Ask 2019-01

Ew! What’s that smell? text and art by Thor Wickstrom
Yuck! Smells moldy!

It stinks!

January 2019 Volume 18 Number 1 cricketmedia.com $6.95

Where is I don’t see I don’t hear I know just who
it coming anything. any flies. we need to call...

from?

It’s the great I’m Sherlock Ratz, private Also, there is a strong
detective! detective. You ate a bagel with odor of pizza—about a
cream cheese and juice today... week old, with pepperoni
and mushroom, coming from
Why yes! How Trade
did you know? secret. under that cushion!

AMAZING!! How can we ever repay you?
INCREDIBLE!
Um, well...
Are you going
to eat that?



Volume 18, Number 1 January 2019

Liz Huyck Editor Is this page 16
Tracy Vonder Brink Contributing Editor
Emily Cambias Assistant Editor bird about to make a big mistake?

Jacqui Ronan Whitehouse Art Director Departments
Erin Hookana Designer
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page 25

Suggested for ages 7 to 10.

Who’s a good dog?

Features Does this drone need glasses? page 28
page 20
6 Sensational Pet Picnic
?
by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen

12 A Bumblebee’s World
by Christy Peterson

16 Why Do Birds Run

into Windows?

by Maria Hlohowskyj

20 Dragonfly Drone
by Evan Ackerman

24 A Fishy Sixth Sense
by Harry LeVine III

28 Jobs for Dogs

Why do cats have whiskers?

What do bees see

page 9 page 12

by
Elizabeth
Preston

Yummy Money That one
looks
The Maya were an ancient people who
lived in what’s now Mexico and Central counterfeit.
America. They built pyramids and wrote
with pictures. The Maya didn’t use
money. Instead, they traded things they
made for things they needed. But one
researcher thinks that for the Maya,
chocolate was a kind of money.

The Maya loved to drink hot
chocolate, made from ground-up cacao
beans. Mayan art often shows people
drinking cocoa. And Mayan pictures also
show people using cacao beans to pay
taxes and buy things, a lot like coins.
Money you can drink!

row

New Moons

You might think all the planets they found themselves looking at
and moons in our solar system photos of a patch of sky that also
have already been found. But included Jupiter.
astronomers recently discovered
12 more moons around Jupiter. They decided to take a closer
That brings the planet’s total to look at the big planet. They spotted
79 moons. several interesting objects. A
year later, they checked the sky
The researchers weren’t looking again. The dots had moved. That
for moons. They were using a big, confirmed that they’d found a dozen
powerful camera to search for moons. These new members of our
objects at the very farthest edges solar system are tiny—each moon is
of our solar system. But in 2017, just 1 to 3 miles (1.5 to 5 km) wide.

2 ask

Kangaroo Face-Off

What’s a kangaroo’s favorite food? You
can tell from its face shape.

Like dogs, different kangaroo species
have differently shaped faces. Some
have long snouts. Others have flatter
faces. To find out why, scientists
studied skulls from museum collections.
The skulls belonged to 16 species of
kangaroos and their relatives.

The scientists found that kangaroos
with a taste for tough foods, like roots
or nuts, have shorter snouts. Short,
thick jaws are good for chomping.
Species that nibble on grass or soft
fruits have longer snouts. Since the
same was probably also true for
ancient kangaroos, scientists can use
the face shapes of extinct kangaroos to
figure out what they ate.

What a weird
theory!

79 moons? No
fair! We only

have one!

Jupiter’s many moons orbit around the planet at Jupiter’s largest
different distances. Some are pretty far out! moon is Ganymede.
It’s almost as big
as Mars. 3

ask

Our special today is a Phil, truffles are a
classic Pasta Carbonara rare delicacy. They can
with shaved white truffles. cost $1,500 a pound.

Can I get
fries with

that?

Truffles grow underground. It’s so easy. All I need
People use trained pigs to is a pig and I’ll be rich!

sniff them out.

Dig, pig! Find me Wow, that was fast. I’ll take
some truffles. that one.

Check out this huge truffle!
I bet it’s worth $10,000.

That’s
a potato.

4 ask

Do you even know Found Hey, I’ve been Truffles are a type of
what a truffle is? one! looking for that mushroom. I think they

That’s what baseball. grow under trees.
my pig is for.

Go Oh, pig, that’s just an old box!
pig!

What did that kid
want you to find?

Beats me.

Go away, pig. I’ll find These mushrooms
the truffles myself. you dug up are

delicious!

ask 5

Sensational text © 2018 by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen, art © 2018 by Jeff Harter

How different are
animals’ senses?

Zachary shoves a picnic lunch
into a basket and heads out
for his favorite spot in the
park. His dog, Mutt, races ahead of
him. The neighbor’s cat, Kit, tags
along behind.

It’s a beautiful day, and their
senses are hard at work taking in
the spring afternoon. If you could
get inside their heads, what would
you find? Would they be smelling,
hearing, feeling, seeing, and tasting
the same things?

