’S WONDER CLUB

30

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

32 34

QUIZ POP BANG AND COMPETITION

Test your knowledge with our super-duper science quiz and win an amazing science goody bag!

JOKES AND ANSWERS

Laugh out loud at some awesome jokes and find the answers to all of our quizzes, puzzles and riddles.

SPECTACULAR SCIENCE

35

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Check out these party animals!

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©

Sh

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 T

G NOBEL PRIZ I 3 2 0 2 ES HE

Each year, these wacky awards celebrate science’s silly side. While Nobel Prizes are awarded for groundbreaking discoveries, the Ig Nobel Prizes honour scientific achievements that first make you laugh and then make you think.

Here are some of our favourites among this year’s winners…

The Mechanical Engineering Prize was awarded to a team of scientists who reanimated dead spiders for use as mechanical gripping tools.

After noticing that dead spiders’ legs curl inwards, they realised that by applying pressure they could open and shut them, creating a mechanical claw that can pick up objects with irregular shapes.

© Shutterstock.com

© Preston Innovation Laborator

The w

Publi

inner

c Hea s of the inven ted a lth Prize sup t

y

The Education Prize was won by scientists who studied boredom in school.

They found that kids who expected a lesson to be boring were more likely to find it boring, and that teachers who seemed bored made their students feel bored too.

er-sm oilet that analy art your s wee and p es check o o to The Chemistry and how healt you a h Geology Prize went y re as well a ident to researchers who s if toilet ying the investigated why many user by th appe e scientists like to lick rocks. aran ce o their Apparently 18th century botto f m! geologists used taste to help them identify rocks and minerals, while modern geologists do it because a wet rock shows up the mineral particles better.

© Shutterstock.com

Is this the world’s scariest arcade claw machine?

s w e N h Flas © Shutterstock.com

SPECIAL DELIVERY!

Great news! Single-use plastic cutlery and plates, as well as polystyrene cups, have finally been banned in England, following similar laws in Scotland and Wales. Each year, more than a billion plastic plates and over four billion pieces of plastic cutlery are used once then thrown away. Lots of this plastic ends up in landfill and takes hundreds of years to decompose. But environmental campaigners say more need s to be done, as plastic bottles and other packaging – which are yet to be banned – make up most of the plastic pollution.

SMELL-O-VISION

Scientists are interested in Bennu because it’s a remnant from the formation of our solar system. It is older than planet Earth and is a lot like the asteroids that smashed together to create Earth and the other planets. By studying these rocks, scientists can journey back in time 4.5 billion years and start to unlock the secrets of the early solar system. In September 2023, as the spacecraft neared Earth, it released the sample, which fell through Earth’s atmosphere, landing in a desert in Utah, USA. The spacecraft then zoomed off to explore another asteroid. A quarter of this cosmic treasure trove will now be sent to scientists around the world to analyse. The rest is being saved for future generations of scientists to study.

Maybe one day you’ll uncover the secrets of our planet’s past! © NASA Goddard’s Scientific Visualization Studio

Imagine watching a movie where you not only see and hear but also smell everything on the screen! Scientists in China have developed two wearable virtual reality (VR) devices that make this multisensory experience possible.

One device attaches directly to the skin under the nose and the other is a soft mask. Both contain scented wax that can be heated to release the smell, like a scented candle.

Between them, they can generate 30 different scents, from lemon and lavender to pancakes and pineapple. As well as making watching movies and playing video games a more immersive experience, this new technology could also be used in hospitals to help patients who struggle with memory loss.

In the latest asteroid adventure, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft has delivered a precious package of space rocks to Earth.

Seven years ago, OSIRIS-REx blasted off to explore a near-Earth asteroid called Bennu. When it reached Bennu in 2020, the spacecraft used a robotic arm to prod the asteroid’s surface, releasing a cloud of dust and pebbles which was collected in a container at the end of the arm.

© Shutterstock.com

whizzpopbang.com 5

S C I ENCE

12 awesome experiments to celebrate science! Try them for yourself or throw a science party to enjoy them with friends!

STATIC SLIME

Wow your guests with this crazy gloop that looks alive!

Yo u will need

A balloon Cornflour

Vegetable oil Food colouring (optional)

W hat yo u do

1. Blow up the balloon.

2. Measure 4 spoons of cornflour and two spoons of vegetable oil into a bowl with a few drops of food colouring. Mix together to make a gloopy slime.

3. Rub the balloon on your hair about 20 times to create static.

4. Put your finger into the slime and then hold the slime up to the balloon and see what happens!

CHROMATOGRAPHY DECORATIONS Decorate your room using science!

Yo u will need

hite paper towels W (kitchen roll) Water soluble felt-tip pens A 10p coin

glass with about half A a centimetre of water in the bottom String, at least a metre long

What you do 1. Cut out several 12-cm paper towel circles.

2. Fold each circle in half and then in half again.

3. Unfold each circle. Place a coin at the centre of a circle and draw around it using differently coloured felt-tip pens.

Repeat with the other circles.

4. Place the tip of a cone into the glass of water, making sure the ink doesn’t touch the water, then watch and wait!

You should find

© Nasa

The slime will move towards the balloon!

This is because it has a positive charge, while the charged balloon has a negative charge. The positive charge is attracted to the negative charge.

T im Peake British astronaut

Tim loves the fact that everything on Earth is made of stardust, including us!

5. When the ink has almost reached the outer edge of each circle, take it out, open it and leave it to dry.

Repeat with the rest of the circles.

6. Place two circles together and fold them in a rough concertina style, then tie the string tightly around the pointy end and open up the paper towels into a flower shape.

7. Repeat with the rest of the circles, spacing them out along the string.

Now hang up your decoration!

You should find The water travels up through tiny gaps between the kitchen towel’s fibres. This is called capillary action. Inks are made up of many different coloured dyes. The water dissolves the ink and carries some dyes further than others, separating out the different colours. This is called paper chromatography.

P ART Y !

Create an edible solar system for your party guests to enjoy!

Yo u will need

Long lollipop sticks 350 g chocolate cake 100 g milk chocolate

200 g white chocolate 1 tsp vegetable oil Food colourings

W hat yo u do

1. In a large bowl, crumble the cake with your hands.

Makes 8-10 cake pops

2. Ask an adult to melt the milk chocolate for you and mix it into the cake crumbs.

3. Use your hands to shape the mixture into balls and place them on a tray in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up.

