newsademic british english edition 156

20th October 2011British English edition

Issue Number 156

Newsademic.comThe international newspaper for the younger reader

In this issue

‘Occupy Wall Street’ demonstrations spreadElection in PolandAre species getting smaller?Time Capsule for Diamond JubileeA near miss?Water rationing on Pacific Islands1911 Revolution anniversaryT. rex gains weightMo Ibrahim PrizeChanging MyanmarFestival of lightMental Health Day2011 Peace PrizeObituary – Steve JobsHuman art originsG(irls)20Oil pollution in New ZealandMoose warning systemEarly learning languageGlossary Crossword and Wordsearch Puzzle

Prime minister of Israel greets Sergeant Shalit Hamas leader welcomes a freed Palestinian prisoner

Early on 18th October Gilad Shalit, a sergeant in the Israeli army, was released after being held captive for five years and four months. His release was part of an arrangement made between Israel and Hamas, a Palestinian political group. In exchange for the release of Sergeant Shalit, Israel agreed to free 1,027 Pales-tinians being held in Israeli prisons.

Hamas is in control of the Gaza Strip. This is one of two areas that together are known as the Palestinian Authority (PA). The other part is the West Bank, which is governed by a rival Palestinian politi-cal group called Fatah. The problems be-tween Israel and the PA go back many years and are quite complicated.

In 1948, with help from the USA and the United Nations (UN), the state of Is-rael was set up in a region of the Mid-dle East called Palestine. The new state was to be a homeland for Jewish people.

Many Jews living in Europe, who had lost their homes and members of their families and suffered persecution during the Second World War (1939 – 1945), moved there.

However, this meant many Palestini-ans were forced to leave their homelands and move to refugee camps in nearby countries. This caused arguments and even several wars between Israel and nearby Arab countries, which support the Palestinians.

The PA was formed in 1994 after peace talks were held between the Pal-estinians and the Israelis. It allowed Pal-estinians living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank to govern themselves. Yet the PA is not officially a separate country and its formation did not solve the prob-lem. Since 1994, violence has frequently broken out between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militant fighters.

Israel and Hamas excHange prIsoners

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Israel has a population of about eight million. For such a small population the country has a large military force. Every young man and woman must spend time doing military training. When they are older they become reservists. This means they could be called to rejoin the military at any time.

In recent years Fatah’s leaders have agreed to talk with Israel to try to find a peaceful solution. Yet its rival, Hamas, refuses to recognise Israel’s right to exist and won’t take part in any peace talks.

MediterraneanSea

EGYPT

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Jerusalem

Gaza strip

WestBank

Hamas fighters captured Ser-geant Shalit near Israel’s border with Gaza, when he was doing his military training. At the time he was 19 years old. Soon afterwards, Is-rael launched an attack on the Gaza Strip. Many people think one reason for the attack was to try to rescue Sergeant Shalit. At first Hamas of-fered to swap its captive for some of its fighters held by Israel, but Israel refused.

As time went by many people thought Sergeant Shalit might have died from injuries he suffered when he was captured. It was not until 2009 that his captors released a video of Sergeant Shalit showing the front page of a daily newspaper. The date on the newspaper proved the video was new and that he was still alive.

Some reports say Israel has been secretly negotiating to try to get

Sergeant Shalit released for at least 12 months. As Israel has no contact with Hamas, this was done through mediators from Egypt.

At the start of the exchange Ser-geant Shalit was taken from the Gaza Strip across the border into Egypt. There, doctors checked him over. He was then taken into Israel, where Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, was waiting to greet him.

Around the same time, 477 Pales-tinian prisoners were put on coaches and driven to either the Gaza Strip or the West Bank. Those going to Gaza went via Egypt. Some were sent to other countries. The remain-ing 550 prisoners will be freed in two months’ time. Once the prisoner exchange has been completed there will still be around 5,000 Palestin-ians in Israeli prisons.

Many Israelis – especially par-ents of young people doing military training – wanted their government to find a way to get Sergeant Shalit released. This may be the main rea-son the Israeli government agreed to the exchange, even though it means so many Palestinian prisoners will be released.

Others in Israel say the exchange is a big risk. Several of the released prisoners were serving long prison sentences for carrying out bombings and shootings in which many Israe-lis had died. These people fear some of the released prisoners may now take part in future attacks on Israel.

Around four weeks ago Mahmoud Abbas, the president of the PA and Fatah’s leader, made a speech at the UN demanding it recognise the PA as a proper country. This is unlikely to happen. Yet many think the speech annoyed both Hamas and Prime Minister Netanyahu. This, they say, was probably the reason for the tim-ing of the prisoner exchange.

The exchange is likely to embar-rass the leaders of Fatah. This is be-cause Fatah has been willing to talk with Israel but it has had little success. Meanwhile Hamas, which refuses to speak with Israel or give up violence, has managed to get over 1,000 people freed from Israeli prisons. The pris-oner exchange may therefore even help to persuade more Palestinians to support Hamas and not Fatah.

After speaking with the Israeli prime minister Sergeant Shalit was taken by helicopter to meet his parents. Later, thousands lined the streets of his hometown to welcome him back.

In the Gaza Strip Ismail Hani-yeh, one of the leaders of Hamas, welcomed each of the freed Pales-tinians as they got off the coaches. President Abbas greeted those who returned to the West Bank.

‘Occupy Wall Street’ SpreadS

Groups of protesters demonstrated in over 950 cities in 80 countries on Saturday 15th October. They said they were supporting the ‘Occupy Wall Street’ protests, which began in New York City, in the USA, five weeks ago.

The Occupy Wall Street demon-strators in New York City say they are angry about inequality and the greed of big wealthy companies.

Wall Street, in New York, is where many banks and finance companies have their headquarters. The protesters claim the American government has been treating peo-ple unfairly since the country be-gan having economic trouble a few years ago. They say it’s willing to help banks and the bosses who run them, but is not doing anything for ordinary people.


In 2008 some banks in the USA and other countries had serious problems. Several were in danger of going out of business. To stop this, governments put large amounts of money into banks to ‘rescue’ them. But the economic problems affected individuals too. Many lost their jobs and their homes and are now strug-gling to earn enough money. There are fewer jobs available so it has been hard for some to find work.

Occupy Wall Street protesters in the USA

The protesters say the very wealthy in the USA should pay more tax because they can afford to. An-other problem, they say, is big com-panies are allowed to give large do-nations to political parties. This, the protesters claim, means politicians do what’s popular with the big com-panies and ignore ordinary people.

Some protesters have set up tents in a park near Wall Street. Many have stayed in the park since the demonstration first began.

The protesters do not have any leaders, and the demonstrations have become about other things too. Many say the system of government in the USA needs to change, as poli-ticians and political parties no long-er work for the ordinary people who voted for them. Protesters in other countries have similar complaints.

