The ultimate magazine for curious young minds! PUZZLES!JUMBOAMAZINGFACTS! LOTS TO READ : LOADS TO LOOK AT : ASK THE EXPERTS : QUIZ : JOKES : AND MORE! September 2O22 MEET THE GREATEST ATHLETES OF THE ANIMAL KINGDOM 772755 9131001 09> 772755 9131001 09> ISSN 2755-1318 britannicamagazine.co.uk£5.99
CONTENTS A wild youworldwonderfulandawaitsinside! Page 18 4 FACTOPIA Follow the trail of hilarious illustrations and crazily connected facts. From talking like a pirate to… vegetables that give off sparks in the microwave! 6 SNAP IT! Eye-popping photos to amuse and amaze. Including a stunning photo taken by NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope. 1O EUREKA! Fascinating inventions and discoveries. Meet the world’s biggest water lily and find out how scientists are making chocolate taste even better! 12 LISTIFIED Discover eight amazing treasureslostthat no one can find (yet). Plus, find out how high you could jump if you were standing on Pluto. Page 1O Page 6 Page 4 Page 16 2
SEND IT IN! Email us your letters, photos and favourite facts to: comeditor@britannicamagazine. Or write to us at: Britannica Magazine The Black Barn Wickhurst TN11KentTonbridgeFarm8PS 18 COVER FEATURE: THE ANIMAL GAMES! Meet the greatest athletes of the animal kingdom and see which one would take the gold in the long jump, marathonboxing,gymnastics,weightlifting,andmore. 22 THINGSTHEINFOGRAPHIC:OLDESTLIVINGONEARTH From 2OO-year-old giant tortoises and 4OO-year-old sharks 14 FASCINATING FACTS ABOUT SEPTEMBER Celebrate 1O artistchangedandtheevents,anniversarieshistoricandincludingbirthofGoogletheaccidentthattheMexicanFridaKahlo’slife. 16 CAN YOU THROW A SATELLITE INTO SPACE? Find out how the new ofchange(picturedSpinLaunchleft)couldthefuturespaceflight. to a species of underwater sponge that can live for more than 1O,OOO years! 24 EVERYTHING!ABSOLUTELY Our epic serialisation of the true history of the universe continues with a trip back in time to meet Cleopatra and Tutankhamun. 28 MY BRITANNICA A Send It In special presents the two winning entries in a short amazingcompetitionstoryaboutinventions. 29 ASK THE EXPERTS Your chance to test Britannica’s brilliant experts. This month’s answers feature the first dinosaurs to roam the Earth and the country where the languagesmostareused. 3O THE BIG BRITANNICA QUIZ Stretch your brain power with our brilliantly tricky quiz. 32 PUZZLES & GAMES A special jumbo edition featuring a musical Word Search, Spot the NumbertheMorphs,Space-Doku!,Difference,WordConnectPlanetsandTriangles! 35 JOKES & RIDDLES Hand-picked by our jokes editor May! Page 14 Page 29 Page 24 Page 3O
Follow the trail of crazily connected facts all the way from talking like a pirate to… vegetables that give off sparks! By Kate Hale and Paige Towler Illustrations by Andy Smith InternationalTalkLikeaPirateDaytakesplaceeveryyearon19September. One forworldholdsmantherecordhavingthe most toothpicks in his beard: 3,5OO hearties!MeAhoy! 4
lit fuses under his hat to scare his enemies According to legend, the famous pirate BLACKBEARD At the World Beard Moustacheand Championships , some competitors style their facial hair in wacky designs Onebaseballfamousplayer’s used toothpick sold at an auction hundredsforofdollars The putRuthplayerBaseballBabesometimesa cabbage leaf under his hat to stay cool The state of Alaska, USA, is known for growing giant, record-breaking vegetables – such as 63-kilogram cabbages – because the Sun shines there about 2O hours a day every summer The first carrots that people ate were yellow and purple greens!yourEat vegetablesSomegive off in the microwave! sparks 5
PHOTOS HEAVENS ABOVE! The James Webb Space Telescope, pictured below, is the most powerful telescope ever built. After launching in December, the JWST is now orbiting the Sun about a million miles away from Earth. This arenewwhereNebulaCarinaaimagespectacularshowspartofthestarsborn. 6
! Astonishing photos from around the world SCALE: 2 light years (1 light year: the distance travelled by light in one year at 186,282 miles per second or 67O.6 million mph) 7
PHOTOS
SCUBA-DRIVING! The sQuba is one of the first cars that can be driven on both land electricunderwater.andThistestmodel cost more than £1 million to develop. It travels through the water like a submarine and can reach depths of up to 1O metres.
WOAH! 8
THE INVISIBLE MAN Can you spot the Chinese ‘camouflage artist’ Liu Bolin hidden in the image on the right? Before the photo was taken, Bolin’s face and body were carefully painted (above) so he blended in with the background.
CREDIT: BAOZHU WANG/BIRD PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR
LETTING OFF STEAM The Fly Geyser in Nevada, USA, is two metres tall and shoots scalding hot water that rises from deep underground up into the air. The geyser sprung up from a well more than 1OO years ago. Its vivid colouring comes from algae growing on its sides.
This photo of foxcorsacaand an buzzardupland was taken on the Mandu grasslands of Mongolia in central Asia. The animals are two of the top predators in this environment and so often end up hunting the same small rodents. As natural hunting rivals, they are sometimes driven to fight each other over food.
WOW! 9
BUZZ OFF!
! OOOH!
Do you ever feel like you could do with a helping hand, perhaps to carry the shopping or pick up your school books? Well, a team of scientists at the Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa have been developing tiny artificial muscles that may one day be used to build robots with human-like grips. These ingenious artificial muscles are made using a flexible synthetic (i.e. human-made) material that is designed to stretch and
ofthousandsSpotted:wildtigers!
Robot muscles that can lift 1,OOO times their weight
The latest breakthroughs.anddiscoveries,astonishinginventionsscientific
Eureka!
Big news! An international organisation that works to save animals has announced that there are as many as 5,578 wild tigers in the world, 40 per cent more than we thought there were. This is great news for tigers. But it might be an even bigger win for the people who count them. It turns out that at least some of that 40 per cent increase isn’t because the tiger population is growing. It’s because humans are getting better at finding them. contract in a similar way to the muscles in your body. Although there is one important difference between these artificial muscles and human muscles: the muscles built by scientists are much stronger. During experiments, a single artificial muscle weighing just 8 grams was able to lift 8 kilograms –which is roughly the same weight as a microwave! And as well as being able to lift up to 1,000 times their own weight, the artificial muscles can be combined to mimic real-life human muscles and body parts, such as the robotic hand and wrist pictured left. By activating different artificial muscles in sequence, the scientists were able to make the robotic hand bend its fingers, twist its palm and rotate its wrist. If you would like to watch the robotic hand in action, ask a grown-up to show you the short online video at the following tinyurl.com/43zjpu7vlink:A robotic hand and wrist built from tiny artificial muscles.
