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62 Articles

Fake news threatens UK democracy, says report

Made-up news stories are threatening democracy in the UK, a new parliamentary report has warned. Democracy is a political system that lets ordinary people vote for the government they want. According to the report, fake news – a term used to describe stories that are “false, misleading and persuasive” – could affect the results of future elections. The findings are the result of an 18-month-long inquiry by a group of 12 Members of Parliament (MPs). Why is fake news a problem? Increasingly people are using social media to access the news, instead of TV, radio or newspapers, which tend to be more trustworthy. Anyone can publish anything they want online and these stories spread very quickly, even though they haven’t always been properly checked and may contain false information. The…

Fake news threatens UK democracy, says report

Fake news is old news

Fake news is nothing new. In the 1700s, a group called the Jacobites, who were the enemies of the ruler King George II, printed false reports claiming the king was ill. Trusted publishers then repeated the claims, causing confusion about whether it was true or not. In 1835, the editor of the New York Sun newspaper published a story suggesting that a British man had seen giant man-bats on the Moon through a powerful telescope. In fact, the editor had made it all up to sell more newspapers.…

Fake news is old news

Travel agent stops holidays to SeaWorld

Thomas Cook, a travel agency that books holidays for people wanting to travel abroad, has announced that it will stop selling tickets to animal parks that keep killer whales, including SeaWorld. The tour operator currently sells more than 10,000 day trips a year to SeaWorld Florida, but from next summer, the agency won’t be offering holidays there or to 28 other animal parks that do not meet its required standards of animal welfare. The move comes after 90% of Thomas Cook customers said that it was important for the company to take animal welfare seriously. The agency also spoke to animal-welfare specialists before making the decision. In recent years there has been growing criticism of SeaWorld and other parks that keep killer whales. Killer whales, also called orcas, are often…

Travel agent stops holidays to SeaWorld

Teens break Channel-swimming record

A group of six teenagers from east London, known as the Sea Gals, have broken the record to become the youngest female relay team to swim across the English Channel. Over the last two years, school friends Ruby Greer, Eve Napier, Amelie Noor, Grace Radford, Lucy Sims and Sasha Vinnicombe, all aged 13 and 14, have been preparing for the challenge: to swim from Dover in England to Cap Gris Nez in France, and raise £5,000 for charity along the way. The girls trained regularly at their community swimming clubs and took part in a number of cold-water swims in Dover to get used to the chilly temperatures, which at this time of year average around 16–18° C. Then, the big day arrived. On 19 July, the Sea Gals began…

Teens break Channel-swimming record

IT’S AN AMAZING WEEK FOR…

A DARING RESCUE On 29 July, firefighters rushed to a farm in County Antrim to save more than 70 pigs, in Northern Ireland’s biggest ever animal-rescue operation. The pigs had fallen into a slurry tank (a mix of manure and water) after the concrete they were on collapsed. A LUCKY FIND A 73-year-old man who lost his wedding ring during a cricket match has been reunited with it – after 52 years. Eddie Stokoe had searched for the ring following the match in 1966, but couldn’t find it. It was finally spotted in the mud last month by a woman whose son was playing on the same pitch. A GOLD HUNTER An anonymous man has found the UK’s largest gold nugget in 500 years, after 20 years of hunting for…

IT’S AN AMAZING WEEK FOR…

Rain washes away heatwave

Heavy rain and thunderstorms brought the UK’s summer to a temporary halt at the end of July. After almost two weeks of non-stop sunshine, parts of the UK experienced a month’s worth of rain in a few hours and winds reaching 50mph. Just a few days earlier, the Meteorological (Met) Office, the UK’s weather service, warned people to stay indoors because of the heat. On 26 July, it reached 35.3º C in Faversham, Kent, making that the hottest day of the year so far. The following day was expected to be so hot it was even given the nickname “Furnace Friday” (a furnace is a container used to heat metals to extremely high temperatures). However, by the end of 27 July, temperatures had plummeted as thunderstorms, strong winds and rain…

Rain washes away heatwave

Rare flowers bloom in the UK

Plants that usually only flower in warmer countries have started to bloom in the UK because of the heatwave. In London, a spoonflower plant that’s native to Mexico produced a flower stalk for the first time in living memory. In Gloucester, a tree originally from China, the Chinese Emmenopterys tree, produced its first flower since 1993, and staff at a garden in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, were waiting for a rare lotus to bloom. Several moths and butterflies usually found in central and southern Europe also made an appearance in the UK heatwave.…

Rare flowers bloom in the UK

THE WEEK IN HISTORY

4 August 1914 Britain declares war on Germany On 4 August 1914, Britain declared war on Germany after German forces invaded Belgium. This marked Britain’s entry to the First World War (1914–1918), in which around 17 million people died. The war was triggered when Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, who was next in line to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, was shot by a Serbian in Bosnia. The empire declared war on Serbia, and other countries took sides according to agreements they had made with each other.…

