newsademic issue 245 b

19th March 2015British English edition

Issue Number 245

In this issue

Terrorist attack in TunisFeast of Saint PatrickBest Teacher in the worldNetanyahu wins againCoffee researchFirebombing anniversaryBattle coin withdrawnCorruption demonstrationsin Brazil

Yellowstone spring going green

Eagle descent filmedFewer marine creaturesPi DayVan Gogh fadingMissing plane updateCervantes foundBedlam excavation startsSolar power flightDawn and CeresChameleon colours explained

Glossary Crossword andWordsearch Puzzle

Satellite image showing the eye of Cyclone Pam, on 13th March, above Vanuatu (purple outline) (NOAA)

A powerful cyclone struck the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu on 13th March. With wind speeds of over 250 kilometres (155 miles) per hour, the storm wrecked houses, ripped up trees and ruined food crops. Some weather experts said it was the most destructive cyclone to hit the Western Pacific for over 30 years.

Vanuatu is an archipelago, or group of islands. When seen from above, Vanua-tus 82 islands form a large Y shape. The island nation has several active volca-noes. Long ago, erupting volcanoes cre-ated many of the countrys islands. Their coastlines have little shallow water. So the surrounding seas are very deep. Va-nuatu has frequent earthquakes.

The first European to land on the is-lands was a sea captain from Spain. His ship arrived about 400 years ago. The sea captain named the largest island Austri-alia del Espiritu Santo (the Australian

Land of the Holy Spirit). This island is still called Espiritu Santo. In the 1700s the islands were taken over by the British and the French. By this time, the archi-pelago was known as the New Hebrides. This name came from a group of islands called the Hebrides in Scotland, or the northern part of the UK.

Unusually, the British and French agreed to run the islands jointly. This con-tinued until 1980. Then, the islands be-came an independent nation. Its name was changed to Vanuatu. Today, Vanuatu has a parliament, president and prime minister. The parliament building is in Port Vila, the countrys capital city. Vanuatus pop-ulation is around 267,000. Sixty-five of the countrys islands are inhabited. Port Vila is home to 47,000 people.

Cyclones are storms that bring pow-erful winds and heavy rainfall. Similar storms in the Atlantic and eastern Pacific

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Oceans are called hurricanes. In South East Asian countries, these devastating storms are known as ty-phoons. Cyclones are those that de-velop in the Indian Ocean and western Pacific, around the Australian coast.

Meteorologists are scientists who study the weather. A cyclone, hurri-cane or typhoon begins with what meteorologists call a tropical dis-turbance. This is a cluster or group of thunderstorms above a warm area of water. The surface seawater, under the thunderstorms, starts to evaporate. This creates clouds and transfers heat energy into the air. The extra heat in the air encourages more and more warm, moist air to blow in from the surrounding area.

As this outside air moves to-wards the tropical disturbance, it be-gins to curve, or spiral. This change in direction is caused by the rotation, or spin, of the Earth. Energy from the incoming spinning air builds up in the centre of the tropical distur-bance. This causes a drop in air pres-sure. The lower air pressure makes the winds go even faster. Once they reach a certain speed, the tropical disturbance becomes a cyclone. It then starts to travel across the sur-face of the sea. Meteorologists say that roughly 7% of tropical distur-bances become cyclones. Those that dont turn into big storms, weaken and disappear.

Cyclones have an eye. This is a central area of low pressure. Within the eye, it is very calm. Yet the winds swirling around it are the deadliest part of the storm. The eye of a cyclone usually has a diameter of about 40 kilometres (25 miles). Yet some can be far bigger than this. In the western Pacific, most cyclones develop be-tween the months of November and April. This time of the year is often called the cyclone season.

Soon after a tropical disturbance becomes a cyclone, it is given a name. The storm that hit Vanuatu was Cyclone Pam. Similar to hur-ricanes and typhoons, there are five categories of cyclones. These de-pend on the storms wind speeds. Category 1 is the least powerful and 5 the most. Weather experts of-ten give two wind speeds for these storms. One is sustained and the other gusts. Sustained winds con-stantly blow for at least ten minutes. Gusts last for about 60 seconds.

VANUATU

PACIFICOCEAN

NEWZEALAND

Path ofCyclone Pam

AUSTRALIA

Just before Cyclone Pam struck Vanuatu its wind speeds were re-corded. The storms sustained winds were blowing at 250 kilometres (155 miles) per hour. Its gusts were as high as 270 kilometres (165 miles) per hour. This meant Pam was a Cat-egory 5 cyclone. After passing over Vanuatu, the storm headed south to-wards New Zealand. By the time it reached the countrys North Island, it had lost most of its strength.

Many people in Vanuatu live in houses made from wood and palm leaves. Sheets of tin, or corrugated iron, are used for the roofs. Most of these homes were flattened by the winds. Over 90% of the buildings in Port Vila were either badly damaged or destroyed. Many thousands of

trees were blown down. The heavy rains caused flash floods that dam-aged roads and washed away bridg-es. Many people in Vanuatu catch fish. Their boats were wrecked. Local officials estimate that over 100,000 people living on the islands are now homeless.

Vanuatus islands are spread over a wide area. Most travel between them is by boat. After the storm passed, there was no way of com-municating, or finding out, what had happened on many islands. In these places people eat what they grow. So their food stocks have probably been destroyed.

A few days after the storm, aid workers from other countries began to arrive. Military transport planes from Australia and New Zealand brought water purification kits, tents, blankets, food, medicines, chainsaws, and electricity genera-tors. Aid workers said that supplies of food and fresh water would be the biggest problems.

It is not known how many people died in the storm. Some reports said 44 people had been killed. Local of-ficials expect this number to rise. Cyclones are not uncommon in this part of the world. Like other nearby island nations, Vanuatu has special-ly built cyclone shelters. These are made out of concrete. Most people knew in advance that a cyclone was likely to hit the islands.

On the day that Cyclone Pam struck, Baldwin Lonsdale, Vanua-tus president, was in Japan. There, he was taking part in a United Na-tions (UN) conference on preparing for natural disasters. Mr Lonsdale described Cyclone Pam as a mon-ster and a devastator of our coun-try. He said the storm had destroyed all the development that has taken place in Vanuatu in recent years.


TUNIS MUSEUM ATTACK

In the evening of 18th March, Beji Caid Essebsi, the president of Tunisia, spoke on live television. Earlier in the day, two gunmen, or terrorists, had attacked the Bardo National Museum in Tunis, the countrys capital city. Mr Essebsi declared that his country was now in a war with terror.

The Bardo National Museums building is a 150-year-old palace. It is not far from the Tunisian Par-liament building. The museum is well-known for its Roman statues and other artefacts. It has the larg-est collection of Roman mosaics in the world. Nowadays, the Tunisian government encourages tourists to come to the country. Many of those that do, visit the museum.

The gunmen began firing at tourists who were getting off a bus near the museums entrance. Poli-ticians in the parliament building were told to leave. They could hear the gunfire and thought it was an attack on the parliament. To get away from the shooting, the tour-ists ran into the museum. The at-tackers followed.

Barjo National Museum in Tunis

Specially trained soldiers and police surrounded the building. The stand off or siege lasted for three hours. The soldiers managed to get inside the building and kill the two gunmen. Many people trapped in the museum were freed.

However, 20 tourists lost their lives. They came from Japan, Po-land, Colombia, Spain, Australia, France, Italy, and the UK.

Beji Caid Essebi, president of Tunisia

Its not known who the gunmen were. However, many people be-lieve that they belonged to a group known as the Islamic State (IS). This organisation is also known as ISIL or ISIS. Currently, this militant Islamic group occupies large areas of Syria and Iraq. Over the last 12 months many young men from Tunisia have travelled to Syria to join the IS. The groups leaders say they want to set up a separate state or caliphate. Within this state, eve-ryone would have to obey very strict Islamic laws. In recent months, IS groups have been set up in Lib-ya. This country shares a border with Tunisia.

