Volume 3, Issue 6 >> Thursday, 20 August 2015 >> Subscribewww.childfriendlynews.com >> Email childfriendlynews@gmail.com

Saina Nehwal made history as the first Indianwoman to make it to the finals of the WorldBadminton Championships played on Sunday

at Jakarta in Indonesia. However, she lost in straightsets to Carolina Marin of Spain and had to settle forthe silver medal. Marin was the defending champion at the event.This is the second time in 2015 that the Spaniard hasdefeated Saina Nehwal in an important final. TheIndian lost the All-England Championships final toMarin earlier this year.Saina said that the loss was due to silly mistakesearly in the game. Her nervousness at playing herfirst ever World Championships final may have alsocontributed to her loss. Before Saina’s silver, India’sbest performance at the World Badminton Cham-pionships was the bronze won by P V Sindhu in 2013and 2014. No Indian – man or woman – has ever wonthe Championship. There was some silver lining in the dark clouds afterthe loss as it became clear that, after the final, Saina

would regain her World No 1 spot. She was brieflythe No 1 female player in the world during the sum-mer of 2015, but lost the spot after five weeks. Strongperformances in recent tournaments have helpedher climb to the top again. Let’s hope that she staysthere longer this time.

Over the past few weeks, retired soldiers havebeen gathering in Delhidemanding that the gov-

ernment agree to their demandfor ‘One Rank One Pension’. If thegovernment agrees, a soldier whoretired 20 years ago will get thesame pension as one who retiredsay in 2012, if they are of the samerank.

Pensions are payments made to retired people.Making pensions equal acrossthe same rank sounds logical butit is going to cost the governmenta lot of money. But it is the firsttime that army soldiers – retiredyes, but still soldiers – have comeout to protest, and therefore thegovernment needs to solve theproblem soon.

BIHAR HEADS FOR ELECTIONSThe state of Bihar is headed forelections in a few months tochoose a new state government.The fight is between NiteshKumar and his Janata Dal partyand the BJP whose campaign isbeing led by Prime MinisterNarendra Modi himself. Modi vis-ited the state this week andpromised to invest Rs.1.25 lakhcrore, a huge amount of money,on building roads, schools, hospi-tals and other facilities in thestate if the BJP is elected. That’s atall promise that Nitesh Kumar isgoing to find difficult to competeagainst.

A SILVER FOR SAINA

Saina Nehwal (left) lost to Carolina Marin (right) in theWorld Championships final.

THE SCIENCE OF SWIMMINGPG 4-5

Bihar Chief Minister Nitesh Kumarhas a tough fight on his hands againstthe BJP and Modi.

OLD SOLDIERS ON PROTEST

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2 FeaturesCHILD FRIENDLY NEWS20 August 2015www.childfriendlynews.com

The shape of an animal’s pupil can showif it is a predator or prey, according to anew study done by scientists at the Uni-

versity of Berkeley in California, United States. The pupil is the part of the eye that lets light in.While animals have many different kinds ofpupils (a species of frog even has a heart shaped

pupil!), the scientists decided to concentrate onthree main kinds – pupils with vertical or hori-zontal slits and round pupils. This is what theyfound after studying 214 species of animals:� If an animal has vertical slits for pupils, it islikely to be a small predator like a fox that liesin wait to ambush prey. Its vertical pupils help

it judge the distance to the prey� Large predators like tigers and lions thatopenly chase and hunt down prey have roundpupils� Prey animals are likely to have horizontalpupils as it gives them a better field of view sothey can keep a look-out for danger.

‘A lion's work hours are only when he's hungry; oncehe's satisfied, the predator and prey live peacefullytogether.

—Chuck Jones

‘

SHRINKING, SHRINKING... GONE

National Geo-graphic re-cently

re-issued its iconic(famous) atlas andone of the biggestchanges in the newedition is the size ofthe polar ice cap.Compare the two im-ages that accompanythis article to seehow much the polarice cap has shrunk be-tween 1999 and 2014.The polar ice cap atthe North Pole hasbeen melting due toglobal warming. Theincrease in Earth’stemperature hasbeen caused byhuman activity. Amelting ice cap is notonly destroying thehabitat of animalslike the polar bear, itis also causing a dan-gerous rise in sea levels and changingweather patterns.

US space agency NASA recently released apicture of the dark side of the moon,showing the other side of the moon (thatfaces away from Earth) that we rarelysee. The images were taken by DeepSpace Climate Observatory (DSCOVR)satellite which is owned by the UnitedStates. The moon has no light of its own,so the part of it that is not illuminated(lit up) by the Sun stays dark.