4. Ask an adult to melt the white chocolate and dip the end of each lolly stick in the melted chocolate before pushing it into a cake ball. Put in the fridge for another few minutes. Keep the rest of the melted chocolate warm.

5. Mix the vegetable oil into the remaining melted chocolate, add a few drops of food colour and partially mix to make marbled patterns.

6. Dip the cake balls into the coloured chocolate and twist to coat them, then leave to cool.

length as the bones in your forearm (radius and ulna).

Don’t believe me? Try putting your foot on the inside of your forearm (between your wrist and elbow).

Dr Ronx

© Eivind Ha nsen

PLANET CAKE POPS

Your foot is the same

Presenter of Operation O uch and author of Little Ex perts: Amazing Bo dies

INCREDIBLE INVISIBLE INK Reveal a secret message using science.

Yo u will need

wo cups T Two paintbrushes 100 ml water 1 tbsp bicarbonate of soda

0 ml alcohol hand 4 sanitiser (the runny kind) ½ tsp ground turmeric Plain paper

What you do

Caution:

this ink will stain!

1. Mix the water and bicarbonate of soda together in a cup.

2. Use a paintbrush to write a secret message on a piece of paper and leave it to dry.

3. Mix the hand sanitiser and turmeric together in a cup.

4. To reveal the message, use a clean brush to carefully paint the turmeric mixture over the writing.

You sho uld find

The plain paper will turn yellow and the areas painted with the ink will turn dark red. Turmeric is an indicator – a substance that changes colour when it is added to an acid or base (alkali), like bicarbonate of soda.

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WHIZZ POP BANG? Can you pierce a balloon without popping it? Try it and see!

Yo u will need

1 balloon Cooking oil Wooden kebab skewer

What you do 1. Blow up the balloon and tie a knot.

2. Dip the tip of your kebab skewer into the cooking oil. Holding the balloon by the knot, carefully pierce the balloon about 2 cm from the knot using the pointy (and oily) end of your kebab skewer and twisting as you go.

3. See if you can poke the skewer right through the inside of the balloon and out the very end of the balloon (remember to twist the skewer as you pierce the balloon).

Yo u sho uld f ind

The balloon is more stretchy at each of its ends. If you were to poke the skewer through the balloon’s sides, it would pop because the rubber there is already stretched to its limit. However, the looser rubber at the ends can stretch around the oily tip of the skewer, allowing the balloon to stay inflated.

© Dave Guttridge (The s / Wikimedia Common Photographic Unit)

The wisteria plant twists clockwise if it is from Japan and anti-clockwise if it is from China!

Dr Jess Wade physicist

MAGIC ICING

Amaze your party guests with icing that morphs from purple to pink and blue!

You will need

50 g icing sugar 1 3 red cabbage leaves (or use 20 blueberries for less vibrant colours)

12 biscuits or cupcakes Lemon juice Bicarbonate of soda A small, clean paintbrush

What you do

1. Ask an adult to help you cut the cabbage leaves into small pieces then put the pieces into a bowl with 3-5 tablespoons of water. If you’re using blueberries, put these into the bowl without chopping them, with only a sprinkling of water.

2. Ask an adult to whizz the mixture with a hand blender until finely chopped.

3. Strain the liquid into a cup or glass using a fine sieve or a clean piece of fabric.

4. Add 3 teaspoons of the strained liquid and 5 teaspoons of water to the icing sugar and mix. It should be smooth and glossy – add more liquid or icing sugar if it’s too thick or runny.

5. Separate the icing into three bowls. Mix a small pinch of bicarbonate of soda into one portion and a few drops of lemon juice (plus a bit more icing sugar) into another.

Watch as the icing changes colour!

6. Spread the three different colours of icing onto your biscuits or cupcakes.

7. In a cup, mix half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda with 1 tablespoon of water. Squeeze some lemon juice into a separate cup. Once the icing has set, use the paintbrush to paint some designs onto your icing using these two liquids.

You should find

Cabbage and blueberries have pigments in their skin that are a natural purple colour. These are indicators. When they are mixed with acids, like lemon juice, they turn pink. When mixed with bases (alkalis), like bicarbonate of soda, they turn blue. Use the icing to experiment with other ingredients. Can you tell if they are acids or bases?

VANISHING WATER

Did you know that bamboo grows faster than any other plant on the planet?

Some species can grow up to 1 metre in 24 hours! This makes it super useful for growing building materials quickly.

Make water appear to vanish with this awesome trick (but it's science, not magic!).

Yo u will need

identical plastic cups 3 or mugs (that you can’t see through) 1 disposable nappy A large bowl or tray A clear glass A tablespoon

Maddie Moate

TV presenter and aut hor of Stuff: Eco-Stories Of Everyd ay Things

What you do

BED OF PINS

1. Before you perform your trick, tear open the nappy over a large bowl and shake out the small amount of white powder. Remove any big fluffy bits of cotton wool and put the white powder into one of the cups. You should have about a tablespoon full.

Will a load of pins pop a balloon? Your

party guests will be amazed by the answer…

2. With your audience sitting in front of you (so that they can’t see into the cups), arrange the three cups in a row. Pour about eight tablespoons of water into the glass. Have a sip to show that it’s normal water, Blow up two balloons and tie the ends. Put a drawing pin on then pour it into the cup containing the powder. a surface, pointy side up, and press the balloon onto it. What happens? Now place about 15 pins on the surface, pointy side up, 3. Swap the cups around a few times, then ask close enough together that they are touching. Press the second the audience to guess which one has the balloon down onto the pins. Be careful not to press too hard – if water in. the balloon pops, you don’t want your hand to hit the drawing pins!

4. Turn that cup upside down (making sure they can’t see inside it!) to show that it appears empty. Then turn the other two upside down When you press the first balloon onto a single drawing pin, as well. Where’s the water gone? all of the pressure is concentrated on one point so the balloon easily pops. When you press the balloon on the bed of pins, the pressure is spread across the surface of the balloon reducing the impact of the pins Your audience will be amazed to see that the water has so the balloon doesn’t pop. This is how disappeared! This is because the white powder is sodium magicians are able to lie on a bed polyacrylate, a polymer (a long chain-like molecule) of nails without getting hurt. that can absorb 300 times its own weight in water (which is why it’s used in nappies!). The polymer and water form a solid gel, which sticks to the bottom of the cup when it’s turned upside down.

What you do

You should find

You should find

whizzpopbang.com 9

STRAW PLANES

Test your party guests’ engineering skills with these fantastic flyers – who can come up with the best design?

