Editor's note

Why does a blue tongue lizard have a blue tongue? Why do our bodies jump if we slip over in a dream? If your brain got hurt, would your personality change?

That’s just a sample of the questions asked by students when our Curious Kids team toured four primary schools this week in collaboration with the Victorian education department.

Curious Kids is series from The Conversation where we find experts to answer questions from kids.

At Baden Powell College in Hopper’s Crossing, we brought neuroscientist David Farmer to answer queries from year 5 and 6 students who have been learning about the brain. In an hour, he answered a staggering number of impressive questions: why do brains need sleep? What does the brain stem do? Why do we dream?

At Neerim South Primary School, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Justin Peter met students who have been studying the water cycle, and answered queries on an astonishing array of subjects, including oceans, storms, lightning, clouds and, at one point, radiation in space.

Animal adaptation was the topic of the day for the students at Brandon Park Primary School, where pupils peppered ecology and evolution experts Amy Edwards and Danielle Eastick with rapid fire critter questions. How do some animals regrow limbs? Could we really bring a dinosaur back to life, Jurassic Park-style? Why do octopuses have eight legs and not ten?

And at Ringwood North Primary School, where students have been learning about health and well-being, anatomy expert Brooke Huuskes fielded scores of mind-bendingly tricky questions about bodies. Topics included what the appendix is for, why donor kidney recipients still keep their old kidneys, and whether we could one day rely on mechanical organs if our real ones give out.

Curious Kids aims to inspire kids never to stop asking questions about the world around them, and seeking evidence-based answers from trusted sources. If you share that mission too, we’d love your support. You can find details here on how to donate to The Conversation (it’s tax deductible).

Sunanda Creagh

Head of Digital Storytelling

Top story

Right now, your kidneys are getting rid of all things your body does not need. They do this by ‘cleaning’ your blood. Shutterstock

Curious Kids: why do we have two kidneys when we can live with only one?

Brooke Huuskes, La Trobe University

When my kidneys stopped working properly, my dad gave me one of his kidneys. Thanks, Dad.

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