Table of contents for February/March 2025 in Brainspace

LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH SOCIABLE WEAVER BIRDS These South African birds may be small, but their building skills and commitment to communal living are anything but. Sociable weavers work as a team and hold the record for building the largest tree nests in the world. Some nests can house up to 400 birds! The sociable weavers' nest has several entrances and chambers made from dry grass, and the nest can measure up to 6 metres (20 feet) wide and 3 metres (10 feet) tall. The roof is made from sticks, and sharp spikes of straw are placed at the entrance tunnels to protect the birds from predators. Climate control is another impressive feature of the sociable weavers' nest. The clever nest design allows the birds to congregate in the structure's…

It's no surprise that drought, scorching heat and other harsh conditions can threaten a plant's survival. Did you know that some plants also face sabotage (deliberate damage or interference) from rival plants in their environment? Let's review the clever tactics some plants use to gain an advantage over their competition. FOES IN THE FOREST Peacefulness and serenity might come to mind when you envision a beautiful forest, but the reality is that there is a constant life-and-death struggle for resources within a wooded area. Trees become competitive in a dense forest, with intense rivalry for sunlight, water and nutrients. Trees focus their energy on growing taller than surrounding trees to maximize their exposure to sunlight and gain an advantage over their neighbours. Some trees, such as oak and hickory, also…

Adaptation is the way a type of animal changes its behaviour or body to improve its chance of survival. Adaptations develop in a species over time. Animals that happen to have traits that help them survive are more likely to have babies. Some of those babies will have the same traits as their parents, and they are also more likely to survive. This happens over and over, and eventually the whole species has those traits. Scientists are still learning about adaptation. Check out these two recent discoveries featuring adapted toes. MEXICAN FREE-TAILED BAT: HAIRY GLOW-TOES The Mexican free-tailed bat has an unusual trait: it has hairy bristles on its toes. But scientists recently discovered something even odder: those bristles glow turquoise under ultraviolet (UV) light! That's a cool discovery, but…

Step 1 Gather two or three books together. Memorize the first word of the first paragraph on page 9 for each of the books. Step 2 Direct your friend to hide these next steps from you! Tell your friend to write down any four digits. e.g. 9743 Step 3 Ask your friend to write a second number using the same 4 digits in any order. Then have them subtract this second number from the first number. e.g. Step 4 "Now add those four digits together!" you will command. Ask if the result is a single digit or a double digit number. If it is a double digit, instruct them to add the 2 digits together. The answer will always be 9. e.g. 5 + 9 + 4 + 9 =…

When Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen travels to the Moon on Artemis II later next year, he will proudly wear something special: a personal mission patch designed by Anishinaabe artist Henry Guimond. LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH PERSONAL MISSION PATCH The heptagonal (seven-sided) patch will adorn the arm of Hansen's spacesuit as a reminder of the Seven Sacred Laws that encourage living in harmony with Mother Earth and with each other. The animals on the badge represent each of the laws: buffalo (respect), eagle (love), bear (courage), bigfoot (honesty), beaver (wisdom), wolf (humility) and turtle (truth). The bow in the patch represents Artemis, the Greek goddess of the Moon. Her arrow launches the astronauts around Grandmother Moon. This journey represents the cycle of life. The Big Dipper and North Star…

THE SCENT OF LOVE "You smell so good." It's a compliment we all love to hear. Fragrance, in the form of perfume or cologne, is often worn to attract a special someone. Scent is powerful. But did you know that this attraction to fragrance isn't exclusive to humans? It turns out, hippos have their own unique approach to courtship. For these massive mammals, romance is all about smell - though not in the way you might expect. When male hippos are looking for a mate, they engage in a rather explosive tactic to attract females. They spin their tails rapidly, which flings their poop and pee all around them. It's their version of a love potion, and it's surprisingly effective. If a female hippo likes what she smells, she'll respond…