The most popular of the Occupy Wall Street slogans is ‘We are the 99%’. This means 99% of people have to live on small amounts of money and get little help. The 1%

are the very wealthy, including the bosses of banks and large companies.

In some cases, ‘the 1%’ have joined the protests too. These people say just because they are wealthy it doesn’t mean they disagree with the protesters. Many say they want the system to change too, and agree that they should pay more tax. They use the slogan ‘I am the 1%. I stand with the 99%’.

The Occupy Wall Street protest-ers may have been encouraged by recent events in Spain. There, thou-sands have protested about the lack of jobs for young people and the government’s plans to spend less money. Demonstrators have a camp in a large square in the centre of Ma-drid, the capital city.

Most of the ‘Occupy’ protests on 15th October around the world were peaceful. However, hundreds of protesters in the USA were arrested. The worst violence was in Rome, the capital of Italy, where several cars were set on fire and some banks damaged.

pOliSh prime miniSter re-elected

An election for Poland’s parliament took place on 8th October. Donald Tusk, the leader of the Civil Plat-form (PO) party, was re-elected as prime minister.

Poland has a parliamentary sys-tem of government. It also has an elected president. There are two ‘houses’ of parliament. The lower house is the Sejm, and the upper house is called the Senate. The prime minister is usually the leader of the political party that wins the most seats in the Sejm.

Elections to the Polish parlia-ment must be held within a four-year

period. Presidential elections usu-ally take place every five years. The president is the head of state, but has fewer powers than the prime min-ister, who runs the country. How-ever, Poland’s president does make some important decisions about de-fence and international matters, or foreign affairs.

There are 460 seats in the Sejm. So to have a majority, or be able to outvote the other parties, the prime minister’s party must have at least 231 seats. At the last election in 2007, the PO party won 209 seats, or 41.5% of the votes. It arranged a coalition with a smaller party called the Polish People’s Party (PSL), which got 31 seats. Together the two parties had a majority.

On 8th October, the PO and PSL won five fewer seats than in the last election. Together, though, they still have enough to form the big-gest group in the parliament. This is why Mr Tusk will continue to be

NewsCast

crab copIers — The Yangcheng Lake in China is said to produce China’s tastiest crabs. Many peo-ple think the crabs from this lake are a delicacy. Restaurant dishes made from them are expensive. Recently some crab fishers have complained that other fishermen are pretending the crabs they catch come from the Yangcheng Lake. The fake-crab problem is so serious identity tags have been given out for all proper Yangcheng crabs. However, this does not seem to have solved the problem. Some crab fishers have instead been making money by selling their

tags to people who want to sell fake Yangcheng crabs.


prime minister. This was the first time since 1989 – when Poland be-came an independent country with free and fair elections – that a prime minister has won two elections in a row.

The government’s main opponent is the Law and Justice Party (PiS). Its leader, Jarosław Kaczyński, was prime minister until 2007. Mr Tusk and Mr Kaczyński disagree on many things. For example, Mr Tusk believes Poland should work more closely with the European Union (EU), of which Poland is a member, as well as Germany and Russia. Mr Kaczyński thinks the opposite.

Donald Tusk, prime minister of Poland

To the surprise of many people a new political party, called Palikot’s Movement (RP), won 40 seats. Janusz Palikot, a wealthy former businessman, leads the RP. He was once a member of the PO, but had a disagreement with its leaders and then decided to set up a new political party.

Many people in Poland are Ro-man Catholics. Traditionally, most politicians do not do or say things with which the leaders of the Church disagree. But Mr Palikot be-lieves the Roman Catholic Church has too much power in Poland. He wants it to become a secular coun-try where politics and religion are kept separate.

Mr Palikot says all crucifixes, which are symbols of the Roman Catholic faith, should be removed

from public buildings. He also be-lieves there should be less religious teaching in schools, and same sex civil partnerships and the use of some types of drugs should be legal. The Roman Catholic Church disa-grees with these things. Many people therefore think the success of the RP party shows traditional attitudes are beginning to change in Poland.

sHrInkIng specIes?

A team of scientists has gathered lots of research on the measurements of animal and plant species. The scien-tists suggest the changing climate of the Earth could explain why some species seem to be decreasing in size and weight.

Plant and animal species that the scientists say are getting smaller include cotton, strawberries, corn, and types of shrimp, salmon, frogs, toads and squirrels. Measurements for these species over time have enabled the scientists to make a comparison.

Of the 85 species they studied, 38 had got smaller. The scientists sus-pect many other species may also be shrinking in size, although meas-urements are not available for all of them.

One example is a small bird called a house sparrow. Measure-ments taken for the years 1950 to 1990 have shown the bird is lighter than it once was. A study has also shown polar bears are getting small-er – by around 11% since 1967. But most of the ‘shrinking’ spe-cies are cold-blooded, such as fish and reptiles.

There is evidence for this happen-ing in the past during times of cli-mate change too. Around 55 million years ago, scientists say, the Earth’s

average temperature got warmer and rainfall decreased. Insect fossils that date from later than 55 million years ago are smaller than those of the same insects that existed before it became warmer.

Polar bears

However, global warming and climate change in the past has hap-pened over a long period. Many scientists suspect human activ-ity is now causing temperatures to rise more quickly than they would naturally. During the past 100 years the world’s average temperature is thought to have risen by 1ºC.

The scientists think that for some species, the change in size may have to do with how much energy they use. In warmer temperatures, cold-blooded species’ metabolic rates are faster. Metabolism describes the chemical processes inside liv-ing things that control growth, en-ergy production and the removal of waste. As animals metabolise more quickly, there isn’t as much energy for growth.

The scientists don’t know what effects a decrease in size could have. For example, it could mean that some species that prey on oth-ers may no longer be able to do so unless both shrink in size.

The scientists admit there is still a lot they don’t know about how warmer temperatures and animal and plant size are connected. They are also unsure why only some spe-cies seem to be affected.


Young people and schools around the world are be-ing asked to participate in a project to celebrate a royal anniversary. The project is a time capsule to mark the Dia-

mond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth the Second.Queen Elizabeth is one of the world’s longest-

reigning monarchs. She is the head of state, or figurehead, of 16 countries known as the Com-monwealth realms. As well as the United King-dom (UK), the Commonwealth realms include Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Jamaica.

A diamond anniversary marks 60 years. The last Diamond Jubilee in the UK was in 1897. This celebrated the 60th year of the reign of Queen Victoria. Queen Elizabeth became queen in 1952, so her Diamond Jubilee will be in 2012.

Queen Elizabeth is also head of the Commonwealth (officially called the Commonwealth of Na-tions). Including the Common-wealth realms, this organisation has 54 member countries. All but two were once part of the British Empire, or former British colonies. To be a member of the Common-wealth a country must have a political system that allows free speech, democracy, equality of races, free trade, and a desire for world peace.

