Planex News

The so-called ice-cream van got out of its parking space and drove off after Thomas and Dawn at high speed. In case you didn’t read last week’s story, Dawn is Tom’s newly adopted dog that helped him get out of a flaming pit. One of the spy pastas pulled a mini-megaphone out of the roof and called into it. “You can’t hide forever!” she said. Suddenly, Agent Dicker spotted something strange. “The rockets already left!” he exclaimed, but before he could close his mouth, the road in front of him started to give way. Steam poured out whilst a shiny machine flew upwards slowly. “The rocket!” Dicker shouted. “Launching in 3... 2... 1... BLAST OFF!” came the announcer, and the force of the boosters pushed the spy car backwards. Meanwhile, Thomas and Dawn were confused. “There’s no signs!” moaned Tom, and looked at Dawn for help. She barked in confusion, but ran off into the distance. “Dawn! Dawn! Dawn the Dog! Wait up!” Thomas almost caught up, but lost Dawn. “Great. Curse you, Martians!” he e...

Electricity is everywhere. But what is it? Let’s find out. Electricity is the flow of tiny particles called electrons. They are one of the particles that make up an atom (see last week’s issue). The other two, protons and neutrons, are stuck in the centre and usually don’t move. But electrons are free to move from atom to atom, causing an electrical current. If an atom has fewer electrons than it wants, it is called positively charged. It tries to pull electrons from neighbouring atoms that have more electrons than they want and are called negatively charged. If you get the electrons to flow through an electrical component, some of the energy can be converted to another form of energy like  light, heat, sound or movement. So how do we get this electricity to flow? Well, we have to make a circuit. In it there is an energy source liken a battery. Electrons get pushed out one end of the batteryand flow from atom to atom until they reach the other end. The wire is made of the most cond...

Scients studying Saturn’s icy moon, Titan, have spotted traces of life millions of years ago. These would have lived under the huge sheets of ice over the sea. In fact, life could still exist on the cold moon, but it’s too far for our probes to go to. In fact, to do this, the probe would have to have a portable drill, scanners and sensors, some sort of a camera that could see through thick ice, and a function where the bot could swim. All of this would cost more than billions, and there would have to be millions of people working day and night. Quite frankly, no-one would be able to code such delicate modes in a matter of time. In the Pixar film WALL-E, everyone has evacuated because there is too much rubbish to clean up. The lonely robot WALL-E is left alone to put it into cubes and stack them in a pile. We would have to make a machine similar to WALL-E, but except with the ice. So how do we know what they look like? Scientists and film-makers have simulated lots over the years, but n...

On Friday night, citizens of Hull got a mysterious visit by a pirate ship containing no driver. Some people reported that it only comes every 50 years, as they had seen it all those years ago. When some explorers started to join the crowd of confused people, they decided to board the ship and hunt down civilization. A long table was roughly nailed to the rustic floor of the living room. Over this hung a very expensive chandelier made with 102 wax candles that were still lit. Bowls of ripe fruit were scattered across the table. Two old wooden staircases lead up to various places, but the explorers decided to go up the right one. They then found themselves in a metal storeroom. Flashing yellow rectangular lights hung from chains above huge metal barrels. All of a sudden, the lights went off and eerie sounds echoed around the thik metal walls. A loud crackling sound came on, as purple fog lifted out of the ground. The ship was disappearing! In a rush, the five brave people sped out of the...

Computers have come a long way from the traditional versions that are the size of a house. These could only be instructed by people putting cards with holes punched in them into a special scanner. Now, you can activate an app by the press of a button or touch of a finger. Your PC or laptop is most likely to have special features such as voice-recognition technology, like Cortana, speakers, cameras and many ways to communicate with the outside world. Beneath all that clever coding, the idea stays the same: computers are machines that solve problems by making vast numbers of mathematical calculations. To a computer, everything is a number. A picture? Number. A sound? Number. A word? Number. A computers ‘brain’ is called the central prosseccing unit (CPU). This microchip consists of many millions of tiny electronic comductors and components, aranged in ways that allow them to calculate faily simple maths but at high speed. The chip races through billions of sums per second. That’s even ...

Scientists have recently discovered that smokers are getting Covid-19 less than non-smokers. They do not know the cause for this, but most researchers suggest the smoke acts as a shield.