Four years ago there were large street demonstrations in Tunisia. The protesters wanted the coun-trys president, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, to resign. Mr Ben Ali had ruled Tunisia for over 20 years. Because of the protests, Mr Ben Ali decided to leave the coun-try. Similar protests against long serving leaders then began in oth-er Arab counties such as Egypt, Yemen, Libya, Bahrain, and Syr-ia. These demonstrations became known as the Arab Spring. So the Arab Spring began in Tunisia.

Over the last four years there have been several elections. Law-makers have written a new constitu-tion. This is the set of rules by which a country is governed. Tunisia now has an elected president, prime min-ister and parliament. So far, of all the Arab Spring countries, Tunisia has been the most successful.

After the attack on the museum, many people came out on to the streets. They were angry about what had happened. Thousands crowded around the museum. They waved flags and lit candles. In his televi-sion address, Mr Essebsi said that the terrorists do not frighten us and that democracy will win and it will survive.

SAINT PATRICKS DAY

St Patricks Day, also known as the Feast of Saint Patrick, is on 17th March. People in many different countries cele-brate this day. In several cities there are large parades. For some it is an important religious day on which they attend special church services.St Patrick is the patron saint of Ire-land. A patron saint is one chosen to represent a particular group of peo-ple or a country. The island of Ireland is made up of the Republic of Ireland (an independent country, commonly known as Ireland) and Northern Ire-land, which is part of the UK.

St Patrick was a Christian saint. This means he was someone who has been officially recognised as a very holy person by the Roman Catholic Church. Even though there are many legends about St Patrick, he was a real person. He is believed to have lived sometime between the years 380 and 460.

Shamrock


Its thought that St Patrick was born in Britain. When a young man he was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave. He eventually escaped and returned to Britain. Later, he became a priest. He then went back to Ireland to teach the people living there about Christianity.

Green Leaning Tower of Pisa on St Patricks Day

One of the most famous legends about St Patrick was that he ban-ished all the snakes from Ireland. Today, a few types of snakes live in the UK, but there are none in Ireland. One symbol of St Patricks Day is the shamrock, also known as a clover. Each stem of this small plant has three leaves. Stories about St Patrick say he would use the shamrock as a symbol to teach peo-ple about Christianity. Christians are taught there is one God, but that He has three parts: the Father (God), the Son (Jesus Christ) and the Holy Spirit. The three-leaved shamrock is used as a symbol of this belief, which is known as the Holy Trinity.

St Patricks Day is celebrated in many places. This is because, throughout history, people from Ire-

land have travelled to other countries and settled. These countries include: New Zealand, Australia, the Carib-bean, North and South America, and the UK.

Tens of thousands of Irish peo-ple emigrated during the 1800s. They did this in the hope of finding a better place to live where they could get a job and earn a living. In the 1800s there were several famines in Ireland, so many people chose to leave.

The ancestors of millions of Americans and Canadians came from Ireland. There are about 80 million people, in many different countries, of Irish descent. Their an-cestors left Ireland between the late 1700s and early 1900s. These peo-ple are known as the Irish Diaspora. Today, the population of Ireland and Northern Ireland combined is only about 6.5 million.

The colour green is associated with St Patrick and Ireland. In Ire-land people began wearing green ribbons and shamrocks on St Pat-ricks Day hundreds of years ago. Nowadays, many well-known mon-uments are lit up in green after the Sun has set on St Patricks Day. This year the Great Pyramid and Sphinx in Egypt, the Colosseum, in Rome, and the Leaning Tower of Pisa, in Italy, all turned green.

Many cities around the world or-ganise annual St Patricks Day pa-rades. The largest is in New York, in the USA. In Chicago, another American city, dye is put in the river that flows through the centre. This turns the river bright green. The water in the fountain in front of the White House, in Washington DC, is also dyed green as part of the St Patricks Day celebrations. The White House is the home of the American president.

FIRST GLOBAL TEACHER PRIZE

A special ceremony was held in Dubai on 15th March. A new annual prize was awarded. Called the Global Teacher Prize, it was won by Nancie Atwell. Ms Atwell is a teacher from the USA.

The award was made during the annual two-day Global Education and Skills Forum. This large meet-ing, or conference, was first held in 2013. Around 1,000 people from 50 countries were invited to this years forum. All work in education. The or-ganisers of these conferences believe that education and employment are human rights.

Some people have described the conferences as the Davos of Educa-tion. Each year, the World Economic Forum (WEF) meets in a small town in Switzerland called Davos. Nowa-days, this annual meeting is usually called Davos. The bosses of the worlds biggest companies, econo-mists, environmentalists, religious leaders, politicians, and heads of state are invited to Davos. They spend four days sharing ideas and discussing possible solutions to the worlds problems.

The Global Education and Skills Forum is a partnership between sev-eral organisations. They include the United Nations (UN), the Ministry of Education in the United Arab Emir-ates (UAE) and a company called GEMS Education. The UAE is made up of seven emirates. Each has its own sheik, or leader. Dubai is one of the UAEs emirates.


The GEMS Company is based in Dubai. It operates 130 schools in over ten countries. GEMS also pro-vides advice and educational services to many governments. Sunny Varkey founded the company in 2000. Mr Varkeys parents moved from India to Dubai in 1959. His father worked for a bank. In his free time he and his wife taught local people, and members of the emirs family, how to speak English. Later, they opened a school. Mr Varkey took over from his mother and father in 1980. He then began to open more schools in Dubai and other countries.

The ten Global Teacher Prize finalists

Mr Varkey is now a wealthy man and an educational philanthropist. A philanthropist is a person who gives some of their money away to help others. Mr Varkey set up the Varkey Foundation. This is a charity. It helps to build schools and classrooms and train teachers in poorer countries.

At last years conference, Mr Varkey announced that his Founda-tion would set up a new prize for teachers. The award, he said, would be for the best teacher in the world. Winners would receive a prize of US$1 million (680,000). Mr Var-key wants the award to be a Nobel Prize for teaching. Nobel Prizes are very prestigious. Each year they are awarded for: medicine, literature, chemistry, physics, and peace.

Over 5,000 teachers were nomi-nated for the first Global Teacher Prize. A panel of judges made a

shortlist of ten finalists. All were invited to the award ceremony. The finalists came from Haiti, Kenya, Cambodia, (three from) the USA, Afghanistan, India, Malaysia, and the UK. The judges then selected Ms Atwell as the winner.

Ms Atwell has been teaching for 40 years. In 1990 she set up a school called the Center for Teaching and Learning. She then introduced new ideas for the teaching of reading and writing. At Ms Atwells school every room has a library. Each stu-dent reads 40 books every year. Ms Atwell declared that she would give the prize money to her school.

NETANYAHU WINS

An election for the Knesset, or Is-raels parliament, was held on 17th March. Benjamin Netanyahu has been Israels prime minister since 2009. The election result means he will continue to lead the country. Yet this will not be confirmed for two or three weeks. This is because Mr Netanyahu needs to make coali-tion agreements with several other smaller political parties.

Israel has a president and a prime minister. The current president is Reuven Rivlin. The Israeli president is head of state but has few powers. The prime minister runs the country. He or she is usually, but not always, the leader of the political party that has the most members, or seats, in the Knesset.

The Knesset has 120 seats. For the government to get laws passed, more than half of the Knessets members have to vote for them. No single party has ever won more than half the Knesset seats. So one of the leading parties always needs the sup-port of one or several smaller parties.