The UK and many Commonwealth countries are now busy planning a series of events to mark the Queen’s Jubilee in June next year. One, the Dia-mond Jubilee Time Capsule, has already begun.

Time capsules are sealed containers with vari-ous things inside. They are often hidden or buried with the idea that they will be dug up, or acciden-tally discovered, many years later.

The Jubilee Time Capsule project has been set up by the Royal Commonwealth Society (RCS). The RCS says the capsule will be a social ar-chive. It will include written and recorded stories, essays and interviews, photographs, drawings, paintings, poems and video clips. These will fea-ture the memories and thoughts of people who have either lived in or visited Commonwealth countries during Queen Elizabeth’s 60-year reign.

Some contributions to the time capsule are from well-known people, such as former prime minis-ters of Commonwealth countries. Yet most will be the memories and thoughts of young people and school students.

The time capsule’s archive is online. By June 2012, Queen Elizabeth’s reign will have lasted for about 22,000 days. The archive is similar to a diary that covers the whole of her reign. The RCS hopes there will be at least one entry in the archive for each day.

For example, you might write down a memory about your first day of school, or interview a grand-parent about something he or she remembers. Or you could draw a picture of a big event that took place where you live and put it in the time capsule for the day it happened.

The total population of all Commonwealth member countries is around two billion – about 30% of the world’s population. Of these, roughly 800 million are Hindus, 500 mil-lion are Muslims and 400 million are Christians. The RCS hopes young people from many cul-tures and backgrounds will put their thoughts or memories in the capsule.

The project began last March. The time capsule is already filling up with contributions from schools and young people in many coun-

tries. Some entries will be used as part of the Ju-bilee celebrations in London, the capital of the UK. Several images from the capsule will be projected onto the walls of famous buildings. Many will form part of a special Jubilee exhibition. Prizes will be awarded to individuals and schools for some of the best and most interesting contributions.

The RCS will showcase some entries in the pres-ence of Queen Elizabeth as part of the Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in 2012. Eventually a version of the time capsule will be buried in London.

Schools and young people (in all countries and not just those that are members of the Common-wealth) who would like to contribute to the Jubilee Time Capsule can visit:

www.jubileetimecapsule.org

DIAMOND JUbILEE TIME CAPSULE

Queen Elizabeth the Second


BOnilla OBServatiOn explaIned?

In 1883, José Bonilla, an astrono-mer from Mexico, was studying the Sun through a special telescope. To his surprise he saw a lot of objects passing in front of the Sun. At the time nobody knew what they were. Now three Mexican astronomers say they think the objects may have been parts of a comet, which came dangerously close to the Earth.

Bonilla managed to take a few photographs. Over two days he counted about 450 of the mysterious objects. He described them as small and fuzzy and said they left a misty trace behind.

Later, a French scientific maga-zine printed a report that insisted there was a simple explanation, and the objects were probably birds or insects. After all, no other astrono-mers had seen the strange objects. However, the Mexican astronomers are sure Bonilla was not mistaken, and the objects were beyond the Earth’s atmosphere.

One of José Bonilla’s photographs showing an object passing in front of the Sun

Bonilla’s description matches that of a comet that has broken up into many pieces. Comets are large lumps of ice and rock. Today we know comets can break up in this way, as the Hubble space telescope has taken pictures of one of them.

As Bonilla was the only person who saw them, the astronomers say it would mean the objects were very close to the Earth. Scientists call this a parallax. It can be explained if you imagine you are looking out of a window and a bird flies past. If the bird is very close to your window, you can see it, but somebody look-ing out of another window can’t. Yet if the bird flies high in the sky it can be seen from both windows.

Comet that has broken up into many pieces, photographed by the Hubble space telescope

Therefore, the astronomers say, for anyone to have seen what Bo-nilla saw they would have had to be on the same latitude (similar to looking out of the same window) as he was. Bonilla was in Mexico. The same line of latitude runs through the Sahara Desert, Northern India and South East Asia. The astrono-mers believe that over 100 years ago it would have been unlikely that anyone in these places would be using a telescope to study the Sun. This, they say, is why nobody else reported what Bonilla saw.

The astronomers studied Bon-illa’s measurements and worked out the objects were between about 550 kilometres (340 miles) and 8,000 kilometres (5,000 miles) above the Earth. They calculated each object was somewhere between 46 metres (150 feet) and 800 metres (2,625 feet) wide.

If the astronomers are right, what Bonilla saw was a very ‘near miss’.

Many believe it was a large comet or meteor hitting the Earth, around 65 million years ago, which caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. In 1908, in a remote part of Russia, a small meteor or comet exploded just before it hit the ground. The blast knocked down millions of trees. The astrono-mers say if what Bonilla saw was a comet breaking up, it was very lucky the pieces did not hit the Earth.

However, many scientists think it’s unlikely the Mexican astrono-mers are right. If comet fragments had come this close to the Earth, they say, many tiny pieces would have en-tered the Earth’s atmosphere. These would have caused large meteor showers, or thousands of shooting stars, in the night sky, which would have been visible over a wide area. But there are no reports of a greater number of shooting stars than nor-mal at the same time Bonilla photo-graphed the mystery objects.

pacific iSlandS drOught

Tuvalu, a small Pacific Island coun-try, has been suffering from a lack of drinking water. Now the govern-ments of Australia, New Zealand, and the USA have agreed to help.

Tuvalu is one of the world’s smallest countries, with a population of about 10,500. It is made up of nine atolls, or small coral islands. The is-lands are only a few metres above the level of the surrounding sea.

The islands have two sources of water. When rain falls, it drains through the coral. Below a certain level, the coral is full of salty sea-water. However, the rainwater does not mix with the denser salt water, and forms a layer on top of it. This rainwater is pumped to the surface through aquifers.


The second source is rain col-lected from roofs and stored in tanks. Normally Tuvalu gets between 200 and 400 millilitres of rain every four weeks, but there has been very little rain for the last six months. Sea levels have been rising. This, together with the lack of rain means the aquifers can no longer be used, as the under-ground water has become too salty.

One of Tuvalu’s islands

The country has some desalina-tion equipment. This removes salt from sea water to turn it into fresh water. Yet for some time the equip-ment has not been working properly.

At the beginning of October Tu-valu’s government asked for help. Australia and New Zealand sent military planes with water and desal-ination equipment. By 13th October the equipment had been set up. The broken equipment was also mended.

Water use is still limited. People may use no more than 40 litres (nine gallons), or about two full buckets, a day. This is enough for drinking and cooking but not for things like wash-ing clothes. Schools have shut down because the toilets can’t be used.