THE WEEK IN HISTORY

Grenfell school to reopen

Pupils affected by the Grenfell Tower fire will return to their school for the first time since the disaster. In June 2017, flames spread through the block of flats in west London, causing 72 deaths. Ever since, Kensington Aldridge Academy (KAA), which is just a short distance from Grenfell Tower, has been shut and its students have attended a temporary school further away. KAA will reopen after the summer holidays, although school officials say it will be a difficult time for pupils, who lost five fellow students in the fire.…

Grenfell school to reopen

Northern Ireland’s treasure

More than 40 objects discovered across Northern Ireland by the public have been categorised as treasure. Treasure is defined as coins and artefacts dating back at least 300 years, which contain 10% or more gold or silver. All suspected treasure must be reported to a district coroner before it is sent to the British Museum for further examination. These items, found between 2009 and 2016, include extremely rare gold and silver jewellery, rings and Viking coins.…

Northern Ireland’s treasure

Birthday celebrations for Beano

On 30 July, Beano – the world’s longest-running weekly comic – celebrated its 80th birthday with a special edition of the comic and several events. Beano launched in 1938 as The Beano, and was one of the first comics in the UK to use drawings to tell stories instead of lots of words. In the 1950s and 1960s, it had up to two million readers. In recent years, Beano has adapted to changing technology. It has a free website that’s visited by two million people, a free app and, in 2017, it released a Dennis and Gnasher TV series that is one of CBBC’s top-rated animations. Meanwhile, the Beano comic still sells more than 37,000 copies a week. One person who won’t be missing out on the 80th anniversary edition…

Birthday celebrations for Beano

Around the world

Nendaz, Switzerland Hundreds gather for alpine horn festival From 20 to 22 July, hundreds of people gathered in Nendaz, Switzerland, to enjoy the world’s largest alpine horn festival. The International Alpenhorn Festival involves dancing, folk costumes and Swiss alpine horn blowing. The horns are more than three metres long and built in pieces so that they can be taken apart, making them easier to transport. The horns were once used by people living in the mountains to communicate across valleys and by herders to call to their cows. California, US Blaze spreads across state Firefighters in California have battled eight major wildfires in the past week. The Carr Fire in northern California’s Shasta County, which began on 23 July, has been described as the state’s largest and deadliest current wildfire,…

Around the world

Should people eat more old-fashioned foods?

Today, the UK imports food from all over the world, but in the not-too-distant past, people were more likely to make do with what was available in their own country. In the UK, meals made with kidneys, rabbit and tripe used to be popular, but these foods rarely appear on a menu nowadays. YouGov, a market-research company, has found that many of these unusual ingredients are going out of fashion; around two thirds of British people asked in its survey say they are unwilling to try eel, giblets or tripe. The survey also showed that many of these foods are more likely to be eaten by people aged 65 and older, who perhaps grew up eating them. So should old-fashioned foods be reintroduced to the UK dinner plate or should…

Should people eat more old-fashioned foods?

What you need to know

● Last month, a YouGov survey found that some of the most traditional British foods are critically endangered. That means very few people are still eating them, and many people say they are unwilling to try them. ● The old-fashioned foods considered to be at most risk include tripe (the lining of a cow, sheep or ox’s stomach), giblets (a bird’s heart, liver, stomach and neck) and eel – a type of fish. ● These classic British foods were popular up until the 1960s, but there is now a much wider range of foods on offer in supermarkets, as the UK imports (brings into the country) more food from abroad.…

What do you think?

Now that you’ve read about it, tell us what you think by voting in our poll at theweekjunior.co.uk/polls . Vote YES if you think people should eat more old-fashioned British foods, or NO if you don’t. We’ll publish the results next week. The aim of the Big debate page is to present two sides of an issue fairly and objectively, in order to stimulate discussion and allow our readers to make up their minds. The views on the page do not reflect those of The Week Junior, and the page is not funded by third parties. The page is created in association with the English-Speaking Union, an educational charity helping young people discover their voice and realise their full potential. For more information, please see esu.org…

What do you think?

