A study has found that astronauts who reside in space for long periods of time experience a kind of brain fog, that results in astronauts having slower reaction times and making more mistakes than they would on Earth. Without the influence of gravity, fluids shift to the upper body causing puffiness in the face, muscle loss, calcium loss in bones and sometimes vision problems due to extra pressure on the eyes. The study found that, overall, the astronauts' reaction times were slower on tasks requiring speed, memory and attention.

The new year is a time when many people make promises to themselves. They say that they will exercise more, read more books, etc. Scientists have shown that if people are able to maintain a new routine for 30 days, they are very likely to succeed with their new activity. If you were going to make yourself some promises for 2025, what would they be?

This year, Kwanzaa, Hanukkah and Christmas start on the same date; December 25th. All 3 holidays celebrate and commemorate special events and values within each community. All 3 holidays feature delicious food that friends and family gather together to enjoy.
What is your favourite food to eat during Japanese holidays?

Santa’s sleigh is pulled by reindeer. Reindeer are native to northern areas such as Greenland, Russia, Scandinavia and Canada. Reindeer can weigh as much as 200 kilograms, with an antler span of 1 metre. Reindeer are herbivores, meaning they only eat plants. Santa feeds his 8 reindeer twice a day so, that’s a lot of hay!

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. It is approximately half the size of our planet, Earth. Mars is located about 225 million kilometres away from Earth. If you wanted to visit Mars, it would take about 9 months to travel there on a spacecraft. Some people hope to begin living on Mars in the future. Would you want to live on Mars? Why or why not?

Surfing is a fun and exhilarating sport. The downside of surfing, however, is that sharks sometimes mistake a surfboard for a seal; a shark’s nature prey. Scientists in Australia have recently completed a study that shows that putting lights on the bottom of surfboards, deters them.
The lights disrupted the ability of sharks to see silhouettes (prey) against the sunlight above the water, reducing their interest in investigating the surfboard.

The British aerospace company Space Solar, in collaboration with the Iceland based company Transition Labs, are planning to launch satellites into space - where sunlight is available 24/7. The satellites would ‘capture’ the sunlight and redirect it back to a specific location on Earth, via microwaves. A receiver at the location would then convert the microwaves into electricity for a grid, from which people could utilize the electricity.

Thanksgiving is a celebration in Canada and America. It is an event to give thanks for the food harvested that year and a recognition of a lot of hard work. Americans celebrate Thanksgiving in November but because Canada is a colder climate and harvests its food earlier in the fall, celebrates Thanksgiving in October. Is there a similar celebration in Japan?

In 1955, the first book of the Guinness World Records was published. The annual publication keeps track of interesting things that people do the most of, the best and fastest of.
David Rush, from the US, is currently the holder of “the most records held by one person”. Balancing 101 rolls of toilet paper on his head and catching 59 marshmallows in his mouth in one minute, are only two of the Guinness World Records that Mr. Rush now holds.
If you were going to try to break a Guinness World Record, what feat would you complete?

Dogs are considered the best friend of humans. Dogs protect us, love us unconditionally and help us; for example, seeing eye dogs, that help people with vision impairment.
It is believed that humans domesticated dogs during the hunter gatherer stage of our history; more than 12,000 years ago. If you think about the qualities mentioned earlier, it makes sense as to why humans would have wanted to domesticate dogs.
Dogs have a very keen sense of hearing and would have heard and fought predators in the night, coming closer to a sleeping family. Some dogs, like today’s border collies who are excellent herders, would have helped with hunting.
Dogs are certainly important and lovable additions to our lives! Do you have a dog? If so, what are his or her best qualities?

The origin of halloween goes back hundreds of years. Originally, halloween was similar to the Japanese holiday of obon.
During halloween, people believed that the dead would come back and visit them. If living people had done something bad to the now dead person, the living were afraid and would wear a mask during the festival, in hopes that the dead would not be able to correctly identify them and punish them.
The living were trying to trick the dead.
The practice of going door to door, in cute and funny costumes and collecting candy from kind neighbours, is relatively new.
For everyone attending parties and receiving candy, I’d like to wish you all a happy halloween!

66 million years ago, after an asteroid hit Earth, a cloud of debris hung in the sky for many years. This resulted in many plants dying…along with the dinosaurs.
Ants would brings plants that had died, into their home. When the plant began to rot, the ants would tend to the rotting vegetation, like a farmer would with a crop. For many years, this was a source of food for the ants.
Running low on fungi to eat from? The ants simply created a new ‘crop’ from the existing crop of fungi!
Scientists now believe that ants were the first species to cultivate crops, long before humans ever did. Pretty clever!!