People living on the islands grow much of their own food, including coconuts, breadfruit, taro, and other vegetables. The underground salt water is badly affecting these plants and trees. Some fear the drought may cause a food shortage.

Tokelau, another small group of islands, also recently declared a wa-ter shortage emergency. Local people

said there was only around one week’s supply of fresh water left. An American military ship has delivered water to the 1,400 people living there.

Weather experts predict there will be no heavy rain in this part of the Pacific Ocean until January.

1911 revOlutiOn rememBered

A ceremony took place in Beijing, the capital of China, on 10th Octo-ber. It marked the 100th anniversary of what’s known in China and Tai-wan as the 1911 Revolution.

Also called the Xinhai Revolu-tion, it was led by Sun Yat-sen (1866 – 1925). For around 2,000 years be-fore 1911, China had been mostly ruled by dynasties, or royal fami-lies. The 1911 Revolution deposed the last dynasty, called the Qing Dynasty. It had ruled China for al-most 400 years.

Sun Yat-sen changed how the country was governed. He set up a republic – a system that does not have royal leaders. His Republic of China was the first republic in Asia. He set up the Kuomintang (KMT) political party and wanted the coun-try to hold elections as a way of choosing its leaders. But this did not happen. Instead different groups took over different parts of China.

The anniversary of the 1911 Revolution was also celebrated in Taiwan with a parade. The reason it’s celebrated in both countries is historical.

Between 1945 and 1949 there was a civil war in China. The Com-munists, led by Mao Zedong, fought the Nationalists, led by Chiang Kai-shek, who was the leader of the KMT at the time. The Nationalists were defeated and retreated to the island of Taiwan.

Both the Communists and the Nationalists claimed to be the of-ficial government of China. Even today, the official name of Taiwan is the Republic of China, while China’s is the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Taiwan held its first democratic election for president in 1996. The then-leader of the KMT, Lee Teng-hui, won it.

People in both China and Taiwan call Sun Yat-sen the ‘father’ of their nations. Taiwan says because it is now a democracy, it has become what Sun Yat-sen had originally planned. Taiwan’s president, Ma Ying-Jeou, made an anniversary speech saying he would like the PRC to follow Tai-wan’s example.

Picture of Sun Yat-sen in Tiananmen Square

On each anniversary of the 1911 Revolution a large picture of Sun Yat-sen is put up in Tiananmen Square, in the centre of Beijing. His picture is placed opposite one of Mao Zedong. Some reporters say the Chinese government is not re-ally sure how best to talk about or celebrate the Xinhai Revolution. This is because it was a movement that called for political change and democracy, and China has a Com-munist government.

During the ceremony in Beijing, Hu Jin-tao, the president of China, made a speech. He praised Sun Yat-sen and said he looks forward to the time when China and Taiwan peace-fully join together, or reunite, to be-come one country.


t. rex’S grOWth Spurt

Palaeontologists – scientists who study fossils to get clues about how prehistoric creatures lived – have been using a new way of work-ing out how much one of the best-known dinosaurs weighed. Their re-sults suggest Tyrannosaurus rex, or T. rex, must have grown much faster than was previously thought.

‘Sue’ in the museum in Chicago

The T. rex is often called the ‘king of the dinosaurs’. It is one of the largest land carnivores, or meat-eaters, of all time. Fossilised T. rex skeletons show some were 13 metres (43 feet) long. The most complete T. rex skeleton in the world is in a mu-seum in Chicago, in the USA. Nick-named ‘Sue’, after the woman who discovered it, the fossilised skeleton was dug up in the state of Dakota, in 1990. ‘Sue’ is estimated to have died about 67 million years ago.

The scientists used laser tech-nology called LIDAR to scan five fossilised skeletons, including Sue. The scans build a three-dimensional (3D) picture of the dinosaurs on a computer screen. Scientists were then able to add the internal or-gans and muscles of the dinosaurs to ‘build’ an accurate image of the creature in 3D. They then calculated the mass of all this put together.

Sue’s mass was once thought to be six to seven tonnes. But the new calculations showed an adult T. rex probably actually weighed around nine tonnes.

The laser technology also showed, though, that a young T. rex weighed less than had once been calculated. The scientists say a baby T. rex would have been only about ten kilograms (22 pounds) when it was born. This is not much heavier than a one-year-old human baby! So it had a lot of growing to do to be-come a nine-tonne adult.

This, the scientists say, means T. rex must have grown very quickly between the ages of ten and 15. They think it would probably have gained weight at a rate of around five kilo-grams (11 pounds) every day.

These measurements also suggest some other information about T. rex. One example is the way it moved. The way its mass was spread around its body meant it could run at be-tween 16 and 40 kilometres (ten and 25 miles) per hour. Another is that T. rex may have been quite rare. This is because each one would have needed a large territory, or area, to be able to catch or find enough food to grow this quickly.

prize finally aWarded

Pedro Pires, a former president of Cape Verde, was awarded the Mo Ibrahim Prize on 10th October. He is the first winner since 2008.

The prize rewards Achievement in African Leadership. Mo Ibrahim, a wealthy businessman, set up the prize in 2007. Mr Ibrahim, who was born in Sudan, made a large amount of money when he sold the mobile phone company he owned.

Although many countries in Af-rica have valuable minerals, includ-ing oil and precious stones such as diamonds, a large number of people are very poor. Mr Ibrahim thinks bad leadership is the main reason

for this and decided he could use some of his fortune to help.

Mr Ibrahim believes some lead-ers of African countries are tempted to stay in power because they can make large amounts of money, often illegally. He set up his prize to en-courage leaders to step down when their term as president has finished or when people have voted for a dif-ferent leader. During their time in power, the winners must also have run their countries according to the rules, and done everything they could have to help everyone living in their countries.

The prize winner is chosen by a group, or committee. Its members in-clude Kofi Annan, a former leader of the United Nations (UN) and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. Mr Ibrahim is not on the committee. The mem-bers choose someone who has peace-fully handed over power and made a good job of running the country while he or she was in charge.

The winner receives US$5 million (£3.2 million), and then US$200,000 (£127,000) every year for the rest of his or her life. This makes the Ibrahim Prize one of the most valuable in the world.

Cape Verde’s former president, Pedro Pires

The prize was first awarded in 2007 to Joaquim Chissano, the former president of Mozambique. The following year Festus Mogae, a previous president of Botswana, was given the prize. The committee


says in 2009 and 2010 there were no suitable candidates.

Cape Verde is a group, or archi-pelago, of ten islands in the Atlantic Ocean. They are about 570 kilo-metres (354 miles) off the coast of West Africa. Cape Verde is a former colony of Portugal that became in-dependent in 1975. Its population is about 500,000.