When parties support each other in this way it is called a coalition. In Israel the ruling coalition needs a minimum of 61 Knesset seats.

Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel

Israel has an election system called proportional representation (PR). This means that the number of seats a party gets depends on the number of people that vote for it throughout the whole country. Any party that gets more than 3.25% of the total votes will get at least three seats in the Knesset. In the recent election ten parties got over 3.25% of the votes.

Mr Netanyahu is the leader of Li-kud. (In Hebrew, Likud means the consolidation.) Before the elec-tion, many people predicted that he would lose. They said the Zionist Union would get the most seats. The Zionist Union is a coalition between the Israeli Labor Party and a smaller party called Hatnuah. Isaac Herzog leads this coalition. Many people expected him to be Israels next prime minister. However, after all the votes had been counted, it was confirmed that Likud had more seats than any other party. It got 30. The Zionist Union came second with 24.

For over 60 years there has been a conflict between Israel and the Pal-estinians. When the state of Israel was set up in 1948, with help from the USA and the United Nations


(UN), many Palestinians lost their homes and lands. Over the years this problem has led to many outbreaks of fighting and several wars.

Some people believe that the only way this problem can be solved is whats known as the two state so-lution. This means the land would be divided between Israel and a new state of Palestine. Yet there are many difficult problems to solve such as where the borders would be.

Knesset building, Jerusalem

In Israel some political parties support a two state solution. They believe that talks should be held with Palestinian leaders to arrange this. Mr Herzog and other members of the Zionist Union are in favour of a two state solution.

Others, such as Mr Netanyahu and Likud, dont want a two state solution. They argue that talks with the Palestinians have been tried in the past and failed. Mr Netanyahus new coalition will probably include smaller parties that also disagree with a two state solution.

COFFEE STUDY

Coffee is believed to be the worlds most popular drink. Its estimated that about two billion cups of coffee are drunk every day. People have different opinions about coffee. Some say drinking coffee is good for a persons health. Others argue that it is bad. Researchers in South

Korea have recently completed a new study. The results suggest that drinking coffee may help prevent heart disease.

Coffee is made from coffee beans. These beans are really seeds. They come from a plants fruit, or berries. Coffee plants are described as being small trees or large shrubs. The evergreen plants usually grow to a height of three metres (ten feet). They begin to produce fruits when about four years old. The plants then continue to do this for about 60 years. It takes nine months for the fruits to ripen.

Nowadays, coffee plants are grown in over 50 countries. There are two main types of coffee bean. These are called Robusta and Ara-bica. Plants that produce Robusta beans grow best at low altitudes. Arabica bean plants prefer higher altitudes. About 80% of the worlds coffee is made from Arabica beans.

Coffee plants only produce ber-ries in warmer weather. Most are grown within 1,610 kilometres (1,000 miles) of the Equator. Around two-thirds of the worlds coffee beans come from Central and South American. The main coffee growers are Brazil, Colombia and Vietnam. Brazil produces around 30% of the worlds supply.

Coffee drinking is known to have started in Ethiopia. There is a legend about its discovery. In the story a goatherd notices something unusual about his animals. If the goats eat berries from a certain tree they seem to have more energy. Whats more, after eating these ber-ries they dont want to go to sleep at night.The goatherd spoke with an abbot, who lived in a nearby mon-astery. The abbot made a drink out of the berries. He discovered that it kept him alert and awake during

the long hours of evening prayers. The abbot told all the monks about his new drink. Coffee drinking then spread to the Arabian Peninsula.

No one knows if this story is true. However, coffee plants are native to Ethiopia. So this is probably where coffee originally came from. Its known that Arab people in Yemen were growing and trading coffee beans in the 14th century. Within the next hundred years, coffee had become popular in Egypt, Persia (or modern-day Iran), Syria, and Turkey.

By the 17th century coffee was being drunk in Europe. In larger cities in the UK, France, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands coffee houses were popular. People went to them to meet and talk with oth-ers. In London, the capital of the UK, there were 300 coffee houses. Growing coffee became a way of making large amounts of money. Dutch traders took coffee plants to what is now Indonesia. The French and the Portuguese began growing coffee in the Caribbean and Central and South America.

Coffee berries (Jean-Marie Hullot)

The researchers in South Korea were studying types of heart disease. Blockages in a persons arteries can lead to a heart attack. Tiny deposits of calcium on artery walls can cause these blockages. Thousands of peo-ple took part in the study. Each had their arteries scanned. They were also asked questions about their life-styles. The researchers discovered


that people who drank three or more cups of coffee every day seemed to have fewer calcium deposits in their arteries.

FIREBOMBING ANNIVERSARY

On 10th March, Shinz Abe, the prime minister of Japan, and several hundred other people took part in a special service. It was held in Tokyo Memorial Hall. This hall was built as a memorial to people who died in past disasters or catastrophes. The memorial service marked the 70th anniversary of the firebombing of Tokyo during the Second World War (1939 1945). This was the most destructive, or deadliest, bombing raid in history.

In the early 1930s Japan occupied the northern part of China. Its army then began to take over other parts of the country. Japanese air force planes bombed several large cities. Thousands of Chinese civilians were killed in these bombing raids. Then, in 1941, Japan launched a surprise attack on the American naval base at Pearl Harbour, in Hawaii. This at-tack marked the start of the Second World War in the Pacific.

During the next four years Japa-nese forces occupied several other Asian countries. These included Malaysia, Burma (now also known as Myanmar) and the Philippines. However, by 1944 the Japanese navy had lost a number of impor-tant sea battles. American forces captured several Pacific islands not far from Japan. Now, planes flying from these islands could bomb Ja-pans larger cities.

In the early hours of the morn-ing on 10th March 1945 over 300 American planes attacked Tokyo, Japans capital city. The planes were

carrying a new type of incendiary bomb. The bombs contained a jelly-like substance called napalm. They were designed to explode a few sec-onds after hitting the ground. When this happened, burning bits of na-palm were sprayed over a wide area.

Area of Tokyo after firebombing

The planes dropped 120,000 bombs on the city. At that time, most buildings in Tokyo were made of wood. The city burst into flames. The napalm created whats known as a firestorm. The burning city pulled, or sucked, air in from surrounding areas. This created a powerful wind that blew everything towards the flames.

The fires killed 100,000 peo-ple. Most were women, children and the elderly. One million survi-vors were left homeless. After the bombing raid on Tokyo, 66 other Japanese cities were firebombed. Five months after the Tokyo raid, American planes dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hi-roshima and Nagasaki. A few days later Japans leaders admitted defeat and surrendered.

Nowadays, many people in Japan know nothing about the firebomb-ing of Japanese cities. Even though more people died in Tokyo than at Hiroshima and Nagasaki, what hap-pened is rarely talked about. Some people say that the firebombing of Tokyo has been overshadowed by the two atomic bombs.

General Curtis LeMay was the commander of the American planes that firebombed the Japanese cit-ies. Later, he said that if the USA had lost the war, he would probably have been tried for war crimes.

WATERLOO COIN WITHDRAWN

The European Union (EU) has 28 member countries. Nineteen use the euro as their currency. These nations are often called the eurozone. One side of euro coins all look the same. Yet, each eurozone country selects its own designs for the coins other, or flip, sides.

Eurozone countries are also al-lowed to design special 2 coins. These can commemorate an impor-tant historical or current event. For example, what we now call Italy used to be made up of many separate regions or areas. Some were small kingdoms. Others were Papal States. These were mostly controlled by the Roman Catholic Church, although foreign countries ruled a few. In 1861 all these kingdoms and Papal States united to form one country, or Italy. In 2011, the Italian government produced a 2 coin to commemorate the countrys 150th birthday.