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Can science help chocolate taste even better?
See those blue and red stripes on the shoulders of Reading FC’s new football kit? Each stripe represents a year’s average global temperature. The bluer stripes represent years when average global temperatures were colder. The redder stripes show years with hotter temperatures. The unique stripy graphic was designed by Ed Hawkins, a professor at the University of Reading who also works at the National Centre for Atmospheric Science. He translated actual climate records into colours to make the story of global warming easy to understand at a glance. The team hopes that fans watching Reading play in their colourful new strip will be inspired to help turn climate change around. Plus, the kit is made from recycled plastic bottles, and so when the new Reading FC shirts finally wear out, they can be recycled, too.
NEWS
The dried,beanscocoaareroastedandthen… into…groundcocoapowder. Cocoa butter, cocoa liquor and sugar are blended to chocolate.make Chocolate is made from cocoa beans, and cocoa bean farming is a tricky business. That’s because before cocoa beans are dried, roasted, ground up and turned into bars, they spend some quality time with germs. Not the scary type that cause disease, but the helpful type that ferment things. If you like yogurt and pickles (and yes, chocolate), you have eaten food made tasty by microbes – tiny critters that are too small to see. But depending on which microbes happen to end up in which basket of fermenting cocoa beans, the beans can be really yummy or… well, not so nice. And as you can imagine, it’s pretty hard to sell yucky-tasting
Football club scores in fight against warmingglobal
The record-breaking giant water lily on display at Kew Gardens. Cocoa pods are harvested and left in the sun to ferment.
HOW COCOA BEANS ARE TURNED INTO CHOCOLATE cocoa beans. So not being able to control the flavour means farmers end up wasting part of their cocoa bean harvest. Enter science! A group of researchers in Switzerland has figured out how to detect which microbes are working in which batch of cocoa beans and use that information to figure out which microbes make the tastiest chocolate. The scientists can then encourage the tasty-making microbes while discouraging the yuck-making ones. This is great news for everyone: farmers make the money they need to live and we get to eat delicious!eventhatchocolatetastesmore
Scientists have identified a new species of giant water lily, in a discovery described as ‘one of the botanical wonders of the world’. The species, which is named Victoria boliviana after Queen Victoria, is the first discovery of a giant water lily in more than 100 years. It is also the largest water lily in the world, with leaves that can grow to more than 3 metres wide in the wild! You can see the giant water lily for yourself at Kew Gardens in London. Go to www.kew.org to find out how and when to visit.
The discovered!waterbiggestworld’slily
Missing since: 1603. The great English playwright William Shakespeare seems to have written a play called Love’s Labour’s Won, as records show it was published in 1598 and was still being sold in 1603. However, some people think this might have been an alternative title for one of his other plays, such as The Taming of the Shrew, which is still regularly performed today.
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The last photo of Mallory and Irvine on Mount Everest. hid many golden treasures when their homelands in South America were invaded by Europeans. If the lost city does exist, it may be concealed within the jungles of Peru.
Prepare to be lists.irresistibleintofactsby(andamazedamused!)theunusualcrammedthese
The Copper Scroll describes a hoard of hidden treasure.
2
6Mallory and Irvine’s camera Missing since: 1924. British explorers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine disappeared in June 1924 while trying to climb Mount Everest. They both died in the attempt, but what remains a mystery is whether they reached the summit first. If they had, they would have beaten Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay (who are
thecreditedcurrentlywithachievement)byalmost30years.In1999,Mallory’sbodywasdiscoveredwithoutthephotographofhiswife,
After the end of the First World War in 1918, Charles I of Austria took the famous diamond to Switzerland –where it is said to have been stolen by someone close to the Eight amazing lost canthattreasuresnoonefind(sofar).
The DiamondFlorentinedatesback to around the centuries**14th–15thandissaid to be the largest gem of its type in the world. At the start of the 20th century, it was owned by the Hapsburgs, the royal family of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
4 lostShakespeare’splay
1
3 goldenIncas’ city Missing since: about 1600. Many old stories tell of an ancient lost city called Paititi, which, according to some, is where the ancient Inca people
The Knights Templar treasure Missing since: 1307. The Knights Templar was a religious order founded in 1119 that became very powerful and wealthy. King Philip IV of France was worried about their growing power, so he arrested the most important knights in 1307 and broke into their treasury, hoping to take all the gold, jewels and other valuables stored inside. However, it was empty. goldTemplars’trackbeenhuntersTreasurehavetryingtodownthemissingeversince.
The Copper Scroll treasure Missing since: about 70 CE. In the 1940s and 1950s, a series of ancient writings on papyrus, parchment and bronze were discovered in caves in the Judean Desert in the Middle East. One of them, known as the Copper Scroll, talks about the location of a huge hoard of historianstreasure.hiddenSomethink the treasure is just a legend, while others think it is real – and still hidden, waiting to be found.*
LISTS
LISTIFIED!
royal family and smuggled to South America. The Florentine Diamond may have been cut up into smaller diamonds and sold in the 1920s, but no one knows for sure.
5 DiamondFlorentineThe Missing since: 1918.
HUNTTREASURE
The Jules Rimet Trophy has been missing since 1983.
***The Jules Rimet Trophy was also stolen in England, in 1966, shortly before the start of that year’s tournament. Luckily, it was later found hidden beneath a hedge by a collie dog named Pickles, who became a national hero.
**According to one story, a French nobleman called Charles the Bold was carrying the Florentine Diamond when he was knocked off his horse during the Battle of Morat in Switzerland in 1476. A soldier picked up the diamond but later sold it for a small amount of money because he mistakenly thought it was made of glass.
Peking Man Missing since: 1941. In 1941, valuable fossils of an early human known as the Peking Man mysteriously disappeared and have never been found. They were originally discovered in China and some experts think they were lost at sea while being transported to the United States. Others think that they are still in China, buried under a car park.
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(ACERESDWARF PLANET) 17.5 metres About as high as: A four-storey building. Off the ground for: 22 seconds. (APLUTODWARF PLANET) 7.6 metres About as high as: A giraffe. Off the ground for: 1O seconds. THE MOON 3 metres About as high as: The ceiling of the average room. Off the ground for: 4 seconds. MARS 1.3 metres About as high as: A cow. Off the ground for: 2 seconds. MERCURY 1.3 metres About as high as: Ahem, another cow. Off the ground for: 2 seconds. VENUS O.55 metres About as high as: Three steps on a flight of stairs. Off the ground for: O.7 seconds. On Earth, a human can do a standing jump roughly half a metre in the air and stay up for half a second.* But how high and for how long could a human jump on another planet or moon, where the force of gravity is different?