Brilliant Brontë

Emily Brontë died when she was 30 years old and only had one book published, yet 200 years after she was born, her work remains an inspiration for artists, writers, filmmakers and fans around the world. Brontë was born on 30 July 1818. She and her sisters Charlotte and Anne, and their brother Branwell, lived in Haworth in West Yorkshire. Their mother died in 1821, so they were raised by their father, who was the parish priest. She is said to have been very shy and didn’t like mixing with people outside her own family. Brontë started writing at an early age. She and her sister Anne created an imaginary world called Gondal that was the setting for many stories and poems that they created together. The Brontës are said…

Brilliant Brontë

Dream job for Antarctic ship fan

Ever since Ali Gellatly was three, when he saw the three-masted ship RRS Discovery (RRS stands for Royal Research Ship) being towed to Dundee in 1986, he’s been fascinated by its history. The Discovery, built in Dundee, was launched in 1901 and travelled to Antarctica later that same year, taking the research ship’s explorers further south than any European had ever been at that time. Gellatly remembers visiting the ship with his family and on school trips. “My interest in Discovery and Antarctica grew throughout my childhood and has remained throughout my whole life,” he says. Now aged 35, he has the perfect job: working on the ship as an education officer, teaching visitors all about its history. “My job really is the stuff of dreams,” he says. Gellatly, who…

Dream job for Antarctic ship fan

Can scientists speed up evolution?

Researchers from the University of Melbourne, in Australia, are conducting an unusual breeding experiment in an attempt to speed up evolution. In one of the first projects of its kind, they are moving animals with built-in resistance to a threat to areas where it would have a conservation benefit. If successful, this experiment could provide a new way of saving endangered species. Northern quolls are marsupials roughly the size of squirrels and are native to Australia. They once roamed across the north of the continent, but since the introduction of the poisonous cane toad to north-eastern Australia 80 years ago, their population has plummeted by more than 75% and it is now an endangered species. This is largely because of the quoll’s habit of attacking and eating almost any smaller…

Can scientists speed up evolution?

Animals adapting to urban life

Some city animals are changing their behaviour in striking and surprising ways: ● The crows of Sendai, in Japan, have learnt how to use passing cars to crack open nuts. ● In Vienna, Austria, spiders have evolved to weave their webs in front of bright lights, ignoring their natural preference for dark places. These smarter creepy-crawlies catch up to four times more flies. ● City blackbirds have shorter, stubbier bills than forest blackbirds, start singing well before dawn and sing at a higher pitch to combat the urban background noise.…

Animals adapting to urban life

PLACE OF THE WEEK

Found on the Yorkshire coast, Flamborough Head is a haven for hikers and birdwatchers. It is home to one of Europe’s most important seabird colonies; the cliffs are packed with tens of thousands of auks, gulls and puffins every summer. A wide variety of butterflies and moths live in the grasslands, which are rich in flowers. Flamborough Head’s rugged white cliffs envelop a small village; there’s also a nature reserve and two ancient lighthouses to explore. Find out more at tinyurl.com/TWJ-flamborough…

PLACE OF THE WEEK

The truth about cats and dogs

Scientists from the University of Lincoln have studied cats and dogs living in the same home in a bid to find out what makes for a happy and harmonious relationship. They surveyed 748 homeowners from across the UK, the US, Australia, Canada and Europe, all of whom have a cat and a dog. They found that more than 80% of participants felt that their pets got on well and were comfortable around one another. Only 3% of the people who took part said that their animals couldn’t stand one another. Cats and dogs are often portrayed as the worst of enemies, but this study suggests they rarely fight with one another. However, cats were found to be much more aggressive and three times more likely to threaten their canine housemates…

The truth about cats and dogs

Good week / Bad week

Eurasian beavers A pair of Eurasian beavers have been reintroduced to the wild in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, in a bid to create more diverse wildlife and in the hope that the dams they build will reduce the risk of flooding. Beavers were driven to extinction in the UK around 400 years ago. Keeping Britain tidy A survey has revealed that more than a quarter of people in the UK admit to “carefully” littering – by leaving their rubbish on a wall or at a bus stop, instead of throwing it on the floor. The charity Keep Britain Tidy has launched a campaign to encourage people to take their litter with them.…

Good week / Bad week

Last month, a kayaker in Cornwall rescued a badger cub that had fallen from a cliff’s edge and plummeted into the sea. He pulled the mammal into his boat and paddled it to the safety of the shore. Although clearly in shock, the cub was later given the all-clear by a vet. ● LIFESPAN IN THE WILD: Up to 14 years. ● HABITAT: Widespread across the south west of the UK, most of Ireland and much of Europe, badgers usually live in woods and lowland areas. ● DIET: Badgers can eat hundreds of earthworms a night, as well as also munching on fruit, nuts and plant bulbs. ● FUN FACT: It’s thought that the word badger comes from the French word bêcheur, which means digger. HOME SWEET HOME Badgers live…

Why do butterflyfish have long snouts?

Tyrone Tooze Aquarist, ZSL London Zoo Butterflyfish are of the family Chaetodontidae, which contains more than 100 different species. They have a variety of diets and feeding techniques and therefore have different-shaped mouthparts. Some, such as the longnose butterflyfish, have a snout that accounts for 20% of its body length. This enables it to forage in crevices in search of small invertebrates. Do you love animals? ZSL London Zoo’s Junior Zoo Academy is a great way to learn about creatures from all over the world. Find out more at zsl.org/experiences…

Why do butterflyfish have long snouts?

