Whizz Pop Bang Science Magazine for Kids! Issue 70: TERRIFIC TEETH

ISSN 2399 -2840

THE AWESOME SCIENCE MAGAZINE FOR KIDS!

Lots of jokes to make you smile!

Craft a shark pop-up card

Tuck into some BITE-sized science Take a look at sssssome terrifying teeth!

Make ‘elephant’s toothpaste’ WHIZZPOPBANG.COM ISSUE 70

EXPERIMENTS PUZZLES AMAZING FACTS SCIENCE NEWS

WELCOME!

Discover the secrets of your pearly whites (and all sorts of animals’ teeth, too)!

WHIZZ POP BANG is made by:

Did you know that your adult teeth started growing when yo u were still a baby? This issue is packed with tooth-tasic fa cts and jaw-some science activiti es! Cut out and make a char t to keep track of your adult te eth, play a wibbly wobbly toot h board game, investigate the eff ects of different liquids on tooth structures and experim ent with a chemical reaction th at produces a mass of foaming pa ste fit for elephants’ tusks.

There’s plenty to sink your gn ashers into!

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: Nick Arnold, Sarah Bearchell, Claire Cock-Starkey, Ned Hartley and Joe Inglis

EXPERT SCIENCE ADVISERS

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.

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

I’ve made a magnificent model mouth!

Riley

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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.

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CONTENTS 6

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AWESOME NEWS AND AMAZING FACTS

Slugs that cut off their own heads, rabbits that do handstands, and a mind-reading headband for horses!

EPIC ENGINEERING

Find out everything you wanted to know about teeth, make ‘elephant’s toothpaste’, toothpaste’ create a model mouth and more...

ANIMAL ANTICS

12

Discover the secrets of venomous vipers and their fang-tastic teeth!

SILLY SCIENCE

14

Race around the mouth (collecting baby teeth tokens on the way) as you play this wibbly wobbly tooth game.

EMMI’S ECO CLUB

Plant a miniature tooth fairy garden that pollinators will love too.

Atom

c sto ©T tter WIN C HAN / Shu

k. c

om

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PULLOUT

17

Craft a shark pop-up card and keep tabs on which teeth you’ve lost by making a tooth tracker.

INTERVIEW WITH A SCIENCE HERO

Meet Martin Nweeia, a dentist who also studies an intriguing type of tooth: the narwhal’s tusk.

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© U. Eisenlohr /

st

Sh ut te r

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HOW STUFF WORKS

We know that electric toothbrushes leave your teeth squeaky clean, but how do they do it?

TEN AWESOMELY AMAZING…

Terrifying teeth, teeth including some used for fighting, some used for sucking blood and some that are bright orange!

SENSATIONAL SCIENTISTS

In the past, tooth decay was treated by barbers, not dentists! Pierre Fauchard transformed how teeth were cared for and many of his ideas are still used today.

Y’S WONDER CLUB

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

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QUIZ POP BANG AND COMPETITION

Test your knowledge with our super-duper science quiz and win a fantastic Turing Tumble set.

I’d love to see pictures of your experiments!

Send them to Y@whizzpopbang.com SPECTACULAR SCIENCE

om k.c

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oc

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Dare you peer at the jaws with the most powerful bite in the world? Take a close-up look at crocodile teeth!

JOKES AND ANSWERS

Find lots of jokes to make you smile and the answers to all of our quizzes, puzzles and riddles.

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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

Mind-reading headband for horses

ECO HERO

A massive Whizz-Pop-Bang-high-five to 10-year-old Skye Neville from Wales and her campaign against throwaway plastic. Fed up with all the cheap plastic toys attached to so many kids’ magazines, Skye set up a petition. She asked publishers to stop giving away poor-quality plastic toys which end up in landfill or in the oceans. Thousands of people have signed the petition and Skye’s local MP has called for the government to encourage publishers to be more environmentally friendly. Inspired by Skye’s campaign, the supermarket Waitrose At Whizz Pop Bang has now announced that they we are passionate about will stop selling magazines with protecting our planet and we’re disposable plastic toys. Who says kids can’t make a difference? proud to say we never have and

never will include plastic toys with our magazine.

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Sign Skye’s petition here! bit.ly/2PK2BS6

Why the long face?

© NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/UVS/STScI/MODIS/WIC/IMAGE/ULiège

Scientists have invented a mobile brain wave reader which can detect how a horse is feeling. The headband uses an EEG (electroencephalogram, or brain scanner) to record electrical impulses in the horses’ brains. Different kinds of brain waves are known to indicate different mental states in people. The researchers compared the brain waves of horses living in stables to those of horses who spend most of their time outdoors. The headband showed that the outdoor horses had more brain waves associated with a calm, attentive state, whereas those confined to stables had more of the brain waves which indicate anxiety and depression in people. The researchers hope these kinds of headbands could be used to find out how zoo animals are feeling too.

Acrobatic rabbit helps scientists find jumping gene © Carneiro M et al., 2021, PLOS Genetics

Watch a rabbit handstand-walking here: bit.ly/31HENBr

© NASA/JPL-Caltech/SwRI/UVS/STScI/MODIS/WIC/IMAGE/ULiège

Jupiter’s dawn storms

NASA’s Juno mission is helping scientists understand the origins of Jupiter’s spectacular light shows. Auroral dawn storms are bright displays of light that occur at both of Jupiter’s poles in the early mornings. They’ve previously only been observed from Earth-orbiting observatories like the Hubble telescope – but this doesn’t allow astronomers to see the complete picture. These new observations from the Juno spacecraft, which is orbiting Jupiter, reveal that dawn storms are born on the nightside of Jupiter. While Earth’s auroras (the northern and southern lights) are caused by charged particles from the Sun interacting with Earth’s magnetic field, Jupiter’s auroras are fed by charged particles escaping from its volcanic moon Io.