PREDATOR OR PREY? THE PUPIL SHOWS

Tigers have round pupils

The ice cap in 1999

The ice cap in 2014

Foxes have vertical pupils Goats have horizontal pupils like many other prey animals.

Dark side of the Moon

Researchers in China have devel-oped a new kind of rice crop thatproduces less methane. Methane isa gas that contributes (adds to)around 20% to global warming.Flooded rice fields are a majorsource of methane as countries tryto produce more and more rice tofeed growing populations.Rice plants take in carbon di-oxideto create food through a processcalled photosynthesis. The new kindof rice plant developed by China lim-its (reduces) the amount of carbonavailable to the root of the plant. As a result, less carbon is trans-ferred to the soil where methane producing microbes (tiny crea-tures) live, thus reducing the amount of methane produced by arice field.The new rice variety has been tested but is yet to be used on alarge scale.

Photo courtesy: NASA

A ‘greener’ rice

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3FeaturesCHILD FRIENDLY NEWS

20 August 2015www.childfriendlynews.com‘

The butterfly counts not months but moments,and has time enough.

—Rabindranath Tagore

‘

NATURE MATTERS

THIS BUTTERFLY IS NO LIGHTWEIGHTThe Cabbage White is a common but-

terfly that is found across Asia, Eu-rope and North Africa. It ‘s

appearance is nothing out of the ordinary –the insect is white in colour with a fewblack dots on the wings – but its ability totake-off very quickly on cloudy daysprompted researchers to study it, leadingto an extraordinary discovery.

The warm-up The study was done by researchers at theUniversity of Exeter in England. They discov-ered that the butterfly was able to ‘warm-up’ its wings for quick flight even on cloudydays (when other species are slower),thanks to the unique way in which it usesits wings.The Cabbage White holds its wings at anangle of 17 degrees (°) while basking in thesun. Holding its wings at a 17° angle heats upthe insect’s body by 7.3° compared to a fullflat, horizontal position. Positioning solarpanels in a V-shaped 17 °position to copy thebutterfly’s basking pose was found to in-crease the amount of electricity they gener-ate by almost 50%! The Cabbage White isseen as a pest by farmers as it attacks crops

but scientists have found much to admirein these insects which are experts at har-vesting solar energy.

Our solar energy experts This is not the first time that butterflieshave inspired new inventions. Here aresome others:� Moths have an ability to see very well atnight and their eyes have a special coatingthat is one of the least reflective in nature.Therefore, they reflect back very little light,instead absorbing more light energy. Bycopying this coating, Japanese scientistswere able to create an anti-reflective coat-ing for solar panels that allows them to ab-sorb more of the sun’s heat and therebyproduce more electricity� Separating hydrogen from water (whichis a combination of hydrogen and oxygengases) to create clean-burning hydrogenfuel is one of the biggest goals for peopleworking on ‘green’ energy that doesn’t pol-lute. The scales on the wings of the Swal-lowtail Butterfly which have special ridgesand an intense black colour to absorb moresolar energy have inspired new methods ofseparating hydrogen from water.

Before I start talking about what the book was about, Iwould like to begin with the way the book would be if itwas indeed the true story of Charles Babbage and AdaLovelace’s life. There was once a girl who was the daughter of the fa-mous but mad poet - Lord Byron. Her mother did notwant her to be like her father, so she tried her best toget her mind off poetry and imagination and to focuson math. This girl grew up to be Lady Lovelace who fellin love with super genius Charles Babbage. Both of themembarked on a mission to make the world’s first com-puter, but in the end, Lovelace died at the age of 36 andBabbage did not end up making the computer despiteattempting several models. If the story was like that, it wouldn’t have made thisbook as thrilling as it is! It is Sydney Padua’s cleverness in twisting thestory around with a little imagination that makes it the exciting adven-

ture of how Charles Babbage and Ada Lovelace actuallymake the first computer.The book has a lot of hu-mour and will be enjoyed by10 – 12 year olds. One of thebest graphic novels I’ve readtill date, I think it is a crack-ing read for all the technol-ogy geeks out there!

—Abhimanyu Saigal, Class 6,The Shri Ram School, Gurgaon

Available at www.amazon.inPrice: Rs. 974 for the Kindle version and Rs. 1472 for the printedbook

The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage by Sydney Padua A graphic novel review

THE BOOK NOOK

Butterflies are thus helping scientists solvequestions about solar energy that may makeit possible for us to get more of our energyneeds from the heat of the sun and othergreen sources. Scientists have been grapplingwith some of these issues for many years – tothink that the answers have been flitting infront of us all along!

