How do clams move about if they have no arms, no legs and no fins?

We've been very busy going back to school and then going on a short holiday, so we've got a bit behind with our questions. We have a bit of a list so I'll be posting them over the next few days.

Today, it's all about clams.

In Spain we eat a lot of clams and a lot of mussels. My younger cousin Inés (who doesn't live in Spain anymore but in Edinburgh, absolutely loves mussels). So I have had a lot of time to look at this type of seafood and wonder about things. 

The first question for my blog I thought of was Do clams have eyes? but then, immediately after, I came up with a better one:

How do clams swim or move about in the water if they have no arms or fins?

I think the second question is more interesting because the answer is more incredible, but we did look up the answer to the first and we discovered that, as we had thought, clams have no eyes. They do have light sensors though, and react to changes in light, so I suppose that's kind of like seeing a bit. 

When we thought about the second question about how clams moved around, we came up with a few different ideas. My mother said maybe they used the air from opening up and closing, opening and closing, to move about by propulsion. So every time they let the air out and caused bubbles, they moved a tiny bit. My father said the tides were probably the main force that made clams move. I thought they might both be right. But when we went to have a look and discover whether we were right or not, we found out something amazing! Clams and mussels have feet! Well, a 'foot', that looks more like a tongue really. Would you like to see a clam moving about with its foot? 

Take a look: 

   

We also found this other video of a clam using its foot to bury itself and protect itself from a ray:

Isn't that fascinating?

How do Mexican jumping beans jump? and How does music make you feel danger?

Today I have two questions, one about beans and another about music. Here they go.

I arrived back in Madrid from Edinburgh on Tuesday. My mother and I went to spend two weeks there with my grandparents and also saw my cousin Inés and her mother and father. It was very nice. When we got to Edinburgh, we had lots of books waiting for us. One of these books was George and Martha, the Complete Stories of Two Best Friends, by James Marshall. It is very very funny and I like that it is funny for children and grown-ups too.

In one of the stories in the collection George and Martha Back in Town, called The Box, Martha is so nosy she can't help opening a box with a sign that says DO NOT OPEN. "Out jumped George's entire collection of Mexican jumping beans. 'Oh my stars,' said Martha."

After reading it, I asked my grandfather if Mexican jumping beans really existed. 'Oh yes,' he said. I couldn't imagine how a bean could jump, and I immediately thought of a question for the blog:

How and when do Mexican jumping beans jump? 

A bit later, my grandfather found this interesting video on Youtube. It actually shows the jumping beans jumping and lets you see the caterpillar larva inside them that explains how they jump.

This other video explains some interesting facts about Mexican jumping beans too and explains a little about when they jump. It seems that they jump when the larvas see or feel a lot of light and what they are trying to do is look for shade.




My second question for today I thought of this morning. My parents have been reading me lots of chapter books recently. Roald Dahl is one of my favourite writers. I like all his books but I'm especially fond of The Witches and The BFG (as you can see in this other post). I also have some of the films based on the books. The Witches is one of them. While my mother was doing some work this morning after breakfast, I decided to watch The Witches and as soon as it started and I heard the music, I thought of another question for the blog.

How does music make us feel danger?  
Seconds 24-30 gave me a feel of danger and I wondered how it was done. Then I thought that music can also make us feel happy or sad, excited or nervous. But how? I listened to the music again and it seems to be that to make us feel the danger the music goes lower and has a long note at the back DUMMMMMMMMMM. And then, when the danger stops it goes higher and quicker, and lighter.

Do you know any music that makes you feel other ways? Maybe happy or maybe sad or maybe excited? How does the music do it, do you think?

What is super about supermarkets? and Do only living things really exist?

We've just realised we forgot to ask these questions we had written down a few weeks ago! 

What is super about supermarkets? 


















We've thought about this and talked about this but maybe you have some good ideas. Super can mean big, so perhaps that is what they mean. They are big markets. But are supermarkets super in the other meaning?

Do only living things exist? Are things only in our imagination?

At first when I asked my mother, she asked me what I thought and I said I thought only humans really exist. Then she asked if I thought animals exist. And I said yes. I thought only people and animals exist. Only living beings exist. My mother asked me about buses. She said, what about buses, do they exist? Does that bus over there exist? And I said I didn't think so. "Only in our imagination", I said. And we had a lot of fun on the way to the library talking about all the things that only existed in our imaginations. What do you think? Does that bus in the picture really exist? Or are you just imagining it?  

