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puzzle posts

Try a tangram Activity

by David Shaw, 20 July 2022 | 0 comments

a duck shape made of smaller shapes

This traditional Chinese puzzle, known as a tangram, reveals some surprising properties of squares!

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Soma cube Activity

by David Shaw, 24 May 2022 | 1 comments

A cube made of lots of dice

The soma cube is a tricky puzzle! First, you’ll glue some cubes together into strange shapes. Then see if you can get those shapes to come together!

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Connection conniption! Activity

by David Shaw, 24 February 2022 | 1 comments

A tecup with 3 houses drawn on it. there are 3 different whiteboard markers inside the cup

Do you have a favourite mug? This is my favourite. Not only does it hold my hot chocolate, it has a wicked tricky puzzle on it!

Continue reading Connection conniption!

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Swap the blocks Activity

by David Shaw, 26 May 2021 | 1 comments

Six squares drawn in a grid, two end squares are coloured, one red, one blue. There are tiles on five of the six squares.

Here’s a puzzle that’s easy to set up, but surprisingly tricky to solve. See if you can swap two counters just by sliding them!

Continue reading Swap the blocks

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Unchecker the board Activity

by David Shaw, 22 October 2020 | 0 comments

Someone is sliding a black counter on a grid

Here’s a quick sliding puzzle to get your brain pumping. See if you can separate the light and dark counters in as few moves as possible!

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A Christmas packing puzzle Activity

by David Shaw, 24 December 2019 | 0 comments

Merry Christmas! Here’s our maths gift to you – a puzzle.

Continue reading A Christmas packing puzzle

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Double Helix Extra: your new email update! Update

by Jasmine Fellows, 28 February 2018 | 0 comments

10 year old holding tablet and atomic model.

Double Helix magazine is excited to announce that we’re merging our newsletters Science by Email and Maths by Email, and adding a splash of technology and engineering news. Keep an eye out for our new look email, called Double Helix Extra!

Continue reading Double Helix Extra: your new email update!

These tool-building cockatoos have something to crow about News

by David Shaw, 12 December 2017 | 0 comments

a cockatoo

Written by Mike McRae Around 15 years ago, a New Caledonian crow named Betty amazed scientists with her talent for tool-building. That was nothing – wait until your meet these clever cockatoos.

Continue reading These tool-building cockatoos have something to crow about

Hanging by a thread Activity

by David Shaw, 27 November 2017 | 0 comments

a picture hanging from two pins

You’ll find yourself going a little loopy with this puzzle, but it’s worth unravelling the secret.

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Five-cent star Activity

by David Shaw, 1 August 2017 | 0 comments

Lots of coins on a star.

Here’s a tricky puzzle for you! An eight pointed star, and seven coins. Can you put all the coins onto the star?

Continue reading Five-cent star

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