Mr Pires helped Cape Verde to become independent. He was prime minister from 1975 to 1991. He set up a democratic government in which people could vote for their leaders. Mr Pires was elected presi-dent in 2001. After serving two five-year terms, he stepped down last month at the age of 77.

During this time Cape Verde’s economy has improved, over 80% of the people are able to read and write, and the average life expect-ancy in the country is now 70 years.

Mr Pires says he now wants to write a book about how Cape Verde became an independent country.

iS myanmar changing?

The president of Myanmar (also known as Burma) has recently made two surprising announcements. One is the cancellation of a plan for China to build a huge dam in his country. The other is the release of around a hundred people who were imprisoned because of their political beliefs.

Myanmar has been led by a group of military leaders, or junta, since 1962. In 1990 the junta held an election. It was surprised when a newly formed party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), got around 80% of the votes.

When the junta ignored the elec-tion result, NLD supporters protested

in Rangoon, the capital city. The junta sent armed soldiers to stop the street protests. Shots were fired and many people were killed. When force is used in this way it is often described as a ‘crackdown’.

Many NLD members were put in prison and the crackdown has con-tinued for over 20 years. The NLD’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, was held under house arrest. She had to stay at home and anyone wanting to visit her had to get permission to do so. In 1991 Ms Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Many countries, including the USA and members of the European Union (EU), refused to deal with the junta because of its actions. In recent years, the only large country that has supported Myanmar is China.

Ms Suu Kyi was eventually re-leased in 2010. In March 2011, the junta organised more elections. But the NLD refused to take part. It said they had been fixed so only those who

supported the military leaders would win. Thein Sein, a former army gen-eral, is now the country’s president.

In August, Ms Suu Kyi was invit-ed to several meetings with the pres-ident and senior government minis-ters. It was at the end of September that President Sein announced the dam project on the River Irrawaddy would be cancelled. The project had been unpopular in Myanmar. Many people believed it would damage the river and surroundings.

The dam was to be built by Chinese engineers and designed to generate large amounts of hydro-electric power. Most of the power would be used by China. As Chi-na is Myanmar’s main supporter many people were surprised by the president’s announcement.

Thein Sein, president of Myanmar

On 12th October, over 100 politi-cal prisoners were released. Many think this is what Ms Suu Kyi and the ministers talked about in Au-gust. It’s now thought that many more will be allowed to leave prison within the next few months.

Some people warn that in the past Myanmar’s military leaders have started to make changes but then de-cided not to. Yet many people think this time is different. They believe President Sein wants the USA and EU member countries to start trad-ing with Myanmar again.

Myanmar is famous for its pre-cious stones such as rubies and sap-phires. Around 90% of the world’s

NewsCast

free tripS tO Japan — The Japa-nese tourist board says it has an unusual new plan to get more peo-ple interested in taking holidays in the country. Last March parts of Japan were struck by a power-ful earthquake and tsunami. Many people were killed and a nuclear power station began leaking ra-diation after it was damaged. Not surprisingly, fewer people are now visiting the country. To per-suade people to come to Japan again the tourist board plans to give away 10,000 free trips to the country. To get one of the trips, people will have to apply online and explain why they want to visit Japan. The plan is expected to start next April.


rubies come from Myanmar. How-ever, many countries have made it illegal to buy them, as they did not want the money to go to the junta.

Berlin feStival Of lightS

More than 50 famous landmarks around Berlin, the capital city of Germany, have been illuminated for the city’s seventh annual festival of lights. The opening event took place on 12th October. The organisers say it’s one of the largest light festivals in the world.

Large brightly-coloured images were projected onto many histori-cal and modern buildings, such as the Brandenburg Gate, the city’s cathedral, skyscrapers and the Re-ichstag – the meeting place of the German parliament. In other places, glowing neon tubes and bulbs were installed. Benches were set up along a famous shopping street called the Kufürstendamm. The seats and backs of the benches were made from luminous glowing bars.

Light display on Berlin’s cathedral

One of the main exhibits was called Faces of Berlin. A huge three-dimensional mask was put up, and different faces were projected onto it throughout the days of the festi-val. Some were digitally-created faces, while others were the faces of real people.

The city arranged several ways for visitors to tour the illuminations.

These included a ‘light-seeing’ bus, a boat, a self-guided walking tour, and even a rickshaw – a small two-person carriage pulled by a person riding a bicycle.

For people interested in exercise, a company organised the ‘Light Run’. This took place after eight o’clock on the evening on 20th Oc-tober. People could choose to run a route that covered either five or ten kilometres (three or six miles). The runners ran past some of the major attractions of the festival.

The festival had several perform-ances as well as the light installations. People dressed in black costumes with tubes of light stitched onto them performed dances outdoors all around the city. Some of the exhib-its themselves even moved around Berlin. A set of five spooky red fig-ures lit up from the inside, named the ‘Guardians of Time’, appeared at dif-ferent landmarks on different days.

City officials say, when com-pared with a normal month, around 400,000 more hotel bookings were made in Berlin because of the fes-tival. They say the light festival has become an important annual event, as so many people now visit the city to see it.

The festival will finish on 23rd October.

mental health day

Each year countries around the world mark World Mental Health Day on 10th October. Its purpose is to make everyone more aware about mental health.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is one of the main sup-porters of Mental Health Day. This organisation, which is part of the United Nations (UN), is based in

Geneva, in Switzerland. Its main job is to give advice about health mat-ters to UN member countries. It also carries out research and planning for improving people’s health.

Mental illness can be difficult to describe because, unlike a physical illness, you can’t really see it. The WHO describes mental health as ‘a state of complete physical, men-tal and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease’.

Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-Gen-eral, or leader, of the UN, said ‘There is no health without mental health’. Having good mental health means we can do the things we want to, take care of everyday life, be good at the work we do, and be a part of the community in which we live.

The WHO says the number of people with mental health problems in the world is about 450 million. There are many reasons we may ex-perience poor mental health. One can be stress – for example if we are hav-ing family problems or being bullied. Doctors working in countries that have had long periods of war and vi-olence say they see an increase in the number of people who have mental health problems. Other factors can be physical illnesses and poverty.

Mental disorders can be caused by the chemicals in our brains not working properly too. Disorders of bipolar type, and schizophrenia, are examples. Doctors know there are some biological causes, such as a


chemical imbalance in the brain, for these things.

The WHO says many governments do not spend enough on training medi-cal staff to prevent and treat mental ill-nesses. In many countries most of the money spent on health services is for the treatment of physical problems.

On World Mental Health Day the WHO said just treating mental dis-orders is not enough. Governments should do more to create societies where the chances of experiencing poor mental health are lower. The WHO says two things that can make a big difference are day centres and transport for older people, so they can be involved in social events, and activities for pre-school children to help them develop social skills.

nobel peace prIze

On 8th October, the names of the three winners, or co-recipients, of the Nobel Peace Prize, were an-nounced. The prize is awarded to the person, people or organisation judged to have made the greatest contribution to world peace.

