Planex News

You probably don’t realise it, but almost every day (when you’re not in lockdown) you go to school to do six hours of hard work, with no wage. Is this fair? Should schoolchildren be slaves to their teachers, or should they be paid like an adult? YOU decide, in this week’s big debate. Comment 'Yes' or 'No' below!

We all know about donuts - rings of bread, usually covered with different icings, or mabye even sprinkles. The donut to a scientist is ‘the edge’ of human food, and no food could be more ansintoformosed - or weirder in the common tongue. New-to-science Bevel Astronu has explained to many universities and museums in England that there could be other foods out there - infinite combinations and flavours. And then, 3 years after telling the cleverest minds that a simple  donut was not the end of foods, he decided to start his experiments. He started 20 years ago and has finally finished his massive discovery. It is all written down on various sheets of paper and in complicated language, but our team at Toby News have manage to simmer it down to just three quarters of an article. “We live a new age - one of seven boundaries of the seven foodstuffs of  the seven planets revolving around eating. I call these limits the Phosferacational Layers, one that humanity has not ...

The Magna Carta is a royal charter of rights (a document that is signed by a king or queen) agreed to by King John of England at Runnymede, near Windsor, on 15 June 1215. Although it is written in an early form of Latin, there are a few full-english translations such as this one: JOHN, by the grace of God King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitaine, and Count of Anjou, to his archbishops, bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justices, foresters, sheriffs, stewards, servants, and to all his officials and loyal subjects, Greeting. KNOW THAT BEFORE GOD, for the health of our soul and those of our ancestors and heirs, to the honour of God, the exaltation of the holy Church, and the better ordering of our kingdom, at the advice of our reverend fathers Stephen, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of all England, and cardinal of the holy Roman Church, Henry archbishop of Dublin, William bishop of London, Peter bishop of Winchester, Jocelin bishop of Bath and Glastonbu...

History has lots of mysteries that have never been solved. Wether it is the distant past or as recent as WWII, you never run out of questions to ask when you study this bizarre topic. The Bermuda Triangle Since humans just started to be able to read and write, vehicles have gone missing inside the Bermuda (or Devil’s) Triangle. Numerous reports of planes, boats, rafts - and evening people - going missing inside this area of sea have confused scientists, historians and investigators for centuries. Just what is so special about this mysterious patch of ocean? It is very mysterious as no scrap parts, dead bodies, or any objects suggesting that a plane crashed here. Adding to this, planes wouldn’t actually be able to crash, as there is no land in or anywhere near the Bermuda Triangle.   Since humans just started to be able to read and write, vehicles have gone missing inside the Bermuda (or Devil’s) Triangle Reports of vehicles suddenly going out of control are very popular around the...

There’s no use sugar coating it: According to one scribe in medieval England, A.D. 1110  was a “disastrous year.” Torrential rainfall damaged crops, there was an extreme shortage of food — and, as if that wasn’t bad enough, on one fateful night in May, the moon simply vanished from the sky. “On the fifth night in the month of May appeared the moon shining bright in the evening, and afterwards by little and little its light diminished,” the scribe wrote in the Anglo-Saxon script known as the Peterborough Chronicle. “As soon as night came, it was so completely extinguished withal, that neither light, nor orb, nor anything at all of it was seen. And so it continued nearly until day, and then appeared shining full and bright.” Clouds weren’t the problem; if they were, the scribe would not go on to describe how bright and twinkling the stars appeared while the moon faded from view. Nor was the moon being blocked from view by Earth’s shadow — if it was, the skywatcher would have seen the...