Yo u will need

Some scrap paper Some paper straws Scissors Sticky tape

Test your straw planes like a scientist !

W h a t y o u do

Which of the planes flies the furthest and which can stay in the air the longest? You can measure the distance they fly with your steps or with a long tape measure.

Record your findings in a table.

1. For each plane cut two strips of paper, one of 2.5 cm x 20 cm and one of 2.5 cm x 12 cm.

2. Make the strips into shapes (try circles, squares and triangles) and secure with sticky tape.

Remember to make it a fair test ible.

Make each throw as similar as poss

3. Stick a loop to each end of the straws using tape, with the larger loop at the back. Your flying machines are ready to throw!

find the Throw each plane three times and average result (add the three results three). together and divide the answer by Only change one variable in each of a loop). experiment (e.g. the size or shape caused This helps you to be sure what has any changes in the results.

The blue whale, the biggest creature that’s around today, is also the biggest creature ever known to have lived.

The largest was a single female who was 34 metres long and weighed over 200 tonnes, which is about the same as a jet airliner without its wings.

© Featureflash Photo Age m

naturalist, adventu rer and wildlife presenter

ncy / Shutterstock.co

Steve Backshall

FIZZ POP BANG POWDER

Treat your party guests to some surprising sensations!

Yo u will need

3 tsp icing sugar 1 tsp food-grade citric acid Half a tsp bicarbonate of soda

W hat yo u do

1. Mix all the ingredients together in the bowl.

2. Dip in your finger and have a taste!

tsp coloured sprinkles 1 (optional) A bowl

Yo u should find

When the citric acid and bicarbonate of soda, which is a base (alkali), get wet, they react together and make bubbles of carbon dioxide gas – making your mouth fizz!

t

).

WALKING WATER Can you transfer water from one glass to another without pouring it?

You can if you use science!

Yo u will need

3 glasses 2 sheets of paper towel (kitchen roll) Blue food colouring Yellow food colouring

What you do 1. Fill two glasses with water. Add some blue food colouring to one and some yellow food colouring to the other and place the two glasses of coloured water either side of the empty glass.

2. Fold a paper towel lengthways and place one end into the blue water and the other end into the empty glass. Do the same with the other piece and the glass of yellow water.

Abbie Hutty

Chief Engineer, Lunar Rover Missions at ispace Eur ope

The light we see from stars has taken many – in some cases millions – of years to reach us. So if you look at the stars you are also looking back in time – seeing what they were like in the past, but not seeing them as they are today.

DRAGON EGGS

Make some magical party food!

Yo u will need E ggs C ups Food colouring (gel works best)

What you do 1. Ask an adult to hard-boil some eggs.

2. Let them cool and then roll them on a surface to crack the shell all over.

3. Half-fill some cups with water and mix in a good dollop of food colouring into each cup. Pop an egg into each cup and leave in the fridge overnight.

4. P eel off the shell and you’ll see that the dye is taken up wherever the shell is cracked. Now you can gobble them up!

You should find

We’d love to see photos of your experiments! Send them to Y@whizzpopbang.com and ask an adult to tag us on social media @whizzpopbang

The water will start ‘walking’ up the paper towel and over into the glass. This is called capillary action – plants use it to help them move water from the ground up through their stems. After a couple of hours, the middle glass should have a mix of the two colours of water in it. What colour is the new mixture?

whizzpopbang.com 11

AL ANIM S TIC

AN

Gorillas This month our vet Joe Inglis is heading to the tropical forests of Africa to party with the largest primates on the planet.

© Stephaniellen / Shutterstock.com

Gorillas are great apes, closely related to chimpanzees, bonobos and those other famous apes, humans (they share around 98% of their DNA with us). Their home is Africa, where they live in lots of different environments, from mountain cloud forests to lowland swamps and marshes.

267 kg The weight of the largest gorilla ever recorded, that’s three times heavier than a typical man! Most male gorillas weigh around 170 kg (or the same as two large men) and females tend to be smaller and lighter.

Gorilla grub Despite their size – and fearsome-looking sharp teeth – gorillas are mainly vegetarian, eating leaves, plant stems and fruit. They occasionally snack on insects, such as ants and termites, and snails. They can munch their way through up to 30 kg of food every day!

12 whizzpopbang.com

A-grade apes A gorilla can bite harder than a lion.

Answer on page 34

Gorillas are highly intelligent and, like other great apes, have rich emotional lives, showing feelings of happiness, humour, sadness and grief. Gorillas have been seen using tools like sticks to measure the depth of swamps before they cross and using rocks to smash open palm nuts. One famous captive-born gorilla called Koko was taught sign language.

By the time she was 40 years old, she was thought to understand around 2,000 words of English and use sign language to communicate with her keepers.

Trooping the colour

Why do gorillas have big nostrils?

Because they have really big fingers!

Gorillas under threat

Powerful primates Although generally placid and peaceful, gorillas are amazingly strong and powerful. They use their super-strong muscles to pull down banana trees and break branches to form nests to sleep in at night.

They have also been known to use their strength to bend iron bars to escape from captivity!

Even after the remarkable physical changes through metamorphosis, butterflies and moths can remember experiences Chris Packham Wildlife presenter they had while they and conservationist were caterpillars!

© Charlie Clift

Sadly, all gorilla species are under threat in the wild, thanks to loss of habitat, hunting and human diseases like the Ebola virus which can also affect them. However, there are lots of conservation efforts under way, including the Great Apes Survival Project and the Gorilla Agreement, which are helping to protect the remaining populations of these super-special relatives of ours.

© Alan Tunnicliffe / Shutterstock.com

A group of gorillas is called a troop and it’s led by a dominant male called a silverback (because of the silver hair on the back of mature males). It includes females and their offspring and sometimes other younger adult males called blackbacks. The biggest gorilla troops can include 30 individuals.

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L e t ’s ! y t r a p

Welcome to our puzzle-packed party page! Solve these brilliant brainteasers and check your answers on page 34.

Have fun!

Spot the streamers How many coloured streamers are there on these pages?

Hat hunt

Spot a patterned party hat that’s a perfect pair with this one! Circle the matching hat.

Orange Green Pink Total

Parrotfish have pretty impressive teeth that allow them to munch on coral.

Their teeth are made out of a material called fluorapatite, which is stronger than silver and gold!

Kelly Forsythe

Marine biologist

+

+

+

= 400 ml

Drink up!