Tawakel Ellen Johnson LeymahKarman Sirleaf Gbowee

Each year five Nobel Prizes are awarded, for peace, chemistry, physics, medicine, and literature. The first Nobel Prizes were awarded in 1901. They are named after the Swedish chemist and businessman who invented dynamite, Alfred No-bel. Before he died in 1896, he ar-ranged for part of his large fortune to pay for all future Nobel prizes.

Norway and Sweden have a part in awarding Nobel prizes. This is be-cause the same king ruled the two countries at the time of Nobel’s death. A committee, or group, of academics from Sweden selects the winners of the priz-es for chemistry, physics, medicine, and literature. The Peace Prize is awarded by a group of five people selected by Norway’s parliament. It is not always awarded to a person or people. In the past, the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping forces and the Red Cross have won it.

The three winners are Ellen John-son Sirleaf, the president of Liberia; Leymah Gbowee, also from Liberia; and Tawakel Karman from Yemen.

In 2002 Ms Gbowee and other activists set up an organisation called Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace. This group of Christian and Muslim women held non-violent protests against the long-running civil war. Eventually the group helped to persuade the op-posing sides to stop fighting. Since the end of this war, which lasted for 12 years, the group has worked to try to stop other conflicts in Africa.

After the war in Liberia ended, elections were held in 2006. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf got the most votes and was elected Liberia’s president. She is the first and, so far, only women to be elected as the head of an African country. Many say she has improved the lives of most people in Liberia, especially women.

Some people had predicted the Peace Prize would not be given to a person, but to the Arab Spring. This is the name given to the street pro-tests that, since the beginning of the year, have taken place in some Arab countries, such as Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. These demonstrations have led to changes in the ways some Arab

countries are governed. The protest-ers want free and fair elections to choose their leaders. Arab Spring

demonstrations are still taking place in several countries.

Tawakel Karman has led some of the Arab Spring pro-tests in Yemen. She is a jour-

nalist and politician. Ms Kar-man leads an organisation called

Women Journalists Without Chains. She has been campaigning for free-dom of speech and fair elections in her country. At 33 years of age she is one of the youngest people ever to have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, and the first person from Yemen.

The official prize ceremony will be held in Oslo, the capital of Nor-way, in December.

The funeral for Wangari Maathai was held in Ken-ya on 8th Octo-ber. Ms Maathai was the first Afri-

can woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She was awarded the Prize in 2004 for her work to promote human rights, especially the rights of women and the poor, and for her environmental work. She set up the Green Belt Move-ment in 1977. This organisa-tion now works in many African countries to plant trees, conserve water, improve sustainable farm-ing and biodiversity, and provide training in things such as grow-ing and processing food. Profes-sor Maathai also set up the No-bel Women’s Initiative. This is a group of previous winners of the Peace Prize who have agreed to continue to work for peace, justice and equality. Ms Maathai died, aged 71, on 25th September.


Steve Jobs was an inventor and successful businessman. He and the team that worked with him designed and produced some of the world’s best-selling consumer electronic items, including the iPod, iPhone and iPad.

Steve Jobs was born on 24th February, 1955, in California, in the USA. He was adopted as a baby by Paul and Clara Jobs.

When he was 17 years old, in 1972, Mr Jobs went to college, but left after just one term. He returned to California and started work at Atari, a company that made some of the first video games. After saving some money Jobs travelled to India. While there he became a Buddhist and a vegetarian and experi-mented with illicit drugs.

When Mr Jobs returned to the USA, a friend of his, Steve Wosniak, showed him a com-puter he had designed for him-self. Mr Jobs was impressed. In 1976 the two friends set up a company to make and sell the computers. They called it Apple. Within a few years the company became very successful.

In 1983 Mr Jobs asked John Scully, who was president of PepsiCo at the time, to run Apple. Two years later Apple launched its Macintosh computer. It was the first small computer to have a mouse and to use onscreen icons. But Mr Jobs did not get on well with the new boss. Within a short time Mr Scully and other senior managers had forced him to leave Apple.

Mr Jobs then set up a company called Next Computer. He also took over another company, which would eventually become Pixar. In 1995 the Disney Company asked Pixar to help it make computer-animated films. The first one was Toy Story.

Soon after Mr Jobs left Apple the company began to have problems. It was losing a lot of

money and many people thought it might close down. Mr Jobs persuaded Apple to buy his Next Company. So 12 years after leaving Apple he returned and, within a short time, was made the company’s new boss.

Mr Jobs reorganised the company and soon it was making money again. In 1988 Apple launched the iMac computer, which used soft-ware designed by the Next Company. The iPod went on sale in 2001. The iTunes software and iTunes music store soon followed. In 2007 Ap-ple produced its first mobile phone. Called the iPhone, it was a combination of an iPod, a mo-

bile phone and an internet device. It was also the first mobile phone to have a large touch-screen.

Although Mr Jobs made the company very successful, many people say he was a very difficult man to work for. He became well-known for giving an annual presentation where he often introduced new Ap-

ple products and services. When giving these presentations he always wore the same clothes: a black top, old jeans, and training shoes.

By 2004 Mr Jobs had become unwell. He had a type of cancer that affected some of his or-gans. He sometimes went on leave from work for treatment. At first the company kept his illness a secret. During those times, Tim Cook took over running the company. Many people suspected Mr Jobs’s illness was very serious because he often looked quite thin and frail.

By August 2011 experts calculated that Ap-ple had become one of the two most valuable companies in the world. Soon afterwards Mr Jobs announced he would be stepping down as the company’s boss because of ill health.

Steve Jobs died on 5th October. He is sur-vived by his wife and four children.

Steve JOBS 1955 - 2011Co-founder and boss of the Apple Company who changed how we use computers, listen

to music, operate mobile phones and how animated films are produced

Ob i t ua ry

Steve Jobs


This map shows countries to which news stories refer in this issue. Visit www.newsademic.com for more detailed world maps.

YEMEN

U. S. A.

U. K.

SOUTH AFRICA

POLAND

NEW ZEALAND

TuvaluTokelau

MYANMARMEXICO

LIBERIA

CAPEVERDE

KENYA

JAPANISRAEL

GERMANYFRANCE

EGYPT

CHINA

CANADANewfoundlandand Labrador

AUSTRALIA

UZBEKISTAN

ancient painting kit

The oldest known evidence of hu-man art comes from a cave in South Africa. Some shell beads, and some pieces of ochre – reddish-yellow clay – with markings on them, date from around 77,000 years ago. Now scientists have found something else in the same cave that shows human art may be even older.

Anthropologists – scientists who study humans and their behaviour – say the time at which our ancient an-cestors started making simple works of art is important. This is because it suggests the humans who created them had some form of culture and planned behaviour.