Lions Mound at Waterloo (Jean-Pol Grandmont)

Designs for these special 2 coins have to be sent to the EU for approv-al. This year is the 200th anniver-sary of the defeat of Napoleon Bona-partes French army at Waterloo.


This famous battle took place in Belgium. The Belgian government decided to design a commemorative Battle of Waterloo 2 coin. Yet when the design was sent for approval, Frances EU ministers rejected it.

Napoleon Bonaparte (1769 1821) was a military and political leader. He ruled France from 1804 to 1814, and again for around three months in 1815. When he took over in 1804, Napoleon crowned himself Emperor of France. The following year he also became King of Italy.

Many historians believe that Na-poleon was one of the best military commanders ever to have lived. He led his armies to victories in several European countries. In 1812 Napo-leon invaded Russia. His army was successful at first. Yet after occupy-ing Moscow, the Russian capital city, Napoleon and his army were forced to retreat. The following year Napo-leon lost the Battle of Leipzig (also known as the Battle of Nations). In 1814 he was forced to stand down as Frances leader. Napoleon was sent to live on a small island in the Medi-terranean Sea, called Elba.

However, within 12 months Na-poleon had escaped and returned to France. He immediately raised a powerful new army. In 1815 Na-poleons army crossed into Bel-gium. There, at Waterloo, it met a British-led army that included Ger-man, Dutch and Belgian soldiers. A separate army from Prussia helped them. (Then, Prussia was a German kingdom in northern Europe.) The French army was beaten. This time, as a punishment, Napoleon was ex-iled to the remote, small island of Saint Helena. This island is in the Atlantic Ocean, off the west coast of Africa. Napoleon died on Saint Helena in 1821, aged 51.

The design of Belgiums 2 Wa-terloo coin showed the Lions Mound and a plan of the battle. Today, many people visit the Waterloo battlefield. A large earth mound, with a lion stat-ue on top dominates the surrounding area. It was built soon after the battle. The mound is supposed to mark the place where a member of the Dutch royal family was wounded.

Many people were surprised that the Waterloo coin design was reject-ed. The French ministers insisted that it would annoy or upset people in their country. To avoid further problems, the Belgian government agreed to withdraw its proposal for the coin.

CORRUPTION PROTESTS IN BRAZIL

Tens of thousands of people took part in demonstrations in Brazil on 15th March. The protesters were complaining about government cor-ruption, or dishonesty. Many were demanding the impeachment of the countrys president, Dilma Rouss-eff. Impeachment is when a senior official is accused of a crime. If guilty, they have to resign. They may also be given a prison sentence or other punishment.

Demonstration outside the National Congress building in Brasilia (Jos Cruz)

The demonstrations took place in several cities. The biggest was in So Paulo, Brazils largest city. The organisers claimed that one

million demonstrators took part. In Brasilia, the countrys capital, a large crowd gathered outside the National Congress (or parliament) building. Many of the demonstra-tors wore yellow and green. These are the colours of Brazils flag and its popular football team. All the protests were peaceful.

Dilma Rouseff, president of Brazil

Ms Rousseff is a member of the Workers Party. This is one of Brazils largest political parties. Ms Rousseff was first elected as the countrys president in 2010. In Brazil presidential elections are held every fours years. Last Oc-tober, Ms Rousseff was re-elected as president for another four-year term. However, the number of peo-ple who voted for her this time was much less than in 2010.

Recently, there have been allega-tions of corruption at a large Brazil-ian oil company called Petrobras. This is a state-run company, so the government controls it. For many years the government has given some of its supporters senior well-paid jobs at Petrobras.

Recently, one of Petrobrass bosses was arrested. He told the police that government-appointed people at Petrobras were receiving unlawful payments. These came from building and engineering


firms that work for Petrobras. Petrobras frequently asks these firms to work on large projects. Be-fore work begins, the firms have to tell Petrobras the price. The firms bosses would deliberately increase, or inflate, this price. The govern-ment supporters at Petrobras then chose the firms to do the work. In return, the firms gave these people the money that they had increased their price by.

Last month, 23 people from Petrobras and the Workers Party were arrested. Lawyers say that over the last 10 to 15 years construction and engineering firms have paid US$800 million (542 million) to government supporters working at Petrobras. The lawyers believe that these people kept some of this mon-ey and gave the rest to the Workers Party. This type of corruption, or dishonesty, is known as bribery.

In 2010, Ms Rousseff took over from Luiz Incio Lula da Silva. President Lula (as he was com-monly known) also led the Workers Party. He had been Brazils presi-dent for the previous eight years. Ms Rousseff worked closely with President Lula. For five years she was his energy minister.

Between 2003 and 2010 Ms Rousseff was in charge of the meet-ings that senior Petrobras bosses attended. However, she insists that she did not know about the bribery. Those taking part in the protests do not believe her.

Two days before the protests, people who support Ms Rousseff and the Workers Party held much smaller demonstrations. The organ-isers of the impeachment dem-onstrations say that they are plan-ning an even bigger protest. This is expected to take place on 14th April.

FADING GLORY?

Morning Glory is the name of a well-known hot spring, or thermal pool. The spring is in the Yellowstone Na-tional Park, in the USA. Nowadays, the pools water is a yellowish-green colour. Yet it used to be a brilliant bright blue. Researchers are trying to work out what can be done to stop, or reverse, this colour change.

Yellowstone Park was set up in 1872. It is thought to be the worlds first national park. Yellowstone cov-ers a large area. Most of it is in the state of Wyoming. The park also extends into Idaho and Montana. Large herds of bison and elk live in Yellowstone. It is also home to griz-zly bears and wolves.

Part of Yellowstone is above whats known as a geological hot-spot. This means the area often has volcanic or earthquake activity. Large areas of the park can even move up and down by a few centi-metres. This depends on the pressure of the magma, or hot liquid rock, in the large chamber below the ground. There are frequent earthquakes, but most are not very powerful.

Morning Glory pool as it used to be

Volcanic activity does not always mean volcanic eruptions. In part of the park, hot water and steam erupt from the ground. These are known as geysers. The most famous is called Old Faithful. At regular in-tervals, this geyser forces out a jet of hot water. The stream of water

rises 40 metres (130 feet) in the air. Old Faithful is one of more than 300 geysers in Yellowstone Park.

The Morning Glory hot spring was named after a type of blue flower. In the past the spring has erupted as a geyser a few times. This only seems to happen if there is some nearby earthquake activ-ity. Usually, the springs water is still and very clear. Certain types of bacteria caused the pools original bright blue and surrounding yellow colours. These bacteria liked the springs warm water.

Morning Glory pool today

Fifty years ago around one mil-lion people visited Yellowstone each year. A wooden viewing platform was set up near to the hot spring. To-day, the number of visitors is three times as high. Most go to see Morn-ing Glory. Over the years, some visitors have thrown things into the pool. These include lucky coins, rocks and other debris.

The researchers say that these items are now blocking passage-ways, or vents, deep in the pool. The water is kept warm by heat rising up through these vents. The blockages have therefore altered the springs temperature. Cooler water means that tiny, plant-like microorganisms are able to live in the pool. Before, the water was too warm for them to survive. The researchers say these new microbes are the reason why the spring has turned a yellowish-green colour.


Some people have suggested that all the coins and other debris should be removed from the bottom of the pool. However, the research-ers are not sure what will happen if this is done. It may not change the colour back to bright blue. The researchers are now trying to work out how differences in light, tem-perature and microbes change the colour of the water.

Park officials say the number of visitors to Morning Glory may have to be restricted. Some visitors have begun to call the pool Fading Glory.

EAGLE FLIGHT RECORDED

The Burj Khalifa is in Dubai. It is the worlds tallest building. On 14th March an Imperial eagle was released from the top floor of the building. After circling a few times, the large bird flew down to its trainer, or handler, on the ground below. The eagle had a small light-weight camera strapped on its back. So its descent from the skyscraper was recorded.

