BOOM! Issue 4

Issue 4 May 2013Boom!No Girls Allowed!

Inside this issue!

Make your own Mario!

Print, cut and

assemble your very

own Mario figure!

Find our about Alan Turing, the

famous mathematican

and code breaker!

ChallengeMARIO’S

The

Mathsissue

(Rev

erse

the

alph

abet

)

Put your maths skills to

good use and crack the code! You could be just like

a spy!

This issue is a ‘BOOM! Battle Issue’ - Boys vs Girls! Find out more inside!

Remember, the only people that can decide the outcome of this battle are you! If you want the chance to win the prize don’t forget to complete the quiz! Good luck!

The Battle

Will it be the boys? Will it be the girls? Who will win this round of the battle?

How

the

battle

will

work?

Read this issue of boom ! and enjoy all of the exciting things you find on each page !

Find the BOOM ! Quiz on the website . use this issue to answer the 10 questions .

write your answers down (they are all inside BOOM ! ) and hand them into school .

all of the boys entries will be counted . All of the girls entries will be counted .

the group who have the most entries will be entered to the prize draw and 1 winner will

be picked .So Remember , you are in this together .

Encourage your fellow boys or girls to enter too ! That way you have more chance

of winning !

Boom!For

Epic sun shots captured by NASABetween 12 and 14 May, the Sun let out four intense bursts of radiation, called flares. These X-class flares - the biggest type - are the strongest activity the Sun has seen so far in 2013. This picture from Nasa's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) shows the first of these, on 12 May. Flares - such as the ones this week - are expected when the Sun reaches it's most active spell every 11 years, known as the solar maximum. These eruptions can release billions of solar particles and gases into space. When the particles from an out-burst reach the earth's protective atmosphere they can cause bright colourful lights, called aurorae or Northern and Southern lights. Sometimes they can even stop technology - like satellites and transformers in power supplies - from working properly.

Spring butterflies are arriving late because of the weatherThe UK's spring butterflies are arriving weeks late because of the weather. Experts say that the second-coldest March on record is one of the reasons that many rare species have arrived in our wildlife spots and gardens.The charity Butterfly Conservation, charts the sightings of butterflies and they say compared to an average year, the creatures are several weeks late. One rare species - the grizzled skipper - has

emerged a whole month later than last year.Last spring butterflies were spotted emerging earlier than normal following an unusually mild February and March. But the extreme wet weather that followed resulted in a terrible year for most species.

Bangladesh clothes factories reopenHundreds of clothing factories have reopened in Bangladesh today. They were closed down following the collapse of a factory complex that killed 1,127 people. The incident, which happened three weeks ago, has been described as one of the world's worst ever industrial disasters. Since then workers have held several demonstrations - angry at the poor safety conditions many are forced to work under. Campaigners from across the world have signed petitions calling for the clothing companies that have factories there to promise to improve standards.Earlier this week, several British companies who make clothes in Bangladesh - like

Tesco and Primark - said they'd sign up to an agreement committing them to better safety standards.

Jewels meant for film stars stolen from hotel in CannesA million dollars worth of jewels - which were meant to be worn by film stars this weekend - have been stolen from a hotel in Cannes. The jewels were to be loaned to celebrities who have arrived on the French Riviera for the famous annual film festival.Stars like Emma Watson have been pictured on the red carpet today as French police reported the raid that took place at a nearby hotel. The jewels worth more than one million US dollars

(£650,000) are owned by a Swiss company called Chopard. They were stolen from a safe in a hotel room where a Chopard employee was staying. Chopard is one of the official sponsors of the festival, which opened on Wednesday.

The makers of Doctor Who have asked fans in America not to spoil the ending of the current series for UK viewers.It's after the Blu-ray boxset of Series 7 was sent early to fans in the US by mistake, before the final two episodes had been shown on TV.The show's producers

posted a message on Twitter saying: "The Doctor Who team would be hugely grateful if fans helped keep spoilers off the net."

Entertainment News

One Direction's world tour announcementOne Direction have announced they're set to head off on a world tour in 2014!The group just revealed details of the mammoth Where We Are Tour at a press conference at Wembley Stadium, north London.So far it's confirmed they're to visit the UK, Ireland and Latin America, but more countries are soon to be added to the list.Horrible Histories cast to make Shakespeare movie, Bill

If you like your history with the foulest and funniest bits left in, get this: the people behind CBBC's Horrible Histories are making a new film, Bill.It tells the story of how hopeless lute player Bill Shakespeare leaves his family and home to follow his dreams.It's a tale of murderous kings, spies, lost loves, and even includes a plot to blow up the Queen, Elizabeth I.It's the first time the six main Horrible Histories actors will appear together on the big screen.