‘Culture’ describes human so-cial and intellectual achievements. It means understanding how to use our knowledge to behave as a so-ciety. Anthropologists say culture

also means being able to think about ideas and not just objects. For ex-ample, you can see and think about a stone, but you can’t see feelings such as ‘happiness’ or ‘doubt’. Yet you know these things exist and you are able to draw symbols of them.

Blombos Cave, in South Africa

So anthropologists are interested in discovering when our early ances-tors were first able to do this. One example is ancient cave paintings. The oldest cave paintings found so far are in France. These were cre-ated about 40,000 years ago.

The seashell beads and marked pieces of ochre found in South Af-rica were discovered in the Blom-bos Cave, 322 kilometres (200 miles) east of Cape Town, one of the largest cities in the country. The cave is in a limestone cliff close to the sea.

Scientists digging at the Blombos Cave noticed two large dish-shaped shells that had red colouring on the insides. The shells were deeper in the ground than other items discov-ered in the cave. The layer in which they were found dates to 100,000 years ago. A slim piece of bone that was red at one end was found nearby. Alongside these things, the scientists discovered other pieces of bone and stones. The scientists are sure this was a ‘toolkit’ used to make a type of red paint.

Ochre gets its colour from miner-als in the earth. The reddish colour


comes from iron oxide. The ochre clay was ground up using the stones. The ground-up ochre would then have been placed in the shell bowls, and mixed with heated bone marrow and some liquid (probably water) to make a paste.

The ancient humans probably used the thin piece of bone to dip into the mixture and then paint it – perhaps onto their bodies or faces, or onto walls.

The toolkit means ancient humans were practising a form of art at least 100,000 years ago. The scientists believe the paint-mixers must have understood the chemistry of how ochre, bone marrow, liquid and heat all worked together. They are inter-ested to find out when this ‘recipe’ was invented, and how it was passed from one generation to the next.

g(irlS)20 Summit

An important international meet-ing, or summit, called the G20 will take place in Cannes, in France, in November. But from 16th to 21st October, a different ‘G20’ meeting took place in France. This one was in Paris, the capital city.

G(irls)20 delegates

Called G(irls)20, it is part of a campaign or movement with the slogan ‘3.3 Billion Ways to change the world’. This comes from the estimated number of women in the world – 3.3 billion. The slogan says

every woman can make a change in the world.

All the delegates, or people who attended, the G(irls)20 Summit were young women aged between 18 and 20. They discussed things that will be talked about at the G20 Summit.

G20 stands for Group of 20. It is made up of 19 countries that have the world’s largest economies, plus the European Union (EU). Repre-sentatives from these countries meet quite often to discuss problems that affect the whole world. Twice a year a larger meeting is held which the countries’ leaders attend.

The G(irls)20 Summit had one extra delegate. As well as one from each of the 19 G20 countries plus the EU, one rep-resented the African Union (AU). This is an organisation of 53 mem-ber countries, all of which are part of the African continent.

The G(irls)20 delegates also took part in workshops run by interna-tional leaders with experience in business, politics and health.

One of the main subjects dis-cussed at G(irls)20 was education. The United Nations (UN) says roughly 130 million young people of school age do not have access to education. Of these, 70% are girls. Yet governments, businesses and or-ganisations such as the UN say girls’ education is one of the most impor-tant things that affects a country’s development and economy.

One example in less wealthy, or developing, countries is farming. An international organisation that studies how people work says young women in developing countries should be given more farm training, as well as loans to buy seeds and

fertilizers, and access to farmland. The organisation says allowing wom-en the same access to these things as men greatly increases the amount of food countries can produce. This would make food available to more people, especially children.

Having an education also means people can learn about their rights and what support is available. Re-search shows that for each extra year a girl spends in school, her fu-ture salary, or the amount of money she earns, increases by 10% to 20%.

The first G(irls)20 Summit was held in 2010, in Toronto, in Canada.

The young women who took part talked to government

officials in their home countries about what they had learnt. They gave talks to other girls about education, careers

and how their lives can be improved.

If you want to learn more, or find out how to

take part or become a delegate at a future G(irls)20 meeting, you can visit www.girlsandwomen.com

envirOnmental diSaSter in neW zealand

Around 64 kilometres (40 miles) of coastline in New Zealand has been polluted by oil leaking from a dam-aged container ship. The coastline is part of the Bay of Plenty, a popular area for tourists. It is also home to many types of seabirds, which arrive in the area to breed at this time of year.

The container ship, called the Rena, was sailing to Tauranga, the largest container port in New Zea-land, when it hit a reef on 5th Octo-ber. The ship contained 1,700 tonnes of heavy fuel oil.


Safety experts from New Zea-land reported the Rena was stuck on the reef in a very awkward way. The rocks of the reef were holding only the front, or bow. The back, or stern of the ship, was still floating. So the waves continued to cause the back end to sway and bob up and down. As the front part was stuck, large cracks appeared in the ship’s sides. By 14th October the ship had begun to break apart.

Rena container ship stuck on the reef

Specially trained salvage work-ers had landed on the Rena and tried to pump some of the oil out onto other ships. Small powerful boats, called tugs, attached strong cables to the back of the Rena to try to stop it from sinking.

A large amount of oil has leaked, causing a slick several kilometres long. Chemicals were sprayed onto the oil by helicopters. These chemi-cals are designed to break up the oil so it does not all stick together. Yet within a few days, lumps of oil be-gan to wash up on some of the Bay of Plenty’s beaches.

Local officials trained more than 3,000 volunteers to help clean up the oil. Each was given special pro-tective clothing.

Thousands of seabirds, especial-ly those that dive into the water or land on the sea to feed, have been found dead. A centre has been set up to try to clean the oil from birds found alive. The oil may also cause problems for dolphins and shellfish.

The reef that the ship hit was clear-ly marked on navigational charts, or maps that show the routes ships should take. So the Rena should not have been sailing near it. The ship is owned by a Greek company, which has apologised for the accident.

The Rena’s captain and naviga-tion officer are both from the Phil-ippines. On 12th and 13th October, they were accused by a court in Tau-ranga of sailing a ship in a way that caused unnecessary danger. If found guilty they could be made to pay a large fine and be sent to prison for 12 months.

Another thing local people are worried about is tourism. Spring has begun in New Zealand. Soon it will be summer, the usual tour-ist season. The reef that the con-tainer ship hit is popular with scuba divers. Many hotels and businesses around the Bay of Plenty are wor-ried people will now decide not to visit.

The oil spill has been described as New Zealand’s worst-ever envi-ronmental disaster.

mOOSe Warning

The government of a Canadian prov-ince has started a project meant to protect both car drivers and moose. The ‘moose warning system’ has been set up along part of a road in Newfoundland and Labrador, where there are frequent collisions be-tween cars and moose.

