The best of Curious Kids in 2018

Editor's note

Editing Curious Kids – where we ask academic experts to answer real questions from real kids – is the highlight of my working week. The questions are brilliant, of course, but I also love how determined the academic authors are to craft replies that are informative and engaging, but not condescending.

And in amongst all the grant-writing, research and day-to-day work of academia, engaging with insatiably curious young minds is a nice reminder for many of why they became topic experts in the first place. Or so I have been told.

Read more: Curious Kids: Why does English have so many different spelling rules?

This year saw the launch of the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation, based on our Curious Kids articles.

Hosted by Brianna Peterson, Imagine This tackles topics we’ve covered before in Curious Kids, including: Why does rain only come from grey clouds? Why are mosquito bites itchy? and Do animals sleep like people?

And many more! You can see the full episode list here. And I speak from some personal experience when I say: Imagine This is a god-send if you are contemplating a long car trip with kids these holidays.

I’ve listed below some highlights from Curious Kids this year, sorted into some broad categories. It’s not an exhaustive list and you can see all our Curious Kids stories over here. I hope any young minds in your household find something they like in there – and may be inspired to send their own questions to by emailing me.

Sunanda Creagh

Head of Digital Storytelling

If you like space…

The South Pole Telescope and BICEP telescopes (pictured above) may discover clues that could teach us if there was something else ‘before’ the Big Bang. Dr. Keith Vanderlinde/NSF

Curious Kids: What existed before the Big Bang? Did something have to be there to go boom?

Jake Clark, University of Southern Queensland; Belinda Nicholson, University of Southern Queensland; Josh Calcino, The University of Queensland

Long ago in the distant past, our entire Universe was microscopic – just like an atom – and obeyed completely different rules of cause and effect.

Curious Kids: Is there anything hotter than the Sun?

Brad Carter, University of Southern Queensland; Jake Clark, University of Southern Queensland

There are lots of places where it's much, much hotter than the Sun. And the amazing thing is that this heat also makes new atoms - tiny particles that have made their way long ago from stars to us.

Curious Kids: Are there living things on different galaxies?

Jonti Horner, University of Southern Queensland

There are probably more than a million planets in the universe for every single grain of sand on Earth. That's a lot of planets. My guess is that there probably is life elsewhere in the Universe.

If you like animals…

The composition of black and white in a magpie’s poo differs between species. Some splatter more of the uric acid (white), some have more black (indigestible solids). It depends on their diet. Gisela Kaplan

Curious Kids: Why is a magpie’s poo black and white?

Gisela Kaplan, University of New England

Like reptiles, birds do not have two separate exits from the body. They have one, called the cloaca. It is quite similar to the human anus but the cloaca expels both indigestible bits and toxins.

Curious Kids: What sea creature can attack and win over a blue whale?

Wally Franklin, Southern Cross University; Trish Franklin, Southern Cross University

The only sea creature known to attack blue whales is the orca, also known as a 'killer whale'. But humans present a much bigger threat to them.

Curious Kids: Do butterflies remember being caterpillars?

Michael F. Braby, Australian National University

Scientists were not sure if an adult butterfly could remember things it learned as a caterpillar. Then a study by a team of US scientists found something very interesting.

If you like technology…

How many times have you heard “get out of the way!” when someone is trying to change the channel? Willemvdk/flickr

Curious Kids: How do remote controls work?

Andrew Maxwell, University of Southern Queensland

Even the Voyager spacecraft are controlled remotely, 20 billion kilometres away. It takes 20 hours for instructions to travel from Earth to the spacecraft but we can do it -- using a remote.

Curious Kids: How do you know that we aren’t in virtual reality right now?

Tim Dean, University of Sydney

Are you dreaming that you're awake or are you living in a computer simulation? There might be no way to be sure.

Curious Kids: what’s the history of aircraft squawk codes and how do they work?

Andrew Dowse, Edith Cowan University

Secondary radar is an important tool in the control of aircraft traffic, and helps make air travel safe. It was developed during dangerous times.

If you like nature…

Some explosive volcanoes can send ash high up into the sky and it can travel around the world over different countries. Shutterstock

Curious Kids: Why do volcanoes erupt?

Heather Handley, Macquarie University

When magma rises towards the surface gas bubbles start to form. Whether or not they can escape as the magma is rising affects how explosive the eruption will be.

Curious Kids: why doesn’t lava melt the side of the volcano?

Richard John Arculus, Australian National University

The short answer is that while lava is hot, it's not hot enough to melt the rocks that make up the side of the volcano.

Curious Kids: What causes windy weather?

Andrew B. Watkins, Australian Bureau of Meteorology

Wind is just air moving from one place where there is high pressure to another place where there is low pressure.

If you like physics, chemistry and forces…

Every magnet has two sides: a north pole and a south pole. Helena/flickr

Curious Kids: How and why do magnets stick together?

Stephen G Bosi, University of New England

The energy needed to pull magnets apart comes from you, and you get it from the food you eat. And the plants or animals you eat get their energy from other plants and animals, or from the Sun. All energy comes from somewhere.

Curious Kids: Why aren’t birds pulled down by gravity while they’re flying?

Simon Griffith, Macquarie University

To stay up, the bird must overcome gravity with a force called 'lift'.

Curious Kids: If an insect is flying in a car while it is moving, does the insect have to move at the same speed?

Kate Wilson, UNSW

If the insect wants to stay right in front of your nose, it must fly forwards just a little bit when the car is speeding up. But when the car is at constant speed, it only needs to hover.