Dubai is one of seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The others are Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain, Ras al-Khaimah, and Fujairah. Abu Dhabi is the largest emirate.

There are two types of Impe-rial eagles, the eastern Imperial eagle and the Spanish Imperial eagle. The eastern Imperial eagle is found in south east Europe and the western part of Central Asia. However, in Europe this eagle is now in danger of becoming extinct. The Spanish Imperial eagle is also endangered. Nowadays, it is found only in south west Spain and parts of southern Portugal.

The eagle that flew down from the Burj Khalifa is called Darshan. It belongs to an organisation called Freedom Conservation. This organi-sation is based in western France. It was set up in 2006. Freedom Con-servation breeds endangered eagles. It then tries to reintroduce them to parts of Europe. To do this the or-ganisation has to teach the birds how to survive in the wild.

There is a tradition of hunting with falcons in the UAE. Like ea-gles, falcons are birds of prey. How-ever, eagles are bigger and more powerful than falcons. The Crown Prince of Dubai heard about the work done by Freedom Conserva-tion. He invited some of its workers to Dubai. The Crown Prince wants to make people in Dubai more aware of the need to protect falcons and other local wildlife. In Dubai he introduced Freedom Conservation to people from the Sony Company. Sony is a well-known electronics maker that is based in Japan.

Darshan with handler, Burj Khalifa in background

White-tailed eagles used to live in the Alps in Switzerland and France. The Alps are a large Euro-pean mountain range. Now these ea-gles are found only in northern Eu-rope and northern Asia. In Europe, most of these eagles live in Norway. Freedom Conservation is hoping to reintroduce white-tailed eagles to the Swiss and the French Alps. To teach survival skills to eagles bred in captivity, Freedom Conservation

wants to film the way the birds fly and hunt. Sony agreed to design a lightweight camera that could be fit-ted to the back of an eagle. The cam-era weighs 300 grams (10.6 ounces).

The flight from the top of the Burj Khalifa was arranged to high-light the need to protect many eagle species. Last year, Darshan flew from several other high buildings. These included the Eiffel Tower, in Paris, the capital of France, and St Pauls Cathedral, in London, the UKs capital city. However, at 829.8 metres (2,722 feet), the Burj Khalifa is much taller. Freedom Conserva-tion said that the eagle had complet-ed the highest ever bird flight from a man-made structure.

WORMS LIST

WoRMS stands for World Register of Marine Species. This organisa-tion was set up in 2008. It is based in Ostend, a coastal city in Belgium. The organisations job is to keep a register, or database, of all known organisms that live in the seas and oceans.

Scientists called taxonomists classify living things into groups, or types. This is called taxonomy. Liv-ing things are put into large groups called phyla, then classes, orders, and families. Next comes the genus, and within that the species.

Around 200 taxonomists work for WoRMS. When a species is dis-covered it means that researchers have spent time studying and de-scribing it. They decide which other species it is related to, and note its physical characteristics. They also study the organisms behaviour. This includes how and what it eats, how it reproduces and the habitat in which it lives.


In the past there were several lists of marine species. Scientists at WoRMS have been checking these different lists. They have discov-ered that they contain thousands of duplicates. This means that many marine organisms have been dis-covered and named at least twice. Recently, WoRMS announced that it had found 190,000 duplicates, since it started work seven years ago. These have now been deleted from its register.

Nowadays DNA tests are eas-ily done. This means that the DNA of specimens that look similar can be checked. If the results are the same, they are not separate species. One example of a marine creature taken off the register is a type of octopus. It was discovered in 1941. The octopus was given the name Octopus rooseveltii. It was named after Franklin D Roosevelt (1882 1945). Then, he was the president of the USA. However, the scientists discovered that Octopus rooseveltii was the same as another octopus. Called Octopus oculifer, this one had been registered in 1904.

Rough periwinkle

The marine creature with the most number of entries was the rough periwinkle. This type of sea snail has a shell about ten mil-limetres (0.4 inches) long. It is found around the shores of the

North Atlantic Ocean. The scien-tists at WoRMS discovered that the rough periwinkle had been registered 113 times. It was first identified in 1792. The later, or subsequent, 112 registrations have now been deleted. Rough periwin-kles have many different colours and shapes of shell. This probably explains why people thought they were different species.

Blackeye goby

Officials at WoRMS believe that they have now deleted most of the duplications. Now, anyone who thinks they have discovered a new marine species can check one com-plete, accurate database. Currently, there are 228,450 marine species registered on the WoRMS list.

Since the organisation was set up, about 1,000 types of fish have been added to its register. These in-clude 122 new sharks and rays. Over 130 new members of the goby fam-ily have also been registered. These small fish live on the seabed. There are over 2,000 species of goby. Most are less than ten centimetres (four inches) long.

Officials working for WoRMS believe that laboratories around the world are holding 10,000 possible new species. Kept in jars, these are waiting to be classified. Last year, about four new marine species were named, or identified, every day. The officials think that at least two mil-lion marine organisms are yet to be discovered.

PI DAY

Pi Day was on 14th March. Many mathematicians and physicists cel-ebrate this annual event. Anyone who has studied mathematics will know pi () and what it stands for. Some people described this years 14th March as a once-in-a-lifetime Pi Day, or Pi Day of the century.

Pi is used in many formulae. It is often needed to solve science and engineering equations. Both the Ancient Egyptians and Babylo-nians are thought to have known about pi. William Jones, a math-ematician from the UK, was the first to use the letter pi to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to its diameter. He did this in 1706. Jones chose pi because it was the first letter in the Ancient Greek word for perimeter.

If you multiply the diameter of a circle by pi, you get its circumference. Even though most people use 3.14 for pi, it is a number with endless decimal places. Pi is equal to 3.141592653... the digits never end. Like infinity, pis decimal places go on forever.

Pi Day was first celebrated in 1988. It was organised by an Ameri-can physicist called Larry Shaw. He worked at a museum of learning in San Francisco. Pi is a pun or hom-ophone. It sounds like the English word pie. Whats more pies are often circular. On 14th March 1988, Mr Shaw asked museum staff and visitors to walk around in circles. Then, as a reward, he gave each of them a piece, or slice, of fruit pie.

Mr Shaw chose 14th March as Pi Day because of the American style of writing dates. The figures 3.14 can represent the 14th day of the third month (or March). This year was a once-in-a-lifetime Pi Day because it is 2015. Therefore,


on 14th March the date was 3.14.15. On this day, there were two times (morning and evening) when the time was 9 (hours): 26 (minutes): 53 (seconds). Then, the figures for the date and time were 3.14.15.92653, or pi to ten places. This will not hap-pen again for one hundred years.

Pi pie

Princeton, in the USA, is one place that organises Pi Day events. Albert Einstein (1879 1955) taught at Princeton University for over 20 years. His birthday was on 14th March. Einstein was a German-born scientist. He is often described as a genius and the father of mod-ern physics. On Pi Day, events at Princeton often include: who can re-member, or recite, the most digits of pi, an Einstein look-alike contest and pie eating competitions.

In recent years some mathematicians have argued that pi should be replaced by something they call tau. Tau is twice as big (or 2), so it is approximately 6.28. Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alpha-bet. Pi is the 16th. The Greek letter tau was chosen for its similar shape to pi. Tau is the figure you get if you divide a circles circumference by its radius.

The mathematicians who want to replace pi with tau claim pi is not a natural number. Pi, they say, is not wrong, its just that it is the wrong number to be linked with the prop-erties of a circle.