+

+

= 220 ml

Look at the first three rows of delicious drinks on the table and the amounts of liquid in them.

Can you work out how much liquid the final row of drinks contains?

+

+

+ +

= 180 ml

=

Perfect prizes The party guests played pass the parcel and Emmi, Riley, Gakk and Y each won a prize! Can you work out who won each gift? Put an X in each box that you rule out to find the answer. o one won a gift that starts with the N same letter as their name.

R iley’s gift isn’t round.

Emmi’s gift isn’t red.

No one won the same gift as anyone else.

s

l

YO-YO

ELEPHANT TOY

GLOBE

RACING CAR

EMMI

Balloon muddle

RILEY

Whoops! The balloon strings have got tangled up. Who is holding on to the purple balloon?

GAKK Y

a b

c d

Party plates Which of the plates of food looks like this from above?

Why couldn’t the teddy bear finish his birthday cake?

He was stuffed! whizzpopbang.com 15

b... clu O C E

Emmi’s

Grab an old pair of joggers and turn them into a party costume!

MAKE A DINO TAIL! Yo u will need

n old pair of tracksuit A bottoms – it doesn’t matter if they’re stained or holey Sharp fabric scissors ruler A A felt-tip pen A rubber band Thick cardboard Scissors

1

Turn the joggers inside out and draw lines as shown using a felt-tip pen.

Carefully cut along the lines using fabric scissors. Cut off the cuff at the bottom of one leg, and cut around the top of the same leg, cutting two long tabs, one either side of the seam, as shown.

2

Draw a line 4 cm below the wide end of the tail. Cut a series of notches down to the line.

4

3 Gather the narrow end of your tail together and fasten it tightly with a rubber band. Turn the tail the right way in, then stuff it with filling up to the line you drew in step 2.

16 whizzpopbang.com

illing – clean, dry plastic bags, F bubble wrap or screwed up thin paper (like newspaper or packaging paper) A hot glue gun or fabric glue Colourful fabric scraps (felt works well) – some scientists think some dinosaurs might have been brightly coloured!

Cut a circle of cardboard about the same diameter as the op ening of the leg. Glue the back of the waistband onto it and leave it to dry .

Continued on page 21 ➜

a

5

Push the cardboard circle into the opening of the tail until it’s level with the line you drew in step 2. Glue the long er strips onto the cardboard, over the top of the waistband, then glue the 5-cm flaps around the edge of it. Leave it to dry .

6

65 mm

10 mm

T ip: For a neater finish, glue on a circle of fabric to hide the tabs.

55 mm

Cut pairs of triangles from felt or card. Glue the triangles together, leaving the tabs unstuck. Spread the tabs apart then glue them along the top of the tail. You could add scales or markings using felt, fabric markers or paint, too – it’s up to you!

T ip:

If the waistband is too small, cut between the drawstrings and use them to tie it together around your waist.

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

ECO

More

ideas...

There is more time between us and T. rex than there was between T. rex and Stegosaurus. T. rex lived 66 million years ago, and Stegosaurus 150 million years ago, so you can do the maths and get your mind blown!

etic Shop-bought costumes are often made of synth reds hund take h fabrics containing plastic, whic of years to break down. Making costumes from old clothing is a great way to avoid adding more plastics to landfill.

Use the other leg to make an eco-friendly dog toy!

Cut off the jogger’s pockets, fill them with rice or dried beans, then glue or sew them together to make beanbags!

Continued from page 16

Steve Brusatte Palaeontologist

whizzpopbang.com 21

➜

Yo u should find

Gakk’s arms and legs move up and down as you pull the string.

They are hinged at the same point on the body as real arms and legs to make the movement look realistic. The joints at our shoulders and hips are called ball and socket joints. They allow us to move our limbs in lots of ways – backward, forward, sideways and rotating movements, perfect for throwing your best dance moves!

Puppetry has been around for thousands of years. Puppets range from very simple ones, like finger puppets and sock puppets, to complicated puppets containing levers, gears or compressed air that might be operated by two or more puppeteers.

Riddles Check your answers on page 34.

As well as keeping you fit, dancing also exercises your brain!

Scientists have found that music and dance activate lots of different areas of the brain, especially those involved in vision and hearing, movement, decision-making, coordination and learning.

1. What kind of candle burns longer?

2. Evren was born in December, but his birthday is always in the summer. How is this possible?

3. Iona was 7 the day before yesterday, and next year she’ll turn 10. When can this be possible?

When we hear music, we can’t help wanting to dance! Brain scans have shown that even when we listen to music but stay perfectly still, the motor (movement) areas of our brain still light up.

Dancing increases levels of a brain chemical called serotonin, which makes you feel good!

The harpy eagle has eyesight eight times better than a human’s. Their massive nests are the size of a double bed! © Oliver phy Photogra

18 whizzpopbang.com

Edwards

Craig Mya-Rose irl, AKA B irdg entalist environm

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

Colour in the rest of the balloons so that there is one of each colour in every row, column and block of four squares. Check your answer on page 34.

DANCING GAKK

PULL OUT pages 17-20 and get making!

You cou ld play som e music a nd move Ga kk in time to the beat!

Gakk loves to be the life and soul of the party, just like a jester. Make a fun moving Gakk puppet that dances when you pull the string!

Yo u will need The templates over the page

A bamboo or wood skewer Four paper fasteners (split pins)

String or yarn Scissors A bead (optional) Cardboard (optional)

What yo u do 1. Cut out the templates over the page.

If you like, you could stick them onto cardboard first to make them stronger.

2. Using the skewer, make holes through the four black dots on the body section and the one on Gakk’s hat.

3. Thread a piece of string through the hat and make a loop, then tie a knot to hold it in place.

4. Take an arm and make holes through the two black dots, being careful to keep the hole at the very top of the arm smaller. Repeat with the other arm and the legs.

5. Push paper fasteners through the holes in the body section and then through the larger holes in the arms and legs to attach them together. Make sure they can move easily.

6. With Gakk’s arms pointing down by his sides, thread the string through one of the small holes. Tie a knot in the end, making sure it is big enough so that it can’t go back through the hole. Now thread the other end of the string through the hole in the other arm and tie another knot as close to the paper as you can.

7. Repeat step 6 with Gakk’s legs.

8. Tie another piece of string around the middle of the string that connects the arms.

Run it straight down Gakk’s back and then tie it around the string that connects the legs. Leave the string long enough so that it dangles down about 12 cm below Gakk’s feet. Add a bead to the end of the string if you like.

