Science, Nature and Tech

What Causes Motion Sickness?

Motion sickness is also known as travel sickness, sea sickness or air sickness. It can happen in a number of situations, not all of which involve movement, and is a very unpleasant sensation. As part of our Have You Ever Wondered series, our Science Editor Sam finds out what causes motion sickness, and if there is anything you can do to prevent it.

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Science, Nature and Tech

Get Cracking With Computer Coding for Kids

Kids computing – there’s a lot of talk going on about it right now.  What do you learn about computing in your school?  Are they teaching you how to make cool video games?  How to come up with a story that makes sense, how to make sure that it’s engaging, that there are challenges at each level, and that there’s a reward at the end?  How to build that? 

How to make the bird you toss flop realistically into a pile of whatever you choose – making sure that gravity works the way you would expect it to (or not).  How to craft the graphics you need to tell your story?  How to publish that to your own smartphone and to share it (or sell it!) to friends and strangers? 

Hmmm, I didn’t think so.  “ I’d rather just do some Power Point and Word exercises, “ said no kid, ever.

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Art & History

The Invention of the Piano

Would it surprise you to know that the piano that was invented 1709 is quite similar to the pianos being sold today? Despite huge leaps in technology over the past couple of centuries, the basic function of the piano haven’t actually changed much. We take a look back in time at the invention of the piano.

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School & Career

A Homemade School

Dr Lesley Beeton visited South Africa and visited a school to find out what it’s like to go to school in South Africa.

This is the Drakensberg in South Africa. In English, it means ‘Dragon Mountain’. The children in this part of South Africa face a daily commute to school. In the area where I was staying, the nearest town was Bergville. With the windy roads through the mountains, this journey can take almost an hour. School starts early too, at eight o’clock, so that means getting up around 6 am to be ready for the taxi.

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