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How did Australia’s sheep industry begin?

At the end of the eighteenth century, Australia was going through a difficult time. Food was scarce and only storeships from England staved off actual famine. Things were so bad that officers in the army were importing rum and using it instead of money. However, John Macarthur, one of these officers, was convinced that money could be made out of …

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How did America get its name?

America is named after Amerigo Vespucci (right), an Italian mariner who sailed under the Portuguese flag. He charted the American coastline from what is now Chesapeake Bay to Honduras a few years after Columbus’s discovery of the New World. On his return, Vespucci wrote of his discoveries and people began to realize that the great land mass was not Asia …

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How dangerous are crocodiles?

All crocodiles are meat eaters and feed in water. They are particularly successful in catching smaller animals because they can float up very close to their prey without being seen. They catch animals at water holes in this way and, holding them under water, they back off into deeper water until the prey drowns. Crocodiles tear pieces from their victims …

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How cold can things get?

You might think that winter is cold enough, until you compare it with absolute zero, the coldest possible temperature. Absolute zero is -273ºC or -460ºF. Nothing can get colder than this temperature. The reason is that everything has to lose heat energy to get colder. At absolute zero, an object has no heat energy left, so it can’t get any …

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How can you find the north pole star?

If you live in the northern hemisphere, you can always find north at night, because there is a star very near to the north pole of the sky. This star is called Polaris, and during the night all other stars appear to circle around it as the Earth turns. To find Polaris, first locate the familiar saucepan shape of seven …

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How can we use Water to run Cars?

Huge amounts of polluting gases are being released into the earth’s atmosphere by the large scale burning of fossil fuels or natural fuels found under the earth. These gases are the main culprits behind the phenomenon of global warming and other climatic changes. In order to find cleaner fuels, scientists around the world are trying to find a fuel or …

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How can we talk to the stars?

If other beings existed in space, we could talk to them via radio waves, which travel at the same speed as light. Astronomers have begun t listen for possible incoming radio messages from the stars, although nothing has been heard so far. In 1974 the first deliberate radio message from Earth was beamed towards as star cluster called M13 in …

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How can ice shape the land?

The surfaces of valley glaciers are littered with rocks which have tumbled down the mountainsides. Other rocks are frozen into the sides and bottoms of glaciers. These rocks turn the glaciers into gigantic files, because, as the glaciers move, the rocks scrape away at the land and gouge our more and more rocks. When the ice melts, steep sided, U-shaped …

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