9. Now hold Gakk up by the loop at the top and pull down on the string to make him dance!

We’d love to see your puppets! Send your photos to Y@whizzpopbang.com and ask an adult to tag us on social media @whizzpopbangmag

20 whizzpopbang.com

Almost half of the DNA in every cell of your body is made of ancient dead virus genes.

Dr Chris van Tulle ken from Operation Ou ch!

whizzpopbang.com 19

Interview with a SCIENCE HERO

In my job I get to... use science to bake!

“

My mum wasn’t keen on me helping in the kitchen because I was very messy!

Ravneet Gill, TV presenter an baker, d psychologist

“

Rav presents several programmes about baking and is a judge on Junior Bake Off.

”

She is such a good cook, but when I was young, the kitchen was her territory. I could watch, but I didn’t help. In my teenage years, I started helping my mum a bit more. I made samosas (pastries with savoury fillings) and rolled our rotis (flatbreads). I used to make pancakes with my dad too – I loved those!

I have always LOVED science!

”

At school, I especially enjoyed biology and chemistry. I’m a huge animal lover, so any lesson that was based around biology or animals made me really happy and engaged. I studied psychology at university and the whole time I was studying, I cooked and baked for everyone. In the back of my head I knew I’d love to be a chef, so after I’d finished my degree, I started training and working in kitchens. It wasn’t always easy but I learned so much.

“

I use science to help me every day.

”

I love working with recipes that involve sugar temperatures! After years and years of monitoring what happens when you heat sugar to various temperatures, you get used to what the pan sounds like, what the bubbles might look like, what the smells are. There are so many different signs to look out for and I think it’s fun to know how sugar changes at various temperatures.

22 whizzpopbang.com

co-hosts, Rav with her Junior Bake Off ll Liam Charles and Harry Hi © Love Productions 2023

3

Interview with a SCIENCE HERO

“

The highlight of my career was getting the job as a presenter on Junior Bake Off.

”

© Ravneet Gill

Never in a million years did I think that would happen. We laugh a lot, usually with the bakers when they are dancing and having fun. Liam’s dancing makes everyone laugh too, and he’s always messing about in the golf buggies. It’s a lot of fun.

Rav is a huge animal fan – this is her cat Armand

“

On the Junior Bake Off set

Cooking involves lots of experimenting.

”

It took me countless hours to nail making a Portuguese custard tart in a home oven! I had to make so many over and over again to get them right. Sometimes they would explode, or the custard would scramble, burn or spill over the cases! I think it took around 20 attempts, but I got it right in the end.

Pastel de nata, a Portuguese custard tart.

“

© Shutterstock

If you want to be a scientist when you grow up…

”

...spend your time being curious! Research, read, play and channel your energy into things that interest you and bring you joy and excitement.

Find out more about xxxxxx

© Ravneet Gill

whizzpopbang.com 23

HOW STUFF

WORKS 1

The most important element of a laser tag set-up is the laser tag gun, which is usually made of plastic and designed to look like a futuristic sci-fi weapon.

They are often called phasers or blasters.

3

4

Laser Tag

Laser tag has become one of the most popular party activities around the world, allowing people to battle each other safely using light beams and smart vests.

Here’s how the technology works…

2

Despite the name, most laser tag guns don’t actually fire lasers.

Those super-intense light beams can be dangerous. Instead, they emit a highly concentrated beam of infrared light, which is light with a longer wavelength than the visible colours we can see.

The infrared light beam is emitted by an LED light source, similar to those used in TV remote controls.

As well as registering hits on an opponent, the infrared light from each gun is also encoded

with information

about the user firing it so it’s possible to tell exactly who fired each shot in the game.

24 whizzpopbang.com

5

The beam of light from the LED is focussed through lenses to form a very narrow beam which shoots out from the end of the gun barrel. The best blasters can fire beams up to 200 metres and work outdoors as well as inside darkened arenas.

6

7 Because infrared light is invisible to us, some laser tag guns also shine some visible light as well, to allow the players to see the beams shooting through the air.

In indoor laser tag arenas, dry ice fog is sometimes used to show up the beams of light.

8

9

As well as carrying laser tag guns, the players also wear vests or headbands which have infrared sensors on them.

When a beam of infrared light hits one of the sensors on the vest or headband, it creates an electronic signal which is decoded by a microprocessor.

The information about the shot and shooter is then sent to the central game computer.

10

Laser tag vests also have special features to indicate when a direct hit has been registered, including

lights, sound and vibrating motors which make the vest buzz.

11

The longest laser tag session ever recorded went on for 26 hours!

At the end of the game, all the information about who shot whom is analysed and displayed on a screen, with the players ranked according to how many players they shot and how many times they were hit themselves.

whizzpopbang.com 25

1 0 0 O V E R I E S S I NC E . .. g in z a m A ly e m o s e w A

DI S C

nd the world 2015, scientists arou in ng Ba p Po zz hi W of remains, Since the first edition ies, analysed ancient ec sp w ne of s nd sa eries… have identified thou e 100 of those discov ar re He e. or m h uc so m explored space and first 3D sweetie The world’s

Factory

3D-printed human skin that can perfectly fit the body

A poo-assessing smartphone app that’s as accurate as a gastroenterologist (digestion doctor) Several COVID vaccines approved for use in the UK A human liver repaired using

A drug that can reverse

some aspects of ageing in mice, restoring their stamina, fur and organ function, was developed.

T iny beating hearts were grown in a lab using cells from human skin.

lab-grown parts

Surgical glue based on slug slime

Smart inhalers that help people take

The world’s olde st cheese was discovered

their medicine properly

in an Egyptian tomb.

It’s mice Drones are delivering medical supplies (like blood and drugs) to feel young again!

A blood test that could spot Pee-powered socks that can

© Eric Isselee / Shutterstock.com

send messages w ere invented – they us e urine to generate electricity via microbial fuel cells .

sc h

cancer very early

Contact lenses that dispense treatments into the eye

k an

z/

te ut Sh

.com ock rst

©

©ESA/NASA

10 medical marvels

© Katjes Magic Candy

printer was invented.

The first food grown in space (lettuce) was eaten.

A vaccine against

malaria

A dolphin in Scotland was observed communicating with porpoises by matching the frequency of his click to theirs.