6 ask

Pet Picnic
by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen, art by Jeff Harter

Smelling a Rat and out. This gives them extra Do you smell
time to identify odors. Kit also something?
In a nest under a pile of branches, heads for the rat. I smell
EVERYTHING!
a wood rat wakes from a nap and Zachary tugs Mutt away from the
brush pile. With a measly 5 million
scratches. Each scratch releases scent detectors, Zachary has no idea
what the dog and cat are smelling.
odors—chemicals from the rat’s

skin that drift through the air. Close

to the rat, the air is dense with them.

But the molecules spread out as they

drift away.

A few scent molecules hit Mutt’s

nose. The smell is faint, but that’s all

it takes. Mutt’s nose sends a message

to his brain: Rat near!

Dogs are incredible sniffers.

Their noses hold up to 300

million scent sensors. Dogs can

identify and remember millions

of different smells, and can track

many smells at the same time.

Dogs also smell through each

nostril separately, so they can

tell which direction a smell is

coming from. Mutt races toward

the brush pile.

A cat’s nose also packs in

plenty of scent receptors, about

200 million. Both cats and dogs

can hold air in their noses while

r Senses they keep breathing in
Supe Dogs Dogs’ noses are filled
and rats with scent sensors. They
can smell when also use more of their
people are ill brain for decoding smells
or upset. than humans do.

ask 7

Hey, no

skateboarding Sorry, I can’t
Music to Their Earsinside!
hear rules!

As they near the park, all

three can hear birds calling.

But Kit listens most intently.

Cats are hunters. They use

their sharp hearing to

find prey. I’m not
ticklish!
Cats, dogs, and
It’s Touching
humans can hear sounds
As Zachary takes a short cut through
about as low as the a clump of bushes, wet leaves stick to
his hands. A rough branch brushes
bottom key on a piano. his shoulder. Like all animals,
Zachary feels with a network of touch
But dogs can hear higher sensors spread all over his body.
Nerves in the skin sense pressure,
notes than humans. And heat, wet, and dry. Sensors inside
muscles feel stretching and moving,
cats can hear even higher temperature and pain.

notes than dogs. Mutt and Kit find their own way
through the shrubs. Like Zachary,
A cat’s ears can catch their nerves tell them what they’re
touching and how they’re moving.
11 full octaves. That

means Kit can hear the

scurry of beetles, the

squeaks of mice talking to

their babies, and even the

ultrasonic peeps of bats.

When a cat’s ears twitch,

it’s likely hearing sounds

that you can’t.

Low, boomy sounds What Can Animals Hear? High, squeaky sounds Different animals can
hear different kinds of
Infrasounds Human hearing Ultrasounds sounds. Some hear low
0 20 notes better, and some
20,000 40,000 160,000 Hz hear high notes better.
Sound is measured in
elephant hertz, or Hz.
dog, cat
SensEleepshants
dolphin, bat Super
can make sounds
people so low they rumble like
an earthquake.
These can be
heard by other
elephants many

miles away.

8 ask

These black boxes are electronic noses. They
can detect a few harmful chemicals, but are
still not as good as a dog’s nose.

Zachary uses his eyes to see a branch Building a Better Nose

Humans, sadly, have a pretty poor

about to hit him. But cats and dogs don’t sense of smell. In fact, most animals

see well right in front of their faces. Instead, have much sharper noses than we do.

they sense nearby objects with stiff whiskers So humans often train animals to do

called vibrissae. Nerves around the base of sniffing jobs. Trained dogs and rats can

each whisker feel how it bends. smell out everything from explosives

SupeTrheSens to sickness. Pigs are also talented
nose feelers
As their whiskers brush against of a star-nosed sniffers. They are used to hunt for
the bushes, Kit and Mutt get a
“touch picture” of what’s around es truffles, a yummy mushroom that grows

underground.

them. Kit knows if his whiskers mole are six times Byt putting animals on smell duty has
fit through an opening, then the more sensitive than
some problems. Animals are expensive to
human
train. They get tired and bored. They
rest of him can squeeze through. fingers.
need human handlers. Could we make an

electronic nose that could do the job?

Many researchers are working on

it. They make sensors out of materials

See? A that change when they meet dangerous
perfect fit.
chemicals. This triggers a signal on a

screen or sounds an alarm.

One lab at the Georgia Institute of

Technology is making detectors that sniff

Cats know the air in little bursts, just like a dog or
they will
fit through rat. It turns out that sniffing
any opening
wider Robot and is the best way to get a good
than their dog—the best
whiskers. of both worlds! sample of what’s in the air.

So far, animal noses are still

much better at catching faint

smells. But someday, the robots

may have all the truffles.

ask 9

Inventors Yellow, red, 4. Brain
can see green! identifies
around color.
corners.
A Sight for More Eyes
Humans have three
As he steps out of the trees, Zachary’s
pupils get smaller to adjust to the bright kinds of color-sensing
sunlight. Dogs, cats, and humans all see by
catching light with special cells at the back cone cells. Dogs and
of the eye. Rod cells see light, dark, and
movement. Cone cells sense color. cats have only two. To

This dog will get a treat if Zachary, the park is 3. The light hits
he pushes the button that is a blaze of color. Mutt eye cells. Cells
a different color. Can he tell sees a more muted signal brain.
red from green?
scene. Dogs see blues and yellows, but

the green grass and the red berries

probably look like shades of green.

