Tag archives for Facts
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Phenomenal Friday Fact
Palm trees grew at the North Pole about 55 million years ago.
The Earth is an amazing planet. As we celebrate Earth Day this April 22, consider the changing environment and take steps to protect it for the future.
Check out books and movies about nature and the environment.
11% of the Earth’s surface is used to grow crops.
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Our next stop Dubrovnik, Croatia started with a surprise. Aunt Julie came to visit! Dubrovnik is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. The weather was super warm for October so we swam in the Adriatic Sea every single day. My favorite swim was deep into a spooky sea cave full of birds and other creepy critters.
How does a cow digest its lunch? “Eat, upchuck, chew the barfed-up cud.” That’s just a sample of a weird fact you’ll pick up at the cow station at the Animal Grossology exhibit at National Geographic in Washington, D.C.
This new exhibit is filled with all kind of gross facts. You’ll get the scoop on your cat’s hairballs, a cow’s four stomachs, weird undersea creatures, and more. You’ll also learn the science behind the yucky tidbits so you can explain the fact to your friends! The exhibits are interactive, and there are a bunch of games to play. Special demonstrations held every day will show you the science behind bioluminescence and how germs are spread between people.
Animal Grossology opens at the National Geographic Museum today. The exhibit will run through January 2, 2012.
Learn more about the Animal Grossology exhibit on the National Geographic Museum website.
Play Dung Beetle Derby on National Geographic Kids.
Photographs courtesy of Advanced Exhibits
Posted by BOOK NAME: Ultimate Weird but True
AUTHOR: National Geographic
Hi Everyone! It’s me, Hunter. I just read a cool book named Ultimate Weird But True. It’s published by National Geographic Kids, so I knew it would be awesome. I just didn’t know how awesome!
The subject of the book is basically what the title says; it’s about stuff that’s weird but true. For example, there’s a real Spider-Man guy who has climbed up the tallest skyscraper in the world. It took him over 6 hours to do this. He just wanted to prove he could do it. My favorite weird but true thing is a dog owner who built his dog a 2-story house. There’s a picture of it in the book, and it’s unbelievable!In fact, all of the photographs are pretty cool.
This is the kind of book that you can pick up and read for a few minutes or for hours. There’s a lot of interesting things to learn about and just about anyone would enjoy it. My grandmother was looking through my copy of Ultimate Weird But True also, and we talked and laughed about some of the neat stuff in it. I usually don’t enjoy nonfiction as much as fiction books, but I thought this one was really cool and exciting. I DEFINITELY recommend this book!
Posted by BOOK NAME: National Geographic Kids Almanac 2012
AUTHOR: National Geographic
Did you know that the smallest bone in your body is smaller than a grain of rice? Did you know that a lunar eclipse lasts about one hundred minutes? Did you know that there is a big annual celebration in Brazil called “Carnaval?” Did you know that the people of the Hindu religion celebrate a holiday called “Diwali,” which in English means “Festival of Lights,” that is also the meaning of the Jewish holiday called “Hanukkah?” You can learn all of that and so much more in the National Geographic Kids Almanac 2012!
In the book, there are different sections. You can read about amazing animals, going green, different cultures, the world billions of years ago, and even about how the world will be in the future! There’s also a game section, where you can play the same kinds of games that are in the magazine. I loved the quiz to stump your parents.
I would recommend this book to anyone. I flipped every page, always interested to know more. I had a lot of fun playing the games, too. Overall, I think the almanac is just like a great big issue of the magazine!
On the back of the book, it says “Dare to Explore!” That’s exactly what the almanac does; it makes you want to explore and discover new things.
Want to learn more about the almanac? Check out the video and get a sample of the amazing facts you’ll find inside!
Just one recycled can saves enough energy to run a small radio for more than ten hours.
In 2011, Earth’s population will reach 7 billion and put a strain on
the planet’s resources. What is a typical person like? Watch this
fact-packed video to find out!
Phenomenal Friday fact!
Earth Day is celebrated every year by more than a billion people in 180 nations around the world.
How do you celebrate Earth Day? Comment below.
Photograph by Kevin Turner, Flickr
Phenomenal Friday fact!
People flush about 27,000 trees’ worth of toilet paper down
the drain every day.
The next time you’re shopping for house
products with your family, consider buying toilet paper made from post-consumer recycled content.
Read Zipper’s Green Tips.
Photograph by Paul Kipping, My Shot
Posted by BOOK NAME: National Geographic Kids Almanac 2011
AUTHOR: National Geographic
Hey guys! Nice to see you again. I hope you enjoy my review on the National Geographic Kids Almanac 2011. This book has some of the most amazing pictures ever, and great details.