These mathematicians claim that pi causes unnecessary confusion. For example, many mathematicians do not measure angles in degrees. Instead they use radians. There are 2 radians in a circle. So a quar-ter of a circle has a quarter of 2 radians, or half of pi. But it then becomes difficult to work out the number of radians in three quarters of a circle.

Tau, the mathematicians explain, is much simpler. A circle has tau ra-dians; a semicircle half tau radians, a quarter of a circle quarter tau, and so on. Using tau, they argue, would make it easier for students studying maths. Those who prefer tau cel-ebrate Tau Day on 28th June.

FADING VAN GOGH

Scientists working at the University of Antwerp, in Belgium, have been studying a painting by Vincent van Gogh. They believe they have dis-covered why bright, or vivid, reds in some of van Goghs pictures are fading, or turning white.

Vincent van Gogh (1853 1890) was from the Netherlands. He was an unusual artist for his day. Van Gogh liked to use very bright col-ours, especially yellows. During his lifetime van Gogh was not well-known. He suffered from anxiety and mental health problems. Art experts say van Goghs work in-fluenced many famous artists who lived after him.

Van Gogh never had much money. He didnt sell any of his

paintings. Its said that he did swap one picture for some food and other things. (Nowadays, van Gogh pictures sell for many mil-lions of dollars.) His brother, Theo, lived in Paris, the capital of France. They frequently wrote letters to each other. Van Gogh relied on his brother for money and help with his mental problems.

Wheat Stack Under Clouded Sky, by van Gogh

Van Gogh spent the last years of his life in the city of Arles, in the south of France. He moved there for the warmer weather. Van Gogh hoped it would improve his health. Most of the pictures he produced in Arles were painted outdoors. In this part of France the sunlight is very strong. This, art experts say, is why these pic-tures have even brighter colours.

Hundreds of years ago artists usually made their own paints. They, or their helpers, would grind different coloured minerals into powders. The first manufactured paint in squeezable tubes was pro-duced in the 1840s. This meant it was easy for artists to buy the paints they needed. As he had little money, van Gogh normally bought the least expensive paint. He wrote about buying cheap paints in a letter he sent to Theo.

Tau


This map shows countries to which news stories refer in this issue. Visit www.newsademic.com for more detailed world maps.

Vanuatu

USA

UK

UAE

TUNISIA

SWITZERLAND

SaintHelena

SPAINSOUTHKOREA

THE

NET

HER

LAN

DS

MALAYSIA

MADAGASCAR

JAPANISRAEL

IRELAND

FRANCE

ETHIOPIACOLOMBIA

BRAZIL

BELGIUM

A few years ago researchers looked at the type of yellow paint van Gogh used. Called chrome yel-low, it was also used by many other artists. Van Gogh used bright yel-lows for his sunflower paintings. Today, these pictures are some of his most famous. The researchers were puzzled. Van Goghs yellows seem to be fading more than other artists chrome yellows.

The researchers examined paint from a 150-year-old tube of chrome yellow. They said a chemical re-action called oxidation explained some of the change in colour. Both sunlight and ultraviolet (UV) light help start this chemical reaction. However, the researchers also dis-covered that two chemicals, sul-phur and barium, made this colour change greater.

In van Goghs time, sulphur and barium were used to make a type

of white paint. Van Gogh would mix this white paint with chrome yellow. He did this to make the yellow look even brighter. This, the researchers said, is why van Goghs yellows are fading more than those of other artists.

The scientists in Antwerp took a tiny whitish fleck of paint from a van Gogh picture called Wheat Stack Under Clouded Sky. Using a high-powered X-ray device, they discovered that it contained red lead. Van Gogh probably used this type of red paint because it was less expensive.

The scientists say that direct light breaks down the paints red lead. It turns it into two chemical compounds. These then react with carbon dioxide in the air. This reac-tion creates two separate chemicals. Both are white. Therefore, some parts of the Wheat Stack Under

Clouded Sky picture, such as the leaves floating in the pond, used to be a reddish colour.

Art experts often say that people need to try to imagine how bright van Goghs paintings were. Several art museums are now making use of digital technologies. These can show what certain pictures looked like when the artists painted them.

MISSING PLANE REPORT

On 8th March officials in Malaysia published a 600-page report. It was about Flight MH370. The report was released on the first anniversary of the disappearance of the Malay-sia Airlines passenger plane. For the last 12 months several ships have been searching for the plane in the southern Indian Ocean. Yet, so far, nothing has been found.


On 8th March last year, MH370 took off from Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia, in the very early hours of the morning. Twelve crew members and 227 passengers were on the aircraft. The pilot and co-pilot were in charge. The flight was go-ing to Beijing, Chinas capital city. Two-thirds of the passengers were Chinese. Others came from Malay-sia, Indonesia, Australia, India, the USA, and nine other countries.

Not long after the plane left Kua-la Lumpur, the pilot spoke to Ma-laysian Air Traffic Control (ATC). He said good night Malaysian three seven zero. The plane was about to leave Malaysian airspace. Its flight path would then be above Vietnam. The pilots were supposed to contact Vietnamese ATC. They never did.

Sometime later, Malaysian ATC realised that the plane had not en-tered Vietnamese airspace. The pilots had not sent an emergency call. The weather was fine. At first, it was thought that MH370 must have crashed into the South China Sea. Ships and rescue planes searched for floating wreckage. Nothing was found.

Malaysian Airlines passenger plane similar to the one that went missing 12 months ago

Then, a few days later, Malaysian officials made two surprising an-nouncements. Military command-ers in Malaysia had checked their radar recordings. Just before enter-ing Vietnamese airspace, the plane made a sharp, unexpected turn to the

left. Two communication devices on board had been switched off. If they were turned on, it may have been possible to track the plane.

CHINA

VIETNAM

MALAYSIA

AUSTRALIA

Beijing

KualaLumpur

First search area

Secondsearcharea

INDIANOCEAN

Planned route

Detected by radar

Slower speed route

Faster speed route

Flight MH370

Perth

Later, information recorded by a satellite, high above the Earth, showed that the plane continued to fly for seven hours. It had enough fuel to travel for eight hours. After studying the satellite information, experts worked out that MH370 flew south. They declared that it must have eventually run out of fuel and crashed into the southern Indian Ocean.

Planes and ships from several countries started to search several areas of ocean. The search opera-tions have been organised from the city of Perth by Australian officials. Surprisingly, after 12 months, no floating wreckage from the plane has been found.

It is very unusual for a large pas-senger plane to disappear. Many questions are difficult to answer: Why did the plane lose contact at the exact place where Malaysian air-space ends and Vietnamese airspace begins? Why did the plane suddenly turn left? Who switched the com-munications systems off? Why did

the plane fly to one of the worlds most remote ocean areas?

Some people believe that there are only two possible explanations. Yet both seem very unlikely. One: there was a sudden accidental de-compression. As the oxygen ran out, the pilots and passengers became unconscious. The plane then flew on autopilot until all the fuel was gone. Two: one of the pilots decided he wanted to die. When alone in the cockpit, he turned off the oxygen in other parts of the plane. Everyone except him became unconscious. He then flew the plane south, knowing that it would run out of fuel. After landing on the sea, the plane sank. (This could explain why no floating wreckage has been found.)

The report says the plane had a few minor technical problems. However, these would not cause the plane to decompress or change direction. The report also examines the lives and lifestyles of the pilot and co-pilot. It says that there were no personal reasons why either of them would want to kill themselves.

If no wreckage is found on the seabed or floating in the sea, the mystery of what happened to Flight MH370 may never be solved. Many have described it as the most puz-zling disappearance in history.

CERVANTES FOUND

For the last 12 months, research-ers in Spain have been searching an old convent. This building is in Madrid, Spains capital city. The researchers were looking for the bones of a man who died 400 years ago. Recently, they found the re-mains of a wooden casket, or box. The letters MC were marked on it. On 17th March the researchers


announced that the box contained what they were searching for: the bones of Miguel de Cervantes.