SATURN O.47 metres** About as high as: A golden retriever. Off the ground for: Half a second. JUPITER O.19 metres About as high as: A banana. Off the ground for: A quarter of a second. *The highest recorded standing jump on Earth is 1.65 metres, by Brett Williams from the United States. **Because Saturn and Jupiter are made mostly of gas, you would need to be standing on something solid, such as the outside of a spaceship, to jump within their atmospheres. The height of your jump would still be related to the strength of each planet’s gravitational pull. Listified! by Andrew Pettie and illustrated by Andrés Lozano is out now.
High Jump How high a human being could jump on nine different planets and moons
(AENCELADUSMOONOF SATURN) 42.6 metres About as high as: The statue of Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Off the ground for: 1 minute.
Christ Redeemerthe Ruth, that he had planned to leave at the summit. There was also no sign of the camera that Mallory and Irvine took to photograph themselves at the top. If the missing camera is ever found, it could reveal the truth about their doomed expedition.
The FIFA World Cup Missing since: 1983. Between 1930 and 1970, winners of the football World Cup were presented with a gold cup called the Jules Rimet Trophy. In the photo above, the trophy is being held up by Bobby Moore, captain of the England team that won the World Cup in 1966.*** When, in 1970, Brazil won the tournament for a record third time they were allowed to keep the cup for good. However, in 1983 disaster struck when it was stolen. Despite a huge police search across the whole of Brazil, the famous Jules Rimet Trophy has never been*Ifrecovered.you’dlike to join a 2,000-year-old treasure hunt, you can start looking for clues in the Copper Scroll itself, which is on display at the Jordan Museum in Amman.
1925 On artists.mostoftolife,courseand,self-portraitsstartedrecovering,hospital.spentsevereinjuriesMexico.ininalmostFrida18-year-old17th,SeptembertheKahlodiedabuscrashhernativeKahlo’sweresothatsheweeksinWhileshetopaintovertheofherwentonbecomeonetheworld’scelebrated 1893 On happen.makecampaignwhooffeaturesThiselections.inrightwomengiveinfirstbecameZealand19th,SeptemberNewthecountrytheworldtoalladultthetovotepoliticalphotosomethewomenledthetothis 1666 The Great Fire of London began in a bakery on Pudding Lane on September 2nd. It raged for four days, destroying more than 13,OOO houses, 87 churches and other important buildings. 1962 The book Silent Spring by the marine biologist Rachel Carson was published on environment.caretakepeople27th.SeptemberItinspiredtobetterofthe 1822 Brazil in SeptembrothesinceeachindependencecelebratedAmericaSouthhasitsyear1822onSetede–orthe‘SeventhofSeptember’. 1O fascinating facts 14
http://www.google.com/ 1998 Google, the technology company that helps people find what they’re looking for online, was officially founded in California, USA, on September 4th. 1846 Neptune was discovered by astronomers Urbain Le Verrier and John Couch Adams on September 23rd. 1976 The Muppets are a cast of funny, TheMuppetTVepisodeTheJimpuppeteercreatedcharactersfurrybyHenson.firstoftheirseriesTheShowwasairedintheUSonSeptember5th.Today,morethan4Oyearslater,theMuppetsarestillpopular.ThisphotoshowsKermittheFrogandMissPiggystarringintheMuppetsmovie. 1838 On September 3rd, Frederick Douglass escaped from slavery. The speeches he made and books he wrote about his experiences inspired many other black people in the United States in their struggle for freedom and equality. 2OO8 The Large Hadron Collider in Switzerland was built to accelerate tiny particles around a loop deep underground to conduct scientific experiments. It opened on September 1Oth. about September… 15
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By Lisa Thomas SPACE Right: a test version of the SpinLaunch in New Mexico, USA. W hat is the best way to launch a satellite into space? For the last 70 years, the answer has been the same: load the satellite onto a rocket and then blast the rocket up into space. However, space rockets need to burn a lot of expensive and environmentally unfriendly fuel to generate enough power to break free from Earth’s gravity. To solve this problem, a new machine called the SpinLaunch is trying a different approach. It spins the rocket around at speeds of up to 5,000 mph, before releasing the rocket so it’s sent flying 30 miles up into the atmosphere. A half-size version of the SpinLaunch is already being tested in New Mexico, USA. If it is successful, a full-size SpinLaunch is planning to hurl its first satellites into space in 2025. Read the panel opposite to find out how it works.
Can intosatellitethrowyouaspace?
Meet the SpinLaunch – the extraordinary new machine designed to hurl rockets and satellites straight up into space!
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1 Loading the SpinLaunch
The long arm starts to spin the rocket round and round inside the SpinLaunch. The arm is designed to spin faster and faster until the rocket containing the satellite is travelling at a speed of 5,OOO miles per hour, which is more than five times faster than the speed of sound! The inside of the SpinLaunch is also a vacuum, which means that all the air has been taken out. The lack of air resistance enables the arm to spin even faster.
The spinning arm releases the rocket at exactly the right moment to hurl it out of the SpinLaunch and up into the sky. It will reach about 3O miles above Earth’s surface.
1OOSpinLaunchFull-sizemetres
3 Releasing the rocket
4 Blasting into orbit
An artist’s illustration of what the full-size SpinLaunch will look like. How the launchers compare in size
2 Spinning the rocket
HOW THE SPINLAUNCH WORKS…
Once it is high enough in the sky, the rocket splits open, releasing the satellite (pictured below). A small booster rocket on the satellite then fires to give it the final push it needs to reach its target orbit. Hurling a satellite into space using the SpinLaunch is designed to use 7O per cent less fuel than using a conventional rocket.
London Eye 135 metres
First, the satellite that is about to be hurled into space is placed inside a rocket which is then loaded into the SpinLaunch. The rocket (pictured below) is attached to the end of a long arm inside the SpinLaunch which is designed to spin round at very high speeds.
SpinLaunchTest5Ometres
E very four years, the best human athletes from all around the world gather to compete in the Olympic Games. At the Games, a series of thrilling athletic competitions decides who are the best women and men at running, jumping, throwing, swimming and lots of other exciting events. But what would happen if animals were allowed to enter too? You can find out here, as we celebrate the animal kingdom’s most amazing athletes – showing in each event how the animals’ athletic feats compare to the best performance by a human.
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ANIMALS SPRINTING
(Clue:
Meet the greatest athletes of the animal kingdom and find out how they would measure up against the human world record-holders in each event. the animals would win gold every time!) Illustrations by Mark Long 27Fastest54SPRINGBOK55ANTELOPEPRONGHORN75CHEETAHmphmphmphhumansprinter:mph
Did you know? A cheetah can accelerate from O to almost 6O miles per hour in three seconds, which is quicker than many sports cars! Meanwhile snails, which are among the slowest animals on Earth, have been measured moving at a top speed of just 3 metres per hour.
Did you know? Birds such as the peregrine falcon, which is the fastest-moving animal on Earth, achieve their highest speeds while diving down vertically towards their prey, thanks to the force of gravity.
