Science magazine for children: Packed with science stories, science facts, science features, and other science learning resources for children. Discover the known, the unknown, and little-known facts in our science articles. Learn the how and why of everyday things and explore rare and exotic living species.
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Evergreen Clothes
There is good news for those who love splashing around in rain puddles and don’t want to get their clothes dirtied. Or those who play soccer but don’t want their shirts to get soiled or wet with sweat. British scientists have created a fabric that never gets dirty or wet! Evergreen Clothes [Illustration by Sudheer Nath] The cloth is treated with a special non-sticky chemical that repels grease and water. This ensures that the clothes remain squeaky clean....
Some Animal Fathers are Great Dads too!
Most animals never even see their parents. Many never meet their fathers and some do not meet their mothers either. Some insects, fish, amphibians and reptiles hatch from fertilised eggs and face life on their own. And those animals who are raised by parents, are often reared by their mothers. But we found that there are some animal fathers who are great dads too. Catfish: A male sea catfish keeps the eggs of his young in his mouth until they are ready to hatch....
Beautiful Flowers that Stink!
A blow-fly was looking for an ideal place to lay eggs. Like rotting meat. So that when her little maggots were born, they could feed on the meat. As she turned a corner in the grassland, she smelt something stinking in the air. The smell of rotten meat! With great joy she perched on it and laid her eggs. She was happy that her children would have enough food to eat. The blow-fly did not know she had made a great mistake....
How did the Modern Horse Originate?
Many millions of years ago a fox-like animal roamed across the plains of what is now the American continent. At that time the continents were not even divided as they are today. This animal had four soft toes on its feet like a cat or dog. This animal came to be called the ‘eohippus’ by modern day scientists who discovered skeletal fossils of this specie. Horses running in snow The skeletal remains of this animal had many things in common with the skeletal structure of the modern horse, especially in the structure and distribution of its teeth....
What is the Rubik's Cube?
My nephew Akshay was a brat. No two ways about it. When he was not occupied with dismantling everything that moved, ticked, or clicked he would be engaged in stuffing an icecube down your shirt when you were busy working on whatever it is that didn’t involve him. After a lot of thought, my uncle and I decided to purchase something that would rack his brains till kingdom come. We scouted the market for all sorts of things and luckily we came to a shop that sold a colourful cube – the Rubik’s cube....
Why were the 1904 Olympics Such a Disaster?
The 2000 Summer Olympics at Sydney were a millennium extravaganza unparalelled in the history of the Games. Techno-wizardry was at its best and the spectacular pageantry and the actual Games thrilled millions of viewers worldwide. Hosting the Games is big business. What the host country spends is trifling compared to the amount of money it receives by way of advertising revenue and tourist influx. Since 1896 when the modern Olympic Games were first held, the Games have undergone many upheavals....
Mother and Child in the Animal Kingdom
It is a familiar scene in real life and in movies. In a group of 100 excited lambs, an ewe, or female sheep, has no problems picking out her lamb. She does this through the sense of smell. More than one million animal species live on our planet and the females of the species recognise their young ones through smell, sound, sight or touch. Actually, most mammals recognise their young ones by smell. As soon as it gives birth, one of the first things a mare, ewe, doe or seal does is to smell the newborn....
How did the Teddy Bear Get Its Name?
It was party time for the 40 giant teddy bears. They had succeeded in achieving what most fashion conscious people in the world would give their right arm and eye for: a party dress made by the most famous couturiers or dress designers on earth. And it was all for a grand auction in the tiny principality of Monaco, in Europe. On October 15, world celebrities, both rich and famous vied to make the highest bid for each of the 40 giant stuffed teddies so that their money could be donated to a charitable cause....
What is Esperanto?
Esperanto is an artificial international language created by Dr Ludovic Lazarus Zamenof between 1877-85. Zamenhof, who grew up in Warsaw, Poland, was convinced that a common language would be necessary to resolve many problems as language barriers helped to aggravate problems between nations. Zamenhof realised that none of the major European languages, French, German, English, Spanish, Italian and Russian could be made universal as they were all difficult languages to learn. The difficulty in mastering grammar would put native speakers at an advantage with respect to those who did not speak them fluently....
Do Aphasics Make Great Lie Detectors?
Believe it or not but it is true. There are people who lose the ability to understand or use words due to brain damage. But they become extremely good at something else. They become experts at spotting liars. By the changing expressions of people’s faces and the tone of their voice they can make out lies from truth. The condition in which people lose their power to understand or words due to brain damage is called aphasia....