Miguel de Cervantes (1547 1616) is best known as the man who wrote Don Quixote (pronounced don kee-ho-tay). This book was published in two volumes in 1606 and 1615. Literature experts say it was the first modern novel. Some believe that the book is one of the greatest works of fiction ever pub-lished. Don Quixote has been trans-lated into at least 60 languages.

In the book Cervantes makes fun of knights, heroes and chivalry. The main character is a middle-aged man. He reads lots of books about chivalry. He starts to believe that he is a knight called Don Quixote de La Mancha. He also thinks he loves a princess. Don Quixote persuades a local man, called Sancho Panza, to be his servant. With an old horse and donkey, they set off on a num-ber of adventures.

Portait of Miguel de Cervantes

The two men get into many dif-ficulties. Don Quixote lives in an imaginary world. Honour is very important. Those around him, like his servant, live in the real world. However, the more illusions Don Quixote has, the more people close to him are drawn into his strange world. In one famous scene, Don Quixote thinks some windmills are giants. He tries to fight them.

The word quixotic comes from the book. It is used as an adjective to describe something that is un-realistic, or something that cannot be done. Tilting at windmills is a phrase that means to attack, or argue against, something that doesnt ex-ist. In Cervantess time, knights on horseback used a long spear-like weapon called a lance. Attacking another horse rider with a lance was known as tilting.

Painting of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza

As a young man Cervantes was in the Spanish army. During a naval bat-tle in 1571 he was shot in the chest. He also injured his left hand. Pirates from Algeria held him for five years after they captured his ship. Later, he was put in prison several times be-cause he could not repay the money he had borrowed. Don Quixote only became a popular book a few years before Cervantess death. So he did not make much money from it.

Before he died aged 69, Cer-vantes asked to be buried in the con-vent. This was because the people who worked there had given some money to the pirates. After this ran-som was paid, the pirates agreed to release him. Many other people were buried in the convent. Yet it was not known where Cervantes was buried.

The researchers used a special device. Called ground penetrating radar, it could see below the con-vents stone floor. They found a long lost underground crypt beneath one

of the convents rooms. The wooden casket was discovered in one of 33 niches in a wall of the crypt.

A new tomb for Cervantes will now be built in the convent. It will be officially unveiled, or opened, next year. This will be the 400th an-niversary of Cervantess death. The city of Madrid will pay for the tomb. Officials believe the discovery of the famous authors bones will en-courage more people to visit the city and the convent.

BEDLAM BURIAL GROUND

Sixty archaeologists have begun working at a site near a large rail-way station in London, the capital of the UK. They plan to dig up, or ex-cavate, over 3,000 human skeletons. Its known that this site was an old cemetery, or burial ground.

The cemetery has been uncov-ered by the construction of a new railway line. Called Crossrail, it is one of the largest construction pro-jects in Europe. The new railway is 118 kilometres (73 miles) long. It will open in three years time. The part that goes through the centre of London is under ground. This means that large tunnels have to be dug. These are beneath some of the oldest parts of London.

The Romans founded the city of London about 2,000 years ago. High walls, made from stone, enclosed it. The Romans called the city Lond-inium. Later, many churches were built in the city. By the 1560s the cemeteries close to these churches were full. It was decided to open a burial ground just outside the city walls. The place chosen was a cem-etery used by the Bethlehem Hos-pital. This was made into a much larger burial ground.


The Bethlehem Hospital had been set up in 1247. By the 1460s people with mental problems, or the insane, were kept there. Local people called the hospital Bed-lam. (The name Bethlehem became Bedleheem. This was then short-ened to Bedlam.) Today, in English, the word bedlam means uproar, confusion or madness.

The Bedlam burial ground was used for about 200 years, or from the 1560s to the 1760s. During this time London became one of the big-gest cities in the world. It was the capital of an expanding empire. After the burial ground was closed, houses were built over the top of it.

Hundreds of years ago there were a number of plague outbreaks in Europe. One in the 1340s became known as the Black Death. Most scientists believe the disease was caused by a bacterium called Yers-inia pestis. They think rats and fleas spread the plague. Humans may have caught the disease from the bites of fleas that lived on infected rats.

In the 14th century, the Black Death is believed to have killed 50 million people in Europe. Then, this was about 25% of the population. People who caught the plague had large painful swellings on their bod-ies. The skin around these swellings turned black. (This is why it was called the Black Death.) Some re-covered, but most died several days after falling ill.

There was another serious plague outbreak in London in 1665. Known as the Great Plague, it killed at least 100,000 people. Many of these plague victims were buried in the Bedlam cemetery. After taking DNA from the teeth of these skel-etons, scientists plan to study the Y. pestis bacterium. They will compare their results with DNA taken from

the teeth of people who died from the Black Death in the 14th century. This will show how the plague bac-terium changed, or evolved, over 300 years.

Excavation at Bedlam burial ground

The archaeologists must com-plete their work by September. They plan to work in shifts, 16 hours a day, six days a week. After all the bones are removed, a new railway ticket office will be built on the site.

Crossrail is the UKs largest ar-chaeology project. Along the route of the new railway, archaeologists have made many discoveries. These include hundreds of skeletons, Ro-man coins, an ancient pathway from the Bronze Age, and the 38,000-year-old bones of a woolly mammoth.

SOLAR CIRCUMNAVIGATION

An unusual plane took off from Abu Dhabi on 9th March. The flight was the start of a record-breaking at-tempt to circumnavigate, or fly all the way around, the world using solar power. The plane, called Solar Impulse 2, flew towards the east. It landed in Muscat, the capital of Oman, ten hours later. This was the first stage, or leg, of the 35,000-kil-ometre (21,750 mile) journey.

The solar-powered plane was built about four years ago. Its wing-span, or distance from wingtip to wingtip, is 72 meters (236 feet).

This is similar to a large passen-ger planes wingspan. Yet the body of Solar Impulse 2 is small. Inside the cockpit there is room for only one person.

Solar Impulse 2 weighs about 2.3 tonnes. This is roughly the same weight as a medium-sized family car. On top of the planes wings and body are 17,000 solar cells. These capture energy from the Sun, which powers the aircrafts four propeller engines. The solar cells are able to store some energy. This means the plane can keep flying at night. Its top speed is about 80 kilometres (50 miles) per hour.

The plane has two pilots, Andr Borschberg and Bertrand Piccard. Both men are from Switzerland. During the circumnavigation, the two men will take turns to pilot, or fly, the single-seater plane. Mr Borschberg started the Solar Im-pulse project over ten years ago. His idea was to build a plane that would be able to fly around the world using solar power.

Solar Impluse 2

The flight from Abu Dhabi to Muscat was not Solar Impulse 2s first. In 2013 the plane made its first international flight. It flew from Switzerland to Belgium. Soon af-terwards the solar plane completed its first journey between continents. Then, Solar Impulse 2 travelled from Madrid, Spains capital (in Eu-rope), to Rabat, Moroccos capital city (in Africa). This flight took just


over 19 hours. Solar Impulse 2 has also flown across the USA.

The pilots have divided the jour-ney into 12 stages. After crossing the Arabian Sea to India, the plane will fly to Myanmar (also known as Burma) and China. Halfway across the Pacific Ocean, it will stop in Ha-waii. There will be several landings in the USA. After flying over the Atlantic Ocean, there will be a few stops in southern Europe or North Africa. Where the plane lands may depend on winds and weather. The pilots hope to arrive back in Abu Dhabi in July. Total flight time is expected to be 25 days.