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MARATHON OSTRICH Could run a marathon* in 53 CAMELminutes Could run a marathon in 1 hour and 3 minutes HORSE Could run a marathon in 2 hours and 3O Fastestminuteshuman: ran a marathon in 1 hour and 59 Didminutesyouknow? Ostriches can run for an extended period of time at speeds of up to 3O mph. They sprint over short distances even faster at speeds of up to 43 mph. *A marathon is a longdistance race run over 26.2 miles. FLYING PEREGRINE FALCON 2OO can’tFastest1OOFREE-TAILEDMEXICAN15OGOLDENmphEAGLEmphBATmphhuman:humansfly!
It’s thought that the record for horizontal flying – in which an animal uses only its own muscles to generate speed – is held by the Mexican free-tailed bat, which is also the world’s fastest mammal. The slowest recorded flying speed by a bird is just 5 mph by the American woodcock, which is only slightly faster than an adult human’s average walking speed!
LONG JUMP FLEA can jump 2OO times its own body length TREE FROG can jump 65 times its own body length
HIGH
Highest3IMPALAmetresmetresjumpbya human: 2.45 metres Did you know? Another champion high jumper is the froghopper, an insect that can leap 71 cm into the air, which is more than 14O times its body length. This is equivalent to a human jumping over 21O metres into the air, which is more than twice the height of the Statue of Liberty!
A black marlin can swim more than 15 times faster than the fastest human swimmers. Swimming at just O.OO1 miles per hour, the dwarf sea horse is the world’s slowest fish. It takes a dwarf sea horse two hours to swim just three metres! JUMP DOLPHINBOTTLENOSE can jump 7.9 metres MOUNTAIN LION 5.5
Longest jump by a human: 8.95 metres, which is roughly five times a human’s body Didlengthyou know? If, like fleas, humans could jump 2OO times their body length, they would be able to leap the length of 33 buses in a single bound!
SWIMMING BLACK MARLIN 8O Did4.8Fastest6OSWORDFISH68SAILFISHmphmphmphhumanswimmer:mphyouknow?
JUMPING SPIDER can jump 5O times its own body length
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WEIGHTLIFTING RHINOCEROS BEETLE can lift 1OO times its own weight LEAFCUTTER ANT can lift 8.78 times its own weight MOUNTAIN GORILLA can lift 4 times its own weight Strongest human: can lift 2.5 times their own weight Did you know? A rhinoceros beetle can pick up and carry objects that are 1OO times its own body weight, which is roughly equivalent to a human being able to lift up an African elephant!
BOXING THE MANTIS SHRIMP is a marine animal related to lobsters and crabs that has the strongest punch in the animal kingdom relative to body size. If threatened, the mantis shrimp can extend its front legs at speeds of 23 metres per second, which is roughly as fast as a bullet. A punch from a shattershrimpmantiscantheshellsofotheranimals–and,duringanexperiment,evenmanaged to break thick glass!
GYMNASTICS GIBBONS are apes with arms that can be one and a half times longer than their legs! They travel through the rainforest by using their long arms to swing from branch to branch. Their gymnastic feats include leaping across 9-metre gaps between the trees!
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UNDERWATER DIVING CUVIER’S BEAKED 2,992WHALEmetres below the surface 2,OOOELEPHANTSOUTHERNSEALmetres below the surface EMPEROR PENGUIN 457 metres below the surface Deepest underwater dive by a human: 13O metres Did you know? While diving underwater, emperor penguins can hold their breath for up to 3O minutes. Even more impressive is the southern elephant seal, which can hold its breath underwater for as long as two hours at a time!
THEINFOGRAPHIC ONLIVINGOLDESTTHINGSEARTH! We celebrate some of the longest-living plants and animals on the planet, from 2OO-year-old giant tortoises to a type of underwater sponge that can live for more than 1O,OOO years! General 2,5OOShermanyears A giant sequoia tree growing in California named General Sherman is believed to be the largest living tree on Earth. It’s still growing! Bristlecone pine tree 4,85O years These ancient trees grow high up in the Rocky Mountains of southwestern USA. Jeanne Calment 122 years, 164 days This person.iswomanrecord-breakingfromFrancethelongest-livingShediedin1997. Old 9,5OOTjikko years Found in Sweden, the roots of this Norway spruce tree are almost 1O,OOO years old. Oak 1,OOOtree years Many common trees, including oaks, maples and pines, have lifespans of hundreds or even thousands of years. Some trees can be more than 5,000 years old, which is older than the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt. All living things have their own lifespan, which is the maximum length of time that members of a particular species can survive. The human lifespan is 122 years but, because of illness, accidents and several other factors, most people don’t live that long. The number that measures how long a person will probably actually live is called life expectancy. Today, the global average for a human is around 72 years. Into the Woods Lifespan or Life Expectancy? Age increases across the scale from left to right FROMEXCERPTEDEARTHISBIG,WRITTENBYSTEVETOMECEKANDILLUSTRATEDBYMARCOSFARINA 22
Red sea urchin 2OO years These marine invertebrates are covered in a hard shell and sharp spines which protect them from hungry predators. They also use their spines to move around.
RagingFishofWhaleaTaleReptilesShorterLifespans
This old lobster was caught by fishermen off the coast of Canada in 2OO8.
Whales are the largest creatures on Earth and also the longest-living mammals. The longest-living vertebrates (animals with backbones) are fish.
Longest-living whale.
Humpback whale 1OO years
George the lobster 14O years
Reptiles are a group of vertebrates that include snakes, lizards, crocodiles, turtles and tortoises. They include the longest-living animals on land. Not all animals live so long. Some have lifespans measured in weeks or even days. A
They might look like lizards, but tuataras are a rare reptile species only found today in New Zealand.
In the wild, most crocodiles live less than 7O years, but they can live much longer in captivity.
Glass 11,OOOspongesyears Glass sponges are filter-feeders that live in cold, deep water. They grow very slowly and are believed to be the creaturesoldest-livingonEarth.
Freshwater crocodile 14O years
Bowhead whale 211 years
Invertebrates are animals that don’t have a skeleton inside their bodies. This includes animals such as insects, clams, crabs and corals. Some of them can live for thousands of years.
Giant 2OOtortoiseyears
Orange roughy 15O years Deep-sea predator. 1OOTuatarayears
Ancient Invertebrates
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These tortoises, which live on the Aldabra Islands in the Indian Ocean, are the longestliving animals on land.
Longest-living vertebrate.
Robin2years 4Houseflyweeks Worker bee 6 weeks 4OOGreenland1LessMayflythandaysharkyears
Blue 11Owhaleyears
Everything!Absolutely
History is full of stories about people who have wanted power and riches. But the first rulers who believed they could have it all came from ancientTheseEgypt.all-powerful rulers were called pharaohs. More than 150 of them reigned over ancient Egypt from about 3000 BCE to 30 BCE. That’s about 3,000 years! The Egyptian people believed pharaohs were living gods and that when they died they joined all the other gods in heaven.