Lizards, flies and birds and sticking to things

Last weekend I went away with my mother and father to a very nice house with a swimming pool. While we were there we spotted a few lizards. I was watching one of them zip across the wall and hide behind a door and I suddenly thought of a question for the blog:

How do lizards manage to walk along places we can't (like walls and ceilings)? 

We did a bit of research and found out that lizards use different methods to walk along walls and ceilings, depending on the type of surface and on the exact type of lizard.

First, lizards have claws. So, for example, the wall in the picture is full of little bumps and holes, and the lizard uses its claws to climb up.

But some walls and ceilings don't have bumps and holes and some lizards can walk up them too! The secret here is that lizards have little pads at the end of their fingers and toes. Our finger tips are also a bit like pads but there is one big difference. Lizards' pads are covered in tiny tiny tiny hairs that are adhesive (that means sticky). It's a bit like velcro, as my Pa said when we had a chat about lizards and geckos on Skype.

How does a fly land on the ceiling?

In fact, later I received an email from my Pa about flies (they also have sticky secrets):

Dear Iain
After we had talked of lizards and geckos this morning I remembered something.
A long time ago, before Pa was even born, there was a radio programme called The Brains Trust. Four very clever people answered questions from the listeners. Normally they answered questions pretty well. 
Until one day a small girl asked "How does a fly land on the ceiling?' Being clever all four people thought - and then said "We DON"T know.'
In fact nobody knew for some years and it took very careful filming to show the fly does a kind of somersault and then uses suction cups on the end of its legs to grip the ceiling. If you think about it, this is amazing.
When you come here on a plane, the plane comes down and then rolls along the tarmac on wheels and the pilot puts on the brakes. If you look at a bird you'll see it slows down and comes down on a branch.
A fly can land upside down!  it just goes bzzzzz, flips over and sticks to the ceiling.  I am not fond of flies but this is remarkable.
Lots of love 
Pa 

And then I found this video of a fly making a somersault! It has been slowed down so that we can see it. And Pa is right. It is remarkable!  

And then this morning, I thought of another question that is also related to the lizard and fly questions. At night we are reading Roald Dahl's Danny the Champion of the World, and we've just got to the bit where Danny and his father are injecting raisins with sleeping pill powder to make the pheasants drop from the trees when they are roosting at night so that they can poach them.

And I wondered, how do pheasants stay up in the trees while they are sleeping (when nobody has given them any sleeping pills!)? So here it goes:

Why don't birds fall off branches when they are asleep? 

We've found out that it's all in the legs. Their legs are very clever and when they are bent (like they are when they are perching), their toes automatically "lock". So they don't even have to think about it. As soon as they perch, their toes grip onto the branch tightly without  any extra effort. When they want to fly off, birds straigthen their legs and their toes are "unlocked" and it's "Fly away Peter, fly away Paul!".

So there you go! Lizards, flies and birds and sticking to things! That's what it's all about today.

Remember I like comments!

Do you still grow when you are dead?

My question for today is if people or animals keep growing when they are dead.

There are several possibiliites.

One is that they grow and grow and grow and get bigger and bigger and bigger until they explode.




My father thinks that people or animals don't grow when they are dead, but he says that some parts of your body do actually keep growing after death. For example, hair and nails. Toe nails too? Yes, toe nails too. But only for a little bit.

But then we checked on the Internet and found that it's a myth!

What do you think?

What's it made of?

This morning we went to see an exhibition of a sculptor and painter called Alberto Giacometti who made lots of very very long and tall people. We thought this one looked a bit like the BFG (we've read that recently at bedtime. It's by Roald Dahl and it so very funny we have started reading it again straight away). Except he didn't have big ears. He was really called "L'homme qui marche" which my mother translated for me. It means "The man who walks" or "The walking man". But I gave him another name: The Sleepwalker. That's what he looked like. He looked like a man walking in his sleep.

This was my favourite of all.

Daddy's favourite was another man who was also walking.

Mummy's favourite was a very tiny gold figure, quite similar to my favourite sleepwalking man, but about the size of my little finger.





We all liked this mother and daughter:

And this funny one too: 

I thought it was very funny that apparently when Giacometti was about ten years old he made his first heads with plasticine. He made the heads of his brothers Diego and Bruno. (I have a cousin called Diego and a friend called Bruno!)