To Kit, the world might look like

a black-and-white picture with a few

weak colors. But cats’ eyes respond

strongly to motion. Not distracted by

colors, Kit quickly spots anything that

How Do We Know What Animals Know? moves. That’s helpful if you have to

You can’t ask a dog if he can hear a whistle, and catch your dinner.

you won’t get a cat to read an eye chart. So how Dogs and cats also have the

do we know how they sense the world? advantage at night. Both can see in

The first clues come from observing how the dark much better than humans.

animals act. If your dog whimpers at thunder, you Their pupils can stretch extra wide

can be pretty sure she hears it.

Researchers also give animals tests. They might to let in more light. They have more

train some dogs to expect a treat if they push the rod cells, to catch every bit of light.

button that’s a different color. Can the dogs pick They also have a shiny layer at the

a green button next to two red ones? If not, they back of their eyes, called the tapetum.

may not be able to tell red from green.

Scientists also study animals’ bodies. They can

count the odor sensors in a dog’s nose. And the

more sensors, the better it can smell. Cats and

Finally, researchers can study an animal’s DNA. dogs don’t

DNA contains instructions for how to build body see much

parts. Researchers have found that the cat DNA color. Far Human view
away things
is missing the bit that makes
Red or look blurry.

sweet-sensing taste buds in green? But they

other animals. So cats don’t Blue! have a wider
care about candy.
view and see

well at night.

10 a s k Dog/Cat view

1. Light

um, beige?

if food stays in the

mouth long enough to

be tasted. Many dogs

gulp their food as if

they were trying to

2. Some light rays bounce off object. 3. The light hits win an eating contest.

The tapetum works like a mirror to eye cells. Cells Fortunately, dogs Senses
bounce light to the light-detecting signal brain. have extra strong
cells. Sometimes at night, cats’ and
dogs’ eyes seem to glow when they stomach acid to kill any bacteria they Super Butterflies
catch the light. That glow comes might swallow. can taste
from light bouncing off the tapetum. with their

Lunch, at Last Kit is a much pickier eater. Cats feet.

Finally, it’s time for lunch. Zachary’s don’t have many taste buds, and they
mouth is already watering for his
turkey sandwiches and cookies. can’t taste sweet at all. So Kit isn’t
Zachary keeps a tight hold on his
sandwich, because Mutt tends to gulp interested in Zachary’s cookies. If you have such More
anything he can get his snout into. Kit is looking for plain meat. a great sense of smells to
smell, why do you
Dogs’ tongues are covered in Zachary gives a Mutt a bite of love!
taste buds, just like ours. They, too, eat garbage?
can taste sweet, salty, bitter, and
sour. But taste buds are only helpful his sandwich and flicks Kit a bit of

turkey. Then he settles back to

enjoy lunch. With 10,000 taste buds

that can detect a wide variety of

flavors, this is one time when Zachary’s

senses really take the cake.

a s k 11

Have you ever wondered I could live in
what it would be a flower!
like to be a bee?

I am not a On the first warm day of her five eyes to search for flowers. text © 2018 by Christy Peterson, art © 2018 by Marnie Galloway
rose! spring, a bumblebee queen Three tiny eyes see only light and
crawls out of her winter dark. Two larger eyes are made up
burrow. The sun shines. A gentle of many small panes, or lenses. Each
breeze ruffles her hairs. sees a tiny bit of the world, a single
pixel. The bee’s brain puts them
A Blue-Yellow World together to make a fuzzy picture.

Hungry after her long winter There are flowers ahead, but they
sleep, the first thing on the don’t look the same to the bumblebee
bumblebee’s mind is food. She as they do to people. Bees can see
lifts off—buzzzzzzzzzzz. She uses greens, blues, and yellows, but they

I see the I taste the sweet
hidden pattern nectar with my
on the flower. antennae.

I smell the I don’t have
trail of my ears, but I feel
sister bee.
the breeze.
12 a s k

SupePirt Sen ses

by Christy Peterson, that once belonged to a mouse. vipers can
art by Marnie Galloway She lays eggs in little wax pots see heat with
that she has filled with nectar infrared-sensing pits
don’t see red. So a red flower would and pollen. on their
look very different to them. But bees heads.
can see an extra color that humans Soon the eggs hatch and grow
can’t: ultraviolet, or UV. Many into new workers. They begin to You mean bees Yes, and
flowers have UV patterns that look collect nectar and pollen to feed can see things we also do
like “landing pads” to bees, but are more baby bees. They need to we can’t see?
invisible to humans. find the most nutritious food to quantum
feed the young back at home. physics.
How can they do this? They give
it a taste test!

Tasty Treats Bees have long
tongues to
The bumblebee nectar.
queen lands
on a flower. What a human sees
She smells
nectar—but What a bee sees
not with
her nose. hidden
She tastes it ings in UV
with hairs on are invisible to
her tongue and can see them.
antennae.
Right this way.
The bumblebee
slurps the nectar with
her long tongue and
collects pollen in
hairy “baskets”
her legs. Then
looks for a plac
build her nest. She
chooses a cozy hole

a s k 13

Cute baby
bees!

Bumblebees build small wax pots to hold honey or Sometimes bumblebees take over old birdhouses.
baby bees.