Scientists have discovered the gene for hopping by looking at a very unusual type of rabbit that can’t hop. The sauteur d’Alfort is a rare breed that walks on its front paws instead of hopping. The scientists carried out breeding experiments to investigate the way different genes were passed from adult rabbits to their babies and how they influenced the rabbits’ jumping abilities. They found that a mutation in a gene called RORB was responsible for the ‘handstanding’ behaviour. This gene is important for coordinating limb movements and is probably required for other animals, such as kangaroos and hares, to jump.

DON’T LOSE YOUR HEAD!

Two species of sea slug cut off their own heads and then grow new bodies!

Scientist Sayaka Mitoh first discovered this behaviour when she noticed that one of the sea slugs in her lab had been decapitated. She was even more shocked to see the severed head moving around the tank and eating algae. The researcher expected the head to die, but – despite having no heart – it survived. Three weeks later, the head had grown a whole new body.

Sayaka and her colleagues think the slugs do this when their bodies are infected with parasites. The heads survive because these slugs incorporate chloroplasts (the energy factories inside plant cells) from the algae they eat into their own bodies. This allows them to get their energy from sunlight, like plants do.

See the moving head here: bit.ly/31wugJb

© Sayaka Mitoh

By

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GET YOUR TEETH INTO THIS!

ck Arnol Ni

Your

teeth help you to eat.

They’re tough and hard-working!

There’s more to teeth than meets the eye. Read on for the science behind your smile!

EVERYTHING YOU WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT TEETH

Why do we have teeth?

Your teeth help you bite food into smaller bits so you can swallow it more easily. Chewing mushes up food with spit. Your spit contains an enzyme that speeds the digestion of starchy foods.

Crown

Digestion is the way your body breaks down foods into molecules that your body can use. Molecules are groups of atoms. They pass through your gut walls into your blood.

How tough are my teeth?

The crowns (white bits) of your teeth are the toughest parts of your body. They’re made of enamel – a substance stronger than bone. Your enamel is tough enough to withstand the wear and tear of eating.

What’s inside my teeth?

Root

Here’s a tooth cut in half. Dentine is softer than the crown. It soaks up the force when you bite down. The pulp contains nerves and blood vessels.

The blood vessels supply energy and nutrients to the living parts of the tooth. Your gums protect the dentine and pulp. The root attaches to your jawbone. It stops your tooth falling out.

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Like me!

How many teeth do I get?

Humans get two sets of teeth. Your 20 baby teeth started appearing when you were about six months old. Most adults have 32 teeth. This includes up to four extra molars (back teeth) known as wisdom teeth. Adult teeth appear from the age of six onwards.

In Sri Lanka, people throw baby teeth near squirrels. They ask the squirrels to bring new teeth.

Did you know, your adult teeth start growing while you’re still a baby?

When they’re ready to erupt, they break down the roots of the baby teeth so they become wobbly.

Your teeth are slightly see-through. The yellow dentine under the enamel makes some teeth appear yellow.

Enamel

Humans have four different types of teeth – incisors, canines, premolars and molars.

Each works in a different way.

YOUR TEETH IN ACTION

Here’s what an adult mouth looks like with the different types of teeth colour coded:

This flat shape is good for chewing.

The small points or cusps tear food.

Canine

Pre-molar

Dentine Pulp

This pointed shape is good for tearing food like meat.

Gum

Open wide!

In front of a mirror, try to count each type of your teeth. The numbers will depend on how old you are and how many baby teeth you still have.

Blood vessels and nerves

Incisor

This shovel shape is good for biting.

Molar

This shape is ideal for chewing and grinding up food.

Say cheese!

Bite down gently on a slice of cheese. Bite just hard enough to leave marks on the cheese – don’t bite through it! Ask someone else to bite on another slice of cheese.

Compare the marks. Everyone has different teeth, so the bite marks will vary too.

Make a model mouth You will need: • • • • • • • • •

250 g plain white flour 125 g salt 125 ml warm water Spoon for mixing Knife for shaping Red food colouring Pencil with rounded end Baking paper Baking tray

WARNINGsy!

This is a mes ember activity! Rem othes. cl to wear old

What you do: In 1954, a burglar in Texas, USA, was identified from the bite marks he left on a piece of cheese!

Who took a bite of the cheese? Circle the animal you think it was and check your answer on page 34.

1. Divide the warm water evenly between two glasses. Add enough food colouring to one glass to turn the water deep red.

2. Add half the flour and salt to a bowl and mix in the plain water.

3. Sprinkle a little flour on your work surface. Mix and knead the mixture into slightly sticky dough. Add a little more flour or water if it’s too sticky or too dry.

4. Add the remaining flour and salt to the empty bowl and mix in the red water. Repeat step 3.

5. Roll some coloured dough into a sausage shape and curve it into the shape of a jaw. Make 16 equally spaced holes in the dough with the pencil end. The holes are for the teeth.

6. Repeat step 5 to make the other jaw.

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7. Use the uncoloured dough to make the teeth. Roll 32 small balls. Make sure the balls are roughly the right size to fit in your jaws. Make the lower half of each ball the right shape to fit in the holes. You can remove a little dough to get the right shape.

8. Make the different types of teeth as follows: • 8 incisor teeth – squash the upper part of a ball to make a flatter shape.

• 4 canine teeth – shape the upper part of a ball to make a pointed shape.

• 8 premolar and 12 molar teeth – flatten the top of a ball.

Use a knife to make a cross shape in the top.

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9. Fit the teeth into the correct places in the two jaws. Use the picture on page 7 to show where each type of tooth goes.

10. A sk an adult to dry the model jaws in the oven at its lowest setting. This will take about 2 hours. Check regularly to make sure that the dough hasn’t got so dry that it cracks.

You should find: You’ve made a replica mouth! You can practise brushing the teeth with a toothbrush.

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Terrible teeth trouble

Teeth are tough, but things can go wrong. Slimy films of bacteria form on teeth, especially close to the gumline.

You can brush the bacteria off, but clumps of bacteria harden into stuff called tartar. This needs a dentist to remove it. Bacteria next to the tooth can feed on sugars and produce acids.