THE BIG READ
7. 3OOO–2OOMEANWHILE,INASIABCE Focus cameratheof bookreadingtherecordingantothisorsmartphoneatabletonQRcodelistentoaudioofauthorthisextract.
Each month we feature an amazing story from world history taken from the bestselling book by Christopher Lloyd, with illustrations by Andy Forshaw.
Above:
2. LAND AHOY! 47O252mya–mya 1. NOTHING 13.8SOMETHINGTObillion–45Omillionyearsago 3.252DINOSAURSmya–5mya 4. HANDS FREE 5 mya–65,OOOyearsago 5. YOU AND ME 2OO,OOO ago–5OOOyearsBCE 5OOOCIVILISATION6.BEGINSBCE–15OOBCEYOUAREHERE
These divine rulers took full advantage of their power. They had some amazing palaces, temples and tombs built for them. Have you heard of the seven wonders of the ancient world? Only one of them still survives today. It’s called the Great Pyramid of Giza and it was built as a tomb for one of the earliest pharaohs, called Khufu, who died in 2566 BCE. This giant construction originally towered skywards 147 metres. That’s about as high as a 50-storey building. It is made of more than 2 million blocks of stone, each one weighing as much as a large family car. Experts are still puzzled at how these ancient people could have cut, transported and hauled into place so many huge stones. They didn’t even have wheels. And it was all to create a grave for one man-god. The pharaohs may have believed they were gods, but their power depended on something quite natural – a giant river. The Nile is one of the longest rivers in the world. It flows north from central Africa into theAlongEgypt.inRamessestombwallfoundofillustrationanamuralontheoftheofIIThebes.
This month: the ancient Egyptians! I magine you are a mighty ancient king and a genie pops out of a magic lamp. ‘You can have as many wishes as you want!’ says the spirit. How would you respond? Would you ask for all the money in the world? To be able to boss everyone around? Or how about some all-powerful magic ring that would make you live for ever?
9. MEANWHILE, IN THE 15OOAMERICASBCE–153OCE8. RISE AND FALL 14OO476BCE–CE 1O.57O–1279CONNECTIONINVENTIONCE Continued on next page
Or they had to come by sea and wade through the boggy, reedy marshes of the Nile where it flows into the Mediterranean. Or they could come down the Nile from what is now Ethiopia and Sudan. The first two ways were well protected by nature. The third less so. Up the river lay Egypt’s most regular trading partners, the Nubians, who were sometimes friends and sometimes foes. Egypt imported gold, ivory, copper, incense and animals from people living in the tropical areas of central Africa. All of those goods
11. 476–1526MISERYMEDIEVALCE 12. 1415–1621GLOBALGOING 13.ALLREVOLUTIONSAROUND1543–19O5 14. 1845–1945ATWORLDWAR 15. TO 1945–PresentCONTINUED...BE
Thebes NILERIVER Alexandria Rosetta Cairo Giza FAIYUM GULF OF SUEZ GULF OF AQABA Great Pyramid of GizaSphinx LOWEREGYPT UPPER EGYPT SAHARA Valley of QueenstheValley of the KingsValley of the Nobles MEDITERRANEAN SEA RED SEA SINAI Archaeological sites Cities
More than 7O metres long, the Great Sphinx (left) has the face of a human and the body of a lion. Notice the pyramid of Khafre in the background? It’s the second largest of the ancient Egyptian pyramids of Giza and was built for Pharoah Khafre, son of Pharaoh Khufu, whose own pyramid is nearby.
Egypt’s relationship with its southern neighbours was made easy (and sometimes dangerous) by another accident of nature. The winds in Egypt usually blow from north to south, the opposite direction from the flow of the river. That means people could float downstream in wooden boats. Then, when they wanted to return home, all they had to do was raise a sail and let the wind blow them back upstream. What could be more convenient? way, it picks up lots of fresh, nutrient-rich mud, which it dumps on Egypt’s fields when it floods every year. Mud like this is just the right stuff for growing an almost unlimited supply of food. And plentiful food made Egypt rich and the pharaohs helpedAnotherpowerful.naturalfeaturethepharaohshold on to that power. The little strip of fertile land next to the Nile was surrounded by desert. Today we know this huge dry area as the Sahara. This giant desert protected Egypt from invaders. The mileshundredscouldways.oneapproachcouldsafe.theircastlestowersfancydidn’tpharaohsneedwalls,ortokeepcountryInvadersonlyinofthreeTheycrossofofdesert.
came through Nubian traders. Nubians were also famous as brave warriors who were brilliant shots with a bow andNubiansarrow. came from a very old civilisation. As early as 5000 BCE, their ancestors had constructed a ring of stones that may have been the very first structure built to study the stars and planets. This astronomical observatory dates from 2,000 years before England’s famous ancient stone circle, Stonehenge. At times, the Egyptians conquered parts of Nubia. At other memberstimes,of the two 200pharaohsEgyptianleadersEgypt.–calledatoncemarried.rulingcountries’familiesAndNubia–thattimeKushconqueredTheirbecameforyears.
THE BIG READ
Sarcophagus lid DeathSarcophagusmask Mummybottom
26
Above: animals.robbersfromprotectathatcontainerorwassarcophagusaametalstonehousedmummytoittomband
Continued from previous page
D o you believe in life after death? How about your friends and family? If you ask them, I expect you will find some do and some don’t. And among those who do, there are lots of different ways to believe in an afterlife. Some people believe in heaven and hell. Others believe in reincarnation. That’s the idea that your spirit comes back to Earth in another person or even as a different living creature. In the days of ancient Egypt, everyone believed in life after death. And they believed they were going to need to pack some things to take with them when they went to the afterlife. A pyramid showed off how rich and powerful a pharaoh was. But it also provided a safe place to store all the things the pharaoh would need in the next life. And that included his or her body. A rotten body wouldn’t be of much use, though, even in a fancy tomb. So, the Egyptians invented a way to preserve dead bodies by turning them into mummies. It was a complicated process that could take as long as 70 days. Mummification wasn’t just for pharaohs. Anybody in ancient Egypt who could possibly afford it made absolutely sure they were mummified when they died. Some people even had their petsThemummified.expertwho performed mummifications was a special priest called an embalmer. First, the embalmer removed the stomach, intestines, lungs and liver from the body. He then dried them out and placed each in its own container called a canopic jar. Usually, the embalmer removed the brain, too. Herodotus, an ancient Greek writer who saw a mummification, wrote that to get the brain out of the skull, the embalmer punched a hole from inside the nose into the brain cavity. Then he pulled the brain out with a hook. For centuries people thought this was how it was done. But now
Above: the tomb inofinrediscoveredHisthewhoTutankhamun,Pharoahofdiedatageof19.tombwastheValleytheKings1922.