In Glasgow, Scotland, a passage was discovered that lead to an old laboratory. Scientists observing the lab said that it was strangely abandoned in 1852, but haven’t figured out why. One of their four only theories is that the observatory was having renovations of some sort, hence the huge hole in the roof, and the people that worked there were afraid the laboratory was going to get discovered. Other scientists studying the history of it think it was going to carry out a top-secret mission that was being prepared when the renovations were happening, and if anyone found out then the leader would be killed.

Fears of a distant black hole sucking up our galaxy are rising fast after scientist Ronald Park sent out his prediction into the future. Ronald said that about 300,000 years from now the Milky Way would have moved so close to the Roxet Galaxy, currently 230,000 light years away from us, that we would be in a danger zone of getting sucked in to the huge and destructive black hole positioned in the outer edge. If this will happen, the world and everything we can see would be spaghettified, a process where everything gets stretched far apart. After about 12 minutes of this, the human race would be gone for all eternity, unless of course if we had found another home. The reason Ron thought this is because he had been studying the Roxet Galaxy for over 30 years now, and he suddenly spotted a vast change in its speed. One night, Ronald thought to himself, ‘was I just seeing things?  The Roxet Galaxy hasn’t changed speed for 12,000,000 years!’, and this was why his theory could have been...

On this page you will discover how to use the app ‘Adobe Illustrator’, which even some grown-ups struggle to use. I know because I am already better than my dad! If you haven’t already got a subscription to Adobe, this page is no use to you, so don’t bother getting upset. Anyhoo, I’m going to show you how to make what I call a ‘Blended Brick’, using only two tools. Open Adobe Illustrator and click on ‘create new’. a box should appear asking you the page size, but just click on ‘A4’ to keep things simple.   An A4 sheet of paper should appear on your screen. On the left of your PC or laptop there should be a little symbol with two circles and a square. If you can’t find this, click on the three dots in the left hand corner and more options for tools should appear then.   This symbol is the blend tool, the primary ingredient for our art. Also you will need the shape tool, which will create a rectangle unless you click on the little arrow in the corner, where you can create ...

Last time, we featured some of the world’s wackiest animals, but there are so many bizarre beasts on our amazing planet that we couldn’t possibly tell you about them all. So we’re back, with even more crazy-looking creatures for you to wonder and and learm more about. From the forests to the seas, we’ve scoured the globe to bring you some truly weird and wonderful examples to enjoy... 1. Sea Bunnies  Sea bunnies are a form of mollusc, specifically a nudibranch. The little bunny ears you can see are actually a form of rhinosphore which help them sense the world around them. They eat sea sponges which contain toxins. These chemical-sensing cuties are found primarily in Japan but have also been spotted off the shores of Taiwan, The Phillipines and Indonesia. 2. Sunda Colugo Until recently, it was believed that this Malaysia-dwelling creature was a form of flying lemur, but closer studying of the animals has revealed that they glide between trees. What’s more, it is not even a t...

Though they look harmless, plants can be one of the most deadly weapons of all time. Sometimes, they can even kill a human being, so stay away, readers! 3: Water Hemlock Closely related to the poison Hemlock (the plant that famously killed the greek philosopher Socrates), water hemlock has been deemed “the most violently toxic plant in North America.” Sometimes confused with edible parsnips or celery, this plant is infused with deadly cicutoxin, especially in its roots, and will rapidly generate potentially fatal symptoms in anyone unlucky enough to eat it. 2: Deadly Nightshade It is the sweetness of the berries that often lures children and unwitting adults to eat this lethal plant. A native of wooded or waste areas in central and southern Eurasia, deadly nightshade has dull green leaves and shiny black berries about the size of cherries. Nightshade contains atropine and scopolamine in its stems, leaves, berries, and roots, and causes paralysis in the involuntary muscles of the...

We’re going to shed some light on the world’s tiniest thing, but before we do that, we’re going to have to shink down... Here, not even a microscope can detect us. If you were to shink to this size, what you would see is this huge blue area, similar to space. The ’stars’ would actually be atoms a long way away - so far away they look white. What you would notice about an atom is that they have about 5 yellow rings (like the picture on the right) and 3 smaller white ones. Orbiting these are electrons, which generate electricity when going at speed. If you make them hop from atom to atom, this  would generate an electric current and power the generator, but that is not what this article is about. Atoms are made of three things: protons, neutrons and electrons. If one was to be taken away, the atom would collapse to the ground. If a few million atoms collapsed, the object would be unstabalised. There are also different types of atom, with different amounts of protons, neutrons and ele...