Scientists need to do more tests to around the flower changes. The
next bee that lands can sense this
be sure, but they think that bees can electrical change. Scientists think
bumblebees might be using this
tell from a tiny taste which flowers electric sense to skip flowers that
another bee has already visited.
are the most nutritious. A bumblebee
Hey, who
perAnSts,ens might taste different nectars and drank all the

Su bees, and es choose the best to bring back to the milk?
many other
animals talk with nest. They may also remember the Mmm, juicy!
smells.
patterns of the tastiest flowers. No charge, that
one’s empty.
Meanwhile, there are other

bees buzzing about as well. They are

all after the same nectar. It would

be handy if the bees could tell if

another insect had already landed

a flower and taken all the nectar.

An for that, bees use another special

sens —electroreception.

Bees can use hairs on

eir bodies to detect

ctricity, a bit like

feeling static in

laundry. When

bee lands on

flower, the

While the bee sips, ctricity
pollen brushes off
onto two big “pollen
baskets” on her legs.

bumblebee honey bee day. Bees can SenBse e,
use it to find
Flying Safe What Bee Is That? their way Super birds, d
octopuses n
As she flies There are hundreds of different kinds see polarized
light, or the di ct n
home with her of bees in the world. Bumblebees are home even
nectar, a bumble- larger and fuzzier than honey- when it’s light waves are
bee needs to avoid bees. Bumblebees live in holes cloudy. vibrating.
becoming a bird’s in the ground, not in As winter winds
big hives. Bees need
houses too!
lunch. She’s helped by begin to blow, changes Thanks!

super-speedy vision. come to the colony. The old

Like humans, bees see motion queen, the workers, and the males

by comparing pictures sent by the will not survive the season. But new

eyes many times each second. If young queens, their bellies fat with

the position of an object changes, it nectar, are looking for safe places

means it’s moving. for a long winter nap.

It takes about a tenth of a second They look for holes in the

for a human brain to spot motion. ground or deep cracks in brush

But bumblebee eyes send many more piles and walls. In spring, they

pictures to the brain each second. will crawl up from their burrows.

This means they notice a bird swoop- They will use their senses to form

ing in much faster than we would. new colonies and begin the cycle all

This helps them avoid hungry beaks. over again.

Bumblebee eyes have one more

super power. Like many insects

and birds, bumblebees can see

polarized light. That’s not a color,

but light waves vibrating in the same

direction. A ring of polarized light

surrounds the sun like a hula hoop.

It moves across the sky through the

Bees’ eyes can detect polarized light. This
isn’t a color, but how light waves are
lined up. A band of polarized light across
the sky helps them find their way.

unpolarized light OK, sun is
behind me.

polarized light

a s k 15

Window?
What’s a window?

The other day
up in the air
I hit a thing
that wasn’t there.
It wasn’t there
again today—
I guess this thing
is here to stay.

WBinihrtydosDWRouinndows?And what

can we do
bayrtMbayriaMaHrlnohieowGsaklylojway
to help?
birds ly fast If they fly into a glass

t’s a clear, sunny day. You’re window, they can be badly injured or

strolling to lunch at your new even killed. We don’t know exactly

school when—WHAM!—you how many birds die each year from

run smack into a glass door. The crashing into glass, but it’s a lot.
S

art © 2018 by Marnie Galloway
uperEagSlesense s glass was so clean you didn’t even So why do birds run into glass?
have very realize it was there! Do they have trouble seeing it? And is
sharp eyes. They there anything we could do to help?
can spot a rabbit Luckily, people don’t walk very Scientists, inventors, and architects
twitch from over fast, so bumping into a glass door is are all looking for answers.
a mile away. more embarrassing than painful. But

16 a s k

Supe r Senses In a bird's eye
Falcons
Extra big eyeball
can track
Can see
Window? prey by t polarized light
What
Window? li ht reflecting Four or five kinds of
color-sensing cone
When birds fly into ff e trails. cells. One can see UV.
(Humans have only 3)

ass i ’s

not because they can’t see

well. In fact, birds have much

etter eyesight than humans.

Even small birds have quite

big eyeballs. This helps them

see detail very well. A bird could

read a book page from across Oil drops that Many more color- and light-
t e room. Hunting birds like may help them see detecting cells than humans
hawks and owls can spot prey
different colors

m almost a mile away.

Birds also see many more Like you, birds can see

colors than we can. They can through glass. If the sun is

s e all the colors humans see, shining, the bird might see a

p u ultraviolet light, or UV. Tiny reflection of the sky or trees.

d ps of oil in their eyes may let But unlike you, birds don’t

th see even more colors.And understand what glass is.You’ve

y see better in the dark. spent your whole life in buildings Most of a bird’s
Birds can even see polarized filled with glass windows and doors. eye is hidden
lig t. This isn’t a color, but what You can touch glass with your fingers behind skin, but
directi n light waves are wiggling. and learn that it’s solid, not air. the skull shows
how big they are.

Scientists think migrating birds use To a bird, this looks like more
Sometimes I wonder open sky and trees.
polarized light to help them find if anyone sees the
same world I do.
their way.

Many birds, like this bluethroat, have
special marks that reflect UV light.
These marks help birds recognize
each other.

a s k 17

This building uses colored panels
to help birds see the glass.