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a Victorian engineer who was one of the main architects of Britain’s industrial revolution. He was famous for his leading work on both Britain’s railways and ships; building railways and designing bridges, tunnels, viaducts and passenger ships. He built lots of bridges not just in London, but all across Britain. These included The Clifton Suspension Bridge (412m), The Royal Albert Bridge (667m), Maidenhead Railway Bridge (128ft), Wharncliffe Viaduct (270m), Winsor Railway Bridge, Gatehampton Railway Bridge, Moulsford Railway Bridge, Avon Bridge and Bishop’s Bridge. Here are some amazing facts about Isambard Kingdom Brunel: Isambard Kingdom Brunel was born on 9th April 1806, to a French father, Marc Brunel, and an English mother, Sophia Kingdom. He was educated in Normandy and England, with his parents giving him the best opportunities possible to learn the skills of an engineer. He completed an apprenticeship as a clockmaker. In 1822, Isambard took on his fi...

When you eat ice cream or something cold, you will probably experience brain freeze. It happens when you gulp a cold substance too quickly for your brain to cope with. Brain freeze is a way of telling your body to slow down and take it easy. It doesn’t feel particularly nice, but at least it works. Here’s how it happens: when you slurp up a really cold drink or eat ice cream too fast you are rapidly changing the temperature in the back of your throat, which feeds blood to the brain.  The brain can’t actually feel pain despite its many sensors, but actually brain freeze occurs on the outer layer of brain tissue, where the throat meets. When the cold hits, it causes a strange feeling which is what causes the pain you feel when you get brain freeze.

A few issues back, we had an Atlantis competition where you had to send in what you thought happened there. Comment what you think here!

The Yellow Boxfish (Ostracion Cubicus) is a member of the Boxfish family and grows to no larger than 45cm. Divers can find these fish as deep as 40 metres, however they tend to spend most of their time in the shallower and warmer parts of the world’s oceans like the Pacific Ocean, Indian Ocean and also parts of the south eastern Atlantic Ocean. Boxfish tend to spend most of their days on the reef, their main diet is algae, small invertebrates, worms, crustaceans and sponges for example.     Using its puckered lips, it blows small bursts of water at the corals and sand to reveal anything that might be hiding. The Yellow Boxfish is in fact, a yellow, box-shaped fish – who would have guessed it? It is a bright yellow colour with black spots, which helps them to survive by telling nearby predators that they are poisonous. However, as they begin to mature, the number of spots decreases and the yellow blends into almost a dirty, mustard colour. It’s not just the colours that ch...

Geckos are small lizards that usually live in the jungle. They are only one among many species like Komodo Dragons, Vivipar Lizards, Green Lizards, Sand Lizards and hundreds more reptiles. In warm countries, where most geckos live, there are lots of houses that get annoying insects. Geckos sometimes come into people’s houses, and they are happy to have them there, because geckos eat the insects. Like chameleons, geckos have the ability to change colour to whatever they want. This can help them blend in to the surroundings and stop predators from spotting them. This also includes hunters who sell their scales for a lot of money. Scientists do not know how they do this. Most suggest there is a special organ in their body that stores chemicals and then, in a spraying-like action, it sends them up a tube which opens in a small whole in their body and it changes a colour when released to sunlight. Adding to this, their tongues are actually longer than their body! Yes, you heard that right -...

In the Kamchatka Peninsula of far east Russia, there lies a coral reef formally known as the valley of death. Surrounded by seas that are very cold and are almost frozen all year round, there are dozens of mini volcanoes crammed into one space it has got the nickname ‘Land Of Fire And Ice’.  However, there is more to Kamchatka than its wild beauty - in the shadow of one of one of its fiery volcanoes, called Kihpinych, there is a small, narrow valley - that animals enter - but never leave. The Valley Of Death was first discovered in 1975 by volcanologist Vladimir Leonov. At first, Vladimir thought is was just a normal coral reef, but as he explored further, strange icy clouds and a number of dead animals drew him in. Nobody had properly explored them before, so it was a complete surprise to him. But, just as he feared, there were hundreds of dead animals with blood dripping down their head that had been perfectly preserved by the ice. What was even more strange is that they don’t se...