10 of the thousands of new species identified or named: Tapanuli orangutan

26

A bee from Tibet

A dragonhead snake fish from India

A worm found on the Pacific Ocean floor

A tropical fairy wrasse fish

©W

B E GA N !

10 dinos

in Wales

sauropod

Hundreds of fossilised footprints in Scotland

A 180-

Patagotitan mayorum was one of the largest dinosaurs ever

icrolanius Cryptovaranoides m ld reptile) (a 200-million-year-o (called ‘the early A 5,000-year-old town e New York’) in Israel

Bronze ag n coffins in Egypt 30 preserved woode

moths, reindeers, Remains of woolly mam hyenas in England wolves and rhinoceroses, bison, ains similar to 300,000-year-old rem humans in Morocco

modern dest T. rex ever The largest and ol nada

otty!) in Ca found (nicknamed Sc

© Mariol Lanzas / Wikimedia Commons

Dearc sgiathanach was one of the

largest Jurassic pterosaurs Vectipelta barretti and Borealopelta markmitchelli were types of ankylosaur Protathlitis cinctorrensis was a spinosaur Yuxisaurus kopchicki had fearsome armour!

Scientists discovered that spiders

use Earth’s electric field

© WanderingMogwai / Wikimedia

A scorpion found in Californian deserts

Commons

to help them float on silk strands through the air.

Africa’s first pygmy seahorse

ck.com

Factory

d te skeleton in Scotlan hyosaur in England million-year-old Icht

A 500-year-old pira

Zhenyuanlong Suni had

feathers and wings

A jellybean-sized seahorse known as the Japan pig

© Orangutan: Pongo tapanuliensis, Tim Laman, Bee: Bombus tibeticus, 4.0, Paul H. Williams et al, Snake fish: Aenigmachanna gollum, Beta Mahatvaraj, Worm: Travisia zieglerae, Wiklund H. et al, Wrasse fish: Cirrhilabrus wakanda, H.T. Pinheiro and B. Shepherd, Scorpion: Paruroctonus soda, Prakrit Jain et al, Pygmy seahorse: Hippocampus nalu, Richard Smith, Japan pig seahorse: Hippocampus japapigu, Short G. et al, Sea slug: Hypselodoris iba, Bernard Picton, Cardinal fish: Siphamia arnazae, Mark Erdmann – All: Wikimedia Commons

foot A fossilised T. rex

© Littlekidmoment / Shuttersto

© Katjes Magic Candy

10 buried treasures dug up

These prehistoric creatures were discovered or named.

Guemesia ochoai was armless!

Ceratosuchops inferodios was nicknamed ‘Hell Heron’ Riparovenator milnerae was nicknamed ‘Riverbank Hunter’ Scientists showed that

people who need a wee tell the most convincing lies.

A sea slug found in the Pacific Ocean

The cat-eyed cardinal fish

27

A vast underground

ecosystem possibly

containing 70% of Earth’s bacteria was discovered.

First confirmed

marsquake was recorded (earthquake on Mars)

10 roboTs A wall-scaling robot that can carry 100 times its own weight and has feet based on geckos

Tim Peake

became the first British astronaut to do a spacewalk.

© Gaetan Borgonie, Extreme Life

ChatGPT, an AI chatbot

The first car with hands-free driving capabilities available to buy in the UK

Robots that deliver food, post and parcels © NASA/Chris Cassidy

© Vladimir Turkenich / Shutterstock.com

© NASA/JPL-Caltech

Octobot, an eight-legged soft robot that creates its own power

Flying robots sent to help astronauts on the ISS The most humanoid robots so far (Ameca, Sophia and Grace) A construction robot that can install massive solar plant parts An AI decoder that can turn thoughts into text

d a way Scientists foun k ptured of turning ca Colour-changing in e into solid Kong, arbon dioxid e used was invented in Hong c can b topuses carbon, which based on the way oc r. ies, building lou change their skin co to make batter materials and © Ad rian Smit diamonds! h

interstellar space.

Scientists took the first image of a

black hole!

(p The speed of the snap of the Dracula ant’s jaw was found to be more than 320 km/h – the fastest animal movement ever recorded.

ttersto ck.co m

Mice were given night vision eye drops based on the e technology vipers use to be abl k. to see in the dar

© Shu

28 whizzpopbang.com

o th

HuggieBot3.0, a robot that can hug

Isyensya, Belgium

Researchers in France blew a bubble (made from glycerol and plastic particles) which didn’t pop for 465 days.

Voyager 2 (launched in 1977) left our solar system and entered

ne m

The world’s

favourite smell was announced… it’s vanilla!

e)

© Shu

ttersto

A

n e u t ro n - st a r merger was observed for the first time .

The SnotBot® drone was used to collect samples from whales’ blowholes to analyse their health.

out which snacks are worth stealing by watching what humans eat.

A new spacesuit was revealed – it will be used on the Artemis III Moon mission.

The AxEMU suit

Spac

e

d

iom

m

Researchers discovered that seagulls work

Scientists discovered that brains don’t develop the ability to multitask until adulthood.

© Ax

ck.co

Astronomers observed tim e

ilation – whe re events appe ar to have unfolded mo re slowly in the ancient u niverse.

Einstein pred icted this effect over 1 00 years ago!

Genetically e

ngin

eered dogs were created to have twice the muscle mass using gen e editing tool CRISPR.

10 discomvoerons of Saturn ed and n amed Gridr

Angrbo Beli da G unnlod Skrymir T hiazzi Gerd Alvaldi Eggthe r (plus 68 G eirrod more, s till unna betwee med, w n Octob ere ann er 2019 ounced and Ma y 2023!)

Kids who eat a healthy

breakfast

are twice as likely to do well in school.

10 space missions Change’e 4 (Chinese Moon exploration programme) Mars 2020 James Webb Space Telescope DART (asteroid redirection) Lucy (asteroid investigation) tion) BepiColumbo (Mercury explora Solar Orbiter and Parker Solar Probe (Sun investigation) InSight Mars Lander der

Rosetta orbiter and Philae lan (comet 67P monitoring)

ham gave A primary school in County Dur ir so that a disabled duck a wheelcha yground. he could glide around their pla

whizzpopbang.com 29

S A massive thank you to all our readers who sent us photos of their incredible experiments and amazing science crafts over the last 100 Issues.

Here are some of your favourite magazines...

F oR

CURIoUS K I DS Daisy, aged 7, er pick h struggled to e as is favourite su but any, she has so m Starry h it w t en she w 87) as e u ss (I s ie Sk of her e n space is o pics. to te ri favou

This is my favourite issue because it is jam packed full of experiments that you can do at home.