But there is no So it’s not that birds can’t see

glass in nature. glass. They just don’t know what it is.

nature, solid Stars or Cars?
things are not

see-through. So Lit-up buildings can also be a danger

if a bird sees sky to birds. Birds that migrate usually

or trees through travel at night. They use the moon

a window, it and stars to guide them. When they

assumes that fly over cities, bright lights from the

SuMpaneyr Se nses there’s nothing buildings confuse them. They fly
bet n it and the tree down towards the lights. Once they’re
birds, fish, r ky. ey see an open path. in the city, they get lost and confused,
and insects can nd bec use so many birds and crash into buildings.
sense earth’s die the first time they crash
magnetic fields, into a window, they don’t have People who care about birds have
like a built-in been asking cities to turn off the lights

compass.

the chance to learn from their in tall buildings at night. They call

mistake. it the “Lights Out” program. And it

Make Your Own House works. Cities that turn out the lights
Bird-Safe at night notice that many fewer birds
get lost or hurt while migrating.
Here are some ways you can make your own

house more bird-safe: Invisible Visible Glass

Move indoor plants away from the windows so birds But plain old glass remains a
don’t try to land in them.

Place bird feeders well away from windows, or right next problem. Many solutions have
to them, so birds land before they hit the window. been tried. Some buildings

Use tape, decals, pieces of paper, or soap to make visible put up bars or screens to

marks on your windows. Space them about a hand-width apart. keep birds away from

This is a If you find an injured hard glass. Others paint
window. bird, handle it as little patterns onto the glass,
as possible. Put it in or use frosted glass that
a shoebox or paper lets in light but doesn’t
bag somewhere away look clear.
from heat, pets, and
loud noises. Call Alfred Arnold is a
your local wildlife bird lover who wanted to
hospital for help! help. He also happens to

18 a s k

own a glass company. He wondered, ses This special bird-safe But I can
what if he could make a glass glass has a nearly see it!
window that was see-through to invisible pattern on it.
humans, but looked solid to birds? This makes it much more a s k 19
visible to birds.
One day, Arnold read a story
about some scientists trying to This building is
figure out why spider webs reflect designed to be visible
UV light. Some thought it was to to birds. It breaks up
help birds see the webs. A spider the flat glass with
wouldn’t want a bird to fly rippled balconies.
through its web! The scientists
couldn’t prove this idea, but it This building
gave Arnold an idea of his own. looks all
wet!
Arnold and his company
invented a special type of glass called Super Sen
Ornilux. This glass is covered in a
web pattern that reflects UV light. To Owls have
humans, the glass looks clear. But to excellent hearing.
birds, it looks like a net.
They can hear
They tested it by putting a piece mice tunneling
of Ornilux and a piece of regular underground while
glass at the end of a tunnel. They they fly overhead.
watched to see which side birds tried
to fly through. (They also put up a
safety net so no birds got hurt.) Most
of the birds did not try to fly through
the Ornilux. That meant they could
see the UV pattern.

Arnold’s new glass is now being
used in many buildings. It costs a bit
more, but it could save thousands of
birds from crashes. And as scientists
learn more about how birds see,
we might come up with even
better ideas.

Got any
tips?

Can a bug
teach a robot
how to see?

Dragonfly Droneby Evan Ackerman

Not
again!

That tree Have you ever been eye to eye with a text © 2018 by Evan Ackerman
came out of dragonfly? Insect eyes look very different
from your eyes. And they see differently,
nowhere! too. In some ways, insects can’t see as well
as we can. But in other ways they can see
much better. Now, roboticists are building
insect-eye cameras to help drones fly around
things without running into them, just like
dragonflies do.

20 a s k

Look Out for That Tree In a Bug’s Eye

Drones are small flying robots that Human eyes work a

do many useful jobs. They can fly bit like cameras. The

over dangerous areas to see what’s curved eyeball focuses

going on. They can take pictures light on the back of the

from above. They can carry tools or eye. The pupil changes

medicine. And drones are also a lot size to let in light. But these

of fun to play with. parts are too big and complicat-

If you’ve ever played with ed to fit in an insect’s head. Drones can
be useful for
a drone, you know Instead, insects delivering
emergency help
that they can be have a different kind to hard-to-reach
places.
tricky to steer. Very close up, you of eye, called a
Wind can blow can see the many compound eye. per Sense
them around. tiny lenses that make They are made up Crickets
up a dragonfly’s eye. keep their
ears in their
Sometimes, they of lots of small
front legs.
run into things. It’s one big eye light-sensors
The compa- made up of lots called ommatidia.
of little eyes!

nies that make One ommatidium

drones would like can only see a little

to teach them to avoid bit, but thousands can

obstacles. How hard could see a whole scene. Su

it be? After all, small insects, with Compound eyes s

even smaller brains, fly around all aren’t very good at seeing detail.

the time without hitting anything. You can see about 100 times

What makes insects so good at this, more sharply than an insect can.

if it’s so hard for drones? The secret But bug eyes are great if you want

is in how insect eyes work. to fly around quickly.

Human vision Insect vision Cartoons often show “fly
Insects don’t see as sharply as vision” this way. But this is
humans. Each small lens in their eyes
sees one square of the picture. not right!