And Finally...

The world of secret codes holds a fascinating air of mystery with secret agents trying to

discover the enemy’s plans before the enemy uncovers theirs.

The Spartans are credited with creating the first system of military secret codes, or secret ciphers, as they are sometimes called. This is why the study of secret codes and methods of breaking these codes is called Cryptology, from the Greek kryptos meaning hidden or secret. 

One example of a secret code method is called a Keyword CipherWith this secret code keyword is placed at the beginning and this shifts the remaining letters of the alphabet, not used in the keyword, to the right. The letters that are not used in the keyword are placed in line in alphabetical order. For example if the keyword was JAMESBOND the code would read as follows:

To code the message:  SEND HELP QUICKLYThe code for this is:   RSIE NSGL PUDMFGY Here is a challenge for you to try, use the JAMESBOND Keyword Cipher to break the code and find the answer to this question. In the James Bond film ‘The Man With The Golden Gun’, how many shots does Scaramanga have with his Golden Gun? Below is the coded answer to this question. GDHDTSE TK CURT KIS AUGGST

Girls!and

Collect your ‘Dangerous’ badges This week your ‘Dangerous Badge’ is the ‘Code-breakers’ badge. Try the activities on this page to ear your badge. Collect the whole set if you can. To get your badge simply print this page and cut out the badge below. You can add you badges to the special ‘Dangerous Badge’ collector poster from issue 2.

Can you work out the cipher to break these codes?*if you get stuck, the answers are hidden around this issue!

Code 1

Code 2

Code 3

Code 4

Leonardo Da Vinci used mirror writing as a code to stop other people reading his notes. Try this yourself, if you manage to do it fluently it will look like a different language. Why does writing in a mirror look so different?

Spot the difference

the reason we should All think maths is cool!Greek

philosopher and mathematician Pythagoras

lived around the year 500 BC and is known for his

Pythagorean theorem relating to the three sides of a right

angle triangle: a² + b² = c² In

1642 French mathematician Blaise Pascal invented the

mechanical calculator.

Alan Turing was a British

mathematician and computer scientist who cracked German

ciphers (codes) in the Second World War, contributed to mathematical logic

and played an important role in the development of algorithms,

artificial intelligence and the modern computer.

Born in 1882, German

mathematician Emmy Noether is famous for her

influential work on theoretical physics and abstract algebra. She was described by Albert Einstein

as the most important woman in the history of

mathematics.

Alive around the year 300

BC, Greek mathematician Euclid made huge contributions

to mathematics. Often referred to as the 'Father of Geometry', his

series of books called 'Elements' is one of the most important

mathematical works of all time.

(Number the alphabet then reverse it)

Are You a Maths

GENIus?

Riddle me this...

On my way to St. Ives I saw a man with 7 wives. Each

wife had 7 sacks. Each sack had 7 cats. Each cat had 7 kittens. Kitten, cats, sacks,

wives. How many were going to St. Ives?

Startyour

Engines!A r e y o u r e a d y f o r M a r i o ’ s M a t h s C h a l l e n g e C u p ?

The biggest race in town is coming to Bedlington Station Primary School! The ‘Mario Challenge Cup’ is your chance to put your maths skills to the test and help your team win the race!

For each leg of the race you will receive a special training card to take home. This card will give you ideas of the sort of things to practise at home to be ready for the race each Friday!

To complete each part of the race you need to successfully complete your ‘Race Challenge’. If you have practised at home you will have a much better chance of winning the race!

As you race you will collect ‘Power Ups’! Use these to help you in the race. As a team you also need to collect the ‘Power

Coins’ The team with most coins will win the race!

MeetThe Racers!

Name: Luigi Mario Nickname: Super Mario

Gender: Male Species: Human Likes: Spaghetti,

pasta, pizza Dislikes: Bowser

Name: Mario Mario Nickname: Super Mario

Gender: Male Species: Human Likes: Spaghetti,

pasta, pizza Dislikes: Bowser

Name: Princess Peach Toadstool Nickname:

Princess Toadstool Gender: Female Species:

Human Likes: Mario Dislikes: Bowser

Name: Yoshi Nickname: None Gender: Male

Species: Dinosaur Likes: Food

Dislikes: People trying to stop him from eating

Name: Princess Daisy Toadstool

Nickname: Daze Gender: Female

Species: Human

Name: Toad Nickname:

None Gender: Male Species:

Mushroom Dislikes: Bowser

Who is racing for you?!

(Mov

e ea

ch le

tter o

n on

e so

a=b

, b=c

etc

.)