, Julius, aged 11 er st n o M chose Machines (Issues 95).

Charlie

Lili, aged 9

Oscar, aged 9

Annabel, aged 10

Phoebe, aged 11

Ai sup (all U Steven, aged 10

He w

fo

Sophie, aged chose Ancien 10, t (Issue 91) bec Greece ause she loves Greek m yt and she thou holog y ght th jokes were ve e ry funny.

Loads of you said you loved Fizz Bubble Boom (Issue 77) because of all the fun potion experiments!

Catriona, aged 8, likes es Daring Detectiv st (Issue 92) be .

Jessica, aged 11

Y’s Wonder Club Badges

Collectable enamel badges for you to earn!

To find out how to earn your badges, go to whizzpopbang.com/wonder-club.

s

SUPERFANS

Darcey, aged 9

I love all the experiments and the fact that you can get your picture or question in the Y’s Wonder Club pages.

My favourite issue of Whizz Pop Bang was Boating and Floating (Issue 45).

I really enjoyed making the paper boat inside and investigating sinking and floating.

Bethany, aged 10

Alexander, aged 10

Jacob, aged 9 Sana, aged 9

Samuel, aged 9, cid de ed his favourite edition was Radical Romans (Issue 69), closely followed

by Ancient Greece (Issue 91).

It was very hard to choose my favourite issue, but eventually I went with Bouncing Babies (Issue 81) as I loved creating the bunny basket so much.

Eve, aged 8, said her favourite magazine was the Safari edition (Issue 97).

Aidan, aged 8, is a HUGE superfan. He sent this photo (all the way from California, USA!) of his fave edition: Buzzy Bees (Issue 94).

He made the antenna he’s wearing in the photo by repurposing things he found around the house.

I love Whizz Pop Bang and everything to do with space, so I loved the Aliens edition (Issue 98)!

Ember, aged 9

Jack, aged 6 Maddie, aged 9, says her favourite edition is Co asts (Issue 96).

Catherine, aged 13 Merryn, aged 9, loved Issue 67 – Mission to Mars!

Elowen, aged 7, enjoyed the Remarkable Reefs edition (Issue 60).

Logan, aged 8, with his favourite issue of Whizz Pop Bang, Issue 79 – his first appearance in Y’s Wonder Club!

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.

whizzpopbang.com 31

um/ Test your m uests dad/party g at to see wh

How much can you remember from this issue?

they know!

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 is the fastest-growing plan t?

2

a) Dandelion

lien microbes b) A

c) Eucalyptus

A group of gorillas is called a… aggle a) g

c) A message in a bottle

4

b) ball and socket joints

c) troop

c) jelly and ice cream joints

‘Hell heron’ is a nickname for…

a) a newly discovered dinosaur

6

How fast does a Dracula ant’s jaw snap?

b) a carnivorous bird

a) 343 m/s

c) a new baddie in the

b) 6 km/h

Whizz Pop Bang comic

7

The joints at our hips and shoulders are called… a) cup and ball joints

b) party

5

What did NASA recently bring back from the asteroid Bennu? a) Dust and pebbles

b) B amboo

3

What is fired out of most laser tag guns? a) X-rays

I kept doing the hokey cokey backwards.

Then I turned myself around!

c) 320 km/h

8

What do plants use to move water from the ground up through their stems?

Answers on page 34.

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

b) Infrared light

a) Caterpillar action

0-3: Leisurely limbo!

c) Lasers

onstrictor action b) C

4-6: Jubilant jive!

apillary action c) C

7-8: Champion cha cha!

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

1) Page 9 2) Page 5 3) Page 13 4) Page 18 5) Page 27 6) Page 28 7) Page 24 8) Page 11

W

We’ve got some goodies to give away to celebrate our special 100th magazine.

Simply find the answer to the puzzle to be in with a chance of winning one of five science goody bags, including Adam Kay’s brand new book!

Fit the rest of the words into the grid and then copy the letters from the coloured squares into the corresponding coloured boxes below to reveal the answer to the joke.

Whizz Pop Bang Science party One hundred Celebrate

!

IN

Party game!

What do cats dance to at parties?

Emmi Riley Gakk Atom Y

Your brain is more powerful than

any computer on Earth – it’s made up of 100 trillion different connections. If the part of your brain that stores memories was on a computer, it would have 2 million gigabytes of storage.

G A K

© Charlie Clift

Y

Oh, and if you unfolded your brain it would be the size of a pillow. But please don’t do that.

Adam Kay

author of Kay’s Anato my and Kay’s Marvello us Medicine

ANSWER:

Science goody bag I’m a

WOW!

These results were surprising!

super

I’m a

LTSE!

Y M

RESU

I’m a

TOP investigation!

YAY!

WOW!

super

scientist!

OOH!

scientist!

TOP investigation!

I didn’t expect these results!

OOH!

LTSE!

Y M

TAB L

TOP investigation!

I didn’t expect these results!

LOO

RESUK AT

YAY!

LOO

RESUK AT

YAY!

LTSE!

TAB L

LOO

RESUK AT

I’m so proud of this!

LTSE!

TAB L

Y M

I’m so proud of this!

Y M

I’m so proud of this!

I’m a

These results were surprising!

super

scientist!

OOH!

I didn’t expect these results!

LOO KA T TAB L

WOW!

These results were surprising!

super

scientist!

TOP investigation!

this OVE riment!

I exp L e I love this

experiment

I love this

experiment

EXPERIMENT

I dis som covere d NEW eth ing tod ay!

I’m a SUPER scientist!

I love this

experiment I exp L e

I dis som covere d NEW eth ing tod ay!

I’m a SUPER scientist!

I dis som covere d NEW eth ing tod ay!

YEP!

PLUS A MYSTERY PRIZE! This was a

Pippa Hoffler-Bowell, 8 Leo Parsons, 12

FAIL!

I’m going to find out why!

YEP!

TRICKY

Issue 98 competition winners Thank you to all of you who sent in your entries to our Aliens competition. The joke was ‘Why haven’t aliens visited Earth? We looked at the reviews and saw it only has one star!’ These five lucky winners will each receive a So Slime Lava Lamp from trendsuk.co.uk

I love this

experiment

EXPERIMENT

I guessed this would happen!

experiment

WINNERS

I’m a SUPER scientist!

I dis som covere d NEW eth ing tod ay!