There’s one thing you can   do whist we’re all in lockdown - and that’s stare out the window and look at clouds. With our new Cloud  Spotters Guide, this won’t be boring, but FUN! If you look at our diagram (right page), you will see all of the levels of cloud. These stretch out over various levels of atmosphere, and act like a shield to poisonous thing such as UV or Cosmic rays. Some of the many layers of cloud cover up one another. For instance, unless it is a really sunny day, the Cirrus clouds are practically invisible. Other examples of this include Cirrocumulus, Cirrostratus, Altocumulus, Altostratus, Stratocumulus and Cumulus. 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! ...

Black holes are the remains of giant stars that went supernova. Stars generate heat and light because their strong gravity smashes millions of particles together in the core. They can keep doing this for millions and millions of years, but eventually, the star runs out of particles to smash together. What happens next depends on how big the star is. An average size star (such as our sun) will turn into a red giant, then it will shed its outer layers into space and what’s left will slowly cool until it becomes a brown dwarf. But the biggest stars will become a red supergiant star. Then, instead of just fading away, a huge explosion occurs (known as a supernova). Supernovas are so bright they can be seen from many light years away.    The core of the star has so much gravity it collapses in on itself, forming a mini black hole which quickly eats away the rest of the star, making it bigger. Black holes have so much mass concentrated in a relatively small space that their gra...

This is the story of the greek soldier Hercules. In the first bit of this 12-part story, Hercules went mad, and to pay everyone back, he became a slave to King Eurestyus. Last time, he fought this huge lion thing and made its skin into an invincibility cloak. “Now, Hercules.” began King Eurestyus one sunny morning. “I now want you to kill the dreaded Hydra in the Argos Marshes. He has been  terrorising my people for too long now.” He pointed at a man in a toga running away from a sign reading ‘Argos Marshes’. “OK, sir.” replied Hercules. “But is it a snake or a dog? People have sent letters to me that say both. I’ve got mixed messages.” the King lowered one eye as if to say ‘really?!’. “What do you think, dumbo!?!?” said Eurestyus, starting to get a bit annoyed. Hercules shrugged his shoulders. “Oh, just go!” exclaimed the king. With that, Hercules ran off. The soldier was getting tired when he reached a sign that read ‘Argos Marshes - One Mile’. “Nearly - There.” panted Hercules. ...

To celebrate 75 years since World War Two ended, we’ve got a special article for you... this one! So don’t go just yet, this won’t be boring! World War 2 was a battle between two groups of countries – the “Allies” and the “Axis“. The major Allied Powers were Britain, France, Russia, China and the United States. The major Axis Powers were Germany, Italy and Japan. The terrible Adolf Hitler lead the Axis, but don’t think he was nice. Hitler and his army marched across the whole world, sparking many battles in different places. At one point in the war, the Nazis (Hitlers army) were said to had been building ‘Die Glocke’, or ‘The Bell’. Nazi documantary writers said that The Bell was some sort of ‘time-travel machine’, but nobody really knows the truth. Die Glocke, says authors, was inspired by alien technology. The were said to have come down to earth in the war, and told the chief scientist about their machines. Strangely, he disappeared at the end of WWII. Many believe he went through a...

We eat it when we're happy, sad, celebrating or commiserating. It's an incredibly important (and delicious) aspect of people's lives across the world. But have you ever thought about where chocolate comes from? We have the ancient Mayans of Mesoamerica (what we now know as South America) to thank for chocolate. Although the Mayans weren’t scoffing the bars we know and love today. It all starts with the cacao bean. Yes, we spelled that right - cacao is the Spanish word for chcahuatl, which is what Aztecs called the beans chocolate is made from. It’s thought that English traders misspelled cacao when they brought the beans home, and so cocoa stuck. Back to the Mayans though. They would dry, grind, and mix the beans with water to create a drink. You might think yum, hot chocolate - in fact it was quite bitter and frothy, and was often mixed with chilli. After the Aztecs conquered the Maya, they went berserk for the stuff. The Mayans and the Aztecs believed (and perhaps some pe...