Many companies like SpaceX have tried (but failed) to send rovers and robots to Mars, also known as the Red Planet. But now NASA is going to move forward with their new Mars rover. Just like Solar Orbiter, Perseverance promises to ‘touch the Red Planet’, with a whole heap of hi-tech technology on board. The mission takes the art of space travel further as the whole point of the mission is to see whether life existed on Mars, or even see if microbial life exists NOW. It does this by searching for habitable conditions or dips in ground level where water could have thrived millions of years ago. Perseverance introduces a fast moving, hi-tech drill that can bore into the ground. It sends a message to the ‘brain’, which sends ANOTHER message to the arm, which picks the sample up and stores it in a drawer which will later be examined back on a Earth. Bigger samples or samples that share too heave will be left behind a special rock which future humans will pick up on a future mission. There a...

In Hucknall, Nottinghamshire we go past a theme park testing facility, a local told us. Here, they test exciting rides to see if they are safe before they are shipped all across the world. These, of course, are the latest rides available and I’m sure they will thrill and excite even more than they used to. In 15th century Russia, people would slide down wooden slopes covered in ice. Fast forward four centuries, this sort of entertainment was found in Paris, but with some simple modifications, like adding wheels. Later on, in the 19th century, there was machinery in place that would pull the cars to the top of the track. The first ever modern rollercoaster was revealed to the public in 1884 in the US. Although this only went up to speeds of 6mph, it still entertained people. The revolution in rollercoaster history happened when people decided to use metal instead of wood. Steel, the metal they used, is more aerodynamic, is stronger, and can cope with much faster and more forceful moveme...

Ancient civilisations around the globe have made many petroglyphs (huge drawing on the ground). But what do they all mean? Did aliens come down to ancient peoples and tell them to create them? As many mainstream archaeologists continue to say they just made them, no reason, Toby Parry-Russell investigates. Most petroglyphs and other huge drawings of its type are carved into usually the desert floor. The most-used technique is to carefully rub away the the darker sand to reveal the lighter sand underneath. When this is repeated in various shapes, it can form amazing patterns and picture most people will never be able to do even in their wildest dreams.  Most petroglyphs show images of the so-called ‘gods’. Usually as figures, the ‘gods’ look like humans except with strange features, like strange hair, small heads, strange scaly skin or something else. For example, among the Nasca lines of Peru - an array of strange petroglyphs, there stands two figures. The first one’s name translat...

Parrotfish are more than just ordinary fish. As well as being able to create pyjamas for itself, it can also help create coral reefs! Living alongside many other fish, such as clownfish and stonefish, the parrot fish may seem ordinary. But in reality, it anything but. One of it’s amazing powers includes creating ‘pyjamas’. It essentially vomits out a thick protective mucus that coats its body and stops predators from picking up its scent Night-night, parrotfish! Adding to this, they can also change from male to female! It might sound impossible, but the parrotfish thinks not. Scientists, don’t know how this happens though; maybe they can’t change! Why do white sandy beaches look so nice? Probably not because they are actually made of parrotfish poo! Yep, you heard that right - they can also help to form coral reefs!  As remarkable coral reef residents, these superheroes of the sea can come in many different colours and sizes. Their front teeth are fused together to make a beak, and...

Inexplicable noises, spectral sightings, glowing orbs - something very strange is going on at the British Museum. But what? That is exactly the question investigative reporters are asking themselves as piles and piles of ghostly sightings appear on their desks. But what is all the commotion? No-one really knows... When the heavy, bolted gates of the museum are shut, after the last members of  the public have left, the British Museum undergoes a swift change. This grand place is the most popular tourist attraction in the whole of Britain, and without a constant stream of people coming in, the huge, glass dome fades to a whisper. A thick silence fills the cavernous galleries and corridors that surround it. By night, most of the lights have been extinguished, as the security guards carry out most of their duties by torchlight. So, ghosts are free to roam about. To go around the entire museum, you have to open and close 3,000 doors. Some of them are really heavy and hard to open. But o...