Beside the seaside

Summer is peak sandcastle season for many of us. However, although some stretches of the British coastline are made up of cliffs, rocks or pebbles, many of the most popular beaches are covered in golden sand – perfect for picnics, playing and building towering palaces with a bucket and spade. What exactly is sand, how is it created and what do we use it for (and does it really contain fish poo?). Read on to find out. What is sand? Sand is made up of lots of different things – tiny bits of earth, rock, minerals (materials that naturally form in rocks and earth), seashells and even fish poo. It can take millions of years for these things to turn into sand – the harder the material the longer it…

Beside the seaside

Huge lake discovered on Mars

Researchers believe they have found the first evidence for a lake of liquid water under the frozen ice caps of Mars’s south pole. Although evidence of water on Mars has been found before, if confirmed this will be the first permanent body of water found on the planet. The lake, which is thought to be about 12 miles across, was found by one of the oldest working Mars orbiters, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Mars Express orbiter, which passes over Mars’s south pole roughly every seven hours. The Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding (Marsis) is a scientific instrument aboard the Mars Express. It has two 20-metre-long antenna that fire low-frequency radio waves at the planet’s surface and listens for reflected radio waves. Some radio waves bounce off…

Huge lake discovered on Mars

Name the ExoMars rover

You could be part of the upcoming mission to Mars by naming the next rover to explore its surface. The ExoMars rover is a six-wheeled robot set to land on Mars in 2021. Its mission is to collect soil samples and search for life on the Red Planet. To do this, it will dig two metres below the surface to hunt for living organisms. British astronaut Tim Peake has launched a competition to name the robot. “Mars is a fascinating destination, a place where humans will one day work alongside robots to gather new knowledge and search for life in our Solar System,” said Peake. “The ExoMars rover is a vital part of this journey of exploration and we are asking you to become part of this exciting mission and…

Name the ExoMars rover

Flying whale takes to the skies

On 19 July a new jumbo-sized plane, nicknamed the flying whale, touched down at Toulouse-Blagnac Airport in France after a test flight lasting four hours and 11 minutes. At 19 metres tall, the Beluga XL plane is the same height as a three-storey building, and at 63.1 metres in length it is longer than two blue whales. It can carry up to 51 tonnes of cargo – around the same weight as seven male African elephants. The first Beluga cargo plane was built by Airbus in 1994. It was officially titled the A300-600ST, but soon became known as Beluga because of its resemblance to the Arctic whale. The latest version, the XL, has a pair of eyes painted on its sides, a smiling mouth and a whale-style nose cone. The…

Flying whale takes to the skies

Dragon dinosaur rewrites history

Meet Lingwulong shenqi – meaning “amazing dragon of Lingwu” – the latest addition to a family of huge, long-necked dinosaurs known as sauropods, and the first to be found in China. Lingwulong is part of a subgroup of sauropods called neosauropods, which includes brontosaurus and diplodocus. Previous research suggests that neosauropods thrived between 163 million and 145 million years ago. They were common in parts of North America, Europe and eastern Africa. However, it is thought that Lingwulong roamed northern China around 174 million years ago. This pushes the evolution of neosauropods back by around 15 million years and is making scientists reconsider when China separated from Pangaea – an enormous supercontinent that was thought to have broken up 200 million years ago to form the modern continents. The findings…

Dragon dinosaur rewrites history

Some wounds, such as burns, can take a long time to heal and need constant care. A new smart wound dressing created by Ali Tamayol and colleagues at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in the US detects infection and treats it without the help of doctors. The bandage contains two sensors; one detects the bacteria that cause infection and the other checks if the area is getting hot (a sign of infection). A sheet of gel soaks up blood from leaking wounds and can also inject the area with antibiotics (medicine to combat bacteria and prevent infections). The smart bandage is attached to medical tape that is only three millimetres thick.…

How... much gravity do black holes contain?

All objects have gravity and how much gravity they have depends on how much mass they have. Mass is how much “stuff” an object is made of. It’s not how big an object is, because big objects can be made of not much stuff, and small objects can be made of loads of stuff. Black holes can be small or large, but they all have a huge amount of mass and very high gravity that pulls on everything around them – including light. Some black holes have the same amount of gravity as a large mountain, whereas others have the same gravity as the Sun. A third type of black holes – called supermassive black holes – are huge and can have gravity that’s more than a million times stronger…

How... much gravity do black holes contain?