The acid can make holes in the tooth, which might need a filling.

Dissolving teeth challenge You will need: • • • • • •

Two white (or pale coloured) eggs Small bowl Fizzy cola drink Orange juice 3 glasses Toothbrush and toothpaste

What you do: 1. Ask the adult to break the eggs into the bowl. Each half of an eggshell should be roughly the same size.

2. Gently wash three of the eggshell halves to remove the egg white.

Your

teeth contain water.

My dentist filled the wrong tooth, but I’ve forgiven her because it was acci-dental!

3. Put each eggshell half in a glass.

4. Add the liquids shown to each glass. Make sure the eggshell is covered.

Water

Orange juice

Cola

5. Refresh the liquids every two days. After a week, examine them and note how they've changed.

6. Gently brush the cola drink eggshell using toothpaste.

You should find: The eggshell in the water is unchanged. The eggshells in the orange juice and cola have started to dissolve, and the one in the cola is stained brown.

Eggshells and tooth enamel are both made of calcium-based compounds, which are broken down by acids. Orange juice and cola are both acidic. They can dissolve your tooth enamel too, causing cavities. Acids made by bacteria can also dissolve teeth if you don’t clean them well. Some drinks, like cola, can stain your teeth, but you can brush them clean again.

In this experiment, the water was a control control. Comparing the other eggshells to the control eggshell allows you to see the effect of the other liquids.

Brush your teeth like a dentist

1. Brush your teeth for at least two minutes, twice a day.

2. You don’t need more than a pea-sized lump of toothpaste.

3. Hold the brush at a 45° angle, pointing up for the upper jaw and down for the lower jaw.

4. Brush gently.

Pay special attention to the gumline. Don’t forget to brush behind the teeth too!

Beastly teeth

Most mammals have teeth.

The only mammals without teeth are pangolins and anteaters. They swallow small stones to break up food in their stomachs. Each mammal species has different teeth.

Terrible toothcare facts

1. Rich Romans gargled with wee. They thought it cleaned their teeth and gave them fresh breath.

Animal teeth vary according to the animal’s diet. Meat-eating animals have canine teeth or teeth with cusps for tearing meat. Plant-eating animals have molar teeth for chewing plants.

2. Before toothbrushes, people chewed on twigs.

Many people didn’t clean their teeth at all.

3. Rich Tudors used toothpaste made from sugar.

They thought it was good for them because it was expensive. It wasn’t!

4. In the 1700s, dentists removed teeth with a tool called a tooth key. Sometimes it could break the tooth or the patient’s jaw.

5. Early false teeth were often made using real teeth.

They were sometimes taken from dead people.

A species is a type of animal.

6. William Addis invented the modern toothbrush in the 1780s. When he was in prison, he had to clean his teeth with soot. So he made a toothbrush from an old bone and pig bristles.

In 2004, a vet made a pair of false teeth for a hippopotamus.

Which tube is squeezing toothpaste onto the toothbrush? Check your answer on page 34.

Elephant’s toothpaste

1

Make elephant-sized ‘toothpaste’ in this cool chemical reaction.

You will need: • Hydrogen peroxide solution (available from chemists.

Stronger solutions of 9-12% will give the best results, but 3% solutions should still work) • Washing-up liquid • Food colouring (any colour, but blue and red works well) • Safety googles

Rubber gloves Dried yeast A tray A small plastic water bottle or other container with a narrow neck • A funnel • A small jug or cup • A spoon for stirring • • • •

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3

What you do: 1. Put on the safety goggles and rubber gloves. Ask an adult to pour the hydrogen peroxide into an empty plastic bottle using the funnel (be careful – stronger solutions can irritate skin). Add a good squeeze of washing-up liquid and gently swish it around.

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2. In another small jug or cup, mix about 3 tablespoons of warm water with 1 tablespoon of dried yeast and stir for 30 seconds.

3. Dribble some food colouring down the insides of the bottle (if using two colours, pour them down opposite sides).

4. Place the bottle in the tray. Using the funnel, pour the yeast mixture into the bottle, then quicky remove the funnel, stand back, and watch the elephant’s toothpaste appear!

You should find:

5 What do you call a dentist that doesn’t like tea?

Denis!

The chemical reaction is exothermic, which means it produces heat, so the bottle will get warmer. The yeast acts as a catalyst to break down the hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. The washing-up liquid traps the oxygen inside bubbles, creating foamy ‘toothpaste’. It’s not real toothpaste though, so don’t try to eat it!

whizzpopbang.com 11

Vipers are a group of poisonous snakes that are found across most of the world, from North American rattlesnakes to European adders, which are the only venomous snakes in the UK.

Fang-tastic Vipers have some of the most awesome teeth in the world! They are long, super-sharp and also hollow, acting like giant syringes to inject poisonous venom into their prey. And that’s not these snakes’ only dental superpower – their teeth also fold out of the way when not in use so their long fangs can fit into their small heads.

© TWIN CHAN / Shutterstock.com

Most vipers, like the Trimeresurus insularis pictured here, are ovoviviparous, which means the eggs are incubated and hatched inside the mother and she then gives birth to live baby snakes.

Super strikers When attacking prey, vipers open their mouths wide and the fangs swing into position just before they bite. As the fangs sink in, muscles surrounding the venom glands (which are just behind the eyes) contract, squeezing their deadly contents out through the hollow fangs and into their victim’s flesh. Ouch!

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tterstock.com

AN

Vipers

© Maria Dryfhout / Shu

AL ANIM S TIC

This month our intrepid vet Joe Inglis is getting his teeth stuck into a group of animals who are masters at getting their own teeth stuck in!

tterstock.com

Blink and you’ll miss it

A viper bite isn’t always deadly – they sometimes choose not to inject venom when they bite in order to save their precious stores of poison. This usually happens when they bite defensively, for example when disturbed by a person. These non-venomous bites are called ‘dry bites’.

Most vipers hunt fast-moving prey, such as small mammals, birds and lizards that can react very quickly when they sense danger.