You can read about all sorts of different animals…from polar bears to green sea turtles and everything in between. There’s information about endangered species and some of the most awkward animals I’ve ever seen. For example, the horse-zebra named Eclyse. It’s solid white in the middle and on the legs. But on the head and near the butt it’s brown with black stripes. You can find a section about albino animals…which are white animals with red eyes-there’s a picture of an albino alligator, and a wallaby.
They have a section on Going Green-by helping the environment. For example, the book has information on conserving electricity and planting trees which gives us more oxygen.
At the end, you can read about future possibilities like a 3D magazine, a hotel in space, and robots.
The other chapters include Your World 2011, Super Science, Geography Rocks, History Happens, Culture Connection, Awesome Adventure, and Wonders of Nature.
There’s no sports section, which disappoints me a little bit. I liked the animal pictures the most, and I would definitely recommend this book.
Posted by BOOK NAME: The Reinvention of Edison Thomas
AUTHOR: Jacqueline Houtman
The Reinvention of Edison Thomas, by Jacqueline Houtman, is the story of a very smart boy named Edison Thomas. Edison, also known as Eddy, hates the name his parents gave him–it makes him sound too much like Thomas Edison. Eddy loves to invent things, and he is confident that he will win the science fair he is competing in. But when he gets 3rd place, he is devastated. Back at school, he suspects that his (former) best friend Mitch is bullying him, and confirms it after a few incidents. You see, Eddy has Asperger’s syndrome, making him very smart but somewhat inept at social interactions. His lack of skill in the social department is what makes him have trouble detecting simple emotions and feelings of others, as well as explaining his lack of friends. Sure, Eddy has a couple of friends, but he has nowhere near as many friends as an average middle-schooler would. One of his friends was the crossing guard at the street leading to the school. After budget cuts, the crossing guard got laid off, and Eddy was concerned about the children crossing the street. Because of his concern and his love for inventing things, Eddy created a machine that would help keep the children safe. Most of the story revolves around this invention and its importance to the storyline.
My favorite part of this novel was Eddy’s personality. People with Asperger’s syndrome have always interested me because of their mental ability, but the way the story was told really let you get inside his head. Eddy doesn’t like loud noises or change. Whenever he gets angry, he says the periodic table of the elements in his head to calm him down, and he refers to all living things by their scientific names in Latin. Sprinkled throughout the book are random facts from Eddy’s brain that give interesting tidbits of information to think about while reading the captivating story. All in all, I recommend this book to kids of all ages, especially those who enjoy math and science.
Posted by The Weird But True book is a big hit–so big that it’s being made into a book series! One upcoming Weird But True book will be the first book to ever include facts submitted by NG Kids readers.
Do you have a weird, wacky fact you’d like to see in the new book? Check out the April issue of National Geographic Kids magazine to get the details and find out how to submit your fact.
Don’t enter your fact in the comments! You’ll need to follow
these steps:
1. Find a weird, wacky fact that has not appeared in NG Kids
magazine. Your fact must be true in order to be published.
2. On the same page as your fact, include the following:
-Your name
-Your age and date of birth
-Address with zip code
-Phone number
-Name of a parent or guardian
3. Attach at least two reliable sources for your fact, such as printouts from websites or copies of pages from books, newspapers, magazines, encyclopedias, or other sources. Please include the name of the publication, page number, and date of publication or copyright date.
4. You may submit more than one fact, but please include a separate cover sheet for each fact and attach all the source information for the fact to the fact itself.
5. Mail all of this material to this address:
NG Kids–WBT
P.O. Box 97056
Washington, DC 20090-7056
POSTMARK DEADLINE: July 5, 2010
(AD) Check out the first Weird But True book.
Want a DogEared opinion? Read Parker’s review!
Posted by BOOK NAME: Weird But True! 300 Outrageous Facts
AUTHOR: National Geographic
Weird But True! really goes with its title. For example, the book says there are some ants that can make themselves explode when attacked and melons shaped like pyramids grown in Japan. This book is full of facts that will amaze you, like that bumblebee bats weigh the same as two M&M candies and some fish can actually walk on land. The freakiest fact in the book was that a chicken named Mike lived for 18 months without a head. How is that even possible? The most shocking facts are that some fish can change from female to male and slugs have 3,000 teeth and four noses. (With that many teeth, a trip to the dentist could last all day.)
I really liked this book because it was fun reading all 300 facts and sharing them with my mom, dad and friends. They couldn’t believe most of it. This is a good book to take in the car on a long trip and read out loud. Let me give you one more fact from the book: People report the most UFO sightings when Venus is closest to Earth. I guess we know where all the aliens live now!
Learn how to submit your fact to a future Weird But True book!