We might try to make a plasticine BFG this afternoon. If it turns out well, I'll put it up on the blog. 

My question for today is: What materials did he use in his sculptures? We have looked this up and he seemed to use lots of different things. My sleepwalker is made of bronze. But he also used wood, iron, stone, string, plaster and wire. 

Do you know any other materials that can be used to make sculptures? 

Added on 15th July: 

We did make our own plasticine BFG this morning! And a Sophie (she's blue because we don't have that many plasticine colours. Here they go: 

What do you think? We thought of a trick and used drinking straws to keep the giant's arms and legs rigid. 

Bees and Motorbikes: Stinging and Stinking

I have two questions today:

Bees: why do they sting when we are not attacking them? 

We have looked up some information about this on the Internet and discovered a few things.

They DO think we are attacking them! Even though we are not, they THINK we are. That's why they sting, to defend themselves and especially their hive. Apparently it is not that common for them to sting when they are far away from their hive, only if you wave at them or step on them.

Another thing we discovered is that they die when they sting, because the stinger gets caught in the skin of the person or animal they sting and when they try to fly away, the stinger does not come loose and part of their tummy gets torn. That's why they die. Queen bees are luckier though, because they don't have the same type of stinger. Theirs goes in AND comes out easily.


Motorbikes: why do some of them stink so much and make so much noise? 


My parents explained that the stink was to do with the fuel, and with the motorbike not being in very good shape normally. Fuel is generally smelly. Motorbikes now have mechanisms to control fumes, but my mother says that when she was growing up, ALL motorbikes stank and made noise. I suppose I am lucky then. The noise is also normally related to how new or how old the motorbike is. The newer, the more silent. Old models of motorbikes were noisier. Apparently some people who ride motorbikes actually LIKE the sound and they cut off part of the pipe at the back to make it even noiser! The pipe is called an exhaust pipe and actually helps reduce the noise.

I don't like the smell or the noise.

That's all for today! I hope you've enjoyed my questions.

Two questions about paper and bricks from Izzy and Cathal, in Sandy Cove (Ireland).

Yesterday I received two questions from Izzy and Cathal O'Regan from Sandy Cove (Ireland). My mother and I have looked on the Internet and found some very good videos that explain their questions.

How is paper made?




How are bricks made?
For this question, we discovered there are lots of different types of bricks. But we chose two interesting videos.

The first shows a brick factory in the US and the second shows three boys in Ghana hand-making cement bricks in a little machine.

Here is the factory in the US:

And here is are the boys in Ghana:


Ghana is a country in Africa. I'll show you on a map:

This is a map of Africa. I live in Spain, which you can just see peeping in at the top of the map, to the left. My grandfather (Pa) lived in Ghana when he was little, with his parents, Oma and Opa. I'll have to ask him some questions about Ghana when I see him this summer.

Thank you Izzy! Thank you Cathal! I like getting questions from friends too! Did you find any other good videos to explain your questions? Maybe you can share the links in a comment on the blog.

Bye for now,
Iain

Squirrels crossing roads and seeing dreams with your eyes shut

Today I have two questions.

Would it be possible to teach a squirrel how to cross the road at the lights and only when they go green? 

I thought of this question when I read a letter from my Ma (she's my grandmother). In the letter she told me that from their window in Edinburgh they sometimes see squirrels. She said sometimes they were a bit silly because they want to cross the road when there's a red man. So my question is, would it be possible to teach a squirrel how to cross the road at the lights and only when they go green? How? If you can think of any good ideas, please leave a comment.

I would teach a squirrel to cross the road getting the squirrel very gently until we reach the lights. If there's a button for the road, I or the squirrel can touch it, so that the squirrel doesn't run away and so the green man can come very fast. I would do this lots and lots and lots of times until the squirrel knows that it needs to do what I showed it.

My other question is about dreaming.
How can you see if you are closing your eyes when you are dreaming?

What do you see with? Maybe with a telescope that makes you see with your eyes shut. Maybe someone puts it somewhere for me. Maybe with my memory. Or my imagination. What do you think?

That's all that I want to say. Have a nice day.

What's the name of that bird?

Yesterday on our way back from school, we took a secret path behind the parks and we followed a funny bird almost all the way home. It was very difficult to get near it. We tried creeping quietly but it kept flying off. It flew in a funny way, quite low on the ground and fast, from tree trunk to tree trunk, sometimes nibbling something on the grass. My mother said it was a woodpecker, but she didn't know the type of woodpecker.