To catch such speedy animals, vipers have evolved amazingly fast strikes – a viper bite takes around 50-60 milliseconds, which is about a quarter as long as a typical blink takes!

© Maria Dryfhout / Shu

Dry run

Protein poison

No escape

The venom in a viper bite is packed with nasty chemicals called proteases.

These are enzymes that attack proteins and cause intense pain, swelling and a massive drop in blood pressure. This can often be snakes fatal, especially to at maths? small prey animals.

Which are good Adders!

It can take a few hours for viper venom to work, during which time the snake could lose its dinner. It has one more trick up its fang though – the snake can sniff out special proteins in the venom to follow the injured prey.

Snakes’ heads accelerate faster than fighter planes.

Feel the heat One group of vipers, called pit vipers, have heat-sensing pits located next to their nostrils. These organs help the snakes spot the heat given off by warm-blooded prey, such as small mammals – a bit like seeing the world through a thermal camera.

What colour should these two triangles be? Colour them in and then check your answer on page 34.

T h e wi b b l e ! e m a b b wo l e g

You d he brus well. y l l rea oll R in. aga

Do an n impressio a of snapping crocodile.

You forgot to brush.

Miss a turn.

est ur b in! o y Do thy gr s too orward Go f space.

1

dentist e h t s e o What d ar get? of the ye plaque! e l t t i l A

START

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1. What has dozens of teeth but can’t bite?

2. My teeth are sharp, My back is straight, To cut things up Is my fate. What am I?

d l. s

Check your answers on page 34.

Too ma fizzy dr ny inks!

Miss a turn.

Y b ou te rush did n' et a h. you t t ur Mis r n. s

Riddles

Open y mou our t h as wi d e a s can fo you r secon 10 ds.

The object of the game is to get around the board three times and finish with the most points. On the first lap around the board, give those teeth a wobble! On the second lap, any baby teeth you land on will fall out and you can collect them (and a point for each). On the third lap, keep collecting baby teeth, and you can also reveal the rest of the adult teeth under the red tokens (worth 2 points). Once all players have completed three laps, the winner is the one with the most points.

Too ma n sweets y !

Miss a turn.

Take your places for this teeth-chatteringly terrific game.

You will need:

• 2-4 players • A dice

You a t health e food a y day. R ll ol again l .

• The player counters and tokens from page 19

1. Place the red tokens on the board with the text matching the text on the teeth underneath. Now place the white paper teeth on the board on the rest of the spaces. These are the baby teeth.

Yo bee u’ve che n for a Go f ck-up . or 1 sp wards ace .

y an o m s!

To eet a sw s s Mi rn. tu Say a word that rhymes with teeth!

't idn r u d ou Yo sh y Miss bru th. n. tee a tur

Show ne yo ever best your ing h brus es! mov

Oh no! ed You ne . g a fillin Miss a turn.

d You brushe really well. s Go forward 1 space.

3. I have a jaw and many teeth that I open and close with a buzz. I run up and down like a train on a track. What am I?

You’r e supe a brus rRoll a her! gain.

Wh cal at do l th eir denti To s oth X-ra ts pic ys? s!

’s tist n e a d nce? s ’ t a a Wh urite d s! favo he flos T

Stand up and wobb le all over fo r 5 seconds!

How to play:

2. Place your player counters at the start. All players roll the dice and whoever rolled the highest number goes first, and then play moves clockwise.

3. When itʼs your turn, roll the dice and move clockwise around the board.

4. When you land on a space that has a baby tooth, give it a wobble – that means look underneath and follow any instructions!

Don’t remove it – it won’t fall out until you have been around the whole board once! If you land on a red token follow the instructions.

5. On your second lap of the board, if you land on a baby tooth you can pick it up and keep it (and collect 1 point). You still need to follow any instructions underneath. If you land on a red token, follow the instructions but leave it where it is.

6. On your third go around the board, you can continue to collect baby teeth for 1 point each and also remove any red tokens that you land on to collect 2 points each.

7. Once everyone has been around the board three times, count up your scores to find out who is the winner.

whizzpopbang.com 15

b... clu O C E

Emmi's

PLANT A MINIATURE GARDEN You will need: Plant a garden that’s fit for a tooth fairy!

1

• A large, shallow plant pot, bow l or tray • Compost • About 5 pebbles • Several colours of paint (acryli c works well) • Paintbrushes • Scraps of paper • Scissors • PVA glue

2

Paint your pe bbles (and your sma ll container, if yo u like) in bright colou rs and leave to dry. C ut out the tooth sha pes from page 19 and stick them to the p ebbles with PVA glue . Paint a thin layer o f glue over the top o f each pebble (includ ing the tooth), too.

If your dish does not have holes in the bottom, add a layer of gravel, then half-fill it with compost.

3

• A small plastic or foil food container, or a jar lid • A selection of plants (see yell ow box below) • Scraps of plastic bags • Two sticks about 20 cm long • About 50 cm of thread or stri ng • Permanent markers • A small plastic figure

4

Add the stepping stones and small container (this is your pond) to the dish.

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A sk an adul t to help you fi nd some su it ab le plants (e.g. da isies, pr im roses, pa nsies, da ndel ions, m oss) to put in yo ur ga rden.

Never remov e plants from an ywhe re other than your ow n proper ty.

Plant small plants in the compost and fill in any gaps with grass seed and/or moss.

Carefully water the plants and fill up the pond.

Continued on page 21 ➜

PULLOUT TEETH

PULL OUT PAGES 17-20 AND GET MAKING!

You will need:

TOOTH TRACKER

• Scissors • Glue stick • String or ribbon

What you do: 1. Cut out the baby teeth card. Cut out the grey area in the centre to make a hole, and snip between the teeth.

2. Cut out the adult teeth card and cut out the centre. Snip between the adult teeth and fold them up against side A as shown.

3. Glue the adult teeth layer to the back of the baby teeth card with the two mouth holes lined up.

Adult teeth

BABY TEETH

ADULT TEETH

4. Make two holes at the top of the card where shown and thread a piece of string or ribbon through the holes. Tie the ends together.

