Science, Nature and Tech

CURIOUS CREATURES 3 – The Naked Mole Rat

 

The strangest creatures are, to me,

The ones I love the best.

The slimy, ugly and the odd

Are cooler than the rest…

 

When I began this Curious Creatures series for Jump! Mag, I made a list of animals and insects I wanted to cover. I began with the ones I had some sort of connection with and most were animals close to home that I’d seen or heard, which intrigued and inspired me.
But rather impatiently, I’m now going to go a bit further afield and invite you to join me in the strange and extra-extraordinary world of  “Curiouser and Curiouser”*Creature number 3… 

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Science, Nature and Tech

Everything You Need to Know about Rosetta and Philae

There has been a lot of excitement about Rosetta and Philae lately, but what are they and why are they so interesting?

What are Rosetta and Philae?

 

 

Rosetta is a spacecraft built by the European Space Agency; its primary objective is to help understand the origins and evolution of our solar system. In order to do this it has spent the last decade travelling into deep space so that it can rendezvous with a comet. Philae is the lander that has descended to the surface of the comet in order to take measurements and readings.

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Language & Literature

How Did the Penguin Get its Name?

These days, we all know what a penguin looks like. Even if you haven’t seen a real, live penguin, I’m sure you have seen pictures, perhaps watched them in a film. It seems strange to think that people in Europe had no idea they existed for so many centuries! Perhaps you have wondered about that part of history.

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Art & History

Amazing Libraries and Bookstores Around the World

What do you like about going into a bookstore or library? Is it the smell of the books, or the sight of the different coloured spines, waiting to be pulled from the shelf, so that you can dive in?
We have compiled a list of some of the most amazing libraries and bookstores around the world. Some of them you may have heard of, others are less well-known, but all of them made us smile or gasp in wonder. Which one is your favourite, and which library or bookstore would you add to the list?

 

Real Gabinete Português de Leitura, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Real Gabinete Português de Leitura pic by Mathieu Bertrand Struck

Real Gabinete Português de Leitura pic by Mathieu Bertrand Struck

A building so remarkable that this one photo cannot hope to do it justice – more pictures here. This is the largest and most valuable collection of Portuguese literature outside of Portugal. The library was constructed between 1880 and 1887 – the facade was carved out of limestone in Lisbon, Portugal and transported by ship to Rio.

 

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