This morning I asked my mother if we could look it up and we found out its name: it's a European Green Woodpecker. In Spanish they call it "Pito real". We like the red on its head. Under its green wings, its body is yellow-ish, or that's what it looked like when it was flying.

We watched a few videos too. I think this is my favourite one. Watch out for its very very very very long tongue!

River, rain and brain

My questions today were about rivers, rain and brain. Read about what I discovered!

1. Why is the river on our way to school sometimes full and other times empty? It's not to do with the rain, I know that. So why? What happens when we're not looking?


This morning we went off to find out. And we found a few of these:

These are very very big locks. When they want to clean one part of the river, or just to control the amount of water in each of the parts, they bring these locks down, and the water can't pass to the other side.

So what happens when we are not looking is that someone decides it is time to bring down the locks. I would love to see this one day!

2. Why does it rain? 

When we went out this morning it was raining quite a lot. We walked all the way to Parque de San Isidro in the rain. And we wrote down in my notebook this question: Why is it raining? And then: Why does it rain?

When we got back home, I asked my mother and she explained. She said that water from the sea, lakes and rivers evaporates with the heat of the sun (like what happens when we put on a pot of water to boil to make spaghetti). And this water that turns into vapour goes up up up in the sky. High up in the sky it cools down and turns into liquid droplets again. When these droplets grow, they get too heavy and drop down. And then it falls. And then it rains. Or sometimes it snows.


3. Does our brain drive us?

I was walking along with my mother and we stopped at a zebra crossing. I suddenly said I had another question. Does our brain drive us? My mother asked what I meant exactly and I said I meant like drivers drive cars. Does our brain drive us, so that we know we have to stop at a zebra crossing for example.

My mother said that was a very philosophical question and was quite excited I had asked it.

We had a bit of a chat about it when we got back home. My mother said in a way our brains do tell our bodies to stop when there is danger, for example, and tells other parts of the body what to do. She told me when we lift a finger, our brain tells our finger to lift! I said that I thought sometimes our tummy drives us too. For example, when we are hungry. My mother said what drives our body and our mind is very very interesting and she said she thought some people might have some interesting things to say about this on the blog. So I hope she's right and you make a comment if you have other interesting things to say.

That's it for today. I hope you've liked my questions.

When we were out, I also drew this picture of a three-eyed monster in my notebook:

Cormorants, fluffy trees and pebbles

We have decided to start a list of things I want to know. 

This morning on the way to school my mother and I wrote down three questions about things we saw I wanted to know more about. Later, we looked them up and asked around and found some answers.  

These are my questions and the answers we have found: 

1. Why do cormorants spread their wings so much? Are they calling a friend or just drying their wings? 

My mother and I looked this up on the Internet and found out they spread their wings because they are drying them. Then Pa (he's my grandfather) gave us a bit more information. This is what he said:  "cormorants have a lot of natural oil in their feathers. They have to make sure their feathers are in very good condition because they need to be streamlined when they dive and because they spend so much time in water. So the answer may be both - they're drying their wings and examining their feathers to see that they are watertight." 

So that's what they are doing every morning when we see them on the way to school! They spend a very long time in the position of the photograph and they look quite funny. 

My Pa told us one other thing. He said that in one part of China fishermen don't catch fish. They train cormorants to fish for them! That's a bit cheeky!

2. What is that stuff that looks like cotton coming from that tree? What is the tree and what exactly is the cottony thing? 

We found out that the tree that we see every morning is called a poplar and that the cottony white stuff covers the seeds. It's a clever trick of the tree, so that the wind carries the seeds and the seeds plant all over. The cottony hairs also protect the seeds from being eaten by the birds (this is what I think, because no bird would want to eat a hairy seed, or would they?). Some people call the cotton summer snow!

3. What are pebbles? Are they made or are they found?

About pebbles, we found out that there are natural pebbles and artificial pebbles. Some are made and some are pieces of rock smoothed by the sea. But I was also saying to Mummy that maybe some pebbles are made and then found. My Pa also gave us some information about this. He said: "A pebble started as a bigger stone but the sea rolls them around and makes them small and smooth. And sometimes very pretty." It's true. I have seen some very pretty pebbles. 

If you have any ideas or you just want to say hi, please leave a comment.