Side A

5. If you have lost any baby teeth, snip off the same ones on the chart. If you have any adult teeth that have started growing down into the spaces, unfold those adult teeth from behind the chart.

6. Hang your teeth tracker on your wall. Next time you get a wobbly tooth, give the same one on the chart a wobble! When yours falls out, snip that one off the chart and unfold the new adult tooth when it starts to come through.

Baby teeth

______________________ ’s Tooth Tracker

When your teeth begin to wobble, grab this handy tooth chart!

You can use it to keep track of which baby teeth you’ve lost and when your adult teeth come through.

What you do:

SHARK POP-UP CARD

1. Cut out the templates.

2. Fold inwards along all of the dashed lines.

You will need:

3. Stick together at tab A to make the top of the shark’s head.

• Scissors • A piece of card measuring at least 20 cm x 14 cm • Glue stick

4. Stick together at tab B as shown.

GLUE THIS SIDE

5. Stick together at tab C to make the shark’s bottom jaw.

6. Fold your piece of card in half and unfold.

7. With the shark template folded flat, add glue to one side of the yellow area, as shown.

8. Stick the template into the card with the centre right into the fold.

GLUE THIS SIDE

9. Add glue to the remaining yellow area and close the card onto it.

10. Once the glue is dry, open up your pop-up card and stick on the dorsal fin at the top and pectoral fins each side.

Your card is all finished!

Find a printable version of the pullout here: bit.ly/3rikxR4

SHARK TEMPLATE

Pectoral fins

Dorsal fin Tooth shapes for page 16.

Tokens for the game on page 14.

ded the

t

Player counters for the game on page 14. Fold your counter like this.

Sharks constantly replace their teeth – they lose about a tooth a week. Each lost tooth can be replaced within a day.

You forgot to brush.

Miss a turn.

Too many fizzy drinks!

Miss a turn.

You’ve been for a check-up.

Go forwards 1 space.

Oh no!

You need a filling.

Miss a turn.

Do an impression of a snapping crocodile.

Open your mouth as wide as you can for 10 seconds.

Show everyone your best brushing moves!

You brushed really well. Roll again.

You ate healthy food all day. Roll again.

Stand up and wobble all over for 5 seconds!

You brushed really well.

Go forwards 1 space.

START

whizzpopbang.com 19

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Baby tooth token, 1 point

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

Red gum token, 2 points

20 whizzpopbang.com

Scientists have discovered that baby sharks start shedding their teeth before they are even born!

5

6

Cut out wing shapes from a piece of plast ic bag and attach them with stic ky tack to turn a ny toy into a tooth fairy!

To make the bunting, cut out several small strips of plastic bag the measuring about 1.5 cm x 4 cm and fold each one in half. Cut then flag, white each ate piece of string or thread in half. Decor end glue the two halves together over a piece of string. Tie one ost. to the top of each stick and push the sticks into the comp

I’d love to see your miniature garden! Take a photo and email it to Y@whizzpopbang.com

Tie some thread onto a stick to make a fishing rod.

ECO

More

ideas...

dly plants Adding pollinator-frien clover to like dandelions and en is a your tooth fairy gard es! great way to help be

small plants If you can’t find any if they have to add, ask an adult ckets of any grass seeds or pa . id ra seeds that you can

Continued from page 16

Put a blob of modelling clay onto a bottle cap and stick small twigs around it to make a camp fire.

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

Try planting a slice of in your cucumber or tomato n’t fairy garden – they wo uce od pr to grow big enough e fruit (unless you mov t later), them to a bigger po o but they may grow int small plants.

whizzpopbang.com 21

➜

Interview with a SCIENCE HERO

In my job I get to... study the narwhal’s awesome tusk!

Martin is a dentist, researcher and explorer, and teaches university students to become dentists. He is also an expert on the narwhal tusk, which he describes as “the coolest tooth on the planet!” If you have any questions of your own for him, you can contact him at mnweeia@gmail.com

“

I made an artificial heart when I was ten!

Dr Mart Dentist and ma in Nweeia rine mammal biolo gist

“

I work as a dentist and study narwhals.

”

Four days a week, I treat patients for cavities, perform dental surgery, and more. The variety of procedures is a wonderful challenge. In my free time I investigate the narwhal! I’m given money by charities, universities and the US government to help fund these studies. Some days you might find me in 2 ºC water alongside a narwhal, exploring an Arctic glacier cave or meeting with top scientists to uncover more mysteries of the narwhal. It’s amazing how many pathways can be explored through curiosity about a whale’s tooth!

“

”

I wanted to be a heart surgeon when I was younger, and I wrote to one of the world’s most famous heart surgeons (Dr. Michael DeBakey) to ask him about it. Thinking about it now, I can’t believe he took the time to write back to me!

When I went to college, I became fascinated with dental medicine because it combines art and science. I love what I do.

How did a creature evolve with such a strange and unique tusk?

I’ve also thought, ‘What does the narwhal use its tusk for?’ Over the past 20 years, I've worked with focus, persistence and patience to answer these questions alongside a team of experts. I’ve also been on a series of expeditions in the high Arctic and spent lots of time in the water with narwhals to help find answers to my questions.

22 whizzpopbang.com

” croscope to Martin uses a specialised mi sk. examine minerals in the tu

© Joseph Meehan

Interview with a SCIENCE HERO

© Gretchen Freund

“

Everyone should find their inner banana!

”

We share an amazing 51% of our DNA with a banana, so find your inner banana – connect with the thing that makes you feel excited and want to learn more – wherever, whoever and whatever form it takes. Life can be a lot of fun if you stay true to the kid inside. It’s important to keep your childhood curiosity and keep asking lots of questions! Something I really enjoyed recently was writing a graphic novel for young people about narwhals, combining a 1,000-year-old Arctic legend with an important message about taking care of our environment.

“

The narwhal has the most awesome tooth!

