OCTOBER 2020 VOL. 32 NO. 2 ISSN 1010-144X
SCHOLASTIC.COM/SUPERSCIENCE
Hundreds of sharp teeth help this sea lamprey attach to other fish so it can suck their blood.
LIFE Real-Life Vampires! Meet five wild creatures that feed on blood Watch a VIDEO about the eruption that buried the ancient city of Pompeii! www.scholastic.com/superscience STICKY MASKS Earlier this year, as the coronavirus began to spread Newsblast around the world, officials recommended people wear 2 The latest science news face masks in public. Leigh Radziwon and Kim Murray, A company that makes Halloween masks the owners of Halloween mask company StickFX, (above) adapted their design to make face The Fight Over masks (below) for pandemic safety. jumped in to help! They designed protective masks 4 Pompeii with replaceable filters. Researchers are at Parts of the masks are made from silicone. This odds over an ancient city buried by lava material sticks to skin, creating a tight seal around the nose and mouth. The first prototype, or testable Hands-On model, had straps that looped behind the ears. Later 7 Uncover With Care models included adjustable straps or no straps at all! Connecticut-based StickFX has sold more than 8,000 Skeleton Scanner masks since May. The company has also donated 8 A scientist reveals the insides of fish filter masks to essential workers. “We all have a duty to help during times of crisis,” says Radziwon. Thirsty for Blood The above photo shows 10 Meet five creatures giant clouds of dust and that feed on blood gas where stars form. The image was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope. Pumpkin Smash! 14 Eco-friendly ways to get rid of your Halloween pumpkin SLYTHERIN Explain This! 16 Can you make sense SNAKE of this strange photo? HUBBLE In 2019, biologist Zeeshan Mirza was in a forest in northeastern India when he spotted a Explore Online PICS bright-green snake with a dark-orange stripe. Look for the icons below in this issue and Earlier this year, the Hubble spinning balls of material become It turned out to be an undiscovered species! visit scholastic.com/superscience to access these resources: Space Telescope, a powerful larger over time. Eventually, they Mirza named it Trimeresurus salazar, after the instrument circling Earth, reached heat up and burst into new stars. book character Salazar Slytherin. In the Harry
Skill Leveled a big milestone. It turned 30! To Over the decades, photos from Potter series by J.K. Rowling, Slytherin is one of Video Builders Text Games celebrate, the U.S. space agency Hubble like the one above have Hogwarts’ founders. He could talk to snakes! Location where EUROPE the new pit NASA released this stunning image taught scientists a lot about how The new snake is a type of pit viper. Pit viper was found ON THE COVER: recently taken by Hubble. Each stars form and die, says Joseph vipers are venomous: Their bite injects a ASIA
Skill Leveled Video Builders text Games Skill Leveled Video Builders text Games Read about bright swirl in the photo is a nebula, DePasquale at the Space Telescope toxic substance that can be deadly. Skill Leveled Video Builders text Games INDIA Skill Leveled Video Builders text Games sea lampreys, a giant cloud of dust and gas. Science Institute. They’ve also Mirza hopes that naming the snake AFRICA and other Pit vipers like T. salazar New stars form inside nebulae. increased the public’s interest in the after Slytherin will help people feel bloodsucking INDIAN have heat-sensing organs creatures, on That happens when gravity pulls universe. “Hubble’s images are awe- connected to it. Many habitats where pit OCEAN on their faces that detect page 10! warm-blooded prey.
dust and gas together. These inspiring,” DePasquale says. PAGE 2: NASA/ESA/STSCI (HUBBLE PICTURES); NASA VIA GETTY IMAGES (HUBBLE TELESCOPE); PAGE 3: AMOD M. ZAMBRE (VIPER);vipers COURTESY OF STICKFX (HALLOWEEN MASK); COURTESY OF KIM MURRAY (FACE MASK); JIM MCMAHON (GLOBE) live need to be protected, he says. COVER: SHUTTERSTOCK.COM (LAMPREY); ILLUSTRATION BY SHEN FEI (POMPEII) 2 OCTOBER 2020 SCHOLASTIC.COM/SUPERSCIENCE 3
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Inside a Volcano Pompeii Mount Vesuvius sits on two tectonic plates that are slowly shifting. Here’s how that movement can lead to an eruption.
Scientists feud over how to The Superhot 1 African 4 material bursts plate slides out and flows down study an ancient city buried by under the the volcano’s sides. Eurasian plate. a volcanic eruption The rock melts as it is heated Lava, gas, inside Earth. 3 and ash shoot through the vent. Eurasian In 79 a.d., a volcano in plate southern Italy erupted. Magma burns The explosion buried the 2 through the nearby city of Pompeii. plates and builds up African pressure beneath plate the volcano.