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4 Special ReportCHILD FRIENDLY NEWS20 August 2015www.childfriendlynews.com ‘

This life is like a swimming pool. You dive intothe water, but you can't see how deep it is.

—Dennis Rodman

‘

Swimming is not just a fun activity,it’s also a serious sport. In the back-drop of the many records set at theworld swim meet in Kazan, Russia,let’s find out more about swim-ming, meet some incredible swim-mers and pick up interesting trivia.

THE SCIENCE OF SWIMMING

How did we start swimming?

Life on Earth began inwater. Yet we humansare not really com-pletely at home in it. Forone, it’s difficult for aspecies that is used tomoving upright on land,to go horizontal inwater. Plus, our need tobreathe keeps us veryclose to the surface,which can be rough es-pecially if you are swim-

ming in the ocean.Yet, we humans have a long history of swimming. Carvings from thetime of the ancient Egyptians, Assyrians and Minoans show that hu-mans could swim and dive perhaps as long back as 10,000 years ago).It was the Japanese who held the first known swimming race in 36 BC. Swimming however became a popular sport only around 200 yearsago in the country of England. Over time, the four main swim strokes– Freestyle, Breaststroke, Backstroke and Butterfly – developed.

A 10,000 year old rock painting from Egypt shows people swimming

Photo Courtesy: Wikipedia

Swimming at the Olympics

Swimming has been a part ofthe Olympic Games rightfrom 1896 when the firstmodern Olympics were heldin Athens, Greece. Howeverthe golden age of swimmingbegan when in 1922 whenAmerican Johnny Weiss-muller became the first per-son to swim 100 metres (m) inless than a minute. He wenton to win five Olympicmedals. You may however re-member him as the actorfrom the movie ‘Tarzan.’Swim events at the Olympicsand at the World SwimmingChampionships usually havedistances that vary from 50

m to 1500 m. An Olympic size pool is 50 m long, 25 m wide with a depthof 6 feet.

Johnny Weissmuller

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5Special ReportCHILD FRIENDLY NEWS

20 August 2015www.childfriendlynews.com

Endurance swimmers

Endurance swimmers are those who swim for extraordinary distancesin challenging places. Among the most famous endurance swims is theChannel crossing – the 33 km mile distance (at its narrowest point) be-tween England and Europe across the English Channel. Matthew Webbof England was the first person to achieve this feat, swimming thechannel in 21 hours on August 24, 1875.

Here are two great endurance swimmers of today:58 year old Martin Strel fromSlovenia has swum the entirelength of some of the greatestrivers on Earth such as theDanube, Yangtze, Mississippiand even the Amazon. Thesejourneys which were thou-sands of kilometres long andmore than 50 days in durationhave helped him claim many world records.

In 2013, 64 year oldDiana Nyad be-came the first per-son to swimbetween Cuba andFlorida without ashark cage. Shecovered the dis-tance in just over52 hours, a true in-spiration to oth-ers to ever give up, no matter the challenge!

Endurance swimmers

Endurance swimmers are those who swim for extraordinary distancesin challenging places. Among the most famous endurance swims is theChannel crossing – the 33 km mile distance (at its narrowest point) be-tween England and Europe across the English Channel. Matthew Webbof England was the first person to achieve this feat, swimming thechannel in 21 hours on August 24, 1875.

Here are two great endurance swimmers of today:58 year old Martin Strel fromSlovenia has swum the entirelength of some of the greatestrivers on Earth such as theDanube, Yangtze, Mississippiand even the Amazon. Thesejourneys which were thou-sands of kilometres long andmore than 50 days in durationhave helped him claim many world records.

In 2013, 64 year oldDiana Nyad be-came the first per-son to swimbetween Cuba andFlorida without ashark cage. Shecovered the dis-tance in just over52 hours, a true in-spiration to oth-ers to ever give up, no matter the challenge!

Swimming and technology

Like all things, the sport of swimming has also made use of newtechnology. For instance, coaches take videos of swimmers from un-derwater and above water cameras – these videos are useful to cor-rect or improve strokes.

But the biggest advance in technology has come from new-ageswimsuits made of materials that help swimmers move faster inwater. Speedo, a famous swimsuit making company, came up witha new swimsuit in 2008 that helped the swimmer move faster dueto its design. The tight fit of the costume also forced the swimmer’sbody into a more streamlined shape helping faster movement inwater. During the two years that the swimsuit was used – 2008 and2009 – 130 world records were broken. Following this, FINA (the in-ternational body that manages the sport of swimming), decided toban the swimsuits saying that they gave athletes using them an un-fair advantage.