Photos of the week

High and dry Semai noodles hung to dry before being sold in Dupchanchia, Bangladesh. Horsing around Herdsmen in Xilin Gol, north China, lasso dozens of white horses. Red moon at night A “blood moon” over New York during the lunar eclipse on 27 July. Grazing guanacos A pair of guanacos, a type of llama, in Jujuy, Argentina. Blast off SpaceX launches its Telstar 19 Vantage satellite at Cape Canaveral in Florida, US. Melon mask A curious red squirrel in Bispgården, Sweden, gets stuck into a watermelon.…

Photos of the week

Thomas takes Tour title

On 29 July, Geraint Thomas celebrated becoming the first Welshman to win the world’s most famous bike race. The 32-year-old came first in the Tour de France, which began on 7 July and finished in Paris after 21 days of road racing around France (and a small section in Spain). Thomas rides for a British cycling team called Team Sky. It’s the first time Thomas has won the Tour de France. His teammate, Chris Froome, was the Tour de France champion in 2017. Froome came third in this year’s race. Thomas got involved with cycling when he was 10. He saw young riders using an outdoor cycle track, called a velodrome, near a swimming pool he had visited, and he wanted to try the sport. Before winning this year’s race,…

Thomas takes Tour title

THE WEEK’S WINNERS...

Wendy Tuck The Australian became the first woman to captain a sailing crew to victory in the Clipper round-the-world yacht race. Vicky Holland The British athlete took gold in the World Triathlon Series in Edmonton, Canada. Teammate Georgia Taylor-Brown was third. Lewis Hamilton Hamilton won the Hungarian Grand Prix to extend his lead over Sebastian Vettel to 24 points in the Formula One motor-racing championship. Olga Danilovic On 29 July, the 17-year-old won the Moscow River Cup. She’s the first tennis player born in the 2000s to win a WTA professional event.…

THE WEEK’S WINNERS...

5 books about the Middle Ages

The Book of Boy by Catherine Gilbert Murdock (Chicken House) It’s 1350, and Boy is a goatherd, living in the quiet countryside. When Secundus, a mysterious pilgrim, appears on the scene, Boy’s peaceful life is turned upside down. Soon he has a new job, working as Secundus’s servant – and is accompanying him on a perilous treasure hunt, but could there be more to the pilgrim’s quest than Boy knows? The Secret Diary of John Drawbridge, Medieval Knight in Training by Philip Ardagh and Jamie Littler (Nosy Crow) John Drawbridge is training to become a knight, but he has a lot to learn. Things get complicated when invaders attack the castle where he lives. Can John foil their plot? Part of the National Trust Secret Diary series, this is a…

5 books about the Middle Ages

Samkad lives in the mountains of the Philippine jungle. He longs to become a warrior like his father, carrying weapons, etching tattoos across his chest and defending the village against the enemy tribe, the Mangilis. Just as he’s about to become a man, life in his village changes dramatically. Samkad has never met anyone from outside his tribe before, but now strangers have arrived – a boy from the Lowlands who speaks many languages, and a tall, pale man. Before long, Samkad’s tribe is facing danger – not only from the Mangilis, but also from the Americans with their frightening guns. Candy Gourlay has written a gripping story that will show you the world through Samkad’s eyes. Inspired by the turn-of-the-last-century invasion of the Philippines by the US, it shines…

Describe Samkad’s character in five words. Ambitious. Inexperienced. Cheeky. Innocent. Impulsive. What is one thing you hope readers take away from this story? That the world always looks incredibly different through another person’s eyes. If you could speak to one historical figure, who would it be? It would be the American writer and humorist Samuel Clemens [Mark Twain], who wrote one of my favourite childhood reads, The Prince and the Pauper. I would chat about how he campaigned for the United States to leave my native Philippines alone at a time when most Americans supported our takeover. If you could only eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be? Tamarind soup. Egg fried rice. Purple yam ice cream. What’s one fact you wish people knew…

Lose yourself in the magic

It’s been 90 years since Mickey Mouse appeared on the big screen for the first time. The animated film was called Steamboat Willie and was the first to feature sound effects and music alongside the moving pictures. To celebrate this moment of cinema history, a new musical concert experience inspired by another Disney film, Fantasia, has taken over The Vaults, a maze of tunnels beneath London’s Waterloo Station. Fantasia was released in cinemas in 1940. The animated film features eight short stories that are all set to classical music. The most famous segment is The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, which tells the story of Mickey Mouse stealing a wizard’s hat. With his new magical powers, he commands a broom to complete all of his household chores, only to be met with a…