Hekanefer, a prince from northern Nubia FurnitureNubian princess Pharaoh Bag of gold dust RingsLeaders of Kush, middle Nubia Giraffe Huy, Egyptian governor of Nubia, shown three times Enslaved people it looks as if Herodotus didn’t understand what he was seeing. Two American researchers, Bob Brier and Ron Wade, did an experiment in 1994 that showed brains are too soft for a hook to work. So probably what happened was this: the embalmer stuck a stick through the hole in the back of the nose into the brain
carved into rock underground. They showed off above ground by building ofwhenheTutwasboy-kingallcompletelyhaveThebes.QueensintombsHundredstemples.ofundergroundhavebeendiscoveredtheValleysoftheKings,andNobles,nearRemarkably,somesurvivedalmostintact.ThemostfamoustombofisprobablythatoftheTutankhamun,whichrediscoveredin1922.Kinghadbecomepharaohwhenwasonlynineanddiedhewas19.Ahugehoardtreasurewaspackedinsidethechamber.Themostfamousobjectofallwastheboy-king’s
The Book of the Dead. This collection of texts also includes magic spells, which were written and illustrated on scrolls and placed in tombs. I n about 2040 BCE, the capital of Egypt was moved south to a city called Thebes. Here the burials continued. But there was one important difference. Pharaohs no longer built grand pyramids for all to see. Instead their tombs were Hooked? Then look out for the next instalment in our October Issue!
and gave it a good stir. Brains are very soft, sort of like yogurt. When the embalmer stirred hard, the brain turned to liquid and oozed out through theThenostrils.heart was the only organ the embalmer left in the body. The ancient Egyptians believed that it was the seat of the soul, where people did their
funeral mask (pictured below), which was made out of solid gold. It was placed on Tut’s face underneath three layers of gold coffins inside a stone sarcophagus. In the end, even the natural defences surrounding ancient Egypt weren’t enough to save it. The last true pharaoh, Cleopatra VII Philopator, is usually known simply as Cleopatra. She ruled Egypt mostly by herself even though she was supposed to be co-pharaoh with her younger brother Ptolemy. When her army was defeated by the Romans, she killed herself rather than surrender. The story is that she took her own life by letting a poisonous snake bite her. But probably she committed suicide some other way, though some think she was murdered. No one knows for sure. Once Cleopatra was gone, ancient Egypt lost its independence and became a province of another great civilisation: the Roman Empire. thinking and feeling. They thought that in the next life the gods would weigh it to judge if the person had lived a good or bad life on Earth. Once the organs were removed, the embalmer packed the corpse with a special salt called natron to dry it out. When it was dry, he stuffed the corpse with linen and sawdust, added fake eyes, and wrapped it in strips of cloth. The finished mummy was packed inside a coffin called a sarcophagus and placed in a tomb. In the case of a pharaoh, that tomb might be a pyramid. All around the body was everything that the dead pharaoh could possibly need in the afterlife. Archaeologists have found food, drink, crowns, weapons, clothes, books, pictures and even games and toys in tombs. The tombs of important people contained teams of servants. Luckily these weren’t real people. They were wooden or stone dolls, called shabti. Their purpose was to come to the dead souls of their masters or mistresses whenever they needed help. Experts know a lot of this because the Egyptiansancienthadwriting.Theyusedasystemcalledhieroglyphics.TheymighthavegottheideaofwritingfromtheSumerians,butnobodyknows.Inanycase,theywrotedowntheirburialritualsin
27
In the mid-192Os, before the invention of colour photography, museum artist Charles Wilkinson copied paintings on the walls of the tomb of Huy, the Egyptian governor of Nubia during the time of Pharaoh exoticlucky(1336–1327TutankhamunBCE).Wearehedidbecausemanyoftheoriginalshavebeendamagedordestroyedsince.ThispaintingshowsNubianleadersbringinggiftssuchasgoldandanimalsforKingTut.Nubiawasveryethnicallydiverse,asyoucanseefromthewiderangeofskincoloursshownhere.
28
To keep Nadesh’sreadingstory,go short-storyBritannicamagazine.co.uk/to INVENTIONAMAZING
MY
By Sofia Petersen Dragon School, Oxford M y invention revolutionary.is It will rid our world of diseases that have haunted humanity since the beginning of time. The word ‘pandemic’ will no longer be in our vocabulary. Children all over the world will play with their friends and see their grandparents and teachers (and no, I don’t mean on Zoom!). Parents will go to work and meet their friends. I have made an artificial human body with similar properties to a real human body so it attracts viruses and germs. Inside this body I have placed an unbreakable Virus-Trap Cylinder. Then, I have placed the body inside a rainbow-coloured bubble that never pops. My no-nonsense robot, Mock-the-Virus-2022, and Elixir Spray complete my invention…
MY BRITANNICA MYINVENTION!AMAZING
IN!ITSEND
By Nadesh Zahra Leybourne Ss Peter & Paul CEP Academy T he doorbell had rung. Lila, who was sitting at the table eating her breakfast, rushed to the door to get her newspaper. She opened it eagerly before reading the headlines. The newspaper had a debate about whether cats were nocturnal or diurnal, but the article that caught Lila’s eye was that a flying car had been invented. The page was saying how the car could turn into an airplane in 2.32 minutes! Lila was astonished. ln a few minutes, Lila, Lilah, Lilly and Lilian were all walking to school. Lila excitedly conversed the headlines to her sisters and they began to squeal excitedly, saying how they should invent something like that too…
To keep reading about Sofia’s amazing invention, go short-storyBritannicamagazine.co.uk/to
THE INVENTION OF
7-9AG E GROUPWINNER
Earlier this year, we hosted a special short story competition with our friends at the Chiddingstone Castle Literary Festival. The topic was ‘My Amazing Invention’ and we are delighted to present the two winning entries! You can start reading their stories here, then follow the links to our website to find out what happens next… THE CENTURY 1O-13 A G E GROUPWINNER Sofia with children’s author Michael Morpurgo!