MOST HUMANS CAN HEAR BETWEEN 20 Hz (HERTZ) AND 20,000 Hz. ANY SOUND BEYOND THIS RANGE IS TOO LOW OR TOO HIGH FOR US TO HEAR. SOUNDS BELOW 20 HZ ARE CALLED INFRASOUND AND THE SOUNDS HIGHER THAN 20,000 HZ ARE CALLED ULTRASOUND. Have you ever wondered how a dog can hear sounds that are much higher-pitched and much farther away than we can? Before we can learn how dogs hear, we have to understand how our own ears work. The part of the ear that we all see is called the pinna. The pinna acts as a funnel, focusing sounds into our eardrums. Sound waves vibrate your eardrum, which is comprised of three small bones: the hammer, anvil and stirrup. These bones vibrate and cause sound waves to vibrate…

Welcome to sponge cities! Sponge cities are revolutionizing city design by inviting water to slow down and linger. Conventional cities are made of hard materials, such as concrete and asphalt, that repel rain. During heavy rains, stormwater gushes along streets and sidewalks. Sometimes water rises so quickly that cities flood, endangering lives and damaging homes. Sponge cities are being engineered to let rain soak in and then slowly release the moisture when it's needed, like a sponge! HOW DO SPONGE CITIES WORK? Sponge cities take their cue from nature, where water seeps into the ground and fills spaces deep in the soil. Sponge cities use porous paving materials that allow rainwater to drain through streets and sidewalks. Sponge cities collect stormwater in rain gardens and bioswales - engineered depressions and…

LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH WHY BEAR RESEARCH MATTERS Visit a zoo, and you may love watching polar bears as they paddle through a pool or guzzle a fish. Zoos can be important places for polar bear research, too – but observing these animals in the wild is the top way to study how they behave. Gregory Thiemann is a polar bear expert based at Canada's York University. He says polar bear research is important for several reasons. "Part of it is scientific curiosity," he says, "a desire to understand the natural world." The main drive, though, is to help the bears. "We know that sea ice is declining as a consequence of climate change," he says - and sea ice is vital to polar bears when it comes to finding…

Green anoles aren't the only animals that are changing fast. There are signs that some species are adapting to climate change. For example, Australian parrots' beaks, which are used to regulate body temperature by releasing heat, have increased in size compared to 100 years ago. Some bats have increased their wing size, while mice and some shrews developed longer tails - again so they can shed heat more effectively. For young salmon, the timing of their migration to the ocean is crucial as they depend on the life cycle of the species that they eat. Scientists have found that salmon in the North Pacific are changing it up, migrating earlier or later in response to the changing climate. They are also coming back to spawn earlier, before the water becomes…

Guess how much money your friend pulls out of their pocket!* Ask a friend to count the value of some coins and secretly write the amount on a piece of paper. For example, $1.35. Then ask your friend to: *If your friend doesn't have coins in their pocket, offer a pouch or bag of assorted coins and ask them to grab a handful. LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH Step 1 Delete the decimal and double the amount. e.g. (135 × 2 = 270) Step 2 Add the first odd prime number to the new total. e.g. (3 + 270 = 273) Step 3 Multiply the result by ¼ of 20. e.g. (273 × 5 = 1,365) Step 4 Subtract the lowest common multiple of 2 and 3. e.g. (1,365 - 6…

Iron is an important part of our daily diet. Spinach, red meat, salmon, dried fruit, eggs, and legumes (beans and peas) are some of the iron-rich foods that provide your body with the iron it needs. Iron enables your blood to carry oxygen to your brain and other organs. The average healthy person between the ages of 8 and 14 needs no more than 10 milligrams of iron per day. That isn't very much to accomplish such a big job! "You have a magnetic personality." This expression suggests that people are attracted to you, like a magnet. But, can humans literally be magnets? Magnets won't stick to your hands, but the blood in your body is rich in iron. And iron is magnetic. So can we conclude that the iron-rich…