”

We used to think that it was a weapon used for fighting between males but I was inspired to think differently by this quote: “Discovery consists of seeing what everyone has seen, and thinking what nobody has thought” (Albert Szent-Gyorgi, biochemist). By thinking what nobody else had thought, and by using cutting-edge technology, I discovered that the tooth has a different primary function: it’s a giant sensory organ. There is a vast array of very small tubes inside it that communicate from the ocean environment to an inner tooth nerve. We also discovered that narwhal tooth tusk material is the strongest and most flexible combined material on the planet! It’s very flexible on the outer surface and more dense than a steel rod in the centre. It’s very different from human teeth.

Working as part of a team of experts has been crucial to finding out more about this whale tooth.

“

It’s fantastic to be able to connect with the world, not just study it.

”

Follow your dreams and stay true to yourself.

If you remain honest, hardworking and diligent, you will be guided and supported by others who sense your passion. Keep moving forward with those who care and understand you, and if anyone casts doubts, they will be so far behind you, you will forget they were even there.

We’ve got one copy of Transformed By A Tusk signed

by Martin to give away! Just answer this question to be in with a chance of winning: What job does Martin do four days a week?

A narwhal with its awesome tusk.

Turn to page 33 to find out how to enter this competition. © Doc White

© Narwhal Tusk Research

Martin and his collea gue Adr discuss the tusk in bi ian Arnauyumayuq tterly cold water!

HOW STUFF

WORKS

Electric Toothbrushes

Sonic smile If 3,000 brush strokes a minute isn’t enough for you, you could try a sonic toothbrush. Instead of rotating back and forth, these brushes vibrate super-quickly, delivering 10 times as many brush strokes as a typical electric toothbrush. You can even get ultrasonic toothbrushes, which vibrate nearly 100 million times a minute!

3

Electric toothbrushes are the most effective way to keep your teeth clean and healthy, but have you ever wondered exactly how these brilliant brushing machines actually work?

1 2

A button on the outside of the toothbrush turns it on and off.

Inside the casing, the button is linked to a PCB (printed circuit board), which is the brains of the toothbrush, controlling the motor and timer.

Some models have a screen, which shows how much time is left and which areas of your mouth you should be brushing.

4

When the brush is switched on, the

electric motor starts to spin.

Electric really is best In a 2019 study, scientists found that people who used an electric toothbrush had healthier gums, less tooth decay and also kept their teeth for longer, compared with those who used a manual (non-electric) toothbrush.

9

The toothbrush is powered by a

rechargeable battery.

Fill in the grid with the four types of teeth so that each row, column and coloured cube contains one of each tooth.

Check your answer on page 34.

8

7 6

5

The removable brushing head of the toothbrush fits over the end of the connecting rod.

A metal connecting rod transfers this pushing and pulling movement up through the toothbrush and out of the top of the casing of the toothbrush.

A gearbox converts the high-speed spinning motion from the motor into a slower back and forth pushing action.

11 10

Inside the brushing head, the connecting rod connects to the rotating brush, spinning it forwards and backwards 50 times a second as the rod moves.

When the battery has run out of charge, it is recharged by placing the brush into a charging cradle.

Mains electricity running through a copper coil in the cradle creates a magnetic field. This creates electric charge in another copper coil located in the base of the toothbrush. This charge then flows out of the coil and into the battery.

whizzpopbang.com 25

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

1

T G N I Y TE R R I F

s are scar y, wait If you think vampire enacing mouths… until you see these m

The smilodon, sometimes called the sabre-toothed tiger, lived during the Ice Age. This killing machine had serrated canine teeth that were 28 cm long – almost the length of a ruler!

3 4

2

Like Bambi’s evil twin, the male musk deer has tusk-like canine teeth that protrude from its upper jaw. It uses these fangs for fighting rival males.

Not everyone’s teeth are pearly white.

Coypus, large semiaquatic rodents, have terrifyingly orange teeth. The colour comes from the iron that keeps their tooth enamel strong.

The sheepshead fish has terrifyingly human teeth!

It has incisors at the front of the jaw plus three rows of molars.

These gnashers help the fish to crush the shells of its prey.

5

26 whizzpopbang.com

The prehistoric megalodon was the largest shark that ever lived, growing up to 18 metres in length. Its humungous jaws were lined with 276 terrifying teeth.

We’re gonna need a bigger museum!

H T E E T G

6

Lampreys’ horror-movie mouths contain rows of hooked teeth made from keratin, the protein in nails, hair and hooves. They use these nightmarish gnashers to hold onto bigger fish while they suck their blood or eat their flesh.

8 9 10

7

Zebras’ super strong teeth keep growing for their whole lives. They are constantly worn down by grazing.

Snails can have up to 14,000 teeth, making them the toothiest animals on Earth!

Their tongues are covered in rows of microscopic teeth, which are used for scraping food.

Piranhas are famous for their razor-sharp teeth, their powerful bite and their ability to smell a drop of blood in 200 litres of water.

But, scary though they sound, they rarely attack humans.

Never mess with a hippo!

Hippos might look cute and cuddly, but just wait until they yawn! Their giant canine teeth can grow up to 50 cm long and are used for combat rather than eating. These aggressive herbivores are considered one of the deadliest animals in the world.

©1. Daniel Eskridge / Shutterstock.com, inset image Mardoz / Shutterstock.com, 2. Suvorov_Alex / Shutterstock.com, 3. U. Eisenlohr / Shutterstock.com, 4. Elonsy / Shutterstock.com, 5. The American Museum of Natural History / Wikimedia Commons, 6. Gena Melendrez / Shutterstock.com, 7. Galovtsik Gabor / Shutterstock.com, 8. Nneirda / Shutterstock.com, inset image: Páll-Gergely B, Hunyadi A, Ablett J, Luong Van H, Naggs F & Asami T (2015) / Wikimedia Commons, 9. The Jungle Explorer / Shutterstock.com, 10. Neale Cousland / Shutterstock.com

Sensational Scientists

Pierre Fauchard

By Claire Cock-Starkey

Pierre Fauchard is known as the father of modern dentistry. His work overturned old ideas and changed the way dentists care for teeth.