Visit: chiddingstonecastle.org.uk/literary-festival-schools
Ask the experts Answer Dinosaurs first emerged in the Late discovereddinosaursofyearsbeganperiod,Triassicwhich237millionago.FossilstheearliesttobesofarwerefoundintheIschigualastoFormationinnorthwesternArgentinainSouthAmerica.Someofthesefossilshavebeendatedtoaround animalsincludenamed.describedhavedinosaurhalfsite,palaeontologicalrarerelativelyfossilsDinosauryearsmillion230ago.areatthisbutaroundadozenspeciesbeenandTheyprehistoricsuchas Herrerasaurus (see the artist’s illustration, above) and Eoraptor We know of lots of animals closely related to dinosaurs that were alive earlier in the period,Triassicsoitis very likely that even earlier dinosaurs will be discovered by palaeontologists.future DR SMITHNATHAN Palaeontologist WhenQuestion:were the first alive?dinosaurs From Robert, age 8 HERRERASAURUS Reached a length of about 3 METRES Weighed about 18O KG Readers ask. Experts answer. Send your questions to: experts@britannicamagazine.com Answer It’s actually pretty hard to languages,countbut it is estimated that there are around 7,000 languageslivingin the world today. A living language is a languagesandwitharewhileyourareSomethelearningwhospokenthatlanguageiscurrentlybypeoplegrewupandusinglanguage.languagesspokenwithvoice,otherssignedyourhandsbody.Allare equally complex and capable of full expression. And all changingconstantlylanguageslivingarebecause every time a child learns a language, they change it a little bit. That’s why the English we speak today is not quite the same as the English used by the playright and poet thatyearsaShakespeareWilliamfewhundredago.Lotsoflanguagesarevery different today developed from the same European.callthatrootfromEastIranSouthlanguagesmanylanguagesEuropeanlanguage.rootMostandoftheofAsiaandintheMiddledevelopedasinglelanguagelinguistsProto-Indo-languagesdifferentHowQuestion:many are spoken around the world? From Louisa, age 13 DR KALINLAURA Linguist TOP 5 COUNTRIES WHERE THE MOST LANGUAGES ARE USED 1. Papua New Guinea 84O 2. Indonesia 715 3. Nigeria 527 4. India 456 5. United States 337 DID YOU KNOW? Around 12 per cent of the languagesworld’sarespokeninPapuaNewGuineainsoutheastAsia. 29
BIGThe Britannica
Stretch your brain power with our tricky quiz. The first 2O questions are answered in the magazine, but the final five aren’t. Don’t worry if you don’t know them all. Just check out the answers bottom right and test your grown-ups, too!
7 Carrots haven’t always been orange. What colours were the first carrots eaten by people? a. Blue and pink b. Purple and yellow c. Silver and gold d. Red and green 8 What colour is the planet Neptune? a. Blue b. Yellow c. Red d. Orange 9 Which was the first country to grant all adult women the right to vote in elections? a. India b. UK c. New Zealand d. United States 1O Who was the last pharaoh, or ruler, of ancient Egypt? a. Tutankhamun b. Cleopatra c. Ramesses II d. Khufu QUIZ
3 The creaturesoldest-livingonEarth are thought to be… a. Giant tortoises b. Blue whales c. Crocodiles d. Glass sponges 4 A didgeridoo is a type of… a. Hat b. Insect c. Musical instrument d. Motorcycle 5 The world’s largest species of water lily was recently discovered at Kew Gardens in the UK. Who is the new water lily named after? a. Queen Victoria b. Ariana Grande c. Lily James d. Queen Elizabeth II 6 Mayflies often live for as short a period of time as… a. 1 month b. 1 week c. 1 day d. 1 hour 11 24 7
30
SHOW WHAT YOU KNOW (If you read the whole magazine, these should be a breeze!)
1 According to some experts, a play written by William Shakespeare has been missing since 1603. What is the play’s name? a. Love’s Labour’s Won b. Much Ado About Nothing c. Hamlet d. Matilda 2 Kermit has been one of the puppet stars of The Muppets for more than 40 years. What kind of animal is he? a. A chicken b. A frog c. A pig d. A cow
18 In which year was the search engine Google created? a. 1988 b. 1998 c. 2008 d. 2018 19 Acording to legend, how did the pirate Blackbeard scare his enemies? a. By shouting at them b. By singing at them c. By lighting fuses under his hat d. By making them walk the plank 2O How old was Jeanne Calment, the longestliving human on record, when she died in 1997? a. 102 b. 112 c. 120 d. 122
11 How long can emperor penguin hold its breath for underwater? a. 3 minutes b. 13 minutes c. 23 minutes d. 30 minutes
12 Approximately how high could the average human jump while standing on the Moon? a. 1 metre b. 3 metres c. 5 metres d. 10 metres
British explorers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine died in 1924 while attempting to… a. Cross the Sahara b. Reach the South Pole c. Sail around the world d. Climb Mount Everest 17 What did the famous American baseball player Babe Ruth sometimes put underneath his cap to stay cool while playing? 31
14 In which year was the Great Fire of London? a. 1606 b. 1666 c. 1676 d. 1966 15 Which animal can jump the longest distance relative to the size of its body? a. A grasshopper b. A jumping spider c. A flea d. A jumping frog a. Cabbage leaves b. Wet flannels c. Ice cubes d. Ice cream
Answers:1.a,2.b,3.d,4.c,5.a, 6.c,7.b,8.a,9.c,10.b,11.d, 12.b,13.a,14.b,15.c,16.d, 17.a,18.b,19.c,20.d,21.a, 22.c,23.c,24.d,25.b.
BONUS ROUND (Now challenge yourself with questions NOT answered in the magazine!) 21 In which country would you find Uluru, also known as Ayers Rock? a. Australia b. South Africa c. Argentina d. Scotland 22 What is the heaviest organ in the human body? a. The heart b. The brain c. The skin d. The liver 23 Which city has the largest number of people living in it? a. London b. Beijing c. Tokyo d. Delhi 24 The England women’s football team, who recently became European Champions for the first time, are also known as… a. The Springboks b. The Bluebirds c. The Leopards d. The Lionesses
21
Britannica Quiz
25 Which is the world’s largest ocean? a. Arctic Ocean b. Pacific Ocean c. Atlantic Ocean d. Southern Ocean 16
13 In which country are the largest number of languages spoken? a. Papua New Guinea b. United States c. Indonesia d. China
the five
Stumped? Don’t worry, you can find the answers to all the puzzles on page 34. Can you spot the 26 musical instruments hiding somewhere in our jumbo word search puzzle? Good luck! MUSIC WORD SEARCH ELECTRICDIDGERIDOOACCORDIONBANJOCLARINETGUITARFLUTEGONGHARMONICAIPU*JINGLEBELLSKAZOOLUTEMARACASNOSEFLUTEOBOEPIANOQIN**RECORDERSITARTRUMPETUKULELEVIOLINWHISTLEXYLOPHONEYUKADRUMZITHER***
*An ipu is a Hawaiian drum. **A qin is a Chinese stringed instrument. ***A zither is a stringed instrument popular in Central Europe.
below. All the answers
Clue: an optical instrument that makes distant objects appear nearer (9 letters).
only be used once. WORD WHEEL CE EO P L E ST WORD MORPHS Change the word LOT to BEE in 3 moves by changing one letter at a time. Each new word you create by changing a letter must be a proper word. Then try changing JOKE to PAST in 4 moves. And CLIP to PRAY in 4 moves. ——LOT————BEE JOKE — — — — — — — — — — — — PAST CLIP — — — — — — — — — — — — PRAY L N A A J I S A C A R A M X E L G B Q P R Y U K A D R U M R J P S L X O F P Z I V E A C I N O M R A H P E G N L Z I M A V Q C P N Y N L O K V C W H I S T L E N S L J O L X G T W J T E T G F H B Z H O W H D N R K S Y C R T L R V E M Z N I J N F D N A D J N I C K K U R U A A Q P O N L P Z P C E C J U T V M Q X X N E U J O J O N A P G R E N O H P O L Y X G J L S O I O H U N G N T M W E J L E X R S H E O Z G I I U O S P E X T N U B B L N N F G C T L H E N K G Q N D X T J L V I H L N A O J U S G N E A V I V E E A M Q I U R I D I D G E R I D O O R B O W Z Q B T V A F A C C O R D I O N E A C J C I O E J D A B Z Q Y V H K T L T R L R E K B S I T A R W L H A V Z G K I Z X C O A O O R L O U C K T X P N Q J B A N J O I E U K U L E L E P E I U X Q M G Y G M L F F L U T E C J U J K S L A N Z A S B I V 32
answers
Answer: Clue: a spire on the top of a church tower (7 Answer:letters). Clue: to choose carefully (6 letters). Answer: Clue: a hard, strong metal (5 letters). Answer: Clue: a person who writes poems (4 letters).