They're like a microscopic herd of space cows. That's how Western University researcher Eric Pilles describes the food he's helping to develop that might one day be eaten by astronauts doing deep-space treks. But don't picture them chowing down on tiny hamburgers or steaks. The product is more like caramel-flavoured yogurt. And it's not made from cows - it's made from microbes. More surprising is what the microbes themselves eat. The answer? Asteroids. Sounds like a weird outer-space movie, but this could one day be how astronauts eat. FROM PLASTIC TO ASTEROIDS Let's take a step back to explain how this microbial meal came to be. It started with plastics. The United States military wanted to find a useful way to repurpose the plastic waste created by troops, such as…

There are many benefits to building cityscapes that take water into consideration: • Sponge cities stay cool-er during hot months, which means a reduction in energy usage. • Sponge cities are less likely to flood, and groundwater is seasonally replenished. • Sponge cities are better prepared to manage the intense storms and withering droughts caused by climate change. • Sponge cities create habitats for plants and animals. • Sponge cities create beautiful spaces for people to enjoy safely.…

With their dragon-like gills, squishy pink bodies, big shining eyes and happy "smiles," axolotls seem to be everywhere in popular culture these days. They are on social media, in toy stores and even in the video game Minecraft. But despite being superstars of the salamander world, they are quite rare in the natural world. Lake Xochimilco in Mexico City, is the only location axolotls may be found in the wild - and even then, only rarely. Pollution, invasive species and destruction of their natural habitat have devastated the axolotl population. It is estimated that there are between 50 to 1,000 adults left in the wild, and the species is considered critically endangered! LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH Similar to frogs, axolotls are amphibians, a class of animals that lay their eggs…

LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH YOU WILL NEED • 2 balloons • Sheet of printer paper • Scissors METHOD Prepare the paper scraps. Cut ¼ of the sheet paper into small 13-millimetre (1½ inch) squares. Charge the balloon. Rub the balloon on your clothes or your hair for 20-30 seconds to generate static electricity. Observe attraction. Hover the charged balloon over the pieces of paper. The pieces of paper should stick to the balloon. This is static electricity. Test repulsion. Rub two balloons against the same material (your clothes or your hair). Slowly bring them close together over the pieces of paper and observe how they repel. Why Does This Happen? Observe as you demonstrate the laws of attraction: • Positive + positive repel (paper jumps off the balloon)…

That heart emoji, used to express love, is everywhere. Which is kind of funny, because your heart is a muscle and not even really heart-shaped! Yet it is often seen as the centre of our being, and of feelings such as love, compassion, and generosity. The Science: The heart is an ingenious pump that circulates your blood throughout your body. This muscle never gets a rest, working even while you sleep. Your heart has a left and right side, separated by a thin wall that runs down the middle. Each side has an upper and lower "chamber," connected by a valve (like two rooms connected by a door that opens and shuts.) The upper chambers are the left atrium and the right atrium. The lower chambers are the left ventricle…

LAUNCH ZAPPAR TO WATCH CODING OBJECTIVE: A fun and random way to calculate the odds of a mutual crush using combinations of the names of friends, pets, or any interesting pairings! YOU WILL NEED: A computer with Google Chrome installed. START HERE • On a Mac: Press Command + Option + J • On Windows: Press Ctrl + Shift + J HOW TO ENTER THE CODE Type the following lines of code one by one. After each line, press Shift + Enter to move to the next line. NOTE Do not type the bolded instructions into the code - just follow the code instructions and go to the next line. 1 LOCATE THE INPUT AREA. Look for the "greater-than" symbol (>) on the console. This is where you'll type your…

You may have heard of clones in movies or on TV. But did you know that clones are all around us right now? Clones are living beings that share the exact same DNA. DNA is a microscopic chain of molecules that forms a code, which is tucked into each of our cells and controls how we look and how our bodies work. We inherit our DNA from our parents. Most animal babies inherit half their DNA from each parent, making the child's DNA code a unique mix of both. In other creatures, babies get all their DNA from only one parent. When a baby has the exact same DNA code as its parent, it is a clone. Cloning is a surprisingly common process in nature. If you look closely, there…