It was a rocky beginning for English spelling. Then things got worse.
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Articles on Curious Kids
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These school holidays, check out the podcast Imagine This, a co-production between ABC KIDS listen and The Conversation. And comb through our Curious Kids series.
Your field of view is how much you can see without turning your head. When things are closer to us, they take up more of our field of view, which makes them look bigger.
Are you dreaming that you're awake or are you living in a computer simulation? There might be no way to be sure.
Clouds formed by rising warm air currents are called 'convection clouds'. Because of all the rising air coming up, these clouds can be bumpy on top, sometimes looking like cotton wool or cauliflower.
Our brain cells do look a lot like a map of the universe – but that doesn't mean they're the same thing.
We don't control our heart – it's an involuntary muscle – but special pacemaker cells help keep it ticking away.
Not all birds have eyes on the sides of their heads – but even those that do can see straight in front of them.
We are in the Milky Way. If you travelled on an extremely fast spaceship for more than two million years, you would reach our neighbour, the Andromeda galaxy. All other galaxies are even further away.
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.
Waves lap against the shore on the south coast of England and the North coast of France – but the answer to this puzzle is in the wind and the land, not the waves themselves.
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.
It's not just Earth: everything in the universe has it's own pull because of gravity – even you. Here's how it works.
Tonsil tissue is particularly important in the first six months of life. After this, our lymph glands take over most of the work and the tonsils are essentially out of a job.
Put simply, it's the outcome of a chemical reaction, which humans learned how to make some 400,000 years ago.
Plastic bags are commonly mistaken for food by sea animals. They require a lot of energy and resources to be made, and have caused floods in some countries.
Even if mermaids aren't real, they'll likely feature in human stories for many years to come. Very few mythical creatures are found in so many diverse cultures, across so many years without changing.
You have to be smart and fast to be a fighter pilot – but perhaps the most surprising challenge is the clothes you have to wear.
SIM cards link accounts to handsets. They keep communications private. They store messages. Although small and simple, they are a big part of modern mobile phone systems.
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.
Top contributors
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Professor (Astrophysics), University of Southern Queensland
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Professor of Evolutionary Biology, University of Melbourne
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Doctor of Botany, University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor and Chief Investigator, ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of New South Wales, UNSW
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Senior Research Fellow, Monash University
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Senior Lecturer, School of Animal and Veterinary Science, University of Adelaide
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First Year Physics Coordinator, University of Melbourne
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Professor and Associate Dean (Research), UNSW
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Associate professor in astronomy, Monash University
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Professor of Astrobiology, UNSW
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Honorary Associate in Philosophy, University of Sydney
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PhD Research Student, History & Philosophy of Science, University of Melbourne
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Associate Professor in Telecommunications Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology
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Professor of Avian Behavioural Ecology, Macquarie University
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Manager of Long-range Forecast Services, Australian Bureau of Meteorology
