By David Shaw, 27 February 2017
It’s really annoying to get bitten by a mosquito. Your skin often swells, and the bite can itch for days. But in many places in the world, that small bite isn’t just annoying. It can cause a life-threatening disease: malaria.
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By David Shaw, 7 February 2017
They’re bright red, a bit crunchy, and they don’t really taste like much. The standard tomatoes you can buy in a supermarket are a bit boring to eat. But if you’ve ever grown tomatoes yourself, you’ll know how sweet and full of flavour they can be. So what’s happened to the humble tomato?
By David Shaw, 31 January 2017
Here are two tricky puzzles, which look strangely similar. Did we somehow get a puzzle inside your puzzle? You will need Scissors Copy of the printouts, which you can download here (two pages) What to do
By David Shaw, 20 January 2017
Written by Rachael Vorwerk Inside a small sample of powder, there hides a gigantic secret. In just a teaspoon of the stuff you’ll find the entire surface area of a football field. It sounds like something from Back to the Future, but for CSIRO scientists it’s the norm.
By David Shaw, 16 January 2017
Many people know how to play solitaire or patience, but there are actually lots of different one-player card games. This version of patience has a bit of addition, and also some tricky strategic thinking.
By David Shaw, 9 January 2017
You might think we know everything there is to know about climate change. We know that greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide and methane, are trapping heat. And we know that average temperatures are climbing worldwide. But there’s still lots for us to learn, and new discoveries are being made all the time.
By David Shaw, 4 January 2017
In this trick, you’ll wrap a shoelace around a pencil and a strip of cardboard. The string seems to pass straight through both, tearing the cardboard, but leaving the pencil untouched!
By David Shaw, 22 December 2016
Voyager, Pathfinder, Cassini. Humanity has sent out dozens of plucky little space probes to explore our solar system. But when these robots need to call home, who’s listening in?
By David Shaw, 19 December 2016
Feeling festive? This cool mathematical bauble is fun to make, and looks great too!
By David Shaw, 15 December 2016
Picture this: you’ve just bought a nice little cake, just for you. Then your friends show up, wanting a piece. Lucky for you, mathematicians have developed some pretty cool ways of sharing.
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