I bet you’ve all heard of the delicious drink cola. It has so much sugar that your mum or dad has probably banned you from drinking it. But what if I was to say that you could put all that sugar to good use? Yep. It’s a bit messy, but it’s worth it! Get a big bottle of cola (Diet Coke works best) and put it in an area of your garden where nothing will get damaged. Then, get a pack of mentos (and a few extra, just in case) and open the lid of your cola. Carefully, place the mentos inside and run at least a metre away. Watch as the cola explodes up into the air, but prepare to clean up aftarwards! Now we’ve had our fun, time for the science bit. A carbonated beverage is packed full of dissolved carbon dioxide gas, which forms bonds with water. While the soda is in the bottle, the gas is kept in solution by the bottle’s pressurized conditions. When you pour some soda into a glass, some gas escapes and forms foam, but most stays trapped by the surface tension of the water. But all those ga...

The methods of embalming, or treating the dead body, that the ancient Egyptians used is called mummification. Using special processes, the Egyptians removed all moisture from the body, leaving only a dried form that would not easily decay. It was important in their religion to preserve the dead body in as life-like a manner as possible. So successful were they that today we can view the mummified body of an Egyptian and have a good idea of what he or she looked like in life, 3000 years ago. Mummification was practiced throughout most of early Egyptian history. The earliest mummies from prehistoric times probably were accidental. By chance, dry sand and air (since Egypt has almost no measurable rainfall) preserved some bodies buried in shallow pits dug into the sand. About 2600 B.C., during the Fourth and Fifth Dynasties, Egyptians probably began to mummify the dead intentionally. The practice continued and developed for well over 2,000 years, into the Roman Period (ca. 30 B.C.–A.D. 364...

“Oh, you don’t know what you just did...” said one of the moon-buggy drivers after the death of General Wheat. “Kill your leader?!” Thomas laughed. Dawn made some doggy-chuckle sound, which was more of a ‘woof-woof-woof’. With that, the drivers opened a secret hatch in their buggies. Out came a huge yellow laser, with various attachments on it. Tom tried to escape, but an invisible force held him back. “Finding yourself  stuck?!” chuckled the fusilli. The one carrying the laser pointed Thomas at a Martian cave, and it shot the man over there. Dawn was shot into another cave. Hopeless, Tom sat down. Suddenly, he heard a clang behind him. He turned round, only to see a Martian! “Doing what are you here?” said the suprised alien. “Cute! A little Yoda!” replied Thomas. “Yoda not I am.” said the Martian. “OK, then... I’ll call you Gunky!” said Tom. “Name like Gunky I!” “That’s good. But, I’m trapped in here. Can you help?” replied Thomas. “Gunky help I can. Me follow.” With that, the tw...

On stormy days, you should probably expect lightning. But what is lightning? You’re about to find out... Lightning is a naturally occuring electrical discharge (the sudden flow of electricity) that happens when two electrically charged regions in the atmosphere temporarily equallise themselves, causing the instant result of, well, lightning! When you get struck by lightning, you won’t nessccesarily die straight away. There was one man who was struck by lightning 7 times and still survived! Thunder is the sound of lightning. They happen at the same time, but depending on how far away you are, the thunder might sound like it happens after the lightning. Lightning is a bright flash of electricity produced by a thunderstorm. All thunderstorms produce lightning and are very dangerous. If you hear the sound of thunder, then you are in danger from lightning. Lightning kills and injures more people each year than hurricanes or tornadoes; between 75 to 100 people. That’s even more than the Coro...

Uses: Many, some include moving Users:  Billions Who: Unknown Why: Unknown You might not think of it as an invention, but, yes, the humble wheel is one. In its primative form, a wheel is a circular block of hard, sturdy and durable material, usually stone, with a hole bored through the middle. Then, a pole, usually wood, is fitted through the centered hole. When four wheels and two sticks are put together, the poles go through a hole in or attached onto a board, and when they get the wheels to turn, the vehicle moves forward or backward. Of course, in the stone age, there were no bikes. This is because they wouldn’t be able to get it to balance, but also, they would never think of it anyway.