As you read, think about how 20,000 residents rock, lava, and Two groups of scientists Think: What might affect how dangerous an eruption is? ATLANTIC studying past natural disasters weren’t very OCEAN gas raced down want to study Pompeii: can help people today. ASIA worried. EUROPE the volcano’s archaeologists, who study But the ITALY slopes, burying human history and culture, Preserved City He’s a member of the scientific he year was 79 a.d. quivering earth Pompeii under and volcanologists, who Pompeii is a unique site for committee for the Great in the bustling was a warning. Pompeii 10 meters (33 feet) study volcanoes. To do their archaeologists. Most ancient Pompeii Project, the group Roman city of Magma was moving AFRICA of ash. Over time, work, volcanologists need to cities were abandoned and that manages the excavation, Pompeii. For underground. And the ash hardened, analyze the layers of soil. But decayed long before they were or digging up, of the site. months, the city had Mount Vesuvius, a towering AFRICApreserving the city. for many years, archaeologists discovered. But Pompeii was Pompeii’s artifacts shed light Tbeen rattled by earthquakes. volcano east of Pompeii, was Since workers discovered have been digging up the full of activity when the volcano on life in the Roman Empire. These ground-shaking events about to blow. The eruption Pompeii’s ruins in 1748, city’s remains, disturbing burst. “It was a thriving city that This influential group of states are common along Italy’s west began with a massive gray cloud researchers have been drawn to that soil. Can the experts was demolished overnight,” ruled by Rome existed from
coast. So Pompeii’s roughly rising into the sky. Superhot the site. But there’s a problem. JIM MCMAHON (GLOBE); TRISTAR PICTURES/PHOTOFEST (POMPEII) ILLUSTRATION BY ROBERT KEMP (VOLCANO DIAGRAM) find ways to work together? says archaeologist Steven Ellis. 27 b.c. to 476 a.d. Researchers
4 OCTOBER 2020 SCHOLASTIC.COM/SUPERSCIENCE 5 6 people ate,”what Ellis. says us tell that pigs and fish from shop.food “We’ve bones found afast- even and fights gladiator promoting graffiti found have
Researchers at Odds OCTOBER 2020 OCTOBER decayed, the cavities were left left were cavities the decayed, bodies the As bodies. human around hardened ash eruption, the After unearthed. been also they can’t do their work. do work. their can’t they disturbed, is soil the when But eruptions. of history the together to piece soil of layers study Volcanologists Evidence of the victims have have victims of the Evidence MountVesuvius artifacts. artifacts. and other artwork, buildings, uncover to into ground the dig Archaeologists scientists find that the magma magma the that find scientists 79 a.d before the just like was volcano the inside magma the what reveal also can people instantly. killing speeds, (572˚F). at hurricane It traveled 300˚C reached gas and rock, ash, that model revealed The 79 model of the a build at to Pompeii soil the Kilburn. Christopher volcanologist says eruptions, past about clues provide deposits These eruption. each by left material It contains gold. more than worth is soil that But volcanologists, to soil. in buried are treasures people. Pompeii’s of moments final the revealing behind, Sleeping Giant Sleeping Chemicals in the deposits deposits the in Chemicals 2010, analyzed In scientists Pompeii’s For archaeologists, 6 miles east of the city. the of 6 miles east stands Vesuvius miles. square 4.5 spans Pompeii of city ancient The a.d . eruption. If If eruption. . . eruption. eruption. .
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC IMAGE COLLECTION/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO (ANCIENT POMPEII); MARCO CANTILE/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES (ARCHAEOLOGIST)
ILLUSTRATION BY KATE FRANCIS “everyone would win.” would “everyone cooperate,could he says, groups the If soon. resolved is Vesuvius. study to used be could that soil for moving and site the access to volcanologists for it difficult for making Project Great Pompeii the It criticized journal scientific the in aletter published Kilburn, including volcanologists, of being. time for the there working from volcanologists many restricted also has group But the damage. it from protect and city the restore to working is Project Great Pompeii The far. of so Pompeii about two-thirds Scientists in Conflict in Scientists 700,000 people living nearby. people living 700,000 for trouble the mean could that abig one,volcano’s is burst next the people. 26 If killing 1944, in recently most of times, reawakening. is volcano the that signal today, it might similar is Earth’s surface humans slowly over itsinnerlayers of Earth’s crustthatmove who studiesvolcanoes human remains andobjects studies thepastby examining artifact archaeologist volcanologist tectonic magma matter hopes the Kilburn 2019,That’s in why agroup dug up have Archaeologists Vesuvius has erupted dozens dozens erupted has Vesuvius — —an plates molten objectmadeby —a —a —Andrew Klein —large slabs rock below scientist personwho Nature . layers from the sidelayers from of the of the top layer. the Examine ruler grounds sand orsugar• plastic container• wide-mouth jar,orclear MATERIALS work inthesamearea? might itbedifficultforthemto to studyundisturbedsoil.Why artifacts. Volcanologistsneed must movesoiltodigup STEP thickness. Smoothitssurface. layer ofsoilaboutthesame STEP that it’sflat. Smooth thesand’ssurfaceso sand about3cm(1inch)thick. bowl. Coveritwithalayerof STEP PROCEDURE sticks, andindexcards like spoons,toothpicks,craft OBSERVE With Care With Uncover
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