and each
Answer:Usethe wheel to help find the to clues contain the middle letter, letter can
word
CONNECT
TRIANGLES!NUMBERPLANETS96111259675132 33
SPACE-DOKU! ABC
Draw a line to connect each pair of planets. You can’t use diagonal lines and the lines can’t cross or touch each other. You must fill the whole grid with lines but only one line is allowed in each square. In the triangles below, the numbers inside the squares are the sum of the two numbers in the connected circles. For example: Can you work out which number should appear in each of the circles? All the numbers in the circles are between 1 and 9 and a number can only be used once in each triangle. THE
Can you spot all 2O differences between these two zany illustrations?
SPOT THE DIFFERENCE Fill all the empty squares so that every row, column and 3x2 box contains a picture of a rocket, an asteroid, a space station, a crescent moon, a satellite and a space shuttle.
L N A A J S A C A R A M X E L G B Q P R Y U K A D R U M R J P S L X O F P Z V E A C I N O M R A H P E G N L Z I M A V Q C P N Y N L O K V C W H S T L E N S L J O L X G T W J T E T G F H B Z H O W H D N R K S Y C R T L R V E M Z N I J N F D N A D J N I C K K U R U A A Q P O N L P Z P C E C J U T V M Q X X N E U J O J O N A P G R E N O H P O L Y X G J L S O I O H U N G N T M W E J L E X R S H E O Z G I I U O S P E X T N U B B L N N F G C T L H E N K G Q N D X T J L V I H L N A O J U S G N E A V I V E E A M Q I U R I D I D G E R I D O O R B O W Z Q B T V A F A C C O R D I O N E A C J C I O E J D A B Z Q Y V H K T L T R L R E K B S T A R W L H A V Z G K Z X C O A O O R L O U C K T X P N Q J B A N J O I E U K U L E L E P E I U X Q M G Y G M L F F L U T E C J U J K S L A N Z A S B I V Give a FREE COPY of Britannica Magazine to your best friend! We hope you are enjoying the Animal Games and the other fun-filled articles in our September Issue! If you are, here is the perfect way to share your love of Britannica Magazine with your best friend or a member of your family. Here’s all your friend has to do… Ask their grown-up to visit britannicamagazine.co.uk/free-copy and enter their details. We will then send them a printed copy of a recent issue of Britannica Magazine absolutely FREE! Conditions apply. For more information, visit: britannicamagazine.co.uk/free-copy Word Wheel 1. Telescope 2. Steeple 3. Select 4. Steel 5. Poet Word Morphs 1. LOT, LET, BET, BEE 2. POST,POKE,JOKE,POSE,PAST 3. CLIP, CLAP, CLAY, PLAY, PRAY Spot the Difference Music Word Search Puzzle Answers MAGAZINE BRITANNICA Connect the Planets Published by What on Earth Magazines Ltd, The Black Barn, Wickhurst Farm, Leigh, Tonbridge, Kent, TN11 8PS Editor Andrew Pettie Art & Design Director Mark Hickling Designer Susanna Hickling Picture Editor Tamara Church Production Sarah Epton Contributors Mark Long (including cover), Kate Hale, Andy Smith, Andy Forshaw, Christopher Lloyd, Andrés Lozano, Steve Tomecek, Marcos Farina, May, Paige Towler, Lisa Thomas, Dr Nathan Smith, Dr Laura Kalin
With thanks to Andy Forshaw, Natalie Bellos, Casey Neumann, Katy Lennon, Meg Osborne, Daisy Symes, Helen Thewlis, Helen Jones and the whole team at What on Earth Publishing
Christopher Lloyd For Encyclopaedia Britannica Alison Eldridge, Managing Editor Printing and distribution Warners Midlands PLC, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincolnshire, PE1O 9PH Digital Marketing
Picture credits Alamy: 9, 12, 14, 15, 18, 2O, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 29, 3O, 31. Alamy/Film Stills: 14. Getty Images: 8, 1O, 12, 13, 21, 3O. Shutterstock: 11, 29, 3O. NASA: 6, 15. Nature Picture Library: 19, 2O, 21. Rinspeed/sQuba: 8. SpinLaunch: 16, 17. Carlos Magdalena/Royal Botanical Gardens Kew: 11. Corrado de Pascali/Italian Institute of Technology in Genoa: 1O. AKG Images: 14. Copyright 2O22 What on Earth Magazines Ltd. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced or transmitted in any including photocopying, without permission in writing from the publishers.
form,
Editorial Consultant Nancy Feresten Business Development David Falzani CEO, What on Earth Magazines
Space-Doku! TrianglesNumber4 27 9 611 1 48 12 59 3 42 6 75 ACB 34
Jamie French Editorial enquiries editor@britannicamagazine.com Subscriptions O1778 britannicamagazine.co.uk392479
Q Why did the blackbird go into the library? A It was looking for bookworms! Why don’t crabs share their food?
Q Where in the alphabet should you search for the Little Mermaid? A Under the ‘c’!
Q What kind of coat is always wet when you put it on? A A coat of paint!
Q Which invention allows you to look Q Why was the broom late for school?
Q Say my name and I disappear. What am I? A Silence! In case they get a hole in one!
Q What has a forest but no trees, cities but no people and rivers but no water? A A map!
Q What is a frog’s favourite fizzy drink? A Diet Croak!
Q What’s the best thing about going to a mobile wedding?phone’s A The reception!
Q When do ducks wake up? A At the quack of dawn!
Q What’s big and grey and protects you from rain? A An umbrella-phant! Q What type of bee can’t make up its mind? A A may-bee!
Q Why should you never argue with a decimal number? A Because they always have a point!
Q What does everyone in the world always get on their birthday? A A year older!
Q You throw me away when you need me and bring me back when I’m no longer needed. What am I? A An anchor! Tickle your ribs and tease your brain with our favourite gags and riddles, chosen with help from our friends at ComedyClub4Kids.co.uk!
FORSHAWANDYBYILLUSTRATIONS
Q What’s a Viking’s favourite board game? A Connect Thor! Becauseshell-fish!they’re Why do golfers wear two pairs of trousers? ??? tennis!Stable 35
& riddles
Jokes
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