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Written by Celia Berrell A small steel ball in a short smooth tube held in place by a spring, is the kind of switch that works in a twitch and starts an exploding thing.

We’re looking deep into essences and origins. From coffee to antimatter, can you puzzle out the solutions?

String is floppy, so it’s usually a terrible thing to build a tower from. But this tower uses tension and string to hold itself strong!

Difficulty: Tricky Janet is afraid of the dark, especially dark caves and tunnels. Today Janet must catch the train into town. But there’s a problem. As soon as the train leaves the station, it goes into a tunnel.

Have you ever wondered why many old paintings are so shiny? It’s not the paint they used – it’s a varnish that’s applied on top of the paint. These chemicals are designed to enhance and protect precious artworks. And CSIRO just formulated a new varnish that’s taking the art world by storm!

This quiz has a lot of comparisons. From cosmic circles to considerable cats, can you work out the biggest?

We’ve collected a few quick and easy designs for you to try, from a looping master to a super-fast dart with a twist.

This paper plane flies quite a bit like a regular dart. But its striking looks make it much more fun. Plus, you get two pairs of wings – front and back – that you can modify!

This is a fun design to experiment with! You can give the plane bigger wings to float more, or fold over the front edge to make the nose heavier. Make a few adjustments and see which modifications work the best.

This paper plane isn’t very fast, but with practice and adjustment, you can make it do loops!