Everyone nowadays says that the lost city of Atlantis is found, or something like that. But in truth, no. People have ‘seen’ the underwater city in lots of places; near Ireland, just off the coast of Gibraltar, but none of these are actually correct. If you ever talk to someone studying Atlantis, they will probably describe it as ‘having greek-style buildings and advanced technology’, but, in fact, they haven’t looked at the real facts.  When the Greek philosopher Plato wrote about what he described Atlantis as, he didn’t say all this jibber-jabber. He said that it was made out of three rings around a central island. This was 4 stadis (A greek measurement) squared, followed by a ring of water (1 stadis), then an embankment of 1 stadis, then another ring of water (2 stadis), and so on and so forth. The final embankment was 3 stadis, covered on the outer edge by lots of stadis of water that Plato didn’t describe exactly. So now you know the real, time to find out about the fake. Myth...

The coral reef is one of the most beautiful places on earth, but sadly they are dying. For example, in Mexico, a mysterious disease was wiping out lots of the coral and fish. Also, as climate change rages on, when the coral gets too hot, they release the algae that live in their cells and provide them with nutrients, turning the corals white and sometimes causing them to starve. This usally causes the surrounding fish to die as well. In other news, a coral reef is an underwater ecosystem containing reef-building coral. Reefs are formed of colonies of ‘coral polyps’ which hold together with calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from ‘stony corals’, whose polyps cluster in groups. There can also be ‘artificial reefs’, which are formed when  some sort of man made machine (such as a boat or car) sink into the ocean, and over time coral begin to form on them. When fish see the brightly-coloured stuff, they automatically go there. As crazy as it may sound, corals are actually liv...

Film-makers have created some crazy-looking creatures in the last hundred years, but nothing you’ve ever seen on screen can compare to the real-life, wild and wonderful animals you can find in the furthest and deepest corners of our planet. We’d like to share with you some of Toby News’s favourite weird beasts. Prepare to gasp and laugh... 1: Dumbo Octopus Don’t be fooled by the name, this cute thing can’t fly! Instead, it actually lives in the deepest part of the ocean; deeper than any other type of octopus. There aren’t many of them; that’s why the females carry all their eggs ready to be fertilised and made into babies. Cute! 2: Star-Nosed Mole This bizarre - faced beast is only the size of a Hamster, but that bonkers nose has over 25,000 sensory receptors (nerves that sense) that are so powerful that they can even detect earthquakes! Good job there aren’t many in North America, where they are to be found. 3: Lamprey Belive it or not, these freakish fellows are fish! People used to ...

There were many species of dinosaur long ago, but sadly they have all died out. Sometimes, we wonder how people find the same creatures on different continents, but the answer to this has been found. In truth, all the continents of Earth were once one supercontinent, known as Pangea. The species Tyrannosaurus rex (rex meaning “king” in Latin), often called T. rex. Tyrannosaurus lived throughout what is now western North America, on what was then an island continent known as Laramidia. Tyrannosaurus had a much wider range than other tyrannosaurids. Fossils are found in a variety of rock formations dating to the Maastrichtian age of the upper Cretaceous Period, 68 to 66 million years ago. It was the last known member of the tyrannosaurids, and among the last non-avian dinosaurs to exist before the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event. Stegosaurus, from Greek stegos which means roof and sauros, which means lizard, is a genus of herbivorous thyreophoran dinosaur. Fossils of this date to t...

The Great Pyramid of Giza (also known as the Pyramid of Khufu or the Pyramid of Cheops) has many mysteries, all of which will be answered today. Egyptologists believe that the pyramid was built as a tomb over a 10- to 20-year period concluding around 2560 BC. The original entrance to the Great Pyramid is on the north, 17 metres (56 ft) vertically above ground level and 7.29 metres (23.9 ft) east of the center line of the pyramid. From this original entrance, there is a descending passage 0.96 metres (3.1 ft) high and 1.04 metres (3.4 ft) wide, which goes down at an angle of 26° 31’23” through the masonry of the pyramid and then into the bedrock beneath it. After 105.23 metres (345.2 ft), the passage becomes level and continues for an additional 8.84 metres (29.0 ft) to the lower chamber, which appears not to have been finished. The horizontal passage continues in the south wall of the lower chamber; there is also a pit dug in the floor of the chamber. Some Egyptologists suggest that th...