‘Many people cycle or swim to keep trim. But if swimmingis so good for the figure, how do you explain whales?

‘

Speedo’s banned swimsuit

Diana Nyad emerges out of the water at Florida.

IAN THORPENicknamed the ‘Thorpedo’, this Australian swimmer haswon five Olympic gold medals. In 2001, he became thefirst person to win 6 golds in the World SwimmingChampionships.

MARK SPITZKnown as ‘Mark the Shark’, Mark Spitzdominated the sport between 1968 and1972 by winning 9 Olympic gold medals andsetting 33 world records.

MICHAEL PHELPSAmerican swimmer Michael Phelps haswon more Olympic medals (22 out of which18 are gold medals) than any other personin the world. He has been described at thegreatest athlete of all time. His talent wasdiscovered early when he broke the worldrecord for the 200 m butterfly event in 2001when he was just 15 years old thus becom-ing the youngest person ever to set a swim-ming world record

SWIMMING HALL OF FAME

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6 NewsCHILD FRIENDLY NEWS20 August 2015www.childfriendlynews.com

One of the last great wildernesses left in the world maysoon be pristine no more. Oil company Shell has been givenpermission to drill for oil in two wells off the coast of Alaska.The final permissions to drill have just been given by theUnited States (US) government which claims ownership ofthat part of the Arctic where the wells are located. Shell is digging for oil by drilling into rocks on the floor ofthe Arctic Ocean. Experts think that one fifth of the world'syet to be discovered oil and gas can be found in the Arctic. Asyou may know, we live in a world which is heavily dependenton oil and gas to run vehicles and generate power to light upbuildings. The move to drill for oil in the Arctic has been opposed byenvironmentalists (those who work to protect nature) say-ing that the drilling will disturb and over time destroy theregion. Although Shell and the US government have beenpromising that the drilling would be carefully monitored(watched) to prevent damage to the habitat, most environ-mentalists are not convinced. The Arctic is already underthreat from global warming which is melting its ice and in-tensive human activity from drilling could end up destroy-ing what remains.

‘Goodnight Malaysian three seven zero—The actual last words from the cockpit of MH370

before it disappeared

‘

Mystery of MH370 solved?Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, which disappeared mysteriously in March2014 with 239 passengers on board, may have crashed into the Indian Ocean.A few weeks ago what appeared to be a wing of the plane washed ashorethe Reunion Islands, which are located in the Indian Ocean close to Mauritius. Malaysian officials have confirmed that the wing belonged to MH 370 andthis has led to the idea that the plane changed its direction and crashedinto the Indian Ocean. The flight was travelling from Malaysian capitalKuala Lumpur to Beijing in China when it simply disappeared. Many searches have been mounted in the Indian Ocean closer to Australiabut no evidence of the aircraft has been found to-date. The piece of wingthat washed ashore at Reunion is the first evidence of the plane found afterits disappearance. The ocean around Reunion has been searched intensivelysince the piece was found but no other identifiable parts of the plane havebeen recovered.

Usually it is United States space agency NASA that publishes images of otherplanets. This time however it is the Indian Space Research Organization(ISRO) that has released pictures of Mars. These were taken by the Mars or-biter Mangalyaan that reached the red planet’s orbit about a year ago. Thepicture here depicts the Opir Chasma, a steep valley surrounded by highcliffs. The photo was released by ISRO on the occasion of Independence Day.

WORLD

WORLD

MarscapeINDIA

OIL DRILLING BEGINS IN THE ARCTIC

There have been several protests against drilling in the Arctic but Shell has been given permission to go ahead with its oildrilling.

Photo courtesy: ISRO

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7NewsCHILD FRIENDLY NEWS

20 August 2015www.childfriendlynews.com‘

I try to make the good days great and take some-thing positive from the days I’m not feeling good -work on technique or something like that

—Katie Ledecky

‘

SPORTS

It’s strange when a team that dominates thefirst three days of a match crumbles to ameasly (poor) defeat in one afternoon on thefourth. Well, that’s exactly what happened inthe first test of the India versus Sri Lanka se-ries currently underway in the island nation.