The Codebreaking

What worlds, known or unknown, would have been made possible had Alan Mathison Turing (1912-1954) not died of cyanide poisoning at the age of 42? For not only was Turing working on advanced problems in biology and physics at the time, he had already contributed his major part to the development of the intelligent computer.Born in London into a non scientific family, Turing was said to have taught himself to write in a short span of only several weeks. After reading, and being inspired by the book "Natural Wonders Every Child Should Know" Turing gave his life completely to science and maths. Headstrong, eccentric and prone to solitary pursuits, Turing distinguished himself as a brilliant mathematician at King's College Cambridge, and, later, at Princeton began work on proofs that established the foundation of the British computer. It was around this time that Turing invented the "Turing Machine"- a machine that can automatically compute anything a human can compute within finite time. The Turing Machine was an abstract concept that represented the actions of a computer. This concept entailed the writing of certain precisely defined operations onto a tape of infinite length. As such, the Turing Machine would be an incalculable influence on computability and computers themselves.

One can say that Turing bridged the gap between logic and the physical world. Thought and action. Computer programs and practical machinery. But it was Turing's secretive work for the British Government during World War II that allowed Turing the opportunity to use his genuis for another cause-the saving of lives. While German U-Boats prowled the North Atlantic sinking British ships at will, Turing was hard at work at the British cryptanalytic headquarters at Bletchley Park. At Bletchley, Turing designed machines that would help crack the German "Enigma" code. Once broken, the Allies were able to shift the balance of the war in the North Atlantic.

Did you know? Turing kept his own mug chained to the radiator in Hut 8 during

his time at Bletchley Park, in order to stop others from taking it and using it

themselves!

After the war Turing published "Computing Machinery and Intelligence"-a work dealing with Artificial Intelligence and Philosophy. Turing was also dealing with a machine's ability to think, and the possibility of building intelligent machines.Turing was not only a brilliant scientist but an accomplished long distance runner who once considered entering the Olympics as a cross country runner.Solitary and nonconformist, he was denied the security clearance that allowed him his work in cipher intelligence with the British Government.

As befalls many geniuses, Turing met an untimely death. On June 7, 1954 he was found dead. Many labelled the death accidental owing to the fact that Turing kept many poisonous bottles about his house. The coroner listed Turing's death a suicide. The world will never know for sure. More importantly is what is known...the fact Alan Mathison Turing gave science, and the world, the very groundwork which made the intelligent computer a thing of reality and infinite wonder-a truly heroic task!

Bletchley Park in Buckinghamshire was Britain's main decryption establishment during World War Two. Ciphers and codes of several Axis countries were decrypted including, most importantly, those generated by the German Enigma and Lorenz machines.

Photo: Wrens (members of the Women's Royal Naval Service) at Bletchley with Colossus, the world's first electronic programmable computer, in 1942.

The Enigma machine is a piece of spy hardware invented by a German and used by Britain's

code breakers as a way of deciphering German

signals traffic during World War Two.

Enigma

Make A Mario!Ask an adult to help!

(Each number is a letter l=a etc. but you only change the num

bers with a £ sign, the $

signs are there just to confuse!!)

World in Photos

CHINESE INVENTOR TAO

XIANGLI MODIFIES THE CIRCUITS OF HIS

HOMEMADE ROBOT AT HIS HOUSE IN BEIJING. THE ROBOT IS MADE

FROM RECYCLED SCRAP

VISITORS GATHER IN THE

NEW 'RAIN ROOM' INSTALLATION AT THE

MUSEUM OF MODERN ART (MOMA) IN MANHATTAN IN NEW YORK CITY. THE 5,000 SQUARE-FOOT INSTALLATION CREATES A FIELD OF FALLING WATER THAT

STOPS IN THE AREA WHERE PEOPLE WALK THROUGH,

ALLOWING THEM TO REMAIN DRY.

A CLOUD OF ASH

BELCHES OUT OF MEXICO'S POPOCATEPETL VOLCANO, THE VOLCANO

SPEWED A NEW COLUMN OF ASH LATE TUESDAY, WITH SOME OF THE MATERIAL

FALLING ON THREE TOWNS WHILE GLOWING ROCKS

LANDED ON THE TOWERING

MOUNTAIN'S

PEOPLE WEARING A

WHITE CLOTH TAKE PART IN DIVISOR, A

PERFORMANCE ART PIECE BY BRAZILIAN ARTIST LYGIA PAPE,

DURING AN EXHIBITION IN HONG KONG

HIGHLINER ANDY LEWIS

INCHES HIS WAY ACROSS A WIRE

3,000FT ABOVE THE GROUND IN

BRAZIL

A GROUP OF MARMOTS

EATING BISCUITS IN THE HOHE

TAUERN NATIONAL PARK IN AUSTRIA