Uses: Sticking together Users:   billions Who: George de Mestral Why: wanted to stick things together Swiss electrical engineer George de Mestral invented his first touch fastener when, in 1941, he went for a walk in the woods and wondered why burdock seeds clung to his coat and dog. He discovered it could be turned into something useful. George patented it in 1955, and soon it became one of the most famous inventions of all time. The fastener consisted of two components: a lineal fabric strip with tiny hooks that could “mate” with another fabric strip with smaller loops, attaching temporarily, until pulled apart. The first ever strip of Velcro was made out of cotton, which proved impractical after getting reports of them ripping apart. Now, the fastener is made of nylon and polyester. Ask The Pro Yo! I’m writing this letter to you in 1964, because some dude told me to. Velcro straps together all of my fancy clothes, and my guitar! I also used velcro to create my quiff, because ...

The famed pharaoh (an ancient egyptian king), Tutankhamun, may have secrets that most egyptologists haven’t yet discovered.  The boy king who died at the age of 19 was a battle-hardened soldier. People think this because in his tomb, a dress-like piece of armoured clothing was found with scars. These suggest that the armour wasn’t just a toy, but actually real protection. Adding to this, a dagger was found inside his coffin quite close to his heart. This was ornately decorated with gold and other precious stones, but what intrigues egyptologysts is the blade. This is made from iron, quite a common metal on earth. But when it was put under a machine of some sort to trace the chemical footprints, it shows that it was not from Egypt, or the world. Theories suggest that a few years before the dagger was manafactured, a meteor hit the Earth, containing that exact iron, and smashed into tiny pieces and spread across Egypt. Then, when the blade was being made, someone obviously picked up ...

The Ancient Egyptians had many gods - both male and female. Here are just a few of them: Ra the God of the Sun. He was the most important God and was the lord of all the gods. He was usually shown in human form with a falcon head, crowned with the sun disc encircled by a sacred cobra. Ra sailed across the heavens in a boat called the 'Barque of Millions of Years'. At the end of each day Ra was thought to die and sailed on his night voyage through the Underworld, leaving the Moon to light the world above. Amun was the King of the Gods. He was combined with the sun god Ra and became even more powerful. Amun was then called Amun-Ra. Anubis was the God of Mummification (embalming and the dead). His role was as the "guardian to necropolis". Priests often wore a mask of Anubis during mummification ceremonies. Bast (Bastet) was the    Goddess of Protection and of household entertainment. He is thought to be the daughter of the sun god Ra Geb was the Earth God. The ancient Eg...

After twelve minutes of banging, Thomas opened the boot door, only to find Lieutenant Larry standing in front. “Well, well, well!” he said. “What have we got here?” Tom attempted to escape, but was blocked by 3 pasta pieces. “Throw ‘im in the pile.” said Larry. With that, the two bulks picked up Thomas and took him to a flaming pit full of something Tom didn’t know. When he was pulled forward and then heaved back, an icy finger ran down his spine. Humans! “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh!” exclaimed Thomas as he was thrown into the hole. “Have a nice trip!” laughed one of the bulks as soon as they walked away. “Grrrrr...” stormed Tom as he walked to the edge, feeling the wall. “Tar!” he exclaimed. “People!” Thomas began. “Do you have any matchsticks? Anyone?” he scanned the area to see if anyone was still alive. “Woof! Woof!” barked a cute sausage dog and leaped forward, a box of matchsticks in his mouth. “Who’s a good boy?! You are! You are!” Thomas stroked the pet and toook the matches out of his...

Levitating Lamp Uses: Lighting Users:   200,000 worldwide Who: Miros Hampton Why: wanted a quirky way to work As much as the levitating lamp sounds incredible, it is merely just a light bulb floating on top of a base. A magnet inside the bulb contains a coil which receives the electricity transmitted from the base and powers the bulb through the air. As for the levitation, when gravity pulls the bulb downward, the opposing force of the magnetism causes it to repel the base, leaving it suspended in air. Mobile Phone Uses: Lots Users: over 70,000,000 global Who: Martin Cooper Why: wanted to do lots of things in a small box In the most basic form, a phone is essentially a two-way radio, consisting of a radio transmitter and a radio receiver. When you chat with your friend on your phone, your phone converts your voice into an electrical signal, which is then transmitted via radio waves to the nearest cell tower. For other things, this is the same except instead of calls it broadc...