Lose yourself in the magic

Meet Sounds and Sorcery’s director, Daisy Evans

Where did the idea come from? I loved the original film of Fantasia, and I love classical music, so I wanted to somehow bring the same music to life with the magic and vision that Walt Disney had in 1940. I thought it would be so cool to reimagine those worlds and allow people to walk through a magical musical landscape. How long did it take to develop? It took about 10 months. We planned the show on paper, then we had to wait for Disney to approve our project. They did, and we had six months before we planned to open. We recorded the orchestral pieces four months before, and then it took six weeks to build. What is your favourite Disney film? It’s a hard one! I love…

Meet Sounds and Sorcery’s director, Daisy Evans

THIS WEEK’S WATCH LIST

Ant-Man and the Wasp At cinemas nationwide. Certificate 12A Scott Lang, aka Ant-Man is struggling to juggle being a father and a pint-sized superhero. That’s until he’s forced to team up with Hope Van Dyne, aka the Wasp, after a criminal steals technology that threatens the world. The latest Marvel film is action-packed and full of fun. Animal Park Summer Special 2018 9.15am, 6 August, BBC One Ben Fogle and Kate Humble return to Longleat Safari Park for another series. In this first episode, the team go behind the scenes in an attempt to capture on film the birth of the most endangered cat in Africa, the cheetah. Aquaman trailer tinyurl.com/TWJ-aquamantrailer Arthur Curry thinks he’s a normal guy – that is until he discovers that he is the heir to…

THIS WEEK’S WATCH LIST

Thai cave rescue to be filmed

Last month, six film producers arrived in Thailand to begin research for several films and a documentary of the incredible rescue of 12 boys aged 11–16 and their coach from a network of flooded caves. The group had entered the caves after football practice and became trapped by rising water levels. They spent almost two weeks in the caves before a team of divers guided them to safety through the dangerous underground network. Their daring rescue instantly attracted the attention of Hollywood film producers. A US film crew arrived at the scene on the third day of the rescue attempt to begin planning how they would tell the incredible tale. To ensure that the story of the team’s escape is told accurately and everyone involved in the rescue is respected,…

Thai cave rescue to be filmed

An American Tail (1986) DVD, Amazon, iTunes An American Tail is an animated p art-musical that is probably best known for its hit song, Somewhere Out There. In fact, the film itself was originally intended to be a full musical, telling the story of a mouse and his family who emigrate from their home in Russia to set up life in America. Looking at the film now, its animated style feels a little dated, but there is a lot of charm. It was enough of a success on its release to lead to a sequel, An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. TOP TUNE The song Somewhere Out There was written and recorded in just four weeks.…

This week’s new apps

Numbala Android / iOS (£3.89 to £4.99) Is Numbala a shoot-‘em-up game or a maths app? Actually, it’s both! You start by choosing a name and deciding whether to play as a girl or boy, then choose from three difficulty levels: normal, hard and expert. You then find yourself in a tiny spaceship chasing a flying space-whale, after your pet dog gets kidnapped. Your ship flies automatically, but you choose how high by tapping on numbers from one to nine – one skims the floor and nine is at the top of the screen. As you fly, you collect dice-like objects while shooting obstacles and trying not to bash into walls. Power-ups – like magnets to suck the dice towards you – help, and you can unlock new ships as…

This week’s new apps

GAME OF THE WEEK

No Man’s Sky Xbox One / PlayStation 4 / PC No Man’s Sky came out on PlayStation 4 and PC in 2016, but Xbox One console owners can now join the space-exploration fun – with all versions of the game getting a big update (called No Man’s Sky Next) that adds new features like multiplayer. That means you can now explore a universe of planets by jetpack and spaceship with your friends if you’re playing online, going on missions and building space bases together. You’ll also be scanning plants and animals for your extraterrestrial collection, upgrading your spaceship and discovering mysterious alien artefacts galore.…

GAME OF THE WEEK

Get coding with a Harry Potter wand

Hogwarts students didn’t get much time to brush up on their programming skills in the Harry Potter books or films, but a new gadget wants to help young people learn to code – while wielding a magic wand. The Harry Potter Kano Coding Kit has been made by British company Kano, which is best known for its build-it-yourself computers. The kit will get owners to build a wand that will communicate wirelessly with its app for Apple and Android devices and computers. Kano has created more than 70 programming challenges based on the wizarding world, including some famous spells. The various challenges will teach the JavaScript language through a system where you drag and drop blocks of code into place. Fans might want the wand to be magicked up instantly,…

Get coding with a Harry Potter wand

New VR app explores the Moon

The last time a human set foot on the Moon was in December 1972, on Nasa’s Apollo 17 mission – the sixth and final Apollo mission to the Moon. Despite the US president, Donald Trump, promising a return, no date has yet been set. There are other ways to explore the lunar surface, though. South Korean technology company Samsung has been showing off its new virtual-reality (VR) app, A Moon for All Mankind. The company worked closely with Nasa to recreate in VR what it’s like to walk on the Moon, using the same technology that the space agency uses to train its astronauts. For now it’s not something people can use at home. Instead, they’ll have to go to New York to try the app, which uses Samsung’s Gear…

