News: Approaching the Sun I Reach Out Reporter

News Update

11/15/2018

On this week’s update: a tropical country bans sunscreen, a spacecraft approaches the Sun, and researchers study musical mouths.

Transcript

On this week’s news update…

A tropical country bans sunscreen…

Sunscreen Ban

A spacecraft approaches the Sun…

Approaching the Sun

And researchers study musical mouths.

Musical Mouths

First up, it’s Eco Zone.

If you’re heading to the beach, it’s important to protect your skin from getting too much sun.

You can cover up with clothes and a hat and use sunscreen.

Palau

But now, the country of Palau – which is made up of 340 tropical islands in the Pacific Ocean – has decided to ban sunscreens that contain certain chemicals.

Palau’s beautiful beaches make it popular with tourists.

But when people swim in the sea, their sunscreen washes off, and scientists are worried that chemicals in some sunscreens are harming Palau’s sea life – especially its young corals.

They hope that banning these sunscreens will help to preserve Palau’s unique underwater environment.

And tourists can still protect their skin – with sun-safe clothing and alternative sunscreens that don’t harm corals.

Next up, it’s Space Track.

Exploring the Sun isn’t exactly easy.

After all, it’s hot – very hot!

It’s also very far away – about 93 million miles from Earth.

Parker Solar Probe

Now, NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has gotten closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft.

It’s also broken speed records, traveling at over 213,000 miles per hour.

That’s like traveling from New York to London in less than a minute!

Over the next few years, the Parker Solar Probe will repeatedly orbit the Sun, getting closer and closer to it, and traveling faster and faster as it gathers exciting new information about our nearest star!

And finally, most musicians play instruments, but beatboxers make music using only their mouths!

Now, researchers in the USA have used an MRI machine – a scanning device normally found in hospitals – to create videos of the insides of beatboxers’ mouths.

MRI machine

This beatboxer is using parts of her mouth and throat, including her lips and tongue, to create sounds like this, this, and this!

The researchers hope their work with beatboxers will help us better understand the links between music and language.

In any case… they’ve given us a pretty great concert!

That's all for this week – we'll see you next time.

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NASA Probe Orbits the Sun

Teaching overview

Learning points

The country of Palau, in the Pacific Ocean, has banned certain sunscreens because the chemicals they contain are believed to harm sea life.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has got closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft in history. It will orbit the Sun at high speeds, gathering information about it.
Researchers have used an MRI machine to study how beatboxers use their mouths and throats to create musical sounds.

Curriculum keywords

Conservation
The Sun
Music

Video viewing guide

This graphic organiser supports your students to capture their thoughts and questions as they watch the news update.

Access the guide

Spark a discussion

Sunscreen ban

Why has Palau decided to ban certain sunscreens?
What would the effect be on the local environment if the corals are killed?
Can you think of another situation in which people accidentally harm animals or plants? How could that harm be reduced or prevented?

Approaching the Sun

Why do you think the Parker Solar Probe needs to travel at such high speeds?
The Parker Solar Probe has no astronauts on board. Why do you think this is the case?
If you could find out one thing about the Sun, what would it be and why?

Musical mouths

Why do you think the researchers wanted to look inside the mouths of beatboxers?
In what ways are beatboxing and speaking similar and different?
One of the researchers is an engineer and an award-winning beatboxer! Why might it be useful (or interesting) to be both a scientist and a musician?

NASA Probe Orbits the Sun