On this journey you will go to Mount Everest and back, the home to many mountain goats and other rare species. The animals living here must cope with cold, lack of food, and steep rocky terrain. A mountain is a large landform that rises above the surrounding land. They can have high elevations that produce a colder climate than the rest. There is no fixed shape for a mountain. But they usually have sharp, jagged edges, but the size, height and steepness can be different. Mount Everest, the higest mountain in the world, in the Himalayas of Asia, has a summit of 8,850 metres. The formation of a mountain is the same as a volcano. The magma builds up pressure, whilst two tectonic plates push and rub each other, and in the end the magma explodes, pushing the two plates up in a triangular shape. As the lava made this happen, it doesn’t have enough time to burst out or come to the surface because the two plates have already fixed together. Scientists studying this never really know wether the...

You may have heard of Easter Island and its huge, legendary statues, but don’t worry if you haven’t. First of all, let’s talk about directions. You’ll definitely need a sat nav to go here! Well, it is just off the coast of South America - 4300 miles to be precise. Rapa Nui as it was called when the natives lived there, was first settled around 1200 AD. They set up civilization there but it declined becase of deforestation. By the time the Europeans first visited in 1720, there were only a few thousand inhabitants. Slavery, european diseses and emmigration further reduced the population, until there were only 111 islanders by 1870. The Europeans started to be curious about who built the stone statues and why, but there were so few natives that no-one could give the answer, and so the mystery of the stone heads was born... By the time there were no people left on Easter Island, it became a World Heritage Site. But that caused another mystery to arise: why did civilization leave?  Sci...

The forest is home to thousands of different species - some of which are not around today. But if we try and try and try we could stop this terrible thing from happening - one cell at a time. A forest is a large area dominated by trees. They are found all around the globe in many different climates and terrains. In the tropics are found rainforests, full of monkeys that can shelter themselves from the rain. Meanwhile, in the cold reaches of Siberia, North Canada and the Scandinavian countries, vast conifer trees cover the landscape. The word forest comes from the old french word forest which in turn comes from medieval latin foresta, meaning area of trees. The first forests on earth appeared in the Late Devonian (approximately 380 million years ago) from the early plant Archaeopteris. When Archaeopterises shedded their leaves, the cells inside morphed with another plant’s, ths creating the first ever tree.

What is a Volcano? You probably know; huge black hills that spew out tonnes and tonnes of pumice, ash and lava. One thing you might not know is some of the great eruptions: Mount Vesuvius, Krakatoa and the Yellowstone Supervolcano in the USA. You might wonder what causes a volcano to erupt. Well, they sit on places where the earth’s crust is particularly thin. The magma under it builds up pressure and eventually the magma escapes onto the surface, where it is known as lava. Over time, the lava cools and solidifies, making the volcano bigger. There are different types of volcanoes. One is the Compound Volcano, which explodes violently when it erupts, throwing ash and rock far into the air. Another is the Cinder Cone Volcano, where the lava is thick and cools around the rim, forming a tall, steep mountain.  Shield volcanoes have runnier lava, which trickles down the sides quickly. An underwater shield volcano created the islands of Hawaii. On the cold, outer planets and moons of the ...

For an enviromental special, you probably wouldn’t think of having an article about space, because, after all, there is no land in space. But actually, this article is about what it’s like in the cosmos, including black holes. Firstly, I’ve got to tell you of a rare event that happens usually once a century in the cosmos: a hypernova. You might/might not have heard of a supernova, which is when a huge star collapses in on itself, creating a huge show of dancing lights, usually forming a black hole. Well, a hypernova is basically the same thing, but with two differences: the star is so big  you  probably wouldn’t know it exists, but also, there are no black hole formations. Another amazing thing is that it could happen in your lifetime. To be around one would mean you would be completely dead; wether you knew about it or not. Even though our technology is very advanced, we still haven’t explored every region of The Milky Way. There could be unknown textures on different worlds,...