YEP!

I guessed this would happen!

FAIL!

I’m going to find out why!

this OVE riment!

I’m a SUPER scientist!

Luna Smith, 10 Isaac Dickenson, 9 Alexander Yeung, 7

K

YEP!

I guessed this would happen!

This was a

TRICKY

experiment

I guessed this would happen!

This was a

TRICKY

experiment

Former doctor Adam Kay’s hilarious new book is packed with disgusting discoveries, captivating creations and important inventions. The National Geographic volcano kit, from Bandai UK, contains everything you need to build and paint a volcano and then make it erupt! Plus, every goody bag will contain a Whizz Pop Bang science scrap book and stickers and a mystery prize!

Send your entry to win@whizzpopbang.com with ‘100 competition’ as the subject of your email. Alternatively, post it to 100 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: December 8th 2023. UK residents only. Full terms and conditions available at whizzpopbang.com. Sorry, we are unable to return any post.

whizzpopbang.com 33

JOKES

Some bristle worm species live inside sponges and can have more than 100 separate tails, each one with its own anus (bum hole!). It’s not clear how they actually eat, so what are all those anuses for?

I’m hoping that future scientists can get to the bottom of this one!

What do you sin g cow on its birth to a day?

Happy birthday to moo!

What cake do bats like? her Why did the girl put Upside-down ? er z ee fr e th in cake cake! it!

Why was the She wanted to ice Yan Wong evolutionary biologist party only half and TV presenter a minute long?

Why couldn’t th It was a 32nd e sing happy birth pony day? birthday!

H e was a little h (30-second oarse! birthday!)

Drink up – 380 ml. The pink drinks must contain 100 ml each because four of them together adds up to 400 ml. On the second line, we know the pink drink contains 100 ml so the green drinks must contain 60 ml each (120 ml total).

On the third line, we know the green drink contains 60 ml so the orange drink must contain 120 ml. Now we can see that the bottom row must be:

Page 13 – True/Untrue TRUE! A gorilla can bite with around double the force of a lion. They need this super-powerful bite to chomp through the tough plant stems they like to eat.

Pages 14&15 – Let’s party!

Spot the streamers – there are 13 orange streamers, 7 green ones and 13 pink ones. The total is 33.

100 ml + 60 ml + 120 ml + 100 ml = 380 ml

Hat hunt – this one matches exactly.

L e t ’s party!

Welcome to our puzzle-packed party page! Solve these brilliant brainteasers and check your answers on page 34.

Have fun!

No one won a gift that starts with the same letter as their name.

No one won the same gift as anyone else.

How many coloured streamers are there on these pages?

Hat hunt

Orange Green Pink

YO-YO

Kelly Forsythe

Marine biologist

+

+

= 400 ml

Drink up!

+

+

= 220 ml

ELEPHANT TOY

EMMI RILEY GAKK Y

Total

+

a

GLOBE

L e t ’s party!

RACING CAR

Welcome to our puzzle-packed partyBalloon muddle The balloon page! Solve these Whoops! have got tangled brilliant brainteasers andstrings up. Who is holding onto check your answers the purple balloon? on page 34.

Have fun! b

Look at the first three rows of delicious drinks on the table and the amounts of liquid in them.

Can you work out how much liquid the final row of drinks contains?

+

+

c d

+ +

= 180 ml

Party plates =

Balloon muddle – Perfect prizes Y is holding the string to the purple balloon.

Riley’s gift isn’t round.

Emmi’s gift isn’t red.

Spot the streamers

Spot a patterned party hat that’s a perfect pair with this one! Circle the matching hat.

Parrotfish have pretty impressive teeth that allow them to munch on coral.

Their teeth are made out of a material called fluorapatite, which is stronger than silver and gold!

Perfect prizes – Emmi’s prize is a globe, Riley won an elephant toy, Gakk won a yo-yo and Y’s prize is a racing car.

Perfect prizes The party guests played pass the parcel and Emmi, Riley, Gakk and Y each won a prize! Can you work out who won each gift? Put an X in each box that you rule out to find the answer.

Which of the plates of food looks like this from above?

Parrotfish have pretty impressive teeth that allow them to munch on coral.

Their teeth are made out of a material called fluorapatite, which is stronger than silver and gold!

Kelly Forsythe

Marine biologist

The party guests played pass the parcel and Emmi, Riley, Gakk and Y each won a prize! Can you work out who won each gift? Put an X in each box that you rule out to find the answer.

Answers Page 18 – Riddles 1) None, they all burn shorter!

2) Evren lives in the Southern Hemisphere.

3) T his can be possible if today is January 1st and Iona’s birthday is December 31st. She was 7 the day before yesterday (December 30th), then turned 8 the next day.

This year on December 31st she’ll turn 9, so next year she’ll turn 10.

Page 18 – Balloon grid

No one won a gift that starts with the same letter as their name.

Riley’s gift isn’t round.

Emmi’s gift isn’t red.

No one won the same gift as anyone else.

Spot the streamers How many coloured streamers are there on these pages?

Hat hunt

Spot a patterned party hat that’s a perfect pair with Why couldn’t this one! Circle thebear finish the teddy matching hat. his birthday cake?

Orange Green Pink

He was stuffed!

YO-YO

+

+

+

= 400 ml

Drink up!

+

+

= 220 ml

GLOBE

RACING CAR

Balloon muddle

RILEY

Whoops! The balloon strings have got tangled up. Who is holding onto the purple balloon?

GAKK Y

Total

whizzpopbang.com 15

ELEPHANT TOY

EMMI

a b

Look at the first three rows of delicious drinks on the table and the amounts of liquid in them.

Can you work out how much liquid the final row of drinks contains?

+

+

c d

+ +

= 180 ml

Party plates – c is the plate of food Party plates viewed from above. =

Which of the plates of food looks like this from above?

Why couldn’t the teddy bear finish his birthday cake?

He was stuffed!

whizzpopbang.com 15

Page 32 – Quiz 1) b 2) a 3) c 4) b 5) a 6) c 7) b 8) c

Dancing feet These tree frogs look like they’re having fun! They live in the tropical and subtropical forests of Malaysia, Borneo and Indonesia. They are known as flying frogs or parachute frogs because they can leap from branches and glide over 15 metres, using their webbed feet and loose skin flaps on their sides to catch the air. They also have large toe pads to help them land softly and stick to tree trunks.

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© Ajar Setiadi / Shutterstock.com

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