21

Super Senses

The
eight eyes
of jumping spiders
each do different jobs.
Two see detail, two judge
depth, and four detect

motion.

Can you spot the baseball? It’s easier if No one can
your eyes ignore anything that doesn’t sneak up on
move. Insect eyes can. Drones are trying
to copy their trick with a device called an me now!
“event camera.” It only records motion.
This could help drones avoid collisions. insect’s eye. And just in time, the
insect veers away.
Some insects can see more colors
This super ability to detect
than we can. Some can see better at motion is what makes flies so
hard to swat. It’s also what makes
night. But what insect eyes are best dragonflies among the best hunters
of any animal. Dragonflies catch 95%
at is spotting motion. They do this by of the prey that they chase, while
lions only catch 30%.
paying special attention to changes in
This super motion-vision is
light and dark. Rapid changes mean exactly the skill drones need to fly
better. So roboticists are giving them
something is moving. If the insect bug eyes.

is flying toward something, How do I
look?
It took me millions the object will seem to
of years to perfect “move toward” the

this design.

This curved robot eye is modeled on the compound eyes of insects. It’s made
of lots of simple light detectors that work very quickly. It can detect motion
much faster than a human eye. In fact, the robot bug eye is even faster than
a real dragonfly’s. Take that, nature!

22 a s k

Drones’ New View see obstacles and turn away before it

Roboticists in Switzerland have hits them.
designed special cameras for drones
that work just like a dragonfly’s Roboticists hope that these insect-
eyes. These robot eyes are made up
of many simple light sensors. The inspired eyes will help drones fly
view they see isn’t very detailed. But
a flying drone doesn’t need to read a around the world more safely. When
street sign—it just needs to see well
enough to fly around it. drones can see more like

Normal cameras take time to insects do, they’ll be better Now you can As soon as
focus and don’t work in the dark at not crashing. fly without I learn how
or in very bright light. They can running into
only help a drone fly if the drone Eventually, the goal is to fly.
moves slowly and the light is good. to make drones that can things.
But insect-eye cameras work at any
speed, in bright or low light. They fly by themselves, even
can be arranged in a curve, so the
drone can see all around. inside buildings or through

In tests, these simple cameras do a forest. Drones that can
an excellent job at detecting motion,
even when the drone is moving very do this will be a lot more
quickly. That means the drone can
useful. We could send them Mantis Supe
off with just a map and

not have to worry about shrimp eyes r Senses
them crashing. have 12 kinds of
color-sensing cones (we

But even with have 3). But they don’t
insect eyes, it may be seem to be able to
tell colors apart

a while before drones very
fly as well as well.

dragonflies.

Drone Dragonflies This small
computer
Some researchers are experimenting backpack lets
with ways to use actual dragonflies as scientists
drones. They have figured out how to nudge the
steer the insects using a small backpack dragonfly to
that the dragonfly wears. This sends fly left or
signals to specially modified nerves in right, up or
the dragonfly’s muscles. Pulses of light down.
activate the muscles, so the dragonfly
flies any direction the controller wants. 23
Dragonflies are too small to carry much,
but someday they might be fitted with
tiny cameras.

per SenssehnaMsvineagnmahtoeateiirsosn- A Fishy
Suall es
.
text © 2012 by Harry LeVine III
Sharp teeth are not a shark’s
only weapons. They also have keen
eyes and a great sense of smell—
and a secret.

oung seal c

My sixth sense e its r,
knows when the head out of h o Lorenzini
Rules are being h wate , not no- tic d odd s of holes on the
fac of harks. The holes led to small
broken! jelly-filled tubes. He wasn’t sure
what they were for—maybe making
i gs protective slime?
Later, naturalists thought the
rk holes might help sharks smell or
sense vibrations. But their true
s purpose wasn’t discovered for
hundreds of years.
t eyes roll Finally, in the 1980s, a young great
white shark in a San Francisco aquari-
e r ockets for protection. um supplied the answer. She
kept colliding with a light
My sixth sense warns It i now blind, but faint electrical fixture in her tank. One
when Plush is coming! signals from the frantic seal mean day a sharp-eyed keeper

that the shark’s meal is assured. What are all those tiny
holes on a shark’s nose for?
How do sharks fix on their

prey with such accuracy, even in

uper Sensesosnsuteavineobstrnueayodircscswmt—uofisptpui.htullsci’otsasfnmurky water? Like so much about

sharks, this talent was a
puzzle—until one
shark’s strange
attraction to
a light gave a
vital clue.

2

Sixth by Harry LeVine III, art by Amy Zhong

Sense

400 llion year of evolution
ave made sharks the ultimate
r g , swift, and deadly.

ave one more remarkable
secret—an extra sense.

Funny... I don’t
smell anything.

noticed that the light had Holes in Their Heads
a bad wire. That let a tiny
bit of electricity—just 125 Sharks sense electricity through special pores
millionths of a volt—into in their heads, called the ampullae of Lorenzini.
the water. Could the shark Behind each hole is a jelly-filled tube lined with nerve
somehow be “smelling” the
electricity? cells. These are triggered by electric and magnetic
fields. The nerves fire more rapidly as the field gets
This prompted stronger. This allows sharks to track swimming prey
scientists to take another and judge its size from the electric “shadow.” All
look at those funny fish that can sense electricity have these holes.
holes of Lorenzini. New
tests revealed that the ask
holes could sense tiny
changes in temperature,
saltiness—and electricity.
Sure enough, sharks have
an electric sense.