Sir David Frederick Attenborough (born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster and natural historian. He is best known for writing and presenting, in association with the BBC Natural History Unit. Here are some interesting facts about him. Prepare to be amazed! He was raised on the campus of University College, Leicester, where his dad was the head teacher. Instead of saying he’s an animal lover, David says he’s fascinated by them.Interestingly, Attenbourgh has never owned a car because he never passed his driving test. He’s also not keen on sending emails, and prefers receiving letters by fax or post. During World War II his parents adopted two Jewish refugee girls from Europe. The only animals Dave doesn’t like are rats! Sir David was rejected from the first job he ever applied for at the BBC, the position of radio talk producer. In 1947 he spent two years serving in the Royal Navy. When Sir David got his first job in television, he didn’t even own a TV! His first programme, called Coe...

Technology has definately developed over the years. Since Michael Faraday’s discovery of electricity, the world has gone crazy for it. We’ve had ovens, tumble dryers, TVs, computers, even LEGO that you control with a laptop. But, most importantly, robots. They come in all shapes and sizes, from a few micrometres wide to  as big as a skyscraper. But what are robots and how do they work? When you think of a robot, you think of a humanoid-like thing (left). But they aren’t all like that. Some can be just a few micrometres wide, and take the form of a computer’s CPU (see last issue). Some can be bigger than skyscrapers and have a huge wrecking ball attached to them. Did you know, there are actually more CPUs than humanoid robots! To build a humanoid robot, you will have to study the human body. Instead of bones, robots have lots of moveable segments attached to one another. Each segment is fitted together with special metal ‘joints’, which can spin, turn, twist and much more when you p...

The Chocolate hills in the Bohol province of the Philippines are a valley of densley-vegetated hills. In the dry season, the grass and crops go brown. From a distance, it looks like the hills are made of bubbly chocolate, thus getting their name. According to legends, the hills came into existence because of two giants who hurled rocks, boulders, and sand at each other. After their fight was over, this eventually led to a huge mess of hills – which is the Chocolate Hills we know today. The Chocolate Hills are a popular tourist destination in The Phillipines, and even feature on the regional flagof Bohol province, where they are the Bohol’s “main attraction”. These unique domed hills can be found in their hundreds in the towns Batuan, Carmen, and Sagbayan in Bohol They are listed as one of The Phillipines Top 3 geographical monuments and there are plans to hopefully include them in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The Chocolate Hills are conical karst hills and similar ones can be seen i...

Everyone has heard about the aztecs, who lived in Mexico. But hardly anyone has ever heard of the Mayans, an advanced civilization who ruled before the Aztecs took over. Using the new ‘LiNEAR’ technology, experts are shedding light on the most mysterious civilization. Drones or aircrafts fly over the jungle or forest and shoot hundreds of lasers down to the ground. These scan the area around them and upload them to a special computer. When you view the image back, it deletes the trees so you can see any hidden structures. You can also get LiNEAR on an augumented realty app that you can get on an iPAD, if you’re dwn on the ground. This can be very helpful if you are an archaeologist and want to discover lost treasures. By now, you’re probably wondering ‘how did the Mayans tame the jungle’ or something like that. But the answer is the landscape was less densley vegetated, and thus making it easier to build there. LiNEAR technology has revealed some suprising things - castles, watchtowers...