Moose are the largest species of deer. They feed on the leaves and bark of trees, shrubs, grasses, and water plants. An adult moose can be more than two metres (six feet) tall at the shoulder and weigh as much as 800 kilograms (1,764 pounds). The moose is the second-largest

land animal in North America (after the bison).

Moose can be found almost eve-rywhere in northern parts of Canada. Experts estimate Canada’s moose population may be as many as one million. However, the animals are not native to Newfoundland, which is a large island. They were intro-duced on the island in 1878, with the idea that they would be a source of meat. One male (known as a bull) and one female (called a cow) were brought there and released. In 1904, two more moose pairs were released. Since then the population has grown to more than 100,000. All are descendants of the moose that were brought to the island just over 100 years ago.

Adult moose are tall with a very large body and long thin legs. When a car hits the moose’s legs, its body lands on the front of the car and goes through the windscreen. It is not unusual for drivers and passen-gers to be killed in a collision with a moose.

NewsCast

nO family Street nameS — The president of Uzbekistan, Islam Karimov, has signed a new law about naming streets in his coun-try. From now on when a new street is built it will no longer be possible to name it after a person. A newspaper report claims that recently several city officials had been naming new streets after members of their own families. The law also applies to other things such as important build-ings, landmarks and even airports. However, the law does say these things may be named after people who have been important in Uz-bekistan’s history.


Moose are most active during the early morning and early evening. It’s hard to see clearly at these times of day, so drivers are less likely to spot a moose if it walks out onto a road.

The test moose detection system has been set up along 1.5 kilometres (0.9 miles) of a road. It has sensors that detect the movement of a large animal along the roadsides. If the sen-sors detect movement, lights sudden-ly come on and flash for two minutes. Warning signs also start flashing.

The government says the system will be installed in another area of the province by the end of October.

Moose

Some people criticise the warn-ing system. They say the main motorway through the province is 1,000 kilometres (620 miles) long, so a 1.5 kilometre (0.9 mile) range is not much use. Some also believe drivers will think there is no danger unless the lights are flashing, when really they should always be on the lookout for moose.

learning languageS

Scientists in the USA have been stud-ying how babies learn language. They say their research shows how the lan-guages we listen to as babies actually affect how our brains develop.

It is not unusual for a child to be part of a family where two lan-guages are spoken. Being able to speak two languages fluently is

known as being bilingual. If you speak one, you are monolingual. Many people believe it gets harder to learn a new language the older we get. Some preschools and nurseries deliberately have bilingual staff, so young children can hear more than one language.

One way of learning a language is by listening. When we hear some-one speaking a language we are try-ing to learn, we can attempt to copy the sounds they make. Children learn new words by hearing them spoken by other people.

The researchers studied babies between six and 12 months old. They placed electrical impulse re-ceptors on the babies’ heads. These receptors are commonly called ‘EEG caps’. EEG stands for elec-troencephalography. It is a way of recording the activity between the many neurons in our brains. Neurons are cells that respond to a stimulus, or something that happens, and then send some information. The neu-rons the scientists were interested in were those that respond to sound.

At the age of six months, all the babies’ brains responded to differ-ent sounds in more than one lan-guage. Their brains could tell the difference between the sounds in each language.

However, by the age of 12 months, the response of the babies’ neurons had changed. The brains of babies in monolingual families – who heard only one language – seemed to have ‘switched off’ the ability to recognise different sounds in a language other than the one spoken at home. The brains of babies who continued to hear two languages all the time could still recognise all the different sounds.

The scientists say it seems bi-lingual babies’ brains stay ‘open’ to hearing the differences between sounds and languages for longer than those of monolingual babies. So the brain is being developed in a certain way depending on what the baby hears.

The scientists now wonder if be-ing bilingual can help our brains be more open to learning and devel-oping other skills too. That would mean hearing different languages as babies could have other advantages as well as making us bilingual.

NewsCast

centenarian run — On 14th Octo-ber, Fauja Singh prepared to run a marathon in Toronto, in Canada. He had two big challenges: he had not run a whole marathon since 2003, and he is over 100 years old. Mr Singh hoped to set a record for being the only person over 100 ever to run a marathon. It took him eight hours, but he completed the race, cheered on at the end by friends, family and newspaper and radio reporters. He said he was surprised and pleased as he had expected it would take him more than nine hours. This is Mr Singh’s eighth marathon.

Newsademic.comEditor: Amber Goldie

Acknowledgements:News story photographs by gettyimages

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iSSue 156 glOSSary puzzle

inStructiOnS: j Complete the crossword. The answers are highlighted in orange in the news stories. There are 25 words highlighted and you need 20 of them to complete the crossword. k Once you have solved the crossword go to the word search on the next page c

1 2 3 4

5 6

7 8

9 10

11

12

13

14 15

16 17

18

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20

across

5 Noun A special anniversary, or the celebration of an anniversary

8 Noun The likelihood or hope that something will happen 9 Noun (Plural) People who campaign to bring about

political or social change 12 Noun (Plural) Ways of thinking or feeling 14 Adjective Describes something that helps a person, ship,

car or aircraft find the route from one place to another 17 Adjective Disapproved of by other people or forbidden 18 Adjective Characterised by changing back and forth

between two extremes, especially of feelings 19 Noun (Plural) People who help others resolve

disagreements 20 Verb To show off or display the best parts of something

dOWn

1 Verb Discussing with others in order to reach an agreement 2 Noun An imaginary line running around the globe either north

or south of the equator, used for navigation 3 Noun Examination to see the similarities and differences

between two things 4 Noun A large patch of oil floating on water 6 Noun (Plural) Small or tiny pieces 7 Verb To raise from the sea or rescue from a disaster 10 Verb Lit up 11 Adjective Related to or requiring the use of the mind 13 Noun Something that has an impact, usually encouraging

activity or a response 15 Noun (Plural) Layers of underground rock that contain water 16 Noun The soft substance found inside bones


iSSue 156 glOSSary puzzle continued

inStructiOnS: l Find 19 of the 20 crossword answers in the word search. Words can go vertically, horizontally, diagonally and back to front. m After finding the 19 words write down the 20th (or missing) word under the puzzle.

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D1

I P2 A R C H M E3 N TC4 M LA E5 N T I T Y AN L6 N L7 O B B Y V8

D E S I9 I10 O II11 N S12 U L A T I O N N P13 O R O U SD Y S O T S A AA S E N E P TT T D14 I S C R I M I N A T E DE E C R LS M E A Y

P15 A P Y R U S P16 L O T S V17

T T I A M18

I R19 E P R O D U C E AC D N U F

N20 U T R I E N T SM A

newsademic british english edition 156

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