When you look up in the stars, you might believe there are aliens out there, or you might not. Well, nobody really knows wether there is life out there or not, but they know one thing: they all need liquid to survive. There could be life out there that is in a different universe; one that can only be reached by a black hole, but let’s take a look at life on Earth. Desert Heat Well, you’ve probably heard of a desert, but do you know how hard it is to survive out there? Cacti only need water about twice a year, but that’s because they’re plants. How did anything evolve to live out here? It’s hard to tell... A well-known desert creature is a scorpion, an animal that has a deadly stinger to catch its prey, but does not need all that much water. It usually sucks the wetness out of the dead animal to get water, or hide in abandoned towns where there could have been water. Rain, Rain, Rain Sometimes there can be too much water. Such places include rainforests, etc. How do these animals surviv...

It has came to most of our readers a surprise to read about the mythical phoenix appearing and breaking our universe into small bits, but no. It is true. To flip your opinions upside-down I’ve decided to zoom in closer on the subject... It was on the 1st of November last year that lots of our readers explained to Toby News that every Friday for 6 weeks they were seeing a strange blue bird-like alien circling their nearby forests. Well now, that strange extra-terrestrial life form has come back after 14 weeks of hiding, and most of you said it looks bigger and tougher now. Your theories were in fact right, making Toby News the first press to know about ‘The Great Quackening’ as some of you called it, which is happening now in the Amindoromeda Galaxy, 1,208,000 light-years away from our own galaxy, the Milky Way. Scientists studying this Supergiant Galaxy have said “The phoenix must have been drawn to power - the icy supergiant galaxy, containing only abandoned meteorites must have sound...

You might think ‘Forest Hunt’ is a very misleading title for what’s about to come up, but the truth is, no. Reports are flooding in of people seeing one murderous hunter. The killer, who’s name is formally known as Lord Hugos has been spotted multiple times attempting to kill or capture animals. All of the goverments of the world have come together to form a plan to stop his reign of terror, so they sent Waylon Anvilton to do the dirtywork. All of the channels on TV will show him today. 20 miles into the forest, Waylon went off the beaten track to search for Hugos, with only a single cameraman to follow him around. Suddenly, he spotted a sinkhole, narrowly missing falling into it. Waylon continued to walk, keeping an eye on the road ahead, when all of a sudden, he spotted a shadowy figure pointing a sharp blade at an innocent, little bunny rabbit. Without warning, all of the back-up Anvilton sent for came in on helicopters, and froze Hugos’s plan immediately, but a group of seven evil ...

Unless you live near a huge forest, people don’t spend a lot of time connecting or thinking about nature, and that’s the reason why I decided to put this article in. Buffalos, Warthogs, Tigers, even ivy are all part of nature, and each molecule contained in it has a different ability. Take the Kingfisher for example - these birds can dive into the water so fast you can hardly see them. Or the electric eel, these swimming creatures can create static electricity out of nowhere and can swim swiftly through the ocean. Now I’ve mentioned them, I can tell you’re excited. Then this is just up your street! Right of this article is the spectacular Glowfuse Bird, an animal that uses bright lights and switching colours to defend and attract other birds. If it appears red or black, that means it is angry and you should evacuate immediately because it’s eyes will literally blind you, whilst if it is any other colour it is calm and safe to be near. Glowfuses are incredibly rare birds to spot, so if ...

As all of the fusilli pieces turned round s  l  o  w  l  y, Thomas saw his chance to get out of there. He picked up a plank of wood from what used to be his coffee table and surfed his way to safety, only to be blocked by Sergeant Wheat. “Going somewhere?” he questioned sarcastically, but before he could finish his sentence, Tom was outside. “Cheerio!” he said and ran off. “Aaaatteeeeeention!” he shouted. “Team A, track down our friend here. Teams B, C and D, continue to rampage across this place. Teams E and F, kill allof the humans you can. Finally, Team G, be on the lookout for any homo-sapien rebels, then kill them and eat their livers. I’m on Team A.” As the general marched down the road at high speed, Thomas risked a look from behind his hiding place, a bush. He had heard all of the conversation about which teams were going to do what, and had decided to spy on Team G. He wondered if they would actually eat their livers. Probably not if you ask me. Tom saw...