Film-makers have created a lot of cool films over the years, some with cool graphic effects or creepy alien invasions. But how would they work if they WERE real life? Read this article to raise your brain levels up and outsmart your parents... The classic Star Wars character C3P0 is not much different to any other humanoid robot. Instead of bones, robots have lots of moveable segments attached to one another. Each segment is fitted together with special metal ‘joints’, which can spin, turn, twist and much more when you program them to do so. All these special parts make the robot really flexible. In the American film Back To The Future, a professor invents a time-travelling car powered by plutonium. Based on this, the british chemist and inventor Professor Flux, PhD invented a time-travel machine. Powered by Ghlucoshianian Acid, a substance only found on Saturn, this incredible invention had to have cleaning machines to concentrate the acid, because it would horrible mutate humans if i...

What would it be like if your tummy had see-through skin? Probably a bit weird, I’ll wager. But, if you happen to be a Glass Frog, then, dear reader, it is your everyday reality! Want to check if your liver is tickety-boo? No trouble if you’re a glass frog. They are mostly green, but their bellies are transparent. They live up in the trees in rainforests, where they eat bugs. They can live for 10 to 14 years! That’s pretty impressive for a little froggy-woggy! But that’s not all, Glass Frogs have been declared by Victor Wanyama, captain of the Nigerian national football team, as the best animal that has ever lived. But did you know something even more extraordinary? The Ancient Roman writer Virgil actually wrote extensively about Glass frogs back in 67AD. Here’s what he had to say (in the original latin): “Obist, ut glassus frogus accabor ehentur, officiaspis in plibus eos et aut apelent, utatur magni rem hiciam laciend andae. Itas nonserf ernatqu istius. Otatur sum deseres utaturi non...

As far as we know, liquid metal robots from the future have yet to show up. But new research into alloys and lattice materials shows how liquid metal shapes can be deformed and reformed using heat. Researchers have developed a method of wrapping Field’s alloy - a mixture of bismuth, indium and tin - in a lattice or shell made out of rubber-like elastomers, which gives the liquid metal some useful extra properties. In particular, the liquid metal and elastomer lattice combination can be deformed after heating, and then recover its original shape after being heated up again a second time: not quite a robot rising up out of a lava pit, but the same sort of idea. “We spent over half a year developing this manufacturing process, because this new lattice material is very hard to process,” says mechanical engineer Pu Zhang from Binghamton University. “You need to find the best materials and processing parameters.” “Without the shell, it won’t work, because the liquid metal will flow away. The...

The ancient aztec city of Teotihuacan (say tee-otto-hoo-i-can) has puzzled more experts than the Great Pyramids Of Giza have! The pyramid complex  consists of quite a few building and temples. At the front of the city, The Temple Of The Sun sits proudly overlooking the rest. A few more pyramid-like buildings follow, all leading to what is now known as the Avenue Of The Dead. This is quite a few miles long, but all of the buildings are the same, except one. Temple of the Feathered Serpent Quetzalcoatl is the third-largest pyramid in the whole site. Also on the avenue is the Great Pyramid Of  Cholua and The Pyramid Of The Moon. Interestingly, a lake of liquid Mercury was discovered in an excavated tunnel beneath the Feathered Serpent Pyramid. There has been various lakes of other metals in other areas of the Mayan empire, but never Mesoamerica. Even more interestingly, Mercury is a superconductor. Although it is extremely dangerous to human beings, scientists have performed expe...

Unless you’re slapping on sunscreen on a hot day, you probably don’t think much about the sun. Every eight minutes, light travels from our sun to the Earth. This would mean if the star magically disappeared, it would take 8 minutes for us to notice. Most of us take the sun forgranted. If the sun were a human being (not God, christian readers), scientists calculate it would take one million years to do one days work as the sun. The date of discovery is unknown, but they say that it was found by our ancient ncestors. The size is 109.2 times larger than our earth, but don’t think that’s big. The mass is 1,989,100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 kg! The Sun is a ball of superheated material. A diagram of the star would be far too complicated, so we’ve decided to give you a list of features. The magnetic field constantly moves and twists, shooting out loops of gas from the surface. This and its immense gravity pull the solar system together.The corona (not the virus) is the sun’s outer laye...