The longest leg is between China and Hawaii. This distance is about 8,500 kilometres (5,270 miles). It is expected to take five days. The pilots say staying awake and be-ing in the small, cramped cockpit for a long time will be difficult. Mr Borschberg and Mr Piccard have done some special training. It included yoga and self-hypnosis. They have been taught how to sleep for 20 minutes but wake up feeling refreshed. During sleep time the plane will fly on autopilot.

Mr Borschberg says Solar Im-pulse 2s circumnavigation will help to promote the use of sustainable, or green, energy. He believes that bet-ter solar-powered planes, which can carry more people, will be built in future.

DAWN AND CERES

On 6th March Dawn finally reached a dwarf planet called Ceres. Dawn is an unmanned spacecraft, or probe. The probe immediately began to circle, or orbit, the dwarf planet. Ceres is the asteroid belts largest space object.

The asteroid belt is between Mars and Jupiter. It is a region where there are many bits of rock, or rub-ble. These were leftover when the planets in our Solar System first formed 4.6 billion years ago. This ring, or belt, of bits of rock stretches all the way around the Sun.

Pieces of rock in the asteroid belt range from a few hundred kilome-tres across to ones the size of a speck of dust. The four largest objects are Ceres, Vesta, Pallas, and Hygiea. Ceres is 972 kilometres (604 miles) across. It is big enough to be called a dwarf planet. Vesta is 530 kilo-metres (330 miles) wide. It, Pallas, and Hygiea are what are known as proto-planets.

Ceres and the three proto-planets were discovered over 150 years ago. Then, it was thought that they, and the asteroid belts other space rocks, were the remains of one or two planets. Either one planet had been ripped apart, or two had collided and broken up into many pieces. However, its now known that this is not true.

Ceres dwarf planet showing two bright spots

Scientists worked out that the as-teroid belt does not contain enough material to make a planet. If all the pieces of rock were merged into one large one, its total mass would be roughly 4% of that of the Moon. By

itself, Ceres would be one-third of the total. Scientists believe that as-teroid belt rocks are ones that never became part of the larger planets when they formed. This means that Ceres (and everything in the aster-oid belt) dates back to the beginning of the Solar System.

Dawn is a NASA (National Aero-nautics and Space Administration) space mission. The spacecraft was launched 7.5 years ago. It took four years to get to Vesta. Dawn then spent 14 months mapping and photograph-ing the surface of the proto-planet. At the end of 2012 the spacecraft left Vesta. It then headed for Ceres.

Vesta proto-planet

Unlike Vesta, its thought that Ceres is not all rock. Scientists sus-pect that it contains a 100-kilometre (62 mile) thick layer of water-ice. If true, at least one quarter of Ceres is frozen water. As Dawn approached the dwarf planet, it took a surprising photograph. Two very bright spots can be seen in the picture. One is brighter than the other. Both are in a 92-kilometre (57 mile) wide crater.

The two spots puzzle scientists. Some think that they are volcano-like mountains erupting ice. Yet NASA scientists think this is un-likely. They believe that the bright lights are reflections of the Suns rays. Some minerals called silicates can reflect up to half of the light that shines on them. The bright spots


might be sunlight reflecting off minerals, which are normally below Ceres surface. Yet, what exposed them is not known. Dawns forth-coming photographs and recordings should answer these questions.

Dawn has enough fuel to orbit Ceres for about 14 months. After this it will shut down. The dead or tumbling spacecraft will then con-tinue to circle Ceres in perpetuity, or forever.

CHAMELEON COLOURS

Chameleons are famous for being able to change colour. Researchers from Switzerland have been studying one type of chameleon. Called the panther chameleon, it can quickly change into many bright colours. The research-ers believe that they have worked out how the chameleons do this.

Female panther chameleon (B Navez)

There are about 160 species of chameleon. Not all have the ability to change to bright colours. Some species only turn a black, brown or a tan-like colour. However, many others produce patterns of different bright colours. These can include pink, green, red, yellow, brown, pur-ple, aqua blue, turquoise, dark blue, and white.

Chameleons live in Madagas-car, Africa and the southern parts of Spain, Italy, Greece, the Mid-

dle East, and India. Most are tree dwellers. About half of the worlds chameleons live on the island of Madagascar. Chameleons vary in size. The smallest, called the pyg-my leaf chameleon, is only three centimetres (1.2 inches) long. The Malagasy giant chameleon is the largest. It grows to 70 centimetres (26 inches) in length. Both these spe-cies live in Madagascar.

Chameleons have very good eyesight. Their eyes can look in different directions at the same time. They rotate and swivel, or pivot, independently of each other. With almost 360 vision, the lizards are able to see two objects at the same time. The toes on their feet are designed to grip small branches and twigs. To help their balance, chameleons will curl their tails around branches.

Most chameleons are omnivores. They eat both meat and plants. The lizards feed on leaves, berries, fruits, flying and crawling insects, worms, and snails. The larger ones also eat small reptiles. Chameleons have very long tongues. These are usually twice the length of their bodies (not includ-ing their tails). The lizards catch their prey with their tongues. These un-furl, or come out of their mouths, in a fraction of a second. Chameleons can catch insects that are quite far away. The speed of their tongues mean their prey has no time to escape.

Female chameleons lay eggs. They come down from the trees and dig a hole in the ground. Some species will lay two to four eggs in the hole. Others may lay as many as 100. Depending on the species, the eggs can take be-tween four months and two years to hatch. After the baby lizards emerge from the eggs, they have to look after themselves.

Other tree-dwelling animals, such as certain snakes and birds, prey on chameleons. The lizards can hide by matching the colours of their sur-roundings. However, this is not the main reason for their colour changing ability. Chameleons use different col-ours to communicate with each other or change their body temperature.

The lizards produce different colour patterns for different moods. Bright colours may show that a chameleon is angry. Other colours might be used to attract a mate. If the lizard is too cold, it may turn a dark colour. This will help it absorb heat and warm its body. If it wishes to cool down, a chameleon will turn a lighter colour.

The researchers discovered that the panther chameleon has a lattice, or grid, of very tiny crystals (called nanocrystals) in a layer of cells. This layer is just beneath the lizards skin. The tiny crystals reflect light. Nor-mally, they are evenly spaced. The space between the crystals affects the lights wavelength. To change its col-our, the chameleon alters the spacing between the nanocrystals. It does this by stretching or relaxing its skin. As the spacing changes, so does the re-flected lights wavelength. It is these changing wavelengths that create the chameleons changing colours.

Newsademic.comEditor: Rebecca Watson

Acknowledgements:

News story photographs by gettyimages

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ISSUE 245 GLOSSARY PUZZLE

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ACROSS 2 Verb Made visible or uncovered 4 Adjective Describes something that is admired and

respected 10 Noun (Plural) Statements that are sometimes true and

sometimes untrue 12 Adjective Able to continue successfully over a long period

of time 13 Noun (Plural) Pictures or designs made of small pieces of

coloured stone or glass 15 Noun Being in a trance or sleep-like state of mind 17 Noun Relieving air pressure 19 Noun The system of values (such as loyalty, honour and

helping the weak) that knights in the Middle Ages were expected to follow

20 Noun A boundary line, or the area just inside the boundary

DOWN 1 Noun (Plural) Two or more identical things 3 Verb Overlooks or looks down on 5 Noun The act of making something stronger or more solid 6 Noun (Plural) Disasters, often things that happen

suddenly and cause a lot of suffering or damage 7 Noun The removal of harmful substances from

something 8 Noun (Plural) Images that are false or not real 9 Noun Forever, or never ending 11 Adjective Designed to cause fires 14 Noun Scattering of people who used to belong to one

country or region 16 Noun Scattered fragments of rock or wreckage 18 Adjective Used in names of animals and plants that are

much smaller than other similar ones


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