When Pierre Fauchard was just 15 years old, he joined the navy as a surgeon’s apprentice. He became interested in dentistry after noticing that many sailors had severe dental problems caused by scurvy, a disease resulting from a lack of vitamin C (found in fresh fruit and vegetables, which weren’t available on voyages).

After Pierre left the navy, he settled in France and began working as a dentist.

In the 18th century, diseased teeth were often just pulled out by barbers rather than being treated. Pierre thought that dentists should have medical knowledge and specific skills, so he decided to write a book which collected together everything he’d learned.

His book, Le Chirurgien Dentiste (The Surgical Dentist), took five years to write and five years to edit and was published in 1728. It was the first ever book on dentistry to give such a thorough description of teeth and how to treat them.

PIERRE FAUCHARD WAS BORN IN ST-DENIS-DE-GASTINES, FRANCE, IN 1678.

I prefer to treat teeth, not pull them out.

Pierre’s book overturned old ideas about the causes of tooth decay. Many people thought that tooth decay was caused by worms which lived inside the teeth. Pierre used a microscope to look closely at teeth and didn’t find any evidence of worms. This led him to argue that tooth decay was in fact caused by eating too much sugar.

To treat caries (holes in the teeth caused by decay), Pierre proposed that the hole could be cleaned out and filled, instead of pulling out the whole tooth.

He suggested using lead, tin or even gold to create fillings. Inspired by the tools used by watchmakers, jewellers and barbers, Pierre also developed new tools just for dentists.

AN ILLUSTRATION OF ‘TOOTH WORMS’ FROM AN OLD DENTAL BOOK.

Most people who visited the dentist in the 18th century would have sat on the floor with the dentist holding their head still by clamping it between their knees. Pierre argued that patients should instead be offered a special chair so the dentist could more easily carry out their work – and the patient could be more comfortable!

Not all of Pierre’s ideas were quite so brilliant.

He also suggested that patients should gargle with their own urine twice a day to keep their teeth clean!

Some dentists working in the 18th century were not very honest. Pierre saw it as his duty to share with the public some of the tricks bad dentists used to fool their patients, such as using acid to clean teeth, which caused their enamel to dissolve.

Pierre transformed dentistry. Not only did he work hard to understand what caused tooth decay, he also developed many new techniques to treat other dental problems. But what was most special about Pierre was that he shared his great knowledge, making sure many others could learn from his experience and improving dental treatment for everyone.

whizzpopbang.com 29

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,

Why do we need oxygen to breathe?

From Liela, aged 11

F oR

CURIoUS K I DS as Bea, aged 9, w tor lp u sc inspired by der to make Alexander Cal balancing e this awesom e 66). She u ss (I re sculptu , tastic art kit n fa a e ad also m t n ai h glue, p complete wit rushes tb n ai and p e 66).

(Eco Club, Issu

oks Read any good science bo recently? Done any cool experiments? Write to Y@whizzpopbang.com to tell us all about them!

Rowan, aged 8, sent us his pop-up peacock card (Issue 66).

Y’s Wonder Club Badges Collectable enamel badges for you to earn!

Help local wildlife to earn your Wildlife Watcher badge.

Oxygen keeps us alive! We nee d it for aerobic respiration (aero means air).

This is a chemical reaction tha t releases the energy needed for our cell s to work properly. Some of our muscle cells CAN work for 1-3 minutes without oxygen because they can switch to ana erobic respiration (anaero means wit hout air).

It happens when you do REALLY hard exercise and it makes you fee l like your muscles are burning, which forc es you to slow down. When the cells get enough oxygen again, the molecule wh ich causes the burning feeling (lac tate) breaks down, making you fee l better!

Investigate scientific questions to earn your Super Scientist badge.

Thanks for the card, Rowan! I’ll give you a clue about the next issue – it’s my favourite topic!

Help save the planet to earn your Eco Hero badge.

E

AS K Y, When water freeze

s, why does it sometime s become ice and sometimes become snow?

Mag gie and Lexi Gorton

9-year-old Safa used salt painting (Issue 66) to make this brilliant 3D diagram of a skeleton.

when something when someone tickles you?

10 From Ishaq Ramzan, aged

Get problem solving to earn your Epic Engineer badge.

We had great fun dripping the watercolours onto the dry salt.

STAR LETTER

You’ve won a binder!

Laughter helps people relax tog ether. We laugh differently with friends or strange rs, and we can always tell if a laugh is fake. Inte restingly, if you watch a cartoon in a group, you are 30 times more likely to laugh than if you were alone!

Your brain is programmed to ma ke you laugh at a light tickle – unless you tick le yourself, because then it’s not a surpris e. Most ticklish spots are places where an injury could kill you.

Scientists think that laughing when you are touched there shows your tick ler that you don’t want to fight, which rela xes the mood and might have saved our anc estors’ lives!

Apes also laugh, which shows us that laughter has been around for 30-60 million years, all the way back to our shared ancestor.

High in the clouds it is cold enough to make tiny six-sided ice crystals. As the crystals tumble around in the cloud, the temperature and humidity (amount of water vapour) changes.

If conditions are just right, the crystals start to grow six fingers – the familiar shape of a snowflake. Each snowflake follows a different path, so it becomes a different shape to any other. If the tiny ice crystal had been carried upwards to a cooler part of the cloud, it might have bumped into more water droplets which make it bigger and bigger until it becomes an icy hailstone which plummets to the ground.

and Eben, aged 7, eated cr , 4 Edward, aged ired by artwork insp ck in Jackson Pollo food g n si u , w o the sn ipettes! p d an g n ri u colo

e laugh H I! Why do peisoplfun ny or

, aged 8 and 6

Rats giggle when tickled, but it’s so high-pitched humans can’t hear it. You’ll never know if a rat is laughing behind your back!

