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Science Newsinthe

April 2019

Written by Rhonda Lucas Donald

New Earthquake Alarm App

Now people can get an earthquake alarm for their phone.

An earthquake made parts of this bridge fall down.

P o w e r e d b y , a d i v i s i o n o f L e a r n i n g A - Z

How Hagfish Make Slime

Off-Road Biking for All

New Plant Cleans Air in Houses

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Credits: Front cover (main): © Paul Harris pacificcoastnews/Newscom; front cover (left inset): © Tom McHugh/Science Source; front cover (right inset): © Richard Vogel/AP Images; page 2: © Stocktrek/Stockbyte/Getty Images

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April 2019

Some people in Los Angeles, California, have

a new app on their phone (see cover). The app is called ShakeAlertLA. It can tell people if an earthquake starts near them. Their phone will make noise a few seconds before the ground begins to shake. A few seconds can be enough time to get to a safe place.

Los Angeles has had strong earthquakes in the past. California has about twenty strong earthquakes each year. Strong earthquakes can break bridges, roads, and train tracks. Buildings can fall down, and some people even die. The new app is very important. It sends an alarm when a strong earthquake is coming.

Why does California have so many earthquakes? Earth’s surface may seem like one piece, but it is made up of many pieces called plates. These big pieces of rock move very slowly. Two of the plates meet near Los Angeles. They push on each other because they are moving in different directions. Sometimes the plates move quickly. Each time the plates slip, an earthquake happens.

ShakeAlertLA is the first app that sends earthquake alarms in the United States. People are making the same kind of app for other parts of California. Some people in Mexico and Japan already have apps for earthquake warnings. These apps sometimes send false alarms by mistake. But they also help save lives. ShakeAlertLA can help a lot of people stay safe! v

Earthquakes happen at places called faults. California has a big fault where two of Earth’s plates meet. A lot of earthquakes happen there.

California

San Andreas Fault

San Andreas Fault

SCIENCE in the NEWS

Los Angeles

Earth Science

Earthquake App for Los AngelesEarthquake App for Los AngelesEarthquake App for Los Angeles

Article source: Hagfish slime: Journal of the Royal Society Interface (2019) Article 20180710. Credits: Top main: © Ron Newsome/US Navy/AP Images; top inset: courtesy of Steve Downing/Nikon Small World; bottom: courtesy of Bowhead Corp./Niall Pinder

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April 2019

A man named Christian Bagg loved being outside. He rode his bike in the mountains

near his home. Then he got hurt and could not walk or ride anymore. He missed being outside. So he built a special bike that helps him ride on trails again.

Christian needed a bike for people who cannot use their legs. But he could not find one that could go off-road. He knew how to make machines, so he made his own bike. He used a special printer to make parts out of plastic. Plastic is strong and can bend, so the parts do not break easily.

This kind of bike is now for sale. Many people who cannot walk are using it to enjoy the mountains again. v

Hagfish are strange fish that look like

giant worms. They seem easy to catch. Other fish sometimes try to eat them. But hungry fish should be careful. Hagfish have a secret weapon—slime!

When something bites a hagfish, slime comes out of the hagfish’s body. A small bit of slime quickly turns into a lot of goo. The other fish spits out the goo—and the hagfish.

How can such a small bit of slime grow so quickly? The slime is made up of many tiny pieces. The pieces look like threads rolled up into balls. When the slime goes out, the threads come apart. They stretch out and become much bigger. All of this happens very quickly! v

Hagfish slime starts small but grows very quickly.

close-up photo of thread unrolling

SCIENCE in the NEWS

Life Science

Engineering

How Hagfish Make Slime

Off-Road Biking for All

Article source: Environmental Science & Technology (2019) pp. 325–331. Credit: © Stav Tsap/Shutterstock

Match

ing

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April 2019

Three of the articles talk about how to solve a problem. Draw a line from the problem to how people solved it.

Problems and Solutions

Sometimes harmful gases get into the air we breathe. A new

plant may be able to clean up these gases inside our homes. Engineers made this new plant. They took part of a cell from the liver of an animal. They added this tiny part to cells of the plant.

The liver is an organ. It takes harmful things called toxins out of an animal’s body. But it cannot take toxins out of the air. Plants take in air through their leaves. The engineers made a plant that takes in two toxic gases from the air. The plant turns the gases into something safe.

The new plant is for sale in some countries. But stores in some other countries cannot sell this kind of plant. People want to wait and see if the plant is safe for the environment. v

Answers: 1–C; 2–A; 3–B

SCIENCE in the NEWS

People changed this plant. It can clean up some harmful gases.

Environment

Problem

1. Some people cannot walk on trails.

2. Harmful gases are inside some homes.

3. Earthquakes can hurt people.

Solution

A) Add liver parts to a plant.

B) Make a smartphone app.

C) Build a special bike.

New Plant Cleans Air in Houses