New VR app explores the Moon

“I LOVE GROWING WEIRD BEETROOTS”

Lily and her sisters Jasmine, Rose and Violet like to keep busy in the garden. “I love growing weird beetroots,” says Lily. “Sometimes they are golden, others are pink and white striped.” “I don’t have much space, so I think vertical,” says Jasmine. “My climbing peas grow up the side of my vegetable patch – the peas never make it into our kitchen as I eat them as soon as I see them.” “Rainbow carrots are the best. They look so pretty and are so sweet,” adds Rose. FOOD FOR THOUGHT Research by the British Nutrition Foundation found that a third of primary-school pupils think cheese comes from plants and one in 10 say that tomatoes grow underground.…

“I LOVE GROWING WEIRD BEETROOTS”

Grow your own food

Your family probably buys fresh fruit and vegetables from a supermarket or from a stall at a market. Perhaps you’ve had a chance to pick them yourself at a “pick your own” farm – but have you ever thought of growing your own fruit and vegetables at home? It’s much easier than it looks and it might encourage you to learn more about cooking using your home-grown food. Before you get started, have a chat with your parents or guardian about where your plants can be kept. You don’t have to have a lot of space – plenty of plants can be grown in pots on a windowsill or balcony, or perhaps your parents will let you have a space of your own in the garden, in a greenhouse or…

Grow your own food

HOW, WHAT, WHERE?

What are the benefits? Jennifer Irvine, mother of Lily, Jasmine, Rose and Violet, says home-grown fruit and vegetables can be higher in vitamins and minerals than those sold in shops. What do I need to buy? Apart from the seeds, you may already have most of the equipment at home. You will need a fork and spade (or a large spoon), pots of various sizes, a watering can, soil and markers to remind you what’s planted where (an ice-lolly stick works well). Gloves are useful but not essential – you can just get your hands dirty – but remember to wash them thoroughly when you’ve finished. Where can I learn more? Visit the BBC gardening guide at tinyurl.com/TWJ-gardening to learn more about gardening, including the best fruit and vegetables to…

HOW, WHAT, WHERE?

Make a hummus club sandwich What you need ● Cucumber ● Tomato ● Three slices of wholemeal bread ● One tablespoon hummus ● Pieces of cooked roast chicken ● A few lettuce leaves ● Sharp knife ● Chopping board Instructions Use the knife to carefully cut the cucumber and tomato into thin slices. Toast the bread and cut off the crusts. Spread hummus on one side of each slice of toast. Put some chicken and lettuce leaves on top of one piece of toast. Place a second slice of toast on top and add the tomato, cucumber and some more lettuce. Finally, add your third piece of toast on top (hummus side down) and cut the whole sandwich into quarters. Serve on its own or with a tasty side salad.…

Editor’s note

One of my favourite stories from this week’s newspapers comes from New Zealand. It involves seven-year-old Zoe Carew, who complained to the country’s Transport Agency about what she saw as sexist road signs. She spotted signs referring to “Linemen” when she was on her way to visit her grandparents. The word is commonly used to describe people who install or fix power lines. Angered at the assumption that only men could do the job, Zoe wrote to the Transport Agency’s chief executive, saying, “I think this sign is wrong and unfair”, and asking for it to be changed to “something else correct and fair”. The chief executive responded by confirming that the description would be changed to “Line crew” and commended her for “taking action where you think something unfair…

Royal Society for Blind Children (RSBC)

The Royal Society for Blind Children (RSBC) helps children who are dealing with partial or complete loss of sight. It offers support for the whole family, sets up fun activity clubs and helps teenagers and young adults with getting a job. The RSBC raises money in lots of ways, such as in marathons and touring the country to educate people on the struggles faced by children dealing with sight loss. Head over to rsbc.org.uk to find out more.…

Royal Society for Blind Children (RSBC)

Going to Bluedot Festival

“Every year at Jodrell Bank, which is a research centre for science and astronomy in Cheshire, they hold a festival called Bluedot. Lasting four days, it’s a science and music festival for everyone. When my mum told me about it, I had mixed emotions – I was excited but science is definitely not my favourite subject. Plus, I had never heard of any of the bands that were playing – who are The Flaming Lips? Yet I really enjoyed it. The bands were actually very good. I especially enjoyed Baloji – a Belgian-African soul, funk and jazz artist (google him, he’s great) – and I learnt a surprising amount of facts about everything from Moon rocks to bumblebees. I would 100% recommend it to families and pretty much everyone.” What’s…

Going to Bluedot Festival

Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE)