After bowling out Sri Lanka for 183 in the firstinnings, and then piling on a 192 run lead,India set up the conditions for a perfect winby bowling out the Lankans and then requir-ing just 174 to win with around two days ofplay left. That was before Lankan spinner

Rangana Herath struck taking seven wicketsto bowl out the Indians for 112. Cricket experts analyzing India’s loss havepointed to lack of practice for Indian bats-men against high-quality spin bowling. Stungby losses against England and Australia in2011-12, the Indian cricket board – the BCCI –changed a lot of cricket pitches in India fromflat ones that worked for spinners to pitcheswith grass that help fast bowlers. As a result,most Indian batsmen simply haven’t hadenough practice against spin bowling, say theexperts.

American teenager Katie Ledecky was the star of the World AquaticsChampionships held recently at Kazan in Russia. In one week, she setthree world records and won five gold medals. She also became the firstswimmer ever (across men and women swimmers) in the history ofswimming to be a world champion in race lengths from 200 metres (m)to 400, 800 and 1500 m (all freestyle events).Such achievements are unrivalled (have never been achieved) in thesport and experts are already calling this quiet 18 year old, who has justfinished school, as the best athlete in the world. In a first for female swimmers, she is faster than many previous malechampions including Michael Spitz (read about him in the Special Re-port). Earlier this year, she matched all-time champ Michael Phelps 400metre freestyle time.

Sri Lankan spinner Herath was the match winner for his country

Unstoppable Katie

With Australia losing the Ashes series to England 1-3, their captain MichaelClarke has also decided to retire from test cricket and step down as captain. Theteam’s poor performance on field plus his own inability to score may have madeMichael Clarke decide that it was time to hang up his boots (an expression thatmeans to retire).It’s been a sharp downfall for the man, who just months before, led Australia toa One Day International World Cup victory. Nicknamed ‘Pup’ Clarke was an ag-gressive captain who gave every game his all. The fifth test match, which is alsothe last in the Ashes series, will be Clarke’s farewell match.Steve Smith, who already captains the Australia’s ODI squad, will take over ascaptain after the Ashes series and David Warner will be his vice-captain.

Clarke steps down as captain

Ashwin risesIndian spinnerRavichandranAshwin was ableto use the condi-tions to good ef-fect to pick up 10wickets in thematch. This hashelped him be-come the ninthbest bowler in the world in the ICC Cricket rankings.

India crumble against Lanka in first test

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8 Owlie’s Fun PageCHILD FRIENDLY NEWS20 August 2015www.childfriendlynews.com

Child Friendly News or CFN is an age appropriate newspaper for children in the age group 7-13. Thenewspaper comes out every fortnight. Every issue is written using language that young readers canunderstand on their own interspersed with pictures and imagery. Quick explanations of difficultwords and terms and boxed elements that explain concepts accompany every article — this is tohelp build vocabulary as well as context understanding. Special reports take up one topic in depth

while regular columns on everyday technology concepts keep children up-to-date with the worldaround them. A subscription costs Rs. 650 for the year.For more details and to subscribe, visit www.childfriendlynews.comChild Friendly News is published from C5/7 FF Vasant Vihar, New Delhi 110057. Published, printed,edited and owned by Anita Mani. Printed by Printworks, F-25, Okhla Industrial Area, Ph I, New Delhi 110020RNI registration number: DELENG/2013/50870

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SUDOKU TIMETry your hand at thisSudoku. Remember thatnumbers 1 to 6 can appear only once ineach of the six rectan-gles. They can also appear only once ineach row and column ofthe overall square.

UNSCRAMBLE THE WORDSRe-arrange thealphabets tofind the wordHint: All clues arelinked to the themeof swimming

1. BROADKKCI

2. GOGSEGL

3. VEID

4. SSNEERUCN

Answers

1.Kickboard

2.Goggles

3.Dive

4.Sunscreen

Answer

1 3

6

1 2 4

4 5 3

2

1 3

h

123456

564312

316245

245631

631524

452163

HIDDEN PICTURES

Top Reads for Kids and Young Adults

To know more about these books and to buy them, check outwww.toptenbooksoftheweek.com

Can you find the objects at the bottom of the picture?

1. Malgudi Schooldays by R K Narayan2. The Tiger who came to Tea by Judith Kerr3. A Children’s History of India by Subhadra Sen Gupta4. The Gita for Children by Roopa Rai5. National Geographic Kids Almanac 20166. Big Nate Super Scribbler by Lincoln Peirce

Spot the StyleCan you identify the stroke used by the swimmer

in each one of these photos?

1 2

Answers:1. Backstroke 2. Freestyle 3. Breaststroke 4. Butterfly stroke

43

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