All my senses
are electric!

25

A hammerhead shark’s wide head is studded
with electrosensors. It hunts for buried rays
by sweeping its head back and forth over
the seafloor, like a beachcomber with a metal
detector looking for coins.

From an animal’s electric shadow, a

ead shark shark can tell how large it is, where it’s

They call me Hammerh swimming, and how fast it’s going—
the beach even how fat it is. Electrical
fields aren’t blocked
shark!

Knifefish use their electric by sand or mud. So
sense to talk to each other. sharks can use their

An electric sense
Electric to spot prey in
World muddy water
and in darkness.

The ability to They can even

detect electric Have you seen find animals
fields is called my fork and buried under
electroreception. spoon fish? the sand.

It is an ancient Knifefish This discovery
sense that evolved al o xplained
in many ocean animals anot er old puzzle:

500 million years ago. It why shark teeth are often

survives in modern sharks, rays, dolphins, found stuck in underwater telephone

lampreys, electric eels, knifefish, catfish, and cables. Sharks mistake the electricity

platypuses. These animals use it to hunt and in the cables for buried fish.

communicate. Sharks use it mostly at short Sharks only “listen” to the faint

range, to zero in on prey in the last seconds of electrical signals of their prey. But

an attack. other fish use their electric sense more

What is the shark sensing? The cells of all like a burglar alarm.

living things produce tiny amounts of electric- Some knifefish create a faint

ity all the time. Fish swimming through salt electric field around their bodies. As

Sup er Sense water also leave faint electric trails as they the knifefish moves, it can sense when
drag their bodies through salty seawater. the field touches something. This
Fish s helps the fish avoid obstacles and spot
prey on muddy river bottoms.
have an Animals with electrosensors can detect
excellent these faint electrical signals.
sense of

smell.

26 a s k

Knifefish can recognize
the electrical signals of other
knifefish. They can even
use an electric cloak to make
themselves invisible to sharks.

Underwater GPS Tiger shark

Sharks may also use their electrical Sharks travel huge distances in the open ocean. Their
senses, along with smell, to find electromagnetic sense helps them find their way.
their way around the ocean. Sharks
may be able to feel the faint electric the shark’s electric sense to get Super Sens es
charge where more salty and less them to stay clear. So far
salty water mix. This could help they’re still experimental— To find leaks
them find ocean currents. Sharks but maybe one day they’ll in gas pipelines, the
can also follow Earth’s magnetic help make the oceans safer gas is sometimes laced
field and use magnetic rocks on the for everyone.
seafloor as landmarks. with a “meat” smell
I can feel its magnetic pull at will draw turkey
Scientists hope that studying from miles away. vultures. They
sharks’ sixth sense will help us share fly right to
the oceans with them better. Some the leak.
are working on electrical devices to
keep sharks away from fishing nets
and beaches. The idea is to irritate

What Is an Electric Field? by its spinning iron core. If you could see it,
it would look like this picture. The lines show
When electricity flows, the area where the the direction of the magnetic pull, toward the
electric force can be felt is called an electric
field. Magnets also have a field, called a north and south poles.
magnetic field. Earth’s magnetic field

Sharks and other is what makes compass
electrosensing animals needles point north. Many
can feel both electric animals can also sense
and magnetic fields. Earth’s magnetic field and
The Earth itself has a use it to navigate.
magnetic field, caused

ask 27

JOBS FOR DOGS

GREAT SNIFFERS WANTED

VOL. CLXVII January 3, 2019 art by Rupert van Wyk

Got a great sense of smell? Want a job full of adventure and tasty snacks?

Airport Patrol Track Whales art © 2018 by Rupert van Wyk

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28

e
y

w h Sage Br

Hey, Sage! Nikolas V. in Connecticut We roamed Earth for But not many of
wants to know, how do scientists tell us became fossils.
the difference between a dinosaur millions of years.
fossil and other fossils?

Fossils are bones or teeth that have And not all fossils are dinosaurs!
turned to stone. This happens as Any living thing can become a
minerals seep into old buried bones, fossil if conditions are right.
slowly replacing the original bone
over millions of years.

How can scientists tell the difference Clue #1: Look inside Stones are solid. They’re
between stones and bones? It’s not the same inside and out.
easy! Fossils look like stone on the
outside but inside have web-
like patterns. This is the
remains of the bone’s inside
structure.

Clue #2: Size and shape Clue #3: How old is it? Dinosaurs lived
between 250 and 65
This looks like any Paleontologists are bone Scientists also look at the rock million years ago. So
other leg bone to me. experts. They study a fossil’s the fossil came from. Geologists if a fossil was found
How do they know size, shape, and how it might can tell a rock’s age by looking in a rock layer that
it’s a dinosaur? fit together with other bones. at its layers and other clues. is older or younger,
Then they compare it to known Other fossils found in the same it’s probably not a
dinosaurs. layer also help. dinosaur.