Do you like to write? Are you interested in the environment? The Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) is a programme that encourages young writers to report on environmental issues that interest them through writing, photography or video. The goal of the foundation is to get young people aged eight and up involved with environmental issues and voicing their opinions. Today, the programme has approximately 310,000 students taught by 12,000 teachers in about 34 countries. For more information, head to yre.global…

Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE)

Last month, The Week Junior and Science+Nature held live presentations and workshops at the Bluedot Festival. Here’s what we got up to... Journalism workshop: Here are a couple of front covers designed by roving reporters, after we shared our secrets on how to create an eye-catching design.…

Teacher OF THE WEEK

Teacher’s name: Miss Spooner School: Cookley Sebright Primary School, Worcestershire “My favourite teacher is Miss Spooner. She is teaching me and my friends in Year 3. Miss Spooner always has a smile on her face, but the main reason I chose her was because my friend came up with the idea to challenge her to do our hard Times Tables Quiz. She got 100 out of 100 in five minutes. We thought it was impossible!” Thomas, Year 3 If we pick your teacher as Teacher of the Week, we’ll send your school three free issues of The Week Junior. Send your nominations, along with a picture of your teacher and your school’s full name and address, to hello@theweekjunior.co.uk…

Teacher OF THE WEEK

Follow The Week Junior on PopJam@TheWeekJunior. You can download the free PopJam app from the App Store or Google Play. Last week, we asked if top footballers are paid too much money. You said... “Yes they are! Teachers are hardly paid and they have one of the most important jobs in the world!” @GinnyWeasley08 “No because they put a lot of effort to get to where they are today and still put effort into their sport every day, even if they are sick, injured or just don’t want to” @JBvlogs Scientists believe they have found diamonds buried deep in the Earth. “Who would have believed there could be millions of pounds worth of gems under our feet!” @Skyezberryw “Wow! How is that possible?” @unicorn_rainbowbow Tell us what you think of…

Snails compete for silver trophy

Hosta the snail beat 190 other slimy competitors to be crowned the winner of this year’s World Snail Racing Championships, held in Norfolk on 21 July. Despite the hot weather, which made the snails even slower than usual, Hosta won the top prize – a silver trophy filled with lettuce leaves – after completing the 33-centimetre-long race course in three minutes and 10 seconds. The world record for the distance stands at two minutes, set in 1995 by Archie the snail. ON THE MOVE Snails can reach a top speed of one metre per hour.…

Snails compete for silver trophy

Mayo-flavoured ice cream

A Scottish ice cream company has launched a surprising new flavour: mayonnaise. The creamy creation was announced on social media, sparking disgust and confusion among some followers. The Falkirk-based business claims its new offering has a “full-on hit of fat and cream followed with an eggy milky aftertaste... yum!” It is made by mixing mayo straight from the jar with ice cream, and sells for £2 a scoop. Is this the cold hard truth, or just a silly confection?*…

Mayo-flavoured ice cream

That’s unbelievable!

Fish board a boat On 20 July, thousands of sardines surprised a man by jumping out of the sea and into his fishing boat in a port in Taiwan. Lu Jingwai filmed the spectacular event and can be heard saying, “It is so scary! I am being attacked by fish!” Lu also said the chaos made the water look as if it was boiling. He thinks the sardines may have jumped out in a panic, to escape being caught by larger fish such as barracudas. You can watch the extraordinary video for yourself at tinyurl.com/jumpingsardines Santas in the sun On 23 July in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, more than 150 people dressed as Father Christmas were seen paddling in the sea. It was 27° C, but that didn't stop…

That’s unbelievable!

Abandoned mining town sells for £1 million

A ghost town in California, US, sold for £1 million on 13 July. The town called Cerro Gordo was built in 1865 and has 22 remaining structures, including an abandoned hotel and church. It used to be a place of danger and intrigue; “In its heyday, it averaged a murder a week,” said Jake Rasmuson, an estate agent. It was once a mining town but was abandoned when the price of silver and lead fell and people stopped mining there. Brent Underwood, who bought the town, said, “Cerro Gordo is a true piece of American history.”…

Abandoned mining town sells for £1 million

How much of this week’s news can you remember?

1 Which of these is not an example of fake news? a) An unproven conspiracy theory b) A story that manipulates facts to change how people vote c) A fact-checked, true story 2 Which birthday is the Beanocomic celebrating this year? 3 True or false? A washing machine operated by a windmill has been created in a workshop in Tanzania. 4 In which country is eel considered a delicacy? a) France b) Russia c) Japan 5 On board which ship does Ali Gellatly work? 6 What is the name of a badger’s home? a) Burrow b) Sett c) Nest 7 True or false? Some white sand is made from penguin poo. 8 What is another name for the planet Mars? 9 What did SpaceX launch in Florida this week? a)…

How much of this week’s news can you remember?

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