The McKenzie kids have been inspired by Maria Sibylla Merian (Issue 66) and have done some brilliant minibeast illustrations of their own!

d Eva, aged 8, an ade m 5, Abigail, aged l salt fu these beauti e 66) u ss (I s g paintin

Kobi’s slug

Reuben’s snail shell Phoenix’s snail shell 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/39xNQqV More badges will be launched soon... watch this space!

whizzpopbang.com 31

um/ Test your M t to Dad/dentis

see what they know!

1

How much can you remember from this issue?

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.

Which one is NOT a type of tooth?

2

a) Outcisor

a) It hops backwards

b) Canine

b) It has no teeth

c) Incisor

3

c) It does handstands

4

teeth do How many e? snails hav a) 0 b)

0 Up to 14,00

7

The narwhal’s tusk is a type of... a) Nail b) Nostril

c) 24

5

The sauteur d’Alfort rabbit species is unusual because...

c) Tooth

6

What did Pierre Fauchard believe causes tooth decay?

How many baby teeth do humans usually have?

a) Sugar

a) 18

b) T ooth worms

b) 20

c) G argling with wee

c) 22

What can do? polyphyodonts

What did the lion eat when the dentist fixed his tooth?

The dentist!

8

h to a) Grow new teet are lost replace ones that

An ultrasonic toothbrush v ibrates... a) About 3,00 per minute

long b) Grow teeth as as rulers

b) A bout 100

ones wallow small st c) S in to break up food their stomachs

c) A lmost 100

per second

0 times

times

million times per min ute

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

1) Page 7 2) Page 5 3) Page 27 4) Page 22 5) Page 29 6) Page 7 7) Page 35 8) Page 24

Answers on page 34.

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

1-3: Curious canine!

4-6: Inquisitive incisor!

7-8: Magnificent molar!

W !

IN

Cool cogs!

These cogs with interlocking teeth are helping Emmi lift a heavy load. Work out whether Emmi should turn the handle clockwise or anticlockwise to lift the bucket and you could be in with a chance of winning one of four fantastic Turing Tumble games.

Hints​ When two cogs mesh together, the driven cog turns in the opposite direction to the driver cog.

When two cogs are linked by a twisted belt, the driven cog turns in the opposite direction to the driver cog.

When two cogs are linked by a straight belt, both cogs rotate in the same direction.

Turing Tumble With this fun game from turingtumble.com, you can build mechanical computers powered by marbles to solve puzzles. Use ramps, crossovers, bits, interceptors, gears and gear bits to build marble-powered computers that can generate patterns, do logic, count, add, subtract, multiply, divide, and much more.

Send your answer to win@whizzpopbang.com with ‘Cogs competition’ as the subject of your email. Alternatively, post your entry to Cogs competition, Whizz Pop Bang, Unit 7, Global Business Park, 14 Wilkinson Road, Cirencester, GL7 1YZ. Page 23 competition Send your answer to win@whizzpopbang.com with ‘Narwhal competition’ as the subject of your email. Alternatively, post your entry to Narwhal 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: June 8th 2021. UK residents only. Full terms and conditions available at whizzpopbang.com. We are not able to return any post, sorry.

WINNERS

Issue 68 competition winners Thank you to everyone who sent in entries to our Parasites competition. The animal with an itch was a monkey or an ape! These five lucky winners will each receive a copy of ‘That’s Life’ by Mike Barfield and ‘Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species’

by Anna Brett, published by laurenceking.com Arthur-John McKenzie, aged 6 Sharay Wilson Hayes, aged 8 Zoe Conway, aged 10 Tanmaiyee Hari, aged 11 Henry Broom, aged 7

whizzpopbang.com 33

JOKES

gold teeth? t e g n a m e h t Why did put his money o t d e t n a w e H h was! where his mout

Why did the pie go to the dentist?

It needed a filling!

Why do people dentists are think grumpy?

Because they down in the m look outh!

Knock, knock.

Who’s there?

Dishes.

Dishes, who?

Dishes how I talk since I lost my tooth!

Page 7 – True/Untrue

Page 13 – True/Untrue

TRUE: It’s a traditional belief.

TRUE: A snake’s head can experience up to 20 times the force of gravity when they strike, which is around double the force felt by fighter pilots.

Page 8 – Cheese puzzle The animal that nibbled the cheese was the squirrel (2).

Page 9 – True/Untrue TRUE: Dentine is 10% water! Even tooth enamel contains a tiny amount of water.

Page 13 – Snake puzzle

Page 11 – Toothpaste puzzle Tube 4 is squeezing the toothpaste onto the toothbrush.

Answers Page 25 – Tooth Sudoku

The last two triangles should be yellow and red because the sequence is repeating: 1 yellow, 1 red, 2 yellow, 2 red.

Page 32 – Quiz

Page 10 – True/Untrue UNTRUE: But a vet DID make a pair of false teeth for an elephant!

Dr Somsak Jitniyom made them for Morakot the elderly elephant.

entist What did the d er? say to the golf “You have a hole in one!”

Page 14 – Riddles 1) A saw.

2) A comb.

3) A zip.

1) a 2) c 3) b 4) c 5) a 6) b 7) a 8) c Whoops! Last issue, the answer to our Roman numerals puzzle was incorrect because it missed out the number 1,000 for the Roman numeral M in the word ‘MOUNTAIN’. Well done to any readers who spotted it and got the correct answer to the puzzle, which was 5,363!

Crocodiles have one of the most powerful bites in the animal kingdom. Mammals and other animals with hard bites have thick tooth enamel, but scientists have discovered that crocodiles have much thinner layers of enamel. This is because they are polyphyodonts (say pol-ee-fy-oh-donts), which means they keep replacing their teeth throughout their lives. They have 80 teeth which can each be replaced up to 50 times.

Next to each full-grown tooth is a small replacement and a stem cell. When the full-grown tooth is lost, the stem cell activates, telling the little tooth to start growing.

Smile crocodile!

science

SPECTACULAR

© Enrique Ramos / Shutterstock.com

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