My legs are But they don’t look
extra strong. like an elephant’s!

What happens if your After much study, So could this bone I found
fossil is the right age, but scientists may decide it’s
doesn’t match any known a new species. Sometimes in the garden be from a
dinosaurs? just one tooth or bone
will reveal a new kind of new kind of dinosaur? Wr t
dinosaur. Over 800 have
been named so far. There 70
are lots more to be found.
t

What do C
you say, or
dog? Bone ail k

or stone?

a s k 29

In our July/August Send your letters to Ask Mail,
issue we asked you to 70 East Lake St., Suite 800, Chicago, IL
imagine yourself as a 60601, or have your parent/guardian
beautiful bird. Thanks email us at [email protected].
to all you amazing
avian artists for flying The Beth-na Bird
over! Bethany P.,
age 7, Iowa

Peacock Jake Rainbow Lorakeet
Jake P., Agata,
age 6, North age 8
Carolina
Anya H., age 7, Maryland

Dear Marvin, Also I know a prank you can Dear Whatson,
I wrote a poem about a play on Plush. Put brown slime I really like to play games. Do
raccoon: in her bed! you like pool? Because I do.
What is your favorite game?
His nose is black Yuuna T., age 7 I like pool.
He wears a mask
And slinks along the sides. Dear Yuuna, Games always and forever,
When we see him, we forget That’s a great poem! Elvis will Billy A., Michigan
Through the dark he hides. be jealous. We wear masks so
no one notices when we slime
their beds. Wish me luck!

Slinkily, Marvin

30 a s k

Molly N., Silas E., Lily, age 8,
age 6, age 7, Guam
Iowa Wisconsin
Lottiebird
Ari-Bird Elyse H., and Friend
Ari M., age 7 Charlotte K.,
age 9, age 8,
Washington Maryland

Phoenix The Avra-bird Sabine F., age 10, Washington
Cooper J., Avraham M.,
age 7, age 8,
Washington New York

Dear Billy, Dear Bot, Dear Stella,
I mostly enjoy quiet games, Do you like dinosaurs? Because I have always admired sauropods,
like Scrabble, Othello, and I love them! My favorite because they are such a miracle
chess. Around here, games of species is velociraptor. Do you of engineering. How did they
pool have too much shouting have a favorite? What is it? manage to stay up? Technology
and climbing on the table Also, did you know dinosaurs keeps getting smaller, but I think
to chase balls with croquet can’t stick out their tongues? huge is also pretty cool. Even
mallets. But maybe human pool Cool, right! if they can’t stick out their
is different? tongues.
Stella S., Texas
Gamely yours, Historically prehistoric,
Whatson Bot

a s k 31

January Contest

Super Sense

Animals have some pretty amazing senses. Some
can hear, see, and smell better than we can.
Others can see heat or sense electricity. If you
could borrow a super sense from an animal, what
would it be? A dog’s super nose? Cat hearing?
Falcon sight? For this month’s contest, draw us
a picture of yourself with an animal super-sense.
How would you use it? We’ll post a selection of
the most sensational in an upcoming issue of Ask.

Contest Rules: 5. Your entry must be signed or emailed 7. Email scanned artwork to ask@
by a parent or legal guardian, saying it’s cricketmedia.com, or mail to: Ask, 70 East
1. Your contest entry must be your very your own work and that no one helped Lake St., Suite 800, Chicago, IL 60601.
own work. Ideas and words should not you, and that Ask has permission to Entries must be postmarked or emailed by
be copied. publish it in print and online. January 31, 2019.

2. Be sure to include your name, age, and 6. For information on the Children’s Online 8. We will publish the winning entries in an
address on your entry. Privacy Protection Act, see the Privacy upcoming issue of Ask.
Policy page at cricketmedia.com.
3. Only one entry per person, please.
4. If you want your work returned, enclose

a self-addressed, stamped envelope.

32 a s k

art by Thor Wickstrom E

Marvin & Friends

Marvin Avery

Likes: Pranks, inventions, Likes: Acorns, hollow trees
whoopee cushions Quote: Waste not, want not.
Quote: I didn’t do it. Most likely to: make it
Most likely to: throw water through the winter.
balloons.

Elvis Puck and Sisyphus

Likes: Poetry, dictionaries, Likes: Best friends, pearls
mirrors Quote: Two heads are
Quote: Brains AND better than one.
beauty—I have both. Most likely to: never
Most likely to: go over come out of their shells.
your head.
Zia
Plush Pottom
Likes: Birthday parties,
Likes: Rule books, the color pink, getting
binoculars, coding mail, cupcakes
Quote: I know what’s Quote: For me?
best for you. Most likely to: blow out
Most likely to: be the boss. the candles.

Whatson Bone Pony

Likes: Long chapters, Likes: Encyclopedias, hay
the first page Quote: Did you know that…?
Quote: I just read that Most likely to: know the
somewhere. answer.
Most likely to: be reading.
Ratsputin
Bot
Likes: Stinky cheese,
Likes: Data, batteries rotten eggs, buffets
Quote: Your wish is my Quote: Are you going
command. to eat that?
Most likely to: rust. Most likely to: steal your
leftovers.