Yesterday, Proffessor Flux made all your favourite sci-fi movies true when he single-handedly invented a functional time-machine that was powered by Ghlucoshianian  Acid, a substance only found on Saturn, but was handily picked by Flux’s other creation, Ranger. The Ghucos was loaded into a powerful laser, which instead of light, blasted the chemical out as pure energy, and  when it hits the floor, a small mirror blasts  it back up, and so on and so forth. If a mist appears, says the Proffessor, it means the time machine is malfunctioning and the room should be immediately evacuated, but he added on the end that it would happen once in a blue moon, and we don’t have a moon that’s blue, so phew! The only downside to Flux’s amazing invention is that you have to stand right in the middle of the Ghucos beam, and as we all know, if Ghlucoshianian Acid was touching a human, he or she could get horribly mutated. Because of this, Flux had to find a way to calm the Ghucos, resultin...

Uses: Flying Users:   only 1,000 so far Who: Clive Rupert Burn Why: wanted to fly with STYLE! A jetpack is a powerful invention that lets human beings - or anything else for that matter - fly high above the ground. The tanks blast out hot air that moves people quickly when they turn it on. Attached to all this machinery is two handles, and whatever way you turn them, the jetpack goes. Because such powerful equipment is packed in such a small container, it might not be a surprise to you that is hard to control.  If you see someone flying over a lake at highspeed, they’ve obviously had years of training and practise, indicating you should not try this at home. Also, always make sure your jetpack is on full power, otherwise the battery could pop its clogs any moment. As well, as Will Smith (right) applied, a jetpack is an extremely dangerous thing to ride because especially if a child rode one, it could easily go out of control, even for grown-ups. We here at Toby News really ...

I bet you’ve all heard of Bear Grylls; real-life adventurer and presenter of You vs. Wild. But when he was dropped on an untouched snowy mountaintop for the next episode, all contact was lost and  the weather broke. When Bear looked around in hope to try and find civilization, he spotted something   something strange on one mountain: a door. When he stepped inside, a long corridor lead him to a balcony overlooking what looked like some abandoned laboratory, scattered with broken weapons and machines of all kind. Seven feet away from a central control unit, the adventurer spotted a scroll, with the instructions of how to fire a major weapon that could potentially destroy the  world; would Bear launch the missile or not? Well, of course not; this isn’t a horror film, but Bear was intrigued by how the lab was abandoned and not even a whisp of its stories had been told to the public. Maybe someone went mad and every single worker died? Even then, what about their family ...

After daring explorer Carl Hitston  travelled to Mexico to see if the mysteries of the Forn Ka Tek Temple were true, his photographers and editors lost track of him when he went to sleep in a cave. Forn Ka Tek is the ancient aztec capital, and people believed  if they discovered plants on the walls the whole city had been cursed by the fire god, Manka. When another citizen’s ivy overgrew when the home owner moved house, it crawled over to the temple which triggered a panic, causing the whole city to evacuate. Nobody has been to the area ever since. We got in touch after photographer Ace sent in a rescue helicopter to relocate Carl, and then noticed the whole city had been somewhat scorched and reduced to rubble. Had the legends come true? Well, not in Carl’s opinion, especially  as the temple hadn’t been damaged. But he did notice a name scratched on the left side: MANKA. When he explored inside, the walls strangely were hardly visible because of all the vegetation. Maybe...

Right now you’re on the edge of a trip to space that’ll last a lifetime. It’s not easy, you know. You steap yourself in to your rocket. “3... 2... 1... BLAST OFF!” shouts the operator as bright, orange flames begin to blast out of the bottom of yor ship and it rises up to the clouds. You’re finally out of Earth’s atmosphere and you spot the sun. “Wow!” you shout, but remember to look away. You steer away because you know the rocket could melt at any moment. As you approach approach Mercury, you wonder why it doesn’t get really hot, but the real answer is that the side facing the sun is extremely hot, but the other, extremely cold. You know, it’s not the scientists fault that the surface is made of metal and that’s why they called it that, you know. It just is. Next, you head to the goddess of love’s planet, Venus! Even though the temperatures can rise up to 350 degrees celsius here, the Romans must have been idiots and thought  that life once existed here. Thickos. And we’re back! ...